Good luck with koi carp

Southeast Min Prefecture is further south than Nanhuai Prefecture, but unlike Nanhuai Prefecture, Southeast Min Prefecture is said to be in the southeast, but it is not close to the sea. Instead, it is Bohe Prefecture adjacent to Nanhuai Prefecture. It's a seaside city.


The orientation of the three can be seen as an inverted triangle. On the left is Nanhuai Prefecture, which is inland, and on the right is Bohe Prefecture, which is close to the sea. Below the two, the one that is not close to either side is Southeast Min Prefecture.


Moreover, Southeast Minfu is not adjacent to the first two. They are also separated by countless endless mountains. If you want to cross the mountains and enter Southeast Minfu, this journey alone is extremely difficult and cannot be walked by ordinary people. Come on.


So starting from Kyoto, Chili and his party had to take an official ship all the way down the river, pass through Nanhuai Prefecture, and arrive at a port town in the southeast near the Min Prefecture. They would disembark here and exchange horses for horses, and then hire them locally. A fellow villager who was familiar with the terrain asked him to help lead the way through the mountains and into the city of Southeast Min Prefecture.


This journey alone will take more than two and a half months. This is an estimate of a smooth journey. If something happens to delay it on the way, it is normal to take three to three months.


Maybe by the time they get there, the flood season will be over, and then Chili, the imperial envoy, will be lonely.


So her trip was really in vain. She hurried all the way. Finally, after spending two months and ten days, she stood on the top of the mountain and looked down at the outline of the city in Southeast Min Prefecture.


"It's finally here."


Tan Xin'er stood next to Chi Li and panted. She was also very tired.


Strangely enough, she was clearly the one with martial arts skills, but Chili, a civil servant who was supposed to be powerless, acted quite relaxed along the way, even climbing for three or four hours at a stretch. The mountain here is not the kind with well-built mountain roads, just walk up the stairs, but the most primitive kind of mountain, and she can actually climb it smoothly without looking too tired.


This made everyone accompanying him, including Tan Xin'er and Lin Yanxiang, very impressed.


Chi Li could only say that dragon energy is a good thing. It can not only improve her cultivation but also strengthen her body. She will devote her whole life to serving Her Majesty the Empress until she dies!

"Seriously, is it really the only way to enter Southeast Minfu that involves climbing over the mountains?" Chili frowned and asked the fellow who led the way.


The fellow villager shook his head and sighed in a Mandarin with a local dialect accent: "That's not true. Our ancestors in Mindi once worked hard and spent dozens of generations to move several mountains blocking the road. A main road to the outside was dug out, but that road later had an accident and was blocked by large rolling stones. Maybe they thought that everyone was familiar with the mountain roads, and it would be tiring to go out and climb over these mountains. Generally, very few people want to leave this place, and later on there are no younger generations who want to dig a road, and we old guys are powerless even if we want to, so this road is blocked."


Listening to the fellow villager's explanation, Chi Li fell into silence for a while.


Tan Xin'er and others exclaimed: "It turns out that the story of the Foolish Old Man who moved the mountains is true!"


Now they have met a real person. It's a pity that the descendants of Yu Gong in this story were not very lucky. The ancestors finally moved the mountain and opened up a road to the outside world, but they were destroyed by a rolling stone. It was blocked tightly.


Directly return to hundreds of years ago.


However, the descendants hundreds of years later have lost their ancestors' perseverance and willingness to do whatever it takes for future generations, so once the road is blocked, they simply close themselves in this area and rarely go out.


"Excuse me, fellow, maybe you can take us to see that blocked road?" Chili asked politely to the fellow who was leading the way, not knowing what he was thinking about.


"Of course you can. When we go down the mountain from here to Minfu, we have to pass by that place. I will point it out to you then." The fellow villager agreed to the imperial envoy's request.


Anyway, the money they gave me was enough, so even if something happened on the way, it wouldn't take much effort.


After deciding, on the way down the mountain, Chili and his party saw a long and narrow winding mountain road. It was said that it was narrow only when compared with the mountains on both sides and its total length. In fact, this mountain road could be seen to be originally wide, at least It's more than enough room for four carriages to pass side by side.


Although it has experienced years of erosion, Chili can still vaguely see traces of what he thought were excavations on the mountain wall, and has to say: "It's really shocking!"


"It's so spectacular!" Someone from behind exclaimed in a low voice.


In this regard, the fellow villager expressed great pride: "This is all the credit of our ancestors."


Unfortunately, his eyes fell on the huge boulder that was tightly crowded in the center of this mountain road, and the fellow's expression became lonely again: "This is where a huge boulder rolled down more than ten years ago, and this road was severely blocked. It’s so tight that no matter how hard we try, we can’t move it away, and in the end we can no longer enter and leave the city and other places at will.”


Chi Li looked in the direction pointed by the fellow villager and saw a round boulder more than ten meters high in the middle of the road. Its left and right sides were blocked by the mountain road, so if he wanted to To move it, unless there is great power from the gods, it can only be broken into pieces and then pushed forward.


But the problem is that this thing is too hard. It can't be chipped with today's tools, let alone shaken.


Chi Li was not satisfied with seeing it from such a distance, so she took a war horse from Lin Yanxiang's hand, got on the horse, and galloped along the mountain road to the boulder to see the details up close.


While she was watching intently, the sound of several horse hoofbeats sounded from behind. Chi Li knew that the only ones coming were Lin Yanxiang and his subordinate soldiers without looking back.


They had a death order to protect Chi Li, so naturally they couldn't watch her stay alone in such a dangerous place for too long.


"Master Chi..." As soon as Lin Yanxiang spoke, Chi Li said calmly: "There are no human traces."


"Wang Xin didn't do it?" Lin Yanxiang confirmed.


"Well, he doesn't have the ability to do such a big thing. This is a stone rolled down by the vibration caused by the earth dragon turning over. And this stone is not an ordinary rock. Its material is too hard and it is difficult to cut it with ordinary tools, so Only the people of Minfu will be forced to be trapped." Chi Li informed Lin Yanxiang of the results of her examination.


It turns out that the imperial court knew that Southeast Minfu was forced to become an isolated place to a certain extent because the road to the outside world was blocked.


The empress also sent people to investigate the cause, and found out that it was a landslide caused by an earthquake more than ten years ago, and a huge boulder rolled down to block it, and she even suspected King Xin.


Because the time was so coincidental, King Xin happened to receive the imperial order to come here to build the river embankment more than ten years ago. As a result, before the construction was completed and he returned to Beijing the next year, something like this happened over there. This kind of thing is really hard not to make people suspicious.


In particular, although Minfu is mountainous, the folk customs are barbaric, the location is not close to the sea, and there are no big rivers flowing through it. It seems to have no advantages, but in fact, it is rich in mineral resources, such as gold, silver, copper, iron, and lead ores. All kinds of strategic minerals that are extremely important to the country can be found here, and there are quite a few.


Therefore, Min Mansion has always been a treasure land that the superiors want to attract bad seeds during the fight. After all, owning it is equivalent to owning countless gold and silver, and countless copper and iron weapons. Who would not be tempted.


That's why the empress initially suspected that King Xin was greedy for the minerals here after he came here, so she didn't stop doing anything and simply cut off its access to the outside world in order to isolate the Min Mansion and then tighten it. Hold it in your own hands.


In this way, he can have a large amount of money and weapons. It is not difficult to use the cavalry to rebel and usurp the throne.


However, King Xin was defeated later, and the empress realized that she had thought too much.


If her ambitious brother really takes control of Min Mansion, then the person who is beheaded at the door of the market will be her, and the person in charge will be King Xin.


Although the misunderstanding was resolved, she was unwilling to let go of Min Mansion's popular empress, so she sent Chi Li here on this trip. First, she wanted her to do her job well and ensure that nothing happened to the Min Mansion river embankment project. To carry out disaster relief work, the second step is to first explore the specific condition of the huge boulder blocking the road and see if it can be removed to restore road circulation between Minfu and other areas.


In modern times with advanced technology, this stone blocking the road would have no effect at all. As long as large equipment is used, it can be broken and cleaned in minutes. But now in ancient times, how to remove this huge stone blocking the road has become a problem. A problem for countless people.


Even Chi Li, after careful inspection, found that it would be difficult to break open such a big and heavy boulder without using her spiritual power, so she could only look back and take a long-term approach.


"It's raining."


Feeling a drop of moist water fall on her face, Chili raised her head and looked up at the sky, realizing that more and more raindrops were falling from the sky.


"Master Chi, should we find a shelter from the rain first, or should we ride horses and speed into Min Mansion?" Lin Yanxiang asked Chi Li's opinion.


"Notify everyone, mount your horses, and speed up to enter Minfu."


Now that they are here, Chi Li is not willing to delay, so he simply orders everyone to ride on their war horses and advance at a thousand speeds.


Fortunately, their next journey was just to follow this mountain road to reach the Minfu City Gate. Although the road was blocked by huge rocks halfway, the two sections in front and back were actually passable.


In addition to many people, they also brought two hundred war horses with them on this trip. This was one of the benefits specially obtained by the Empress Party for Chi Li. Even though there were only about a hundred serious cavalry in the team, in fact they would There were more than two hundred people riding horses, including Chili.


Tan Xin'er and other members of the escort agency also brought their own horses, so they didn't need to worry about Chi Li and the others.


Due to the limited number of horses, everyone had to share a horse. Even the fellow who was leading the way was lifted onto his horse by a young soldier, and then took him to gallop together.


As if they were going to fight on the battlefield, the group braved the increasingly heavy rain and rushed towards Minfu City with great momentum. The guards who were guarding the city were so frightened that they thought it was an enemy attack. With the imperial envoy's identity flag, they might really close the city gates and prepare for war.


"What does this new imperial envoy want to do?"


The magistrate of Min Prefecture, Xin Xin, was suddenly informed by his subordinates that someone was coming from outside. He immediately got up and tidied up his clothes, and then hurriedly ordered his subordinates to prepare a banquet for the distinguished guests, while he led a group of people out quickly to greet the overlying guest. The sudden imperial envoy.


In previous years, the imperial envoys would come around this time, but usually not that early. Due to the difficulty of walking on the mountain road, they would always have to stay at night for half a month. They would be quite embarrassed when they arrived at the place. They would only yell for them to have a banquet and entertain them. Like this time, it was as if they were going to attack the city. I wonder if the imperial minister deliberately gave them a blow.


Chili, who had no intention at all, just wanted to lead the team into the city to hide from the rain, so when the two parties met at the gate of the city.


One team was neatly dressed and looked glamorous, while the other team was soaked and looked miserable. But in terms of momentum, the soldiers riding tall horses on Chili's side were more intimidating.


"I don't know that the imperial envoy is here, but I am not so far away to welcome you. I'm really sorry." The smooth magistrate was the first to come forward and looked around the group of people with his head raised. Finally, he was shocked to find the only one wearing civilian clothes. The person turned out to be a young girl.


How old is this girl? She is not much different from his daughter, right?

How could he be so powerful and become an imperial envoy!

"You are Master Bai, the magistrate of Min Prefecture. Your Majesty, Xianguan Chili, is an imperial envoy of the fifth rank personally appointed by His Majesty. He is here to inspect Min Prefecture's river dam repair matters to ensure the safety of the people of Min Prefecture."


The prefect of the First Prefecture is a fourth-grade official, and her official position is higher than that of Chi Li, so she has to address her as a lower official in front of the other party. However, due to her status as an imperial envoy, the person standing behind Chi Li is the empress, which also represents the empress's face. The empress bestowed upon her the power, so her status was actually higher than that of local officials.
In front of her, Magistrate Bai must show full respect, otherwise he will be contemptuous of the imperial power. If Chi Li turns around and reports her, he will definitely be punished.


Those who will be sent to serve as officials in such remote places far away from the central government will either be demoted or they will be paupers with no background and no money to hire people to help with operations. Therefore, they have no choice when they are assigned official positions and can only be assigned. To this remote place.


However, at the first meeting, Chi Li could tell that Magistrate Bai was a smooth person, and he was not unscrupulous in his official position. He was also the kind of person who was very cautious and did not leave any clues, so he should belong to the latter group.


It's very simple for this kind of person. As long as you have a business-like attitude without touching the other person's interests, he will naturally cooperate with you and not make any random moves.


Sure enough, when Chi Li put on a serious expression, the other party also cooperated, whether it was arranging a place to settle the group of them, or Chi Li asked him to find someone to take them to the river dam to check the situation the next day. , Magistrate Bai all agreed.


But before leaving, Magistrate Bai couldn't stop glancing at Chi Li. Finally, when Chi Li was about to bear it no longer, he couldn't help but ask: "I'd like to ask, how did Master Chi become a court official?" With His Majesty's permission, or..."


This was the only thing he could think of.


Your Majesty, as a woman, must cultivate a group of female officials who are devoted to her. Therefore, Chi Qinchao may be one of the officials who were favored by His Majesty and specially promoted from the female officials in the palace to enter the court.


"I am the number one scholar in the first grade after three years of retroactive salary. I am a Jinshi who passed the imperial examination with all seriousness. I originally served in the cabinet. Later, I received the important task of His Majesty and was appointed as an imperial envoy to the Southeast Minfu to inspect the river dam repair matters. ." Chi Li seemed to see through Master Bai's suspicions about herself at a glance, and simply spoke up to clear her name.


These female officials who were able to enter the court did rely on the decree issued by the empress after she came to power, which gave them an opportunity. However, the reason why they were able to stand upright in the officialdom was all due to their own efforts, without any involvement. Miscellaneous water.


Even those officials who opposed women's participation in the imperial examinations, standing in front of them now, could not say that they were not qualified to be officials, because everyone passed the imperial examinations all the way and passed the exams in the same way and took the same test paper. , the same set of questions, no one gave them any preferential treatment, and even suppressed them. Even if the empress wanted to promote female officials, she had to do so on the premise that the other party was good enough.


As if shocked by Chi Li's words, Magistrate Bai was stunned for a long time, and then murmured: "That shouldn't be the case. How can a woman take part in the imperial examination?"


"Lord Bai, please be careful, why can't women take the imperial examination? You should know that after His Majesty ascended the throne, he issued a nationwide decree to allow women to take the imperial examination. So far, a spring has passed. Including me, there are a total of five women in the same class who have taken the exam. All the Jinshi scholars have now entered the imperial court as officials."


So this matter has been announced for so long, and everyone has already passed one round of the exam. Isn’t it a bit inappropriate for you to question it now?

The latter sentence was too offending, so Chi Li didn't say it, but I believe Bai Zhifu could understand what she wanted to express.


But the Bai Zhifu's expression looked even more pitiful, and he even said a little aggrievedly: "I didn't know this happened! If I had known it earlier, if I had known it earlier, my children wouldn't have to... nor would they have to... "


The more he talked, the angrier he became, and then he suddenly remembered something, stopped walking back and forth, turned around, bowed deeply to Chi Li, and then left.


After the people left, Chi Li realized something was wrong in their conversation and hurriedly called two soldiers who were better at inquiring about information and asked them to find out what was going on.


In fact, there is no need to bother to find out the news, because just in the afternoon, a piece of gossip spread in Min Mansion.


Their always cheerful and good-tempered Magistrate Bai beat up You Tongzhi and Yu Xuezheng!


Officials got into fights. This was something that would never happen no matter how fiercely the group of people in the court quarreled. Unexpectedly, it would happen to Chi Li here in Minfu.


She couldn't help but lament that Minfu's folk customs were really barbaric. Even the chubby and kind-hearted Prefect Bai would beat people when he was fierce. I heard that he would even beat people until their heads were bleeding. She didn't know how much hatred he had.


This matter was serious even if it was not serious, and it could be resolved by the person concerned even if it was not serious. However, just beating someone up was obviously not enough to make Magistrate Bai vent his anger, so he simply reported the matter to the biggest official in the Min Prefecture besides him. before.


That is, here in Chili.


Before even eating dinner, she was invited to sit down at the front of the main hall of the government office. Facing the three parties below who were waiting for trial, Chili didn't know how to evaluate it. She could only be speechless for a moment, then took on the posture of a temporary judge and pressed The process begins by asking about the specific circumstances of the incident.


"Why did Prefect Bai want to beat someone?" He first asked the culprit's motive.


"To report to the imperial envoy, I want to accuse You Pang and Yu Ziren of concealing the imperial decree from the superior, resisting the execution of the imperial order, disregarding the king's law, contempt for the emperor, and disobeying the decree!"


With so many big hats being pulled off, You Tongzhi and Yu Xuezheng turned pale in fright, but seeing how they couldn't explain a word, Chi Li also knew that they might have really done something like this. The capital crime of beheading.


Her expression became serious unknowingly, revealing a bit of intimidating majesty, and she asked in a deep voice: "You Pang, Yu Ziren, what kind of crime have you committed, and you must be punished truthfully, otherwise, when I go back, I will report it to the Holy Majesty." After that, it will be even more sinful and unforgivable!"


Shocked by the momentum she inadvertently revealed, Yu Ziren, who was still on guard at first, knelt down with a plop and shouted injustice: "Sir, the imperial envoy was wronged. It was You Tongzhi who forced me to do so. The lower official concealed His Majesty's decree from Magistrate Bai, not allowing women from the Min government to participate in the imperial examination, saying that... he said that the imperial examination is a matter for men, and what does it have to do with those women who only need to get married, have children and take care of the housework, so... so... so... …”


"So the two of you teamed up to conceal this decree so that it could not be implemented within the Min government?" Chili asked with a dark face.


This kind of thing was just jumping on her minefield, suppressing the angry emotions in the past. When the evidence was solid, Chi Li simply waved her hand and signaled Lin Yanxiang to ask a few soldiers to hide these two people. The guys were arrested and taken to the government prison. When they were waiting for their return, they would take these two guys back together to punish the empress.


"As for you." Chili turned to Magistrate Bai, who had become slightly nervous after the other two were arrested, and said, "Although you didn't know about this in advance, as the prefect of the first prefecture, you are also guilty of ineffective supervision. , after returning to Beijing, I will also report your crimes to the Holy One, and you can take care of yourself."


"Yes, Master Chi."


Back in the dynasty, there were decrees on the imperial examinations, which were generally issued by higher-level educational institutions to lower-level educational institutions, that is, from the Imperial College to local schools, prefectures, counties, etc. Of course, local government officials would also be notified in place. So that they can start cooperating with the reformed imperial examination.


Even though it was inconvenient to travel back and forth, this government order was originally issued to Minfu. However, the news was cut off directly from Minfufuxue. The reason is also ridiculous.


Because in fact, Yu Xuezheng, who was in charge of government education, and You Tongzhi, the second-in-command of the Min government, were quite opposed to women appearing in public to participate in the imperial examinations, and regarded this as a shame, so they both considered it for the sake of the reputation of women in the Min government. slogan, they joined forces to conceal this matter, and the news was blocked to the point where even the prefect Bai didn't know.


As for why Prefect Bai was excluded by the two of them, it is obvious that generally speaking, it would be easier if a prefect helped to handle this kind of thing. Even if a situation like this happened, where the imperial envoy sent by the imperial court discovered it. , they can also join forces to kill people and silence them. At that time, they only need to evade and say that they have not seen the imperial minister at all, and the superiors will not be able to convict them at all.


Nowadays, Minfu's important transportation roads to the outside world are blocked by huge rocks. Surrounded by these mountains as a natural barrier, they are like earth emperors here. Why don't they just do whatever they want?

However, this may be the effect of Chili's luck.


It just so happened that the prefect Bai of Min Prefecture had five daughters, who were called the Five Golden Flowers. Not only was the prefect Bai who gave birth to so many daughters not a patriarchal person, on the contrary, he loved them very much. The child is a veritable slave girl.


Therefore, if he learned that His Majesty had issued a decree that women could participate in the imperial examination, he would definitely be the first person to respond in support.


It just so happens that his daughters are all well-read in poetry and books, and they are worried that their talents are limited by their female bodies and cannot be used. This opportunity is their daughter's path to heaven. Whoever dares to hinder his daughters' future will be in vain. The prefect was the first to get angry.


This is also the reason why the other party was so angry that he beat You Tongzhi and Yu Xuezheng violently after learning about this.


In addition to being angry at them for deceiving his superiors and causing trouble for him, he was also angry at them for delaying his daughter's future.


If so, if this news could have been known three years ago, maybe his daughter is among the women who can serve as officials in the same court as Mr. Chi today?

Putting aside whether the Bai family's daughters are really so talented, Chi Li feels that they are quite happy to have such a father who loves his daughters as much as they want.


Fortunately, the Chi family also loved Chi Li very much, so she didn't envy others at all.


It is now October, and the county examination is generally held in February every year. If Master Bai's daughters are really planning to take the scientific examination, they must prepare now and register in advance to take the examination in January next year.


The final result depends on one's destiny, and it has nothing to do with Chi Li anyway.


However, with Bai Zhifu as their father, I believe that as long as they are really knowledgeable and can pass the exam, their future prospects will not be bad.


Although Magistrate Bai has now been charged with poor supervision, in fact the punishment for this crime is not serious.


It mainly depends on the attitude of the empress. If His Majesty has no intention to go into details, it may only be a matter of deducting a few months of salary. If His Majesty wants to impose a heavy punishment, Bai Zhifu will be demoted by one or two ranks at most, and Wu Shamao can still be kept. .


If the daughter of the Bai family is really good enough, the Bai family will not have no chance of making a comeback in the future.


This was also the reason why Magistrate Bai was willing to expose the matter to Chi Li after thinking about it.


Otherwise, the situation Chili is facing now would not be so harmonious.


At the same time, Chi Li also understood why Prime Minister Xing had to bring her to this place. It turned out that he knew that there was a thunderstorm waiting for her here.


Fortunately, the other party underestimated Magistrate Bai's love for his daughters. Unexpectedly, for the sake of their daughters' future, the other party was willing to risk punishment to implement this decree in the Min government.


Bai Zhifu himself was born in a village under the jurisdiction of the Min Prefecture. There was a ban in the dynasty on officials not being in charge of their own hometowns, but they could annex and manage their hometowns by taking charge of several more levels.


For example, just like Bai Zhifu, he was born in a village under the jurisdiction of Minfu. According to regulations, he cannot serve as the head of the township, nor can he serve as the county magistrate of the higher-level county in the township, because these are all under current management and will make officials It is inevitable to be biased and unfair when administering jurisdiction, but he can be responsible for the prefecture, prefecture, etc. that include the jurisdiction of this township and county.

The prefect has jurisdiction over not only one prefecture, but also all the villages and counties below it. Most of the decrees it issues are of a general nature, such as the implementation of the decree issued by the empress to allow women to participate in the imperial examination, which benefits all areas under its jurisdiction. Everyone can benefit from everywhere in the country, so there is no partiality and only his hometown is taken care of.

As for the specific implementation of the government order after it is issued to the local area, that is a matter for the officials of the township and county. The prefect can only play a supervisory role and cannot directly intervene. Otherwise, it will be an overstep of authority and will be sued by the subordinate officials to higher authorities.


Therefore, as an official from a village under the jurisdiction of Min Prefecture, Prefect Bai must implement this decree. Otherwise, according to the regulations that county examination candidates must take the examination in their hometown, his daughters will not be able to participate in the imperial examination in their hometown.

If you can't even take this first step, how can you talk about the future? (End of chapter)