Wu Lijin continued: "What Brother Xu said is not entirely true. The family did not indulge me. When the family went south, some people were left in the Central Plains to run restaurants and inns, as well as other businesses. In the past ten years, there have been developed.
I came to Wei Dynasty this time with the intention of inspecting these transactions. In addition, what Brother Hu said is indeed reasonable. Even if I write a letter back, my family will agree. Rather than doing this, it is better to save some trouble. I will order them to raise funds first. It's the same thing if you send one hundred thousand guan and explain it to the head of the family after you return."
Hu Shichang said to Wang Weiren: "Brother Wang, don't worry now. In at least one month, Brother Xu and my share will be delivered one after another, and then Brother Wang won't have to worry about those people."
While a few people were talking, Yiyi walked into the room softly. When she came to a few people, she blessed them with a blessing.
"Sir, I have something to report to my family."
Hu Shichang hummed, then he cupped his hands to Wang Weiren and others and said, "Well, you guys can chat first, I will leave first if I have something to do."
After saying that, he took Yiyi and left.
After walking outside, Yiyi whispered: "His Royal Highness just came back. I heard from his subordinates that he went to the Marquis Mansion in Northern Hebei again. He talked with Shen Changshi for a quarter of an hour and then left. There was nothing unusual about it. Proper place.”
Hu Shichang, who was still smiling at first, immediately turned gloomy.
"It's that Shen Xiyao again. He actually went to see her."
"Um."
Yiyi nodded.
"According to people around him, the Marquis of Jibei was also present when the two met."
Hu Shichang frowned.
"Please rest assured, sir. Nothing happened."
Yiyi told the whole story about Chen Ruiyuan's visit to Shen Xiyao from the beginning.
"His Royal Highness met the Marquis of Jibei for only a cup of tea, and then talked with the Shen family's ancestors and grandson for only a quarter of an hour. Although those people did not follow them into the Shen family's study. However, the contact time between the two parties was not long, and His Highness did not come in or out. If there is more or less, it should be fine."
"Hmph! Then you have to be careful. It's not like the clothing and belt edict has never happened before."
Yiyi chuckled lightly.
"Young Master, you are overly worried. Your Highness has a dedicated person in charge of all the clothes he carries with him, so there will be no mistakes."
Hu Shichang felt a little relieved.
"After that, you can try him with that little Lost Soul Powder to see if anything happens. In addition, send someone to keep an eye on the Jibei Marquis Mansion to see if there is any movement."
Yiyi nodded yes.
"By the way, how is Anzi's arrangement going?"
Hu Shichang asked again.
"I already have a candidate. It is Li Huan, the director of Honglu Temple who is responsible for receiving us. He is a lustful person with great ambition and talent. He has close contact with the mission and is easy to attack.
Later, he can influence his father Li Zhongye through him. Li Zhongye is the censor Zhongcheng and has a high status in the Wei Dynasty. If we can secretly support him, he may be able to take a step closer.
Hu Shichang pondered for a while and said to Yiyi: "Then choose Li Huan, and then Miss Yiyi will show off her skills."
Yiyi rolled her eyes at Hu Shichang with a sweet look on her face, nodded slightly, and continued: "I also found out that Li Huan and Shen Changshi had some issues."
When he heard the words Shen Changshi, Hu Shichang's face turned a little ugly.
"I heard that King Fu is preparing to return to Shu. Before leaving, he is planning to entertain some courtiers from the Wei Dynasty as a way of thanking him?"
Yiyi nodded in agreement.
"Okay, let's make some plans for Prince Fu and get an invitation by the way."
Yiyi agreed, but she didn't know what Hu Shichang had in mind.
Turning around, Shen Xiyao was letting Yunxiang comb her hair. Ziling pushed the door open and walked straight to Shen Xiyao.
"Miss, the Marquis sent someone to invite the lady over. He said that some teachers have arrived."
Shen Xiyao hummed slightly and raised her hand to signal Yunxiang to speed up.
Yunxiang agreed and sped up her movements. Ziling went to open the wardrobe and picked out a suitable dress for Shen Xiyao.
Shen Xiyao changed her clothes and asked Yunxiang and the others to go down first. After closing the door, Shen Xiyao walked to the desk, closed her eyes and meditated for a moment, and recorded what happened yesterday.
As she wrote, the pen in Shen Xiyao's hand slowly stopped, she bit her lip and hesitated for a moment, but still skipped Princess Zhu'an's invitation to visit Shangyang Palace.
After a while, Mu Jianming opened the door and walked out with a crooked step. He glanced at Yun Xiang who was waiting at the door, nodded and walked down the steps.
Yunxiang lowered her head and followed Mu Jianming to the front hall.
When he arrived at the front hall, Mu Jianming discovered that Shen Ao was not the only one in the front hall.
Brothers Shen Ling'er, Zhang Guanwen, and Zhang Xiongwen, as well as the brother and sister who were born as concubines, and the old housekeeper Shen An were all there. There were also several young Confucian scholars standing in the middle of the hall.
Mu Jianming walked up to Shen Ao and Shen Ling'er, saluted them in a decent manner and stood behind Shen Ao.
When the Confucian scholars saw Shen Xiyao appearing, they all guessed her identity and were a little excited for a moment. They all straightened their backs and silently planned to find ways to stay in the Shen Mansion.
After all, Shen Xiyao's performance and talents at the banquet have spread throughout Luojing, and gradually spread to other places outside Luojing over time. In the mind of every Confucian scholar, if he can perform in front of such a talented woman like Shen Xiyao, then It's a great opportunity.
When they learned that the Shen family had hired a teacher, not only the Zhongzheng Mansion, but also the Imperial Academy was shocked. Everyone wanted to get in close contact with Shen Changshi, who is now famous in Luo Jing. Several of them also exerted themselves. It took a lot of effort to get this opportunity.
Shen Ao glanced at Mu Jianming, had some concerns in his mind, and nodded to Shen An.
Taking advantage of this moment, Mu Jianming bent down to Shen Ao's ear and asked in a low voice: "Isn't anyone else coming?"
Shen Ao turned his head and looked at Shen Xiyao in confusion.
"Who else needs to come?"
Mu Jianming sighed helplessly.
"When you are looking for teachers, why don't you consider their knowledge? When it comes to martial arts in this house, hands and feet are much faster than brains. But for those who want papers, who will consider them? If you don't invite Prime Minister Chu, at least you should Invite Cheng Shangshu here and let them check it?"
Shen Ao squinted at Mu Jianming.
"What's wrong?"
Mu Jianming was shocked and asked in confusion.
"It was precisely to consider the knowledge of these people that I asked Yao'er to find you. Aren't you quite powerful in front of His Majesty?"
Shen Ao also lowered his voice and said.
"Besides, you said it lightly. Oh, the worst ones are all Cheng Shangshu. Chu Rupeng, Cheng Kangming is relatively kind and friendly to you. Why do you invite them over now just for this little thing? Who can invite them at any time!" "
"By the way, what should I call you?"
Before Mu Jianming could react, Shen Ao continued to ask.
"Well……"
"My name is Mu Jianming. Since I am borrowing your granddaughter's body, you can just call me Xiao Mu."
Shen Ao frowned and said with some disgust: "Xiao Mu? What's this name?"
Shen Ling'er is the most concerned about selecting teachers.
The Zhi'er siblings need enlightenment, and her two legitimate sons have to continue studying, so the mother will naturally have to worry a lot. But when she looked over at Shen Ao, the grandparents and grandsons kept mumbling and didn't know what to say.
Shen Ling'er coughed lightly, leaned forward, and lowered her voice to remind: "Sir, it's time to begin."
"Um."
Shen Ao agreed, looked at Mu Jianming, tilted his head forward slightly, and motioned him forward with his eyes.
There was no other way, Mu Jianming could only sigh, walk around Shen Ao, stand in front of the hall, and glance across the Confucian students one by one.
There were a total of six men standing in the hall, all dressed as Confucian scholars. Their bodies were all relatively well-proportioned, except for one who was slightly overweight.
It can be seen from their clothing that two of them come from poor families and are not wearing any accessories.
The other four people all held a feather fan in their hands and hung a jade pendant on their waists. However, the jade pendants were not big in size and of average quality.
Mu Jianming saluted the six Confucian scholars, and several Confucian scholars quickly returned the salute.
"You are all talented people recommended by the Zhongzheng Mansion. It is a bit aggrieved for you to be a teacher. However, although the Shen family started out as a martial artist, it is not easy to join the Shen family."
When talking about the Zhongzheng Mansion, we have to mention the Wei State’s selection and employment system.
The selection system of the Wei Dynasty inherited the nine-level Zhongzheng system created by Chen Qun during the Cao Wei period, and developed further.
Every three years, the Zhongzheng Mansion will send people to various parts of the Wei Dynasty to search for talented people together with the local Zhongzheng in various states, and give nine grades of evaluation accordingly. Then they will provide guidance for these talented people, and those with poor families will also provide a certain amount of financial aid. of travel expenses.
These criticisms were made in duplicate, with a big seal in the middle. These selected talents gathered with the criticisms and directions to the Zhongzheng Mansion in Luojing.
The Zhongzheng Mansion compared the evaluations in the hands of these people with the evaluations sent by the special post. After confirming that they were correct, they conducted a second evaluation on these people.
Excellent candidates are recommended to the court and employed in various yamen or local state capitals.
Those who fail can continue their studies at Luoyang Imperial College, or find another way out and wait for another assessment in three years.
However, at the beginning of the Wei Dynasty, this right to select and employ people was controlled by aristocratic families.
Every year, the talents recommended by the Zhongzheng Mansion are all children of major aristocratic families.
If students from poor families want to get ahead, they can only join a wealthy family and wait for the opportunity. Otherwise, they will never get ahead.
This also makes the nine-rank Zhongzheng system give rise to the so-called situation of "there are no poor families in the upper ranks, and no noble families in the lower ranks".
Fortunately, more than ten years ago, Emperor Xuanzong launched a desperate counterattack, allowing the Wei Dynasty to completely eradicate the cancer of the family, but he also lost a large number of talents.
At that time, seven out of ten officials in the imperial court had been eliminated, and in some state government offices, only Zuo Er officials remained.
Fortunately, Luoyang Imperial College and the Zhongzheng Mansion had a group of poor disciples, and the governments at all levels of the Wei Dynasty could barely maintain their operations by relying on these people.
As a result, the Wei Dynasty also paid more and more attention to the role of Zhongzheng Mansion.
The Wei court did not give up on the talented people who failed to be selected, and generally encouraged them to go to Taixue. For those who were really unwilling to go to Taixue, the Zhongzheng Mansion would recommend them to serve as aides in the palaces of officials in the DPRK.
Don't underestimate the option of becoming a staff member.
Except for those who are extremely confident in themselves and believe that they will definitely pass the Zhongzheng Mansion examination, the vast majority of Confucian students will choose to serve as aides to the ministers of the DPRK and China within three years of the next examination.