On the seventh day of April, Long Chen, three years ago, a convoy of more than a hundred people was driving on the road gradually away from Dongdu. The distance between the beginning and the end of the convoy was more than two hundred meters. There were also six six-wheeled caravans pulled by eight horses.

There are as many as seven, and there are no less than a hundred carriages pulling goods. In addition, there are more than 30 simple cavalry (convoy guards) following the convoy. Counting the passengers in the caravan, the total number of people in this convoy is as high as

No less than a hundred people were walking in the open countryside in a mighty manner, and their destination was the county town of Milu County in Xidu.

This convoy of about a hundred people set out from Shichang a few months ago and traveled from the beginning of winter to the end of spring. It passed through dozens of counties and hundreds of towns, and also detoured many detours. As for the reasons, one is

The second reason for purchasing supplies is to take one last look at the familiar Eastern Capital, and the third thing... is to survive.

And the owner of this fleet is not an ordinary family. He is Suqiao Youjie, a former doctor in the Ministry of Civil Affairs who has just resigned from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and returned to his hometown. This time the family moved from Shichang to thousands of miles away to find deer. It was really helpless.

For example, the old man is nearly sixty years old this year. He grew up in Dongdu since he was a child. Because he studied early and was good at reading, he passed the national examination at the age of fifteen and was admitted to the most famous Tianmu Academy in Shichang City.

Relying on the help of his family's influence, his official career has been smooth, and he has become Suqiao Youjie, the official doctor of yesterday.

People in the officialdom are like saplings in the fields, and this is not an ordinary field, but the best field with the most fertile land in the world. Here you can get the most abundant nutrients, and soon the saplings can grow into towering trees.

, and when the grown sapling has the ability to flourish, it can use its remaining shade to protect those flowers that were once as short as itself.

The old man has been busy in the officialdom for almost forty years. The connections and knowledge accumulated here can provide unimaginable help to his descendants and clan members. However, after resigning, he took his whole family as if they were on the run.

Rushing to Xidu and abandoning all the management over the years is a kind of courage, and it is also a life and death decision...

Everything actually comes from the dispute between officials and etiquette...

Cangluo Kingdom is a monarchy and still uses the six-ministry system. Its six ministries include the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Industry. Each of the six ministries performs its own duties and is of the same level in the system.

The main function of the Ministry of Personnel is to manage the appointment and assessment of officials. Because of this, the power of the Ministry of Personnel seems to be greater than that of the other five departments.

The main function of the Ministry of Household Affairs is to manage the world's money, food, and chambers of commerce. It can be called the country's money bag and the basis for tens of millions of people to have enough to eat.

The main functions of the Ministry of Rites are to supervise schools and compose laws, that is, academy education and promulgation of laws. It can be said that the future of a country and what kind of people it will be composed of are all decided by the Ministry of Rites.

The main functions of the Ministry of War are to manage the national army, formulate strategies in wartime, dispatch generals and mobilize soldiers.

The main function of the Ministry of Punishments is to determine the guilt of citizens and impose reasonable punishments in accordance with the law.

The main function of the Ministry of Works is civil engineering, which includes building buildings, paving roads, building dams, repairing bridges and other construction-related matters.

I don’t know since when, the Ministry of Rites began to interfere in matters under the jurisdiction of the other five ministries, and gradually gained momentum to suppress them. During this period, overt and covert fights among officials naturally appeared, and Suqiao Youjie could not stay out of the matter, and finally ended up

Now this is the fate.

'In order to build the foundation of Cangluo for generations and restore the peak of prosperity of the ancestors, we should abandon the old scientific code and create the new seal of officialdom. Therefore, talents cannot match appearance, and character can participate in the three arts. Don't let ugly people enter the palace...

'

The old man sitting in the caravan could not forget the words of the doctor of the Ministry of Rites in the court hall half a year ago.

The meaning of this passage is that for the sake of the long-term foundation of Cangluo Kingdom, and in order to reproduce the appearance of Cangluo Kingdom in its heyday, we should start to cancel the existing old academic examination system and use the unique system of the new Cangluo era.

The entrance examination system, so when we select talents, we must give priority to whether their appearance conforms to contemporary aesthetics. As for their talents, they can be cultivated later. Similarly, their moral character and character are also directly based on their compulsory courses as Cangluo people.

Three arts (singing, dancing, and musical instruments) are sufficient. The most important point is to avoid ugly people from entering the court as officials, because such people will affect everyone's mood and damage the country's face.

In the court discussions, some officials even ridiculed those who lacked the sense of music as intellectually disabled people and were also unfit to serve as officials in the court. Later, some officials even believed that such people who were ugly or lacked the sense of music were not only unworthy of serving in the court.

Officials should not even enroll. The academies affiliated to Cangluo Kingdom should strictly examine whether the student's appearance meets the standards and whether the practice of the three arts is qualified when enrolling.

Officials who hold different opinions in the court will naturally stand up and fight back against such arguments. After all, this is the Cangluo Kingdom that advocates Confucianism. Those officials who have practiced "human nature is good" since childhood have said

He has expressed his own point of view that the world has always been governed by talent rather than appearance. Classical education is the fairest system for official career promotion. It has been used for nearly three thousand years. How can it be easily abolished! This obvious way of judging people by their appearance is

Biased arguments are really undesirable, and the consequences of judging people by their appearance are quoted from classics. It is precisely because of the loud opposition that this memorial from the Ministry of Rites was unable to gain the approval of His Majesty the Emperor.

It can only be put on hold temporarily.

It's just that... several generations of kings in the past hundred years have increasingly despised Confucianism and began to listen to the teachings of their ministers. This has caused great dissatisfaction in the Confucian world. However, Confucianism dominates the Cangluo Kingdom. As an emperor, he has to worry about helping himself.

The power of the Confucian scholarly community that governs the world, so the emperor of Cangluo State weighed the pros and cons before delaying the new proposal of the Ministry of Rites. Of course, this was only a delay and not a rejection.

This battle seems to be a victory for Confucianism, but every such victory will quietly weaken the power of Confucianism, because the enemies of Confucianism at this time are the emperor's cronies and close ministers, so every time a conflict of political opinions occurs, there will be

Soon after, several old officials of the Confucian school either defected to the favored minister Fang under coercion or inducement, or were directly demoted.

Suqiao Youjie belongs to the latter group. It was just for the sake of his last appearance, so he took the initiative to resign this time. It would look better than being dismissed.

If something like this had happened two hundred years ago, perhaps Suqiao Youjie wouldn't have had to do this, because the former 'Su clan', like the 'Wen clan', were both major clans in the Cangluo Kingdom.

It is worse than the Wen clan, but its influence in the Dongdu area is not small. Its clan members have a strong say in both the official and business circles, but... the power is not normal, and the moon rises and falls.

After all, it gradually declined over the past hundred years.

Of course, it’s not like the Su family hasn’t taken any rescue measures...

If nothing else, let’s talk about marriage. At the same time, the Jiao clan, which was in the same predicament, frequently intermarried with the Su clan. The Su clan valued the influence of the Jiao clan in the business community of Xidu, so every year

The number of intermarriages between the two clans was no less than a hundred, and Suqiao Youjie also married the love of his life, Jiao Mengxuan, during this period. Although in the end, no one from the two clans could save the family from decline, but under the same roof, they all

Rain can be considered a blessing (couple).

Return to the text.

Among the convoys mentioned above that left Shichang, the eastern capital, and rushed to the western capital to find deer, there were descendants of the Sujiao family. The head of the family was named Suqiao Youjie, an old man who was nearly sixty years old.

His wife Jiao Mengxuan is an old woman over fifty years old. They have three sons and one daughter. The eldest son Su Jiao Chengwang, the second son Su Jiao Chenglu, the third son Su Jiao Chengxing and the eldest daughter Jiao Su Cheng

wild goose.

The family was sitting in a six-wheeled caravan in the front row. The car was moving forward slowly. The length of the six-wheeled caravan was about one foot to seven feet, the width was less than eight feet, and the height was more than one foot to three feet. The body was divided into front and rear pavilions.

There are upper and lower floors. The front pavilion has four windows on the left and right for people to sit and watch the scenery. The back pavilion has no windows and only one vent to exhaust smoke from the heater in the car. A short ladder is also installed to lead directly to the upper floor for resting.

room.

At this time, the two elders were sitting in the front pavilion chatting. The second son and the third son were also chatting with each other in the front pavilion, but they had already dozed off. Only the eldest son was still watching the unfamiliar scenery outside the window with great interest, while the eldest son was still looking out the window with interest.

The woman was resting on the upper floor of the carriage due to spring sleepiness. Although the carriage was a little bumpy and the environment was unfamiliar, it did not affect her ability to sleep peacefully because her family members were still around her.

Suqiao Weijie: "Hey... What can I do if I am not with you... It's a waste that I still have this passion, but I don't want to just watch the river flow eastward and lament my own powerlessness. "

Sighing long and short, he muttered with a sad look on his face.

Jiao Mengxuan: "Husband, as the saying goes, it's good to be in the temple. It's a blessing to be able to return to Qingsi Ranxue. You have been an official for half your life and have fulfilled your duties as a minister. I have seen all this. Now it's

The situation has changed through no fault of yours, so don’t blame yourself for it.”

Careful words of advice.

Suqiao Weijie said: "Madam, my sudden demotion has hurt you. It's a long way to the Western Capital. It's my fault that you have to endure this bumpy pain..."

He lowered his head with a look of mourning, tears hidden in his eyes.

Jiao Mengxuan: "You and I are husband and wife, so what are you saying about being involved or not? We are not afraid that the children will laugh at you. Besides, when you were an official in the court, I also had a good time. Now you have resigned to serve the people."

, I am also happy to be a commoner's wife. From now on, you don't have to deal with the troubles of drinking and drinking. We can just be an ordinary couple. When we have grandchildren in the future, we will entertain them together. This is no better than when we stayed in Dongdu.

Much stronger."

Jiao Mengxuan quietly stretched out her hands and took one of Suqiao Weijie's hands, and the two people's wrinkled hands overlapped like this.

Suqiao Weijie: "..."

Although he didn't speak, the expression on his face was obviously no longer so sad.

Jiao Mengxuan: "As long as our family can stay together in peace, this is the best, and I will be satisfied." He raised his eyes and looked at the three sons in front of him.

Tears filled Suqiao Weijie's eyes again. He couldn't remember how many times this happened in the past six months. At this time, the motorcade was heading towards an inn not far away, where it was expected that

We will carry out supplies and rest. This place is beyond the boundaries of the Eastern Capital, but it is still far away from the Western Capital. And this inn used for supplies seems unusual. The reason is that there is an abyss behind the inn.

The abyss also has a heroic name called "Tianyao Pass". Although the name contains the word "pass", it does not mean a fortress pass, but is named after its wonderful scenery.

At this time, our perspective came to mid-air. The time at this time was about five o'clock in the afternoon. In less than an hour, the sun would set. The dusk in late spring felt a little cool, and Tianyaoguan was far away from the city.

In the wilderness, looking down from the air, you can see dense jungles of rocks scattered irregularly on this desolate land. Wild beasts and poisonous snakes are the masters of this land. If you walk here alone, you can occasionally see them.

Of course, most of the white bones without flesh and blood are animal skeletons, but I don’t know where the sinister eyes in the dark place come from. However, it is such a difficult place to like, but it is

The connecting channel between Dongdu and Xidu stretches for more than 700 kilometers from east to west, and has a nice name "Yong'an Oasis". Of course, this name is more about people's hope for the environment here, rather than an evaluation.

Because this is a desolate area with an area of ​​370,000 square kilometers. No matter how the seasons change, the climate is always not so friendly. The high temperature during the day can fry eggs on the road, and the frost and dew at night can make people feel like they are sleeping in the cold winter snow.

, and it is common for wild sand to block the sun, and a sandstorm can bury many lives alive.

It is such a terrible place, but it has not been able to stop the Cangluo people. For thousands of years, two roads have been artificially stepped on here, so that the passage between the east and west capitals can save thousands of kilometers of unnecessary travel.

, but even now, basically only teams of more than a hundred people dare to pass here. The reason for doing so is not only to guard against wild beasts hurting people, but also to rely on each other in case of danger.

At this time, a tall and thin figure appeared at the end of the screen. This figure slowly walked over from far to near. This person should be a monk. He was about 180 centimeters tall. On his bald head, there was a mark of ordination.

, a ring scar burned with incense, with three horizontal rows and three vertical rows, a total of nine white dots. This monk is wearing an old gray monk's robe, covered with an equally old green cassock, and a string of six lines hanging around his neck.

He was carrying wooden Buddha beads, holding an ordinary five-foot-long wooden staff in his hand, and wearing a pair of straw sandals at his feet. When the monk came closer, we could see his face clearly. He had a unibrow and small round eyes, but his eyes were bright.

God, the monk's face is so kind, giving people the feeling of a practitioner who does not fight against the world, but there is a faint wolfish forbearance between his eyebrows. Although I don't know where this monk comes from, I think he is tired from walking.

, not caring about the presence of wild beasts here, he just found a big stone under the tree, walked straight over, lay on the stone and closed his eyes to rest. The tall trees beside him opened up a natural paradise for the monk.

It was cool and cool, and the occasional breeze blew through the leaves, causing the leaves to rustle, so the monk slept peacefully and naturally soothed his limbs.

Dusk arrived at Tianyao Pass, and the sky outside the pass suddenly turned dark. A large group of dark clouds in the sky slowly moved towards the inn where Su Jiaoweijie and his family stayed. A gust of cold wind blew in, mixed with the cold wind that had just passed by before it rained.

There was a smell of rain, and a group of servants shouted hurriedly. Everyone hurriedly covered the cart with a rainproof cloth, and the lasso on the horse's body to pull the cart was also removed, and then they were taken to the hay room to feed and shelter from the rain, and then to the inn.
To be continued...