Prime Minister

Chapter 263 The Truth
In the Dutang of the Gongyuan.

Wang Gui is drinking tea.

Now that the papers have been presented to the emperor, just waiting for the papers to be sent out, they can be ranked and released.

However, Fan Zhen and Wang Chou are still in dispute over the ranking of the first volume.

But now put one or two on hold for now, and wait until the emperor's will arrives.

Now Wang Gui is pacing in the capital hall after drinking tea.

The Huayang Wang family is a family of officials for generations, and when Wang Gui arrived, four generations have been admitted to the imperial examination.At that time, Wang Anshi was the number one scholar, and he was the second place in the list, but Wang Anshi wrote a sentence "a child is his friend", which aroused the displeasure of the officials, and was finally dismissed.

Therefore, Wang Gui, who was supposed to be the second in the list, was the champion, but Song Renzong had a saying that "I don't want nobles to be ahead of the world's cold and handsome", and there was a story in the Song Dynasty that "officials are not the champion", so Wang Gui, an official from generation to generation, did not replace him. Wang Anshi became the champion.

After four years of his foreign service, he took up the post of the library.

In the Song Dynasty, there was a custom that if the prime minister lacked people, he must choose the two systems, and those who were in the two systems must choose the Zhongguan Pavilion.Therefore, pavilions and pavilions are a place to support each other and cultivate talents.

Having lived in an official's family for many years, Wang Gui is the most familiar with official affairs.Wang Gui suddenly stood out from the crowd, and his official career was far smoother than that of Wang Anshi, who was born in the same year.

Then he became the Hanlin scholar emperor and drafted the imperial edict.

Wang Gui served as a Hanlin scholar for many years.The imperial edict he regarded as grass was the most appropriate and most appreciated by the emperor, so he was hailed as a great handicraft.

The reason for this is that Wang Gui's articles are well written, and his parallel prose is excellent, which has been unanimously praised by the pavilion.

In addition, Wang Gui himself is also good at understanding the emperor's mind.Trying to figure out the meaning is a must for every emperor and close minister.

Wang Gui is a master at this and has always been cautious. This time he shoulders the responsibility of knowing the tribute.

In another time and space history, Renzong accepted Han Qi's suggestion to establish a prince.After Han Qi went out, he told Wang Gui to draw up an imperial edict.

The next day Wang Gui went to see Renzong again and said that some people said that Zaizhi forced the emperor to make you a heir. I want to hear your opinion.

Wang Gui returned to Caozhao only after receiving Renzong's confirmation.

This matter was praised by Ouyang Xiu as a true bachelor.

At this time, the outside said: "Someone is coming from the palace."

Immediately, Wang Gui's spirit was shaken, and he immediately ordered someone to call Fan Zhen, and Wang Chou and Xiang Dingguan came to meet the palace envoy together.

……

After the palace envoys left, Wang Gui, Fan Zhen, Wang Chou and the detailed officials were all beaming, grateful for the great grace of the emperor.

The palace envoy had nothing to say except that the officials were very satisfied with their reading of the papers.

There is nothing else to say, Wang Gui and the other examiners were deeply moved by the benevolence of the emperor.

What is meant by the word "benevolence" is self-restraint and return to propriety.

If you can do some things but don't do them, that is self-denial and return to ritual.

As the Ninth Five-Year Sovereign, the Son of Heaven restrains his desire for unlimited power in his hands, and if he is able to refrain from doing whatever he wants, he deserves the word "self-denial",
Self-denial is not enough, one must be able to return to ritual.

The Son of Heaven does not interfere with his own will, which means delegating power to others and respecting the examiner's choice.

The papers for such a provincial examination have been returned to the capital hall by the imperial court, and they will be ranked among the top ten.Since the Son of Heaven does not evaluate the ranking of the papers, it is up to the examiner to decide.

Fan Zhen had another dispute with Wang Chou about the ranking of the provincial examination paper.

Wang Gui also understood this.

Fan Zhen was stubborn, Wang Chou insisted, the two were equal.

Wang Gui has always been ambivalent, and has reserved his final attitude towards this.But the list will be released tomorrow, and now he has to make a final decision.

Yesterday, when the servants went to the tribute courtyard to deliver a change of clothes, Wang Gui inquired about the news that Zhao Yan, the right minister, had entered the palace to meet the emperor, and this was the only person the emperor saw before the imperial scroll was issued.

Wang Gui has been paying attention to the emperor's every move, from which he can figure out his preferences for people and things.

So can I get a glimpse of the emperor's mind from Zhao Bian's mouth?

Wang Gui knew that this was absolutely impossible.As an important minister, Zhao Bian knew the rules, and it was impossible for him to leak the conversation with the emperor to others.

So where did Wang Gui find out?
Facing the ten papers presented to the imperial examination now, what was in my heart.

He took the paper again and put it in his hand to read it carefully.

When turning to a paper, Wang Gui looked at it for the first time and there was no difference, so he put the paper aside.

Wang Gui was already somewhat tired, so he immediately rubbed his eyes, took a blanket, and leaned back on the high-back chair to take a nap for a while.

When Wang Gui woke up, he saw that the left and right were about to unfurl the candles. He thought he had slept until nightfall, but when he looked out the window, he saw that the sky was still bright.

When Wang Gui turned his gaze back to the desk, he did not know when a butterfly flew out of the window and was lightly mooring on the scroll.

"Is Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly?"

Wang Gui smiled slightly, feeling that there was some artistic conception here, and it would be an important poem on weekdays, but today he has no mood.

Noticing something different, Wang Gui waved his hand to drive the butterfly away, but unexpectedly the butterfly went and came back, and landed on the scroll several times.

The officials at the side were about to step forward to help Wang Gui drive away the butterflies, but they were blocked by Wang Gui.

Wang Gui saw that the butterfly repeatedly stopped on the same paper several times, and it was all on the candidates' names.

Seeing this scene, Wang Gui couldn't help being amazed, and wondered if it was God's will for me to take this scroll?

Wang Gui regained his composure, but seeing that the officials on the left and right also saw this scene, he almost burned incense and took a bath. Such things are often heard in the examination room, but now he actually saw it with his own eyes.

Wang Gui changed his mind, sat down again and read the paper carefully.

Suddenly, his mind moved, and he saw that there was something strange next to the candidate's name.So he carefully tapped it with his finger, then put his finger on the tip of his tongue and licked it.

"This seems to be nectar glutinous rice soup..."

Thinking of this, Wang Gui was shocked.

The paper that he presented to the emperor before was the examinee's ink scroll. This is not a transcribed paper, but a paper with the name removed.

Because this vague name is only for the examiner, and it is also for the emperor, who are you guarding against?This is disrespectful.Therefore, the name must be dismantled and presented to Yulan.

The name of the seal is to paste the name at the joint of the family certificate and the test paper, which is equivalent to covering half a page of paper, and the paste used for the name is a mixture of white flour and rice soup, which is generally very light.

On the contrary, this volume seems to have only a small part of the name and family status, and there are some traces of honey glutinous rice soup.

This honey glutinous rice soup is something that is used in the palace,
So it's clear...there is only one truth.

Wang Gui stroked his beard and smiled slightly, it really was God's will!

Thinking of this, Wang Gui turned around and said, "Light up a lamp, let some examiners come to the capital hall to discuss the rankings."

Many scribes came early in the morning outside the collection room of Daxiang.

Among these scribes, there are not only old people who are very old, but also young people with weak crowns, and most of them are middle-aged men in their prime of life.

At the moment they are all talking outside the fast.

"Why isn't this door open?"

"Wait, I can't eat hot tofu in a hurry."

"It turns out that one seal stone in this fast is worth ten pennies, but it always takes three to five months to get it. I mean, I'm talking nonsense, but I don't know why the fast refuses to add seals, even if it is added to twelve pennies One of the fifteen guans can't urge others, and he also said that the vegetarian is a person who is not short of money."

"How can gold and silver be so touching? The last time I brought a family rubbing to my door, the other party just agreed."

The other party clapped his legs and said: "If I knew it was like this, I would try it like this."

"I heard that the people who asked for seals in this fasting waited until half a year later, but now they are better. I don't know why the master of the fasting changed his temperament and suddenly cleared all the engraved seals that were scheduled for half a year later. Now I come here again, see Let's see if I can help my nephew ask for the first chapter."

"I have to say that his seal cutting is really good, and I can't afford to buy a seal, but I can get a lot of benefits from buying a few sets of seal characters."

"I think the chapter is better. I have seen the rubbings of Zhai Zhang's engraved chapter. It can be said that it is so wide and dense that it can hide the needle. It is really a master craftsman, but there is no craftsmanship."

"Since that's what you said, what chapter do you ask the Veteran Master to engrave?"

"Carve a spare chapter, write down the number of Liba people, and use it on the calligraphy and paintings collected over the years."

"What a lower Riba person."

"Laugh and laugh."

"I don't know who the master of the house is from? Ask him, he always refuses to tell you, with his current ability, is he afraid of humiliating the teacher?"

Zhang Yue and Tang Jiu were sitting in the room at the moment, Tang Jiu was drinking while Zhang Yue was yawning.

The clerk looked at the guests outside the door and couldn't help but said: "Boss, Boss, do you see how many people come here to ask you to engrave a seal."

Seeing this scene, Zhang Yue's interest faded.Ever since Wu Anshi learned that he had failed the provincial examination, Zhang Yue also had no intention of studying, so he came to the collection room to use engraved chapters to pass the frustration of the examination room.

Unexpectedly, it was Sangyu who was lost and accidentally harvested. I finished processing the backlog of orders in the store for half a year in one breath, but I didn't expect to attract more people...

Looking at this scene, Zhang Yu thought that if he failed the imperial examination, he could live on with this skill in the future, and maybe he could make a living in Bianjing.

"Is the boss open?"

Zhang Yue looked at so many people and immediately nodded: "Wait a minute, let me finish eating this steamed bun."

After Zhang Yue fed his stomach, he finally opened Soujizhai for business, and many people rushed in for a while.

...

During the period, the waiters were always receiving guests, and Zhang Yue was still at leisure, when a guest came in.

As soon as Zhang Yue saw that the other party was the boss of Zhang Yu's mansion.

Zhang Yue lost his mood when he saw him.

The old man clasped his fists and said, "I've seen Mr. Sanlang."

"The old man cares about being polite, what's the matter?"

Old Duguan said with a smile: "The day after tomorrow will be the Lord's birthday, and the Lord would like to invite Mr. Sanlang to come over to have a cup of birthday wine."

"Eat wine?" Zhang Yue pondered.

Old Duguan said with a smile: "Yes, Lord Sanlang should reward him no matter what. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the villain to explain to the Lord Lord when he goes back."

Zhang Yue said with a smile: "I don't know if there will be any changes at that time. If I have time, I will go there. I would like to ask the boss to go back and tell my uncle."

Seeing Zhang Yue's tone, the old man probably wouldn't force a smile and said, "Mr. Sanlang didn't know that Madam was seriously ill before the winter, and Madam came here after spring. The Lord also wanted to use this birthday banquet to add blessings to Madam. Happy."

"My lady treats Mr. Sanlang very well on weekdays. Mr. Sanlang must go this time."

Zhang Yue glanced at Lao Duguan and said: "I know, Lao Duguan, please go back if you have nothing else to do. You can see that I'm quite busy here, so I don't have time to greet you."

Seeing that Zhang Yue has been ordered to chase away guests, the old metropolitan couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. Today Zhang Yue is not the young man who just arrived in Bianjing and can be controlled by himself.

So the old man hurriedly apologized and said with a smile: "Mr. Sanlang, you are busy, I will take my leave."

(End of this chapter)