Sun Mingcai visited the participants of the previous imperial examinations and asked them to write down the latest versions of the test questions.
In addition to collecting real questions from the past five imperial examinations, Sun Mingcai also spent a lot of writing money to ask these past candidates who had achieved high rankings in the imperial examinations to rewrite the answers to his own policies.
In fact, these things are not a secret. Anyone preparing for the exam who has been in Chang'an for a long time can also collect them.
And the strategies written are not secrets that cannot be leaked. This year, Gu Kuang and Wei Yingwu's strategies have already spread throughout Chang'an City.
But this is the first time that Sun Mingcai has systematically collected, analyzed question ideas, and dismantled excellent policy essays.
Sun Mingcai himself is from an education and training institution and knows how to conduct exam-oriented education analysis.
He even found several professors from the Chinese Department in real life, collected several scriptures and policy topics from the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and stuffed them into the book as mock imperial examination questions.
This book, "Five Years and Three Years of Imperial Examination Simulation" was published and immediately became the best-selling book in Chang'an.
Moreover, no matter whether there are high-ranking officials or wealthy businessmen in Chang'an, there are always children who want to take the imperial examination.
There are still a large number of Imperial College disciples in Chang'an City, as well as candidates who have failed the previous imperial examinations. They are also waiting for the next imperial examination.
After "Five Years and Three Years of Simulation of the Imperial Examination" was published, paper was so expensive in Chang'an that it was hard to find a copy of it.
Although this gift from Fang Guoshou cannot be said to be an expensive gift, it can be regarded as a gift that was sent to Gao Yangbi's heart.
Gao Yangbi looked at the strange title and opened the book with confusion, but he was ecstatic.
It is not easy for the Gao family, who is far away in the Bohai Kingdom, to collect this information, even for the important ministers of the Bohai Kingdom.
What's more, this book also contains excellent policy articles, which can broaden your son's horizons.
Gao Yangbi bowed to Fang Guoshou and said, "Master Fang, this gift is too precious!"
Fang Guoshou helped Gao Yangbi up and said: "Young master wants to participate in the imperial examination of our Datang Dynasty, so we should naturally support him. However, in our imperial examination of the Tang Dynasty, we not only need to write good articles, but also need to gain fame in Chang'an City."
"Let me tell you, since Mr. Ling has such ambitions, it is better to let him go to Chang'an City to gain some experience."
Gao Yangbi looked troubled and said: "If it were before the war, many of the children of the imperial ministers would go to Chang'an. At that time, they could still study in the Imperial College."
"But now that the current situation is turbulent, the Imperial College has dismissed many students, and I always feel uneasy about allowing young people like him to enter Chang'an."
Fang Guoshou said with a smile: "Wang Xiancheng of Wannian County in Chang'an is a member of our Longyou community, and he is also the number one scholar in this year's new subject."
"Wang Zhuangyuan is now in charge of Wannian County affairs. He and I are also old friends. I can write a letter for you to take to Chang'an and temporarily stay at Wang Zhuangyuan's house. I wonder if Gaoshang Pavilion is safe?"
Gao Yangbi was overjoyed when he heard that Wang Chengwei was the number one scholar in the new field. If his son could be surrounded by the number one scholar in the Tang Dynasty, he would definitely be able to improve his knowledge a lot!
And Wannian County is half of Chang'an, and it is also the local leader of Chang'an. If his son can be taken care of by him, he will definitely be safe in Chang'an.
Fang Guoshou offered so many chips. After all, Gao Yangbi was also the leader of a country. He immediately understood that it was time to make a deal.
He whispered: "The king actually has opinions about the Lu family. In recent years, maritime trade has suffered setbacks, and the Lu family has gradually become domineering in the country."
"The Lu family often does business with barbarians, and they don't like reading. They are unwilling to follow the king's restructuring. In fact, the king is also a little disgusted with the Lu family."
Fang Guoshou is a history professor and has read all the history books. He is very familiar with this kind of drama.
A small country like Bohai originally came from the tribal alliance stage, and there will always be several powerful families in the country.
The most powerful family among them will become the royal family, and the remaining families will become the major families in the country that will be passed down from generation to generation.
The Lu family should be the second largest family in the Bohai Kingdom. The Lu family has been intermarried with the royal family for generations and is a powerful family that can threaten the status of the royal family.
Fang Guoshou immediately had a preliminary understanding of the domestic situation in Bohai. The main line of the country was the battle between the king and the Queen's natal Lu family, which extended to the battle between the sea trade faction and the land trade faction.
After the player merchants intervened, Bohai's own land trade was eroded. The Lu family, which was based on land trade, proposed to the King of Bohai a policy of restricting the player merchants.
The Bohai royal family, which was originally weakened due to the damage to maritime trade caused by wars in recent years, did not express its position at this time, trying to use external forces to contain the second largest faction in the country.
After understanding this, Fang Guoshou became more confident in borrowing a transport ship from King Bohai.
The palace in Shangjingfu was just built in the past few years. The original capital of the Bohai Kingdom was in Zhongjingfu further south (near Dunhua City between Jilin and Yanji today). When Anlu Mountain was preparing for the rebellion, troops were sent north to harass
Because the northern ministries did not want to get involved in the affairs of the three towns in Hedong, Bohai King Daqinmao moved the capital to Shangjing Mansion further north.
Because it is further north and the winter is colder, this move of the capital is also very controversial in Bohai. Even some nobles in Bohai are unwilling to move to Shangjing.
However, Da Qinmao's decision soon paid off after the An Lushan rebellion.
After An Lushan's rebellion, people were constantly sent to the north to capture foreigners and foreigners to serve as cannon fodder. The Bohai Kingdom was once invaded by An Lushan's men.
It was also because the city defense of Shangjing Prefecture was strong and it was further north and colder that An Lushan ordered his troops to retreat and did not continue to attack Bohai State.
The nobles who stayed in Zhongjing Mansion and refused to move with them were all captured by An Lushan and taken back to Hedong. Now it is unknown how tall the grass on their graves is.
This move of the capital allowed Bohai King Da Qinmao to gain a lot of prestige, and the trade with Longyou last year also digested the grain accumulated in the warehouse, making the Bohai royal family a huge profit.
However, the merchants of the Tang Dynasty who were frequently active in the Bohai Sea did disrupt the order of the Bohai Kingdom. The King of Bohai was also hesitant on how to deal with the envoy Fang Guoshou.
"The envoy of the Tang Dynasty, Fang, goes to the palace to meet the king!"
"Xuan!"
Gao Yangbi led Fang Guoshou into the warm hall, and only saw King Bohai sitting high on the throne. After Fang Guoshou saw the ceremony, King Bohai politely gave Fang Guoshou a seat.
Da Qinmao said in Tang Dynasty Mandarin: "When your envoy came last time, I almost thought you were a liar. Unexpectedly, times have changed, and even Pinglu Town has surrendered to the Tang family. It seems that the war situation in the north is about to change."
it's over."
For Da Qinmao, who founded a country based on maritime trade, once the region returns to stability, merchants in the Bohai Kingdom can continue to do business safely.
This was also the topic he was most concerned about, so he asked Fang Guoshou for his opinion.
Unexpectedly, Fang Guoshou brought bad news to Da Qinmao:
"If I return to the country, I'm afraid the war in Hedong will not go so smoothly."
"The current puppet emperor An Qingxu has caused trouble again in Xiangzhou, General Li Guangbi has abandoned Anyang, and the smoke of war has broken out in the northern part of Henan Province."
Because the Xiangzhou Rebellion only occurred less than half a month ago, the Bohai Kingdom, which was blocked from information, had not yet received any news.
Hearing that there was chaos in the northern part of Henan Province, Da Qinmao stood up and asked: "What's the situation in Hedong? Didn't Shi Siming surrender to the Tang Dynasty?"
Fang Guoshou sighed and said: "The situation in Hedong is not optimistic. Although Shi Siming returned to the Tang Dynasty, An Qingxu rebelled this time. Shi Siming and his son also transported grain to Xiangzhou and secretly supported An Qingxu."
Da Qinmao took a breath of cold air. He originally thought that after the civil strife in the Tang Dynasty was settled, he could do business well.
Unexpectedly, the war situation suddenly became tense again. The leader of the Bohai Kingdom, who had been in power for more than 20 years, showed his helplessness in front of his ministers for the first time.
From the beginning of his accession to the throne, Da Qinmao's national policy was to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.
Learn from the Tang family system, send Tang envoys to the Tang Dynasty, and promote Sinicization in Bohai State. This is to allow a small country like Bohai to continue stably.
Being surrounded by the Tang Dynasty was lucky for these small countries, but it was also unlucky.
The powerful power of the Tang Dynasty has been shaking the borders of all directions for hundreds of years. The reason why a small country like Bohai can exist independently is entirely because in the eyes of the Tang Dynasty, this remote small country in the north has no value.
When the Tang Dynasty destroyed Goguryeo and the Tang Dynasty destroyed Baekje, the northern countries were all fearful that they would be easily destroyed by the Tang Dynasty.
When An Lushan rebelled, Da Qinmao quickly maintained neutrality and was determined not to get involved in the war within the Tang Dynasty.
Even though the rebels of the Tang Dynasty did not cause any major losses to the Bohai State, the trade was suspended, foreign ships were prohibited from docking at the Datang ports, and the impact of the war on commerce was already too much for the Bohai State to bear.
If Fang Guoshou hadn't purchased grain, the grain Bohai Country collected from Silla Fusang would have rotted in the barn.
Hearing that war was about to break out again in the Tang Dynasty, Da Qinmao panicked.
But after all, he had been the leader of the country for twenty years. He quickly calmed down and looked at Fang Guoshou and asked:
"Did your envoy come all the way to inform me about the war in the Tang Dynasty?"
Fang Guoshou smiled and shook his head and said: "Of course it is not for this matter. I am here to borrow a ship from Bohai Country."
"Borrow a boat?"
Now not only Da Qinmao, but also Gao Yangbi, who was respectful to Fang Guoshou, frowned and looked at Fang Guoshou.
I only heard Fang Guoshou tell a shocking news. He said to the leader of the Bohai Kingdom:
"The father and son of the Shi family are so ambitious that they are about to rebel against the Tang Dynasty again. Wang Xuanzhi, the governor of Pinglu Town, has received an edict from the Tang Dynasty. Once the father and son of the Shi family rebel against the Tang Dynasty again, Pinglu Town will enter the pass from the north and attack Fan Yang."
"That's why I came to borrow a boat from Bohai Country today!"
Everyone was stunned in place, Fang Guoshou's words echoed in the warm hall!