The best way to go north from Tingzhou Prefecture is actually to take a sea route. It is convenient to take a boat north along the way and the speed is not too slow. However, the ban on seas that began in the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty has not been lifted until now. In addition, the coastal areas are not peaceful and Japanese pirates are rampant. Unless there are naval warships escorted, the sea route will be blocked.

In addition, you are taking a boat trip across the Ting River, then taking a boat halfway, and then getting off the boat halfway, then taking the boat again, taking Mianshui, Gongshui enters Ganjiang, driving directly to Nanchang and Jiujiang, entering the Yangtze River channel, then heading north from Nanjing, and then heading north from the Grand Canal. This road is relatively labor-saving, but it is very troublesome to transfer boats and cars. The second is that you have to follow the river and take a lot of roads. The third is that you are on the big rivers and the waves are surging, and the boat will capsize if you accidentally fall into the river. The chances of people who are free from being safe and sound, are far less than going down-to-earth on land.

But even if you take a carriage by land, it is not that simple. Not only is it difficult to walk along the official road, but you will encounter streams and rivers from time to time. Small rivers or stone bridges pass through. However, for those wide rivers, you can only find ferries to carry carriages across the river. However, most of the rivers are small boats that support ferries. How easy is it to find large boats that can cross the river?

Fortunately, at this time, the Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce had extended its tentacles to all parts of Fujian. In order to clear up transportation infarctions and facilitate logistics, these ferries have exclusive ferries from the Chamber of Commerce, so Shenxi's journey north is quite smooth.

The tour of Nanping, Jianning, Pucheng, and then crossed Fengling and passed Xianxia Pass. In late October, the convoy entered Zhejiang.

Logically, when you arrive in Quzhou, you should take a boat from Qujiang and Qianjiang to Hangzhou, and then go north from the Grand Canal to the capital. But Su Tong means that it is best to continue on land and enjoy different cultural scenery along the way. It is best to visit the bustling places like Jinhua, Hangzhou and Nanjing. Try to visit the famous rivers, lakes, scenic spots and historical sites.

The purpose of taking the exam is different, and the mentality along the way will naturally be different. Shen Xi is not very good at himself. As long as he does not delay the journey, Su Tong can do whatever he wants.

On the ninth day of the winter moon, the group finally arrived at Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties.

As the capital of the Ming Dynasty and the largest city in the south, the prosperity of Nanjing opened Su Tong's eyes and said that this trip was worthy.

Since the ninth year of Hongzhi, the Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce has set up a branch in Nanjing and has also opened a small-scale bank account, but its business has been lukewarm. The main reason is that various forces in Nanjing are complicated and it is too difficult for foreign merchants to gain a foothold here.

As the head of the Chamber of Commerce in Nanjing, Han Wuye went out of the city to greet him. After entering the city, he arranged for Shen Xi and his party to move into the Chamber of Commerce branch, while Su Tong needed to find a place in the inn.

Although Su Tong said it fiercely, the cities along the way did not stop much. Even Hangzhou, a famous city for a thousand-year-old city, only stayed in the city for one night. When he set off the next day, he took a detour to West Lake and took a look. Then he continued north.

But Nanjing is different. After Chengzu moved the capital, he still retained the capital status of Nanjing and retained a set of central institutions. Like the capital of the capital, Nanjing has six ministries, the Censorate, the Tongzheng Department, the Governor's Office of the Five Army, the Hanlin Academy, the Imperial College, and other institutions, and the officials' ranks are also the same as those of the capital.

The prefecture where the capital is located is Shuntian Prefecture, and the prefecture where the Nanjing Prefecture is located is Yingtian Prefecture, collectively known as the Second Prefecture.

In addition, there are many famous scholars and great scholars in Nanjing.

But most famous scholars and great scholars claim to be noble and have their own social circles. Even if Chen Xi is the Jie Yuan of Fujian Provincial Examination, he may not necessarily receive him by submitting famous posts.

Chen Xi didn't want to cause trouble, and he didn't want to use a hot face to stick someone else's cold butt. But there was someone he had to see. This was the former Nanjing Imperial College Priest who had been on a mission to Ninghua County as an imperial envoy in Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong and Guangxi, and was personally fed by Xie Duo, the former Imperial College Priest of Nanjing, who had a meeting with him.

Xie Duo was in Nanjing City and could be said to be a famous figure in the Shilin City. He went through the three dynasties of Tianshun, Chenghua and Hongzhi. He was well-versed in classics and history and had profound literary attainments. He was not only one of the "Seven Sages" in Yanshan, but also an important founder of the "Chaling Poetry School". He was also a master of the genocide. There were many people who wanted to get in touch with him.

During the years when Xie Duo was unemployed, every year, ministers recommended Xie Duo to Emperor Hongzhi and asked him to come out again to serve the country.

Chen Xi asked in as soon as he arrived in Nanjing. Although Xie Duo retired and returned home, he should have been in his hometown of Taoxi, in order to collect various books, he often stayed in Nanjing, and sometimes lived there for several months.

Xie Duo met Chen Xi as an imperial envoy in the fifth year of Hongzhi. Now six years have passed.

Today, Xie Duo is still unemployed. He sorts out his hometown documents when he has nothing to do, or collects and organizes books and classics everywhere, and enjoys it.

Few people visit Xie Duo’s residence in Nanjing City on weekdays, because everyone knows that Xie Duo refuses to see guests on weekdays.

Xie Duo mainly did not want to have contact with people in the officialdom, nor did he want to become an official again. After all, he is now 63 years old.

If history had not changed, Xie Duo would come out again in the 12th year of Hongzhi and was appointed by Emperor Hongzhi as the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, in charge of the Imperial College, and ranked first among the twenty-four wine sacrificial officials, which was about the same as the Imperial College and the Tai principal.

But Xie Duo was not grateful and refused many times. It was not until April of the following year that Emperor Hongzhi sent someone to urge him that Xie Duo had to set off for Beijing. In mid-May, Xie Duo was sick and lying in Shaoxing's official house. On the grounds of illness, he entrusted the prefect of Shaoxing to submit his resignation to the court. He left Shaoxing on July 18, detoured from Jinhua, Lishui and Wenzhou to return home. He arrived at home on August 17. Emperor Hongzhi refused to resign and issued another imperial edict in July. So Xie Duo went home a few days later, and set off again in September, and arrived in Beijing in November. It was not until the early years of Zhengde that he retired and returned home.

As a student of the Imperial Academy, Chen Xi felt it was necessary to meet the future principal.

The two of them have a connection, but it is a bit unreasonable to pass through Nanjing but not visit him. However, Chen Xi was afraid that he would be rejected when he went to Xie Duo's mansion, so he was a little hesitant for a moment.

When he went to the inn to see Su Tong, Chen Xi said that he was going to visit Xie Duo. Su Tong quickly waved his hand: "Brother Shen, it's not that you poured cold water on your brother. If you go to see him, you may see him. This old Xie priest has no chance at all. You may not know that in Nanjing, no one is better than anyone else in terms of talent and fame. I heard that Jie Yuan, the Yingtianfu Township Examination, also visited him in the first few days, and was turned away."

Chen Xi thought about it for a while and asked the Yingtianfu Township Examination to Jie Yuan? Isn’t that Tang Yin?

How could Tang Yin say that it was the Jieyuan Society of Yingtianfu Township Examination? Nanzhili was the region with the highest teaching quality in the Ming Dynasty. Even Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other places were beyond the reach. After all, talented men appeared in Jiangnan. This is why Tang Yin was famous for the Jieyuan Society of Yingtianfu Township Examination. It is because the value of Jieyuan Society of the Jieyuan Society of the Provincial Examination in the Provincial Examination was too high.

Even Tang Yin went to invite Xie Duo to meet, but was turned away, which showed Xie Duo's determination to stay away from the officialdom. Otherwise, Emperor Hongzhi would have appointed Xie Duo as the principal of the highest institution of the Ming Dynasty next year. Why did he refuse and cause a lot of trouble before he finally took office?

However, Chen Xi still felt that there was no reason to visit the mansion and did not visit him, so he gritted the bullet and wrote a reply. Although Su Tong didn't think Xie Duo would give him a greeting at all, he also wrote a reply and advanced and retreated with Chen Xi.

In Su Tong's plan, there were many famous scholars and great scholars who needed to meet in Nanjing this time. He prepared a lot of greetings, and each of them tried to vote, but Chen Xi was only preparing to see Xie Duo.

Su Tong Inn is a famous "top scholar" in Nanjing. It is said that this inn has produced four top scholars in the past century, and all candidates who come from north to south like to stay here.

The two of them wrote the prayer letter downstairs. A scholar who was having a meal next to him smiled and came over to persuade him: "You two are from other places at first sight. Everyone can visit this Nanjing city, but Mr. Xie, you should not try to hit the nail."

Su Tong felt that he couldn't hold back his face. Although he advised Chen Xi not to be foolish, Chen Xi insisted on doing this and he could only accompany him. As a result, before Su Tong could explain to those people, a servant came to the door of the lobby, holding a big red invitation in his hand. After the person came in, he asked directly: "Do you dare to ask Mr. Chen from Ninghua, Fujian, who can stay here?"

Su Tong sighed: "Brother Shen is really different from Jie Yuan. His fame has spread so far. Even someone in Nanjing came to send invitations."

“That’s it.”

Chen Xi waved to ask the servant who sent the invitation to come over.

The servant walked forward, not surprisingly, "Young Master Chen" was actually a young man who respectfully presented the invitation and said, "My Mr. Xie heard that Young Master Chen went north to Beijing and went to the Imperial Academy to study, passed Yingtian Mansion, and asked the young man to inquire in the surrounding inns and send the invitation... Finally, I found it."

Su Tong asked in surprise: "I wonder which Mr. Xie is it?"

"What is the name of Mr. Xie, who is a slave? He is Mr. Xie, whose ancestral home is Taiping, and his address is listed in the invitation." After the servant finished speaking, he saluted respectfully again, "I will send the invitation card. If Mr. Chen has any explanation, I will report it to the gentleman when I go back."

When Su Tong and a group of scholars present heard that they were Mr. Xie, whose ancestral home was Taiping, they immediately thought of Xie Duo, because Xie Duo’s ancestral home was Taoxi, Taiping, Zhejiang. When looking at the address, not only others, but even Su Tong was shocked. Who was not Xie Duo?

With Xie Duo's reputation in Jiangnan Shilin, and with his current Grand Secretary Li Dongyang, he was selected into the Hanlin Academy and became a Shujishi, the two had a close relationship, and many people wanted to go through his way to curry favor with Li Ge Lao. Su Tong thought that Chen Xi would visit him was just a boring thing, but he didn't expect that before Chen Xi even delivered the visit, Xie Duo actually sent an invitation first and took the initiative to invite Chen Xi to visit the mansion for a lecture.

Chen Xi looked at Su Tong and said to the servant awkwardly: "This brother, I have an adventurous request. This time I went to the capital, and I came with my fellow villagers and friends. I don't know..."

The servant smiled and said, "Young Master Chen, don't say anything. The old man said, if you have any relatives and friends around you, just visit them together. The old man will set up fragrant tea in the mansion and will play two games with Mr. Chen at that time."

Chen Xi stood up and saluted: "Please report back to Mr. Xie, I will arrive on time tomorrow."

"Here!"

The servant bowed and said goodbye, turned around and left.

When Chen Xi saw the servant leave and returned to the inn, there was already a lot of noise inside.

"Brother, what is your identity? Why did Mr. Xie take the initiative to invite him?" These people were young and had a little mockery and disdain, and couldn't help but come to chat and get close to him.

Su Tong smiled and said, "You may not know that this is Duke Jie Yuan from the Fujian Provincial Examination this year. Now he is only thirteen years old."

"No wonder, Tang Yin went to visit the day before yesterday, but he didn't get it. It turned out that he was not qualified yet... Haha, everyone praised him as a talented man, but compared with Mr. Chen, he was still slightly inferior."

Chen Xi was a little ashamed. If Tang Bohu knew that these people were squeezing him, he would not know what he would think. He smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, I just have some connection with Mr. Xie."

Chen Xi is telling the truth, but how could these people believe it? You are a twelve-year-old baby, how can you talk about the origin of a man in your sixties? If you say you are relatives, it might be better to have an excuse!

For a moment, compliments were everywhere.

Su Tong was so excited that he quickly asked his entourage to call back the person who had gone out to deliver the letter to him.

Now that you can see Xie Duo, it is more useful than meeting a hundred famous scholars and great scholars.

You are not even seeing the Jie Yuan in the provincial examination in Yingtian Prefecture, so I will see you first. Am I more famous than you?

************

ps: The fourth update!

In the card text, this chapter was written for four or five hours after deleting and revising. All the things that happened on the way to the exam in the original outline were deleted. The emperor thought it would be better not to have any trouble!

I have adjusted the plot a little in the past two days, please be patient! Long live understanding!
Chapter completed!