Liu Ming sighed a little that he was too lucky, and the poem he read out in Yueyang Tower made him Fan Zhongyan's protégé. This prime minister, who has been honest all his life, has a clean heart and few desires, and is probably not very keen on recruiting protégés. The only closed disciple he admitted was Fu Bi, the bachelor of the third grade of the official residence.

In such an instant, he and Na Fubi had become the same brother. At this time, I just finished the exam.

The sky is high and the clouds are light, and the breeze is gentle.

The apprenticeship ceremony was held on the Yueyang Tower.

Fan Zhongyan sat on the upper seat with a smile and watched Liu Ming deliver the apprenticeship post. And General Hu, Fu Bi and Wang Su stood aside as witnesses.

Liu Ming knelt on the futon and bowed three times to Fan Zhongyan. One worships the teacher, respects the virtue, the second worships the teachings to dispel doubts, and the third worships the teacher's grace and heaven and earth.

After bowing, Liu Ming offered fragrant tea and six salutes to complete the apprenticeship ceremony.

Fan Zhongyan held the fragrant tea, had a bird's-eye view of Dongting Lake in the mountains, his face was like a spring breeze, and gave Liu Ming some regular admonitions.

For Liu Ming, he didn't think carefully about how much convenience he could provide for his career as a student of Fan Zhongyan. He just felt that it was an honor to be able to chat with this historical celebrity.

On the island in the middle of the lake, Liu Ming talked about the past and the present, and suddenly felt that his horizons were much broader. His previous vision was only limited to the small land of Fei County, Qingzhou, and in the final analysis, it was nothing more than trivial things. And what Fu Bi and others discussed, such as compensating the victims, building a sea weir, writing a national history, resisting the Western Xia, etc., these trade-offs and strategies also opened Liu Ming's eyes. Through the discussion, it also made him think deeply - it seems that his eyes should be farther away.

After spending two days on the island in the middle of the lake, Liu Ming left by boat. He knew that Fan Zhongyan was acting in a low-key manner, and when he returned to the inn, he did not disclose the matter to his family, but only said that he had enjoyed the scenery with the officials on the ground in Yuezhou and enjoyed the natural scenery for a few days.

Soon, the day of the provincial examination is approaching. Liu Ming and his family played in Yuezhou for more than half a month, and decided to go to Bianjing in advance to familiarize themselves with the examination hall, and get in touch with those who had taken the exam, and meet in Bianjing.

At this time, the soldiers were divided into two routes, Daddy Xing'er and others rushed back to Fei County, and Uncle Liu Yong accompanied him and rushed to Bianjing with other exam-takers.

It stands to reason that Liu Ming can walk alone, but his uncle is very active this time, saying that he has discussed with Xie Yuying and wants to surprise himself.

Surprise? Liu Ming thought to himself, the other party almost didn't take away his exam qualification last time. This time, I don't know what tricks the other party is hiding.

Liu Ming's uncle and nephew, stayed overnight and rushed around. A few days later, the tall and wide city gate of Bianjing appeared in front of the two of them. Several people from other places who entered Bianjing with Liu Ming to take the exam all looked sideways, vying to witness the customs of the capital of the Song Dynasty. The wide street is full of richly carved sedans and horses. The gold-inlaid emerald is dazzling, and the sleeves are fragrant. The laughter of the beauties echoes in the streets and alleys; The sound of the flute and the tune of the strings are played in the feast of the restaurant.

Looking at the people on the street, they are dressed in jade brocade, and the children with drooping hair, but Xi is inspired; Ban Bai is old, and he doesn't know how to fight. Similarly, people who went to Beijing from other states all showed a sense of expectation and envy in their eyes. This group of people seemed to have forgotten their tiredness, wandered around the flowers, lingered, and walked around for a day in the blink of an eye.

The moonlight is charming, the lights are lit up at night and at night, and the lanterns are all in full swing. Huaguang paved the road, and the people carried the old and Hinayana to enjoy the spring outing; The music shook the sky, and I saw that several wealthy families were holding a night banquet. The strange and exquisite skills such as the roadside performance, such as the fire-breathing and the big top, made everyone refreshed and was simply a visual feast.

Uncle Liu Yong led the way, seemed to be quite familiar with this Bianjing, told Liu Ming which cooking cakes were delicious, which one had good satin fabrics, and led everyone to a well-decorated inn.

As soon as the innkeeper saw Liu Yong, he immediately smiled and pulled Liu Yong to talk long and short.

"Liu Daxianggong, your friend is my friend." The owner of the oily noodle inn patted his chest and said, "I will give you three upper rooms, the price, it is better to give it at half price." ”

Liu Yong was not polite when he heard this, he arched his hand slightly familiarly, and said, "It's hard to ......."

"That's right, that's right......" The innkeeper pulled Yoo Yong to the side, "This year's admission quota ......"

Liu Yong's face was a little embarrassed: "Boss Zhu, you also know that this admission quota is as difficult as the Privy Council and Zhongshu Province." ”

"Yes, yes." The innkeeper rubbed his hands, "You have a heart...... Think of a way. In the evening, I just arrived at some buck meat from the southwest Dali country, and the taste is incomparably delicious. I'm here for one, I'll cut you two or two. ”

When Liu Ming heard this, he wondered, what does this admission quota mean? Before he could think about it, he was ushered into his room.

Boss Wu prepared a few upper rooms, natural decoration is exquisite, the windows are bright and clean, the mahogany bed placed near the window, on both sides of the set up a pair of plum blossom lacquer table, magnificent, slightly extravagant.

Liu Ming was surprised by the interior decoration of the room that was not lost to any Qingzhou rich family, and he asked: "Uncle, such a good room probably costs a lot of money, right?" ”

"Twenty taels of silver." Yoo Young held out two fingers.

"Twenty taels?" Liu Ming gasped. This is equivalent to his uncle's money for one year in Fei County.

"Why is it so expensive here?" Liu Ming pondered in his heart, no matter how good the conditions of this inn are, it can't be nearly dozens of times more expensive than the inn in Fei County.

Liu Yong was shocked, he pointed to a row of magnificent buildings diagonally opposite the window and said, "Ming'er, do you know where that is?" ”

Liu Ming saw that this building complex was whitewashed with tiles, flying eaves and arches, and the momentum was majestic, so he asked, "Where?" ”

"Privy Council." Liu Yong explained, "Opposite this inn is the Privy Council. Every day, there is an endless stream of officials from all over the Central Plains who come to the Privy Council for business. This inn doesn't worry about business at all. ”

In the Song Dynasty, the Privy Council and the Zhongshu Sect were in charge of military orders and government decrees, called "Erfu", commonly known as "Xifu", in fact, the chief of the Privy Council was used to divide the power of the prime minister to run the army, which was basically synonymous with the Ministry of Defense.

Liu Yong skillfully introduced to his nephew: "This privy envoy is a high-ranking official. The people who came to him to do business were also local officials and high-ranking Beijing officials in the court, and they had money. These twenty taels of silver are nothing to them. ”

Liu Ming thought of what admission quota Liu Yong and Boss Zhu were arguing about just now, and it seemed that this quota was as difficult to find as the Privy Council, so he asked by the way: "Uncle, Boss Zhu is so attentive to you, saying that you have an admission quota, so what is it?" ”

"Eat first, and tell you after eating." Liu Yong said with a smile.

In the dining room on the first floor, the innkeeper had already arranged a sumptuous feast.

Fried lamb, white intestines, preserved fish, frozen fish head, ginger soy sauce, smeared dirt, red silk, batch cut sheep's head, spicy feet, chicken skin sesame drink, fine powder vegetarian skewers, fragrant candy seeds, etc., almost all the famous dishes in Bianjing are served again.

Although he was prepared like a Manchurian banquet, Boss Zhu rubbed his palms next to him and said, "Minister Liu, the preparation is not thoughtful, please understand." ”

Liu Yong looked at the table of wine and food, nodded with satisfaction and said to the shopkeeper Zhu: "Don't worry, you have a share of this quota." ”

This shopkeeper Zhu, as if he had received some key promise, immediately left happily.

After eating and drinking, Liu Ming had a stomach full of yellow soup and spicy oil, his eyelids were a little heavy, and he was about to go back to his room to rest, but he was dragged out by Liu Yong.

"Go, go, Ming'er. Take you to the Little Privy Council. Liu Yong laughed.

Before Liu Ming could react, he was dragged out by his uncle without saying anything.

The two came to the royal street and walked straight forward, only to see that the open-air shed at the entrance of the Privy Council was already full of dozens of people, most of them dressed as officials, rolling up their sleeves and communicating with each other.

Liu Ming felt so strange, on this big night, the yamen didn't do business, what kind of team did he line up?

"These officials are waiting to go to the Privy Council the next day to line up for business." Liu Yong pointed to the long line and said.

"Queued up this night?" Liu Ming said unexpectedly, how can this have a fight with queuing up to buy tickets for the Spring Festival in the previous life.

"If you don't line up at night, you may not be able to hand the pleats in tomorrow......," Liu Yong said as if he was very familiar with it, "This Privy Council, the commander-in-chief of the 24th Route Army and political affairs, there is an endless stream of officials from various ministries who come to ask for a meeting. ”

Ahead, an old soap-clad official was communicating with an official, who was visibly dissatisfied.

"My lord......" the old man in soap said slowly, "I know that you are the governor of a state, but there are many adults here who have the same official qualities as you." Everyone should be treated equally. He pointed to the sign at the door, "At the door of the Privy Council, it's all the old rules." In line up, one tael of silver enters the shed, two taels of silver are given a seat, five taels of silver have tea to drink, and ten taels of silver have snacks to eat. ”

Although the Zhizhou knew that this was a sky-high price, he had to bow his head because he had something to do. While reluctantly digging out the silver, he muttered and complained: "In this capital city of Bianjing, is there a place that takes more time than queuing here?" ”

The old man in soap took the silver and said with a smile, "This lord, don't say it, that little privy council is really more than this person." ”

Hearing the words of the Little Privy Council, all the officials in line laughed knowingly.

Seeing the laughter all over the shed, the Zhizhou was confused and asked, "Is there still such a place?" ”

"Of course." The old man in soap squinted, "Don't look at the long queue here. But in the small Privy Council, the long queue can go around several streets. He smirked and said, "These adults, maybe tomorrow when they are done, they will have to go to the Little Privy Council to try their luck." ”

"Didn't I promise you a big gift before?" Liu Yong pulled Liu Ming aside and winked at him, "Ming'er, my substitute exam almost affected you, and I always feel a little unhappy in my heart." Today, I am going to give you a great gift. ”