Yichun Terrace is in the west of Yuanzhou Mansion Xue Palace, here was originally a hill, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Yuanguang six years Yichun Marquis Liu Cheng set up five in the city and around it, the most magnificent and lofty one is Yichun Terrace, more than 1,400 years of vicissitudes of time, now the other four have long been barren hazel weeds, obliteration and ignition, only Yichun Tai has been built in all dynasties, the ancestral hall of the building is all over, has become a beautiful scenery in Yichun.

On the fourth day of the first month of June, Lie Licheng, Liu Xingzhi and others came to the Fuxue Palace outside the Yichun stage at two o'clock, and invited Peng Xiaolian and Fu and Yi to be the intermediary notarization also arrived together, and dozens of other students came to see the lively students, scholars and idlers, and at three o'clock in the morning, there were more and more people, but they did not see Zeng Yu coming, Lie Licheng said: "The madman surnamed Zeng should not escape from the battle, right?" ”

Liu Xingzhi said: "I think that Zeng Yu is very conceited, he should come, didn't Brother Lie send a servant to visit the inn where Zeng Yu lived at Zhuangyuanzhou Wharf?" ”

Lie Licheng said: "Mr. Peng, Brother Fu, Brother Yi, then let's go to Yichun Terrace first." ”

Yichun Terrace is located in the mountain about forty or fifty zhang high, Yichun Shiren and a group of 100 people swept through the "Spring Breeze Pavilion" and "Pingxu", "Jicui" two squares, from the left side of the Yangshan Ancestral Hall that worships the Dragon King of Yangshan, and then there is the Three Gentlemen's Shrine and the Han Wen Gong Ancestral Hall, the Three Gentlemen's Shrine is newly built during the Jiajing period, and the three people who worship Zhou Dunyi and Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi are three people, and these three Song Confucians are now also the sages of the Confucian Temple -

When everyone went up to Yichun Terrace, one of Lie's servants also hurriedly ran up and said to Lie Licheng: "Young master, the owner of that inn said that Zeng Yu's master and servant went out early in the morning. ”

"Got out early in the morning?" Lie Licheng frowned and said, "You won't really run away." ”

Liu Xingzhi was fine and asked the servant: "You asked the shopkeeper, is the luggage of the Zeng family's master and servant still there?" ”

The servant of the Lie clan wiped his sweat and said: "The villain was in a hurry to come back to report the news, and forgot to ask." ”

Lie Licheng said angrily: "Zeng Yuzhi is not as good as me and Xingzhi, he must have run away, this is playing with me Yichun Shiren, it's annoying!" ”

Peng Xiaolian, who is over 50 years old, said: "How can this be reasonable, I will go to visit the Yi Jiao of Pingxiang County, and such a person with no character will not be allowed to participate in the scientific examination in the future." ”

Peng Xiaolian is famous, after the graduation of Nanjing Guozijian became a magistrate in a remote area of Yunnan, he had some savings, because he was despised as an official, and he couldn't get a good job, so he resigned from the official to be his rich man in the township, and now he is the gentry leader in this area of Yichun Beicheng, because the jinshi are all officials outside, and they are called the boss-

Liu Xingzhi said: "This Zeng Yu is really weird, my brothers and I asked several Confucian children from Pingxiang, and they all said that they had never heard of Zeng Yu, if he lied his name to deceive me, but there is indeed Zeng Yu's name among the candidates in Pingxiang, it is really strange." ”

Just when everyone was speculating and criticizing Zeng Yu, a clear voice sounded on the side of the stage: "The first day has just arrived, why are you so impatient, and you are just talking about people behind your back, but you still have such malice, which really makes your teeth cold." ”

Everyone on the stage turned their heads to look, and saw a green-shirted gentleman calmly climbing the stairs, followed by a Xi servant with a bookbag on his back.

……

Zeng Yu and Sixi master and servant two people just dawn from the north gate into the city, bypass the Fuxue Palace to climb the Yichun platform, go up the mountain stone steps to circle hundreds of steps, the stone wall on the side of the mountain road can be seen from time to time to engrave the big characters of Zhu, such as "the first river and mountain in Yuanzhou", "the famous spot in the county" and so on, there are also inscription poems, Zeng Yu looked all the way, found that Yan Song also has a poem inscribed on the stone wall, the poem said: "The pine and fir revert Guo Ling wind, the pavilion is empty and the scenery moves. The rock trees have changed due to the chronological order, and the mountains and clouds are not suitable for the vulgar."

——The year of the poem is Zhengde eight years, more than 40 years ago, Yan Song is the Jinshi of Hongzhi 18 years, selected as the Hanlin Academy, three years later awarded the post of editor, Xuan Ding Wei returned to his hometown, and lived in idleness for eight years, this poem should be Yan Song at that time You Yichun Tai inscription, the poem is clear and can be recited, but the engraving is too bright, presumably it is newly filled, single Yan Song, next to several inscriptions are not painted, in order to set off the popularity of the poems of the first assistant.

Zeng Yu smiled and shook his head under the poem of Yan Song, at the turn of the stone steps, there is a pavilion wing, this is the spring breeze pavilion, there are more than 1,000 peach trees and plum trees planted on all sides, if it is spring, peach blossoms and plum blossoms are in full bloom, it should be more refreshing and pleasing to the eye.

There are quite a lot of ancestral halls all the way, after the Yichun Hou Temple, and then above is the Yichun platform, the high platform in front of you is the prefect of Yuanzhou during the Zhengde period to raise funds to rebuild, forty or fifty years, the horizontal steps are mossy and mottled, the pine and cypress behind the stage are lush, it is already very quaint, think about Yan Song's poem is so dazzling, and the whole mountain is incompatible, which sycophancy is this, it is not a good sign to look at, Yan will be defeated.

Zeng Yu and the two came early, did not meet other people all the way, climbed the Yichun platform, the red sun is rising, the golden light is ten thousand roads, the whole Yichun city is in full view, the eaves are dyed gold, continuous and parallel, the Xiujiang waves not far away are shining around the city, I don't know where the bell sounds, Zeng Yu looks around, I don't see where there is a temple, can the hill in this city also hide the ancient temple?

Sixi looked at Yichun City, which was uneven with tens of thousands of people, and was very excited, pointing to the row of examination booths at the bottom of the mountain and asking, "Which examination booth did the young master take the exam in the day before yesterday?" ”

Zeng Yu pointed out: "The Sitang examination shed should be the second one on the right." ”

After a while, people began to gather at the foot of the mountain, these people were either young people, or shirts, and there were also people with Eguanbo, and there were vendors selling fruits and sweet wine who heard the news, and the sound of selling was faintly transmitted to Yichun Terrace.

Sixi said: "Young master, those people have also arrived." ”

Zeng Yu said: "Let's go to the Hanwen Ancestral Hall below and wait for a while, and then talk about it when those people come to the stage." ”

The master and servant went down to the Hanwen Ancestral Hall, there are four words in the Hanwen Ancestral Hall, which is said to be Han Yu's handwriting, listening to Zeng Yu explain the meaning of these four words, Sixi said: "Young master, today we will count us as the first to go up the mountain, we are the most diligent, God rewards diligence, and the young master will win today's competition." ”

Zeng Yu smiled: "Good color, good color." ”

Hearing the noisy voices of people on the mountain road outside the ancestral hall, Yichun Shiren went to Yichun Terrace, Zeng Yu straightened his clothes, bowed to the statue of Han Yu, and followed him on stage with Sixi, and he heard the mixed voice of accusing him on the stage, and immediately refuted it, while boarding Yichun Terrace, the stage was quiet for a while, Songbai Sensen, well, this appearance is good-

"This is Zeng Yu?"

"This is Zeng Yu?"

Several Confucian students around Lie Licheng and Liu Xingzhi hurriedly asked in a low voice, and Liu Xingzhi nodded and said, "Exactly." After that, he and Lie Licheng came out of the crowd and arched their hands: "Zeng Gongzi has arrived, it's good to arrive, it's good to arrive." ”

Lie Licheng said: "Zeng Gongzi, I will introduce a few local sages, this is Peng Xiaolian, Peng Xiaolian is knowledgeable, and the current text is mellow and elegant, today the three of us will meet friends with the text, please Peng Xiaolian presided, and the county's two excellent taste and excellent students as support, do you have any objections?" ”

Zeng Yu said that he had no objections, and gave gifts to Peng Juren and Fu and Yi one by one, and saw Jing Yi Jing Yuanzhi in the crowd, and gave his hand away.

Peng Juren looked at Zeng Yu twice, signaled everyone to be quiet, and asked Zeng Yu: "Do you know Mr. Liu Wanqing in Pingxiang?" "Liu Wanqing is a famous Confucian in Pingxiang, and there are many disciples, Peng Juren wants to preside over the notarization of this literary fight, and it is indispensable to ask Zeng Yu about his origin and teacher, so as not to inadvertently offend people with backgrounds.

But I heard Zeng Yu reply: "The late student is not from Pingxiang, and the late student is in Yongfeng County, Guangxin Prefecture." "Rather than being rumored in private, it's better to make it clear in person.

There was an uproar on the Yichun platform, and Lie Licheng wondered, and asked: "Since you are from Guangxin Mansion, why did you come to my Yuanzhou to take the exam, isn't this an impostor?" ”

Zeng Yu briefly said that he had a slight change from the previous statement that he felt a cold during the Guangxin Mansion Examination in early April, so that his composition was not good, and he was recommended by Lu Hanlin, a sage of the country, and Huang Tixue was gracious, so he was able to rush to Yuanzhou to make up the examination, and there was no fraud, and read aloud on the spot the "Huang Gongshu" written by himself to Huang Tixue——

The Yichun platform was silent, and when Zeng Yu finished reading aloud, there were all kinds of surprise, doubt, admiration, and admiration tones came out one after another, Zeng Yu said: "Presumably some people will say that this is just your side of the story, how can you believe it, Gongzi Lie and Liu Gongzi both insisted that it took fifty taels of silver to bribe to get Huang Tixue's praise in the court——"

As soon as this remark came out, all the scholars were talking about it again, and it seemed that the rumors of buying a talent for fifty taels of silver were widely spread.

Lie Licheng shouted: "I didn't say that, and Xingzhi didn't say that. ”

Zeng Yu said: "Anyway, the contract of Wendou has been established, Peng Xiaolian and Fu and Yi are born here, and the three of you and I will compete three times on this Yichun platform, if I can't compare with Lie and Liu Ersheng in two of the three games, then I will carry the burden and go home, and take the test again in three years." "Let's talk about it, look at Lie and Liu.

Lie Licheng said: "Okay, if the two of us lose, one hundred taels of silver will be given to you." ”

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