In the capital, autumn is getting stronger, the canopy of high or low is dyed golden, and the blue brick streets also have fallen leaves that are rolled up from time to time by the autumn wind.

However, this autumn can't stop the enthusiasm of the scholars. Recently, the southeast corner of the inner city is particularly lively. The business of Gulou in the north of the city and Liulichang outside the city has clearly ushered in the peak season, and has also brought about the surrounding inns and restaurants.

In this noisy atmosphere, the triennial Shuntian Provincial Examination was held as scheduled, with more than 5,000 students competing for 135 juren places together with the students of the Imperial College in Beijing.

After all, this is an era of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce. If you want to stand out in this era, there is only one way: if you study and be good, you will be an official.

Whether it is a poor farmer, a military family member, a rich son who spends a lot of money, or a yamen with a deep background, they all need to be on this single-plank bridge.

After ten years of hard study, this great scholar was already ready to win a place in the provincial examination and thus get a stepping stone to enter the career of the officialdom.

The examiner who presided over this provincial examination was Zhang Siwei, a Hanlin attendant. He was born in a Shanxi merchant family and naturally could not leak questions for gold and silver. He valued the political resources brought by presiding over this provincial examination.

Although the value of the provincial examination cannot be compared with the imperial examination, there are more than a dozen Jinshis among these 135 Juren, which undoubtedly increases his influence in the court.

Since he successfully entered the Hanlin Academy with high quality, he has shouldered the long-cherished wish of the entire Shanxi Gang, hoping that he can join the cabinet and become the prime minister in the future.

On the eighth day of the eighth month, the sky was still pitch black.

However, the entire capital seemed to suddenly wake up, and the inns and houses around the southeast corner of the inner city were lit up, and then the blue brick streets were also lit, and noisy horses and people were heard.

Five thousand students memorized their exams early and came to the gate of Shuntian Gongyuan in the dark. They first lined up in an orderly manner, and then after a ceremony, they were searched and entered the Gongyuan.

Although the Ming Dynasty had already repeatedly banned cheating and the court was never ruthless about fraud cases, many candidates were unable to resist the temptation brought by the fame of the Juren.

The search army and cheating candidates are fighting wits and courage. The search personnel hope to "get extra money" from it, while the cheating candidates hope to "get fame and fame".

Although I don’t know how many cheating candidates have escaped, someone will inevitably be discovered, and then the inspectors use this to receive the reward.

"My father is the old master of the court in the past. I think who dares you?" When an Imperial College Invigilator was caught, he suddenly threatened loudly.

Zhang Siwei happened to see this scene, suddenly stopped and his eyelids jumped inexplicably.

"Sir, you won't believe his nonsense, do you?" The examiner who was following behind stared in surprise when he saw this.

No one knows that Gao Gong, the old master of the dynasty, did not know what was wrong with the ancestral grave. He still has no descendants, so how could a son in his twenties suddenly appear?

Zhang Siwei naturally didn't feel confident about the candidate's nonsense, but he always felt inexplicable uneasiness in his heart. He glanced at the candidate who was queuing for inspection, and then walked into the tribute school.

Although Shuntian Gongyuan had just been cleaned, it had not been opened after more than two years. The air was obviously decaying, especially a scent of a dead rat was faintly smelled on a certain section of the road.

Zhang Siwei showed a look of disgust on his face, but he would not say much. After all, he didn't need to stay here, just walk over.

The group walked through the long corridor to the front of the Zhigong Hall, and followed the outer curtain officer to perform a worship ceremony, and then they walked to the deeper Jukui Hall.

Passing through the sturdy stone bridge, Zhang Siwei led the outer curtain officer to Jukui Hall, and then held a ceremony to worship Saint Confucius.

This is not the first time he has come here. In the last 44th year of Jiajing exam, he once participated in the exam as a fellow examiner, and the chief examiner of the exam at that time was Lin Weiran.

As time went by, he presided over this provincial examination as a Hanlin attendant and had become a somewhat important official. However, Lin Qingran was already a senior official in Wenhua Palace and a Minister of War, but he was an existence who could compete with his teacher.

What's more, as the most active Shanxi merchant in the entire Ming Dynasty, has been severely damaged by Lin Weiran many times, and may face a catastrophe recently.

The former left assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites has now become the real boss of the court. It seems that he really wants to uproot the Shanxi Gang, which they have been in charge for a hundred years.

With the sound of locking the courtyard outside, Shuntian Gongyuan was completely isolated from the outside world.

After Zhang Siwei passed the test paper and handed it to the outer curtain officer opposite, he said to the examiner present: "Everyone, please keep your energy these days. There must be no mistakes in this provincial examination!"

Since the exam has just started, the test papers will naturally not be sent, so these three days have been doing nothing.

"Affect the instructions of the President!" The deputy examiner and several examiners responded respectfully in response to Zhang Siwei's advice.

Zhang Siwei was always uneasy about this provincial examination. In addition, she was obviously not having enough rest recently, so she planned to go to the room in the backyard to rest first.

Several examiners looked at the background where Zhang Siwei left and saw a little quiet, but they couldn't help but look at each other, always feeling that something was wrong with Zhang Siwei.

No matter what Zhang Siwei was in, the provincial examination seemed to be carried out in an orderly manner. Zhang Siwei seemed to be too careful. Until the second exam, there was no emergency in the examination room.

For the people and scholars, the provincial examination was an extraordinary event, but in the eyes of the dynasty's bosses, it was just a trivial matter.

With the arrival of Mid-Autumn Festival, officials also have holidays on time.

Lingshi Hutong, in the back garden of Lin Mansion, it seems that all vitality is lost, and there is no movement in the pool water.

Lin Qingran rarely had a vacation and got up a little later today than usual, and he usually stayed at home honestly. At this time, he was playing chess with Sun Jixiang in the pavilion and chatting about things in Shanxi.

Wang Bai has been in contact with him and will send the information as soon as possible if there is any important matter. Therefore, Lin Qingran learned about the situation in Shanxi earlier than the cabinet.

"Dongweng, you played this move very well, I'm afraid you can win in one fell swoop!" Sun Jixiang looked at the place where Lin Junran made a move, but said with a slight emotion.

Lin Xuran knew that Sun Jixiang was either talking about the ordinary move on the chessboard, but he shook his head gently and said, "It's not entirely true. We still have to explore how deep the smuggled water is!"

"The Xu family's wealth is not weaker than the Yan family. If I say that they have not got a share of it, I don't believe it!" Sun Jixiang fell a white piece on the chessboard, and he seemed very optimistic and authentic.

Lin Weiran stared at the battle situation of the chessboard, but said cautiously: "It's hard to say what the nature of this fact is now. It depends on what Wang Bai has gained!"

"Mr. Wang is a smart man, so he will definitely not disappoint Dongwen!" Sun Jixiang was confident that he was quite accurate in looking at people, and said with an optimistic smile.

"I hope so!" Lin Qingran replied lightly, and fell a piece on the chessboard. Then he glanced at Lin Jinyuan who was walking over and asked, "Who is here to visit?"

Although he really wanted to stay quietly all day, this was impossible. Now that he has become a big figure in the dynasty and the protagonist of the infighting in the court, he is destined to be unable to live a dull life.

"No, it's not for you, Master! Report to Master, Sun Jiu from Sunjiazhuang just sent moon cakes, and I've already taken them!" Lin Jinyuan quickly explained, and then said to Sun Jixiang: "Mr. Sun, Sun Jiu is also bringing you the best.

When I came to Mooncake, I also brought the message from Master Sun. Why don’t you go out to see him?"

When Sun Jixiang heard the message Sun Jiu brought to him, he stood up and said, "Dongweng, I'm missing accompaniment!"

"No, you bring Sun Jiu in, I want to see him too!" Lin Junran reached out to stop Sun Jixiang, and then ordered Lin Jinyuan.

Lin Jinyuan looked at Lin Junran in surprise, but he didn't expect that Lin Junran would actually meet a trivial little person, but he still responded respectfully: "Okay!"

Not long after, a sturdy and dark young man was taken here. It was Sun Jiu who took the villagers to the house of Zhu Junmen to steal food for survival.

When Sun Jiu learned that Lin Junran was going to see him look flattered, even if the other party was just the prefect of Shuntian, he would be frightened, let alone the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty.

"Good people pay homage to the prime minister!" Sun Jiu immediately plopped into the tunnel when he saw Lin Jun who was more powerful.

Since Lin Qingran came to their Sunjiazhuang for inspection, their lives have improved quickly. Now they are even more famous and wealthy villages, and he has been able to get married and have children.

For Lin Xuran, he was not only afraid of power, but also grateful to Lin Xuran, so he was particularly active in giving Lin Xuran mooncakes.

"Mr. Sun and I have been friends with each other for many years. Since you are his nephew, you don't have to be so disgusted. Get up!" Lin Qingran also deliberately sold his face to Sun Jixiang.

Sun Jiu knew that the connection between Sun Jiazhuang and Lin Qiran was Sun Jixiang, so he stood up carefully from the ground. However, when Lin Qiran asked him to sit down, he looked at Sun Jixiang nervously.

Sun Jixiang knew that Lin Qiran was not the kind of powerful minister who treated the people as unkind, and he also asked Sun Jiu to sit next to him.

Lin Qingran asked the maid next to him to pour tea for Sun Jiu, and then said that he wanted to ask him a few questions, so he spoke directly: "The Sunjiazhuang area is outside the capital, but I don't know how much silver is a mu of medium-sized land?"

"Five taels of silver!" Sun Jiu bought several acres of land in recent years, and immediately blurted out the authenticity.

Lin Qingran reached out and picked up the teacup on the table, asked again: "How much does it take to plant a mu of land now?"

"Prince, in recent years, it has either been drought or flooding. In addition, the government has not promoted water conservancy, but now the medium-sized land only gets one stone of grain!" Sun Jiu heard that it was the question he knew best, and immediately answered.

Lin Qingran took a sip of tea, but unexpectedly, the harvest became lower. He continued to ask quietly: "I worked hard all year, and I am afraid that there is not much grain left for a mu of land to exchange for money, right?

It would take twenty years to exchange for five taels of silver!"

"Prince, when I first bought the land, I thought the land was expensive, but in fact I couldn't calculate it like this! If we people have land, they can continue to farm for generations. As long as we are not lazy, we will definitely be able to eat enough!" Sun Sun

Jiu looked at Lin Weiran's mention of the issue of land prices and seemed to express his views seriously.

Sun Jixiang turned his head and looked at Sun Jiu, but he knew that the two of them were no longer people of the same realm. Sun Jiu would never be able to stand at Lin Yanran's height in his life.

Lin Xuran knew that Sun Jiu's answer represented the thoughts of many simple people in this era, so he smiled and said, "If you had ten taels of silver now, would you continue to buy land?"

"Can I buy it!" Sun Jiu nodded without thinking.

Lin Junran couldn't help but smile bitterly, and then handed Lin Jinyuan a wink and ordered: "Reward him ten taels of silver!"

"No, no! Prime Minister, your great kindness is unforgettable, so how dare you receive reward from you!" Sun Jiu heard that Lin Junran wanted to reward him with ten taels of silver, and immediately refused in panic.

"The prime minister rewards you with silver, so there is no reason why you don't want it. Accept it!" Although Sun Jixiang knew that Sun Jiu was a genuine person, he was also worried that he would anger Lin Qinran, so he immediately raised his face and scolded him.

When Sun Jiu thought about it, he seemed to be the truth, so he knelt on the ground and kowtowed, "The villain kowtowed the prime minister and thanked him for his kindness!"

Lin Qingran didn't take this matter very much. After watching Sun Jiu and Sun Jixiang convey the message, he felt heavy in his heart.

As his status continued to improve, especially when he was almost completely separated from the local people, he was getting further and further away from the lower class.

It is difficult to understand the most real situation in various places from the official documents of the two capitals and thirteen provinces alone. In fact, it is also willing to communicate with the officials below to understand the shortcomings of this country more accurately.

For a long time, he had not understood why the huge Ming Dynasty could not stand at the top of the world and why it was defeated by the Qing Dynasty.

However, with his understanding of this country, although there were some objective factors at that time, he knew that the essential problem was still the Ming Dynasty itself, and the first thing he had to do was the land annexation issue.

From an economic perspective, if there is a problem with the most important production resources of an agricultural power, then the country's economic model will inevitably "bankrupt".

That's right. If you want China to stand at the top of the world, then solving the land problem is the top priority, and it is even more important than simply developing manual techniques.

"Dongweng, are you planning to promote the bad guys?" Sun Jixiang followed Lin Qinran for a full ten years, and also faintly saw through Lin Qinran's thoughts.

When Lin Xuran faced this problem, he looked up at the gray sky and said, "If Xu Jie can be eliminated, what reason do I have to not implement it?"

Although after defeating Xu Jie, the next prime minister was Li Chunfang, with his alliance strength with Guo Pu and Gao Gong, Li Chunfang must be powerless to stop him.
Chapter completed!