In the winter and October of the fifth year of Xiping, Luoyang tested.

Scholars from all over the world flocked to the county, some of them were sent by the county with the identity of the above officials or filial piety and honesty, virtuous and square, and more came at their own expense, those with official status sat in the car, those who had money took the car by themselves, and those who had no money simply walked to Luoyang, Luoyang was overcrowded for a while, and the price of grain soared all the way, reaching 8,000 yuan a stone at the highest time, those students had no food to eat, and the magnates certainly took the opportunity to solicit guests, and the three princes and nine kings headed by the Yuan family were no exception, and they were full of guests every day, and they were very lively. Yuan Kui, as Situ and the top person in charge of this exam, was of course very busy, looking at the smiling faces of sincere worship or hypocritical flattery, Yuan Kui was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth. The Son of Heaven has been busy for more than half a year, and in the end he is all cheap.

Just when Yuan Kui sent the admission list to the Son of Heaven, things changed. Zhao Zhong, the middle attendant, questioned Yuan Kui in court, among these three hundred students, I'm afraid most of them are frequent visitors to your Yuan Mansion, right? Is this a national scholar, or is it your Yuan family?

As soon as these words came out, the court was suddenly silent.

After a short silence, without Yuan Kui's silence, Sikong Xu Xun came out of the crowd and accused Zhao Zhong of slandering and slandering the minister. Although everyone knew that it could not be Zhao Zhong fighting alone, and there must have been the instigation of the Son of Heaven on the back, to blame the Yuan family was to accuse all the ministers - because there were no guests in anyone's house, and even those despised eunuchs had people in their homes - naturally they had to attack them in groups.

Zhao Zhong was not afraid, he took out a list on the spot, and pointed out that one-third of the admission list was a frequent visitor to the Yuan Mansion, and he finally said very harshly, Yuan Situ, you can't see people, some of these people are fake celebrities like Huang Ziai, such as so-and-so, as soon as they came out of your door, they went to other people's houses, stepping on a few boats, you want to admit them, I'm afraid that they will discredit you in the future.

Yuan Kui's face was flushed at that time, Huang Yun's incident was definitely a stain on his life, it was said by Zhao Zhong in front of so many people, it was really bearable, which was unbearable, just when he was about to rise up to refute, Zhao Zhong went further, accusing him of being Situ, sitting back and watching the prices of Luoyang soar, and the corpse was vegetarian, but he recruited guests and sought fame.

Before he finished speaking, Zhang Rang also jumped out and asked Yuan Kui a question, you are Situ, in charge of the world's civil affairs, is this year's tax more or less than last year? In the past few years that you have been a Situ, have you ever risen? Don't you think you're derelict in your duties?

Zhang Rang followed up and asked another question, the country's wealth is getting less and less year by year, but your Yuan family is getting richer and richer, is your Situ's money enough for you to spend? Yuan Shao doesn't do anything, he can live in Luoyang idlely, and recruit those guests every day, where does he get the money? You, Yuan Jiamo, aren't you doing something illegal?

Looking at this posture, everyone knew that the Son of Heaven was going to take Yuan Kui under the knife, and he had been waiting for this day for a long time.

Yang Ci and others refused to fall into the ground, and at the same time couldn't bear to see Yuan Kui so humiliated, they defended Yuan Kui with nonsense, but Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang came prepared, they held the data in their hands, these were black and white, Yuan Kui himself reported it, and there was no way to deny it. And they have the support of the Son of Heaven behind them, and they are not afraid of Yang Ci at all.

Everyone quarreled in the courtroom.

Yuan Kui was indignant and relieved himself, and the Son of Heaven immediately approved his request, and then published the list of 300 people admitted by Yuan Kui in Ta Kung Pao, and the unsuccessful scholars were angry at first sight, and the rumors of Yuan Kui's personal harm spread throughout Luoyang in just a few days. At the same time, Yuan Kui's achievements in the past few years have also been revealed.

Yuan Kui's reputation plummeted.

Yuan Kui was unwilling to fail and wanted to fight back, so he instructed someone to write an article of defense and send it to Lu Zhi, asking Lu Zhi to publish it, but many articles were directly stopped by Lu Zhi. It's not that Lu Zhi wants revenge, but he thinks those articles are untenable, and he in turn persuades Yuan Kui not to do this, you are at fault first, Situ has resigned, so why bother with the battle of will?

Yuan Kui brushed his sleeves away, he lost his red eyes, unconvinced, didn't you give me a board? I'll do it myself! He organized a group of people to write articles, founded the "Minbao" according to the layout of "Ta Kung Pao", and found Bi Lan and asked them to print it. Bi Lan didn't dare to take this business at first, so she ran to ask the Son of Heaven, but the Son of Heaven laughed, why didn't he take it? Let them quarrel, the more noisy the better, we can take the opportunity to earn more money.

As a result, "Minbao" was officially launched and began to fight a pen war with "Ta Kung Pao". However, although there are many of them, it is difficult to find one with more pen power than Lu Zhi, and they did not have any upper hand, but they were ruthlessly earned by Bi Lan. Later, he couldn't hold it anymore, so he approached Yuan Yu and asked him to find out how the printing shop worked. Yuan Yu lived up to the trust, and soon figured out the printing process, and Yuan Kui spent a lot of money to dig up some people, start a new stove, and print and sell by himself.

For a while, the scholars in Luoyang were so excited that they were like chicken blood, waiting every day to read the articles of the scolding war.

The Son of Heaven did not react immediately to Yuan Kui's blatant counterattack, he only issued an edict appointing Yang Ci as Situ and re-examining it. The Yang family and the Yuan family are in-laws, and it seems that the Son of Heaven has made a move, Yuan Kui is very happy, and feels that after throwing so much money, he has finally won back a game. He personally rushed to Yang Ci's mansion, pulled down his cheeks and begged Yang Ci not to accept the appointment of the Son of Heaven for the time being, he wanted to force the Son of Heaven to withdraw his order and give him an explanation.

Although Yang Ci is very unaccustomed to Yuan Kui's approach, he also disagrees with the Son of Heaven's approach, which is a blatant provocation to scholars, if it is allowed to continue, it is really difficult to say what will happen in the future. What's more, Yuan Kui also hinted to him, Dahan's current predicament is not caused by me, and you can't solve it either, if you don't help me now, I'll see how you solve the current crisis, I guarantee that you will step down in a few days.

Yang Ci hesitated, and after thinking twice, he still decided not to accept Situ's appointment.

Yang Ci's disappointment seems to have caused the Son of Heaven to encounter a problem, the Yuan family and the Yang family are standing together, and if they want to cooperate with the Son of Heaven, who else dares to stand up?

After receiving the news that Yang Ci refused to take office, the Son of Heaven once again felt the powerful influence of the family, and he was furious and decided to teach these families another lesson. He unexpectedly appointed Song Feng, the ruling Jinwu, as Situ.

When he heard the news, Yuan Kui was sitting in the hall with Ma Lun playing against each other, and the chess pieces in his hand fell on the chessboard with a "click", as if he was heartbroken. The corners of Yuan Kui's eyes twitched for a while, and he still couldn't hold back after enduring it for a long time, and scolded loudly, what kind of thing is Song Feng? Although he is a Fufeng person, but he is so poorly educated, what qualifications does he have to be Situ, just because his daughter is the queen? But Queen Song is not favored, why did he suddenly fall into the eyes of the Son of Heaven and be ranked among the third dukes?

Ma Lun was also very surprised, but she was much calmer, comforted Yuan Kui and said, don't worry, what's the use of Song Feng being Situ, the Son of Heaven still can't solve the problem of famine, when the time comes, you only need to post a few articles in the newspaper, and the saliva of the scholars can drown him, and he will not step down like a gloomy one? It is better to be a relative, so that he can hang up to the Son of Heaven and arouse the anger of the scholars. Back then, Dou Wu had such a good reputation among scholars, when he was a general, Lu Zhi didn't write a book to condemn him? Song Feng didn't even have Dou Wu's chengcheng, and he couldn't do it for long.

Yuan Kui let out a long breath, and he didn't have much heart to play chess, with a wipe of his hand, he swept all the chess pieces on the ground, got up and walked to the bottom of the corridor, looking at the dark clouds rolling in the sky, and his mood was even more depressed. He muttered: "It's been dry for so long, not a drop of rain has fallen, even the big pheasant is useless, Song Feng is Situ, it's going to rain, this god is really not long-sighted." ”

Ma Lun didn't know what words to use to comfort Yuan Kui, the Yuan family studied Meng Shi Yi and was the best at saying disasters, but this year's drought, they were helpless, and they deduced countless times according to the family tradition of Yi Xue, but they did not deduce the current result.

Fa Yan hurriedly walked in, and when he saw the faces of Yuan Kui and his wife, he was stunned for a moment. After Yuan Kui was dismissed from Situ, he also resigned from Situ Peng, determined to follow Yuan Kui, who appreciated his loyalty very much and introduced him as a close confidant. Although Yuan Kui was in a very bad mood, he still barely showed a smile when he saw him.

"Ji Mou, what's the matter?"

Fa Yan hesitated a little, hesitated for a moment, and then said softly: "I just sent the news that Song Qi has sold a large amount of rice from Jiaozhou, and the fleet has arrived in Yanshi. ”

"Selling rice?" Yuan Kui didn't react for a moment, and then realized the hidden killing intent in it, his face turned pale suddenly, and he asked urgently, "How many meters?" ”

"I don't know yet, but there are many fleets, all large ships, estimated at least two million stones."

Yuan Kui gasped, glanced at each other with Ma Lun, and held his breath in unison. They now know that the Son of Heaven has been prepared for a long time, and he has been waiting for these rice, and when they arrived in Luoyang, they announced that Song Feng was appointed as Situ's edict, which was to make Song Feng have enough confidence to sit firmly on Situ. Two million stone rice, equivalent to fifty percent of Luoyang's annual transportation, with these two million stone rice, Luoyang's famine is solved, who else will question whether Song Feng is qualified to serve as Situ.

Yuan Kui's heart was even bleaker than the sky obscured by dark clouds.

There was a loud "click", a lightning bolt pierced the sky, and the torrential rain poured down, Yuan Kui, who was stunned by the news, had no time to dodge, and was drenched in an instant.

Yuan Kui was sick.

After getting the news, Yuan Feng and others rushed over together, and Yang Ci also arrived at the same time, they sat in front of Yuan Kui's hospital bed, and no one would speak first. The sudden Gan Lin and the news of the three million stone rice that Song Qi had transported from Jiaozhou shocked them to a loss. They don't know if this represents providence, if it's a bad omen.

After being silent for a long time, Yang Ci was the first to speak: "The Son of Heaven has just issued an edict to re-examine the exam." ”

Yuan Kui, who was full of sickness, was stunned for a long time, and sighed: "The Son of Heaven is going to kill us all." ”

Yang Ci frowned: "Ciyang, how can you say that?" Did you really do anything wrong with the last exam? ”

Yuan Kui looked ashamed and did not speak. Of course he did something, but these words can't be said to Yang Ci, although the Yang family is the same family as them, the Yang family is very disgusted with such a thing. Last time, he forced Yang Ci not to accept the appointment of the Son of Heaven, and he was already ashamed of Yang Ci, if he let him know his disgraceful little actions again, he was afraid that Yang Ci would immediately turn his face with him.

Yuan Feng also frowned, stroked his beard and said nothing. He didn't think much of Yuan Kui's approach, but at this point, it was useless to talk about it.

The atmosphere was a little awkward for a while.

Yuan Shao coughed and diverted the topic: "A few adults, let's discuss the exam." ”

"What's there to discuss?" Yuan Shu subconsciously retorted: "If the Son of Heaven wants to retake the exam, it is because he doesn't trust his uncle." ”

"Shut up!" Yuan Feng shouted: "It's either your elder or your brother sitting here, when it's your turn to speak, I don't understand the rules at all, it's really embarrassing to me." ”

Yuan Shu was speechless by him, but he didn't dare to refute it face-to-face, so he got up and went out in anger. When Ma Lun saw it, he snorted a little unhappily, but he didn't say much, although Yuan Feng taught his son that he was suspected of accusing her, but it was justified, and she couldn't say anything.

Yuan Shao smiled calmly: "Uncle, this is the temper of the highway, we brothers are used to making trouble, and adults don't need to be angry." ”

Yuan Feng nodded: "You go on, what do you think about the exam?" ”

"I would like to ask the two uncles to come forward with Yang Gong to persuade all the children of the Yuan and Yang families to take the exam, if possible, it is best to let the children of the good family also participate."

Yang Ci's eyes flashed, as if he had thought of something. Yuan Feng was still a little puzzled: "There is no shortage of 2,000 stones in our family, and there are a lot of places for quality appointments alone, so why bother to take those exams?" Even if you pass the exam, it's just a matter of being a man, and it's still unknown whether you can do it. ”

Yuan Shao shook his head: "What the Lord said is indeed the truth, but now that the Five Classics have been passed through the world, the imperial court will take scholars from the revised Five Classics, and in the future, the possibility of entering the office by virtue of the teacher's recommendation or quality will be smaller and smaller, and the examination may become the main way, and I am worried that entering the office through the examination will be the most upright way in the future. ”

Yuan Feng was about to ask again, but seeing that Yang Ci and Yuan Kui were silent, as if he felt that Yuan Shao's opinion made some sense, he endured the doubts in his heart and sat quietly and listened. He looked at this concubine, and suddenly felt a little regretful, why did he pass him to his brother's door in the first place.

"The Son of Heaven wants to retake the exam, which is nothing more than proof that my Yuan family has a dishonorable move in it." Yuan Shao continued: "Actually, in my opinion, my uncle not only did not have these actions, but on the contrary, he gave those scholars a chance. If nothing else, if I'm going to take the exam, can't I get a spot? Those scholars were deceived by others, and they didn't know their uncle's hard work, and they didn't complain that they were not good at learning, but they heard and said that their uncle had bad intentions. They can talk nonsense, and how can we sit idly by? Let's go to the exam together and let them see that if it weren't for Uncle Kuanren, they would have fewer chances. ”

Yuan Feng suddenly realized at this time, and he couldn't help but feel a little ashamed. Looking at the expressions of Yang Ci, Yuan Kui, and Ma Lun, they probably thought of this a long time ago, only they reacted the slower, and they were not as good as their sons.

Yuan Kui and Yang Ci exchanged a look and nodded heartily.

…… The results of the second exam were quickly sent to the Son of Heaven, who glanced at it and smiled helplessly. This result made him even more unhappy than the last time, among the three hundred people who were admitted, more than 50 were actually the children and protégés of the Yuan and Yang families, nearly sixty percent were from Yingchuan, Runan, and Hongnong counties, and the rest of those people were not directly related to them, and they were inextricably linked, and only about one percent really came from Hanmen. The power of the family is strong, even if they are not on the right path, they can still dominate the officialdom, as can be seen from these lists.

In other words, he can make a fuss about twenty or thirty people.

The Son of Heaven fiddled with the admission list in his hand and said to Jia Xu: "I don't know whether this world is my world or the world's world. ”

Jia Xu also took the exam this time, and he was one of those twenty or thirty people. He was now a tiger servant of a thousand stones, and he didn't have to participate in it originally, but out of consideration for the future, he still took the exam and got a good ranking, ranking one hundred and thirty-second out of three hundred. Although the ranking is not high, in terms of his identity, it is not easy to fight a bloody way out of those children of families who are familiar with the scriptures.

"Your Majesty, of course, the world of the Han family is your Majesty's world, but Your Majesty can't rule the world by one person, and you always need the assistance of scholars." Jia Xu said cautiously: "Although many of these three hundred people are children of the family, it is still up to Your Majesty to arrange who to appoint in the office." ”

The Son of Heaven laughed softly, he walked slowly forward along the flower path with his hands behind his back, and Jia Xu followed behind without leaving. The Son of Heaven was thinking about things as he walked, and after a while, he suddenly asked, "Is it feasible to transport rice from Jiaozhou every year like this time?" ”

Jia Xu's eyes flashed, and he shook his head: "The minister thinks that transporting rice from Jiaozhou can solve a temporary emergency, but he can't rely too much." ”

"Why?"

"It doesn't seem to cost much to transport rice this time, but the cost is not low." Jia Xu analyzed it unhurriedly. This time the rice transport did not count the freight first, all the ships are official ships, and the escorts are also sailors, of course, these people have no problem with an occasional mission, but if it is a routine task, it is inevitable to find someone else to be responsible for their original task, which invisibly has more expenses. Moreover, this rice transportation is mainly to solve the Luoyang crisis, and no one has done this before, so Song Qi was able to buy a large amount of rice at a low price, and almost swept away the inventory of the counties in Jiaozhou.

After listening to Jia Xu's analysis, the Son of Heaven nodded with some regret, although he did not make a careful calculation, but it was obvious that if he did not count the political account, then Song Qi Jiaozhou did not actually make any money by selling rice this time, and Song Qi and a few of them made a lot of money, and the imperial court did not make money, but also provided sailors and all the ships.

"It seems that there are still a lot of difficulties in using this as a long-term way to make money."

"Your Majesty." Jia Xu said humbly: "However, the minister thinks that it is still okay to go back and forth to Jiaozhou to do business, rice is cheap, but those jewels are not cheap." ”

The Son of Heaven smiled and nodded again and again, this time Song Qi brought back a lot of Xiyi's goods, he hadn't seen it before, and Xiyi paid a lot of tribute, but if the tribute was a reward, the cost he paid was not low, compared with the money Song Qi spent, it was a lot.

"Liu Xiu is right, no agriculture is unstable, no business is not rich, if you want to make money, you have to do business." The Son of Heaven suddenly became interested, turned his head to Jia Xu and said, "How about running a palace market in the palace?" ”

Jia Xu was stunned, and hurriedly shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, who will buy it if you run a palace market in the palace?" ”

"I don't want people to buy it, I just want to know how to do business." The Son of Heaven waved his hand and said undoubtedly: "If you don't know how difficult things are, if you don't do business yourself, how can you know what to do?" I can't leave the palace to be a businessman, so I have to give it a try in the palace. ”

Jia Xu pondered for a moment: "Your Majesty's intentions are good, but the minister is worried that this move may cause criticism." ”

"Criticism?" The Son of Heaven pouted: "I have Lu Zigan, the chief writer of Confucianism, what are you afraid of?" Besides, things are only about what should be done and what should not be done, as long as it is what should be done, you can't be afraid of criticism. ”

Jia Xu was a little big-headed, and he said tentatively: "Your Majesty, if you want to open a palace market, it's not a trivial matter, why don't you find a few people who are proficient in business affairs to discuss it before you do it?" ”

The Son of Heaven nodded and pondered for a moment: "Did Liu Xiu say when he would come back?" ”

Jia Xu breathed a sigh of relief: "There was an accident at his house, it is estimated that it will take some time." ”

The Son of Heaven was a little regretful: "At this time, he is not in Luoyang, which is really a pity." Actually, I really want to see what he can do if he takes the exam. ”

Jia Xu smiled. Liu Xiu's level of Confucianism is still unknown, it is far worse than him, and it is estimated that he will not be admitted. However, when the Son of Heaven mentioned Liu Xiu, he was very serious, even if Liu Xiu couldn't pass the exam, it would not be a problem to become an official, not to mention that he had already worn a 2,000-stone seal, so he didn't need to take the exam at all. Unlike him, Liu Xiu has a teacher like Lu Zhi, who dares to doubt his level of Confucianism? A few people know that although Liu Xiu has read poetry books, most of his understanding of poetry books is deviant.

However, Jia Xu was very envious of the importance and natural kindness of the Son of Heaven when he mentioned Liu Xiu, he had the impression that Liu Xiu had not seen the Son of Heaven until now, but the Son of Heaven seemed to be quite familiar with him, which was probably a divine friend.

"Jia Xu, Master Situ recommended you to be a foreign officer, tell me, where do you want to go?" The Son of Heaven suddenly smiled and said, "Do you want to go to a rich place, or do you want to return to your hometown?" ”

Jia Xu pondered for a moment, and said very sincerely: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the opportunity to release should be given to those who have been in the palace for many years, and the newly admitted more than 300 people should be considered in the palace for a period of time." ”

The Son of Heaven raised his eyebrows and shook his head, obviously disagreeing with Jia Xu's suggestion. Jia Xu didn't say anything more, and silently followed behind the Son of Heaven.

(To be continued)