Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 96 Li Zhi’s Test
Changsun House.

The Changsun Mansion, which used to be bustling with people, is now a little deserted.

Changsun Wuji was lying in the courtyard playing chess with his beloved son Changsun Chong.

Changsun Wuji is in his early sixties. He has a big, round face, which is covered with pockmarks from smallpox, making him look slightly ugly.Opposite him, Changsun Chong was extremely handsome, and his whole body was filled with the air of an indifferent and elegant nobleman.

The father and son chatted and played chess.

The black and white characters on the chessboard are intertwined and fighting each other, making it difficult to separate, but both father and son appear calm and relaxed.

The topic between the two of them was Li Zhi's recommendation of the "Three Character Classic" in front of hundreds of civil and military officials at the Shuo Dynasty Meeting today.

"My father has always regretted that he underestimated Jinshang, but today I found out that he still underestimated him. Your Majesty was still wise and saw exactly what my father would do to me. Even before he died, he still cared about his life and death."

It is obvious that the Jinshang and His Majesty mentioned by Changsun Wuji are two different people.

Changsun Chong said with an open-minded smile: "So the really smart one is my aunt."

Changsun Wuji also felt sad when he thought about his sister who died young. Back then, she forced herself to resign and only accepted generous salaries from high-ranking officials without doing anything. She was really foresighted.

Changsun Wuji lost a son and said, "Do you think County Magistrate Chen can pass this test?"

Changsun Chong followed up tit for tat and said: "It's difficult. No one is perfect. Magistrate Chen is extremely talented and his poems are genuine. After all, he is young and has never experienced the intrigues and intrigues in the officialdom. Who would know that he is wrong in the officialdom? A single wrong word in a sentence could lead to death. He is a commoner and has no one to care for him. It is not easy for him to pass the test."

Changsun Wuji said: "So, do you think they are optimistic about this game?"

"No!" Changsun Chong thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty will not lose in this game, it's a question of how much you win. After all, County Magistrate Chen is young, can be tempered, and is worth tempering."

Changsun Wuji sighed: "Yes! How much you win depends on the potential of County Magistrate Chen. With the appearance of Magistrate Chen, we have already won."

The father and son seemed to be talking about heavenly scriptures, but in fact, the affairs of the temple were all in their words.

After the aristocratic family entered the Jin Dynasty, it has been the top priority for generations of emperors.

Even a hero like Li Shimin has to be treated with caution.

When Li Zhi arrived, the situation he faced was even worse.

Li Zhi did not trust Changsun Wuji, so he could not use Guanlong Xungui to check and balance the Guandong gentry like Li Shimin did.

Li Zhi chose to support the establishment of loyal forces to check and balance Guanlong Xungui and the Guandong gentry.

Li Yifu, Xu Jingzong, Du Zhenglun, General Xin Mao, Li Yiyan, Shangguan Yi and others entered the temple one by one and gradually became a new force in the court.

It was easy for Li Zhi to control the temple as an emperor, but it was extremely difficult to control the world.

A huge dynasty cannot be controlled by just a few people. What really keeps the dynasty running are the officials in various state governments.

Last year, as many as 400 local nobles and gentry were promoted to local officials through subordinate staff, while only 22 people from humble families passed the imperial examination and became officials.

This year's imperial examination, due to the secret cooperation of all the noble families, there is not even a truly poor family...

If this situation does not change, even if Li Zhi controls everything in the court, he will still be unable to control the family.

The appearance of Chen Qingsi changed the situation.

A rural scholar who is even worse than a poor family has become a great scholar through hard study. If he can rise step by step, enter a temple and become a banner, he will encourage more students from poor families to give up worshiping and pursuing the five surnames and choose Follow in his footsteps.

Of course, in order to become this flag, the flag must first withstand the test and withstand wind and rain.It will fall when it is blown, it will collapse when it is touched, it is useless no matter how high the flag is raised.

Therefore, Zheng Rong and Wei Hao became the county magistrate and county captain of Qingxi County.

They are the tests Li Zhi gave to Chen Qingsi.

Changsun Wuji tapped his fingers on the chessboard and said: "Master Xu Yu became the most popular candidate for prime minister for no reason. Zheng Rong and Wei Hao entered Qingxi County as county magistrates and county captains. Today they publicly preached the Three Character Classic in the temple. Today, We played a big game of chess, and we didn’t lose unfairly..."

**********
Chen Qingsi, who is far away in Qingxi County, does not know about the turmoil in Chang'an, Gyeonggi Province.

Handle official duties, learn martial arts from Zhang Zhongjian, and memorize Tang poetry and Song lyrics in order to avoid being unable to remember them at critical moments.

The day was very fulfilling.

Until this day, Chen Qingsi received news from Master Xu Yu.

The person who delivered the news for Master Xu Yu was Xu Zimu, son of Master Xu Yu.

Chen Qingsi was talented in literature and capable of governing the world. He was also the youngest scholar in the world and had a bright future. Master Xu Yun naturally let his son take care of this matter of bringing Chen Qingsi closer.

After hearing that the imperial court had arranged for Zheng Rong and Wei Hao to land in Qingxi County, Chen Qingsi was not surprised at all. Instead, she was a little surprised. She smiled and said: "There are many vacancies in Qingxi County's county magistrate and county captain, so someone should take the position." .”

However, Xu Zimu complained about Chen Qingxi and said angrily: "The present day of Qingxi County is all due to Magistrate Chen. As early as after the Qianjia Yamen incident, the Zheng family recommended a son from the family to his father to work in Qingxi County. My father rebuffed me, but I didn’t expect that I still couldn’t prevent this from happening.”

Chen Qingsi didn't know that Xu Yushi had helped him behind the scenes until then.

Xu Zimu may not really realize the problem.

Chen Qingsi knew very well that the Zheng family could not unconditionally recommend to Master Xu Yu that their children come to Qingxi County to pick peaches. There must be an exchange of equal value.

Master Xu Yu had four sons, Xu Ziran, Xu Zimu, Xu Zisui and Xu Zizheng.

Among them, Xu Ziran has already entered the official position, while Xu Zisui and Xu Zizheng were not yet in their prime. The Zheng family may have recommended Xu Zimu to become an official as a reciprocal condition.

Recommending one's own family members will result in gossip. Recommending each other is the norm in this era.

It's as simple as saying no.

Xu Yushi's real losses were not small.

Chen Qingsi pondered for a while and said: "Your Majesty loves poetry very much. It's great. The day before yesterday, someone got a poem and gave it to your Majesty."

Xu Zimu was overjoyed when he heard this and said: "If my father knew about it, he would be so happy that he would not be able to sleep peacefully. It's just..." He paused and wanted to stop crying about poverty, but then he thought about it. What he wanted to write poetry was inspiration. How could he ask for anything? So he changed his mind and said, "My father likes all the poems written by County Magistrate Chen."

Chen Qingsi didn't say anything, but took the rice paper directly, took a deep breath, and wrote: "Give wine to the moon and give it to Xu Muzhou."

He knew that Master Xu Yun loved Li Bai's poems, so he gave Li Bai's "Wine to Ask the Moon" as a gift to repay his kindness.

Xu Zimu read the poem "Today's people can't see the moon in ancient times, but today's moon once shone on the ancients. People in ancient times and today are like running water, looking at the bright moon together. I only hope that when singing and drinking, the moonlight will always shine in the golden bottle."

Looking at the four words "gift to Xu Muzhou", I felt a little jealous of my father for a moment.

With just these four words, Xu Zimu knew that his father's name would always remain in the history of youth.

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(End of this chapter)