I am not a deposed emperor of Han Dynasty

Chapter 473 Do you deserve the surname Kong? Are you qualified for the imperial examination?
  Kong Ba arrived in Chang'an City on the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month, and the Shiquge meeting was held on the first day of the second lunar month.

In the past few days, Chang'an City was much busier than usual.

The most lively places are undoubtedly three.

The first place is naturally the "Kong House" where Kong Ba settled.

Starting at Mao hour every day, groups of Confucian scholars came to Confucius' residence, and the place was completely surrounded.

Some people want to get some advice from Kong Ba, at least in the future they can use this to say that they are disciples of the famous Kong Ba.

In this way, whether you open a monastery to accept disciples to support yourself, or become an official, you will get a lot of convenience.

There are also people who want to bring their annotations of various scriptures into the house, hoping to win a few words of praise and criticism from Kong Ba, and also use them as a stepping stone for future success.

What's more, they actually came to recognize relatives.

In the northern city of Chang'an, a rogue named Aku stole a Confucian scholar's outfit from nowhere and arrived at the door of Confucius' house like a monkey.

This person kept saying that his surname was Kong and his name was Kong Ku. He was the descendant of the concubine whom Confucius left when he traveled around the country. He was one generation higher than Kong Ba in terms of seniority.

This Kong Ku was yelling in front of Kong's house and actually asked Kong Ba to come out directly to greet him.

That's all. The farce of a concubine giving birth to a son was simply a slander against Zhongni. The disciples of the Kong family who were guarding the gate beat him up and threw him on the official road.

At the end, these disciples of the Kong family cursed bitterly: "You are worthy of the surname Kong!"

After eating a lot of it, Aku ran away amidst the laughter of everyone.

In order to prevent Kong Ba, a great scholar, from being disturbed, starting from the third day, Zhijinwu Anle dispatched a hundred Mingguang soldiers to patrol around Kong's house.

Nowadays, the patrolling pavilions and Mingguang soldiers are emerging.

After the battle that quelled the Huo family's dead soldiers, they had established a great reputation in Chang'an, and ordinary rogues no longer dared to be enemies with them.

Under the protection of Mingguang soldiers, Kong Zhai finally felt a little safer.

This second lively place is naturally the Imperial College to the west of Chang'an City.

The disputes among the doctor's disciples did not subside due to the arrival of great scholars from various places, but instead intensified.

In the open space in front of Taixue Gate, there are Ph.D. disciples arguing all the time.

Not only the Ph.D. disciples, but also Confucian scholars from Sanfuling County and Chang'an City gathered here to participate.

This influx of young people made all the doctors feel like they were facing a formidable enemy.

No matter what their stance is, the doctoral officers are always guarding the gate of Taixue, for fear that these hot-blooded young people will cause some trouble.

There are already many Confucian scholars who have threatened to go to Beique Square to remonstrate with the emperor.

The third lively place is the gazebo at the entrance of each lane.

Now in Chang'an City, not only the Confucian scholars, but also the most ordinary people have heard about the imperial examination system, the Xiangxue system and the popular version of the classics.

These ordinary people have not read many books and are not even literate, but they are no more stupid than the ministers in the court and the doctorates in the Imperial Academy.

They quickly found some opportunities for success in this "New Deal", and they were all waiting for the emperor's final edict to be posted in the gazette.

On this day, it was Meng Ban's turn to take Tang Mu leave.

After he returned home, the first thing he did was not wash up or have a meal. Instead, he hurriedly came to the pavilion.

He wanted to see if there was any edict posted - among the workers and officials, the issue of the imperial examination system had been widely spread.

Meng Ban, who wanted to make Meng Xing the envoy, was particularly concerned about this matter and asked people to inquire about it every day.

I have free time today, so of course I want to take a look for myself.

But to his disappointment, the walls in the pavilion were empty today. Only Zhou Chushou, the deceased, stopped to drink tea.

Although Meng Ban is stingy, in order to stay in Ping'an, everyone has taken good care of everything.

Whether it was the frontman, the chief of the pavilion, or a servant who seemed to have no power, Meng Ban would always "offer sacrifices" every now and then.

You would never dare to give away money, but a piece of meat, a jug of wine, and half a bacon head will never make people think of the word "corruption."

Over time, Meng Ban's position in Ping'an became more and more stable, and some people even encouraged him to become the next li leader.

When Meng Ban saw that there was no new edict posted on the wall of the pavilion, he could only sigh and prepare to leave.

But before he could lift his feet, Zhou Chushou, who was leaning in the pavilion drinking tea, quickly stopped him.

"Brother Meng, Brother Meng, stay here!" Zhou Chushou limped out with his lame leg.

"Brother Chu Shou, I saw that you were enjoying your drink, so I didn't bother you rashly." Meng Ban said with a smile and bowed his hands.

"You and I haven't seen each other for many days, and I just wanted to have a chat with you. I came at the right time." Zhou Chushou was a little more lively than usual.

"Then I'd like to thank Brother Chu Shou for thinking about me." Meng Ban saluted again and said. "How smoothly have you been working as a worker these days?" Zhou Chushou asked, holding the exquisite teapot and sipping the tea.

"Working at sunrise and resting at sunset, it's not too smooth." Meng Ban said proudly.

"Has the engineer implemented any secret techniques recently? It would open my eyes to tell you." Zhou Chushou asked with gleaming eyes.

"Of course..." Meng Ban was about to show off, but in the end he wisely shut his mouth and didn't say much.

The woodwork workshop is trial-making a machine for spinning and weaving cloth, called a loom, and the silk produced by this loom will be better and faster.

Now five or six have been built and are being debugged. One of them costs a full [-] yuan, and the price is close to that of the best war horses.

Once it starts to be sold, the age of weaving silk will be several times faster, and the supply of silk and mulberry leaves as raw materials will surely exceed the demand.

The complexity of this kind of machine was something Meng Ban had never heard of or seen before. It was the best thing to show off at the moment.

However, the two envoys Xie Lang and He Xizhi in the workshop repeatedly issued strict orders not to disclose it to the outside world, otherwise it would be a serious crime of losing one's head.

So Meng Ban could only hold it in at the moment.

"Of course it hasn't happened yet. How can there be so many secret techniques being implemented? I would also like to show off to Brother Chu Shou." Meng Ban said with a dry smile.

"Oh, that's it." Zhou Chushou was still feeling a little disappointed.

But this disappointment only lasted for a short moment, and Zhou Chushou brought the topic to a place that Meng Ban was more interested in.

"Brother Meng, I know why you care so much about this edict." Zhou Chushou said with a mysterious smile.

"Brother Chu Shou, how can you tell?" Meng Ban replied with a smile, neither admitting nor denying.

"Brother Meng must have come here for the imperial examination system." Zhou Chushou said in a low voice.

Meng Ban was so smart that he immediately understood that the other party had something to say, so he quickly approached and asked, "Did Brother Chu Shou hear any rumors?"

"Rumors are everywhere. At least the imperial examination system is finalized."

"But aren't those rotten scholars still making trouble?" Meng Ban looked angry.

"The county magistrate can even deal with the Huo family, but a few Confucian scholars with no soldiers and no power can't deal with it? The Shiqu Pavilion debate on scriptures is just a formality."

After Zhou Chushou said this contemptuously, he still felt that he still had more meaning, so he made up a few words of his own that had no trace of them.

"I heard from my brother-in-law who died in Mingguang that on that day, Changyi Lang will surround Shiqu Pavilion. If those rotten scholars don't agree with what the emperor says, they will all..."

Zhou Chushou made a beheading motion, which made the dishonest but conscientious Meng Ban shrink his head and said timidly: "So it's so dangerous..."

"Brother Meng hasn't answered me yet. Are you here for the imperial examination system?" Zhou Chushou continued to ask with a smile.

"You and I, brothers, are in love. I won't hide it from you. I'm here for this matter..." Meng Ban looked around to make sure there was no one before he continued.

"Don't think I'm delusional. I heard that one of the subjects in the imperial examination is [Metalwork and Woodenware]. Meng Xing is very clever and has learned a lot of new methods. I want him to take the test in the future."

"Brother Meng, you and I have thought of the same thing. It would be most suitable for Meng Xing to take part in the imperial examination!" Zhou Chushou was so excited that he almost dropped the teapot.

"It's just that I heard that the [Metalwork and Woodwork] test also requires the Ming Jing test. Although Meng Xing is literate, he can only read half of the Analects of Confucius. I'm afraid this is a threshold..."

"It doesn't matter. Even though I'm not talented, I can still read the Confucian classics. The Ming classics are just rote memorization. When he takes leave from now on, let him come to me and I'll teach him how to memorize it!"

"How, how can this be done?" Meng Ban was a little panicked for a moment. He couldn't bear such a great favor, so he waved his hands repeatedly.

"Brother Meng, you don't have to be polite. I also see that Meng Xing's character is very smart. Thinking of my appearance in the past, I am sure that this boy will become a great talent in the future."

When Zhou Chushou said this, his eyes were a little disappointed, as if he remembered his unfortunate experience in his childhood, and even touched his lame leg.

"The county magistrate has now opened the imperial examination, and everyone can become an official. This is a great opportunity. It would be a great honor for me to see the prosperity of my hometown."

"You have an old relationship with the county magistrate. As long as you can become an official, the road ahead will be wider. Don't let him be buried in this little peace."

Zhou Chushou's words were true. As long as he could see Meng Ban, who was a craftsman, surpass those Confucian scholars and become an envoy, he would be satisfied, and he would be able to relieve the hatred in his heart.

Under these few heartfelt words, Meng Ban was very moved and could no longer refuse Zhou Chushou's kindness, so he quickly bowed and thanked him.

"Brother Chu Shou, don't worry. I have told him in the past few days that he will come back and live directly after his business trip every day. I will certainly live up to your high expectations!"

The two brothers really felt like brothers at this moment, and after talking for a while, they left in a hurry.

Zhou Chushou stared blankly for a moment, then finally let out a long sigh, hummed a country song, and returned to Gaoting.

As for the past experience of being framed by the country's cunning and rotten scholars and losing a leg, it has also disappeared a lot.

In this way, a few days passed in a row, and on the [-]th of the first lunar month, a new edict was finally posted in the notice booth.

　Ask for full order!

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)