Soon, Ningbo dispatched a sentry ship to the sea. As Ruan Yuan and others expected, the sentry ship went out to sea for two days and immediately encountered Cai Qian's leading fleet. After more than ten large ships, it seemed that ten consecutive ships

The rest of the sea is covered with dense shadows of sails, just like a city wall stretching across the coast of the East China Sea. The officers and soldiers on the two sentry ships looked at Cai Qian's momentum, and many people were worried. Fortunately, the orders from above were met.

When Cai Qian's fleet arrived, they turned back to report the news. Several sentry ships immediately turned around and retreated towards Dinghai.

Cai Qian's leading fleet also discovered these sentinel ships. Zhang Azhi quickly sent out a liaison ship among the pirates to report the news to Cai Qian, and asked Cai Qian if he needed to pursue them so that the army could not attack Ningbo and Dinghai.

Signaling.

"No need, if they can't go back, the government will still be prepared when the time comes." Cai Qian thought for a long time, but did not take action against the patrol boats. He just asked Cai Lin on the side: "From here to Ningbo on the sea.

How much more water is there?”

"Big boss, we have just passed Niutoushan. If we walk for two more days, we should be able to reach Zhenhai City by the evening of the day after tomorrow." Cai Lin reported.

"Then...is there any movement over there in Huangyan Town?" Cai Qian asked again.

"Wang Wu's ship came back just now and said it didn't exist." Cai Lin said.

"Okay, this time we go to sea, Zhapu and Songjiang, I have decided!" Cai Qian was overjoyed after hearing Cai Min's report. He stood up and said with a smile: "It's not difficult to see what the government is doing. They must be thinking

We are facing us at Huo Shanyang, north of Zhenhai. Well, I will go from the front. As long as we annihilate the Dinghai Town Navy before the Huangyan Town reinforcements arrive, then there will be nothing that can stop us on the sea route in northern Zhejiang!"

"Cai Qian, you... are you taking a risk?" Listening to Cai Qian's confident words, Grandma Lu was also a little puzzled and asked: "Don't forget, Li Changgeng was here back then.

This sea has surrounded us once, can't we fall into the same trap twice?"

"Mom, without Li Changgeng, their trick of being surrounded on all sides is no longer possible!" Cai Qian had no worries and said to Grandma Lu: "The reason why Li Changgeng used troops faster than Fujian was because

Because of his rich family fortune, he would prepare enough fast horses to deliver the message at starry night every time he conveyed military orders. Therefore, the naval forces in the three towns of the government were concentrated a day or two faster than those in Fujian. But now that Li Changgeng is gone, how can Wang Delu be the same?

Are we going to deliver military orders? Let’s put it this way, if we arrive at Huoshanyang the night after tomorrow and exchange fire with the government that night, even if Huangyan Town gets the order to send troops, it will almost be the next day before we can attack. By then, they will have to wait until they arrive at Huoshanyang

In these two days and one night, we had twice as many ships as Dinghai Town. How could we not completely defeat them? Among the three towns in Zhejiang, Dinghai Town has always had the strongest soldiers. Once Dinghai was broken, the morale of the Huangyan Town Navy would be greatly reduced.

How can we fight against us? At that time, we were free to do business in Zhapu and Songjiang. If we didn’t make a lot of money, how could we deserve the good weather like today? Haha!”

"Cai Qian, we are fighting alone against Dinghai Town now, so I can rest assured about our strength. However, Huangyan Town is always a troublesome thing behind our backs?" Grandma Lu was more cautious than Cai Qian at this time, and she still made a safe move.

He said: "Otherwise, let's let Zhu Xun's twelve ships take the rear, and our main force go to fight with Dinghai Town. I am also familiar with this sea road. Daxie Mountain in the north is an important sea road. When the time comes, we will

Let Zhu Xin watch Daxie Mountain. If the government dares to mobilize troops from Huangyan Town, let him stop it for a while. If the situation goes bad, we have some leeway, right?"

"Haha, it is indeed a good idea." Cai Qian is naturally not a reckless person. Hearing what Lu Lao said was reasonable, he did not refute it and said with a smile: "This Zhu Xi, I have been on and off with me for several years.

Now I see that I am so powerful that I have come to beg for food again. Humph, how can I allow him to be a freeloader when it comes to begging for food? You have to work hard for me so that you can have more food, haha!" Relying on his own understanding of Zhejiang Haidao

I understand that as long as Huangyan Town does not move troops at this time, Dinghai Town's only way to fight against him is death. Since it is a must-win situation, Cai Qian's words are a bit more rude.

On August 15, the 13th year of Jiaqing, the main force of Cai Qian's fleet began to turn past Daxie Mountain and gradually headed east. It was only one day's sea journey from Zhenhai County.

At the same time in Hangzhou, the triennial provincial examination also kicked off again. Liu Fenggao replaced Ruan Yuan as the supervisor. Naturally, he arrived at Hangzhou Gongyuan early on this day. He looked around, but there were no other official sedans. Liu Fenggao had no choice but to

I went to Mingyuan Building by myself and waited alone for other examiners to arrive, but no one else came until after noon.

Around the end of the day, I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps downstairs, and a second-grade official walked up. When he saw Liu Fenggao, he was slightly surprised and asked: "Liu Shilang, no, Liu Gongbao, I really didn't expect that, how come?"

A few months ago, you and I were officials in the same court in Beijing. These days, you let Zhejiang study politics. I thought I wouldn't see you for some time. But as soon as I arrived in Hangzhou, I heard that Ruan Zhongcheng was not here, so I decided to invigilate the exam here.

The matter was left to Liu Gongbao. Haha, it is fate to reunite with Gongbao here. Liu Gongbao, have you ever seen any students with outstanding literary talents in Hangzhou these days? If you have any, please recommend them to me.

, I'd better show mercy when I'm reviewing the test papers." When Liu Fenggao met this man, he turned out to be Zhou Zhaoji, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry in the imperial court. Seeing that he appeared in Hangzhou, he naturally came to Zhejiang to be the chief examiner of the provincial examination.

Seeing that Zhou Zhaoji was very polite, Liu Fenggao returned the courtesy and said: "Shilang Zhou, what you said is very polite. I have only been in Hangzhou for a few months, and I don't know much about the students here. How can I introduce it to the Shilang?"

Who are the talents among them? Since the Emperor trusts the Minister, it is only fair that the Minister personally decides who to admit. I am not very talented and have little knowledge, but I am not qualified for such a big job."

"Why did Liu Gongbao say this? When it comes to knowledge, I have never known him to be very different from Gongbao." Zhou Zhaoji also laughed and said: "But since we are here, let's prepare some tea and wine and have a good taste.

, that’s the business. Now that I have finished answering the questions and marking them for them, what else is going on later? This provincial examination will take nine days from beginning to end. We all have to spend time here, and we must have some entertainment.

What’s more, I still have the job of judging and reviewing papers, and the palace guards are here to supervise me. Isn’t this just a formality? "

Not wanting to hear this, Liu Fenggao's heart moved again, as if something was stuck on his neck, making him unable to breathe.

"Secretary Zhou... Since the minister has said so, I will instruct the servants from home to get some tea and wine." After saying that, Liu Fenggao did not want to talk to him anymore, so he went down from Mingyuan Tower.

Walk to the nearby side room.

Just walking and looking at the people upstairs, Liu Fenggao vaguely felt that the person above was not Zhou Zhaoji, but Ruan Yuan. At this moment, all the injustices he had felt in his heart for several months came one after another.

A wave gradually came to my heart...

"Why... why, I... I am obviously the crown prince's younger brother, but why... Ruan Yuan, why is your life so smooth, and my whole life, I have been so inferior to others...

"

Perhaps, the entanglement between him and Ruan Yuan had already begun to take shape since the imperial examination of the Jiyou Branch when the two entered the officialdom twenty years ago...

Liu Fenggao was born into a poor family, and his family's financial resources were only enough for him to pass the academic examination. When he was a child, he set off firecrackers with his relatives and friends on New Year's Eve one year, and accidentally let the firecrackers blow up one of his eyes. Although he was not blind on the spot, it left him with lifelong scars.

Since then, Liu Fenggao has been often ridiculed among his classmates. But he has always been a self-improvement person. When he was ridiculed, he would work harder. Fortunately, his reading talent was not bad, and he soon passed the scientific examination.

After a series of battles and victories on the road, he entered the capital all the way, passed the general examination, and waited for the Baohe Palace to see the emperor in person.

Liu Fenggao still clearly remembers that during the palace examination in the fifty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign, he recalled all the sadness of the scientific examination. The past was so haunting in his mind that he was unable to write. The policy paper was written much slower than other candidates.

Until the end of the day, there were still three lines that could not be written down. According to the old practice of scientific examination, Wang Jie, He Shen and others were ready to close the papers. But at this moment, Qianlong actually sent an edict from the Old Summer Palace, saying

It is not easy for Gong students to rush for the exam, so they allow candidates who are about to finish the paper to continue answering the paper, and give them a candle, as long as they hand in the paper before the candle burns out. He immediately begged Wang Jie and promised to finish the paper within three lines. Wang Jie looked at Qianlong's hair

When the imperial edict came, he did not dare to disobey it, so he immediately gave him a candle. Before the candle was used up, Liu Fenggao had already finished the scroll. It was also because there were no mistakes in the last few lines that Liu Fenggao won the favor of Qianlong and won the Jiyouke in one fell swoop.

Exploring flowers.

At that time, Ruan Yuan was only ranked third in the second class, so he didn't care. But after he won the top prize, Liu Fenggao learned that he was studying in the Hanlin Academy, and there were Hanlin and Hanlin colleges. There were two Hanlin exams, and the content of the exam was no longer limited to the Four Books.

The Five Classics. When he was a boy, he studied at home in Pingxiang. Due to his family background, he read less books other than Confucian classics. At this time, in order to repay Qianlong's special kindness to Zhu, there was no other way but to work harder. So, that

One winter, Liu Fenggao almost stayed at home, reading classics and historical essays in the Hanlin Academy, just to avoid embarrassing Qianlong in two exams. It was at that time that he unexpectedly discovered that there was a man named Qianlong in the Common Hall.

Ruan Yuan's fellow Jinshi also moved to the Hanlin Academy to study day and night. And this Ruan Yuan seemed to be proficient in the Thirteen Classics, Selected Works, Tongjian, and even arithmetic before he was admitted to the Jinshi.

The predecessors of Sinology Hui Dai, Qian Daxin, Wang Mingsheng and other historians, as well as the Western mathematicians Matteo Ricci and Jiang Youren, also know the way of calculation very well. I don't have much communication with Ruan Yuan on weekdays, but Ruan Yuan is also polite and does not seem to reject me as a friend.

But the more Ruan Yuan was like this, the more inferior he felt in his heart. He felt that no matter how hard he tried, he could not catch up with Ruan Yuan. Sure enough, when the gymnasium was dismissed, Ruan Yuan got the first place, and during the big exam, Ruan Yuan got the first place in the first class.

Since then, he has flourished, becoming an academic and political official at an early age, and serving as governor. But even so, Ruan Yuan is still as humble as before towards his old classmates, not to mention that he also got the second-class first in the major exam later, and was quickly promoted to the fourth-class position.
Chapter completed!