Just as a few people were about to start, a door suddenly came to report from outside the door.

"The head of the household department Bi Ziyan, the first assistant of the cabinet, and the university scholar Fan Fucui came to visit."

"What? Fan Ge Lao and Bi Shangshu are here? Hurry, go and greet! Liu Zongzhou stood up from his chair in a flash.

Huang Zongxi and others were also shocked!

Hubu Shangshu is strict, that is a big official of the second grade, a whole level older than his teacher.

It is said that the government and the Ministry of Industry crush people to death, although the household department and the Ministry of Industry do not belong to the same system, but it is also an insurmountable gap.

Not to mention Fan Fucui, the first assistant of the cabinet!

Fan Fucui succeeded Xue Guoguan as the first assistant to the cabinet in June this year.

There was no prime minister in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the biggest official was the head of the cabinet, and he was already a very popular minister.

Moreover, Fan Fucui was single-handedly pulled up by Emperor Longqian, and he can be called Emperor Longqian's henchman.

Shen Liang was naturally waiting in the house, after all, he had no official position, and he was white, so he was not qualified to greet the first-class officials of the current dynasty at all.

Even his senior brothers are not qualified to go.

Jia Zheng and Wei Zaode followed behind Liu Zongzhou and led the two big men in.

Shen Liang raised his eyes and saw that the old man at the head was about sixty or seventy years old, his gray hair was meticulously combed, his spirit was strong, and his eyes were blazing, which was daunting.

Don't think about it, this must be the first member of the dynasty, the first assistant of the cabinet, and Fan Fucui.

Behind him was a slightly wealthy middle-aged man, his demeanor was calm, his face was pale, his eyes were slightly narrowed, and he always had a faint smile on his face.

Liu Zongzhou introduced the two big men to his disciples, and Shen Liang knew that this rich middle-aged man was the God of Wealth and the great housekeeper of the Great Zhou Dynasty - Hubu Shangshu Bi Ziyan.

If you want to say which of the six ancient departments is the most important, the household department must bear the brunt.

After all, no matter which dynasty it is, the money bag is always the most important one, as the so-called money can make the ghost grind, and the money can go all over the world.

Only with money can the common people have enough to eat, pay the officials, pay the officers and soldiers, and reward the imperial court and provide disaster relief, all of which must rely on the household department to allocate silver taels and disaster relief food.

In addition, the Ministry of Household Affairs is also in charge of the entire country's taxation, currency, and other operations.

Therefore, Bi Ziyan, the secretary of the household department, can be called the most powerful one among the six departments, and the other departments all have to look at Bi Ziyan's face to do things.

After all, if your department wants to function normally, you must allocate money from the department.

At Jia Zheng's level, he usually doesn't even have a chance to talk to Bi Ziyan, but at this moment, when he saw the two powerful factions in the dynasty, he hurriedly came up, "After Rong Guogong, Jia Cunzhou visited the two adults. ”

Fan Fucui didn't raise his eyelids, and snorted, he could be regarded as having seen it.

Bi Ziyan took it seriously and really greeted Jia Zheng, "Thinking about the demeanor of Rong Guogong back then, his voice and smile are still in front of him, but now things are wrong." ”

Bi Ziyan is not very old, and he is old when he speaks.

After chatting a few words, Liu Zongzhou asked, "I don't know why the two adults are here?" ”

Fan Fucui gently blew away the foam on it with the teacup, and Bi Ziyan hurriedly explained: "That's the case, Fan Ge Lao and I heard that you are going to open the door to collect apprentices, so we came here to observe, Qidong won't blame us for not telling us." ”

Qidong is Liu Zongzhou's character, Bi Ziyan is much younger than Liu Zongzhou, but the officials are older than you, and the officialdom pays attention to seniority.

The official level crushed people to death.

Liu Zongzhou said with a smile: "How dare you, the two of you came to the cold house, it was really brilliant, I didn't expect a small apprenticeship ceremony to be able to alarm the two of you, it's really tormenting." ”

Wei Zaode came over to greet Fan Fucui and Bi Ziyan.

This time Fan Fucui's expression changed, and he was no longer indifferent, "Shi Ling was one step ahead of us earlier, I don't know what you think of Qi Dong's beloved apprentice?" ”

Wei Zaode saluted and said: "If you go back to the old pavilion, this is Lord Liu's beloved apprentice, Jia Zhong'an, and also the son of Jia Cunzhou, a member of the Ministry of Works. ”

Hearing that there was going to be a competition, Fan Fucui and Bi Ziyan were interested.

As officials in their position, there are very few things that can interest them.

No amount of drought in Hedong, the people changing their children and eating, and the white bones being exposed in the wilderness could not stir their emotions.

But for this kind of thing, they are still very happy to watch.

"Lord Liu, since there are two adults here, I think you may not be able to be a referee." Wei Zaode looked at Liu Zongzhou and said.

Liu Zongzhou was unhappy, but he still smiled on his face: "That's natural, Fan Ge Lao and Bi Shangshu are both sages, and their talents are ten or a hundred times higher than those below, and there is still self-knowledge of old decay." ”

Fan Fucui asked, "You and that Jia ......"

He couldn't remember Shen Liang's name for a while, Wei Zaode hurriedly said, "Jia Zhong'an." ”

"What are you trying to do with Jia Zhong'an?"

Wei Zaode had no choice but to explain the content and method of the competition, and finally said: "Not only that, this Jia Zhongan also said that he wanted to add color, looking at the momentum, it is inevitable to get the result of this competition." ”

"Oh? And such things? Fan Fucui laughed, "I don't know who this Jia Zhongan is?" ”

Wei Zaode pointed at Shen Liang with his hand, "Pavilion Elder, it's this Jia Gongzi." ”

Fan Fucui looked intently, and saw a young man with clear eyebrows and an extraordinary bearing looking at him with blazing eyes.

"What a young man in fresh clothes and angry horses!" Fan Fucui admired it in his heart, but it was not revealed.

"You're Jia Zhong'an?"

Shen Liang replied neither humbly nor arrogantly: "Returning to the pavilion elder, there is Jia Zhong'an below, but the word Zhong'an is the word that the master just gave." ”

Fan Fucui's handsome Shen Liang had a good impression, "Do you know that you are going to challenge this year's champion, I have read his articles and trial poems, he is indeed talented, how dare you?" ”

Shen Liang said with a smile: "The kid reads the book of the sages, and the sages said that if you are a threesome, you must have my teacher." ”

"Han Yu, a member of the Song Dynasty, also said that the saint is impermanent. Confucius taught Tanzi, Chang Hong, Shi Xiang, and Lao Dan. The disciple of Tanzi is not as virtuous as Confucius. Confucius said: If you are a threesome, you must have my teacher. Therefore, the disciple does not have to be inferior to the teacher, and the teacher does not have to be better than the disciple. ”

Fan Fucui nodded, "It's good to be ambitious, but you have to be down-to-earth, you can't be ambitious, how old are you this year, what books do you read?" ”

Shen Liang smiled and said: "Fourteen years old, fifteen years old during the Chinese New Year, I have already read through the Four Books and Five Classics, and I have also read a lot of many Shiwen from the previous dynasty, and I can barely be regarded as going to school." ”

Shen Liang didn't have much impression of this Fan Ge Lao, and he didn't expect that he was a big traitor, so his attitude was quite respectful.

He is a good traverser, but he is not brain-dead, so he naturally understands the truth that there are many friends and many roads, and there are fewer enemies and fewer walls.

Not to mention that this is still a wall to the sky, let alone offend.

Fan Fucui felt that Shen Liang's answer was decent, and in addition to his particularly handsome appearance, he didn't seem to have any special skills, so he lost interest.

"In that case, let's get started quickly."

Bi Ziyan personally got off the field and became a referee.

"According to the requirements of the competition, you should read a book in a stick of incense and repeat the content of the book."

He walked around Liu Zongzhou's room and picked out a book from the top of the bookshelf that was not too thick, and there was a lot of dust on the book, and it looked like it hadn't been turned for a long time.

Let's look at the title of the book - "The Collection of Mr. Hedong".