Starting boy Ma Kongqun

Chapter 290: Jinling verses written with help of pen

Ma Ji and his party stayed at Jinshan Temple for half a day. After saying goodbye to Tong Yu and Pu Dao, they took a boat up the river to Yingtian.

There was no conversation all the way. When the boat arrived outside Yingtian City, Ma Ji and others abandoned the boat and landed.

Wang Zhangwen had been away from home for three years and was eager to go home to see his wife and other children, so he said goodbye to Ma Ji and others outside the city.

Wang Shixiu said that he would take part in the martial arts examination next year and made an appointment with Ma Ji to meet him in Shuntian, the capital.

After watching the Wang family and his son go away, Ma Ji and other five people entered the city gate.

Yingtian was named Jinling because King Wei of Chu built Jinling City. Later, after Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu Dynasty built a stone city and built the capital, it became the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Song, Qi, Liang and Chen Dynasties in the Southern Dynasties. Therefore, it is known as the "ancient capital of the Six Dynasties". Say.

In the late Qi Dynasty of the previous dynasty, due to the decline of monarchical power and the exclusive power of eunuchs, the government was in chaos; local vassals and towns were divided, and wars broke out.

The people's lives were as low as ants, and they were driven to a dead end by all kinds of exorbitant taxes and corvee military service. Finally, someone followed the example of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang and rose up, with a crowd of followers following their call, turning the already chaotic Daqi into a war.

Taizu Li Geng raised an army in Hangzhou and after conquering half of the country south of the Yangtze River, he established himself as King of Wu, made Jinling his capital, and changed his name to Yingtian.

Therefore, the officer did not dare to neglect and immediately led Ma Ji to see Qiao Yun.

Ma Ji stepped forward to greet him: "Student Qiantang Ma Ji has met Master Jijiu."

Later, when he crossed the Yangtze River and made a northern expedition to wipe out the smoke and dust in the north and dominate the world, Li Geng felt that the barbarians in the northern grasslands were ferocious and greedy and had continued to go south to plunder people and property over the years, so he set the northern military town of Beiping Prefecture as the capital of Dayu and renamed it "Shun Tian".

Qiao Yun said with a smile: "The dragon matchmaker is exempt from the courtesy."

Qiao Yun, Nanjian's Imperial College Scholar, paid special attention to this "pre-examination sprint class" and specifically told every candidate who was recruited to join the class to receive them immediately when they arrived.

Arriving outside the south prison gate, Ma Ji reported his name and origin to the guard guard.

Qiao Yun is over forty years old. She has put on weight in her middle age. She has a round face, long eyebrows and narrow eyes. She smiles first when meeting someone and looks very friendly.

He directly addressed each other by word, which seemed quite close to him.

Due to the flourishing culture of Jiangnan, the number of students, strong academic style and high success rate of Nanjian has always been better than that of Beijian. Even when the two Imperial College students met and quarreled, the sound of Nanjian's wine ceremony was louder. Bigger.

When Ma Ji sat aside at his signal, he added: "I have read the poems and essays of the Long Media Provincial Examination. They are really full of splendid words, and every word is exquisite. There are fourteen candidates recruited to study in Nanjian this time." Although people are all good at the moment, the one I am most optimistic about is undoubtedly the Dragon Matchmaker."

Qiao Yun smiled and said: "Dragon matchmaker, don't be too modest. There are seven candidates who have arrived before you, and they are studying together now. You go and meet these future classmates first, and someone will take care of your food, accommodation, etc. later." A trivial matter.”

However, most of these official offices and positions were used to provide care for elderly officials or to dispose of convicted officials. The only exception was probably the Yingtian Imperial Prison, commonly known as the "South Prison".

Ma Ji hurriedly said humbly: "Your Excellency is overly praised, and Ma Ji is very frightened."

The original Yingtian was demoted half a grid to serve as the capital of Dayu, and the officials of the civil and military offices were all set up according to Shuntian.

Ma Ji and others first found an inn to stay temporarily, and then told Jiao Na and others to stay and clean up the room while he went to the South Prison to report.

After that, he called the waiter waiting outside the door and told him to take Ma Ji out.

The man led Ma Ji through several buildings. When he got to the back row, he leaned against the bamboo and the clear stream. Everyone who was reading hard, covering their books and meditating, or writing furiously said with their hands, "Everyone, this is Mr. Ma Ji, Ma Long, a matchmaker from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. From now on, we will practice together with you."

Ma Ji then stepped forward, looked around the crowd and bowed, with a smile that was neither humble nor arrogant: "Qiantang Ma Ji, I have met all of you fellow students." Upon hearing Ma Ji's name, the seven people in the seat had different expressions, but they all stood up and returned the salute.

Sitting at the front on the right, a handsome young man in his twenties took the initiative to announce his name: "Yangzhou Zong Zimei, I have met Brother Ma."

Ma Ji smiled and said: "Brother Zong has a slight Jin accent."

Zong Zimei also smiled and said: "Brother Ma has a good ear and my ancestral home is Taiyuan."

Then the remaining six people also signed up one after another, namely Gao Zhishen, Fang Yi, Weng Weiyuan, Qiao Shitong, Zeng Yin, and Gongsun Yanling.

After Ma Ji chose an empty desk and sat down, the waiter withdrew.

At this time, the seven people made eye contact with each other. Gao Zhishen, who looked more like a warrior than a scholar, walked up to his desk and said, "Brother Ma, please come here."

Although Ma Ji was a little confused, he still got up and followed the height to the back wall. Following his pointing, he saw the newly painted snow-white wall with vertical and horizontal ink, some longer or shorter from left to right. The seven poems in the poem, with thick ink, were obviously written recently.

Gao Zhishen first pointed at the first five-character ancient poem on the left, then turned around and pointed at Zong Zimei, and said with a smile: "Yizhi was the first to come to the South Prison. He was so excited about poetry that he couldn't restrain himself, so he wrote on the wall. He wrote the song "Jinling Feelings". However, we and others who came after us were not willing to let Yi Zhimei be more beautiful than the previous one. We also wrote poems about it, all with Jinling as the title. Now... it is Brother Ma's turn."

After that, he took a piece of goat hair dipped in ink from the nearby table and brought it to Ma Ji.

Ma Ji turned around and saw the other six people turning around and looking here with interest, and he knew what was going on.

Although he is said to be "the best in literature", no one is willing to consider himself second, especially this time, Qiao Yun specially recruited students to come to Nanjian to train the top students, all of whom are the proud students of Jiangnan provinces.

Now that these people are together, they must compete in all aspects to prove that they are the unparalleled talents in Jiangnan.

The introductory level of writing poems should be just an appetizer.

But when it came to writing poetry, he had never been afraid of anyone. He took the pen in his hand without hesitation, and without any thought, he stepped forward and started writing on the wall with a single swipe.

The poem is composed of seven lines, titled "Jinling Nostalgia", and says:
The overlord took two rivers alone, and many of his descendants surrendered with hundreds of cities.

After the success of Luxurious, what about peace and happiness and misfortune?
In the old Jiliu Buddhist Temple in the East Prefecture, there are many people singing outside the boat window in the back courtyard.

Millet and wheat show have never been together, and the rise and fall are close to the wine vat.

As soon as he finished his sentence, the six people behind him could no longer sit still and stood up one after another and came forward.

When the whole poem was finished, everyone looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

After a long silence, Zong Zimei bowed his hands to Ma Ji and said: "I am willing to bow down to you, but I am not bowing down to the dragon matchmaker as a poet, but I admire the dragon matchmaker's great wisdom in understanding the rise and fall of hundreds of generations, and his broad mind that always cares about the country and the times. !”

The other six people also handed over their hands and said in unison: "I admire you!"

Dayu experienced the decline and chaos caused by the indulgence of pleasure in the later years of the late emperor Li Zhuo. Although the current Emperor Li Hui of Long'an succeeded to the throne and worked hard to govern the country, the country gradually showed a trend of revitalization, but people with lofty ideals still have lingering fears.

Ma Ji's poem is nostalgic for the past and satirizes the present. It uses the story of the six dynasties that built their capital in Jinling and all perished due to pride and extravagance. It satirizes today's people to take history as a lesson and not to repeat the same mistakes. The high intention and deep intention make these seven prime ministers not weaker than The students of human beings have no choice but to say "admiration".

(End of this chapter)