Wang Xifeng got up and walked a few steps, and another maid came in and said, "The eldest grandmother and the fourth thrifty master are here!" ”

This time, Wang Xifeng, who was instructed, even Sanchun, Daiyu, and Baochai also greeted the door together.

Mother Jia couldn't help but stretch her neck on the soft collapse to watch, and saw Li Kun and Li Weijian enter the house one after the other.

Wang Xifeng greeted him and said, "Sister-in-law, what's wrong?" The old lady is very worried. ”

Li Kun flashed his figure, hurriedly took two steps towards Jia's mother and bowed down, and said happily: "Mrs. Lao is worried, Brother Jian is also competitive this time, and he won the third place in the Zhongzhili Township Test, which is the Jingkui." ”

"Good, good!" Jia Mu paused on crutches, and her face was really full of joy.

Li Weijian also stepped forward to greet Jia's mother at this time, and Jia's mother congratulated her a few words, and the surrounding sisters immediately surrounded her.

This one said: "The fourth brother of thrift really hit!" ”

The praise said: "Brother Thrifty can be regarded as getting what he wants." ”

Li Weijian was in the middle, talking to this and laughing with that, and he was overwhelmed for a while.

After a good time, Sanchun, Baochai, and Daiyu each sat down, and Jia's mother invited Li Weijian to sit down, and immediately ordered Wang Xifeng and said: "Brother Feng'er, have you arranged it?" ”

Wang Xifeng smiled and said: "Don't worry, ancestor, I'll arrange it early in the morning." Today and tomorrow held a two-day banquet in a row, and invited the troupe invited by Brother Zhen last time. Speaking of which, it also entrusts the blessing of the thrifty brothers. ”

Jia Mu bowed her head again and again, and asked Li Kun again: "Have you prepared any money?" ”

Li Kun said: "The silver barley and copper coins are all prepared, and they are decent." ”

Mother Jia smiled at Li Weijian and said, "Brother Jian'er is also a good person, so I won't stay much at this time." You go back and settle down first, and you can't say that the good news will arrive in a moment. ”

Li Weijian got up to receive the order, but Li Kun couldn't rest assured, so he retired with him.

When he returned to his small courtyard, Wu Haiping came to deliver the message again, saying that the official with the good news was coming here.

Li Kun didn't want to go out, so Li Weijian led Wu Haiping out to greet him. When I arrived at the door, I vaguely heard the sound of a gong, and sure enough, I saw three red-robed officials holding colorful flags and walking towards this side, and one of them shouted in front of the door: "Congratulations to Master Li of your mansion for the third place in the Zhili Township Examination of Zhili Township!" ”

Li Weijian waved his hand: "Reward!" ”

Wu Haiping immediately grabbed a handful of silver barley and stuffed it. The three officials immediately smiled, and learned that they had come to Rongguo Mansion to deliver good news, and knew that good money was indispensable, because the officials almost didn't fight.

The leading official immediately respectfully presented the good news. Li Weijian unfolded the big red envelope, and saw that it was written: "Good news for the master of your mansion, Li Weijian High School, the third place in the township examination." Beijing Daily even appeared in Huangjia. ”

It was expected, and the previous teacher Yan Xiyao revealed that Li Weijian didn't care much about it. Dusting off the good news in his hand, Li Weijian said: "Haiping, you stay here to welcome the good news, I'll go back first." ”

There were three rounds of good news, but Li Weijian only welcomed one batch, and he was too lazy to deal with the remaining two batches.

Wu Haiping bowed down and received the order: "The master will go by himself, there is a small disposal here." ”

This hit the lifter, and even Wu Haiping changed his title, no longer calling him Gongzi, but changing his name to Master. No matter how young you are, if you are lifted, you should be a master.

Li Weijian Shi Ran returned to his small courtyard, and the four maids had been looking forward to it for a long time. Hongyu is most anxious about fame and wealth, because she simply welcomes her out.

"Fourth master, where's the good news?"

Li Weijian smiled and handed over the good news casually, Hongyu held it in both hands, unfolded it and looked at it happily, and then put it away and said: "I'll go and confess, if the grandfather and grandmother know, they will laugh at Jiuquan." ”

Hongyu Xizizi walked away quickly, and Li Weijian entered the courtyard and was surrounded by Qingwen and other maids. Several maids congratulated one after another, and the reward was indispensable.

Na Qingwen caught a glimpse of Li Weijian's bleak expression, and couldn't help but say, "The fourth master doesn't seem to care?" This is a lift, how many people can't ask for it. ”

Li Weijian's expression was stunned, and then he said: "Also, I should be happy." His face suddenly exaggerated, and he clasped his palms suddenly: "Wow! All right! I'm in!"

His eyes rolled up, and he leaned back. Xiuying and Xiangling were startled, and hurriedly came over to help, Li Weijian got up and said with a smile: "How?" That's what makes you happy, isn't it? ”

Qingwen couldn't help laughing, and said angrily: "How can there be a fourth master like this!" ”

Xiuying and Xiangling also echoed the voice, and after a few strange words, Li Weijian entered the main room with a smile. As soon as he sat down, someone from outside came to congratulate him.

Li Weijian simply moved a chair to the courtyard, and the four maids maintained order. A group of people who asked for a reward came to congratulate them, and Qingwen sprinkled the reward money, so she changed to another group. In this way, hundreds of servants from the palace came to beg for rewards, and the boxes of silver barley were all rewarded, and even the basket of copper coins sent by Li Kun was scattered.

Wang Xifeng sent Ping'er over to help, and seeing that the reward was not enough, Li Weijian hurriedly asked Ping'er to redeem a silver ticket. After the fact, four hundred taels of silver were scattered!

Li Weijian couldn't help but be speechless, thinking that Rongguo Mansion would give rewards every New Year's Day, and this reward alone would cost thousands of taels every year. It's no wonder that the huge family business is now unable to make ends meet.

By noon, the eldest lord Jia Yu, the eldest lord Jia Zheng, and even Jia Lian and Baoyu all returned to the house. I heard that Li Weijian was in the middle of the move, so he wanted to come to congratulate.

Jia Lian led Baoyu to sit idle for a while, and when he saw that Jia Yu and Jia Zheng had sent someone, he took his leave and left. Li Weijian didn't dare to snub the two elders, and immediately went to talk to the two in person.

Jia Zheng is just that, he taught earnestly, don't look at this official who is not very good, but he talks a lot when he admonishes people. Li Weijian slandered in his heart, if he followed Jia Zheng's admonition to become an official, he was afraid that he would have to be disgraced and dismissed in two days.

It was the eldest man Jia Yu who pulled Li Weijian to live eagerly. After a while, he said that this time it seemed that he was going to confer an official, and his eldest man still knew a few old ones, and he couldn't lead him to the official department to run the official when he turned around; After a while, he said that he always had a lot of friends in officialdom, and another day the lord personally introduced a few good friends to get to know each other.

Look at what Jia Yu said, and then look at what Jia Zheng said, if it wasn't for the big man Jia Yu's single-minded calculation of himself, Li Weijian was really more willing to deal with Jia Yu.

After a long time, a servant came to report, saying that a banquet had been prepared in Rongqing Hall, and invited Jia Yu and Li Weijian to go to the banquet.

The two of them walked towards Jia's mother's house, but just after they went out, they bumped into Jia Zhen who came to congratulate them, and the three of them talked and laughed and left.

Daming Palace, the imperial study.

The court meeting was dispersed, and Emperor Zhenghe ordered four people to stay and play the right thing.

The little eunuch moved the embroidery pier, and the four of them sat on the left and right. On the left, the head is Chen Hongmou, the head of the court, and the head is Gu Weiyue, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry; On the right is the Minister of the Inner Palace, King Zhongyong, and at the bottom is Yan Xiyao, the left attendant of the Criminal Department.

Emperor Zhenghe's face sank like water, threw a piece of music on the table, and said coldly: "The battle report I just received, in mid-August, the Dzungar Da Celing sneaked south for 7,000 miles, and annexed Wusizang in one fell swoop.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's discuss how our dynasty should respond? ”

When the words fell, King Zhongyong wrinkled his eyebrows without reading the battle report: "What else can I say?" The Dzungar thieves will not be destroyed, and I will never have peace! Please lead 20,000 troops, and the soldiers will go out to fight the arrow furnace, and they will definitely include Wusizang in the territory of our dynasty! ”

Chen Hongmou didn't say much, read the battle report repeatedly, and then said: "Da Ce Ling is really a generation of famous generals, no wonder he destroyed 20,000 soldiers of our dynasty last year." This time the soldiers made a dangerous move, but if there was a mistake, it would be broken. Seeing that King Zhongyong looked at the general with a puzzled face, Chen Hongmou said again: "But my dynasty is not the Sui and Tang dynasties, and now Wusizang is not Tubo, and Qinghai has been lost last year. ”

King Zhongyong couldn't bear it anymore, and said, "Lord Shousuke's words are ridiculous! Qinghai has not lost the front, Junggar is just a disaster in the northwest, Qinghai is lost, I am attacked on both sides, extremely passive; This time he lost Wu Sizang, saying that he would not be able to suffer from the enemy on three sides from now on, but he was afraid that he would not be able to support it in the future. ”

Without waiting for Chen Hongmou to speak, Gu Weiyue said: "The minister does not dare to agree with what the loyal and brave king said. The minister does not know about the army, but he also knows how to use the money and food of the head of the army. Now that the autumn harvest has passed, all the money and grain are sent to the northwest for the next year's westward expedition. At this time, if you use troops to hide, I am afraid that you will have to allocate money and food. ”

At this time, Yan Xiyao just read the battle report, put it down and said: "Da Celing only used 7,000 soldiers and horses to take all of Wusizang, which shows that Wusizang is now empty. The minister thought that while his foothold was not stable, even if he could not capture Wusizang, he should go out to fight the arrow furnace, so that he would have no time to integrate Wusizang. ”

Emperor Zhenghe immediately bowed his head and said: "What Yan Qing said is reasonable, and he intends to order Yue Zhongqi, the chief soldier of Sichuan, to send troops to Wusizang, this battle is not to conquer the city, just let the Junggar thieves not live in peace." ”

Chen Hongmou was quite familiar with military affairs, and after thinking about it carefully, he did not raise any objections after all. Yue Zhongqi once served under him, and his people were quite brave and acted prudently, and his leaders expected Sichuan to be fine.

The matter was settled, and Emperor Zhenghe said: "Now that the autumn has passed, a total of 80 talents from all over the country have been selected this time, and how to settle them, the imperial court must always come up with a way." ”

Chen Hongmou glanced at Yan Xiyao and said coldly: "I haven't congratulated Shao Si Kou yet, the son of your mansion has won the Yuan, it's really gratifying." ”

Yan Xiyao smiled and said: "TOEFL and TOEFL, it is all the kindness of Chen Ge Lao, I thank Chen Ge Lao on behalf of the dog." ”

Chen Hongmou secretly hated in his heart, but he was helpless against Yan Xiyao, the old fox. Who would have thought that the two of them would become intimate, and the second son of the strict family would praise the stinky feet of the New Party?

Chen Hongmou knew that Yan Xiyao's son and his apprentices were involved in the Shixue Autumn Festival, so he sent his henchmen to carefully distinguish them in private. Li Weijian's volume is really easy to recognize, and he can use calculus superbly, and he is Li Weijian in the autumn of practical learning.

Because he was nitpicking, he found the remarks in the strategy, and suppressed Li Weijian into a jingkui. didn't want to suppress Li Weijian, and Yan Fengzhen appeared behind him. This incident made Chen Hongmou quite annoyed.

With a little luck, Chen Hongmou arched his hand and said: "Sage, the imperial examination is for the imperial court to open a science and take scholars, and the actual study of the autumn is the same as the Confucian autumn festival, and those who pass the autumn examination take it as the lifter." In the future, the practical examination will be held, and the best will be taken as Jinshi, so that the official position can be awarded. ”

Emperor Zhenghe said: "It also makes sense, even so, why don't you discuss when this real society will be opened?" ”

Chen Hongmou said: "Sage, now the autumn is only 80 practical scholars, if there is a meeting in the near future, the candidates are too rare, I am afraid that it will be difficult to convince the public." ”

As soon as the words fell, Yan Xiyao retorted: "The elder of the pavilion is wrong, practical learning is a new thing, and it must always be from small to large. If you want to open a department in the Tang Dynasty, each subject is only twenty-seven or eight, and it will increase tenfold in the previous Ming Dynasty? In my opinion, regardless of how many people are selected, this practical discipline will always be opened.

Even so, it is better to open late than early, so as to show the attitude of the court and inform the scholars of the world that the court's emphasis on practical learning cannot be changed. ”

Chen Hongmou said: "Shao Si Kou also knows that it was the Tang Dynasty, and now I open another department, and there are only about a dozen scholars, isn't it the crown of Mu Monkey, which makes the world laugh?" ”

"Jokes? This is a pioneering move, so what's the joke? ”

Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Emperor Zhenghe hurriedly stopped talking: "If the two ministers have differences, then the matter will be postponed." ”

Seeing that the two of them surrendered, Emperor Zhenghe said again: "There is just one thing that has to be discussed." This autumn is by Li Weijian, who has repeatedly made great contributions, if he is not awarded an official position, he will be rewarded with a knighthood. ”

Li Weijian? Isn't that Yan Xiyao's disciple?

Chen Hongmou suddenly said unhappily: "Sage, Li Weijian manipulated water affairs before, and the sage has already paid him with a percentage of water affairs shares. As far as the minister knows, Li Weijian is extremely rich because of this. The minister thought that since he had been rewarded, this merit was incompensable. ”

Emperor Zhenghe said with a smile: "The elder of the pavilion has misunderstood, I want to be rewarded, not because of water affairs. ”

"Not because of water?" Chen Hongmou looked at Yan Xiyao with a strange look, and saw the old fox stroking his beard and smiling, his face was triumphant.

At this time, I listened to the king of Zhongyong and said: "At this time, this king knows best. This son has made a lot of contributions, one of which is that after the water affairs, he prepared the Xishan Coal Mine, and in the past few months, he has increased the amount of silver by 2 million yuan for the inner government; Second, the rifling was changed to spiral rifling, which greatly increased the range of the firearm and was extremely accurate; ”

"Precise? How accurate? ”

King Zhongyong said: "This king has tried, and nine out of ten shots are nine hits away from a hundred steps." ”

Chen Hongmou gasped, this hit rate is high enough. Ordinary firecrackers, don't say a hundred steps away, fifty steps away can have three percent hits. This Li Weijian is equivalent to building a new firecracker.

As he was muttering, King Zhongyong said: "Third, look at the range of the new artillery, and recently build a new gun mount for the ten-pound gun, and the Armament Institute has sent a message that the gun mount has been built, and it can be tried just by installing and calibrating." ”

King Zhongyong said, Emperor Zhenghe smiled and said: "Not only that, but also four." ”

King Zhongyong gave his hand, saying that he didn't know what was going on, and the rest of the people also looked at Emperor Zhenghe. The sage smiled and said: "Lin Hai came to report the salt patrol imperial history, Li Weijian drafted the salt law, and after Lin Hai changed it, he asked the imperial court to try it out." I've seen that ticket of salt, and it's quite subtle.

Li Weijian's repeated great achievements, I think I must be rewarded. ”

(End of chapter)