prosperous age

Chapter 162 Chapter 161

There was a mess of "jingling" horse bells in the distance, and the three carriages were speeding forward along the official road, chasing each other at a very fast speed.

This is the main road to Beijing. In the past, there was already a lot of traffic and pedestrians. However, after winter, there are fewer and fewer pedestrians and caravans on the road. It allows this small caravan to play on the narrow official road. Take the ancient version of The Fast and the Furious.

"Hurry up, hurry up."

Wei Guangde lifted the curtain of the car and kept urging the driver to speed up. At the same time, he kept observing the position changes of the two carriages next to him. He held the carriage with one hand to stabilize his body.

The situation in the other two carriages was exactly the same as here, and Lao Kan and Shen Liangdong kept urging the driver to speed up.

The carriage was speeding on the road, with abnormal bumps, and Zhang Ji in the carriage was already dizzy from the shaking, but just like this, the three young men were happily playing, having a great time.

With the howling cold wind, the three carriages quickly ran away.

Wei Guangde and his party set off from Jiujiang Mansion on November [-]th, and each of the three traveled in a carriage.

There was a small yellow flag on the carriage, with four small characters "Ministry of Rites will examine" written on it.

Lao Kan and Shen Liangdong borrowed the car from the post station. This is the bus, and they have to return it when they arrive in the capital.

Wei Guangde's family is a bit of a nouveau riche now, so his father directly prepared a car for Wei Guangde to take the exam in a private car.

Since they were going to Beijing to rush for the exam, the three families would naturally not be stingy. Not only did they prepare some money, but they also asked them to bring their book boys along with them.

As for the benefits of the imperial court, Wei Guangde and the others also went to collect them. They got 50 taels of silver and a waist card with the word "fire", and they could stay at the inn.

But after staying there for two times, even though they eat and drink for free, to Wei Guangde and Lao Kan, the money is really nothing.

Since then, most of the three of them chose to live in the inn in the prefecture or county instead of the post station. Only when they missed the time and couldn't enter the city would they choose to rest at the post station outside the city.

Father Wei originally planned to let the four soldiers go north to the capital with him, but Wei Guangde stopped him.

They follow the official road all the way, although bandits and robbers are becoming more and more rampant these days, the risk of encountering the road is actually not great.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were still many good people.

Father Wei couldn't help it, so he had to find a soldier who was familiar with driving a car to follow him on the road, which was also a protection.

Zhang Ji knows how to attack, but he is afraid that he is not as strong as Wei Guangde.

In the past two years, Wei Guangde has started boxing. Although he has never gone to the street to find someone to single out, he still has fights with soldiers. According to what the soldiers said, usually two or three people can't hurt the second young master.

This time he went to Nanzhili to suppress the Japanese, and Wei Guangde killed a Japanese pirate, and his courage seemed to have been cultivated.

"From now on, Li San will follow the second young master. No matter in the capital or wherever, you will follow and protect him. You have an elder brother in your family, so don't worry about your old lady. I will give your salary to your old lady as usual. Second young master It will be sent to you over there, anyway, you haven't married a wife yet, following the second young master will not miss you."

This is what Old Wei told Li San before leaving, that is, the coachman who went to the capital this time.

To be honest, for this year, no one has been out much. It would be a good job to go to the capital with the young master. If Li Sanda hadn't driven the car with his elder brother, and later developed his strength to become a soldier, this job would be his turn. He, a large group of people rushed to him.

I left Hejian Mansion two days ago, just passed Bazhou, and Yongqing County is in front of me, and the three candidates were also listless. Wei Guangde suggested racing, and the three became interested.

When Wei Guangde traveled to the Ming Dynasty, he didn't have many recreational activities, except for going to brothels, it seemed that only sightseeing was left.

These days, the scenic spot is not in the mood to charge tickets, it is still the original ecology, it is really beautiful.

But the more I read, the less interested I am.

In the past, Zhang Hongfu and his group of guard children often raced horses outside Jiujiang City.

After leaving Bazhou, seeing that there were few people on both sides of the road, Wei Guangde suggested racing.

Running and running, the three coachmen still knew how to measure, but they didn't dare to speed up and run fast.

Even if the horse can stand it, the cart can't stand it either.

Soon, far away, the city walls of Yongqing County appeared in front of everyone.

As they approached the county seat, they naturally couldn't run anymore, and the three carriages began to speed up one after another.

Li San was frowning at the moment, and when he entered the city and stayed in an inn, he had to check the carriage so as not to break it on the way.

In the next few days, the three drivers and their entourage were in bad luck. Seeing that the road surface was smoother and there were fewer pedestrians, the three of them started racing.

Well, the advantage of playing this way is that it greatly speeds up the time to Beijing.

Coming out of Tongzhou City this morning, there are naturally many business travelers in Gyeonggi, so I can’t race the car anymore, so I can only walk along the official road.

When it was getting dark in the afternoon, the three carriages finally arrived at the gate of Guangqumen before the door was closed and locked. There was no way, they encountered a convoy transporting grain and were slowed down.

After the carriage did not enter Guangqumen, they continued to walk along the street. Now they were asking questions as they walked, and finally found the place they were going to. Naturally, it was a guild hall opened by Jiangxi people.

What needs to be said is that Wei Guangde and the others went to Zhushikou. In fact, Zhu is a pig. Because there is a pig market nearby, the homonym is used.

This is the Jiangxi Jiujiang Guild Hall. In Beijing at this time, the outer city to be precise, there are more than 40 Jiangxi Guild Halls, most of which are located outside Chongyang Gate and Zhengyang Gate.

In this era, the Beijing offices of various provinces and governments have actually taken shape, but they are more for the convenience of businessmen and exams.

In the 29th year of Jiajing, Altan Khan led the Mongolian iron cavalry to break through the Great Wall's defense line and entered the pass from Gubeikou to plunder.

The city wall of Beijing at this time was just a slightly reduced city wall of the capital of Yuan Dynasty, which had no protection for the majority of residents outside the city wall of the capital, so they suffered heavy losses in the face of the Mongol Tartars' looting.

After learning from the pain, despite the financial constraints of the central government, Emperor Jiajing started the construction of the outer city wall of Beijing in the 32nd year of Jiajing.

Just because of insufficient funds, only the southern city wall of Beijing was built, and the remaining three walls have only stayed on paper so far and have never been implemented.

As a result, the unique "convex" shaped city wall of Beijing was formed.

In Beijing at this time, apart from Jiangxi guild halls, there were guild halls in various prefectures and even counties in Jiangxi. As long as the locals became officials in the capital, most of them would buy a yard and build a guild hall, which was convenient for fellow villagers to live and communicate with. As a messenger, it is convenient for you to contact your hometown.

At this time, the chief assistant of the cabinet was Yan Song, and he took good care of the Jiangxi fellows. Although it cannot be said that he formed a clique, after all, there were some Jiangxi officials who opposed his political views, but indeed, at this time, there were the most Jiangxi guild halls in Beijing. .

Along the way, Wei Guangde felt that the city of Beijing in this era is really crowded, and there are people in all kinds of clothes everywhere.

After several inquiries, they finally found their destination.

After Wei Guangde and others moved into the Jiujiang Guild Hall, they quickly met acquaintances, Zhu Shilong, Gui Zhi, Zhang Ke and others, and many others they didn't know. The candidates in the previous township examinations were all Wei Guangde's seniors.

For the candidates who are still living in the guild hall at this time, they all failed the exams in the previous session, or even the previous session, and they have already passed the exams for an unknown number of times.

Under the recommendation of Zhu Shilong and others, Wei Guangde also quickly got to know these people.

Relatively speaking, Wei Guangde is still more familiar with Zhu Shilong, Zhang Ke, Duan Mengxian and other Jiajing 31 candidates. After all, they all participated in the provincial examination together. slim.

Of course, this is Wei Guangde's heart, but he will not say it.

After putting down his luggage and settling down, Wei Guangde went to the front yard, and Zhu Shilong had already asked someone to prepare a banquet for them.

The Jiujiang Guild Hall is not big, with only two entrance courtyards, but the inner courtyard bought two adjacent small courtyards on the left and right. In fact, there are only three courtyards where people can live, and the front yard is a restaurant for catering.

On the table, besides their two-year candidates, Zhu Shilong also called Xia Kefan, a 28-year-old Juren in Jiajing. It is estimated that Zhu Shilong thought he was good at writing and wanted to make friends deliberately.

At the banquet, Wei Guangde also knew that Zhu Shilong and his four previous candidates also went to this Beijing city to take part in the examination. They came here full of ambitions, but they still live here now.

"Every time there are exams, candidates from all over the country gather in the capital. I'm afraid it's not tens of thousands of people, just to compete for the three or four hundred places, which is more intense than the rural exams."

Zhu Shilong said after taking a sip of wine.

"How many exams will you try next year?"

Wei Guangde was concerned about this, so he asked.

"In the 32nd year of Jiajing, there were 400 people. I don't know about it yet. It is estimated that there will be no more recordings. At least 300 people."

Zhu Shilong thought about it before saying.

Naturally, the imperial court examination also needs to be calculated in the Ministry of Officials. How many official positions need to be replaced, and how many people will serve in the past two years, can be estimated roughly, so as to determine the number of candidates for the examination.

As for the imperial examination, well, it was for the emperor to win a first.

No. [-], No. [-] and No. [-] are not obtained through examinations. It all depends on whether the emperor is happy or not.

If you're happy, you can do whatever you want, just publish the list according to the official row's seat; if you're not happy, just see whose name is pleasing to the eye and click on it, it's as simple and rude as that.

How else can I say that he is a student of the Son of Heaven? If he is really the Son of Heaven, the Ninth Five-Year Master will decide with one word.

Of course, the papers that can reach the emperor's hands have all been read by the examiners, and those that are too bad will not be in the hands of the emperor.

"You haven't returned to Jiujiang for the past two years, so you have been studying in the capital?"

Well, looking at these few who failed the examination, they stayed in the capital to study for three years and never went back.

Jiujiang is far from the city of Beijing, but you can get home in a month or so. You should go home and see what happens during the Chinese New Year in those two years.

"The capital city is much more prosperous than Nanchang Mansion. After you rest for a few days, I will take you out for a walk. Anyway, you have come here quite early, and the Ministry of Rites has not yet started to record names."

Zhang Ke laughed.

That's right, before they arrived in the capital, they thought that Yingtian Mansion and Suzhou and Hangzhou were prosperous enough, but they didn't know until they arrived in the capital that this place was even more prosperous.

After all, in this city, lived the most powerful group of people in the empire. Their income was extremely high, and their consumption power was astonishing. What's more, there were merchants traveling from south to north, which naturally created a first-class Beijing city. The prosperous and prosperous age came out.

After the banquet, Wei Guangde settled down in Beijing, preparing for the test in more than a month.

During the meeting, although Zhang Ke and others also said that it is better to stay in the capital to study than to go back, Wei Guangde still made up his mind. If he fails the exam this time, he will go south after the canal thaws and wait three years to come to Beijing earlier.

In the next few days, Wei Guangde followed Zhu Shilong, Zhang Ke and others to visit the magnificent city of Beijing.

Indeed, since Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Beijing to implement the two-capital system, not only most of the empire's power was transferred here, but the accompanying population and wealth were also rapidly transferred to Beijing.

In order to build the city of Beijing, Emperor Yongle moved tens of thousands of craftsmen from Nanjing, and a large number of Nanjing guards also moved here.

And the newly built southern city wall has brought in a large number of people from the surrounding area, causing the population to surge in the market. In the areas where the city wall has not been built in the other three parties, business has obviously begun to wither.

Wei Guangde went to Beijing this time, but he brought 3000 taels of silver, all his own money.

Wei Guangde would definitely not be able to afford the quadrangle courtyards of later generations, they are worth hundreds of millions. In this life, it is really not difficult.

But at this time, Wei Guangde still didn't plan to buy the courtyards in Beijing.

Well, if you don’t pass the imperial examination, it means you have to stay in Beijing for a long time, so it’s understandable to buy a yard to live in.

If you pass the imperial examination, you will be admitted to Jinshi, and then you will be assigned to the local cognitive county or other official positions after ranking low.

Wei Guangde wasn't worried that he wouldn't be awarded an official position after the expiry of his observation of politics. If he couldn't, he would send some money to the Yan family, for the sake of fellow villagers, he should give him a fat job anyway.

The main thing is that the house I bought in Beijing will have to be sold again, which is very troublesome.

By the way, Wei Guangde also went to other guild halls in Jiangxi to identify himself. After all, he took part in the provincial examination twice in a row, and Wei Guangde also met many candidates in Jiangxi.

Well, this may also be a kind of accumulation of contacts. It may not be a bad thing to take the township examination several times.

Sometimes, Wei Guangde is still thinking desperately.

The time has entered December, and the Chinese New Year is approaching. At this time, the Jiangxi Guild Hall sent invitations to the Jiujiang Guild Hall. On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, Mr. Yan Ge and his son Yan Shifan held a banquet for the Jiangxi fellows who were taking the exam in Beijing.

For the invitation of the chief minister of the court, all the candidates naturally readily agreed.

It finally came, Wei Guangde naturally would not miss the opportunity to get in touch with the chief assistant of the court, and that Mr. Yan, Mr. Yan, although of course Wei Guangde had never had contact with him before, but he had heard of his reputation, that is to take money to do things.

As long as he dares to collect money, it means that things can be done for you.

To put it bluntly, even if the Yan family doesn't invite them and fellow villagers to get together during the Chinese New Year, Wei Guangde will probably find an opportunity to get in touch with this important official in the court, without him, it is related to the future.

Moreover, this banquet is not only attended by people from the Yan family. According to the post, most Jiangxi officials in Beijing will participate.

At this time, it was still early before the examination in February next year. Emperor Jiajing did not say who would be the chief examiner.

Therefore, at this time, Jiangxi officials in Beijing have nothing to worry about meeting fellow candidates on a large scale.

In fact, at this time, most officials in Beijing from Huguang, Zhejiang and other places are doing the same thing, so there is no taboo.

On the contrary, when Wei Guangde went out to meet another acquaintance this day, that was what he never expected.

"Dare to ask, but Brother Zeng?"

In a book shop near the Jiujiang Guild Hall, Wei Guangde was flipping through miscellaneous books. It is an old tradition, and he has already memorized what he should memorize, and he can't read any books at the moment.

Will try, then resign to fate.

But put down the book in his hand, and when he turned around, he saw a new scholar entering the store.

Wei Guangde thought it looked familiar at first sight, and he remembered it at the second sight. Isn't this Zeng Xingwu, the elder brother of Zeng Yuanshu?
I remember it was five years ago. I just came here and entered the county for the first time.

But for Wei Guangde's question, the man didn't react for a while, just nodded, then looked at Wei Guangde in a daze, apparently not remembering.

(End of this chapter)