Make new friends step by step
Before dawn, students who participated in the Tongsheng Examination entered the city one after another. After Nangong Rang ascended the throne, he worked hard to control the culture and Chongwu. Even the Tongsheng Examination was of extremely high standards. The only way from the city gate to the examination institute was carefully scanned early in the morning, and the surrounding shops were also quiet.
Yunzhou Prefecture is a large state and adjacent to the capital. Many students who had the same idea as Qi Yan came from other places. Most of them are alone with boxes and cages, and some are accompanied by book boys or entourages.
Because Nangong Rang vigorously promotes thrift, most of the students are dressed in plain clothes. If you want to identify their origins, there is another most intuitive way: walking posture.
Looking at the brisk footsteps, fluttering sleeves, and looking around, they must all be students from poor families.
And those who don't look sideways, walk steadily and silently, and have straight shoulders are mostly from scholarly families.
If there is someone who holds their chest high but does not hold their head up, just clasps one hand above the lower abdomen and below the chest, and the other hand moves the wide sleeves slightly in line with the pace, walks silently and does not move the upper body, then this person must be The noble son of the aristocratic family.
This walking posture is handed down from the previous dynasty and is called: elegant posture.
"Elegant posture" is not only about walking, but also includes many aspects such as words and deeds. If you want to appreciate the essence of it, you must not only practice from an early age, but also invite a master of etiquette at a high price to teach it carefully. Qi Yan had seen such a graceful posture, from her master. But the other party did not teach her.
Qi Yan has always been curious about the identity of the masked person, but the books she read were all screened by the masked person, and she could only infer from some clues in the weekdays that the masked person used to have a noble status and came from a noble family.
Before entering the hall, six square tables were placed side by side in front of the entrance of the examination hall, and the students were divided into six rows and waited quietly.
At this time, there was a sudden noise, which made the students frown, and saw a young master dressed in brocade slumped on a sedan chair that was carried on the shoulders of the two-person platform.
Qi Yan only glanced at it and then withdrew her gaze: Ding Fengshan is here.
Jia Ding directly lifted the sedan chair to the front of the outermost line, and rudely pushed the leading student away: "Give up your seat!"
The student looked no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. He was wearing a white-washed tunic, and his face was flushed with anger: "In the exam center, how can you be so rude?"
Jia Ding didn't care, and shouted loudly: "The eldest son of Ding House can use your position, it is a blessing that you cultivated in your previous life! Get out of the way!"
The young man was stunned, apparently knowing Ding Fengshan's identity, his momentum weakened and he glanced at Ding Fengshan and said in a low voice, "Let's just let it go." Holding the cage, he lined up at the back.
The servant put the cloth pocket containing the four treasures of the study on Ding Fengshan's shoulder, bowed and said, "Master, I wish you a successful title on the Golden List!"
Many people laughed in their hearts: This Ding Zhiyan is not only inappropriate but also very vulgar, but it is a strange story that Ding Fengshan is a child trying to participate at the age of nineteen.
Only one person snorted coldly and said disdainfully, "Personal husband."
Qi Yan turned her head, and the person who spoke was a young man of the same age as herself.
The young man noticed Qi Yan's eyes and turned his head with a cold face. He met those unique amber eyes and asked, "What do you think, brother?"
Qi Yan replied calmly, "It's up to him to care what other people do."
The young man carefully savored the meaning of Qi Yan's words, nodded with a smile, and the anger in his heart faded a lot.
"Xia Gongyanghuai, a person from the capital, small white stone. It is the white stone of 'white stone chisel'."
Qi Yan hooked the corners of his mouth: "Yangzhishui, white stone chisels. Plain clothes and Zhujiao, follow the son to Yuwo. Now that you see a gentleman, why don't you feel happy?"
Gongyanghuai was overjoyed: "Xiongtai is a good insight, haven't you asked for advice?"
"Qi Yan, from Jinzhou, there is no word yet."
Gongyanghuai bowed his hands: "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Qi Yan politely replied, but she had another thought in her heart.
The capital city is very prosperous, and there is absolutely no need to travel to Yunzhou to participate in the childbirth test. And the unique surname 'Gongyang' made Qi Yan think of a person.
The masked man regularly gives Qi Yan a scroll, which contains the information of some important officials in the capital and local areas, among which the surname of Zongzheng Temple is Gongyang.
Twelve people came out of the examination room. They stopped in front of the square table and said loudly: "Everyone must put all the items on the table for inspection, and take off their coats together. Anyone who has a cheat sheet will be listed immediately or You can be dealt with leniently, and once found out, you will be disqualified from taking the test for three years!"
With a "bang", Ding Fengshan threw the cloth bag onto the square table: "If you want to check things, you will not take off your clothes."
The other party obviously knew Ding Fengshan, and with a smiley face symbolically checked the things and let him go. Gongyanghuai's voice came again: "The people in Yunzhou are afraid of him?"
Qi Yan replied softly: "I arrived in Yunzhou at the beginning of the next day, and I don't know anything about it."
"Hmph, I'm not afraid of him."
Qi Yan lowered her eyes and said nothing but confirmed Gongyanghuai's identity. The minister of Zongzheng Temple was the third rank and a close official in the inner court. Although Ding Fengshan's father Ding Yi had military power, he was only a fourth rank guard general, so Gongyanghuai did not need to be afraid.
Zongzheng Temple is in charge of the emperor's clan affairs, and the friendship with Gongyanghuai will be of great benefit to revenge in the future. Gongyanghuai never imagined that the fourteen-year-old boy beside him had such a deep mind.
Soon they arrived at Qi Yan and the others. They were not as lucky as Ding Fengshan. The two put things on the table one by one, and took off their coats and handed them over to the academician for inspection.
Qi Yan's chest is flat, and she stands upright and magnanimous: Master is right. The identity of a woman will only become an obstacle to her revenge, and she has taken all the pills and has no worries.
Qi Yanxing was behind Gongyanghuai, and the examiner took the roster and called the student's place of origin and name. When Gongyanghuai arrived, the examiner obviously hesitated for a moment, then handed the wooden sign to Gongyanghuai and asked, "From the capital?"
Gongyanghuai nodded, the examiner seemed to have thought of something. After entering the single room, the trumpet examiner walked up to the high platform and said a few routine words. He looked at the sky and ordered the man to put a thick incense stick in the big copper tripod: "The time has come, open the book."
Different from the Spring and Autumn Period, although the Tongsheng Examination takes three subjects, it is stipulated that all the content should be answered within three hours due to the simple and obvious questions. The topics are from: Trial Poems, Classics, Laws and Fu, and Policy Theory, three of which are selected.
Qi Yan opened the scroll and saw the title, her eyes sank.
The title of the test post poem is: Make a five-character six-rhyme poem with the title of "Three Character Classic".
The second question Jinglun also took a slant: "Jingyi and Lun", this topic seems odd, but to those with a little background, it is clearly a waste question!
Jingyi and Theory were originally two disciplines, but after Nangong Rang ascended the throne, he reformed the imperial examination and unified the two into one: Jing Lun. As early as the Southern Dynasties, everyone Liu Xie wrote the article "Wen Xin Diao Long"; it elaborated the causal relationship between the meaning of the scriptures and the theory, just take this article and slightly delete and revise the question!
The third question is even more absurd. The examiner actually chose a national policy that even the common people knew: warehouse money for salt.
The exchange of banknotes for salt is also a new national policy implemented by Nangong Rang after he ascended the throne. What he took over from the previous emperor was a mess. The last emperor was arrogant and extravagant, and he levied heavy taxes in order to satisfy his own selfish desires.
After Nangong Rang ascended the throne, he abolished many miscellaneous taxes and reduced or exempted taxes. Although he won the stability and recognition of the people, it could not solve the fact that the national treasury was empty and unable to build. So he promulgated a national policy: Warehouse banknotes were exchanged for salt; the court still levied taxes in various names, but some officials higher than the norm would issue farmers a document called "Warehouse Banknotes", and farmers could carry the storehouse banknotes to the transportation department. The government exchanged "salt cited".
Salt and iron dynasties have been government-run, and private sales of illicit salt are punishable by death. However, with "salt introduction", it is legal to sell private salt within a certain period of time, and the huge profits from salt, especially for the prosperous coastal areas, are simply huge profits! For a time, farmers actively and frantically paid grain to the government in order to obtain "storage money".
Nangong Rang solved the urgent need and gained a good reputation. In the second year, a decree was secretly issued. Now, there are only a handful of salt citation documents approved by the Yunsifu every year. Thousands of people are eagerly looking forward to the dead "storage money" in their hands. Farmers tighten their belts and take the initiative to pay grain in exchange for "storage money".
Qi Yan was only ten years old when this national policy was introduced, and the masked man once deeply analyzed the pros and cons for her. The masked man said: This national policy is in the name of benefiting the people. urgent.
When Qi Yan was thirteen years old, the masked man once again brought up the topic of the day and asked her to analyze the pros and cons independently. Qi Yan said: The national policy of exchanging banknotes for salt will be abolished within ten years. Nangong Rang regards the people of the world as leeks, feeds them, cuts them off, and eats them; the scheming of ghosts is superb. However, it seems that this person is only worthy of being a sign, without the magnanimity, vision and skill of a king.
After listening, the masked man nodded with satisfaction, then looked at Qi Yan gloomily and said, "If you do too much injustice, you will kill yourself. The world of the Nangong family will not last long. There is not much time left for you. At the hands of others, your revenge for subjugating your country and genocide will never be repaid in this life."
Qi Yan pulled away from the memory, picked up a brush and dipped it in ink to draw a stroke on the grass paper. Seeing that the ink color was even, she rolled up her sleeves and picked up the pen to write.
Tong Sheng's test was just a stepping stone. Qi Yan deliberately restrained the sharpness of the article and wrote it in a normal manner, but the good words with facial expressions and strong bones did not seem to come from the hands of a 14-year-old boy.
As for why the test questions are so simple? Qi Yan has the answer in her heart.
Unexpectedly, the power of the Ding family was so monstrous that in order for Ding Fengshan to pass smoothly, even the Tongsheng test could be controlled.
Taiwei Lu Quan's brother-in-law, the fourth-rank general Wei, a good Ding family!
Qi Yan finished writing the last word like running clouds and flowing water, and then stopped writing. She roughly checked it and waited for the ink to dry, then covered the roll paper with grass paper and pressed the square wood on it. She got up and went to the inside of the trumpet to wash the brush and inkstone.