Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 95: Wuxi Goes Out of Xijing (5)

On August [-]th, the first provincial examination of the Ministry of Rites, the examination strategy, was unprecedentedly grand as usual.In addition to the nearly [-] candidates who took the exam from all over the country, the city of Bianjing was empty for thousands of people. Outside the provincial examination room, they commented on the candidates who entered the venue one after another, which seemed to be an important festival for the people of Bianjing every three years.

Before Chen Dong and the others left, they had notified that the Kaifeng government would arrest people on the day of the provincial examination. Although most of the scholars of the Neo-Confucian Society were deeply frightened, they still believed in the ancestral family law of "don't sin with words". In addition to more than 900 people who gave up the imperial examination and returned to their hometowns early, there were more than [-] people who went to the exam as usual.Zhang Bing and Deng Su were also among them.

In order to demonstrate the grandeur of the Talent Ceremony, before entering the venue to answer the papers, the examiner first leads the priests to pay homage to the most holy Confucius, accompanied by Yan Zi, Zeng Zi, Zi Si and Yasheng Mencius.After paying homage to the Confucian sages, they then visit the emperor, and the examiner reads the imperial edict on behalf of the emperor, and encourages the candidates who go to the examination.Every time the disciples visited the shrine, the people who watched the excitement outside the venue cheered earth-shatteringly, as if the teachings of Confucius and Mencius were widely spread in every inch of the Song Dynasty, protecting and nourishing her people.

Zhang Bingan sat on his seat, his heart was like an ancient well. After calming down, he just looked up at the title presented by the officials of the Ministry of Rites: "Following the laws of the country and not the party." Follow the way of heaven, lower body and human feelings, labor must go to the top, profit must be left to the bottom, and the world is obedient, so the law is not secret, but the people are safe, the people are not punished, and the scholars are all dedicated to the public and not the party..." "... the original law cannot , hidden in the customs, but the sages pick it up, and meet with the people,..." He sometimes thought about it, and sometimes wrote vigorously. After about an hour, he let out a long breath, shook his clothes, and raised his hand for the staff of the Ministry of Rites The subordinate staff came to collect the volume.

Before reaching the door, several members of the Neo-Confucian Society were shoving and shoving the officials, and someone shouted, "I can't wait to write a letter, and I haven't violated the laws of the country!" The people outside burst into boos, Many people secretly thought that they didn't wait in vain, they watched one more scene, and even whispered to each other a lot, talking about "Southeast Juzi colluded with the rebels, and he came to the capital as an undercover agent for Fang Motou," "Nonsense, let me tell you, this It was the public exposure case some time ago." "Hmph, Taishi Cai, Eunuch Tong is easy to offend." "Beat you bastard, you are like a running dog." It's a mess'.

Two officials from the Kaifeng government had already walked up to Zhang Bing, trying to grab his arm, but Zhang Bing lowered his face, shook his sleeves, and shouted: "Let go, what a shame!" The two officials were stunned for a moment, thinking it was the upper official of the yamen, but after a closer look, they were actually wearing the robes of ordinary Confucian scholars, not the official clothes, so they hesitated to go forward again.

He was full of anger when he shouted loudly, which surprised several officials and officials around him to look over.Zhang Bing, as if nothing had happened, straightened his clothes, turned around and bowed respectfully to the statue of the sages of Confucius and Mencius, and fell to the ground. Stop being taught by saints.

He bowed solemnly three times, and then he stood up, looked at the two officials and said, "Let's go." He walked towards the prison of Kaifeng Mansion with his head held high, and tens of thousands of people surrounded outside cheered loudly , more people were booing loudly, and those few struggling and arguing just now seemed to have realized something. Like Zhang Bing, they turned around and said goodbye to Master Confucius and Mencius, and followed Zhang Bing. Since they went to prison calmly, the tolerance was also happy to have less, and a few people followed behind with iron rulers and chains, to save their dignity.

In this big prison, besides Chen Dong, Zhao Xingde and other two hundred people who escaped in advance, Kaifeng Prefecture locked up nearly 2000 candidates from the Neo Confucian Society for taking the exam. Unceasingly moved, the scholars were filled with righteous indignation, thinking that the party in the Han Dynasty had reappeared recently, while the Liao people were full of joy, hoping that the more chaos the Song Dynasty would have.

Xia Guo's caravan stayed in Luoyang for three days, and besides purchasing some commodities, new merchants also came in one after another.On August 22, when Zhao Xingde heard the news in Luoyang, he was silent for a long time, but thanks to Li Ruoxue's persuasion, he felt relieved.Li Ruoxue's grandfather had a garden in Luoyang, and many relatives lived here, but at this time he was unable to visit because of his elopement. Although he was a little sad, he was worried about what happened to Zhao Xingde as a classmate of the Neo-Confucian Society, so he forced a smile on his face. Deliberately dragging him around the street.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang suffered from wars and chaos for a long time, but after entering the Song Dynasty, it was repaired many times, and it was rested for a hundred years. Now it has regained its vitality. Although it is not as prosperous as Tokyo, it is not as noisy as Tokyo, and it is more suitable for people to settle down. , and the scenery around Luoyang is also better than that of Bianjing. There are hundreds of miles of fertile plains from east to west outside the city. Songshan Mountain, Wangwu Mountain and other green hills can be seen everywhere.

Luoyang people's clothes are brighter and brighter than those in Bianjing. Chengdu Shu brocade, Suzhou Song brocade, Jinling Yun brocade, Gaochang woolen cloth, and Chang'an white folds all gather here.Taking advantage of these two days' spare time, Li Ruoxue bought a few changes of clothes. When she came out of the mansion, she didn't bring any other clothes except the half-worn blouse and cape.After staying in Luoyang for three days, the caravan set off again to Hangu Pass.

On August 25, Yelu Dashi, who led the army stationed at Gaoyang Pass, also got the news.He asked the soldiers to call Tong Guan to come. During this time, Tong Guan wrote a document to surrender to Liao, which not only scolded the emperor of the Song Dynasty to pieces, but also exposed many unknown things about Zhao You himself. Yelu Dashi couldn't help but smile when he thought of those things. In addition, he also promised to cede the three towns of Zhending, Hejian, Dingzhou, and Zhongshan in Hebei to the Liao Kingdom.In short, as long as Yelu Dashi handed over the letter of submission to the emperor of Song, Tong Guan would definitely die.

A ray of sunlight came in from the west window and shone on Yelu Dashi's desk. He casually picked up a book and read it. They were all very interesting, so he also found Yazi's teacher Bo Luotu's "The Kingdom of Obsession" to read, and found that the views of the two masters and apprentices were quite different, which made him even more interesting. "I love my teacher, and I love the truth even more. They are as simple as our Khitan people. They are not as hypocritical as the Han people." Yelu Dashi thought with a smile.

"Brother Tie, I always feel that the system of the citizens' assembly in the Hero Kingdom and the elder council system in the Liba Kingdom seem to have been born for us Khitan people." Yelu Dashi lazily told his subordinate Yelu Tiege Said, "The Khitan people originally belonged to tribes, and the leaders of the various tribes were constantly arguing about things. It is also good to use this elder council system to restrain them."

Brother Yelu Tie doesn't like reading very much, but he knows that Yelu Dashi is a rare and discerning person among the Khitan people, and he believes in his words. He also knows that Yelu Dashi keeps promoting his influence among the young Khitan nobles. The Council of Elders came to limit the power of the current faint king Yelu Yanxi, lest he issue orders indiscriminately and kill Khitan heroes at will.Brother Yelu Tie also knew that many young people believed Yelu Dashi's words and were willing to die for him, including Yelv Tiege himself.

But Brother Yelv Tie didn't like the citizens' assembly, he said in a rough voice: "The lowly guy, the inferior, and the fool can participate in the citizens' assembly to decide the country's affairs?"

Yelu Dashi shook his head, and sighed regretfully: "Most Han'er are slaves, even if it is Hero and Li Baguo, slaves will definitely not be able to participate in the citizens' meeting. As for the council of elders, can you Yan Han'er be the gatekeeper?" , and the leaders of the inferior people will leave a few positions, so as to reassure them and serve us Khitan people." He paused and continued, "I said that this system seems to be born for us Khitan people. There are few people in Khitan, and their minds are simple. Now it seems that it is not like the people of the Southern Dynasty who have many opinions and endless disputes. It is a good thing. We have slaves to work, and the tribe can spend a lot of time studying military affairs, unlike the people of the Southern Dynasty. I'm busy making ends meet all day."

As he spoke, he became interested: "Do you know why the Jurchens in the north are always unable to be extinguished? They still use the tribal elders' deliberation system. There are military and state affairs. The elders sit together to discuss, and each person has a Discuss with the ashes, draw and record on the ashes with your hands, and finally have a plan, wipe the ashes in front of you, everyone is convinced, and work together to fight. Our army in Tokyo Road is just ordered to go out. Even the generals in charge of the army may not be willing to go to war. Isn't it clear who will win and who will lose?" Yelu Da's lime-colored eyes seemed to sparkle, "To revive our declining national power in Khitan, conquer the barbarians in the east , West and Song Xia, we must innovate, at least to limit the perverse actions of the faint king, and restore our Khitan elders' council system."

Brother Yelu Tie seemed to be infected by his emotions. Although he still didn't quite understand the meaning of Yelu Dashi's decision to reopen the Council of Elders, he felt his heart surge. He bowed and said in a deep voice, "Brother Tie is willing to die for you!" The iron armor clanged, and Yelu Dashi patted him on the shoulder with a smile.

At this moment, the timid Tong Guan was brought up, Yelu Dashi immediately suppressed the smile on his face, and said in a deep voice with an unfathomable expression: "Tong Guan, you are lucky, you are so lucky You can go back."

"Really?" Tong Guan couldn't believe his ears, but he didn't dare to hesitate at all on his face. He knelt down gratefully and said, "I thank the master for not killing you." When he stood up, he caught a glimpse of Yelu Dashi's hand The book on the Western Regions, which lacked pen and painting, secretly contemptuously said in his heart: "This Diyi leader is really pitiful. My Song Dynasty forbids the flow of books out of the Great Wall, and he is so hungry that he even holds messy things like treasures." inside."