Disembarking at the dock in Hangzhou, Xiong Lin, a cousin of Xiong Shang, a scholar of the Ministry of Rites, was stunned when he saw his cousin appear on the side of the ship that had landed.

The ship docked and boarded. Xiong Shang Shu barely relied on his physical strength to tremble and walked off the gangplank, and Xiong Shang's wife was carried off the boat by relying on the pole lifting service provided by the dock. Fortunately, after the lady arrived on the shore, she was able to get into the carriage with the support of the maid and the mother-in-law, and there were no signs of serious illness.

Xiong Lin couldn't help but say to Xiong Xiang: "Brother, you are mourning and changing, take care of your body." Uncle has a spirit in the sky, and he doesn't want to see you work so hard. ”

"Hmm." Xiong Shang answered. He and Xiong Lin are the same grandfather, and Xiong Shang's father and Xiong Lin's father are brothers. Xiong Lin didn't go back to his hometown for the funeral, which can't be regarded as rudeness. At least Xiong Lin went to the mourning hall set up by Xiong Shang's family to pay his filial piety.

"Brother, you've worked hard. Let's go home and rest. Xiong Lin said.

At this time, the carriage was already waiting at the pier, and Xiong Sheng got into the carriage with his family who went back to mourn together. After returning home and resting for a few days, Xiong Sheng went to the official department to cancel the leave. The number of officials has increased by two or three times as much as before, and the level of busyness is probably two or three times that of before. If it was before, when the Ministry of Rites came to cancel the holiday, there would always be a high-level official to receive it. Now it was just a squire who came out to meet him, said a few words, and then left in a hurry.

It is now the end of October in the year 319 of the Great Song Dynasty, and it will be New Year's Day a month later. All departments were busy, so Xiong Sheng didn't bother with the reaction of the officials.

At the end of the holiday, Xiong Shang returned to the Ministry of Rites with a bloodless face. The Ministry of Rites is also not idle, and it is effortless to deal with foreign countries that can be counted on one hand. Now it is the National Day of the 320th year of the Great Song Dynasty. National Day is the day when Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne after the old Zhao family usurped the throne of the old Chai family. This day was the day of the establishment of the Great Song Dynasty, and after 320 years, it finally changed from a meaningful day for the old Zhao family to a festival of the Great Song Dynasty.

Xiong Shangshu received this task, and he was also quite concerned. The Zhao Guanjia's concept of the country is completely different from the traditional Great Song Dynasty, and Xiong Shangshu wants to figure out the thoughts of the Zhao Guanjia and perform it well. Now that there is no prime minister and a lieutenant in the imperial court, after the Zhao Guanjia is in power, Xiong Shang's stay depends entirely on the evaluation of him by the Zhao Guanjia.

The Ministry of Rites initially came up with the process of worshipping ancestors, and after some discussion, it was decided to change a few words and pull more banners. According to everyone's imagination, it is quite festive.

Xiong Sheng was still very weak, and he couldn't hold on until three o'clock in the afternoon, so he went home to rest first. Not long after I got home, someone came to visit. Li Boyu brought some fruits, and when he saw Xiong Xiang's somewhat haggard appearance, he couldn't help but sigh: "The official family canceled Ding Wei, which is a little unkind." ”

"I'm just a minor illness, so I won't be involved with the official family." Xiong Sheng said in a weak voice. This is Xiong Shang's sincere words, although his voice is weak, his tone is very firm.

According to the traditional Confucian concept of filial piety, during the reign of a court official, if his parents died, no matter what official position the person had, from the day he learned of the funeral, he must resign and return to his ancestral hometown, and keep the system for his parents for 27 months, which is called Ding Wei.

If you are recalled to work during the Ding worry, it is called 'seizing love'. The Great Song Dynasty often had all kinds of 'seizures', and when Zhao Guan's family came to power, a series of major reforms were implemented. For example, the era name was abolished and the chronological system was adopted. For example, the name system has been abolished, for example, Ding Wei has been abolished and replaced with bereavement leave.

"Alas......, if there is a worry, Shangshu doesn't have to rush back in such a hurry. It's been a hard journey. Li Boyu still expressed his opinion with his own ideas.

Xiong Shang didn't say anything this time. This is not because Xiong Sheng supports Li Boyu's views, but because Xiong Sheng doesn't know how to evaluate it.

As the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Xiong Sheng has greatly ridiculed the cancellation of Ding Wei. Unexpectedly, he himself soon encountered the problem of Ding Wei. Xiong Shang's father died in his hometown, and Xiong Shangshu went home to mourn.

arrived at his hometown in the countryside and stayed for only one day, Xiong Shangshu, who drank the water from his hometown again, began to have diarrhea. After three days, diarrhea turned into dysentery. Xiong Shangshu is still in the prime of life, and he endured it so-so. The so-called hungry diarrhea, dysentery, the Xiong family is not short of a few mouthfuls of food. Giving the old man a funeral, such things must be completed even if they are crawling.

Xiong Shangshu successfully completed the funeral work with the perseverance that a Shangshu should have. On the day of his burial, Xiong Shangshu, who was exhausted, accidentally fell into a soil pit dug in the countryside. As the saying goes, disaster does not go alone, Xiong Shangshu's wife sat on the toilet and was accidentally cut by the edge of the toilet. After another two days, Mrs. Xiong's wound was still red, swollen and inflamed.

In the past, Xiong Shangshu had not used the soil thatched pit, and his wife also had a toilet. However, after using the flush toilet for half a year and the tap water for two or three years, Xiong Shangshu found that he was completely unable to adapt to rural life.

Now so weak, not because of the fatigue of the pommel horse, nor because of excessive sadness. It's all because Xiong Shangshu didn't take into account the huge gap between Hangzhou and his hometown when he returned to his hometown. When I returned to Hangzhou, I took a few medicines and my illness improved. asked Xiong Sheng to sing praises to Zhao Guan's family, but he couldn't do it. However, he couldn't let Xiong Sheng scold Zhao Guan's family on going home.

Li Boyu misunderstood Xiong Shang's silence, and he continued: "Xiong Shangshu, do you know that the official family wants to forcibly promote the Zhishi system? ”

"Hmm. Someone told me about it. Xiong Shang replied.

"I wonder what Shangshu thinks?"

"If the official family wants to do this, I will listen to the official family." Xiong Shang made a statement. The Zhishi system is linked to many benefits, and just a set of three-story buildings in Hangzhou can't be earned by Xiong Sheng in his life. Since returning to his hometown, Xiong Shang has been thinking of never going back. He decided that he would also die in Hangzhou, where there was running water and flush toilets.

"Shangshu, with a great future, I think I can become a prime minister......"

"The Prime Minister of the Great Song Dynasty has ups and downs, what is the benefit of being a minister, and I don't have that much ambition to be a minister of power. I read the constitution of the Zhishi, after the age of sixty, there is nothing wrong with this. ”

After listening to Xiong Shang's words, Li Boyu felt that the information he had obtained before seemed to be wrong. According to previous intelligence, Xiong Sheng was not convinced by the Zhao official family. In the past, when Zhao Guanjia was a captain, he monopolized Weifu for his own use, and the opponents just dared to be angry but did not dare to speak, but now that Zhao Taiwei is a Zhao official, why did Xiong Sheng and many people coax it?

At that time, Li Boyu actually thought that there might be a wave of rebellion in the Great Song Dynasty, but in reality, the Great Song Dynasty was calm and calm, and although the ministers were still dissatisfied, they were only satisfied with dissatisfaction. In fact, everyone including Li Boyu knew that any rebel would be beaten as Zhao Jiaren, the new official, as a traitor of the Song Dynasty. If the rebellion is not successful, the rebels will not only lose their lives, but also plunge their families into the abyss of shame.

"Xiong Shangshu. Why do you think the officials are in such a hurry to force everyone to become a leader? ”

"Please also ask Li Lantai to teach me."

"We used to be in the same hall as the officials. Now, as long as we are still there, the position of the official family may not be so justifiable. I waited for the early arrival, and the younger generation ate the money of the official family, and there is no moral hindrance. ”

Li Boyu felt that he had made his words clear, but he didn't expect Xiong Sheng to be unmoved in the slightest on his expression. After a pause, Xiong Sheng said, "Why can Li Lantai say such a thing? ”

"Xiong Shangshu, what does this mean?"

Xiong Sheng replied in a weak voice: "In the past seven or eight years, all the money I have been waiting for has been given by the Taiwei. Counting seven or eight years further, Taiwei gave the imperial court two million copper coins a year, and how many of our Yulu were made by Taiwei, this can be judged by justice. Of course, we can not be grateful, but we will not say something immoral. ”

By this time, Li Boyu had fully understood that Xiong Sheng did not object to the Zhao official family at all. Even if he had opposed Taiwei Zhao before, Xiong Shang's position has changed drastically.

Since Xiong Sheng is like this, Li Boyu can only get up and say goodbye. On the way home, Li Boyu only felt weak. Because the officials held the power of the prime minister and the prince, the scholars were the highest-ranking officials in the country. In the past, it was a powerful government like Jia Rudao, that is, there were powerful officials like Dong Songchen, and a large number of Shangshu and Shangshu-level officials opposed it.

And the Zhao official family is now openly purging, and all the Shangshu have actually recognized it. It's really unheard of and unseen.

In addition to these scholars being obedient, even the culprit Li Tingzhi actually scolded Yu Shitai. If it is according to his previous position against Zhao Guanjia, when Zhao Guanjia wants to use Li Tingzhi's 60-year-old age to forcibly let Li Tingzhi become a scholar, shouldn't this Nanchang Zhizhou rise up and lash out at Zhao Guanjia's tricks?

How did the officials of the Great Song Dynasty, who once had bones, suddenly become tame lambs? This fact made Li Boyu unacceptable.

The scholars are unreliable, who else can be found? Li Boyu thought about it and found that he couldn't find anyone else besides Taixue. So Li Boyu returned to the Yushitai and told the people of the Yushitai his thoughts.

Taixue has always been a very important point of party struggle in the Great Song Dynasty. Many previous struggles started with Taixue. One of the more famous incidents was the Yu family who was ordered by the Zhao official family to raid the house and destroy the Yu family.

Yu Tianci's younger brother Yu Tianren has a son named Yu Hui. Almost 30 years ago, in the fourth lunar month, Yu Hui became the acting Jing Zhaoyin. In May, the students of Guozijian had a conflict with the citizens, and soon found a student dead in the school.

Yu Hui asked people to go to the school to inspect it, but somehow angered those students, and the matter became a big one. Yu Hui took a sedan chair to the court, ready to state the original situation, but the students had already waited on the road to intercept him, wanting to beat Yu Hui. Yu Hui was shocked, fled in a hurry, and crossed the Qiantang River all the way.

This incident caused Yu Hui to lose his position as acting Jing Yin. At that time, the Guozi priest Cai Qin (Cai Kang in the History of the Song Dynasty) was also demoted, and the students went to the book to keep Cai Qin. Some officials also impeached Yu Hui and kept Cai.

This is the power of Taixue's students. But then things became different, at least Taixue didn't succeed when he rebelled against Jia Yidao. With the support of Song Lizong, Jia Rudao severely cracked down on Taixue, and those opponents were not able to come forward until after Jia Nidao fell.

"Brother Li, there are few students in Taixue now. Even the students who are studying in Taixue, they also go to the school of science and technology. It's just that he is in Taixue and is preparing to take the imperial examination. I'm just afraid of ......," said the envoy.

If these students were reliable, Li Boyu would have already mobilized the students to do it. The problem is that the number of these people has been reduced to the point where they can't make waves at all.

At present, the imperial examination still has a high status, but in Hangzhou and Jiangnan, the enthusiasm of scholars for the subject system has surpassed that of the imperial examination. More than 100 people were admitted to the imperial examination in three years, and if they didn't pass the examination, they had to eat themselves. Thousands of people are admitted to the department every year, and as long as they pass the relevant level exams, the imperial court arranges jobs. For those who are rich and think they are talented, the imperial examination is what they want. For ordinary people, everyone still thinks that a stable job is the first choice.

What's more, those who rely on the system can also take the imperial examination. This allows more readers to devote themselves to the system.

The problem of female officials that annoys a lot of old-school people is because of the system of accepting girls. There is no shortage of literate women in Lin'an, and many women have come out to be private school teachers. There is also no shortage of women who are very good at reading in official families and large families. When they saw that there were many women among the cadres who had followed Zhao Taiwei from Fujian, they were tempted to run out to study for the department.

The Zhao family does not discriminate against women, and when they pass the exam, the Zhao family arranges jobs for them according to their grades, as well as corresponding further education. Many women have become teachers in schools. According to the latest official system, the teachers of these schools were treated as 'petty officials', and the imperial court registered and made a register of these teachers, and officially gave them a monthly salary.

If you have good grades, you can become a teacher, and if you have very good grades, you can go to the tax department and even work as a clerk in various ministries after further examinations. For example, Li Boyu's eldest daughter Li Wan is married, but she still obtained the qualification of a junior official by studying, and now she is a secretary in the court. Although her income can only support herself, the housing she can apply for is only a single room. But every day when the flying fish suit is put on, and when you go there, no one, including Li Boyu, dares to underestimate it.

The old fritters in the officialdom know that the king of Hades is good at seeing little ghosts, and the name of the little officials with black hearts runs through the history of the Great Song Dynasty in 319 years, especially the small officials of Dali Temple. Let too many officials fall into their hands, and they can get quacks in minutes.

Even so, Li Boyu still said: "Obey the destiny of heaven and do your best." If it really doesn't work, I'll just accept my fate. As long as you do your best, you will have no regrets in the future. ”

When he returned home in the evening, Li Boyu prepared to drink two glasses. Before the dish was ready, his daughter Li Wan arrived. Li Boyu's wife saw that her daughter was wearing a flying fish suit, and she looked at it happily, and then pulled her daughter to dinner. Just when Mrs. Li went to cook, Li Wan said to her father, "Dad." Sima Gong asked me to bring you a letter, but it was enough. ”