Hearing that Cui Youfu was coming, Xue Bai shook his head and looked at Du Wulang who looked confused.

"I bet he's going to come and tell me not to rush things."

"Ah? How did he know?" Du Wulang said, "This hasn't even started yet."

"Spring River Plumbing Duck Prophet." Xue Bai said, "There is nothing new under the sun, it is just a little care. The Cui family has a great cause and will not openly disobey me. It is nothing more than bowing its head and being submissive. I will take the opportunity to release the news and let those people Loyal ministers put pressure on me."

He had gone through many court meetings, and there was nonsense like this every day. Xue Bai didn't have to listen to what Cui Youfu had to say.

Naturally, he was too lazy to summon him. After thinking for a while, he approved a note and asked the eunuch to hand it to Yan Zhenqing.

"Cui Youfu disappeared. Send this to Zhongshu Province."

"According to the decree."

Du Wulang watched Xue Bai handle the matter calmly, avoiding the dispute with the courtiers like before, and couldn't help but whisper: "Your Majesty is more sophisticated."

"After all, he is a skilled worker."

Outside the Qianyuan Gate, Cui Youfu waited for a long time, feeling more and more anxious, but he was not summoned by the emperor. Instead, Yan Zhenqing sent someone to summon him.

Zhongshu Province is not far away, just pass through Xihua Gate.

After several wars, the imperial court actually used the official offices in Luoyang, and they have been slowly renovating them. There are craftsmen outside Zhongshu Province who are painting the palace walls with red paint.

The fresh color is brushed down vertically, covering the old, blackened color, giving a pleasing look.

Cui Youfu felt a little relaxed when he saw this scene. He actually stopped and watched for a while, and his original anxiety also eased a little.

When he walked into the official house, Yan Zhenqing was standing in front of the table, boxing slowly. When he saw him coming, he signaled with his eyes to let him wait a little longer.

Cui Youfu originally thought it was Wu Qin Xi, but after observing it, he found that it was not, so he couldn't help but curiously asked.

"It was taught by a saint a while ago. It's called 'Ba Duan Jin'. It's said to have the effect of dredging the belt and rushing meridians and curing waist and neck ailments." Yan Zhenqing stopped his movements and said slowly: "I didn't believe it at first, but I thought to myself How old is the saint? How can he know how to maintain his health? But after practicing it, he found that it has miraculous effects."

After that, he laughed at himself and said with deep emotion: "The same is true for many things. Because of my age, I always say that young people do something wrong. In fact, you have to do it to know everything, don't you think so? ?”

The topic then got down to business, and Cui Youfu muttered: "I heard that Du Wulang did something very ridiculous."

"oh?"

"Du Wulang took a slave away from the Shouan Cui family and said that he wanted him to take the imperial examination. Most of the lowly slaves in the world have not enough to eat, and less than one in 10,000 people can read. This matter is meaningless. It will make this year The provincial examination became a laughing stock.”

Yan Zhenqing said: "It is precisely because of the absurdity that it can break the world's 'established impression' of the imperial examination and restore the confidence of the children of the common people who are disappointed with the court and feel that their talents are not appreciated."

Cui Youfu said: "I'm afraid it will only make the truly talented and learned people feel ashamed to associate with lowly officials and be ashamed of taking the imperial examination."

"It's better this way. The imperial court only wants to appoint people based on their talents, so those who take the exams will be those who care about the poor people."

"Master Yan." Cui Youfu said helplessly: "No matter how high-sounding this matter is, to put it bluntly, it is not the saint's personal likes and dislikes."

"Is that what you think?"

"This is what the saint experienced when he was young." Cui Youfu said: "He once hid himself as a slave and had a good impression of the humble slaves. He was promoted through the imperial examination, so he wanted everyone to be able to take the imperial examination. But we cannot govern like a castle in the air. Lowly slaves were not able to read and write, and all they wanted was food and clothing. The imperial court revised the Tang Dynasty laws. Originally, slaves with lowly status could be bought and sold, but it was changed to three years before they could be bought and sold. The original penalty for killing guilty slaves was a hundred sticks, but it was changed to five years. It’s a method of being down-to-earth and gradual.”

He knew he had said too much, so he said: "Mr. Yan, I don't want to speak for the Cui family. If it is really to protect the Cui family, I don't have to offend Yan Zhijian like this."

"I know." Yan Zhenqing nodded and said, "But the saint wants to give strong medicine."

"What I am opposed to is strong medicine." Cui Youfu asked, "Why has Mr. Yan sided with the saints in so many things lately?"

Yan Zhenqing said with emotion: "That has to be a saint to be reasonable. You were once the captain of Shou'an County. Let me ask you, what was your greatest political achievement during your tenure?"

"If you don't count the major water transportation case in Yanshi that I and the saint worked on together, it will be a tax."

Cui Youfu said this because the most important criterion used by the imperial court to measure the performance of local officials was taxes, and one of the duties of the county captain was to collect taxes.

"During my tenure, I counted the acres of land, reclaimed wasteland, improved the civil service, and brought fleeing households back to their hometowns to farm. The rent paid on time was 30% more than the previous year..."

"Look at this." Yan Zhenqing handed over a thick pile of official documents, "Your achievements are true, but less than a year after you left office, are those fields and households still there?"

Cui Youfu took it and looked through it carefully. He found that the tax figures he paid during his tenure were quite outstanding, which was unprecedented in the past few years. Looking at the acres of land, the same was true.

It seemed that the person who succeeded him as captain of Shouan County was a mediocre person. Within a year, he forced away the farmers who had returned to their hometowns.

Scroll further down, the number of registered cultivated fields in Shouan County reached its highest in the seventh year of Kaiyuan, and then declined year by year. By the fifth year of Tianbao, it was already less than in the reign of Emperor Gaozong, but the rent paid was still there. Increase. And compared with the growth he brought during his tenure, it is only a drop in the bucket compared to the Kaiyuan period.

"Your achievements back then were gifts given to you by wealthy families. But they can't change the fate of those people. Not even two years after you left, they took them all back, even worse."

As Yan Zhenqing spoke, he also thought of the years when he was the captain of Chang'an County, and said slowly: "Although gradual progress is good, it is also easy to be deceived and violated. It has been a long time since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, and land annexation has become more and more intense. Without drastic measures, we cannot show the imperial court So determined."

Cui Youfu said: "The Tang Dynasty has not reached the point where drastic measures are needed."

"What we want is not to maintain stability, but to revitalize the country and create a more glorious and prosperous age."

Cui Youfu didn't know what to say. Looking at Yan Zhenqing, he felt that he was more and more influenced by the emperor, and his way of speaking became more and more like him.

And he probably knew their ambitions.

Methods such as amending the laws of the Tang Dynasty to allow masters to buy and sell slaves within three years were too slow. They wanted to abolish slavery so that fugitives would have nowhere to hide, so that wealthy families could not use it to hide their fields and people. This was just The first step they have to take.

~~

In the autumn of this year, in order to increase the number of people taking the imperial examination, the imperial court added an additional children's examination.

It is stipulated that as long as you pass the children's examination, you are eligible to take the imperial examination. No matter your age, you can take the examination. The children's examination is divided into three sessions, the first is the county examination.

Compared with the previous selection of rural tributes, the biggest difference is that in order to encourage poor children to take the imperial examination and become officials, the imperial court specially issued an edict. Those with excellent scores in the county examination can enter the county school to study, have a house to live in, and are provided with food on a monthly basis.

The new policy has just started to be implemented, and many people are waiting and watching. However, the scholars who originally participated in the imperial examination were either from the Imperial College or the rural tribute, and had already qualified for the imperial examination. Therefore, most of those who participated in the child examination were mediocre in talent and academics, and had no expectations for an official career. A person with expectations.

On the day of the test, Yanfang was very nervous.

When he arrived at the examination room in Shouan County, he heard the discussions around him. Most of them were saying that they would be satisfied as long as they could become a junior student in the county school.

"Yuan Zhiyuan."

"Yuan Zhiyuan."

The clerk called him twice before Yan Fang realized what he was doing. He quickly stepped forward and said, "It's me."

"Let's search you."

"yes."

He walked into the examination room with his new name. He looked back and saw that Du Wulang was here in person today, and standing behind Du Wulang was his mother-in-law.

In a blink of an eye, it was the day when the county office released the results.

"Yuan Zhiyuan!"

"I saw it, I saw Yuan Zhiyuan!"

Yuan Zhiyuan raised his head and stared blankly at the list, counting forward from the end. It took a long time before he saw his name.

He counted from front to back again and found that he was thirteenth, and he suddenly became even more excited.

"I got it? I got it!" Yuan Zhiyuan quickly turned around, pulled his grandpa over, pointed at the list and kept chanting, "Grandpa, did you see it? I got it."

"Grandma is illiterate."

Old Yuan Tou tried his best to squeeze into the crowd and scanned the list with his eyes. He felt that the names on it were as dense as flies and could not be identified at all.

He followed the direction of his son's finger to find the word "Yuan". When his neck was sore, he finally shouted: "Okay, okay, grandpa saw it!"

The actions of the father and son made the candidates around them quite dissatisfied.

"I've been standing here for too long, let others take a look."

"I don't know how to read but I still come here to look at the list. I smell like sweat..."

Old Yuan Tou giggled twice, not daring to offend these scholars, and stepped back angrily. He was also reluctant to leave the glory that his son had earned so hard, so he looked back at the list every three steps, fearing that he might accidentally move it.

If you look around, you will no longer be able to find the word "Yuan".

"Ouch, you old man, you stepped on me!"

"Plain guilty. Accused."

Lao Yuantou only thought in his heart that this was the smoke coming from the ancestor's grave, and he had to go back to complain to his ancestors.

Not far from them, Cui Dong and Cui family teacher Zhao Hua were also looking at the list.

"Sure enough, he won." Cui Dong said, "Yes, with Du Wulang's relationship, how can he not win?"

Zhao Hua said: "Without Du Wulang's relationship, he can win."

"Sir, what you are saying is that Yanfang outperforms many scholars in the county because of his true talent and practical knowledge."

"The Cui family has a rich collection of books, and many annotations on scriptures and meanings that are not found elsewhere have been read by Yan Fang." Zhao Hua said, "In the past, Cui Jing's poems and poems were all written by him. It is not unusual to be included in the list. The ranking is too low."

Cui Dongdao: "Sir, you taught me well."

Zhao Hua sighed: "I'm afraid we will be in big trouble next time."

Cui Dong felt deeply and couldn't help but sigh.

He knew that Yan Fang was now Du Wulang's slave, so if Du Wulang's slave passed the county examination, it would inevitably arouse dissatisfaction and doubt among many people.

Those children from aristocratic families who think highly of themselves will inevitably cause trouble if they think of taking the imperial examination with such people in the future; those old scholars who consider themselves to be honest are sure that there is fraud in this matter, and they will inevitably cause trouble.

This will inevitably involve how Yanfang studied. When the time comes, Mr. Zhao Hua, who surrendered to the rebels, will be implicated, and the Cui family will also have to take sides.

Cui Dong originally wanted to be an idle cloud and wild crane, but this time, he had to get involved in the official career economy, and it was someone else's official career economy.

He turned back, looked at the name on the list, and murmured: "Yuan Zhiyuan?"

The forgotten memories suddenly reappeared, and he vaguely thought of what Chunzhi said in his arms.
To be continued...