Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 37

Chen Dong has always acted decisively, and he felt that he was not as good as practicing virtue. He actually burned his article with the main theme of "advocating rituals and joy to Huaiyuan people". Handed in.Others were anxiously waiting for the grades of the student assessment, but he was the most unrestrained. He believed that Xingde's article must be the first, and he was even more determined than Xingde himself.

Zhao Xingde was still a little confident at first, but as time passed, the Imperial College did not announce the results of the exam for the students in the upper house, so he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.He took advantage of today's officials' psychology of being overjoyed, and drew a big cake in the "Ten Strategies for Expansion of the Sea", saying that as long as he followed his plan, within 20 years, the Song Dynasty could expand the sea area by tens of thousands of miles, and organize immigrants overseas to reclaim land. There are countless fertile lands, people and land are making the best use of them, the imperial court enjoys the rich products of all countries, the treasury is full, and with the help of a powerful navy, as long as it takes time, it will surely rule the world and bring about peace.

Zhao Xingde also hid a little scheming in this policy theory, because the officials of the current dynasty were attached to the prosperity of the capital, and they were unwilling to go to distant places to serve as officials. However, Zhao Xingde hoped to win such a position. He only needed to focus on management and consolidation. No matter how the government changed, he would have a base and a way out.

However, he thinks that some of the practices proposed in the "Ten Strategies for Expansion of the Sea" are still too unconventional. Although the new party is currently being reused by the government, it is still unknown whether it can be accepted.With the passage of time, the assessment results that should have been announced a long time ago have not come down. Seeing that all the students of Taixue are restless, Zhao Xingde's uneasiness is getting stronger and stronger.

"The list is released, the list is released!" Just when all the Tai students almost thought that the list would not be released for this assessment, they did. "Go and see!" Zhao Xingde squeezed into the crowd with Chen Dong, Deng Su, Zhang Bing and other students, struggling to search up and down, almost doubled his eyes, and even randomly put together an article. Dong also ranked No.13, but Zhao Xingde's name did not exist at all.

"Impossible!" Chen Dong complained injustice for Zhao Xingde, "With the talent of Yuan Zhi, it is absolutely impossible to lose the name to Sun Shan!" His words just fell, but it aroused the sympathy of more people, "Right! How could I not be ranked! "Is this policy really read by the officials?"

Seeing that all the scholars were yelling loudly, as if they were going to hold on to Pei Xuezheng, who was in charge of publishing the rankings, Pei Xuezheng became anxious: "What's the hurry! What's the hurry!" Pushing everyone away, he took out the bag from his arms with great effort. Another list, "I haven't finished posting it yet, this is the first class!" After finishing speaking, he slowly pasted the list for the assessment of the first class on the side of the original postings for the second and third class, then As soon as the list was opened, the word "Zhao Xingde" jumped out, ranking first on the list!

"I won! Yuanzhi is the number one!" Chen Dong's expression seemed to be even more exaggerated than Zhao Xingde's. It is said that the top ten in the Taixue Examination were all personally selected by the officials. , I will be released from office soon, and my official career will be as if divinely assisted.

Zhao Xingde stared dumbfounded at the red paper and gold lettering on the list. He thought that he would be ranked first, but he never thought that he would be number one on the list. Before he had time to think carefully, "Brother Yuan Zhi, congratulations!" The son of heaven personally Jianba's first name!", "It must be the candidate of Fengchi!" "Don't forget me to wait for your classmates from now on!" The congratulatory sounds from all around him had already drowned him out.

On the same day, Li Gefei, a doctor of Taixue, proudly informed his family of the news that he was the first in the moral examination, and took out the champion red that had been treasured for more than [-] years, and bought wine to celebrate his morality. At the beginning, he was the first in the imperial examination, and today the prospective aunt of the Li family, Zhao Xingde, won the first again, which has become a good story for a while.

Li Ruobing did not expect Xingde to be so good. He specially read Xingde's "Ten Strategies for Tuohai" and couldn't help but marvel: "The imperial court's so-called Huaiyuan country's strategy is probably not based on the power of soldiers. To lure them with profit, cherish them with kindness, and establish them with propriety and righteousness, these barbarian countries suddenly rebelled and surrendered suddenly, and because the roads are far away and difficult to attack, the court often endured it." Li Ruobing used to be in Beibei County As an official of the county, he has heard of many barbarian tribes suddenly rebelling and surrendering, and the court has nothing to do. He feels that some of Zhao Xingde's policy can also be used to deal with the barbarians on land. The method of "differential products" may take a long time, but it is like drawing the fire from the bottom of the pot, so that the barbarians have to serve China, Brother Yu admires it."

Because of Chao Buzhi's and Li Gefei's vigorous efforts, Guozijian Jijiu Yang Shi, Zuo Sijian Chen Guan and other famous Qingliu officials all filed memorials to impeach Honglu Temple, thinking that Li Ruobing's job as the supervisor of Duting Xiyi was to take care of Dali and Goryeo For the vassals of the Song Dynasty, although the documents about the etiquette of Liao Kingdom envoys in Honglu Temple have the seal of Duting Xiyi, but Li Ruobing has not long been acting as an agent, and the subordinate staff in question fled in fear of crime. He really should not be the blame back.Emperor Zhao You also seemed to remember that Li Ruobing was a disciple of the Son of Heaven, and he personally selected the first place in the examination of the Taixue Shangshe, and kept all kinds of memorials about this matter, so this matter was delayed.Li Ruobing has also been "waiting for crimes" at home, receiving her salary, and her mood has become more and more relaxed.

"Brother, it's too much of a prize. This dynasty uses the tea-horse trade to detain Dali and other barbarians in Southwest China, and it's the same," Zhao Xingde said humbly, "It's just that it's too urgent to 'fuck'. It's best to induce Dali to grow more tea and other things as much as possible, and less food. In this way, for decades, as long as the road with China is cut off, the country will be starved and killed everywhere."

Li Ruobing was about to nod his head and say yes, but Li Gefei said: "Yuan Zhi, from now on, I need to read more books from sages, don't be too scheming." Zhao Xingde hurriedly nodded and said yes, when he looked up, he happened to meet Li Ruobing's eyes, and they looked at each other There was a hint of a smile in his eyes, it seemed that this uncle was not less taught by his father-in-law.

Zhao Xingde's great joy of winning the first place in the Taixue University, dilutes the melancholy atmosphere brought about by Li Ruobing's punishment. Although it is just a family banquet, the house is full of lights and festoons, and it looks extremely festive at dusk.Although Li Ruoxue and Zhao Xingde are already engaged, they rarely have the chance to talk at ordinary times. Now Li Ruoxue is sitting beside him, and Zhao Xingde takes advantage of his drunkenness to appreciate the face of the beautiful woman sitting next to her. The glazed lamps used reflect ten colors and five lights, which further set off the beauty's face like the morning glow, which is incomparably beautiful.Li Gefei and his wife, Wang Shi, indulged him like they didn't see it, which made Li Ruoxue feel aggrieved.

Li Gefei originally planned to marry Zhao Xingde and Li Ruoxue after the final imperial examination. Now that Zhao Xingde has won the first place in the Imperial Academy, he may be elected as an official at any time, and he may even go to work outside Beijing, so there is no need to participate in the imperial examination. Marriage can be brought forward at any time.Every time she thinks about this point, Li Ruoxue's heart is filled with shyness and sweetness, unconsciously, she is also intoxicated by Xingde's more and more unscrupulous eyes.

This drunkenness didn't end until late at night, Xingde's drinking capacity was light and he was too strong to drink, so he stayed in the guest room of Li's mansion.After Li Ruoxue and her mother, Mrs. Wang, finished making arrangements for entertaining guests, Mrs. Wang saw that Li Ruoxue seemed to be preoccupied, thinking that she would marry soon, and that most of the female relatives of official families would follow their husbands to roam around. Reluctant to be at home, he smiled and said: "It is said that women's knowledge is short, but your father has knowledge. Zhao Yuanzhi is really a young man, and the human way is that his great contribution to regaining Youyan is not as good as the first place in the imperial examination. He is a first-class man appointed by the official family. The first name is not much worse than the number one scholar in the palace examination, and it is many times better than those princes and grandchildren who are close to Zumeng. As a mother, I also want to congratulate you for marrying a good family."

Li Ruoxue was preoccupied and did not answer. Suddenly, she heard Li Gefei's voice behind her and said, "There are only three thousand students in the Taixue, and there are only less than a thousand students in the Shangshe. How can you compete with the big ones in the world?" The number one scholar in the imperial examination is on par. I have been born as a Jinshi in the Li family for generations, so it seems that I can only continue as if it is empty."

Li Ruoxue and Mrs. Wang looked back, only to see Li Gefei holding a white porcelain wine glass, with a half-smile on his face. If there was regret, he was actually extremely proud and happy. Brother did not see today."

Li Ruoxue saw that her father was three points drunk, fearing that his father was old and prone to fall after drinking, so she accompanied Li Gefei back to the study, but saw her father took out three announcements, one was Xining's nine-year Jinshi The list, under Jinshi's background, has the names of Li Gefei and Zhao Tixin impressively. The second is the list of the Imperial College Shangshe Examination years ago. Li Ruobing is ranked first. In addition to the examination papers, Zhao Xingde ranked first in the first class.Li Gefei read the three bulletins under the lamp for a long time, and then fell asleep from exhaustion.

Li Ruoxue carefully put away the three imperial lists representing the glory of the family, and together with her mother, Wang, served her father to sleep, and then went back to the room to rest, Rou Ning propped her cheeks in a daze, and unconsciously fell on the table Asleep, the lamp in the boudoir is like a bean, and the lamp oil burns out in the middle of the night. The warm light just now, like the thousands of thoughts of a girl, gradually dissipates.

The list collected by the Li family is the sub-list, at this moment, the main list of the Taixue Shangshe assessment, together with Zhao Xingde's "Ten Strategies for Exploring the Sea", is placed on Emperor Zhao You's sapphire case.

"This son has unique insights, far-sighted vision, and detailed considerations. He is a talented person. It's a pity that his surname is Zhao, otherwise he could be a captain-in-law for my Huan'er." Emperor Zhao You looked at his daughter lovingly and said.

Zhao Huan was suppressing the excitement in his heart, opened his eyes wide and looked at the word "Zhao Xingde" at the top of the list, and said angrily, "Father is here to make fun of him again." He casually took the policy theory written by Zhao Xingde himself, and read it carefully , bowed his head and said, "Compared with others, although this article is good, it doesn't necessarily overwhelm the others. Why did the emperor choose him as the first?"

Zhao You ignored her changing the subject, but continued jokingly: "I heard that this person is both civil and military, and his appearance is not bad. Even if his surname is Zhao, it doesn't matter, at worst, I will give him another surname."

Although Zhao Huan was often joked about by her father about her marriage, and sometimes even said that she was going to be sent to Xia Guo, at this time she already had Zhao Xingde in her heart, and she heard what her father said solemnly as if it was true, and her face was ashamed. It turned red all of a sudden, and her heart was pounding, but she heard Zhao You's voice turn around and said, "It's just that, in this way, good talents can't be used by your brother, so it's still only the one who has wronged me." Ring."

Zhao Huan's eyes turned red immediately, she was very well-behaved and sensible, she neither followed Zhao You's words and asked "Which elder brother will I use it for?" nor did she quarrel with each other, but suppressed her sobs and said: "I understand. "

Zhao You didn't seem to notice the slightly strange expression on his daughter's face, and he sighed deeply: "The so-called family and country, when it comes to the royal family, family affairs and state affairs can no longer be separated." He stroked his daughter's hair affectionately , slowly said: "Father will definitely find a good son-in-law for you who is talented, gentle and considerate. Is this Zhao Xingde?" Slowly said, "Although the article is not the first, the opinion is the first. I will take him as the first and let him know that the king's grace is like the sea. But looking at this son's writing, there is too much suave and uninhibited air between the lines, I would like to see this People, see if you want to suffer some setbacks and sharpen your 'nature'." He paused and explained: "It's like all horses have strong 'nature', and they have to work their muscles and bones and starve their bodies. Skin, and even whipping with iron chains, to be able to control it freely."

But Zhao Huan said: "Father, this is not making fun of people!" It is such a great blessing for your father to play tricks on you."

"No wonder!" Zhao Huan curled his lips, picked up Zhao Xingde's policy and read it again, thoughtfully.

In order to demonstrate the fairness of the selection of scholars, the first-class policy theory of the Taixue Shangshe Examination is the same as the imperial examination papers for Jinshi, and is published throughout the world. Zhao Xingde's policy theory is destined to be passed down to the world, and even to live forever.But before that, someone who paid attention to it presented this strategy to the desk of Zhao You's biggest opponent, the Emperor of Xia, Chen Xuan.

Before Chen Xuan succeeded to the throne, he served in the Xia Dynasty for nearly ten years. Although he was nearly fifty years old, his body was still strong. Although there was a prime minister's office to handle daily government affairs, Chen Xuan had to read hundreds of various memorials every day to understand The state of the world.When Chen Xuan accidentally read Zhao Xingde's theory, he actually put down the account books of the imperial treasury and the report of the Ordnance Department's trial production of marching guns, and ordered the guards to deliver a jug of wine. stand up.

"Your Majesty, you seem to be in a good mood today?"

"The sages and sages in ancient times are lonely, but the drinkers keep their names." Chen Xuan pointed to Zhao Xingde's policy theory, and said to the prime minister Liu Yi: "The ancients have a saying in Han books, and today I get this wonderful article. Get drunk."

"Your Majesty, be dignified and self-reliant."

"After the horse thief 'Old Sword' was wiped out in Mobei, the brothers in the camp almost died of drunkenness. Why didn't you come to persuade them?"

"At one time and another, at that time, His Majesty had not yet inherited the great rule. Now, as a ruler, he couldn't do what he wanted. Even if everyone in the world is drunk, His Majesty must be awake."

"Oh, I already regret that I proposed to let you sit in this prime minister position." Chen Xuan put down his wine glass with some regret, "By the way, last time Kanger mentioned in his letter that he made friends with a scholar in Bianliang, and this Zhao Xingde, but the same person?"