Liaozhai Great Sage

Chapter 317

The yamen of Jinling City is the same as the yamen of Guobei City.

There are restrictions on the construction of government offices by the imperial court. It is not that prosperous local government offices are more magnificent, while remote local government offices are poorer.

At most, the yamen in the bustling places have been repaired and well-maintained, making them look newer.

And the layout of the yamen is the same, which avoids the embarrassment that people who have entered the yamen will not know each other when they go to another yamen.

"Mr. Li, wait here for a while, let me report to the adults." The yamen servant named He Yong stopped walking with his hands clasped.

"I'm sorry." Li Xiuyuan nodded.

In the yamen at this moment, a middle-aged man with a thin face, a serious face, and no anger and prestige is sitting in front of the file, carefully flipping through and correcting the documents sent from all over the place.

It has only been a few months since the flood, and the aftermath of the plague has finally subsided. It is winter again, and the whole area of ​​Yangzhou is flooded with refugees. Responsibility is even more important. If something goes wrong, not only will I be punished, but I will also lose the trust of the emperor and the expectations of the people.

But under this middle-aged official, there are still several officials sitting.

These are all local officials, but now these officials are trembling. They used to be high in the yamen, but now they can only accompany this adult to handle government affairs, not daring to be lazy.

Because the imperial envoy in front of him is the minister of the military department of the imperial court, and he is in charge of disaster relief and life saving at this moment.

At this time, a civil official walked in from the side cautiously and quickly, and whispered a few words carefully in the ear of Fu Tianchou, the servant of the Ministry of War.

Fu Tianchou, the servant of the Ministry of War, put down the document in his hand, raised his head and said with some surprise: "Oh, you said that Li Xiuyuan, who calmed the flood and plague in Guobei City, is here?"

"Yes, my lord, just now a yamen servant saw him reading the list outside the yamen, and now he is waiting outside." The clerk said.

Fu Tianchou nodded and said: "Although he is a scholar, he saved the lives of the people in a city when the disaster came, and spread the cure for the plague to countless people. Even though he is not a scholar, I also want to meet this person of great kindness and virtue, go and invite some Li Xiuyuan to come in, I want to see who this person is and how capable he is."

The clerk responded and withdrew.

Fu Tianchou said again; "My lords will also examine this Li Xiuyuan and see if he really has real talents and learning. If he has real talents, I will definitely recommend him to the emperor and promote him."

All the officials under his command were shocked.

This Fu Tianchou is too straightforward, isn't this person saying he wants to be promoted?

"Ahem, Mr. Fu, I think that this person doesn't care about his conduct, but at the moment he is just a scholar. If he wants to be promoted and recommended, he has to wait for him to pass the Jinshi examination. Otherwise, it will violate the rules." It was a white-faced and needless official. He was none other than Song Yuan, the acting magistrate of Guobei County who had intersected with Li Xiuyuan.

Now that the situation is stable, Song Yuan naturally withdrew and changed to another magistrate.

"The lower officials think that if Li Xiuyuan has the real ability to work hard, it is not wrong to recommend him to the imperial court." Some officials also agreed with Fu Tianchou's request.

They didn't mean it sincerely, they were purely to cater to Fu Tianchou's words.

Fu Tianchou said with a smile: "Let's put aside the matter of recommendation and promotion. I would like to ask you adults to study it first, and I will decide according to the situation. Several adults are all Jinshi, and some even entered Tongtian Pavilion to catch up with them." As a scholar of Zhuge Wolong University, his literary talent is first-class, I believe that I will not be disappointed later."

"Your Excellency, please rest assured that the lower officials will review talents carefully for the imperial court, and will never be biased." Several officials said righteously, and at the same time, some of them had long beards fluttering, and they were complacent.

After all, officials born as scholars care most about fame and talent, which is more important than being an official and benefiting the whole place.

"That's good." Fu Tianchou nodded.

After a while, Li Xiuyuan came to the lobby led by a civil official.

Li Xiuyuan glanced slightly, and saw that these people were all sitting in front of the copywriting, wearing official uniforms, all of them were high officials from all over Yangzhou, the official uniform of the head official was different from the others, it was the official uniform of the six departments of the imperial court, Judging from the style, it should be the Minister of the Ministry of War.

"Li Xiuyuan, who was born late in Guobei County, has met all of you adults." He bowed his hands and saluted.

As a scholar, he can see officials without kneeling, and he is not called a villain, just a late student.

"Excuse me, you are Li Xiuyuan? I heard that you helped the floods and plagues in Guo Beicheng. Is there such a thing?"

With a calm voice, Fu Tianchou carefully sized up the well-mannered scholar in front of him.

But seeing Li Xiuyuan's tall and straight figure, handsome appearance, clear and energetic eyes, Gu Pan already has an undeniable majesty. In addition to his majesty, he does not have the weak posture of an ordinary scholar. On the contrary, he is strong and powerful, and his steps are even more sloppy. It can be seen that this person is also a vigorous and resolute person.

There are countless people in Fu Tianchou's eyes, and he couldn't help admiring at this moment, this person is a dragon and a phoenix among people.

It's just the appearance, so I don't know what the inside is like.

"However, Wansheng contributed to the floods and made people spread the cure for the plague, and this is not due to Wansheng alone. Friends Ning Caichen, Wang Ping, Zhu Yu and others also contributed a lot " Li Xiuyuan said.

"Their names are somewhat familiar." Fu Tianchou suddenly said with some doubts.

A local official cupped his hands and said, "My lord, Ning Caichen is at the top of this imperial examination. Wang Ping and Zhu Yu are also on the list, and they are selected as scholars."

"So that's the case, no wonder it sounds familiar."

Fu Tianchou nodded and said: "You can mention their names here, which shows that you are also a person who values ​​affection. Yes, it is rare and precious. I heard that you spent tens of thousands of taels of silver for this disaster relief. Is this true?"

Li Xiuyuan said: "It's true."

"Where are the flowers?" Fu Tianchou asked.

"Employ young men to calm floods and cure plagues." Li Xiuyuan replied.

"Why hire young and strong? Don't hire women, old and weak?"

Li Xiuyuan said: "When there is a flood, the victims are all over the place. Young and strong people are prone to trouble when they gather together. If the relief is not timely, there may be rebellion. Therefore, young and strong are hired with a lot of money. Firstly, the flood is solved, secondly, the rebellion. Sufficient strength, quick disaster relief, if there is a rebellion, it can also be trained as a soldier, and the worst is that it can defend the city against the enemy."

Fu Tianchou smiled and said: "You can think of this, you already have the ability to be a magistrate, but when there is a disaster, are you really willing to spend tens of thousands of taels of silver to hire young men without reason?"

Li Xiuyuan said seriously: "Wansheng is a son of a merchant family. If you talk about business in terms of business, it is a loss, but if you look at it in the long run, it is a profit. Disasters and chaos will affect the family business. The plague is not fair. It will also implicate relatives, and the ancients have a saying that if you are good, you will benefit the world, if you are poor, you will be good for yourself, and you will naturally practice the principles of sages when you are born late."

His words are not words of the scene, but the truth.

There is his Li family's family property in Guobei City, and the plague and floods have already affected Guobei County. If he doesn't go to the disaster relief, there is a real turmoil, and the loss of his family is more than ten thousand taels.

Only a short-sighted businessman will guard his own one-acre three-thirds of the land to live. When the disaster comes, the great family business will be handed over to others.

Li Xiuyuan's words are flawless, and they fully fit the image in the minds of scholars that everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of a country.

Any scholar who does not have a feud with Li Xiuyuan is very appreciative.

Several officials next to him nodded their heads repeatedly when they heard the words, and Song Yuan was no exception.

But he forgot what happened that day, of course he would not remember, he was tied up by Li Xiuyuan's guards, knelt on the ground and almost beheaded.

Fu Tianchou also laughed and said: "That's well said, eating the king's salary and worrying about the king's worries, you can quell the disasters in a city and a place as a scholar, it really impresses me, I decide After returning to Beijing this time, I will recommend you to the imperial court and let you serve the country."

"My lord, it's against the rules for a scholar to be an official," Li Xiuyuan said.

He was not dazzled by the so-called benefits, because he knew very well that if he became an official in an unruly way, his end would definitely be bad.

There are so many candidates, Jinshi did not become an official, and he rushed ahead of them all at once, wouldn't this be an outrage?
Fu Tianchou said, "Although it's against the rules, if you can pass the examination in the spring of next year, then you will be able to participate in the palace examination in the fall, so it's not a violation of the rules."

Li Xiuyuan was stunned for a moment, how could the scholar examination be so fast, it will take at least next year, and the palace examination will be scheduled four years later.

He must pass every exam, and it will take five years to become a Jinshi.

"Does your lord want to open Enke?" Suddenly, that Song Yuan asked with some surprise.

Song Yuan's words immediately reminded Li Xiuyuan.

Yes, the imperial court and Enke said that the so-called Enke is a temporary additional exam to shorten the time of the imperial examination. Scholars who meet Enke are lucky because they can take the exam again. If the time is right, Exams exist twice a year.

"Hehe, of course." Fu Tianchou said with a smile: "This time the emperor has instructed the old ministers to grant a license to open Enke in Yangzhou to appease public grievances."

Li Xiuyuan also became a little happy.

If it was Kai Enke, as long as he passed the Juren examination, he would be able to catch up with this year's palace examination next year, not to mention being the number one scholar, but being a Jinshi would be enough.

It can also save a lot of time by completing the imperial examination road ahead of time.

"However, I want to recommend you to the emperor, so your talents are passable, otherwise it will be difficult to convince the public. Today, I invite you in, one is to inquire about the management of the disaster, and the other is to test your talent and learning."

After Fu Tianchou finished speaking, he pointed to the other officials in the hall and said: "The adults here are all Jinshi backgrounds, and today they will test you. If you really have real talents and learning, this official will spare no effort to stand up for you. Fan, let you serve the court."

Having said this, it came to an abrupt end.

Obviously, if Li Xiuyuan's level is not high enough, this promotion will not happen again.

If there were other scholars here, they would definitely be envious of Li Xiuyuan. After all, this man in front of him is the Minister of War of the imperial court and a high-ranking official.

If he is tall and straight, the future road can be said to be smooth.

(End of this chapter)