Just as Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi were entering the Imperial Academy holding a collection of family records that they had bought for two thousand dollars each, they saw an Imperial College student in his early twenties walking towards them.
This man's appearance was so extraordinary that Zhang Yue couldn't help but look at him a few more times.
This man was also walking by himself. When Zhang Yue looked at him, he couldn't help but look at him several times, and then looked at Huang Haoyi beside Zhang Yue.
As the three of them were passing each other, the other party suddenly stopped and turned around and said, "May I ask whether these two gentlemen are from Fujian?"
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi both turned around. Zhang Yue said: "It is Zhang Yue who is in Xiapu City. This Huang Haoyi is from Jianyang."
The man laughed loudly and said: "Then there is nothing wrong."
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi couldn't help but look confused. The other party walked up to Huang Haoyi and said, "Your brother is Huang Jidao, right?"
Huang Haoyi smiled and said: "Exactly. Is it possible that my brother is familiar with my brother?"
The other party smiled and said: "Of course, didn't your brother tell you to find someone named Cai Chizheng after you get to the Imperial Academy?"
Huang Haoyi was surprised when he heard this and said: "Because of this, could it be that my brother is the one?"
The other party smiled and nodded and said: "Of course. If it weren't for you and Brother Dao, Brother Ren's appearance is somewhat similar, and I would have missed it."
Huang Haoyi said a few words to the other party with a look of surprise on his face, and then said to Zhang Yue: "Sanlang, I recommend to you that this is my brother's fellow countryman, his surname is Cai, his given name is correct, and his surname is Zhengzheng."
“Cai Que? Which Que?” Zhang Yue looked in disbelief.
“It’s true that it can be done.”
Zhang Yue was almost stunned when he heard this.
It was almost the same as when I heard that my second brother was Zhang Dun, and I was even more surprised.
"Why didn't you two come to me first? Could it be that I, Cai, am not worthy of your brother (Huang Haoqian)'s trust?" Cai Que looked unhappy.
Huang Haoyi said quickly: "I originally wanted to pay homage to Brother Chizheng after I surrendered my ultimatum."
“Oh? An ultimatum? Where did you do it?” Cai Que asked after hearing this.
Huang Haoyi pointed to the door of the Imperial College and said: "It's run by the Jiujia Bookstore. They also asked us to collect family petitions, and each person received two thousand yuan."
Cai Que shook his head and said: "You guys! I'm not familiar with the place in Bianjing, and I don't know how to find help from my fellow villagers. Fortunately for Zhang Sanlang, you have your brother to explain it to you, but you are still so arrogant. Give me your family records, and then
Come with me."
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi handed the collection of family records to Cai Que. Cai Que, with his long sleeves fluttering, walked in front of the bookstore and said, "You two are waiting outside the door."
After saying that, Cai Que walked into the bookstore alone.
Zhang Yue hurriedly asked Huang Haoyi: "How did your brother know this Brother Cai?"
Huang Haoyi said: "Hasn't my brother been studying in Chenzhou? Cai Chizheng is also living in Chenzhou."
“Living in Chenzhou?”
"Exactly, Brother Chizheng's father is from Quanzhou in Fujian Province. He once joined the army for Chenzhou. He was dismissed from his post because he offended Chen Situ (Chen Zhizhong). The family returned to their hometown because they had no money, so the whole family lived in Chenzhou.
A paragraph has its upper and lower parts.”
Zhang Yue sighed: "It's so miserable!"
Huang Haoyi said: "Yes, my brother got acquainted with Cai Chizheng because he was studying in Chenzhou. Since we are all from Fujian and living in a foreign land, we often helped him. This Cai Chizheng is indeed a talented person, and he is extremely talented in writing and writing."
Well, several fortune tellers once said that his appearance is quite similar to Li Deyu, a famous prime minister in the Tang Dynasty, and they also said that he will support his elder brother when he becomes successful in the future."
“However, my brother got a spot on the gold medal list in the spring examination last year, but Chizheng failed. Fortunately, he was admitted to Taixue. If you and I enter Taixue in the future, we will have to entrust him to take care of us.”
Zhang Yue thought to himself, Damn it, why have we been so confused with the treacherous minister all day long?
The two of them hadn't even finished talking over a cup of tea when Cai Que strode forward and threw a thousand coins to Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi, scolding him: "Don't waste money indiscriminately in the future! What kind of place is Bianjing? I live in the capital."
It's not easy. If you can sell all the gold and silver in one night, it's not worth your money."
Zhang Yue, Huang Haoyi and others had no choice but to be taught.
Zhang Yue himself did take it for granted. He was still stuck in thinking that he could settle things with money rather than using favors, and he would not look for someone if he could not find someone.
That's modern, but in ancient times why did we promote relatives, fellow villagers, and the same clan? This is how relationships trouble each other.
"I will take you to submit an ultimatum first, and then go to Taixue later." Cai Que said.
The two returned to the Imperial College, and Zhang Yue talked with Cai Que about the attitude of the bookstore clerk.
Cai Que smiled and said: "Of course it is. I tell you that everything in the world is for profit, and everything in the world is for profit. The reason why you guys look bad is because you have no money."
“Do you think that the biggest advantage of a bookstore is to write a collection of family records for you and verify the writing since your birth? Wrong. The biggest advantage of the bookstore is to fake the official registration of scholars, insert texts and hire ghostwriters.”
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi were both shocked when they heard this.
That's right, there were two levels of bookstores in the Song Dynasty. One was a normal bookstore that sold books, and the other was just like that, and the roads were so wild.
But Zhang Yue still couldn't help but ask: "Won't the Yamen investigate the matter of blatant impersonation?"
Cai Quedao: "Everyone who runs a bookstore is not only a person who is familiar with fraud, but also who is either a wealthy family or a poor family. How can the government dare to investigate? Take the matter of false registration. In the past, every time he encountered the examination room, he would make up for the exam.
Wen, supervisor of Taixue Hall."
“Many people who are lucky enough to go to the capital privately buy prison certificates, change their names and try to make progress, or even pretend to be in the inner household in order to make progress. Are there many such people over the years?”
Zhang Yue understood that not only did the Imperial Examination and the Kaifeng Prefectural Examination have more quotas, but the imperial court also gave them more Jinshi places.
Therefore, many scholars either pretended to be students of Imperial College, Guangwen School, or pretended to be from Kaifeng Prefecture, and were qualified to participate in the Imperial College Examination and Kaifeng Prefecture Examination.
But the person responsible for verifying the examination qualifications is not in the government, but in the bookstore.
how so?
Since the government could not guarantee the results of the examination, it was left to private bookstores to handle the matter.
And the bookstore was not a notary institution at the beginning. It was indeed a copyist at the beginning, writing pleadings in the official format on behalf of the common people.
After that, the rights of bookstores gradually expanded, until they endorsed the authenticity of provincial examinations and interpretation candidates, and checked the true identities of candidates on behalf of the government, such as whether they had fake nationalities.
It will be submitted to the government for review of qualifications after being approved by the bookstore.
If there is no bookstore process, if a candidate has false registration in the future, then all the responsibility lies with the government. With a bookshop, if there is a false registration, the government can completely shirk the responsibility to the bookstore.
So the bookstore came to this place, and those who were able to communicate clearly marked the price to apply for fake registration for the candidates. The more money they paid, the more they could help take the exams.
“How much does it cost to apply for fake citizenship?” Zhang Yue couldn’t help asking.
“It used to cost six to seven thousand yuan, but now it costs ten thousand yuan!”
Zhang Yue slightly thought about it and said: "It's not expensive! Also, if you are a member of a noble family, you don't have to pretend to be a member of the family. Only those who are from the Han family can do this deceitful way."
Cai Que glanced at Zhang Yue sideways, and then smiled and said: "That's right, Sanlang sees things very quickly. You are from a decent background, and there is no money in the bookstore, so you ignore it."
“Haha,” Zhang Yue laughed, “it’s really better to listen to Brother Chizheng’s words than to read ten years of books.”
Cai Quedao said: "I don't dare to take it seriously. Sanlang has the demeanor of a disciple of a famous family. I wonder if he is familiar with Zhang Ziping, the number one scholar in modern science?"
Zhang Yuedao: "It's just a one-sided acquaintance."
Cai Que smiled slightly, and Huang Haoyi could not help but said: "Brother Chizheng, his second brother is Zhang Zihou."
“Oh? Is it Zi Hou? No wonder, no wonder.”
Zhang Yue pretended to be embarrassed on the face, but in his heart he said, no wonder, no wonder, no wonder the two treacherous ministers from the New Party had developed sympathy for each other so early?
Zhang Yue thought about it again, but with Huang Haoyi's big mouth, he couldn't hide his whereabouts in Beijing even if he wanted to.
The three of them met with the scribe. The scribe saw the bookstore's seal and stamped it without even looking at it. He gave it back to Tang Jiu. Ma Wu handed over the official document and told them that the Taixue exam would be held in ten days.
, decide whether to be admitted to Taixue.
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi were very happy when they saw how easily things could be done with Cai Que's help.
Zhang Yue said: "If it weren't for Brother Chizheng, I really don't know how troublesome it would be today. How about this, let me be the host and invite Brother Chizheng, and Shiro will have wine and tea?"
Hearing this, Cai Zhen smiled noncommittally and said, "Let's go to Taixue for a walk first!"
Cai Que immediately took Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi to visit the university.
At first, the university only had Xiqingyuan. Later, with the deepening of Fan Zhongyan's reform, it continued to expand and was merged into Yuhou Gongyu, the capital of the Ma Army. Wuchengwang Temple expanded Taixue.
Even the western verandah of the Chaojiyuan, which was dedicated to receiving officials from the local government who returned to the imperial court, was changed into a law school.
Now Taixue has thirty schools, each with thirty people, for a total of nine hundred students.
After visiting Taixue, Zhang Yue asked the two of them to have a drink.
Cai Que said with a smile at this time: "It's not worth mentioning a small favor. Let me tell you, Sanlang. It's not easy to be away from home and in the capital. If you keep more money with you, there will be many places that can be used in the future."
“Today I am here to show my kindness as a landlord and treat you two to Taixue’s steamed buns.”
Zhang Yue almost forgot about Taixue Steamed Buns, which are very famous.
At the time of Wang Anshi's political reform in later generations, Song Shenzong inspected the Imperial College to see what the students were eating, and he took a piece of steamed bun to eat. Song Shenzong was very satisfied after eating it, and happily said to his surroundings: "You can support scholars with this, you can have no regrets!"
"
Even the officials praised the buns. What else can I say? The taste must be first-rate.
From then on, Taixue steamed buns became a famous delicacy in Bianjing.
Cai Que went to the restaurant to get six freshly baked steamed buns, and the three of them shared the food under the pavilion. The steamed buns in the Song Dynasty were steamed buns. Zhang Yue took one bite and, oh, it was full of meat fillings. It was full of sincerity.
No corners were cut, it was fragrant and juicy, and your mouth was filled with oil.
Not to mention, although it does not have the bonus of Song Shenzong's name, it tastes really delicious.
Taixue Baozi is well-deservedly famous. I tried it on the first day I came to Bianjing.
At this moment, Zhang Yue felt a bit like traveling in later generations and checking in for delicious food.
Zhang Yue silently made up his mind, just like the buns here, he must work hard to get into the Imperial College.