This candidate for the chief examiner, Liu Zhi originally planned to let Taifu Ma Rong serve as the candidate, and he was competent enough in terms of knowledge and qualifications.

Moreover, he is old, and he has no achievements in politics, and he has more than 1,000 disciples, so he is not worried about his formation of a party for personal gain.

But this year, his disciples participated in too many exams, and most of them entered the big exam, so in order to avoid suspicion, he could only give up.

The candidates recommended by the ministers, because there was no one who could compare with Huang Qiong and Ma Rong, were not convinced by each other, and they didn't need Liu Zhi to make a move, so they were already eliminated in the court discussion.

According to Liu Zhi's meaning, he doesn't want to find a candidate with strong political capital, so wouldn't this encourage his power?

At this time, Ma Rong recommended a person to him, Shangshu Zhou Fu.

Who is blessed this week?

Ganling Zhou Fu, is Liu Zhi's master when he was the Marquis of Liwu, he was a famous man, and Mrs. Yun admired his name and specially asked for his son to teach.

Although Liu Zhi crossed over and returned all the knowledge he taught, he was also the emperor's enlightenment teacher after all.

The Han respected the teacher, and the emperor naturally could not be taken lightly, so Zhou Fu rose to prominence and was promoted to Shangshu.

Liu Zhi was a puppet before, and he was still reluctant, and Zhou Fu, as his master, was naturally very low-key and had no sense of existence.

However, since Liu Zhi became pro-government, he has begun to become active, and in the name of the emperor, he also has a little prestige.

Liu Zhi has never been very interested in him, and he doesn't say how much knowledge this person has, but he is full of celebrity style and likes to talk at length.

And he loves to show off his reputation as the emperor's master at every turn, which makes him a little disgusted.

Speaking of which, he is Liu Zhi's master, although his official position is not high, but as the chief examiner, others have nothing to say.

It's just that Liu Zhi is not at ease with his character, as the chief examiner, he must be fair and selfless, but it is precisely because of Zhou Fu that he noticed another person.

and Zhou Fu are the same as the young mansion of the famous people of Ganling.

Fang Zhi is a real celebrity, famous for his scriptures, during the Shun Emperor, Li Gushang, who was then the great Si Nong, recommended and conquered as the right prince of the court, famous in the dynasty.

Later, he served as Henan Yin, and when Du Qiao served as a lieutenant, he was appointed as a young man.

Since Liu Zhi came into power, he has dealt with him many times, and the Shaofu is in charge of the supply of the emperor's instruments and financial revenues and expenditures.

His subordinate examination and engineering department, which gathered the world's top craftsmen in various industries, Liu Zhi's improvement of papermaking techniques, the creation of quyuan plows, and the experiments of the royal estate, all benefited from his full cooperation.

After thinking about it, Liu Zhi asked Long Linwei to secretly investigate, and in order to avoid his own prejudice, he deliberately investigated Zhou Fu together.

After all, he is a bit emotional, and sometimes when the first impression is not good, it is easy to arbitrarily draw conclusions, and what happened to Hu Guang last time was a lesson.

As an emperor, how can you use personal likes and dislikes as the standard when employing people?

It wasn't until Yang Jian sent the results of the investigation to the desk that Liu Zhi found that his "prejudice" this time was really accurate.

Zhou Fu is indeed suspected of forming a party for personal gain, and has made friends with a group of sycophants, as a scholar, Yi 600 stones, but the family calls slaves and maids, and the guests are full.

And Fang Zhi was originally from the Ganling family and served as one of the Shaofu of Jiuqing, but he was poor and had nothing at home.

Yang Jian's report Yun Qi "has no vertical car at the door, no banquet guests in the hall, no clothes are not cut, and food is not tasteful".

It is said that all his money is used to support the poor in his clan, and he does what he says on weekdays.

In their hometown of Ganling, both of them are celebrities, but their reputations are completely different, and there is a ballad among the people: "The rules of the world are Fang Bowu, and Zhou Zhongjin was sealed because of his teacher."

Fang Zhi's word Bowu, and Zhou Fu's word Zhongjin, this ballad is to praise Fang Zhi's respect for the law, and his words must be practiced, and Zhou Fu is just a pseudonymous man who soared because of luck.

I have to say that the eyes of the masses are bright.

Now Liu Zhi had a number in his heart, and privately summoned Taiwei Huang Qiong and others to come to discuss, and everyone praised Fang Zhi's character and knowledge.

"Fang Zhi is diligent and conscientious, loyal and thrifty, and can take on this great responsibility."

It is not easy to get Huang Qiong's affirmation, you must know that he values this exam more than his life, and most of the candidates recommended before are stuck in him.

Nominated by His Majesty and approved by the Lieutenant, Fang Zhi's position as the chief examiner was decided on the spot, and he just went through the motions at the court meeting the next day.

The two deputy examiners were also determined, and this time they took care of all the forces and took one person from each of the major parties in the imperial court, which can be regarded as a compromise between the emperor and the family.

As the date of the big exam approached, the atmosphere in Beijing became more delicate, and many people began to think of several examiners, and they all found excuses to visit openly and secretly.

Fang Zhi really didn't disappoint Liu Zhi, he closed the door to thank the guests, no matter who rejected them, the king of heaven and Lao Tzu didn't give face.

The other two are in stark contrast.

On this day, Liu Zhi went out of the palace on a whim and went to the city to play, his goal was Nancheng, which was also a gathering place for students.

In order to hide his identity, Liu Zhi also disguised himself as a student who came to take the exam, and only brought Tian Yan and a few other people with him, and none of the attendants brought him, so as not to expose his hiding.

Nancheng was very lively during this time, not only a large number of students from other places, but also attracted many students and students from Beijing Normal University to come to gather.

In the inn of the wine shop, there are groups of Confucian students everywhere, all of them talking about the scriptures, or talking about the history of the scriptures, or the disadvantages of the times, which is very lively.

Liu Zhi staggered to a wine shop in Nancheng, where the flow of people was most concentrated, which was one of the places for accommodation arranged by the government.

It was lunchtime, and it was already full of candidates from all over the world, sitting in groups and chatting and eating.

The shopkeeper was very busy, because this place was temporarily requisitioned by the government and had stopped trading with foreign countries, so when Liu Zhi went in, no one came to greet him.

He looked around, and everywhere was full, and he couldn't find any free tables and chairs, so it was easy to see a few people get up, so he hurriedly sat down.

There were two or three candidates at the same table, and Liu Zhi greeted them with his hand, "In Xiahe, I have seen all the brothers." ”

Those people also hurriedly returned the salute and introduced themselves one by one, several of them are from Yuzhou, although the trouble over there is bad, but it is not serious, and most of the counties have not been affected.

"Why haven't you seen Brother Yun before?"

One of the candidates, who claimed to be Yingchuan Wang Shu, was only twenty-eight or nineteen years old, and he was very familiar with his temperament, so he looked Liu Zhi up and down a few times, and asked with a smile.

"Because there was a delay on the road, I arrived a little late, and I saw that you were talking very lively, I don't know what to discuss?"

Wang Mu did not delve into his rhetoric, "We are discussing who has a chance to win the first place in this year's policy." ”

Before the big exam, such a discussion was naturally inevitable, and Liu Zhi was also quite interested in listening to it.

"Oh? I would like to hear about it. ”