Chapter 1: God’s will and public opinion (this chapter is free)

After late autumn, although it did not snow, the cold became heavier day by day.

The long, thick, crystal clear and sharp ice edges under the eaves of every household in Yujing City can feel the harshness of winter.

Yujing is the capital of the Dagan Dynasty.

The Dagan Dynasty was prosperous and prosperous, with a vast land and vast territory, vast and vast population, and tens of millions of people. It is the country of the Celestial Empire.

And this year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the country. The world is a grand finale!

In the past sixty years, four emperors of the Dagan Dynasty worked hard to govern the country, and they had reached a prosperous era of flowers and brocade and cooking oil with fire.

The "Wu Wenhou" mansion is located in the southeast of Yujing City, covering an area of ​​100 acres and the terrain is open. At the gate, a pair of red-lacquered stone-carved unicorns, vermilion red gates, shiny copper nails, copper rings, bright clothes at the door, full of energy and sharp eyes, etc. can all show the status of Wu Wenhou.

"Wu Wenhou" was a prominent figure in the Dagan Dynasty, with his surname Hong and his name was Xuanji.

This person not only has a grand title, but also has a great position as a minister, a senior official in the cabinet, and a prince Taibao. He is both civil and military. He can shoot with nine stones in a row when he was young, and rides a big horse to kill hundreds of enemies as if he is strolling in the garden. {One stone of Dagan Dynasty is 100 kilograms, and nine stones are equivalent to nine hundred kilograms}.

After making great achievements at the age of 22, he abandoned martial arts and practiced literature, and was named a senior high school student. He was awarded an official position and participated in the government affairs. He once received the highest evaluation of four emperors of the Dagan Dynasty: "Can you manage the army when you get on a horse, and can calm the people when you get off a horse."

"Heaven sees oneself and the people see, and the heaven hears oneself and the people hear..."

Early in the morning, the sound of reading came from the remote courtyard in the northwest corner of the Marquis of Wuwen.

Hong Yi opened half of the window, ignited a pot of charcoal fire in the room, and was studying by the table, looking like he was preparing to deal with the scientific examination and understand the meaning of the scriptures.

He was wearing a blue shirt, with beautiful eyebrows and eyes, and was between fifteen or sixteen years old, and had a slightly thin body.

The room was very simple. The fire-burning brazier was an iron basin, and the charcoal was also an ordinary charcoal. It was not an exquisite copper basin for the large households in Houmen to make fires. It carved out various "beast charcoal" in the shape of wild beasts.

When he was studying, there was no book boy around him, and the maid grinds ink and spreads paper. All of this shows that Hong Yi is not at a high position in the Marquis' Mansion, but he still has time to study, not the kind of slave.

"Whether you can correct your mother's status depends on the Encade in the spring and the autumn exam. You will first pass the imperial examination, then pass the imperial examination, then pass the imperial examination, get the title of Jinshi, add three generations... The court will issue an order to enthrone my mother as a wife. My mother's tomb can be brought into the Hong family's ancestral tomb, and the spiritual position can also be worshipped in the ancestral hall."

Hong Yi opened a book and read a few sentences, but he remembered his mother who died when he was seven years old.

Before Hong Yi's mother married "Wu Wenhou", she was a famous talented woman in Yujing City. She was proficient in both piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and was very literary. She was very talented in poetry and songs. She was not a person. She met Wu Wenhou at a church meeting and sang poetry and essays. Later, she married into the Marquis's family.

He is said to be a talented woman, but in fact he is a "low-minded" brothel. After joining a wealthy family, his status is very low.

What's more, when Hong Yi's mother married into the Marquis's family, Marquis Wu Wen had already had a wife and a wife, and she was a concubine.

The law of the Dagan Dynasty was that one wife, two fair wives, and four concubines. The status of concubines was very low. Some wealthy nobles and scholars even gave each other concubines to have fun.

When I was having a meal, I couldn't sit down and stood like a maid.

As the son of a concubine, Hong Yi had no right to inherit titles or family property. The only way out was to pass the imperial examination.

Hong Yi also knew very well that if he could pass the Jinshi exam, he would not only be able to leave the marquis's mansion and become an official, but most importantly, he could add his mother a title of "madam".

The Dagan Dynasty emphasized the imperial examinations, and once it was awarded the title of the Golden List, it might be awarded three generations.

The title of "Madam" is not simple. There are now three ladies in the marquis' mansion. This is a special gift from the court of Wenwu Hou Hong Xuanji who has made great contributions for many times and has been a special gift from the court.

Among the ordinary nobles, only the first wife is the "maid".

Among the high-ranking officials and nobles, the court rewarded his wife as his wife, but it was a great honor and more kind than being promoted.

"If I pass the Jinshi, if I pass the Jinshi, the court will give my mother the title of wife. At that time, I don't know what kind of expression Mrs. Zhao will look like?"

Hong Yi murmured two words, "Madam Zhao, Madam Zhao..." Hate flashed in his eyes.

Hong Yi will never forget that when he was seven years old, he was just sensible. When the banquet held in the Mid-Autumn Festival Moon viewing in the Marquis' Mansion was filled with, his father and his guests were listening to poems. Because his mother said something to each other, he was immediately scolded by Mrs. Zheng in public, "He behaves frivolously, does not obey his wife's manners, and his habits in brothels will not change."

After returning that night, my mother was so angry that her blood was damaging, vomiting blood hurt her body, and she died of illness two months later. When she was angrily killed, her mother was only twenty-five years old.

"I have prepared almost all the exams after the spring, but I still have to think about them."

Hong Yi thought in his mind, and closed the classics and principles, and opened a book called "Caotang Notes".

The cover of this book is very new, but the paper is very old, and it is obviously an old book that no one reads. Because "Caotang Notes" is not the classics, etiquette, law, and policy for scholars to examine scientific research, but is absurd and unruly note of gods and monsters.

Scholars do not say that they are strange, powerful, disordered, and gods. People who are preparing for the scientific examination will not read such books.

However, Hong Yi looked at it in order to prepare for the scientific examination.

Because this book is a note by Li Yan, the prime minister of the previous dynasty, which describes demons, ghosts, Taoists, gods, talented men and beautiful women, and female fairies and fox fairies.

"Although this Caotang note is full of stories about gods, monsters, foxes, talented men and beautiful women, female fairies, and female foxes, each article is actually a fable. He is worthy of being the prime minister of the previous dynasty and the founder of the Li School."

"Although Li Yan has been in ancient times, most of the officials born in the imperial examination in the court were his disciples. The examiner who presided over the examination this time must be from his Li School. If you carefully study the allegorical ideas expressed by Li Yan with the help of the fox and ghosts, and cater to the tastes of his disciples, you will definitely be able to have high school."

"Those scholars of the sect, even if they are excellent, only know that studying hard, but not that being well-informed is an article. Even if your paper is a brilliant pen and is not in line with the examiner's school, they will definitely beat you down."

Before the exam, it is extremely important to figure out the examiner's school, thoughts, and preferences and do things. Although Hong Yi is young, he is very bright in his heart.

"What a god's will, that is, public opinion, there is such an explanation."

Hong Yi suddenly saw a story, read it carefully, and became surprised.

The story goes like this:

When a daughter-in-law and mother-in-law were sleeping at night, the wall suddenly collapsed. The daughter-in-law slept inside, supporting the collapsed wall tightly, allowing the mother-in-law to escape, and was crushed to death. After the daughter-in-law died, the mother-in-law was very sad. So the people in the village comforted her, saying that she had a dream, dreaming that her daughter-in-law was named the city god by heaven.

At that time, Li Yan and a group of literati were talking about this matter. A group of literati thought that his wife's filial piety was good, but the languages ​​of the gods were all wild words of the village man.

However, Li Yan disagreed with the public and said that the wife was named God because the book of sages contains "Heaven sees himself, the people see him, and the people listen to him." The people think that the wife becomes a god, that is, God will, then she becomes a god.

All the scholars and officials laughed at Li Yan for being too trampled on his study, but Li Yan said a great truth: "In fact, God is just a result of human thoughts. The reason why the gods and Buddhas in the temples can appear repeatedly is because they have endured people's incense and beliefs. Originally, there was no god in this world. When there were more people who believed in people, the gods and Buddhas would be born. It is very simple to destroy the gods and Buddhas. As long as they demolish their temples, people no longer believe in it, and worship it with incense, it will naturally disappear over time."

Some of the scholars nodded and asked again: "Dropping down the temples of gods and Buddhas so that people no longer believe in it. What if the gods and Buddhas revenge?"

Li Yan also said: "The book of a sage says that integrity and intelligence are God. As long as a scholar is upright and strict in his heart, his thoughts will naturally be as powerful as God. How can God and Buddha repay you?"

"Scholars are upright and strict, with strong and pure thoughts, and are almost like the yang gods and celestial beings in Taoism. Compared with those Yin gods who cannot show their appearance and can only rely on dreams, they are much stronger."

When all the scholars and officials heard Li Yan talking, they all admired him, so they asked him the Taoist principles of practicing the celestial immortals and Yangshen.

Li Yan said: "The Yin God can escape from the shell and travel, but the human eyes cannot see it, it is invisible and intangible, and the soul is a ball, and it can only rely on external objects to show its supernatural powers. The Yang God is no different from the living person, manifesting various Dharma appearances, flying in the sky and hiding the earth, and immortality."

When the scholars and officials were about to ask further questions, Li Yan said seriously: "Scholars only talk about people's livelihood, courtesy, etiquette and law, and completely abandon the affairs of gods and ghosts. Today is too much."

"Gods and Buddhas originally did not have one, but were born from human thoughts and beliefs? What the book says in "Heaven sees oneself and the people see, the heaven listens oneself and the people listen, and the heaven will and the people listen," and there is also such an explanation? Are you upright and smart? Are you a god? Are you yin gods and yang gods?"

Hong Yi felt refreshed. This story seemed to open a mysterious door for him.

Bang bang bang bang!

Just as Hong Yi was thinking, a knock sound suddenly came from outside the door.

Someone knocked on the door, but the noise was loud and he was kicking with his feet.

Hong Yi frowned and stood up to open the door.
Chapter completed!