Not long after, Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun also learned the news of the defeat on their side, and learned through the newspaper that their supervisor Gao Chongjian was punished.

This made Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun at a loss for a while.

Because from the beginning to the end, they did not make any strategic preparations after victory and defeat.

Moreover, the previous victory made them even more slack, and they focused more on the internal struggle for power.

So much so that Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun have actually been fighting in the infighting around the fraud in the imperial examination recently!

Here's the thing.

Wang Wenkui relied on his military power to control the government, so he manipulated the candidates for the chief examiner of the imperial examination, and took the opportunity to ask for bribes, so that the chief examiner only admitted those he was willing to admit.

In this way, it is natural that rich and powerful children can be in the first place.

And for Lu Zhangzu, a poor scholar who came to the Guangdong puppet dynasty to participate in the imperial examination only because of his respect for science, it is impossible to win the first place, because in fact, the admitted person has already been decided.

It's just that Zhao Shichun was unwilling to let Wang Wenkui take charge of the court alone, so he used his connections to leak the news, and deliberately created public opinion, provoking the scholars of his own faction to unite with the unsuccessful scholars to denounce Wang Wenkui.

For Lu Zhangzu and others, they were indeed very angry that Wang Wenkui desecrated the imperial examination.

Because you must know that they have betrayed the real Ming court for the sake of science, and they have traveled thousands of miles to the south, far from home, just to be loyal to only a court that respects science and abides by the ancestral system.

As a result, this court did not admit them, and it was not because they were not strong enough, but because they were not rich and powerful enough.

Therefore, Lu Zhangzu and these poor scholars were naturally very angry.

And Wang Wenkui is not easy to completely turn his face with Zhao Shichun, who represents the interests of another part of the scholar clan.

After all, he himself is a member of the scholars, not a real martial artist, and after discussing with Zhao Shichun, he reached an agreement that he would no longer exclude dissidents, and was willing to give half of the quota to Zhao Shichun, so that Zhao Shichun could make a fortune, and dismissed the examiner and beheaded the examiner on the grounds that the examiner's negligence caused the examination papers to be stolen out for temporary appointments; And Zhao Shichun agreed not to mobilize Shizi to oppose him.

So, next, the puppet court re-held the imperial examination.

The difference between this time and the last time is that not only Wang Wenkui took bribes to sell admission places, but Zhao Shichun also took bribes to sell admission places, and they communicated with each other first to arrange which Jinshi to admit.

These Jinshi who are to be admitted are naturally still the children of the bureaucrats of the scholar clan who have contributed money or have a relationship with Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun.

Naturally, this time, no one will have to make decisions for the scholars who have not been admitted.

Soon, Lu Zhangzu found that after taking the exam again, his poor scholars from the north still did not get the first place.

Lu Zhangzu had to take his time again to see Zhao Shichun.

Because when Lu Zhangzu came to see Zhao Shichun after he fell last time, Zhao Shichun saw him, and praised him for his high literary attainments and the qualifications of the champion, and he made a severe criticism of the examiner's ability to read the papers, which also gave Lu Zhangzu the confidence to denounce the injustice of the imperial examination later.

Therefore, after Lu Zhangzu fell this time, he still wanted to come to meet Zhao Shichun, and let Zhao Shichun analyze and analyze why they, the poor scholars from the north, still fell into the first place.

"Get out! A group of shabby scholars, they don't look at what kind of goods they are, they really think that they are Wenqu stars? I even dared to come to the Prime Minister's Mansion to ask for advice! ”

But when Lu Zhangzu and other northern scholars came, they hadn't seen Zhao Shichun, so they were beaten and scolded by Zhao Shichun's house slaves and driven out.

The minister's mansion was also often referred to as the prime minister's mansion in this era, so the slave also called his master's mansion the prime minister's mansion.

Lu Zhangzu didn't expect this to be the result, and he couldn't figure out why Zhao Shichun refused to see him now and didn't read his current texts in person.

What made Lu Zhangzu even more stimulated was that he also saw the results of the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty in the eleventh year of the Apocalypse from the old newspaper "Daming Daily" that circulated to Guangdong.

It turned out that nearly seventy percent of the scholars were directly admitted after the imperial examination, and the "Daming Daily" did a survey of the scholars' family backgrounds before admitting them, and then according to the admission results, it was found that the proportion of scholars from poor backgrounds who were admitted reached more than sixty percent!

Because after nine years of reform, many ordinary families have greatly improved their family conditions, and the base of poor scholars who take the examination has long exceeded that of the children of rich bureaucrats, and in addition to the fairness of admission, many children of bureaucrats and scholars refuse to participate in the imperial examination after the reform, so the proportion of poor children admitted is more than half.

There are even many scholars who have zero points in arithmetic and are still admitted on the basis of merit because they are considered to be willing to comply with the results of the reform.

This made Lu Zhangzu cry on the spot, he didn't expect that he would sincerely come to join the puppet dynasty, but he couldn't be an official, but many of his classmates who stayed in his hometown were already in the middle.

Turning back to the words, although Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun have been busy with the imperial examination during this time, not only have they not opened up the flow of all social strata, but even because of the reduction in the number of admission places, more outstanding scholars have been blocked from entering the upper echelons, not to mention, they have also wasted a lot of time, and they have not reformed the finances in time and made great efforts.

So much so that now after knowing the defeat, Wang Wenkui and Zhao Shichun don't know what to do for a while.

"Let's recruit first."

Wang Wenkui said first.

"But the recruitment of soldiers needs to be paid, and the money asks who will pay it? The official gentry paid food and errands in one piece, this is something that only traitors like Zhang Gui can do, we naturally can't do this, and the gentry want to be exempted. ”

Zhao Shichun said.

Wang Wenkui said: "Then you can only suffer the people!" ”

Zhao Shichun nodded.

Because Wang Wenkui, Zhao Shichun and others set up a separate imperial court because they opposed the reform, they naturally would not cut the flesh of their own ruling class when they needed to increase financial expenditure, and at this time, they still further squeezed the ordinary Han people.

"The emperor's edict is to levy an additional five cents per household. Wait and pay quickly, and sit on the deadline! ”

For a time, the burden on the people in the ruling area of the puppet dynasty increased greatly.

Because these puppet officials would also take advantage of the opportunity to increase their salaries to accumulate wealth and accelerate the annexation of land, this led to a large increase in the number of displaced people in the puppet dynasty, and a large increase in the number of exiles.

The key is that the rulers of the puppet dynasty also began to pull strong men because of the big defeat and serious attrition of the army, and because there are not many young and middle-aged people who can be caught, after all, many have been sacrificed into large domestic slaves because the taxes are too heavy, so even many poor scholars who have no foundation have been arrested.

"What are you doing! Even I want to catch it! I am a meritorious scholar! ”

Lu Zhang's group was also arrested at this time.

"There is no you in the list of exempt soldiers in this government, it seems that you have been stripped of your reputation, and now you are also going to serve in the military to suppress thieves, come with us!"

The official thus said.

"What kind of thief, you are a thief yourself!"

Lu Zhang's group was really speechless, and in a hurry, he scolded directly.

Syllable!

Syllable!

The official was furious because of this, and whipped him several times: "Presumptuous! Dare to say such a rebellious statement, believe it or not, Lao Tzu is going to kill you now! ”

"Let's go!"

Lu Zhang's group didn't dare to say anything, so he could only cry secretly, and he didn't dare to say more because his hands were tied behind his back.

But what he couldn't understand was why the small southern court, which restored the ancestral system and restored the exclusive respect for Zhuzi's learning, made his life worse, and wanted to gain fame but couldn't, and now he is still driven to serve in the military!

Fa Zheng Lu Zhang's group now regrets running out.

Now he only hopes that the Ming officials and troops will come to pacify this southern puppet dynasty and let him get free!

He doesn't want to be famous, he just wants to be his own small landlord quietly as before, and if he reforms the system, he will pay for grain, as long as he doesn't toss himself.

"When will Master Wang come! Whining! ”

After Lu Zhang's group went to serve in the rebel barracks, he knelt by the Yangtze River with a bird gun in his arms, looked north and cried.