Chapter 122: The provincial examination is over, and the discussion on the lake

Chapter 122: The provincial examination is over, and the discussion on the lake

Chapter 122: The provincial examination is over, and the discussion on the lake (please subscribe)
The focus of marking the provincial examination papers is the first round of examination papers.

It can be said that the content of the first exam has basically determined who will pass the undergraduate provincial examination.

Even if examiners like Shen Mo worked overtime to mark the papers, it would still take at least ten days to review all the papers in the first round. In previous years, the provincial examinations would take at least fifteen to twenty days.

Considering the tight time schedule, Shen Mo did not waste too much time on Xie Wenyuan's article.

From the current perspective, the quality of Xie Wenyuan's articles is indeed the best among the papers he is currently reviewing.

Therefore, he put the volume aside for the time being and continued his review.

The second and third rounds of the provincial examination were basically just formalities.

Even so, the students taking part in the provincial examination did not dare to be careless and answered all the questions honestly.

...

...

On the sixth day of September, the third round of the provincial examination came to an end.

Like most candidates, Xu Qing left the examination room early at noon.

Only some candidates who did not perform well in the first round still made a final struggle in the third round, determined to make up for it in the third round, even though they knew in their hearts that it would be of no help.

In fact, only the papers that are accepted in the first exam will be reviewed by the examiners who are overloaded with work for the contents of the next two exams.

Therefore, if you don’t perform well in the first round, there is a high probability that no matter how hard you try in the second and third rounds, you will not enter the examiner’s sight again.

After all, the "mokan" after the results of the provincial examination are announced is only to check the test papers of the candidates who have passed, not those who have not passed.

In addition, the chief examiner has the power to search for lost papers, but will not use it easily.

Unlike most of the candidates who were heavy-hearted, Xu Qing came out with a relaxed look, and seemed not to be worried about his ranking in the provincial examination at all.

Feng Wu and others were already waiting outside to greet them.

At this time, a middle-aged scholar came over. Like Xu Qing, he was also calm and composed, without the kind of anxiety that one would have after an exam.

"Thank you, uncle." Feng Wu was the first to greet.

After Feng Wu's introduction, Xu Qing learned that the middle-aged scholar was named "Xie Quan", with the courtesy name Wenyuan.

"Xu Gongming, can you find a place to have a drink?"

Feng Wu coughed and said, "Uncle Xie, he has something important to do and plans to return to Jiangning Mansion first."

After the results of the provincial examination were announced, the yellow newspaper would be sent urgently to the candidates' registered places of residence, and would also be announced in various prefectures and provincial capitals. Therefore, even if Xu Qing returned to Jiangning Prefecture, it would not prevent him from knowing his ranking at the first time.

Besides, Yingtian Prefecture was not his old nest after all. If he returned immediately after the provincial examination, he could prevent himself from being ambushed after failing the Five Classics Examination.

Moreover, the ninth day of September is the day when Yan Kong and Gu Wuji duel.

The decisive battle between two great masters, Xu Qing certainly would not miss such a good show.

Xie Quan smiled and said, "I have nothing to do anyway, how about I go with you guys?"

Feng Wu looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing: "Mr. Xie, if you want to go to Jiangning Mansion, of course you can, but I am afraid that I will not be able to entertain you well and neglect you."

"Haha, it's settled then. I'll go with you."

Feng Wu: “…”

However, she would not go back to Jiangning Mansion with Xu Qing this time, after all, they had not yet been engaged. Even now, she was dressed in men's clothing when she went out.

In addition, after Xu Qing finished the provincial examination, it was not appropriate for her to meet her father, so as not to give others a handle to criticize her.

Even before the provincial examination, Xu Qing had never formally visited Feng Xifeng, let alone met Shen Mo.

As for the meeting at Mr. Danxi's residence, it was not a meeting in public.

Few people know about it.

In addition, Fushe now has a strong influence on public opinion among the lower-class scholars in Yingtian Prefecture. Although Xu Qing was in the examination room, he also instructed Su Lianqing and other core members of Fushe who did not participate in the provincial examination to pay attention to the guidance of public opinion.

If you don't occupy the public opinion position yourself, it will be left to others.

In order to prevent anyone from causing trouble, Xu Qing deliberately made up many rumors that sounded true and false before the provincial examination, mainly with the aim of attracting attention with explosive stories. In this way, even if there were rumors against him, they would be drowned out by the numerous rumors and their power would be greatly reduced.

In short, no matter what the result is.

He first did what he was supposed to do.

Xu Qing and Feng Wu parted ways, taking Fa Yue, Xie Quan and others with them, and set off on their return journey.

After boarding a passenger ship on the Black Water Lake, Xie Quan finally found a moment of leisure and asked, "Gongming, do you still remember what the four books were written on?"

Xu Qing smiled and said, "Is this what Mr. Xie has been struggling with?"

Xie Quan: "I can't wait for the provincial examination rankings to come out. I want to take a peek at your essay first."

Xu Qing: "Forget it. The court will have its own opinions on the articles it has selected. Besides, I can't remember what articles I have written."

Xie Quan: "Then listen to me?"

Xu Qing waved his hand: "No need."

Xie Quan said gloomily: "You are such a boring person."

Xu Qing smiled and said, "Literature is just a minor subject. Astronomy, geography, the rise and fall of ancient and modern times, I would like to ask you a few questions, would you be willing to do so?"

Xie Quan's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said, "I know that the memorial submitted by He and Wu about 'changing rice to mulberry' was actually written by you. This shows that you, Gongming, are quite good at managing money. I wonder what you think of the theme of 'opening the market at noon, attracting people from all over the world, gathering goods from all over the world, and leaving after trading, so that everyone gets what they want'?"

Xu Qing pondered for a moment.

This passage comes from the "Book of Changes. Xici". In Xu Qing's previous life, during the late Qing Dynasty, it was used as a question in the imperial examination.

The social situation in the late Qing Dynasty was more complicated than that of the current Dayu Dynasty, and the need for reform was stronger.

This passage reveals the essence of ancient economic activities, and is also a consensus reached by all classes on commercial economic activities in today's era.

After Xu Qing pondered for a while, he said, "Mr. Xie, do you know how much the seventh-rank official's annual salary was in the early years of the country?"

Xie Quan was well-versed in history and said, "Ninety stone of rice is still like this today."

Xu Qing: "In the early years of the dynasty, how much silver was ninety dan of rice equivalent to?"

"Five hundred coins. As for how much silver it is, I don't know."

Silver has been the mainstream currency for nearly a hundred years, and it is even more so now. This is also the reason why the Prime Minister is about to implement the "One Whip Law".

Because there was little silver in the Dayu Dynasty before, but there is plenty of silver now.

Xu Qing smiled slightly, "Then Mr. Xie, do you know how much silver a decent mansion with a door and an exit is worth when Yingtian Prefecture was still the capital in the early years of the Ming Dynasty?"

"About two hundred taels." Xie Quan found a handwritten note about this matter based on his memory and gave a rough figure.

"What now?"

"At least five hundred taels." Xie Quan said after a moment of hesitation.

“Why was it that when it was the capital, the prices were lower than they are now?”

"Could it be that silver is worthless?"

Xu Qing said leisurely: "In the early years of the country, a family with a thousand taels of silver could be considered wealthy in the county. Today, a thousand taels of wealth is not enough to donate to a patrol inspector. However, the silver in the hands of the people is not necessarily more than in the early years of the country."

"But the amount of silver deposited into the imperial court each year has not increased much compared to the early years of the dynasty."

"But the amount of silver in the world has indeed increased, but it is not in the hands of the court or the people, but in the hands of the rich and powerful."

The term "haoyou" refers to a family that owns a large amount of land, and the term "shijia" refers to a powerful family.

They can be aristocratic families, noble families, or powerful people...

But in essence, they are all families that own a large amount of land or are quite powerful.

Xu Qing changed the subject and continued, "The increase in silver is not because there are many silver mines in our dynasty, but because of the trade of silk, tea, etc., silver from overseas has been continuously brought into our territory.

In the past, these businesses were dominated by the rich and powerful, so the silver was in their hands. The essence behind changing rice to mulberry was to take the dominant power of this business back from the rich and powerful. Let the silver flow into the national treasury, thus benefiting all the people in the world. "

"Gongming's strategy has such a far-reaching purpose. I thought the key to this strategy was to increase the revenue for the court, but I didn't expect there was this layer." Xie Quan didn't quite understand the way of financial management. He was better at power struggles, being a staff member, and making suggestions.

Now that Xu Qing said this, he realized that the struggle in the world is not limited to power, but also involves something more profound.

Xu Qing sighed and said, "This is an ideal situation. In reality, even if the imperial court succeeds in replacing rice with mulberry, silver will not flow into the people and benefit all the people in the world."

"Why?"

Xu Qing: "Mr. Xie, don't you understand the style of officials in this dynasty? Even if there is an imperial decree, the white silver cannot be given cheaply to the people. However, silver is the mainstream currency. The people have no silver, so they have to exchange their own things for silver. In this way, the poor will become poorer and the rich will become richer. That is conceivable..."

Xie Quan knew that Xu Qing had not explained many things clearly, but as a smart man, it was easy for him to understand what Xu Qing meant once he was given some pointers.

Officials, gentry and powerful people have a lot of silver in their hands, so they will naturally try to implement policies such as the Single Whip Law to replace in-kind taxes such as grain with silver.

If the common people did not have silver to pay taxes, they had to find officials and powerful people to exchange for silver.

By then... "No wonder the Prime Minister's "One Whip Law" did not encounter much resistance after it was proposed."

This method was implemented several decades ago, but it was quickly abolished due to considerable resistance. This time, after the Prime Minister proposed it, there was little resistance.

Because at that time, the silver in the hands of officials, gentry and powerful people was far less than it is now.

Xie Quan had previously thought that the Prime Minister had succeeded in seizing power, so he was able to successfully carry out reforms with his own authority. Unexpectedly, there was another reason that he had not thought of before.

In fact, he was blinded by one thing, and believed that the key to the success of the reform lay in the emperor, the prime minister, and the army.

Xie Quan continued to think further. Even if they knew that this matter was the root of disaster, the Prime Minister and His Majesty would not refuse it, because once it was implemented, the national treasury would be full.

With money, we can strengthen the army, accomplish great things, and increase the power of the central government.

It will only make the people suffer more.

Moreover, the actual situation in different provinces of the country is also different.

For example, in Nanzhili, there were many textile factories and various entertainment industries with a wide variety of commodities, so many ordinary people could also earn silver.

But there are still many provinces where even landlords with considerable land holdings may not have much silver.

The Single Whip System may be implemented in Southern Zhili, but if it is implemented in other places, it may easily become a bad policy.

If you think about it more deeply, Nanzhili itself had to bear the grain tribute and the original grain taxes, and converting them into silver would actually help reduce the burden on the people.

He thought more deeply that no matter whether the conversion from rice to mulberry was successful or not, Xu Qing would at most hurt the feelings of the local gentry, but would not hurt the feelings of the villagers.

Moreover, this incident also became a talisman for Xu Qing.

"The gentry in Nanzhili will be hostile to Xu Qing at first, but as the benefits of the reform gradually become apparent, their positions will definitely change. As long as Xu Gongming can withstand the pressure in the early stages, his gains will be amazing."

Because not every gentry can understand these things, and even most of them cannot understand them, but once the benefits of the reform appear to them, their position will naturally change.

But the officials in the imperial court were different. There was no shortage of smart people among them. Even the prime minister probably understood these things, but due to his position, he did not care about the common people.

Moreover, in the eyes of the superiors of the Dayu Dynasty, as long as people were not starving to death, there was no way the people of the Dayu Dynasty would rebel.

On the contrary, once the local gentry gain power, they want to go against the central government.

If the central government does not strengthen itself, it will be looked down upon by the local areas, causing unrest.

Once unrest occurs, the people are the ones who suffer the most.

Xie Quan bowed and said, "Gongming, what you said is like seeing the moon after the clouds have parted, and it is like a revelation. I feel like I have been busy all these years for nothing."

Xu Qing: "What I said is not accurate. It's just theory."

That's exactly what he thought.

His views are nothing more than a summary of many historians and economists in previous lives, and he does not even fully understand many things now.

Because social activities are complex and constantly changing.

Only by going deep into the grassroots can we truly understand some truths.

There are limits to what one person can do for the world.

It is true that heroes can create the times, but this situation only comes about when it caters to the inner aspirations of most people in the world.

For example, when Chiang Kai-shek launched the Northern Expedition, he met the aspirations of people all over the world, and wherever he went, there was vitality.

In the end, although he had millions of strong soldiers and sufficient food, he went against the will of the people. As a result, Xiang Yu was trapped at Gaixia and surrounded by enemies on all sides.

What Xu Qing can do now is to steer the boat so as not to capsize in the sea waves.

Only by becoming stronger and stronger can we turn a small boat into a big ship, withstand strong winds and waves, and protect more people.

The courage and wisdom of one person can only benefit himself at best.

Only with the courage and wisdom of many people can the world benefit.

However, if Xu Qing could not keep himself out of trouble, the things that happened later would not have happened.

After all, he is just an ordinary man, an average person, not a macho man sent from heaven.

Fortunately, he has a cheat that makes him different from ordinary people.

Xie Quan's horizons were broadened by Xu Qing, but he felt a little disheartened.

He just felt that everything he had learned over the past few decades was useless.

So what if I enter officialdom?
Xu Qing's words cleared the clouds and revealed the moon, but they were also like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing his fiery ambitions.

Seeing this, Xu Qing said calmly, "Mr. Xie, the purpose of our Fushe is to apply knowledge to society and help the people. As the saying goes, 'Every man has his share of responsibility for the fate of his country.' But we are all young people with no knowledge. If Mr. Xie is interested, you can give us more criticism and corrections when you arrive in Jiangning Prefecture."

Xie Quan had already heard a lot about Fushe in Yingtian Prefecture. Fushe's headquarters was in Jiangning Prefecture, and Xu Qing was the leader of the society.

He is now very interested in Xu Qing, and even more interested in Fushe.

What's more, "Every man has his share of responsibility for the rise and fall of his country" has extraordinary appeal to ambitious scholar-officials like him.

In fact, scholars are not necessarily loyal to the emperor, but scholars with conscience often have the dream of universal peace in their hearts.

During the Dayu Dynasty, some corrupt officials even died on the dikes while fighting floods.

They even embezzled the money for building the levee.

People are complex and multifaceted.

Pure good or evil is rare.

After that, Xu Qing and Xie Quan had an even more pleasant conversation.

Xie Quan even felt that for someone like Xu Qing, participating in the provincial examination was an honor but also a helpless move under the system.

A sage once said, "The universe lends me writing."

Only those articles that describe the natural world and all living beings are truly good articles.

He had not reached this level before and was still at the stage of polishing words and sentences.

Xu Qing also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

With Laxiequan in trouble, even if he was forced to flee, the Fushe's superficial structure could be maintained.

Yan Shan is good at doing things, but he cannot provide theoretical support for Fushe.

When Fushe truly becomes the leading society in Nanzhili, theoretical construction must keep up. But such talents are the backbone of all major academies, so it is not easy to fool them.

All we can say is that Xie Quan came to the door himself, and Xu Qing had no choice but to accept it.

With the support of famous scholars like Xie Quan, Xu Qing can also use Xie Quan's name to recruit middle-level scholars and unite more scholarly forces.

In fact, Xu Qing’s fortunes are about to come out.

He now has a bit of the same feeling as Cao and Liu in the early days when they were younger brothers serving the big boss. In the process, he gradually has his own team.

As long as the roots of this team are there, they can survive any storms in the future. Once the storms subside, the seeds can be sown again and take root and sprout.

The two chatted on the lake and became more and more interested in the conversation.

Even when Xie Quan was drunk, he planned to become sworn brothers with Xu Qing.

Xu Qing talked about what happened with Feng Xifeng.

Xie Quan didn't care at all and they went on with their own discussions.

At worst, Xu Qingsheng can be called Brother Feng Xifeng.

Xu Qing knew that this was just drunken talk, so he ignored it.

After traveling by water, passing the mountain road and the official road of Heping Road, Xu Qing and his party returned to Jiangning Prefecture and found that many people from the martial arts world had come to the city.

Guo Zhuang came to greet him and explained the reason.

This duel between Yan Kong and Gu Wuji is the most sensational event in the Nanzhili underworld in recent times.

Especially Gu Wuji, who came from the north and challenged many southern sects and never lost.

Now it is the most popular.

Abbot Yankong then teamed up with Guo Zhuang and sold a lot of spectator cards in the name of the government.

At that time, only those holding a spectator card can enter the Jinguang Temple to watch the duel between the two, and they must also obtain a waiver. At that time, if something unexpected happens while watching the duel, you must not cause trouble for the Jinguang Temple.

Even so, there are still many heroes who spend money to buy spectator cards.

Xu Qing's face twitched when he heard this.

If Master Yankong had used his time to make money instead of practicing martial arts, he wouldn't have had to refine Zen Master Hongyue's relics before his soul could "manifest".

I'm afraid the morals of the underworld in Southern Zhili will be corrupted from now on!

Once his foundation is solid, he will definitely hold a Nanzhili Martial Arts Conference and make a fortune.

Each person must have a portion of the secret medicine for cultivation in order to enter, no one can be left behind!
(End of this chapter)