In the two hundred and seventy-eighth year of Yonghui, the reform of Shanghui Kingdom shook the whole country, and the most important thing for ordinary people is that there is no restriction on the imperial examination, no longer a tool for officials to enrich their wings, no longer a link for money and power transactions, but truly an opportunity for ordinary people to soar into the sky. The year 278 of Yonghui was the beginning of a new imperial examination, and the imperial examination that was originally next year was also advanced to this year.

It's been less than six months since the official start!

On the other hand, there were several other things that shocked the top brass even more: compulsory conscription! The resumption of minerals! The prohibition of illegal salt! The ownership of weapons by the state! This directly cut off their two lifelines, wealth and power!

In the palace of the Marquis of the Zhao family, a middle-aged man was furious, and the porcelain tables and chairs were shattered.

"What a Zhang Juzheng! What a king!"

A ruthless white-faced young man beside him approached and whispered, "Father, isn't this Yun clan afraid that the princes will turn against him?"

"Oppose, there is Yun Jidao, that old immortal, who can oppose it? Who dares to oppose it? He is planning to hand over Yun Xilong to a stable Shang Hui country with great power!" Hou Wang Zhao Zeng said viciously.

The prince Zhao Luan thought for a while and asked, "What about the United Hu Huang?"

Zhao Zeng glared at Zhao Luan, looked like an idiot, and said: "Why did I give birth to such a fool as you! What is the difference between cooperating with Hu Huang and seeking skin with a tiger! Not to mention being stinking for 10,000 years, do you really think that Yun Jidao old fox will not guard against this hand? He just waited to see who made the mistake first! He just had a reason to eliminate him!"

"Father, I still can't figure it out, why did the Yun clan start cutting at this time?"

Zhao Zeng sneered and said, "Do you think he doesn't want to cut it earlier? It's not that he doesn't want to, but he can't! The territory of Shanghui Kingdom is in the forefront of all countries, the span of vertical and horizontal is very large, and the customs and customs of various places are different. He needs our four vassal kings to stabilize the people's hearts and help him adapt measures to various regions, and many of the hundred officials in the court are people from our four vassal kings. ”

"And now?" Zhao Luan continued to ask.

"Why do you think he wants to make a big effort to take the imperial examination? Zhang Juzheng and a few other old Wang Ba estimate that they should have trained enough talents to replace the hundred officials who are about to be cleaned up! There is only one chance to be justified! Moreover, after more than 100 years of stability, the people have already recognized a unified Shanghui country in their hearts! The most important thing is that this matter of the crown prince has completely angered the old immortal! He suspects that there are already vassal kings in the country who have taken refuge in Hu Huang!" Zhao Zeng gritted his teeth and sneered randomly: " But it can also be seen that the time for this old immortal is indeed running out!"

In the Shanghui Kingdom, in addition to the royal Yun clan, there are also four feudal kings with huge power but mutual constraints, namely the Zhao clan vassal king of the southern consortium, the warlord Xu vassal king in the north, the Faru Kong vassal king in the east, and the Zhang vassal king with the most extensive connections in the west. The Zhao family has a good way of doing business, and the big family that was smashed out with money is hard to come out of, the Xu family and the Yun family have been friends for generations, the children of the Xu family have been in the army from generation to generation, and fifty percent of the border generals are Xu's people, and the largest general of the town and the town of Shanghui are the father and son of the Xu family. The Kong family relies on the way of cultivation to achieve a big family, many of the children of the Kong family are admitted to the academy, and there are many people who practice, it is the family with the most monks among the five major families, and because of the emphasis on Confucianism and Taoism, there are many people who are officials in the court, the Zhang family is the oldest family, the Zhang family has been exploring the secret realm and opening up new roads for generations, it is the family with the most diplomacy and the widest range, and the family with the most secrets.

This scene in the Zhao clan also happened in the homes of many high-ranking officials and princes, and everyone knows that this is the old king paving the way for the new king.

Zhao Zeng walked out of the house and looked up at the sky, he knew that Shang Huiguo was about to start to change the sky.

At the border, the northernmost Yanzhi Pass, two teams of scouts rushed back, into the Guanzhong, the general Zheng Dingfeng with 100,000 soldiers has been guarding here for five years, the border pass is not more inland, here is full of wind and sand, at a glance there is only endless barrenness, close to here is only a small town more than 20 miles away, five years Hu Huang only occasionally sent a few teams of soldiers and horses to harass, and evacuated with a false shot, but the defenders did not dare to be careless, only because of this is one of the nearest passes from Hu Huang.

At this time, Zheng Dingfeng was looking at the terrain sand map in front of him in the big tent, as the information came, his eyebrows were furrowed, and suddenly, only hearing the sound of dismounting in a hurry, a soldier quickly ran over, knelt on the ground and reported: "General! According to the report from the spies! The barbarians began to assemble a large army, and a large amount of grain and grass began to be transferred to the barbarians' barbracks, and according to the spies' guess, there were at least 200,000 troops!"

Zheng Dingfeng's face remained unchanged, but he ordered smoothly: "Double the number of patrols and scouts, increase the intensity of inspections, and quickly send people to send messages to other passes and imperial cities!"

"Yes!"

Zheng Dingfeng touched a golden hairpin in his arms and muttered, "It's a pity that there is no one to warm the wine." ”

On the tenth day of September this year, outside the imperial examination room in various parts of Shanghui country, a large number of candidates gathered, and even scholars from other countries also came to participate, the scene was grand, it was rare to see in a hundred years, the list was released on the first day of the next month, and a large number of scholars entered the various departments of the court, at the same time, countless officialdom moths were investigated, and they were imprisoned, and there were people spilled blood on the spot every day in the place of public execution, and many corrupt officials and corrupt officials were separated from their heads in the crusade of the people and rotten debris!

In the cities all over the country, you can see the people everywhere putting up lights, I don't know if someone in the family has taken the imperial examination high school or the old grievances have been reported, but I know that the people of Huiguo are thinking about the hot land they have lived in all their lives, and their country has finally become better at this moment.

On the top of a mountain full of dense forests in Qingxue Country, hundreds of wooden houses are located in the middle, countless shirtless men are carrying boxes of goods, one of them is pulling a long rope, and seven or eight crying women are tied to this long rope and pull forward. In the largest wooden house in the middle, a giant man with a height of nearly two meters stood cautiously, and on the seat covered with a tiger skin in front of him sat a man in red with a masked face, the man was playing with a jade cup in his hand, and there were two scantily clad women standing beside him, one of the two women was holding a jade pot in his hand, and the other was dragging a plate of crystal clear fruits, the two women stood tremblingly with their heads bowed, and the strong man below looked at all this but dared not speak.

"My lord, I'm a bandit leader, look, you can tell me if you have anything, I will listen to you whatever you say, do you think it's okay?"

The man in red in the seat sneered and said nonchalantly: "You really enjoy it, I can't help but want to stay with you for a day or two." After speaking, the man stretched out a slender finger and gently swiped up from the woman's thigh beside him, and with the finger crossing, the last few pieces of clothing on the woman's body fell in response, and the woman was so frightened that her whole body was trembling, but she tried to control herself from collapsing to the ground, and she did not make a little sound in her mouth, she would not forget the fate of the woman who screamed loudly just now.

"Fat is like condensing jade, Yan is like Shunhua, what a beautiful woman. The man in red looked greedy, and with a swipe of his finger back, the other woman's clothes also slipped off, and the woman was startled by the sudden action of the man who was sitting on the throne, but she still bit her lip to prevent herself from making a sound.

At this moment, I heard a man outside the wooden house shouting and running over: "Big boss! The newly harvested goods are a bumper harvest! A few good girls and big brothers are here to pick one." ”

As soon as the words stopped, the door of the wooden house was pushed open with a "squeak", and it was a thin bandit who came, he looked at everything in front of him, his brain was a little foggy, but before he could open his mouth to ask what the situation was, he just turned his head to look at his eldest brother, and a flame instantly enveloped his whole body, and before he could make a scream, it became a cloud of charred ash, and Hu Lao Crocodile's eyes were red, and his eyes were about to split!

"The third child!" Seeing the third child die, Hu Lao Crocodile was furious!

"What?, you want to avenge him?" the man in red looked at Hu Lao Crocodile playfully, one palm had gently ravaged the woman next to him who was not wearing a wisp of body, the woman was in pain, and her lips had been bitten out of blood, "I'm waiting for you in the house to take revenge, if you don't come, then don't forget what I told you." ”

With that, the man got up and walked slowly out of the room. But a debauchery, frivolous voice echoed all around.

"The two little ladies quickly wash up and come to my house, if it's slow, I won't pity the jade, hahahaha. ”

Hu Lao Crocodile's angry teeth were about to shatter, his clenched fists and tendons burst out, and finally he could only bow his head helplessly, kneel on the ground, gently pick up the pile of ashes burned by the third child, put it into the vase next to him, and walked out of the house with a sad face.

A few people next to him saw their big boss come out, and hurried up, Hu Lao Crocodile waved his hand, signaling them not to speak, just handed them the vase in his hand, and said: "This is the third child, find a good place to bury, leave this matter to me today, you don't care, you take this painting and find a painter to paint a few more, and then arrange for the brothers to find the four people in the portrait as soon as possible, and you can also go to the next mountain, let the brothers over there also pay attention, okay, hurry up!"

A few thieves next to him took the portrait handed by Hu Lao Crocodile, and curiously unfolded it to see that it was Yun Xilong, Yun Lianyi, Xiangsheng and Qing Cicada!

In the dense mountain forest, an old carriage walked slowly, and you could see that not far ahead was a huge city gate with a height of dozens of zhang, and the top plaque had two big characters written on it - Wangshan.

Tianlu, Chao Yan and Yun Lianyi raised their little heads high, looking at the magnificent city in front of them, secretly amazed, Lianyi suddenly opened his mouth and said: " I know here, the book says that Wangshan City is the largest city in Qingxue Country, larger than the Snow God City where Qingxue Sect is located, Wangshan means that you can only see the mountain in the west of the city from the east of the city, and this is not far from the Snow God City, it is said that there is a ship merchant in the city, their ship is flying in the sky, it is called a lark, it only takes one day to take a lark from Wangshan City to reach Snow God City!"

"Wouldn't it be that we will be able to reach Snow God City soon?" Tianlu asked with some surprise.

Chao Yan glanced at Tianlu and said, "Do you have the money to sit on a lark?"

"Uh... Tianlu was stunned for a moment, and said helplessly: "Okay, let's go into the city." ”

At this time, Tianlu suddenly felt that it was good to drive a carriage to hurry, at least he didn't have to worry about running out of money.

The gate of Wangshan City was heavily guarded, and there were at least forty or fifty soldiers wearing scale armor and holding spears, divided into two teams, one team checked the pedestrians at the entrance and exit, and the other team patrolled nearby.

The property market in the city is numerous, there are countless street vendors, and there are many small shops on the side of the street, and a very penetrating shout is mixed with the noise of the crowd to form this unique market atmosphere, which makes the eyes of the three people of Yun Lianyi shine, and in the distance, there are a number of single-seat shops and pavilions, decorated with brilliant atmosphere.

"Qianwei Pavilion, Tianlu, Chaoyan! Is that a big restaurant! It's so big, can we go in and eat?"

"No, we don't have any money, so if we go to eat, we'll mortgage you to work there as a handyman. Tianlu said with a dark face.

"You can mortgage Tianlu, and there are many mortgages for being strong and strong. Chao Yan said with a smile.

"Chaoyan Chaoyan, Yunmenglou! What kind of place is that, there are so many young ladies on it, can I go in?"

This time, Chao Yan and Tianlu had the same black faces, and the two of them dragged away the lotus clothes who were about to enter.

"I'm telling you to stay away from this kind of place, otherwise you won't have to eat in the future!"

"Tianlu Tianlu, what kind of place is this! There are so many magic weapons in it!" Yun Lianyi three people came to a carved beams and pillars in front of the pavilion, the rich treasure unique aura is full of it, containing but not easy, the building is ten zhang high, divided into five floors, the edge of each floor is carved with exquisite and beautiful textures, the textures seem to be independent of each other and echo each other, the two stone pillars in front of the door of the building are each carved with countless Rui beasts, the golden plaque is hung high, and the five big characters of Wanbao Fuhua Building are engraved on it.

Chao Yan was overjoyed, and walked in with Yun Lianyi.

"Hey!hey!hey!" Tianlu shouted from behind, just wanted to grab the two of them, but saw that the two had already run in, and Tianlu had no choice but to follow in.

Wanbao Fuhua Building is the industry of Fuhua City, Wanbao is a large Lingbao Lingcai trading place, three people enter Wanbao Fuhua Building, the inside is much more elegant than the outside, the floor is made of jade-like stone, the walls are surrounded by various reliefs, the four standing stone pillars are carved with four dragons, the first floor is like a huge exhibition hall, countless weapons, jewelry, medicinal materials, unknown treasures, etc. are in a transparent box, countless people come and go, choose their favorite treasures.

Yun Lianyi looked at the countless treasures and the hall where people came and went, and sighed, at this time, a young woman walked next to her, the woman was slender, and the faint smile on her face was like a spring breeze, without the slightest discomfort, seeing that she was dressed as a staff member here, the woman came to the three of them, and said softly: "Three young heroes, what are your needs, the first floor is some fine mortal products of good grade and some low-level spiritual objects, and there are more high-level spiritual treasures upstairs." ”

"I'd like to sell a few things first, and the girl will take the trouble to see the price. After Chao Yan finished speaking, he took out five white beads from his arms, and the beads were filled with a milky white halo, and there seemed to be stars flowing in them. The five demon yuan beads were obtained by Chao Yan and Tianlu going deep into the jungle to ambush the demon beasts in the past few days, and since Tianlu heard the information of the demon yuan beads, he couldn't help but think about drilling into the demon beast pile every day.

When the woman saw the bead in Chao Yan's hand, her eyes lit up, her eyebrows and eyes smiled, very charming, and said, "Three of you, please come with me, and you also need the steward to assess the price of this demon yuan bead." ”

Chao Yan nodded, and with a sigh, he took Tianlu and Yun Lianyi to keep up with the woman's pace and walked towards a platform next to him.

Yun Lianyi saw that the sister in front of her was walking very well-looking, so she also learned from her to twist and twist forward, and the consequence was that she was hit by Tianlu a chestnut on her head.

"Steward, please estimate the price of the demon yuan beads of these three guests. The middle-aged man who was drinking tea with a small purple mud teapot heard the woman's words, got up slightly, took five milky white demon yuan beads from Chao Yan's hand, and looked carefully: "Except for one yuan force that has collapsed more, the remaining four are in excellent condition, according to my observation, it should be three blue wolf demon yuan beads in the Huangdu realm, two yellow crossing realm tooth dog demon yuan beads, these five beads are worth up to nine yuan stones, count how many little friends I make as friends, I will give twelve yuan stones to receive, how about it?"

"Deal. Chao Yan readily agreed.

"Contemptible Huang Yuandu, is the steward of Wanbao Fuhua Building here, in the future, a few friends can also find me if they want to sell other treasures, Huang will definitely make a few friends satisfied. After that, Huang Yuandu took out twelve crystal yuan stones and put them on the table, and then gently pushed them in front of Chao Yan, Chao Yan kept a smile on his face, looked at the twelve yuan stones in front of him and said: "Then there is something to trouble Brother Huang, I just need a sword, please ask Brother Huang to introduce a sword that costs ten yuan stones to the younger brother, and the remaining two yuan stones will be used as the reward for the hard work of the younger brother Huang Brother." After speaking, Chao Yan gently pushed back the Yuan Shi in front of him.

When Huang Yuandu heard this, he was slightly stunned and laughed, interesting, Huang Yuan thought to himself, and then said: "Then I will not disappoint my little brother, Ran'er, bring the long sword flint in the seventy-eighth cabinet." ”

The woman next to her responded with a smile, turned around and walked gracefully to cabinet 78.

Huang Yuan watched Ran Er leave, and suddenly heard a light cough, and suddenly retracted his gaze to stare at Ran Er with some embarrassment.

Chao Yan glanced at Huang Yuandu a little strangely, and Huang Yuandu pretended to be serious and tidied up his clothes, and sat down.

After a while, the graceful Ran Er walked over with a long sword wrapped in yellow brocade, put it on the stage, glanced at Huang Yuandu playfully, and said, "Huang Guanshi, take it, I'll leave first if it's okay?"

Huang Yuandu coughed embarrassedly, sighed in his heart, and then said to Chao Yan:

"Shaoxia, what do you think of this sword? The name of the sword is flint, the whole body is red, the sword is four feet two inches long, the sword body is extremely thin, and it is made of iron sand containing fire essence impurities. ”

Chao Yan picked up the flint, nodded with satisfaction, and then handed it to Tianlu, who couldn't wait, Tianlu looked at the flint in front of him and was delighted.

Seeing that Tianlu was unproductive, Chao Yan had no choice but to turn around and say to Huang Yuandu: "Thank you, Brother Huang, then this sword, we will no longer bother Brother Huang, and we will leave." ”

"Shaoxia walks slowly, and I won't send it far. After speaking, Huang Yuandu lay down comfortably, picked up the small teapot and drank tea.