Xiangye

Chapter 164

Yu Xingyan's surname is Zhou, and he lives not far away.

Zhou Juren had long heard of Gao Wen's reputation, read his test papers, and knew that he must have a bright future.Seeing this rising star, he was also very polite, not daring to call himself a senior, and said with a smile, "I've heard of Gao Erzhi's name a long time ago, what a pity, what a pity."

Gao Wen Daqi: "Dare to ask senior what is the pity?"

Zhou Juren was fat and white, wearing a black silk shirt, round and round like a rich man: "It's a pity that you failed the test of your family and failed to get the first place in the test, otherwise you will be the first in the three tests for children. If you get the small three yuan, your reputation will rise immediately. Whether it is going to take the provincial examination or the general examination, it will be of great benefit to you. Even if the examiner finds your essay not pleasing to the eye, he has to think carefully about getting you down."

Gao Wen chuckled and said, "Who can say clearly about the imperial examinations? How can things in the world be as expected? There are always some regrets."

"You are open-minded." Zhou Juren nodded, and said again: "Actually, it doesn't matter, as long as you pass the provincial examination, that's the key to the imperial examination. By the way, how are you preparing? Is it important?"

Gao Wen: "I'm reviewing my homework, and I'm about to ask the old man for advice." His heart moved, this Zhou Juren had passed the provincial examination, and he heard that his ranking was not bad that year, so asking him might gain something.

Seeing Gao Wensheng's handsome appearance, Zhou Juren liked him very much, so he laughed and said, "Actually, no matter how good your writing is, if you don't know how to take the exam, it will be a bad thing if you don't know how to take the exam. How do you write this paper? Be less fussy."

Gao Wen hurriedly lifted his spirits and pricked up his ears to listen.

Zhou Juren: "To put it bluntly, the imperial examination is to see who's stereotyped writing is good. In the three rural examinations, the three "Four Books" essays in the first round are the most important. If these three questions are done well, even if the later "Five Classics" No matter how stinky the essays, policy theory, and test post poems are written, they will pass the test. After all, there are more than 4000 candidates in the examination room, and each of them writes ten articles. Thousands of essays, how can you get it right. Therefore, generally speaking, the same examiner only reads your three "Four Books" essays. , even if you write flowers later, you have no chance."

He has been immersed in shopping malls for many years, but he is still a scholar at heart. When he saw his colleagues, he immediately came to talk, and continued: "As for how to write these three articles, there are also many details."

Gao Wen was startled: "I also ask Mr. Zhou to clear up the confusion for the less advanced."

Zhou Juren laughed and said: "Actually, when the examiners are grading papers, if you meet the one with a strong sense of responsibility, you may be able to finish the three articles seriously. If you meet the kind of casual examiner, you can say no." Well, I only read your first article. Therefore, the first of these three "Four Books" articles is really the key, and it is true that one article is destined for life. Therefore, this first question must be done well."

Gao Wen was dumbfounded: "Just one article can determine a person's fame, that's too..."

Zhou Juren: "Of course, just to be on the safe side, sometimes the examiner will take out the third question. If it is still at the level of the first question, then there is no problem. So..."

Gao Wen: "So?"

Zhou Juren: "Erzhi, have you noticed that when I write an article, if I get emotional, my thoughts will flow like a spring, how to write and how to write. On the contrary, it is difficult to write. Therefore, after entering the examination room, take advantage of the Spirit, we have to finish the first question quickly, and then do the third question. By the third day, most of them are exhausted and have a headache from writing, so we will go to the second question. This question is not good anyway. The few examiners don't read it, even if the writing is poor, it doesn't matter."

Gao Wen was suddenly enlightened, he really didn't expect that there are so many specialties in the imperial examination room.He stood up and gave a long bow: "Thank you Mr. Zhou for your pointers, it made Wan Sheng Mao Sai suddenly enlightened. If there is a future, I will never forget the old Mr.'s advice."

Zhou Juren hurriedly helped him up: "Don't dare, dare not."

The two talked for a while, and Gao Wen talked about the fact that the price of horses in Xi'an had doubled.Careful to say that I also have some savings, if this business is really done, I might as well throw a few thousand taels of silver into my little skill, and ask the old man for some advice.

Zhou Juren shook his head with a smile, and said: "It's just that someone bought a large number of horses and then drove up the price. After a few days for those people to buy a sufficient number of horses, the price will naturally drop when the horses from other places come. If you enter the market at this time, you are afraid that you will lose money. Those of us who are in the mule business don’t want to see the price skyrocket. After all, the business is about long-term, and only small water can flow for a long time. Of course, a price change of one or two transactions can be done. It doesn’t really mean much to make a fortune but not for a long time.”

Gao Wen asked cautiously: "May I ask Mr. Zhou, who is buying a large number of horses?"

Zhou Juren: "Who else can it be? Naturally, it's the racecourses in various places. I heard that the imperial envoy Mr. Xu Xuan is investigating the Shaanxi horse administration. The racecourses are running out of money. Even a person named Yuan from the Criminal Division was arrested and imprisoned." I don't know how many big people are involved in this. These people, in the past, used to work hard, and they were full of food when they were greedy for subsidies from the Mexican horse government. Now they deserve the high price to pay for the farm. I have to ask them to spit it out. To be honest, I I also made a small fortune in the past few days." Speaking of this matter, Zhou Juren looked contemptuous and proud at the same time.

Gao Wen was shocked: It really is them!

Zhou Juren: "It's a pity that after making up the number of army horses, Xu Qin has nothing to do with them."

Gao Wen was also a little frustrated: "That's right, the imperial court has implemented subsidies for the horse administration for more than ten years, and I don't know how many private pockets have been filled by those corrupt officials. Now they are asked to retreat from their entire body. It is always reconciled... Heart... Eh !” Suddenly, another thought arose in his mind.

Zhou Juren was still sighing; "You're right!"

Gao Wen suddenly asked: "Mr. Zhou, is there a shortage of silver in the world recently, and are the major businesses unable to turn around because of the lack of silver?"

Zhou Juren was stunned: "Er Zhi, how do you know?"

Gao Wen laughed softly: "Recently all the silver in the city has been used to buy horses, so is there no shortage of silver?"

Zhou Juren: "Yes, yes, yes, there is such a thing. Recently, people everywhere in my office exchanged copper coins for silver. It turned out to be used to buy horses. A horse costs dozens of taels of silver. It is impossible to use copper coins. Pay, wouldn't it be a hassle if that's the case. What's wrong?"

Gao Wen: "It's nothing, just a random question."

After taking his leave from Zhou Juren, Gao Wen murmured, "It's really rewarding to come to Mr. Zhou this time. Not only did he know the answering skills in the imperial examination room, but he also caught the fox tail of Huang Wei and his behind-the-scenes boss." .

Yes, if they want to make up for the gap in the number of war horses in various places, the only way for them is to buy horses with real money, so that they can pass this pass and make Xu Youzhen leave Xi'an empty-handed.

However, now that war horses are already so expensive, and the number of shortages is so large, and they use so much money from there, the only way is to borrow money from the people.

Xu Youzhen was able to hide this trick, but it couldn't hide it from me.

In order to prove this point, Gao Wen simply went to a pawn shop, found the shopkeeper, and said that something happened to his family, and he wanted to pawn [-] mu of land in exchange for some cash.

If this is normal, it is naturally a big deal.But when the shopkeeper heard that it was two hundred acres of land, he shook his head and said sorry, my shop is short of money, but I can't make up so much cash.Otherwise, if you are really in a hurry to use the money, sir, you can put Tian Qiyue here first, and my account will pay a few hundred taels for you in case of urgency.The rest will be paid half a month later.Don't worry, we can get some paperwork and find someone to guarantee it.In addition, the interest that should be paid to you at that time will be indispensable.

Gao Wen asked again, is it possible that you have such a large company that you don't even have a few thousand taels of silver, so what kind of business is this doing?Forget it, I'll find someone else!
Seeing that the business was about to run away, the shopkeeper was in a hurry and said, "Sir, it's useless for you to go to other shops, they have no money either."

Gao Wen sneered: "That's weird, I don't believe what you say. You can't even give out a few thousand taels. It seems that you are going to close down and close the business. You will treat the fields as yours, which makes people worry."

The shopkeeper had no choice but to whisper: "Sir, let me tell you the truth, our boss has lent all the money to the chief envoy, Si Yamen. We are not alone, all the money houses, pawnshops, and salt shops of any size in Xi'an City All the money I got went to the yamen for interest. If you have such a big business, if you go to any one, you will never see cash."

Gao Wen's heart was shocked: Sure enough, I guessed correctly, it turned out that Gao Linghan was the political envoy Gao Linghan who bought a large number of horses.That's right, the Shaanxi racecourse subsidizes a large amount of money every year. As a feudal official, the first to deal with it will naturally swallow most of it.Now that there is a leak, the person who takes the lead will naturally take the responsibility.Gao Linghan probably couldn't afford that much cash for a while, so he could only borrow from various merchants at high interest rates.

With the sign of the chief envoy's yamen, merchants naturally don't have to worry about losing their principal.

Hey, it can be regarded as a handle.

He smiled coldly, and said to the shopkeeper: "No business is not evil, but I don't believe what you say." He walked away.

Next, he went to two more big firms, and it was still the same situation: no cash.

At this moment, Gao Wen felt relieved: If he guessed correctly, the whole of Shaanxi is short of at least tens of thousands of military horses, and the price of horses is extremely high now. Calculated, if Gao Linghan wants to supplement his stock, he will need to spend at least one million taels of silver.With so much money, you must find a place to store it.Hehe, if you find the place where Gao Linghan deposits the silver and then seize it with an excuse, it will not be easy to get solid evidence.At that time, the excitement will be more beautiful.

Thinking of this, Gao Wen rushed to find Diao Hualong.

(End of this chapter)