Thirty-eight years of Huayang.

In the fifteenth Kaien Keju of the Huayang Dynasty, Zhang Taiyue, who was in one fell swoop, sat on top of the hall of the Ministry of Officials and did not say a word in the face of Zhong Yang, the chief examiner of Enke at the time.

He sat in the hall of the ministry for more than ten years, and saw that the students who were in the ministry were all grateful, grateful to Dade, and even more non-stop for the examiner, as if the high-ranking officials were generous, and the beautiful wives and concubines were at their fingertips, and it was not far from time to join the system of the wealthy family.

Where can anyone be like the young man in front of him who doesn't say a word, just stares blankly at the examiner in front of him, isn't he stupid to read? Even if you are a fool, you must simply say a few words of minimum etiquette.

The officials just wanted to open their mouths to break this embarrassing scene, but they were stopped by the old man with gray temples on top of the high hall.

Shang Zhongyang, as the founding father, the importance of the humerus of the country to talents and the national body is naturally self-evident, in a trance, Shang Zhongyang seems to see the shadow of his youth in Zhang Taiyue, the shadow of worrying about the country and public opinion and wanting to benefit the world.

On the temple, if you want to continue to ascend, there are no more than three ways, one is to rely on the family's intricate forces on the temple, and the other is to rely on your own strength and the eye of the wind to make the rudder, in order to be like a fish in water. The third method is naturally much more difficult than the first two, and there may not be a case in hundreds of years, that is, someone is willing to support, and the price of support is not in gold, silver and jewelry, but just that the noble man saw his appearance when he was young in you.

I probably don't want to disappoint future generations, and I don't want to disappoint myself when I was young.

Zhang Taiyue, who has just entered the officialdom, and Shang Zhongyang, the number one helmsman in Huayang, probably have this kind of relationship.

Shang Zhongyang waved his hand to let all the officials and officials above the hall of the ministry leave, and only Zhang Taiyue and Shang Zhongyang were left in the room.

Shang Zhongyang opened his mouth and said: "If you don't speak, I'm afraid I don't know what official position should be arranged for you." ”

After many years of being an official in the court, Shang Zhongyang had already developed a non-angry and self-authoritative appearance, and at this time he couldn't help but increase his tone a little, if ordinary people were here, I am afraid that they would have fainted in fright, but Zhang Taiyue was indifferent when he heard this.

After a while, Zhang Taiyue slowly opened his mouth and said softly: "Teacher, why are you willing to stand in this dim dark cloud all the time, willing to endure the torrential rain?" ”

Zhang Taiyue's tone was tough, and his attitude was neither humble nor arrogant, not so much an answer, but more like a question, questioning the personal ability of the current head of the dynasty, and questioning the bleak future of the country.

If this kind of remark is heard by someone with a heart, it does not need too much evidence, and this article alone can be put on a hat of disrespecting the imperial power and despising authority, and the worst punishment is Ling Chi to death.

Shang Zhongyang seemed to have expected what the young man in front of him was going to say, and he was not angry at all, but said with some appreciation: "Because there are always people waiting for your umbrella." ”

This is the first time that Zhang Taiyue and Shang Zhongyang, who have just entered the Huayang officialdom, have met, and it is also the first day that the two of them will be called Qingshan loyal bones and sonorous literati by the people of the world in the future.

However, at that time, Zhang Taiyue, who was still just a minor official of the Seven-Rank Alternate Minister's Department, would never forget the day when he met His Royal Highness the Prince who was not yet the King of Beiyan in the duck blood soup noodle restaurant of Old Lady Zhao two years ago.

Thirty-seven years of Huayang.

At that time, after Shen Jin'an heard Zhang Taiyue's words, he said with some appreciation: "How can you just say that your ability is really good with your mind." ”

Shen Jin'an smiled after speaking, and took a bite of fragrant flatbread, when he ran around with Shen Yuedong, caught up with one or two big battles, and couldn't eat enough, Shen Jin'an pestered Yuan Gang to eat rice, and finally only got a bowl of millet porridge for food.

"I'm a scholar, and they all say that it's useless to be a scholar, I'm afraid that's all I can get my hands on now." Zhang Taiyue replied.

Shen Jin'an didn't raise his head, and said unhurriedly: "What if you are given a chance to be useful?" ”

Zhang Taiyue replied: "Then I also want to see what kind of master it is, ordinary masters may not be able to carry my head." ”

Shen Jinan took a sip of the duck blood soup that was still steaming, burped, changed to a more comfortable posture and said, "How about giving you a county and asking you to govern?" ”

"Small, too small."

"What about the state?"

"Small."

Shen Jin'an continued to raise the price, but Zhang Taiyue didn't go on the road at all, just blindly said that it was too small.

Shen Jinan reminded: "You must know that the Huayang Dynasty picks out an official at random, and he has the experience of polishing from the county for several years. You are so big, no wonder the people here say that you are so ambitious, and you are careful and high-handed. ”

Zhang Taiyue didn't take Shen Jin'an's words to heart at all: "Yanque An knows the ambition of the bird? The heroes of my generation are all teenagers, and those who only think about getting promoted and making a fortune don't mention it. ”

In fact, Shen Jin'an agrees with this kind of remark, once a scholar succeeds, it is often two extremes, either not too treacherous or not very good.

Most of the bookish people who are more angry call themselves the party of the clear stream, and those who are more angry about officialdom have the crooked title of three years of state and county government and 100,000 snowflakes of silver.

"And where do you want to stand?" Shen Jin'an said after looking up and down.

Zhang Taiyue said: "Wait for the price to sell, if I am an official, I can go up to the first assistant, and I can go down to the doorman." ”

"Then if you achieve the position of first assistant, what will you do?" For the first time, Shen Jin'an did not laugh too much at the readers.

Zhang Taiyue wiped his mouth full of soup and said flatly: "The country is like a boat, the people are the water, the king is the rudder, and the vassal king is the oar." If you want to sail, the water rudder and oars need to work together. Ten years of oars for the new, since a thousand miles a day, fifty years of oars and water day by day compatibility is inevitably old, can only be a hundred miles a day, a hundred years after the oars are rotten, can only be ten miles a day. ”

Shen Jin'an heard the meaning of Zhang Taiyue's words: "You mean that the vassal king will become an obstacle to the country?" ”

Zhang Taiyue said: "This is natural, ordinary people still have three generations and five suits, those who are close are sparse, and those who are sparse are pro." Not to mention a huge country, and the rudder and the water accompany each other day and night, but they do not get along with each other. But the oars are different, they all say that the county officials are not as good as the current management, and those vassal kings are not only the current management, but also the county officials. Once the vassal king has a rebellion, the world will inevitably be in chaos. A hundred years of dynasties will turn into decay in an instant, five dynasties and thirteen kingdoms, the rebellion of the eight kings, aren't these Zheng Zheng historical records silently recording these things? ”

"Then what would you do if you were the first assistant of the court?" Shen Jin'an said.

Zhang Taiyue said indifferently: "Cut the domain, take back the military power, secure the people inside, and fight the army outside." ”

"You're a bit disobedient." Shen Jin'an frightened.

Zhang Taiyue not only did not panic, but laughed out loud: "If you don't say it, if I don't say it, these problems will be solved?" I'm afraid in the end it's just a matter of covering my ears and stealing the bell. ”

Shen Jin'an said: "What if a vassal king comes over and asks you to come out of the mountain?" ”

"Then I won't go, my head is not a weapon for temple gladiatorial fighting, nor is it a brick for throwing bricks." Zhang Taiyue said as he expressed his inner thoughts.

Seeing that Shen Jin'an was silent, Zhang Taiyue got up and patted Shen Jin'an on the shoulder and said, "Looking at you like this, you look like a well-educated person, it's a pity, your vision is too narrow." ”

Shen Jin'an nodded and said, "Although what you said is very rebellious, it makes some sense when you think about it carefully. ”

Zhang Taiyue raised his head and glanced at the daylight in the sky through the low window, it was noon now, and Zhang Taiyue had the habit of taking a nap, and he had already been sleepy after eating and drinking.

"I don't know if it makes sense, it's just that these are some of the less mature ideas in my head." Zhang Taiyue was just about to get up and leave.

Shen Jin'an took out a silver ingot from his pocket, and estimated that it was almost seven or eight taels.

"What does that mean?" Zhang Taiyue stopped and asked with some curiosity.

"What's the point, I benefited a lot from hearing you speak, and I plan to invite you to eat and drink." Shen Jin'an said.

Zhang Taiyue shook his head and said: "I'm used to being poor, I won't spend the money if you give me, if you really want to invite me to dinner, give me the silver to my godmother." ”

Zhang Taiyue, who left after saying anything, didn't reply, and Shen Jinan also kept the silver ingot on the table.

After the two left, Mrs. Zhao, who had been hiding in the kitchen, slowly walked out, looking at the silver ingots left by Shen Jinan on the table with some disbelief, and remembered the story that Zhang Taiyue had told him about the kindness of a meal.

Walking out of Fengtong Academy and returning alone, Shen Jinan sighed: "It seems that there will be some respectable opponents in the temple in the future." ”

Xiao Wuzi frowned and said, "Childe, why don't I kill him?" ”

Shen Jin'an smiled dumbly, his chin rested on the window of the carriage, and said helplessly: "Xing, the people are suffering, and they are also suffering to the people." ”

Zhang Taiyue walked to Fengtong Academy and said to the dean of the academy seriously: "Borrow me five taels of silver." ”

The dean of the academy didn't seem to hear Zhang Taiyue's attitude clearly, and he was a little puzzled: "What are you borrowing money for?" ”

Zhang Taiyue only replied with four words, and then asked the dean of Fengtong Academy to stand up immediately.

"Go to Beijing to catch the exam."

In this world, people always have to stand up.

Time returned to the thirty-eighth year of Huayang.

Zhang Taiyue, who had just become a son, and Shang Zhongyang, who had been engaged in drastic reforms for half his life, said such a paragraph on their parting days.

"Lord Shang, why do you keep hitting the south wall when you know that there is no road ahead?"

"You still don't understand, it's never the truth that can convince people, it's the south wall."

It's just that at that time, Zhang Taiyue was not the first auxiliary minister after Shang Zhongyang, and Shen Jinan was not the king of Northern Yan who leaned towards the government and the opposition and overwhelmed the world.

Two young people who were at odds with each other had only seen that side.

Maybe it's the hero's sympathy for the hero, Shen Jin'an, who knew that they would become opponents of each other, didn't choose to get rid of Zhang Taiyue, or maybe it was because of the silver ingot that Shen Jin'an left at the end, he obviously had the opportunity to take off Shen Jin'an's hereditary hat for the king with a different surname Zhang Taiyue chose to let Shen Jin'an go.

Of course, these are all later words, and at that time, the two were just young people who had just embarked on different paths from each other.