Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 296 Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick
Yun Buxian was puzzled, Pei Yuan gestured to him, "Go and listen to what they are talking about?"

"Uh." Although Yun Buxian didn't know what Jian Zheng meant, he understood the three words "go and listen" very well.

So Yun Buxian stood up calmly and walked slowly towards those buildings.

Yun Buxian grew up in the capital. His father Yun Weilin not only has a wide network of contacts, but also has accumulated a lot of wealth. Therefore, Yun Buxian looks like a real young master.

Seeing Yun Buxian coming, many scholars who had never seen Yun Buxian before treated him as a candidate and nodded slightly to him.

Seeing this, Yun Buxian walked forward with a smile, first exchanged a few words in a low voice with the person who had just responded to him, and then started listening to the loud talk.

Some people were curious and asked Yun Buxian in a low voice about his origin and hometown, but Yun Buxian just brushed them off with a simple "military household".

In the Ming Dynasty, reading was a politically correct thing, and anyone who loved learning would be appreciated.

Military households and artisan households are all good households, and their children can study and take part in the imperial examinations.

For example, Zhang Juzheng, an ordinary military son.

But since he was born into a military family, he had nothing to do with the local powerful people who had lived there for generations.

Therefore, Yun Buxian, a military son who was weak and at the bottom of the social contempt chain, became a nobody and listened quietly to those generous words.

After a long while, Yun Buxian understood and slowly retreated.

He whispered to Pei Yuan, "I'm talking about Grand Secretary Liang Chu."

"Oh?" Pei Yuan was slightly stunned. This was the second time he heard the name Liang Chu in such a long time.

Pei Yuan asked doubtfully, "Is it because of the Liang Ci's incident?"

Yun Buxian replied in a low voice, "Yes, there are all kinds of opinions. Most people are indignant, but there are also some who are particularly passionate."

Pei Yuan was not very interested in this topic.

Liang Chu was a cabinet minister, a model of integrity, and the conscience of a civil servant. So what was wrong with his son killing a few hundred people?
If one wants to bring Liang Ci'ao to justice, one would be challenging the authority of the entire civil service system.

You can imagine this: if no one comes to protect the son of a cabinet minister who slaughters a village, then who will protect the son of a minister or vice minister if he kills someone in the future?

Why does our Ming Dynasty like to protect officials from each other?

Because when you protect others, you are actually protecting yourself.

Pei Yuan waited for a while, but he didn't meet any genius who could recognize the master and come to share the table.

While feeling regretful, he couldn't help but sigh that Zhang Cong, who had come to sit with him at the beginning, was indeed a man with the destiny of being the prime minister.

Pei Yuan felt quite bored, and his eyes wandered and fell on the bulletin board outside the Da Ci'en Temple.

The last time Pei Yuan came to Da Ci'en Temple, he was in a very precarious situation and didn't even bother to look around.

I don’t know what the difference is between this bulletin board and the one in Nanjing, and I don’t know if there are any hot searches for good friends on it.

Pei Yuanzheng's mind was wandering when he was attracted by the increasingly fierce quarrel among the scholars in the teahouse.

"If Liang Ci'e is not killed, the public anger will not be appeased!"

"How can Liang Chu stand in the court if he allows his son to commit crimes?"

"In order to prevent the powerful officials from suppressing the matter, the Supervisory Censor Zhang Lian deliberately published an impeachment. When the emperor saw the memorial, he ordered the Imperial Secretary Liu Ti, the Criminal Department Doctor Zhang Wenlin, together with the Governor-General Censor Lin Tingxuan and the Circuit Censor Gao Gongshao to investigate the case. Liang Ci'an actually openly challenged the court officials and ignored them!"

"What's funny is that all the nobles in the room were so angry at being scolded by a thug that they dared not say a word!"

"I think this matter should be personally investigated by the Censor Zhang Lian."

"Brother, what you said is too much. Zhang Dalin, the doctor of the Ministry of Justice, rebuked Liang Ci'an in court."

"Doctor of the Ministry of Justice? Hahaha, that was yesterday. Now we have to call the head of the Ministry of Justice. Zhang Dalin scolded the murderer and was demoted two levels."

"The interrogating officer was scolded so harshly that the one who scolded him was demoted. This is unheard of."

Pei Yuan shifted his gaze and looked in the direction of Da Ci'en Temple inquiringly.

I've been sitting here for a while, but it seems that no daughters of officials have shown up. Could this be a rumor?

Pei Yuan stared blankly at the busy street outside Da Ci'en Temple. He was in a trance for a while, a little distracted. He didn't know what he was thinking, but he subconsciously said four words, "If you are dissatisfied, you should speak up."

"What?" Yun Buxian didn't hear Pei Yuan's muttering clearly, and hurriedly came over, "If you have anything to say, you can tell me."

Pei Yuan came back to his senses from his daze.

He couldn't help but repeat it in a low voice, "I said, if you feel injustice, you should speak out."

After Pei Yuan finished speaking, he no longer paid attention to the bewildered Yun Buxian, and looked enthusiastically at the candidates who were discussing fiercely.

Before he did anything, these dissatisfied people started to make noises, causing Pei Yuan to look at them.

This is simply a team God has given him...

Aren’t these indignant people the ones Pei Yuan wants to win over the most?
Pei Yuan immediately became very interested in those successful candidates.

His heart felt as if it were being scratched by a small hand, making it feel itchy and uncomfortable, and the originally noisy quarrels became pleasant to the ear.

Pei Yuan couldn't help wanting to listen to the conversations and insights of those candidates.

But he had not read much and did not understand any of the jargon, and was somewhat afraid of appearing weak in front of those scholars.

Pei Yuan asked Yun Buxian in a low voice, "How did you get in just now? Did they ask you anything?"

Yun Buxian answered honestly, "That's how it happened. They asked me about my origins, and I just said I was a military household and brushed it off. They looked down on scholars who came from military households, so naturally they didn't pay much attention to me."

Pei Yuan looked at Yun Buxian's dandy appearance, then looked at his own tall and beastly figure, and felt that this trick might not work.

Unexpectedly, Yun Buxian said, "Besides, I am really a juren."

"What?!" Pei Yuan was so shocked that his three views were about to explode, "You are a fucking juren?!"

Yun Weilin quickly lowered his head to drink tea, shaking his shiny head, blowing away the hot steam from the tea, pretending not to hear.

Yun Buxian was startled by Pei Yuan's reaction. He looked around like a thief, and then gave Pei Yuan a plain explanation, "I bought it with money."

"Can a juren buy it with money?" Pei Yuan said, and then felt that he had said nonsense.

Pei Yuan was able to find a way to help his brother Ouyang get the quota for Jinshi, let alone a mere Juren.

Pei Yuan looked at Yun Buxian, still in shock, "Then can you also take the imperial examination?" Yun Buxian smiled bitterly, "What exam? With my skills, if I dare to take the imperial examination, those people who helped me get through before will tear my skin off. Some things, just let it go."

Pei Yuan was really jealous and he also wanted to buy a juren title.

Although he had the honor of being the first in the martial arts examination, the value of his achievement was far less than that of Yun Buxian, the literary examination winner.

Yun Buxian added, "Although there are many Juren and Jinshi among our military family children every year, in fact, most of them come from military families. Compared with local gentry, their foundation is much worse, so it is easy for them to be isolated in the court. It is very difficult for a military family child to climb up."

Pei Yuan understood this to some extent.

Although military households belong to the good class, the status of soldiers has plummeted as peace has come to the world.

Many senior military officers would bow their heads and obey lower-level civil officials.

Those ordinary military households and soldiers lived a miserable life under the exploitation of military officers, and even a large number of them escaped, which made the social status of the lower-level military households close to that of slaves.

The Ming Dynasty had a rich, segmented, and widely socially recognized chain of contempt.

The same subject of Jinshi, according to the first, second and third class, routinely despise one round. Then those who entered the Hanlin Academy despise one round, those who entered the Shujishi Academy despise one round, and Jinshi will despise the same Jinshi once more.

So are the fellow Jinshi at the bottom very content? No, they are first despised according to their ranking, and then despised according to their respective autonomous sutras.

After the work is assigned, there will still be contempt between the clean officials at the central government and the turbid officials at the local governments.

Even among the clean stream, there will still be contempt among various departments.

In the muddy current, people will also look down on others based on the wealth of their administrative center.

Then there is the widespread regional contempt that supports each other, and the even more widespread contempt for people based on their origins.

This is just the chain of contempt between Jinshi and fellow Jinshi. Even the most miserable of the brothers, when they arrive at the local area and face the miscellaneous people who were promoted from clerks, will become a lively dragon and can be despised indiscriminately.

People like Yun Buxian, a military household who relies on spending money to become a scholar, are simply despised.

When Yun Buxian just became a juren, he happily attended a gathering among juren. However, after he came back, he was in a daze for three days.

After listening to Yun Buxian's complaints, Pei Yuan still felt a little scared.

Okay, okay, you really can’t force yourself to fit into a circle that you can’t fit into.

Pei Yuan felt that he should solve the problem from his own perspective. He observed for a while, secretly pointed at the person who spoke the most intensely and acted the most passionately, and said, "Can you help me check and see what's going on with him?"

Yun Buxian quickly agreed, "Okay."

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "If I'm not mistaken, this person should be from Guangdong."

Yun Buxian was a little surprised when he heard this. He took a closer look at the man and found that he was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, young and energetic, no different from other scholars.

Even the accent is standard Mandarin.

While Yun Buxian was still guessing, Yun Weilin's gentle and mellow voice rang out, "When you work with Qianhu in the future, you need to be more thoughtful. Why don't you ask Qianhu for advice?"

Upon hearing this, Yun Buxian quickly looked at Pei Yuan and said respectfully, "I wonder if the captain can give me some advice."

Pei Yuan was still looking at those people, and he said casually, "Because the other people, whether in their expressions or words, showed anger. And besides his anger, I also saw a hint of fear."

Yun Buxian followed Pei Yuan's gaze and also looked at those scholars.

Pei Yuan said slowly, "Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimps, this is the norm in this cruel world."

"This little fish had been eating shrimps for a long time, and suddenly saw its own kind being swallowed by a big fish, so it naturally fell into confusion and fear. The other candidates did not feel so strongly, and they were able to muster up the courage to condemn the Grand Secretary of the court only out of courtesy. This person's words..."

Pei Yuan made a careful judgment, "If he is not from the same hometown as the victim, then he is from the same hometown as the perpetrator. Only with the bloody butcher knife next to him could he have such a strong resistance."

Pei Yuan stood up and said, "Let's go and have a look somewhere else."

Yun Weilin stood up and glanced at Yun Buxian. Yun Buxian paused and quickly went to find a personal guard and asked him to keep a close eye on the person they were looking for.

Pei Yuan went to several tea and food shops along the street to have a look.

As expected, many candidates were involved in politics.

The scope of discussion was very broad. Some talked about the rebellion in Bazhou, some talked about disaster relief in Shandong and Henan, and some were concerned about when the canal transportation would be unblocked. The most discussed topic was naturally the massacre of more than 200 people by Liang Cixi.

All the candidates showed indignation.

Just as Pei Yuan inferred, these small fish that had eaten small shrimps understood more clearly what kind of fear they were facing when they saw the big fish coming to eat them.

If Liang Ciwu could wantonly slaughter the wealthy families who competed with him for land, then what about those of them who came from small landlord families?

Is there a big fish behind you with its mouth open?
Faced with this terrible problem, the candidates showed unusual solidarity.

Pei Yuan looked around, listening to the logic in their conversation and the feasibility of the policy.

In the last shop, he pointed to another person and told Yun Buxian, "Ask about him too."

Yun Buxian immediately took another look and memorized the scholar's appearance.

Thinking of Laozi's teachings, he quickly asked, "Is this person similar to the one just now?"

Pei Yuan replied, "This should also be from Guangdong. Those scholars value mutual assistance among fellow villagers. If they don't sit together, it's either because they have personal grudges or they have concerns."

"If these two people have no personal grudges and have a common aversion, and they haven't sat together for a common goal, it must be because they have concerns about each other."

"So I guess one of them is from the same county as the perpetrator, and the other is from the same county as the victim."

Yun Buxian was stunned when he heard this. Yun Weilin didn't say anything, but looked at Pei Yuan from time to time.

Pei Yuan asked Yun Buxian again, "Are there always so many scholars here?"

Yun Buxian replied, "That's about right. They can't leave, and the next exam will be two years later. It's rare to get together with people from other places. Even if we don't make friends, it's good to gain some experience."

"I heard that some officials in the court also like to choose sons-in-law from young scholars, and some even arrange marriages directly. This makes many people have some small ideas."

Pei Yuan was puzzled, "Shouldn't the matter of catching a son-in-law from the list be done after he passes the imperial examination?"

Yun Buxian replied, "There are less than 300 Jinshi in each exam. How many young people can there be? Even if there are, officials above the third rank will rush to pick them. Others with inferior family backgrounds can only pick young Juren first and place their bets in advance."

"Besides, those who can pass the imperial examination at such a young age are naturally outstanding talents."

Pei Yuan thought about the youthful appearance of the two people just now, and was immediately very satisfied. He just didn't know whether this pair of Crouching Dragon and Phoenix could bring him surprises.

(End of this chapter)