The capital before the Jinshi Imperial Examination is lively, and the Jinshi Imperial Examination is held every year, but there has never been a year when the imperial examination has attracted people's attention as much as this year.

The reason is that this year's Jinshi Imperial Examination has undergone a major reform, and for the first time, those who have obtained the qualification of the Ming Jing Branch are allowed to participate in the Jinshi Imperial Examination, which is of great significance.

There is an unwritten general concept in the Daning Dynasty, the Ming Jingke is the examiner, and the Jinshi is the examiner, who has passed the Ming Jingke examination and can be directly in the counties and counties as officials, but the leap from the official to the official is extremely difficult, and only special positions can be transferred to officials, such as the head of the household Cao in Donghai County, which is why so many big families wanted to compete for the position of the head of the household Cao.

The Daning Dynasty will never easily let the officials become officials, otherwise there will be no point in Jinshike, precisely because the Ming Jingke has gradually become a chicken rib, and it is far less than the gold content of the tribute scholars, which has an embarrassing situation that the country is not as good as the state, in order to solve this embarrassment, in order to crack the fact that the Ming Jingke examination is becoming more and more degraded, the Daning Dynasty finally carried out a major reform this year, as long as the people who pass the Ming Jingke examination, they are also eligible to participate in the Jinshi examination, and are no longer limited to the Gongjushi road.

This reform caused a sensation throughout the country, and also brought hope to countless scholars of the Ming Scriptures, and stimulated them to go to Beijing to rush to the examination.

Since two months ago, tens of thousands of scholars from all over the country began to pour into the capital, and it has been increasing until half a month before the official opening of the examination to stop increasing, this is the deadline for registration, but at this time there have been nearly 50,000 scholars pouring into the capital, not only the previous Gongju Shi qualifications, but also the previous Ming Jing scholars, and even the nearly 70-year-old Ming Jing also entered Beijing to catch the examination.

The closer to the exam, the more active the scholars become, and now there are three days before the exam, and the entire capital has almost become a sea of scholars, with wine shops, green houses, teahouses, inns, music shops, bookstores, and so on, almost all of them are reading figures in robes.

Today is the last day of August, and it is also the vacation of Huangfu Wujin, at noon, he took his concubine Jingniang and his little sister Baozhu to the Baifu Restaurant in Nanshi for dinner.

Jing Niang has been living with Wu Jin for more than ten days, she has a strong ability to adapt, has basically adapted to the life of the palace, and has also adapted to the various habits of Wu Jin, as she gradually began to understand Wu Jin, the initial nervousness and uneasiness also slowly disappeared, and a smile began to appear on her face, revealing the lively side of her surname.

Today is the second time she has come to Baifu Restaurant with Wu Jin to eat, and she no longer has the tension and embarrassment of the first time, and her good luck of being rich overnight makes the music girls who used to be with her envious, which makes Jing Niang's little vanity in her heart also greatly satisfied.

They didn't eat in the elegant room today, but chose a window seat in the lobby, today Jing Niang was dressed up very beautifully, her skin was delicate and white, like mutton fat, she wore a string of pearl necklaces on her snow-white chest, and her white skin reflected each other, a jade hairpin was inserted into her black bun, and a few fine jewelry headdresses, she wore a bright blue satin long skirt, and a thick short shirt on her upper body, the weather was a little cold, and she was draped with red silk on her shoulders, which made her more beautiful and dazzling, attracting the attention of countless scholars.

"General, let's go to the private room!"

The shopkeeper of the restaurant who personally took Wu Jin's seat saw that there were too many people in the lobby, and Wu Jin had his family, especially Jing Niang, which attracted too many people's attention, so he always felt uneasy, so he persuaded Wu Jin to go to a single room to eat.

Wu Jin smiled and said, "No problem, the shopkeeper is busy, let's simply eat a little and leave." ”

Wujin asked Jing Niang and Baozhu to sit down, and the big shopkeeper of the restaurant had no choice but to retreat, and at the moment of leaving, he couldn't help but sneak a glance at Jing Niang.

He was very surprised in his heart, almost couldn't recognize Jing Niang, when Jing Niang was a music girl in the restaurant, he didn't think she was so beautiful, just a little bit of beauty, but today he found out that Jing Niang was so beautiful and dazzling, he regretted it very much, he knew that she was so beautiful, he could take her strange goods to live, dedicate to the owner, and become the capital of his promotion.

But now it's too late, this beauty has been taken away by Wu Jin, so that he has lost the opportunity, and the big shopkeeper has to sigh secretly with regret and leave quickly.

As soon as the big shopkeeper left, Baozhu began to complain about Wu Jin, "Second brother, why don't you go to the elegant room for dinner?" People here are so noisy that they don't have any appetite at all. ”

Wu Jin smiled and didn't speak, and Jing Niang next to him smiled: "I guess the prince wants to hear the scholars chat and understand some things." ”

"You don't want to accommodate him in everything, I know you don't want to eat in the lobby, if you don't like it, you don't like it, you have to have your own preferences." Baozhu saw that Wujin ignored her, and began to complain about Jing Niang again.

"Okay, don't complain, complain again, I won't take you out next time."

Wu Jin interrupted her and handed her a recipe, "See what you like to eat, order whatever you like." ”

Maybe she was afraid that Wujin would not bring herself out next time, Baozhu didn't dare to complain, she took the recipe and began to order with great interest, she was not familiar with the dishes here, and asked Jing Niang in a low voice from time to time.

Taking advantage of this emptiness, Wu Jin looked around, the hall was almost full of guests, and most of them were scholars from all over the country, most of these scholars were children of wealthy families, and they came to the capital, in addition to catching up with the exam, to a large extent for the luxury life they enjoyed.

Staying in the name, visiting famous places, making friends with upper-class people, enjoying high-end catering, Baifu Restaurant is the second most famous restaurant in Beijing after Duobaolou, of course, it is the place that scholars yearn for, if you have money or not, you have to come once, and you also have the capital to brag after returning to your hometown.

Wu Jin looked at the surroundings while paying attention to the conversations of the scholars, and he had already found that although there were hundreds of people sitting in the lobby, there were many people, but in general, there were actually only three talking circles, and there were talkative scholars in each talking circle, and many scholars around were listening to their high-minded conversations, looking for information that was beneficial to them.

Wu Jin noticed the nearest table of scholars, and the conversation of this table of scholars attracted the participation of five or six tables of scholars around him, one of the dark-skinned scholars in their thirties was particularly active, and his accent should be from Jiangning Mansion, and it was his conversation that attracted Wu Jin.

"Don't do the dream of Jinshi, they all say that today we will expand the admission, and the number of admissions will be doubled, from 30 to 60, which seems to be good, but have you thought about it, there were only more than 20,000 candidates last year and the year before yesterday, but today there are 50,000 people, how many people are competing for a place, everyone calculates for themselves, can you and I be admitted here?"

"Xiaoping, you can't say that, this is not an average, maybe there is not one of thousands of people in other restaurants, we can produce four or five Jinshi here, everyone is right?"

"Dream! You are not even a tribute judge, and you dare to say such a big thing, I am still the ninth in Chuzhou tribute warrior, and I think I have no hope....."

Someone interrupted him, "Xiaoping, you are too arrogant, it is unlikely that you will enter the top ten to participate in the palace examination, but I think there is still hope for the Jinshi examination." ”

The dark-skinned scholar named Xiaoping took a sip of wine and sighed: "I'm not arrogant, think about it yourself, I heard that even the sixty-nine-year-old old Gongju came to participate in the imperial examination, how many Gongju scholars have come to participate, the world's Kyushu, I'm the ninth in Chuzhou, it's a fart!" Forget it, don't talk about this, let's talk about it, who are this year's champions, Bangyan and Tanhua? Let's guess. ”

This topic was interesting, and everyone became excited again, and someone said loudly: "I guess the champion is Zhao Bolun, the great Confucian of Yuzhou, and the ghost talent Ma Yingchu of Jingzhou can be regarded as the top eye, as for Tanhua, it is either Pei Zhi, the first genius of Jinzhou, or Cui Xuan, the great genius of the Cui family of Qinghe, these two are between the two of them." ”

Most people agreed with this list, but Shizi Xiaoping sneered and pouted, "They are all frogs at the bottom of the well, these big talents are a fart, and it is not their turn to be the champion." ”

Everyone clamored together, "Then you can talk about it, it makes no sense to punish you with three glasses of wine." ”

"If they learn according to their real talents, they will be in the top three in the Jinshi exam. After all, Su Sai Liquor has always been fair and strict, and it is completely ranked according to knowledge, but don't forget, the top ten will also be tested by the palace, and it is not Su Sai Liquor that determines their final ranking at that time, but the current emperor, will the emperor be ranked completely according to knowledge? ”

Wu Jin nodded, this person had some insight, and what he said made sense, and he listened attentively.

Someone was unconvinced: "Then who do you say will be the champion, Bangyan and Tanhua, do you have a list?" ”

Shizi Xiaoping picked up his wine glass and said with a smile: "I said that the champion is the first Huangfu Weiming of our Donghai County Gongju Scholars. ”

His words aroused a wave of opposition, "Nonsense, the two capitals of Kyushu in the world, the first place in the eleven tribute scholars, why is he?" ”

"Although his surname is Huangfu, and he is not a real royal family, he will definitely not be able to take his turn, it would be good if he could enter the palace to test."

Everyone was opposed, but Wu Jin appreciated this person's vision, whether it was a big brother or not is not necessarily, but at least this person understands that the ranking of the top three in the palace examination is based on the balance of power in the imperial court, and has nothing to do with knowledge, his eldest brother has become a protégé of the prince, so behind him is the prince's power.

At this time, Wu Jin couldn't help but smile and said, "This brother Ren, your role model is Shen Qiwu!" ”

The scholar named Xiaoping looked at Wu Jin in surprise, how could he guess his thoughts, it really coincided! He suddenly felt a sense of pity for Wu Jin in his eyes, and nodded: "If Shen Qiwu can enter the top ten, he must be the top eye, brother, can you guess who the third Tanhua in my heart is?" ”

Wu Jin thought for a while, then smiled: "It's Qinghe Cui Xuan." ”

This is the power of King Qi, and the Cui family has always relied on King Qi as a backer.

"Clever!"

The man stood up, picked up the wine glass and walked towards Wu Jin, everyone looked at Wu Jin, but most of their eyes fell on Jing Niang, and there was an eager light in her eyes, this lady's skin was too white.

Jing Niang's skin was so white and greasy that many people's eyes were straight, and Baozhu couldn't bear it, so she turned around and glared at them angrily.

The scholar stepped forward and gave a deep salute to Wujin, "Han Xiaoping, a native of Xiajiangning, Brother Tai is my confidant, may I ask for your name?" ”

Wu Jin smiled slightly, "The micro name is not enough to worry about, I wish Brother Han good luck, the title of the gold list!" ”

Wu Jin obviously didn't want to know him, but this Han Xiaoping wanted to make friends with Wu Jin, and said with a smile: "Where is there no confidant at the end of the world, you and I have the same idea, this is fate, Brother Tai doesn't want to make friends with me, he just looks down on me." ”

Baozhu was very tired of these scholars in his heart, so he raised his voice and said coldly: "It's for your good not to befriend you, he is the captain of the Plum Blossom Guard, do you dare to befriend him?" ”

Han Xiaoping's face turned pale with fright, he didn't even say hello, he turned around and left, and when the surrounding scholars heard that it was Meihuawei, they were also so frightened that they lowered their heads one by one, not daring to look here again.

Wu Jin glared at Baozhu with some complaint, but Baozhu snorted, "If you go to the elegant room to drink, won't there be no such things?" ”

At this time, Sun Jianhong appeared at the staircase, he glanced at Wu Jin, walked quickly to this side, and whispered to Wu Jin: "General, the person has been found." ”

(To be continued)