After setting the top three, Zhu Yuanzhang personally gave Lu Xiu three crowns and court clothes, as well as hundreds of treasure money, and then set the ranking of the following Jinshi and Tongjinshi with Zhao Mao, Song Ne and others, and ended the palace test.

When the students left the palace, umbrella covers and honor guards had already been prepared outside the palace gate, which were prepared for the champion.

Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately appointed Zheng Zhihua, who offended the ministers the most, as the champion this time, which made the ministers even more dissatisfied but helpless, and they all held a grudge against this new champion and his teacher Li Wei.

In addition to Zheng Zhihua, who was the champion, Ye Qingyun and Lu Xiu, the two Bangyan and Tanhua, also had an entourage to send them off, knocking and beating along the way, and sending them back to their respective homes.

In the west city of Jingshi, a place close to the suburbs, Zheng Zhihua came to the door of his house under the escort of the honor guard.

His home is a dilapidated courtyard surrounded by earthen walls, and since the family has lost his father's pillar, life has been very difficult, if it were not for Li Wei's help, let alone going to school, he and his mother and a sister would have to starve.

At this time, his mother and sister were already waiting in front of the house.

His mother is a woman in her thirties, women get married early in this era, Zheng Zhihua is sixteen or seventeen, and his mother is just in her early thirties. However, at this time, this woman in her early thirties did not have the charm of later generations at all, and her sallow face already had a lot of wrinkles, coupled with shabby linen clothes, she was believed in her forties and fifties.

As for his sister, she is a little girl of twelve or thirteen, and her face is also vegetable, and she is obviously not doing well.

Zheng Zhihua left the guard of honor behind him, walked two steps quickly to his mother and knelt down with a puff: "Mother, I have won the champion!" ”

"My son...... Won the top prize!? ”

His mother stared at him in disbelief.

"Yes, mother, look at this guard of honor, as well as the court clothes on my body, they are all given by His Majesty!"

"My son has won the champion, the champion has ......"

His mother wept with joy as she looked at his gorgeous robe, and kept muttering in her mouth, and it took a while for her to react, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes and helping him up.

"Get up, don't kneel!"

Zheng Zhihua stood up and said, "Mother, this is a great event, why are you still crying?" ”

"My mother is happy, happy!"

His mother wiped away her tears and smiled comfortingly.

His sister hid behind her mother a little timidly, looking at the dependent retinue who had sent him back.

After Zheng Zhihua comforted a few words, he walked back and thanked the official of the Ministry of Rites who led the team: "Thank you, my lord, I have arrived home, everyone please go back." ”

This official was already quite dissatisfied with him, the champion, but at this time, seeing that he had no eyesight at all, and he didn't even give him any money, his face suddenly became even more ugly.

However, after glancing at the dilapidated courtyard of his house, the official also knew that he couldn't squeeze out any oil and water, so he could only pull his face and arch his hand, then turned around and left with the honor guard.

Zheng Zhihua's family watched this group of people leave, and the surrounding neighbors who watched the excitement came up to say goodbye, and even some wealthy people had already come to the door with gifts.

After a period of excitement, Zheng Zhihua and his mother and sister returned home and closed the door, his mother looked at him with a smile on her face, and after a while, she suddenly said loudly:

"Xiaohua, you can have today thanks to Engong, you can't forget it!"

Zheng Zhihua said with a smile: "Don't worry, mother, remember it, and you will never forget it for the rest of your life!" ”

When his mother heard this, she nodded in reassurance......

A scene similar to Zheng Zhihua's house also happened in Ye Qingyun's house, Ye Qingyun's family has more people, not only his mother, but also his uncle, and these relatives who originally ignored them have become extremely enthusiastic at this time, and the neighborhood is the same.

That is, they are closer to Beijing, these relatives and neighbors are not ready, and those who are a little farther away, after returning home, have already been visited by rich businessmen and prepared everything for them, including some happy money for their entourage.

Compared with the two of them, Lu Xiu's situation is better, after all, his father was the ambassador of the Ordnance Bureau, although he is only a petty official who is not in the stream, but because of Li Wei's relationship, his status is not low.

Lu Ti was also very happy to learn of Lu Xiu High School, and he was even more glad that he decisively sent this son who was studying in a private school to Li Wei's door.

Several students, including the three of them, were told by their families to remember Li Wei's kindness after returning home. All the students also kept it in mind, and after settling down at home, they went to thank Li Wei together.

In the small broken courtyard of Minghuang Academy, Li Wei sat on the top, Fang Xiaoru sat aside, and all the students bowed down.

"Thanks to the teacher's careful teaching, the students have lived up to their expectations, and today Denkot came to thank the two teachers!"

In the small courtyard, there are not only Zheng Zhihua and Lu Xiu, but also other students who have won the Jinshi.

Li Wei looked at them and nodded with satisfaction: "You can go to high school, and the teacher is very happy, but remember to guard against arrogance and rashness, and in the future, when you enter the court as an official, you must be upright and upright, and live up to the teacher's expectations!" ”

Fang Xiaoru on the side frowned slightly and reminded: "Don't live up to Your Majesty's expectations!" The most important thing for these students to be able to take the imperial examination high school is that His Majesty has allowed the opening of Enke! ”

"Ah, yes, yes, yes." Li Wei said perfunctorily, and then looked at Lu Xiu and the others.

"Teacher, rest assured, we will not disappoint the teacher...... And what His Majesty wants! ”

Lu Xiu and the others replied in unison.

Hearing that they put Li Wei in front, Fang Xiaoru was very dissatisfied.

But Li Wei didn't give him a chance to interject at all, and said directly: "That's good, then in the future, you can use the skills taught by the teacher to specialize in psychology, and if you encounter difficulties, you can also come and ask the teacher." ”

"Thank you, teacher!"

Everyone thanked them respectfully, and then Li Wei told them a thing or two about his experience in serving as an official before letting them leave.

The next day, the emperor's list was posted, in addition to the three Lu Xiu who had been set, there were more than 100 other Jinshi, and nearly 300 Jinshi.

The imperial examination of the imperial court has been stopped for more than ten years, and Zhu Yuanzhang's knife is too fast, and the imperial court has always been very short of people, which has finally been alleviated.

Among the three hundred jinshi, the Minghuang Academy accounted for dozens of people, although the total number has little to do with Guozijian, but the proportion of those who successfully ascended to the top is terrifyingly high, almost all of them passed, especially Lu Xiu and the three of them occupied the three tripod armor, which is even more shocking!

"What is the origin of this Minghuang Academy?"

Some of the onlookers were amazed and asked the people next to them.

"I heard that this academy was founded by the newly promoted Han Guogong of the current dynasty, and there is also a protégé of Song Taishi Gong Fang Xiaoru to teach."

The other party said lightly.

"Is it so profitable?" The gentleman was amazed.

"Hmph, yes, but don't go to this Minghuang Academy, this Han Guogong is actually a traitor!" The other party snorted coldly.

"How?"

"What Ming Huang science he founded is incompatible with the scriptures and righteousness we learned, and he also advocates that the gentry pay food as one......"

"What? Outrageous! I have been studying hard for more than ten years, how can I be treated the same as the common people? The man was furious.

"yes, that's why he's a traitor!"

"Hmph, traitor!"

Hearing that Li Wei actually advocated the integration of the gentry, the two scholars immediately reached an agreement and cried bitterly that Li Wei was a traitor.

Minghuang Academy was famous for its excellent results, but Li Wei's reputation was just the opposite, because Zheng Zhihua put forward the admonition of the gentry to pay for food in the palace, which was collectively hostile to the gentry class, and the name of the traitor was once again equated with him, and it was still firmly imprinted, and it could not be erased.

In the Ordnance Bureau, Laifu was reporting to Li Weiyu about the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce, and Abu and Chen Su were also there.

"Master, the servants and relatives of those officials have left the Chamber of Commerce one after another for some reason in the past two days, and I would rather not leave this month's salary, I let people stay for a while, but I didn't keep it."

Rifle said with some worry.

Li Wei frowned slightly.

He had already heard about the palace examination two days ago, and when he knew that Zheng Zhihua proposed to divide the land into the mu in the court, he knew that this would happen sooner or later.

These officials would rather not want the high salaries offered by the Chamber of Commerce, but also call back all the servants and relatives, just to dissociate themselves from him.

In fact, this matter is also very understandable, after all, compared to the benefits of the family's huge land and not paying grain, the salary of the Chamber of Commerce is insignificant.

After a deep sigh, Li Wei said lightly: "If you leave, you will leave, it doesn't matter, the Chamber of Commerce is operating normally." ”

When Laifu heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Yes, master." ”

After saying goodbye to Laifu, Li Wei set his eyes on Chen Su and said softly, "I've prepared everything I asked you to arrange, right?" ”

"Grandpa Hui, everything is ready, just give you an order, and you can act." Chen Su said.

Li Wei bowed his head lightly: "Then let's act." ”

"Yes!"

Chen Su surrendered his hand.

Li Wei took a breath gently, originally he was still a little guilty about creating this kind of unjust case to exclude dissidents, but now that he has seen the shameless faces of these officials and gentry through this incident, he no longer feels guilty in his heart.

Although he did not intend to implement this kind of policy, it was indeed a matter for the benefit of the country and the people to pay grain to the gentry, and these gentry vigorously opposed and even scolded him for being a traitor for their own interests, which was really shameless!

He doesn't need to be soft-hearted about this kind of person.

"Alright, you all go back."

After instructing Chen Su, Li Wei waved his hand, picked up the tea bowl and took a sip.

"Yes!"

Both Laifu and Chen Su bowed down, but Abu didn't go with them.

Li Wei glanced up at him and asked, "Are you still in trouble?" ”

Abu looked at Li Wei with his eyes, hesitated and said in a deep voice, "You haven't been back home for a long time." ”

Li Wei looked at him with some surprise, why did this Abu suddenly care about this, he never asked much before.

"What? Is there a problem? ”

Abu frowned and stopped, and finally sighed and said, "It's okay, then I'll retire first." ”

As he spoke, he turned and left.

Li Wei looked at his back, and his eyes couldn't help but narrow slightly.

Since seeing Xiaoqing's matter, he has become much more cautious, and sometimes he is even full of suspicion of the people around him like Zhu Yuanzhang.

Now, in addition to these craftsmen and students, Laifu and Abu, the two house slaves who have followed him for a long time, are the most trustworthy, but Abu's strange appearance at this time makes him suspicious.

After a moment of silence, Li Wei also got up and walked out, found a craftsman, and gave him two instructions.

After a long time, Chen Su, who had already left, was chased back by the craftsmen he sent.

"Grandpa!" Chen Su came to him and bowed.

Li Wei nodded lightly, took him back to the house, and only after sitting down did he command in a deep voice: "Go back and take the time to check what Abu has been doing recently, and if there is any change." ”

When Chen Su heard this, he couldn't help but be shocked: "Cha Abu? ”

"Yes!" Li Weidao.

After receiving the confirmation, Chen Su was suddenly shocked in his heart.

Abuke is one of Li Wei's most trusted people, and he is more reliable than him, but now Li Wei wants him to check this cronie, obviously because he is suspicious of him.

After a pause, Chen Su suppressed the doubt in his heart and replied, "Yes!" ”

Li Wei nodded, and then waved his hand: "Go down." ”

Only then did Chen Su respectfully salute and turn away.

Li Wei didn't rush him in this matter, and although Abu behaved a little strangely, it didn't look like a mutiny. Now the top priority is to implement the things that were planned before, otherwise it will be too late when this unsuccessful scholar leaves Beijing.

……

On the banks of the Qinhuai River, there are many simple houses, which are called river houses because they are distributed on the riverbank, and these scholars who went to Beijing to take the examination lived here.

Some of those who are in high school are stammered, even if they are penniless, they don't have to worry about food and housing, but the scholars who fall off the list don't have such good treatment.

Gao An is one of the scholars who fell off the list, he was born in poverty, and his family had gambled on his family in order to provide him with education, but unfortunately he still fell off the list in the end.

Just as he was packing his luggage and preparing to leave, Liu Guan, who lived next to him, suddenly came to the door.

"Brother Gao An, are you going to go back to your hometown?" Liu Guan asked.

"Hey, yes," Gao An sighed helplessly, "In order to support me in this exam, my family has paid too much, and I can't stay up any longer, I have already left my name in the Ministry of Officials, and now there are a lot of vacancies in Daming, I believe that it won't be long before I can give me an official and a half position, and I should share my family's worries as soon as possible." ”

Lifting people is qualified to be officials directly, but they have to wait for vacancies to be arranged, and the position is usually very low, generally the county clerk, the main book, etc., if the person gives up the scientific examination and leaves his name in the ministry, he will have the opportunity to become this kind of petty official. It's just that once you become such a petty official, it is very difficult to be promoted, and it can't be compared with those Jinshi who have ascended to the top.

Therefore, if they are not too old or forced to do so, they will insist on participating in the scientific examination, in order to go to high school and ascend to the temple one day.

Gao An's face was lost, but Liu Guan, who was also off the list, was different at this time, not only was he not lost, but he was angry.

"Senior brother, didn't you find out? The scholars who ascended to the throne this time are all from the south, and there is no one from the north! ”

Liu Guan reminded.

Gao An was stunned for a moment and looked at him in disbelief. (End of chapter)