Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 178 Number One Scholar

The list of Jinshi candidates was short, and Yang Zhao read it quickly, but his eyes squinted and he looked coldly at Yang Guanghui who was standing aside.

"Zhongcheng?" Yang Guanghui felt uneasy and said cautiously: "Except for Gao Shi's failure, this list is the same as Zhongcheng's requirements."

He had just accomplished a great feat.

In his opinion, the purpose of keeping him in the Rites Courtyard was to ensure that the young man, Yang Xuan, was admitted to high school. But Da Xixun, a rat like him, actually said that Yang Xuan's test paper was too bad and suggested that he wait for two years before taking the Ming Sutra.

Yang Guanghui immediately reported it, and Yang Zhao scolded Da Xixun: "My son can also win the Jinshi. Why do you want to betray me?!" Da Xixun was helpless, so he named Yang Xuan as one of the top candidates in Mingjing.

As a result, Yang Guangdi failed to pay attention to some rumors about Jinshi Branch.

"Same?"

Yang Zhao raised his hand and slapped Yang Guangfei, and shouted, "Do you know you were fooled? You can make an accident happen for me with such a simple thing."

"I wonder what happened to me, sir? Gao Shi's slanderous paper..."

"Slander, did you know that Xue Bai's father's name is Xue Ling?"

"I know." Yang Guangdi still didn't respond.

"Do you know the taboos in the examination room? Why didn't you stop me when the questions were asked?"

Yang Guanghui shook his head repeatedly and said: "Jiaguan is not an official through the imperial examination. Only a few people are awarded Jinshi in a year, so there is a family background."

"Damn it."

Yang Zhao was about to scold him again, but suddenly he heard a message.

"Alang, I have a visitor asking to see you. He calls himself Li Tan. He is the Li family of Zhao County. He is the son-in-law of Duke Zhang of Shangzhu Kingdom."

"Li Tan? Are you here because of his gambling on ghost wife?"

Yang Zhao rubbed his hands subconsciously and went to see Li Tan in the hall.

The two parties exchanged greetings very politely, and the guest and host sat down. Yang Zhao said: "Don't worry, as long as the Jinwu Guards take down those gangsters who dare to bully your wife, I will tell Dali Temple to skin them. I still have some face."

Li Tan said: "I'm just curious. Those four gangsters are Xue Ling's friends. If Xue Ling can't be found, why don't they go find his wife and children?"

Yang Zhao smiled and said: "How do I come forward? Is it okay to ask for gambling debts on behalf of my wife?"

Li Tan shook his head helplessly and said, "I heard today that Xue Bai won the top prize?"

"His holy love is so strong that there is nothing he can do."

"Okay, I'm not here today for this matter." Li Tan asked with a smile, "Yang Zhongcheng is also serving as a doctor in Duzhi?"

"Oh? But is there a magic way to make money?"

"Yang Zhongcheng is clearly guarding Jinshan, why are you asking me? I heard that the craftsmanship of bamboo paper is getting better and better now, but the price has dropped, as low as eight yuan and as high as twelve yuan?"

"From now on, it will be possible to have three cards for one coin."

"Does Yang Zhongcheng know how much a piece of white rattan paper sells for in Dongshi?"

"How are you being treated?"

Li Tan took out a few letters of deed from his sleeve and said, "I just want to give Yang Zhongcheng some properties in the hope that we can make bamboo paper together."

"This matter is not something I can decide."

"If Yuan Zai and Xue Bai were gone, wouldn't my uncle just listen to you, Yang Zhongcheng? The craft has not spread yet, and there is still time to hold on to it. As long as we hold on to it, it will be a huge profit."

Yang Zhao raised his eyebrows, reacted, and said in surprise: "So it's you? Haha, Jin Ke Chunwei will show us how powerful he is, right? No, you can't convince Cui Qiao."

"That's right." Li Tan nodded and said, "This idea came from the prince-in-law. He is a smart man. You are right to listen to him..."

~~

Xianyi Princess Mansion.

"Prince-in-law, please take a look."

A servant copied the list of Jinshi from the Rites Academy and ran back and handed it to Yang Hui.

Yang Hui only looked at the top of the list and asked in surprise: "Is this really a top position?"

"Xue Bai?" Li Niang said, "But didn't the prince-in-law say that once the question came out, he would be hopeless?"

"Yes." Yang Hui said doubtfully: "Even if Xue Bai refuses to give up the exam, Cui Qiao clearly knows Xue Ling's name and dares to ask questions and point to the top score. As the examiner, it is also a taboo."

"What do you mean?"

"According to what everyone said that night, forcing Xue Bai to give up the exam, or not counting him on the list, would be enough to intimidate Yang Zheng. Give Yang Dang a lesson, let Yuan Zai take those poor scholars out, and grab the bamboo paper Craftsmanship." Yang Hui murmured: "Then why does Cui Qiao want to make the matter bigger even at the expense of herself?"

"Ge Nu forced it?"

Yang Hui pondered and murmured: "Xue Bai is the same as Yang Zhao. They are both motivated dogs and will not give up on the exam. Now he has won the top prize. It is like a dog biting a bone. How can he spit it out? If it can't be done well, it will be involved. To his bullshit life experience."

Thinking of this, he frowned and became more and more puzzled.

"Why did Zhang Bian do this?"

Li Niang said in surprise: "The prince-in-law is not saying... Zhang Bian has even considered this, right? He adopted Xue Bai. If this matter is revealed, he will be the first to be suspected by the saint."

"Don't make any noise, let me think about what he said when we were drinking that night..."

"Noisy? Do you think I'm noisy?!"

~~

The three people drinking in the restaurant seemed a little silent, mainly because Gao Shi didn't talk much.

He took a pen and paper and wrote out the poem for the exam and showed it to Xue Bai.

"That's it." Xue Bai said without saying anything more, "I also said I would give it a try at the beginning."

Scholars all over the world passed the provincial examination. More than 700 people gathered in Chang'an to take the imperial examination. Only 27 people came first. How can we give up one place to Gao Shi, a child from a poor family in Guandong?

Although Xue Bai promised to try his best, he did not dare to bet with Yuan Zai that Gao Shi would be on the list.

What's more, when he wrote such a poem, he had never been an official for a day, and all he could think about was teaching the emperor how to be an emperor.

"I have been very restrained." Gao Shi sighed: "I have praised Li Linfu before, how could I deliberately ruin Chunwei?"

"Yes, I know, but why let Gao Sanwulang, who is 'singing and dancing under the beauty's tent', write some mediocre examination works?" Xue Bai said: "I have tried it. Do you want to go under General Wang's tent? Or brother?" General Shu's presence?"

The test has been tried, and it can be confirmed that the path to promotion for most talents in the world is blocked, and the Imperial Examination of the Tang Dynasty is far from achieving the effect of "all the heroes of the world will be included in my command".

There are less than twenty-seven Jinshi in a year. This is definitely not a path that ordinary people can take. What's more, how many of these twenty-seven can be awarded officials?

If you want to get ahead in this world, the most common way is to work behind the scenes in border towns.

"What suggestions does Xue Lang have?" Gao Shi asked.

"If you ask me, then go to General Wang's tent." Xue Bai said: "Although there is no war in the east of the river, sooner or later it will be the top priority."

"it is good!"

"Brother Gao, don't be discouraged. I believe that sooner or later you will be granted the title of Marquis and Prime Minister."

"Xue Lang is not very good at comforting people."

After only drinking a glass of wine, Xue Bai did not stay with Gao Shi for too long. After all, he won the first prize and was not suitable to comfort people. When Dong Tinglan arrived, he left with Du Wulang.

There were frustrated scholars everywhere outside the restaurant.

With this comparison, Xue Bai felt that the status of the number one scholar was even more precious.

~~

"The Number One Scholar is here!"

In Du's house, Quan Rui shouted, which shocked everyone in the house and ran out. It was so lively.

In fact, they had already sent people back to report the good news, including the news that Du Wulang had won the Ming Jing.

"Really won the top prize? Mr. Xue will make a fortune soon!"

"A large part of my money is in the hands of my eldest sister. How about eldest sister distributing it?"

"Why is it at Auntie's place? Oh, yes, Auntie is going to send you some wedding money..."

Du Wei quickly turned her head to cover up the hint of embarrassment when she looked at Xue Bai. In private, Xue Bai called her "Miniang".

After finally getting rid of the noisy crowd, Du Wulang paid his respects to his parents, but the next moment he ran off to nowhere.

Xue Bai and the Du sisters went to the house to discuss things.

As soon as the door closed, it finally became quiet.

"I sent someone to inquire. This is the guest list for the banquet hosted by Li Tan and Zhang Si that night. I bribed some servants, so I should be able to confirm it." Du Jin handed over the list, and when Du Jin wasn't paying attention, he ticked the list with the instep. He hooked Xue Bai's calf and said with a smile: "Master Zhuangyuan, please take a look."

"Well, good."

Xue Bai acted like the top scholar, took the list, glanced at it, and said, "There are indeed many princesses and consorts."

Du Jin said: "But there are not many people involved with you. Zhang Bian knows your life experience, and Yang Wei doesn't seem like someone who can plan this matter."

"Yes, Zhang Bian once protected me."

Xue Bai glanced at Du Jin and thought that he had not told her about the follow-up plan regarding his identity. If he did, she would definitely be very excited... However, the identity of the number one scholar is also rare.

Retracting his mind, he thought for a while and said slowly: "It is not difficult to deduce a general context."

"Well, if it was Zhang Bian who did it, he didn't go out of his way to cover it up."

"What he did was also very simple. He should have used bamboo paper and the benefits of concentration as bait to drive Li Tan, Zhang Si and his wife, and some powerful people to prevent me from becoming a Jinshi."

"It is a very common and simplest method to make scholars avoid taboos. Every year, several to a dozen people give up the exam because of "heartache". It is not a big deal. They dare to do it for the benefit of bamboo paper and concentration."

Xue Bai said: "If I don't give up the exam, Ge Nu will definitely push me to death. It won't take any effort anyway. However, if Zhang Bian wants to stop Cui Qiao from nominating me as the number one scholar, he must have a way, but he just lets it go. Why?" "Yes, isn't he afraid of forcing you to reveal your background?"

"In addition to Zhang Bian's motives, I can't figure out Cui Qiao's motives. He shouldn't have made such a big sacrifice for the benefit of others."

The context of this matter is easy to see clearly, but the behavior of these two people is inexplicable.

Xue Bai said: "I have a bad premonition. I'm worried that they did it on purpose. They figured out my nature as a self-motivated person and used the No. 1 prize as bait to catch me."

Du Jin said: "You just bit the fish, and you plan to lose your relatively safe identity as the son of Xue Ling."

"Yes, so the teacher said that giving one year to go to Longyou to practice is the safest way."

Du Wei suddenly said: "Maybe... you two have thought too deeply."

"Ok?"

"Are your guesses too complicated?" Du Mei said, "If you really can't guess the purpose of Zhang Bian and Cui Qiao, then maybe they don't necessarily want to harm others."

Xue Bai and Du Jin looked at each other and realized that maybe they were thinking too deeply.

~~

At night, the windows and coffins automatically move without wind.

There were no candles lit in the room, only two people were whispering.

"I told my eldest sister to let you rest for the night so that you can have enough energy to deal with the next thing. Am I being bad?"

"Aren't you afraid of her sneaking over?"

"Then I'll be embarrassed."

"Then you'll be embarrassed."

"Oh, the number one scholar in Tianbao's seventh year is mine?"

"You put it away?"

"Um……"

The wind got stronger and the windows and coffins shook louder.

Du Jin was still embarrassed after all.

She lied and was caught by Du Po. Du Po, who had always been gentle, lost his temper and refused to pay attention to her with a cold face.

~~

"Why is the eldest sister angry with the second sister?"

By noon, Du Wulang was keenly aware of the stalemate in the relationship between the two sisters. He was very surprised and said: "They have never been so angry before."

Xue Bai asked: "Do you hate lying?"

"Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't." Du Wulang scratched his head and said, "I can't explain why."

Xue Bai listened thoughtfully.

Du Wulang then asked: "What are you thinking about?"

"It's nothing, it's almost time to be pushed to the forefront."

Du Wulang said: "I have inquired. You will not be punished for breaking taboos, but if you can't handle it, your reputation will be ruined and you will never be an official for the rest of your life. Uncle Yang Guo will probably never get close to you again. This way There have been several precedents for scholars, and they all lived in poverty in the end. But don’t worry, at least I will not alienate you, and you will definitely not be hungry as long as I have something to eat..."

As he was talking, someone came looking for him.

To Du Wulang's expectation, it was a eunuch who came, claiming that the sage recruited the number one scholar to the palace to pay an audience, and he wanted to explain some things at the Qujiang Banquet.

Along the way to Xingqing Palace, Xue Bai also had a conversation with the other party.

"How did Xue Lang offend Cui Shangshu?"

"Mr. Cui selected me as the number one scholar. He is my mentor. I wonder why the internal official said this?"

"Hehe, he knew your grandpa's name was taboo, and deliberately gave you a question to make you 'heartache'. Then he selected you as the number one scholar. Early this morning, he blamed himself on the saint again. He said he was negligent and didn't notice that you violated the taboo. This was not intentional. Harm you?"

Xue Bai said: "So all the saints know it?"

"These aristocratic families really think they are so noble. All the emperor's articles and annotations belong to them. Because of a piece of bamboo paper, they dare to violate the holy will. You too, have to violate this taboo, wait for a year, the saint can still be wronged Do you? Really think that only those who have won the Jinshi can be awarded an official? You are really putting the cart before the horse!"

After talking about it, the young eunuch almost scolded him.

However, Xue Bai still had to thank him and said: "Thank you, the official, for reminding me."

After entering Xingqing Palace and bypassing Dragon Palace, Li Longji was rehearsing in Shenxiang Pavilion today.

Seeing Xue Bai coming from a distance, he laughed heartily and said: "The Number One Scholar is here, hurry up, stop now, don't let him get a glimpse of your skills."

"I have met the saint, wish him a happy spring."

"Without courtesy, now that you have won the top prize, you can become a minister soon?" Li Longji said, his smile turned displeased, and he said: "But we have to solve the trouble you caused first. You also have Enough trouble!"

"The saint calms down his anger..."

"Why should I give up my anger? I don't care whether you avoid Xue Ling or not, but rules are rules and filial piety is filial piety. This is the morality of the world!"

"Yes." Xue Bai said: "I am too wicked."

Li Longji seemed to smile and said: "Cui Qiao is old and has no scruples. He has asked me to be transferred to stay in the Eastern Capital and paid the price. What about you? You know that you are going to violate a taboo, but you still dare to answer with the word 'ling' question, what are your plans? Tell me, what did you think at the time?"

Xue Bai glanced quickly and saw Gao Lishi standing behind Li Longji with the same expression as usual. In the distance, Li Guinian was arranging the palace's "The Romance of the West Chamber", but he didn't see Yang Yuhuan.

"Back to the saint, I am not Xue Ling's son. The reason why I recognized him is because the academic field requires family background, and the officialdom requires family background. What I was thinking at the time was that we can't put the cart before the horse."

After hearing this, Li Longji's face turned angry, he glared at Xue Bai fiercely, turned around and sat down on the imperial couch.

In fact, if we think back to Yuan Ye, Li Longji asked Xue Bai if he was sure that Xue Ling was his grandfather. Xue Bai's answer was "I don't remember much, but I seem to have an impression" and he had an impression of cooking.

There is no need to mention this matter, because there is still a tacit understanding between the two.

The key point is that Li Longji was happy to click on a good story and clicked it casually. Now why should he say "I was wrong at the time" for Xue Bai?

Stir-fried vegetables, dominoes, stories, poems, operas... Xue Bai has been working hard to offer treasures for a year, but he may not be qualified to let the saint speak.

"You really deserve to be killed!" Li Longji cursed.

Xue Bai hesitated for a long time and said slowly: "I deserve death. I am greedy for profit. I will do whatever it takes to be an official. In order to get rid of the body of an official slave, I recognize Xue Ling as my father. Now I am facing backlash. I deserve it. I know I was wrong. , I just want to tell the saint all the truth.”

"explain."

"I secretly met Princess Tang Chang at Zongsheng Palace..."

No one noticed that Li Longji paused in surprise at this moment, narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked at Gao Lishi.

Xue Bai raised his head, looked at Li Longji, and said sincerely: "Because many people said that I am the son of Xue Xiu, Prince Qing Li Cong arranged for Princess Tang Chang to meet with me."

This time, Gao Lishi's eyes finally widened. He didn't expect Xue Bai to sell Li Cong like this.

"Princess Tang Chang said that Xue Xiu raised a group of adopted sons in order to help the deposed prince, and I was one of them. I have no parents and have been an orphan since I was a child. Xue Xiu was kind to me, so I reported my name at that time. 'Ping Zhao', willing to clear up his injustice. But then I lost my memory, and now I only remember the saint's kindness, and I think it was wrong for Xue Xiu to raise an adopted son..."

"In Zongsheng Palace, I knew my life experience, but I thought it was too dangerous, so I continued to pretend that I was Xue Ling's son. Until there was a taboo in the examination room, and there was no benefit to being Xue Ling's son, so I thought, I have worked hard for so long, and I will definitely get on the list. The worst case scenario is death. These people want to stop me, and the worst case scenario is dragging them to death together. I have no relatives, and they are from a wealthy family. I have made a profit..."

"By the way, the Right Prime Minister, Donggong, has said many times that this case and that case were committed by me. It is precisely because of my identity that as long as I implicate my political opponents and reveal my identity, it will be twice the result with half the effort. I always knew what they were thinking and would not let them succeed. I committed the crime of deceiving the emperor..."

"Until now, I am still committing the crime of deceiving the emperor. I still have a small part of my heart, hoping that the saint will forgive me for telling the truth, because I have been deliberately trying to please the saint this year, and I hope that when this day comes It can make the hearts of saints soften. Those poems and operas are prepared for this. They are really deceiving the king..."

Xue Bai told the truth as much as possible, except to cover up some fatal crimes, such as adopting Longyou's dead soldiers.

It's still the same truth. Sometimes, only those with power dare to tell the truth. Nowadays, making the saint happy can bring power. When Xue Bai was an official slave, if he dared to tell the truth, he would be killed immediately, so he wanted to become Xue Ling's son as a transition.

He tried all his efforts just to reveal all the truth in front of Li Longji.

When the rehearsal of "The West Chamber" reaches the final stage and the competition is about to begin, this is the best time, and Li Longji is in the highest interest.

Someone harmed him in the examination hall and forced him to admit that this was not a bad thing. In comparison, taking the initiative to confess for no reason will make him appear to be too calculated and need to be passive and helpless. It will make him look more like a helpless young man and make him more vulnerable.

However, Li Longji was still angry.

"Damn Shuzi!"

Xue Bai said: "I deserve death..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Longji raised his hand and shouted: "Detain him."

Xue Bai was immediately held down.

He knew that he was gambling with his life. Yan Zhenqing was right, he was more dangerous than Xue Ling.

But he thought he made the right bet. He guessed that Li Longji had known the truth recently, and today he was testing whether he told the truth or not.

What is Zhang Bian’s motivation?

If you don’t think too deeply, it’s self-protection. When Xue Bai came into the sight of the saint, Zhang Bian realized that it was dangerous to adopt Xue Bai. Although they had no friendship with each other, he was just entrusted by others to make a fortune. Just money.

But this prince-in-law was very good at protecting himself, so he used Zheng Qian's incident to test the saint's reaction to the case of the three commoners in order to consider whether to tell the saint everything. After observing for a period of time, Zhang Bian knew that something might have happened. Unable to hide it, I confessed.

So, it is even possible that Li Longji acquiesced in the examination incident.

Of course Li Longji could kill Xue Bai directly, but he might also want to see what the young man who offered various treasures and wanted to be the top scholar really had in mind, so he allowed his officials to test him.

In this way, Cui Qiao's blatant behavior can be justified...

These are just conjectures, Xue Bai is not sure.

He could only be sure of one thing - sooner or later he would be unable to hide it anyway, so it would be better to expose it completely at once.

If they are right, he will be a loyal and lonely minister who cares deeply about today's world.

　Tell me why you can't let Xue Ling change her name. If the name could be changed, then there would be no need for this rule in the Tang Dynasty examination hall. The rule at that time was that if the question was asked, the examinee must abandon the test. Letting a father change his name because of his son is as unfilial as breaking a taboo. This rule is very strict. Everyone knows Li He’s example, so I won’t go into details. Therefore, Xue Bai wants to completely deny the entire father-son relationship. If the father-son relationship does not exist, there will be no issue of avoidance~~ I posted even later today, writing until 4 o'clock, but I have written a total of 1.1 words. Please give me your monthly vote~~

　　

　

(End of this chapter)