The number of candidates who took part in the examination for the promotion of King Sheng of Wu in the fourth year was three times more than that of three years ago, especially the scholars of the vassal states outside of Wu, which was five to six hundred more. The family backgrounds of the bachelors from the vassal states who rushed to the examination were much higher than that of the first session of bachelors, and half of them came from famous families.
The number of students who came to take the examination gathered in Kangseong in January. The students from good families usually had servants with them, and the total number of students who came to take the examination was more than 2,000, and the number of servants accompanying them was also the same.
With the influx of 5,000 to 6,000 foreigners, the inns in Kangcheng were packed to the brim, and the late arriving students couldn't find accommodation and had to rent the rooms of the people in Kangcheng at high prices. Kangcheng seems to be more lively because of the influx of students from all over the world, foreign candidates are also shocked by the prosperity of Kangcheng.
Kang City after four years of construction, the whole city has a new look, the whole city for the functional planning, near the Royal Palace for the administrative district, the administrative district to the south is the College District, the East Gate and the South Gate for the main commercial area, the North City for the majority of the residents of the city of Kang City residential area, the western part of the forbidden guards camps, food market, livestock trading place. The streets of the city were wide and clean, with stores lining the streets.
The streets are marked with street signs, where you want to go, the street signs have instructions, and you can get there by taking a numbered public carriage. Livestock walking around the city are always behind the buttocks by a cloth bag pocket manure, only animal urine can not be controlled, by the old man in charge of sanitation to clean up with a mop.
Wu has abolished the entry fee to the city and only charges a cleaning fee for livestock. In order to solve the problem of livestock congestion on major city roads, there is a temporary livestock parking place outside each city gate, where you can board your own livestock for a small fee for grass.
The stores in the city are full of goods, attracting the attention of many foreign candidates, the stores of expensive goods at low prices to make them fall off the eyeballs, the price of these objects in their countries at least one or two times the price.
In addition to the many stores in Kangcheng, there were also many restaurants and snack stores, and the food in these restaurants and snack stores had novel approaches and delicious flavors, and after the candidates tasted them, they exclaimed that this was the delicacy on earth.
The most surprising thing for the candidates is that there is a garden without walls in the center of Kangcheng City, which has small bridges and flowing water, and all kinds of flowers and trees are planted along the curved brick road, which are managed by specialized florists. The main gate of the garden is engraved with the word park, which literally means a public garden where anyone can enter and play.
The students who went to Tangdi for internship all rushed back to Kangcheng a week before the promotion examination, after the internship, as long as they have the top fifty rankings, they will be reused by Zheng Yuming, after all, they have handled the local affairs and have the theoretical and practical experience.
Wei Zhong from the Tang land back to Kang City, watching from the promotion examination there are four or five days, will be the head of the invitation to former friends to get together. This time, the gathering place is not located in Wei House, but in a pavilion in the park.
The Wei family servants went to the park early to apply for a reservation to use the pavilion. The pavilion was surrounded by carved doors to block the wind, and a fireplace was built into the pavilion to keep the temperature inside warm. The pavilion has a very high foundation, and with the pavilion windows open, the surrounding scenery can be seen in full view, making it a good place to enjoy wine and snow.
Because the Pavilion Court is a good place to enjoy the scenery, want to Pavilion Court party to enjoy a lot of people in the city of Connecticut, in order not to collide with the period of strife, the user must go to the park management office to register, pay a small management fee to reserve.
Wei Zhong has always been active and righteous, and has many close friends. For this gathering in the park, Wei Zhong invited as many as twenty people. The pavilion did not have a heating stove, but three tables of hot pots. With three hot pots in the pavilion, there was no need to raise the heating stove.
Yang He and Fu Chou had already returned to Kangcheng, and as Wei Zhong's best friends, they were of course invited. On the day of the party, when the two of them took a walk from the North College to the pavilion in the park, it was still early. In the pavilion, Wei Zhong was sipping tea and waiting for the guests, while two servants of the Wei family were preparing the ingredients for the hot pot.
"Two wise brothers, quickly enter the pavilion to warm up." Wei Zhong saw Yang He and Fu Chou coming down the path and got up to come out to meet them.
Yang He and Fu Chou hurriedly clasped their fists and saluted when they saw Wei Zhong, Yang He saluted while praising, "Brother Wei always has fantastic ideas. This place to enjoy the scenery should be enjoyable to savor the hot pot."
Wei Zhong was complimented by Yang He, laughed loudly, stepped down the steps and carried two people's arms into the pavilion together. In the pavilion, there were three yuanyang hot pots with ingredients cooking, and the temperature was more than ten degrees higher than that outside the pavilion. As soon as Yang He and Fu Chou entered the pavilion, in addition to the aroma, the cold was immediately dispersed.
Wei Zhong, Yang He and Fu Chou sat down by the window, and Wei family servants poured hot tea for Yang and Fu. Wei Zhong pushed open one of the windows of the pavilion and saw a beautiful snowy landscape. The three of them talked over tea and dried fruits while enjoying the beautiful scenery outside the window and waiting for the other guests.
The snow on the tree branches outside the loft window had fallen two days before, and today, with no wind and little sun, was a perfect day to enjoy the snow.
Wei Zhong surveyed his two friends, Yang He appeared to be very energetic, and after half a year's internship in Tang Di, his behavior became much more capable. Fu Chou originally did not say much, now more silent words, clean face has become a little thin, appearance of stability and maturity a lot more.
Pavilion around the path from time to time there are tourists pass by, the local people know that the pavilion at the pavilion often people meet with the party, they will not take the path to the pavilion side of the disturbing, foreign visitors will often turn into the pavilion path, when found that there are people in this party, most of them are busy to leave.
Pavilion just away from a round of foreign tourists, there are three people from the trail turned over, three people walking and talking about what, as the three people into the pavilion in the people hear their words.
"I wonder if the two of you have noticed that there are no beggars in Kham, it is unbelievable to me." A young man in the center, wearing a fur-trimmed brocade coat, made his own discovery that in this era, the people were generally not fed.
"It should be that the city guards drove them outside the city." A fellow traveler stated his understanding.
"It should be so! No matter how wealthy the land of Wu is, it can't be free of beggars." The furred brocade-clad young man nodded in agreement with the other, his own country's capitol acting in such a manner.
Just those hungry people in order to live in spite of the capitol guards beatings, desperate ideas to mix into the capitol begging. Furry young people of the royal capital beggars always drive endless.
Just as the three felt that this was the only way to explain such a phenomenon, there was a sudden objection overhead.
"Nonetheless! Non-also! The three of you have thought wrong!"
The brocade-clothed young man looked up and realized that a twenty-three or twenty-four year old, elegant-looking young man was shaking his head at the pavilion window.
The brocade-clothed young man arched his hand, "I, Shen Lu, a native of Xu, came to your country with two fellow countrymen for reference, if the three of us speak wrongly, I would like to ask you to clear up the confusion for us!"
The young man shaking his head was Wei Zhong, and hearing the brocade-clothed man's self-reported surname, Wei Zhong could not help but stare.
"Is Your Excellency a member of the clan of the Kingdom of Xu?" Shin was the family name of the clan of Xu.
Shen Lu nodded, "Not bad, Yu is precisely the cousin nephew of the current State Lord of Xu."
Upon hearing this, the three people in the pavilion hurriedly stepped out of the pavilion to greet each other at the pavilion door.
Xu was the motherland of the famous scholar Wang Jie, and the news that Wang Jie and his disciples had been reappointed in Wu had long spread to the court of Xu. The news that Wu would employ anyone with talent, regardless of the country they came from, attracted many people in Xu.
Although Shen Lu is a son of the royal family, because his father had fought with the Lord of Xu Kingdom for the throne, after the Lord of Xu Kingdom came to the throne, Shen Lu's family was guarded and left idle. Shen Lu is an ambitious person, always thinking of politics, since the domestic can not be realized, Shen Lu would like to take his chances in Wu.
After the Spring Festival, Shen Lu contacted two close friends, carrying gold and silver road funds without carrying slaves quietly left Xu, this time of the year the northern river is frozen, the waterway is not navigable, the three can only ride on land, it took more than half a month to arrive at the state of Wu Kang City.
"So you're a noble of Xu, Wei Zhong is out of line!" Wei Zhong gave Shen Lu an honorable salute and introduced Yang He and Fu Chou.
Shen Lu's status is noble, but people are easy-going, and greeted Yang He and Fu Chou one by one, and introduced his companions on his side, which are also the sons of Xu Guo's family.
"Mister Wei is here to invite friends for a small gathering, how about the three of you joining us for a small drink?" Wei Zhong sincerely invited.
Shen Lu and his companion had just arrived in Kang yesterday and were about to find someone to understand the situation in Wu, so they gladly accepted Wei Zhong's invitation.
The six of them went to the attic and took their seats, and Shen Lu brought up the topic of begging again. "Brother Wei! Just now, Brother Wei meant in his words, is it true that there are no beggars in Wu?"
Fang had recounted his age, and Wei Zhong was still the oldest in the group.
Wei Zhong smiled, "That's not true, there are still beggars in Wu."
Shen Lu was puzzled, "Then where did we go wrong?"
"The absence of beggars in Kang City is not an escort drive." Next to him, Yang He explained for Shen Lu.
Wu has three ways of dealing with beggars. If they were refugees, the civil administration would re-establish their household accounts and arrange for them to work in the fields. Those who are not refugees but are able-bodied but are good at working hard are identified and thrown into the mines for labor. The body has a disability loss of working ability, there are relatives can join the person, the local disabled relatives and friends some preferential policies to take care of, there is no relatives and friends can rely on, the guards will send them to a special shelter, shelter conditions are not too good, not too bad, but can ensure that these people's food and clothing.
"The three of you did not see any beggars in Kang City for this very reason. This is true of all the major counties in Wu, only Tangdi was just merged last year, and these three dispositions have not yet been implemented." Yang He spoke meticulously.
After Yang He finished his explanation, the three of them, Shen Lu, were surprised at the benevolence of King Wu's court.
Shen Lu looked Yang He up and down, "Yang Di is quite familiar with official affairs!"
Yang He smiled coyly, "In the summer of last year began to go to the local internship, internship in more contact to understand carefully."
"Internship?" Shen Lu came across another term he didn't understand. When he arrived in Wu, Shen Lu found many new words.
Wei Zhong hastened to explain to Shen Lu that internship means practicing in a place, and that the top ten students of the North and South Academy of Wu were sent to Tangdi last year to practice as mandarins.
"Oh, this is only sent if you excel in your studies, right? But all three of you have gone to Tang Di for internship?" Shen Lu stood in awe.
Wei Zhong slightly angled his head, his mouth modest: "Wei Mou is not very good at his studies, barely good enough to go to Tang Di, but it's Yang Xian Di and Fu Xian Di, the two of them are the best of the North Academy!"
Shen Lu face admiration: "So Yang Fu two virtuous brother is a great talent, this promotion examination, two virtuous brother will certainly be on the top of the list!"
As soon as Shen Lu's words of praise fell, Yang He touched his nose in embarrassment, while Fu Chou blushed and slightly bowed his head, but it was Wei Zhong who laughed out loud.
Shen Lu was surprised, "Why is Brother Wei laughing?"
"You all don't know, this year's top of the promotion exam is topped by none other than one person!"
Shen Lu was even more astonished, "Which wizard is it that can be unanimously esteemed by all of you."
The smile on Wei Zhong's face was deep as he pointed his finger at the pavilion path, "The top of this year's list is here!"
Shen Lu turned around, only to see two sixteen or seventeen year old wonderful young girls walking along the path.
There are two mandatory rules for the promotion examination of the State of Wu, one is that the candidate must be at least sixteen years old, and the other is that the candidate, after being selected for the reference, has to swear not to commit any act detrimental to the national interests of the State of Wu. The first one is that the candidate must be 16 years old, and the second is that the candidate must swear not to commit any act against the interests of the state of Wu after being selected.
The first rule was because the average life expectancy of the people of Great Qin was in the early thirties, and because the age of death was too early, people characterized sixteen as adulthood, based on the fact that men and women were sexually developed at that age. This rule is for all schoolchildren.
The second provision was mainly aimed at the scholars of the vassal states outside of Wu, to prevent the scholars of the vassal states who had been reemployed through the promotion examination from doing anything that would betray or harm the interests of the state of Wu. At this time, people valued honor and believed in ghosts and gods, and would abide by poisonous oaths when they made them.
The promotion examination of the fourth year of King Sheng of Wu was characterized by two features compared with the first promotion examination: firstly, the number of people was very large, and secondly, there were women as references. When the registration for the examination closed, there were six women who had registered for the reference. All six were students from the north and south academies, and Huo Si Hua and Wei Kou were among them.
Huo Sihua is seventeen this year, three years ago was not enough to reference age, Huo Sihua if three years ago with the elder brother to take the exam, the results will not be worse than Huo Sizhong to where.
Huo Sihua has only been in North Academy for two years, but his coursework results have overwhelmed his seniors. Especially in math, Huo Sihua's arithmetic was only inferior to Zheng Chu and Gongsun Pan's trio, and all the other math tutors in North and South Academy were below Huo Sihua's level, and as a student, Huo Sihua often gave math lessons to the seniors as a tutor.
For Huo Sihua such a hegemonic teacher sister, Yang He and Fu Chou have long been willing to bow down, the North College examiner in the bottom of his heart has decided that Huo will be the top of this year's promotion examination.
Huo Sihua lived up to the high expectations of all the seniors and secured the top spot with undisputed results. The names of the candidates' test papers were practiced to paste their names, and when the first overall score was revealed to be Huo Sihua, the hundred officials of King Wu's Court were abuzz with excitement, unlike the students of the North Academy who were as well informed about Huo Sihua as they were about the students of the North Academy. A part of them found it unbelievable, while a part of them took a skeptical look at Zheng Yuming, because Ming considered Zheng Yuming to be the one who came up with the questions, they felt that Zheng Yuming might have cheated.
However, the people of the King's Court all shut their questioning mouths after reading Huo Sihua's Countermeasures Question and Answer paper at the court meeting. The questions were written by the famous scholar Wang Jie, and no one in the Wu King's court would question Wang Jie's character. Huo Sihua's essay was original and persuasive, and his talent was revealed through the paper.
Although Huo Sihua is the first place in the promotion examination, Zheng Yuming did not send to the local reuse, but let Huo Sihua to the director of education under the Gongsun Pan. In the universal concept of male superiority and female inferiority, let Huo Sihua prematurely outstanding is a kind of harm to her. The fact that Huo Sihua won the first place in the examination as a woman is a great symbolism, which shows people that a woman's talent can be compared with that of a man's. The fact that Huo Sihua won the first place in the examination as a woman is a great symbolism. The main purpose of Huo Sihua's success is to encourage the people of Wu not to stop their own girls from entering the school. Because of the effect of Huo Si Hua's first place, the fall semester of this year's elementary school girls enrollment appeared to be enthusiastic.
Yang He and Fu Chou both entered the top five of the promotion examination ranking, Wei Zhong is the worst, hanging in the end of the twenty. This time the number of references is too many, Wu all over the vacancy of officials and too large, the number of selections will be increased from twenty to fifty, where the promotion examination of the top fifty, are appointed by Zheng Yuming to serve in various places.
Shen Lu, a descendant of the King of Wei, was fortunate enough to place in the top fifty, and was appointed by Zheng Yuming to serve as the newly established county governor of Su Plain. His two companions were slightly less fortunate, placing around seventy or eighty, and stayed at the North Academy to further their education.
Zheng Yuming is still guarded against bachelors outside of Wu, and only trustworthy people will be sent to key departments and places to be reused, such as Yang He, a native of Lu, who was sent to the city of Tangdi's western border stronghold as a county guard. Wei Zhong, a native of Wei, and Fu Chou, a native of Tang, were already Wu men, and both of them were reused as much as they were sent to Dacheng, while Fu Chou was still in Tangdi, serving in the city near his master's hometown.
Hussar General's surviving eldest grandson studied under Wang Jie, also participated in the promotion examination, the examination results are good, ranked in the top twenty, Zheng Yuming would have liked to take care of the allocation of the East China Sea coast, but was Hussar General to stop.
The hussar general requested Zheng Yuming to send his grandson to a tough place for training. In response to the old general's request, Zheng Yuming reassigned his grandson to the poor conditions of the Tang salt farms and was responsible for remodeling the salt farms there.
Of the other five women who participated in the promotion exam, only one woman from a family in the South Academy made it into the top forty, and like Huo Sihua, she was placed in the Education Department. The other women fell short, Wei Kou only made it to the top two hundred or so, and stayed in the North Academy to continue her education.
With fifty talents available, the vacancies of local administrators in Wu were filled. In addition to assigning the fifty candidates to various places, Zheng Yuming also made adjustments to the head of Ulsan County.
Yu Kui was transferred into the royal court and promoted to the position of deputy prime minister, assisting Zheng Yuming in handling state affairs. Gong Sun Ji, the original carefully trained Wen Zai of the Western Marquis, was transferred from the Western Marquis' fiefdom to Dacheng as the head of Ulsan County, the most prosperous county in the Kingdom of Wu, which represented that Gong Sun Ji had gained the trust of Zheng Yuming. Gong Sun Ji vigorously developed animal husbandry in the Western Marquis Fiefdom, and the breeding of cows, horses, sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens, and ducks all took shape. It was only because there was no prairie here that warhorses could not be domesticated, and the ones that were raised could only be used as a walking tool.
Gong Sun Ji was promoted for his outstanding performance, but in his heart, Gong Sun Ji knew that he was trusted by Zheng Yuming and was promoted to become the head of administration in Ulsan. The tax revenue of Ulsan accounted for one-third of the total tax revenue of Wu, and it was one of the most important counties in Wu.
In March, Yu Kui brought his family to Kangcheng, Tuoyi gave birth to a big fat boy for Yu Kui in the fall of last year, and the five-month-old child is already very agile. Queen Tian liked to hold it and play with it, but she didn't want to hold it in her hands, but Yu Kui peed on her. Queen Tian was delighted instead of angry, because the Wu people believed that a little boy peeing on a pregnant woman signaled that the child in her womb was of the same sex.
On the surface, Tuoyi looks like a virtuous concubine, but in essence, she is still a wild girl with a big heart and a bright personality, and she has known the gentle and virtuous Queen Tian since she was in Nanbu. In the unfamiliar city of Kang, Tuoyi had her best friend Huo Sihua and Queen Tian to go around, and she did not feel lonely at all, and on the contrary, she mixed with the upper class in Wu like a fish in water.
As for Zheng Yuming for Yu Kui matchmaking move resentment, Tuoyi heart to achieve success, happy to get a child, that a little resentment early thrown out of the back of the mind. When Zheng Yuming remembers it by chance, he will still sting a few words of indignation.
With Yu Kuei's help in sharing the political affairs, Zheng Yuming was greatly relieved and began to prepare for his visit to Zhao and his pilgrimage to Haojing to pay homage to the Son of Heaven.