In the afternoon of the next day, Fan Ning submitted an application for a study tour to Zhao Xiuwen, the chief professor of Luming Academy.

Zhao Xiuwen looked at the application form, his brows furrowed slightly, "How to go to Yin County, and there are nine people to go?" ”

Fan Ning scratched his head and smiled: "Isn't it okay in Yin County?" ”

"Of course, it's just ....."

Zhao Xiuwen was a little embarrassed, the county scientific name text stipulates that students are not allowed to form factions.

Although the other students at the county school jokingly called them the Nines, he also knew that it was just a joke.

But despite this, Zhao Xiuwen felt that he still needed to remind Fan Ning.

"Fanning, you should know some of the school's rules."

"I know that school rules have always been my extracurricular reading!"

Although Zhao Xiuwen said it very tactfully, Fan Ning knew very well what he was talking about.

He smiled at Zhao Xiuwen and said, "We didn't go to fight in groups, nor did we erect a flag of the Nine-People's Party on the roof of the dormitory.

Mingren and Mingli are in business, and others can't get a penny of benefits, we just have a good relationship, and we often sit together to eat, so the owner doesn't need to be so nervous! ”

"I'm just giving you a heads-up!"

Zhao Xiuwen signed his application, handed it to Fan Ning and said, "First of all, warn you, if the nine of you cause something outside, I won't be able to protect you!" ”

"How can it? It's just going out to enjoy the mountains and rivers for a month! What can you cause? ”

Fan Ning took the application with a hippie smile, saluted Zhao Xiuwen, turned around and quickly slipped away.

I heard Zhao Xiuwen angrily reprimanded from afar, "What kind of sightseeing, you are going to study!" ”

．．．．．．．

Although it is called a study tour, in the eyes of the students, it is actually to go out to enjoy the mountains and rivers, so that every student is full of interest and expectations.

Everyone quickly made a plan and decided to go to Mingzhou by water, Li Dashou's family started to run the cargo, and his father took the initiative to arrange a large passenger ship for them that could seat twenty people.

In fact, Fanning wanted to take the sea route, take the Loujiang River to Kunshan County by boat, enter the Yangtze River from there, and then take the sea route to Mingzhou Port.

But considering that Lu Youwei and Duan Yu were physically weak and might not be able to withstand the bumps on the sea, Fan Ning finally decided to take the inland river.

Jiangnan in late January is still in the end of winter, and there is still a bit of chill in the air.

Everyone sat in the cabin to play cards and chat, playing cards was initiated by the Akihito Mingli brothers, they played the fight Oiran, a bit like today's blackjack play, with the money in the fan card to play, touch three cards, compare the size, with nine as the upper limit.

Simple and bright, just fight for luck, win or lose immediately, win or lose is very small, a handful of wins and losses are less than a few cents, more than nine cents, and finally the winner invites a guest to dinner.

This kind of douhua is extremely popular among the people of the Great Song Dynasty, suitable for all ages, and is very popular even in the county school.

Compared with the other companions who gathered together to shout, Fanning sat quietly in front of the window, staring at the scenery and folklore on both sides of the river.

The winter scenery is indeed relatively monotonous, all the way south is a bleak gray color, bare willow trees, the residual snow on the shore has not completely melted, and the pedestrians in bloated clothes, everything is no different from the countryside of Wu County.

In fact, Fanning was not appreciating the scenery, he was thinking about some news that Wang Anshi had vaguely revealed in his letter, he had implemented several reforms in Yinxian County in the past two years, but the reforms were not smooth.

From the words in the letter, Fan Ning could feel the anguish in Wang Anshi's heart and hoped that he could help him get out of the quagmire of reform.

However, Wang Anshi did not make it clear in the letter what kind of reform it was.

It can be said that Wang Anshi decided to implement some moderate reform measures in Yinxian only after receiving his own suggestions.

But even the most modest reforms will trigger a huge backlash once they trigger the interests of the powerful.

Although Yin County is small, it is also complete, and the actual difficulty of implementing reforms in Yin County as a county order is similar to that of implementing reforms in the world as a prime minister.

To a certain extent, Fanning hopes that Wang Anshi's reform in Yinxian County will fail, which will make him more deeply understand the difficulties of reform.

This is the reason why Wang Anshi wrote to him twice last year to ask for help, but he didn't agree to go to Yin County, but he still came, after all, he promised Wang Anshi.

"Hey! I'm still looking at the scenery! ”

Su Liang, who was dressed in a green robe, sat down cross-legged with a smile across from him, his movements as agile as a large grasshopper.

"Lost?"

Fanning asked with a smile as he glanced back at his companions who were playing cards.

"After losing thirty yuan, Lu Youwei's luck for that guy is surprisingly good."

"Fanning, you seem to have something on your mind?" Su Liang glanced at Fan Ning and asked cautiously.

They had lived in the same dormitory for two years, they knew each other very well, and everyone got together to have fun, but Fanning sat here alone and watched the scenery, which was not his usual style.

"I can't talk about anything, I'm just thinking about the imperial examination." Fanning smiled.

"When you talk about the imperial examination, I think of something!"

Su Liang patted his head and said with a smile: "The selection of the children's examination in Kunshan County ended yesterday, and ten county scholars were selected, and it is said that all of them are very powerful, surpassing the previous sessions. ”

"I heard that they are conducting general examinations?" Fanning asked curiously.

Su Liang nodded, "I have a relative, one year older than me, he also participated in the selection of Kunshan County, as long as they are interested, they can participate in the registration exam, I heard that a total of 1,200 people participated in the exam, divided into the preliminary examination and the second examination, and finally selected ten county scholars from 1,200 people." ”

"Actually, it's similar to us, except that we're two years ahead of schedule."

"Wujiang County was carried out at the same time as us, and they also selected ten people at that time, and I heard that they were sent to a certain place for closed training for two years, in contrast, we are like herding sheep, and we can still go on a study tour!"

"If you don't go on a study tour to understand the people's livelihood, how to do countermeasures during the imperial examination?"

Fan Ning took a sip of tea, shook his head and smiled: "I don't think Wujiang County's approach is necessarily feasible, and only one of them took the Tongzi exam last time, and they didn't see where Gao Ming went?" ”

"Brother, that's because Changzhou County is too powerful, the imperial court only gave Pingjiang Mansion a total of five boys to take the test, and Changzhou County took four, but none of our Wu County were admitted to the exam, Kunshan County and Changshu County were also wiped out, and it was good for Wujiang County to be able to pass the exam."

Su Liang sighed deeply: "I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, if you can't pass the exam, you have to wait for another three years." ”

Fan Ning patted him on the arm, smiled and comforted him: "There is still more than half a year, don't think too much, we just need to do our best, even if we wait for another three years, we are only fifteen or sixteen years old, we actually have one more chance than others." ”

"You have a point!"

Su Liang was silent for a moment and said, "Our children's exam is actually earned, and there is no burden if we fail the test." ”

Having said that, Su Liang couldn't help but look out the window and sighed lowly.

．．．．．．．

After sailing for three days, the passenger ship finally arrived in Qiantang County, Hangzhou in the early morning.

The boat was to replenish supplies in Qiantang County and rest for a day, and everyone got off the boat and decided to go to West Lake to play.

Fanning couldn't go with them, he was going to visit Bao Zheng.

Last year, Bao Zheng inspected Pingjiang Mansion twice, met Fan Ning once, and at the beginning of the year he received a letter from Bao Zheng, and I am afraid that he will be transferred back to the capital in a few months.

Bao Zheng specially invited him to come to Qiantang County to sit down, this time they passed by Qiantang County, and it was really a bit unreasonable not to visit Bao Zheng.

Qiantang County is the capital of the Wuyue Kingdom of the Qian family, the city is very large, the economy is prosperous, the population is large, and many first-level institutions of the two Zhejiang roads are set up here.

The official office of the transshipment envoy is responsible for the transportation and allocation of grain and grass materials, and the taxes of the state and county are collected by the local government and then handed over to the transshipment department.

or stored in the warehouse of the transshipment division, or shipped to the capital,

Every year, after the budget of each local government is approved by the imperial court, it is allocated to the local government by the Transit Department, which in a sense holds the power to allocate money and property.

The Liangzhejiang Road Transit Envoy's Office was not far from the West Lake, and Fanning hired an ox cart and soon arrived at the office.

There was still some distance from the Si Ya, and I saw hundreds of people kneeling on the ground and kowtowing and shouting grievances.

This made Fan Ning a little stunned, it was the third year that he had come to the Great Song Dynasty, and it was the first time he had seen the people kneeling in front of the yamen and shouting grievances.

And the one who knelt was actually the yamen of the transfer envoy, which was a bit confusing.

If you still feel unfair, you can go to the criminal department to file a complaint, but it will not be the turn of the yamen.

If it must be far-fetched, then only the people of the shipping industry will come to avenge their grievances, and there will not be enough official ships for transportation, so sometimes they will requisition civilian ships and then settle the bill.

At this time, there will be some contradictions and disputes.

"Master Qingtian, let the people be in charge!"

A group of people knelt in front of the gate and cried out in mourning, "The government is pressing people too much, we can't live anymore." ”

Fan Ning became more and more confused, it seems that it is not a lawsuit from the boat owner, and at this time Bao Zheng has not yet taken office in Kaifeng Mansion, and has not yet obtained the title of 'Bao Qingtian', he dares to compete with the powerful in the imperial court, and he has a reputation for integrity, but he is not yet famous among the people.

At this time, the official gate of the Transshipment Division 'squeaked! It opened, and I saw the chief officer Bao Zheng walking out of the gate with a gloomy face.