The Great Zhou Shengtianzi couldn't bear to leave the virtuous in the wilderness, so he issued a special edict to recruit the virtuous talents in Bian, which spread throughout the entire divine capital like a gust of wind. It caused a great sensation, and for a while, not only the scholars of the poor family, the common people, but also the big families were shocked by this.

Since ancient times, the world has been recommended by the local or court officials to the officials to the emperor, although they are all selected from the family, but also first ask the virtue and talent, and then decide whether to recommend. Because if the person you recommend is corrupt, the person you recommend will naturally be implicated.

Besides, is it enough to be virtuous and talented? Of course not! You have to let others know that you are virtuous and talented, otherwise why should people recommend you? And how do you make yourself an official? So you have to be famous. Just like the ancient saying of Ma Jin's previous life, "raising a high level of prestige", that is, if you are famous enough to let the world know you and be sought after by the world, you can once sit in the position of a high-ranking official.

Just like Wang Anshi, the famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, has been looking forward to 30 years, and is known as "enjoying the world's reputation for 30 years". Once he was worshiped as the prime minister by Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty and presided over the law change.

Because if you have enough fame to go out of the mountain, you can overwhelm many competitors at once. In this way, when Wang Anshi came out of the mountain to become an official, he was naturally unstoppable. Because Wang Anshi has enough fame and is in a high position when he leaves the mountain, naturally there will be no unnecessary gossip about whether he deserves this position or not.

Because the remarks that he was a "great sage" had spread before, then in the eyes of those ordinary people, Wang Anshi had such a reputation and it was natural for him to be in a high position.

The name is too great, and others dare not look down on you.

On the contrary, if your name is too small and people have never heard of it, then the other party will despise you and think that you are a mediocre person, so how can they recommend you.

So in order to succeed, you must first know how to pretend to be something. This is not so much "virtue and talent", but a kind of "momentum", a kind of artificial "momentum", so that your name can be spread.

If you have developed a lot of fame and let many people know, those local officials have to consider you when recommending officials, whether you are a real celebrity or a fake celebrity, they have to recommend you, because if you don't recommend you, you are snubbing talents, and you are not thinking about the country and being despised by others.

The wealth and connections of the great families can allow their children to cultivate fame and fame without leaving their homes. But the poor scholars from small landlords don't have such good conditions, so how can they not be hard enough in the background? can only study with all his might.

In the long years of accumulating fame, one day I am fortunate to become a generation of great scribes, and at that time, let alone the family, even the court will give you three points of face. But how many people can endure loneliness, Taoguang has been obscure for so long, wasting time?

Therefore, without the help of the family behind him, it is so difficult to step into the official career.

But now it's different, now the Holy Son of Heaven is in the court, and he has given them a completely different way to advance, that is, the imperial examination!

You don't need to spend money to maintain fame, you don't need to have connections, and you don't need to take refuge in those powerful families, this time you put talent in the first place, and whoever has talent can be an official. This is simply an opportunity given by God, how could these poor scholars be willing to miss it?

Those impoverished and destitute scholars seemed to have regained their vitality at once, shouting and high-fived in congratulations. On the other hand, the faces of those nobles of the great families are not good-looking, in their opinion, this is a way to break the rules, but today's heroes and talents make them dare not act rashly.

Besides, except for the eldest grandson Wuji and Kou Zhun in the cabinet, they are all members of the big family, but they were frightened by Ma Jin's series of actions some time ago, and they saw that the attitude of the current saint was extremely tough, so they didn't dare to dissuade them at all.

Fortunately, the current saint only said that it would be tried out, and if this imperial examination did not work locally, it is expected that the current saint would not risk the world's condemnation and forcibly implement it. And it is only limited to the Divine Capital, which does not affect their interests, and the clans are resigned to it.

Besides, there are a few talented people in this cold family, which are far inferior to the people cultivated by these big families, so the people of the big family don't believe that the cold family can ride on their heads at all, and in the end, His Majesty still has to rely on them.

Thinking about it this way, they made a decision, and hurriedly picked up the pen and wrote letters one after another, so that the children in the family who were in a hurry would come to Shendu to take the exam.

"Hmph, it's okay to open a branch and take a scholar, let those broken and poor sour people see, the family will always be the family family, the poor will always be the poor family, our family has been inherited for countless years, and it is not comparable to those broken and poor families at all!"

……

Shendu is among the cheap shops

An old man in a fancy costume walked in, looked around and walked to a place near the window in the lobby and sat down, the shopkeeper of the wine shop was also a person with vicious eyes, and at a glance he saw that the old man's identity was extraordinary and hurriedly stepped forward and said:

"This guest officer, the lobby is too noisy, I'm afraid it will affect the guest officer's Yaxing, or the guest officer will move to the upstairs private room, where it will be quieter......"

"This doesn't have to be...... The old man likes lively places. ”

The old man smiled and rejected the shopkeeper's kindness, and the shopkeeper retreated when he saw the old man's resolute attitude. This wine shop is just an ordinary wine shop in Shendu, but it is also full of people coming and going, noisy, so it is not lively. And the old man in front of him is Bi Yong, the deputy envoy of the Song State Mission who has just come to the Shendu of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The Great Song Empire is located at the western pole of the Great Zhou Dynasty, separated from the Great Zhou by a country. Speaking of which, the Great Song Empire is also a first-class prosperous country among the five regions of the world, because it is close to the inner star sea and is connected to several countries in the middle of the world, the market trade and its prosperity, commerce and development, the country's wealth is famous in the five regions of the world.

The humanities of the Song Kingdom are also incomparably brilliant, and the literary style is prevalent, and the famous scholars and Confucians abound, and it is a famous place in the world. It's a pity that although the Song Empire is also known as one of the four great powers in the Eastern Regions, it is only in terms of national strength and economy, because of the Song Dynasty's emphasis on literature and light on military force, the low status of the military, it is no longer prosperous, the army is weak and weak, and its military strength is comparable to some of the stronger small countries in the Eastern Regions, and it is far worse than the other three empires.

It's like a human being, if you have something more than you can bear, it will definitely bring disaster, and this Song Kingdom is a big piece of fat, attracting countless hungry wolves to eyeing it.

And Bi Yong came to the Great Zhou for only one purpose, that is, the fiftieth birthday of the Empress Dowager of the Great Zhou is approaching, and the Empress Dowager Xiao of the Great Zhou is the cousin of the current lord of the Song State, and the lord of the Song State naturally wants to send envoys to celebrate her birthday.

Bi Yong pretended to drink, but his two ears quietly listened to the chatter of the people around him, and soon the sound of a table of people talking was noticed by him.

"Komeito, how are you going to do these days?" I only heard one of them ask.

The scholar who was asked shook his head with a wry smile and said, "I don't dare to say this, I have been wandering in the Shendu for a year, and a lot of knowledge has been wasted, so it is really not easy to pick it up."

The questioning scholar still said politely: "Gongming's talent is obvious to all, I don't dare to say anything else, I think it is definitely eight or nine in the exam." ”

Another scholar at the same table sighed and said, "Thanks to the wisdom of the saint, otherwise, when will a poor student like me have a bright future." ”

The conversation between the three attracted Bi Yong's attention, so Bi Yong smiled and walked to the three of them, and said: "The three little gentlemen are well-educated at first glance, and the old man has a glass of thin wine, I wonder if the three little gentlemen can appreciate it?" ”

Seeing that Bi Yong's bearing was extraordinary, the three scholars thought that it was a noble person who invited them, so they hurriedly got up and saluted and agreed.

During the banquet, Bi Yong's conversation and knowledge made the three scholars feel broken, and they glanced at each other, and one of them asked: "The old gentleman must have come to the Shendu this time for the imperial examination, right......?"

Bi Yong pretended to be surprised and asked, "Imperial examination?" What is the Imperial Examination? The three of them were stunned, the old gentleman in front of them didn't know what the imperial examination was?

When Bi Yong saw the expressions of the three of them, he explained with a smile: "I am a native of the Song Kingdom, and I went to the Great Zhou Divine Court today, and I really don't know what the three of them are talking about about the imperial examination?" ”

One of the scholars hurriedly said: "The old gentleman first came to Shendu, and it is normal not to know about the imperial examination, a few days ago, today's holy edict will hold the imperial examination and recruit talents in Bian, as long as he passes the examination, regardless of his status and status, he will be given fame and fame, and he will become an official in the court, which is a great good thing for people in the poor family such as me." ”

Bi Yong's heart was shocked, and he secretly sighed: "This Great Zhou Emperor is really bold." Bi Yong understood what was going on as soon as he heard it, you must know that all countries in the world are the same, they are all bureaucratic systems with the family as the core. This Great Zhou Emperor dared to shake the foundation of these great families, so that Bi Yongdu had to say "Admire!" ”。

Bi Yong gathered his mind and quickly started talking with these three scholars again, during which he always inquired about some things in the Great Zhou court without a trace, and he wanted to hear what these scholars thought about the Great Zhou court.

When they talked about the Great Zhou Emperor, they all gave words like "the male lord", "the British lord", and "the immortal holy lord" without exception.

Bi Yong only showed some doubts slightly, and the three scholars frowned and said:

"Today, the saint has killed the traitor Li Shifang to clean up the Qing Dynasty, suppressed the rebellion of the King of Jin, calmed down the troubles around me, and appointed capable ministers and officials.

Bi Yong smiled bitterly in his heart, the lord of the Great Zhou Dynasty openly selected talents through the imperial examination, dared to be the first in the world, and had already won the hearts of these poor scholars. However, Bi Yong was still puzzled and said: "The old man has heard that Lord Zhou is cowardly, and it is not enough to keep the remainder......"

"That's all hearsay, it's all nonsense!" One of the three scholars immediately denied it, "When there are those rumors in the saint today, when he has just ascended to the throne and is young, and the powerful ministers will inevitably be controlled by others in the court, and besides, there are a chaotic party such as the king of Jin who is always staring at the current saint, if the current saint is not careful, he will have to worry about his life, how can he not be cautious in such a situation?" ”

"That's right!" The other two scholars also nodded approvingly, and said:

"At that time, the current saint was weak, if he couldn't bear to bear the burden of humiliation, and these traitors and snakes, how could he calmly arrange to kill such traitors like Li Shifang with a thunderous blow, which shows that today's saint is not a faint and cowardly person, on the contrary, I look at what Your Majesty has done during this period of time, it is a rare and enlightened holy lord!"

The other two also nodded frequently in agreement, and Bi Yong smiled bitterly: "In this way, it seems that the old man is lonely and unheard of the rumors, and the old man punished himself with three cups to make amends to the three little gentlemen." ”

Then Bi Yong listened to them with great interest what the lord of the Great Zhou did in this month, when he heard that the lord of the Great Zhou killed Li Shifang, he was already very surprised, and then later heard that the army of the Great Zhou court pacified the rebellion of the king of Jin in the middle of the month, and broke the famous general Wu Jochi and 200,000 iron horsemen of the Liao State in Bingzhou, and defeated hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses under the command of the lord of Hanhai in Youzhou in the north, and established the Privy Council, the celebrant and so on, and concentrated the power in his hands, which shocked Bi Yong beyond measure. Is this the same person as the Great Zhou Emperor that they were probed by the Imperial Division of the Great Song Dynasty?

You must immediately report what you have seen and heard to the lord of the country, hoping that the lord of the country will not listen to those rumors so as not to do anything out of the ordinary, causing the dissatisfaction of the Emperor of the Great Zhou.