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

Chapter 343: The world's talented people have one stone, two buckets come from Peimen
Tian Fu immediately said angrily, "How can I be in the same court with this old villain? If this is the kind of imperial examination, I will not take it."

Pei Yuan listened and said slowly, "Liang Chu has now become an indispensable figure in the court. Given his age, it would not be a problem for him to serve as a Grand Secretary for another ten or eight years."

"The emperor is young now, and he will definitely like such a cabinet minister who has been sidelined. He will also do his best to protect his position."

"Even if there is no special examination this year, there is a high probability that Liang Dashi will become the chief examiner for the next few exams."

"Brother Tian, ​​are you not going to take any of the following subjects?"

Tian Fu was just about to firmly state that he was an honest man when he heard Pei Yuan continue.

"Even if Brother Tian waits until Liang Chu leaves before taking the imperial examination, how old is Brother Tian this year?"

"Ten years from now, you should be in your forties. By then, even if Brother Tian passes the imperial examination as he wishes, how many years will he have to put his knowledge into practice?"

"If Brother Tian is old by then, and has bad luck, and ranks third, he will be exiled and demoted to be a county magistrate. How many three years will it take for Brother Tian to be evaluated and promoted slowly?"

Pei Yuan's words choked Tian Fu so much that he didn't know what to say.

The imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty was entirely a liberal arts examination, and the examiners had strong subjective initiative.

It has something to do with one's own talent, but not that big.

Because those who were able to pass the imperial examination and take the Jinshi examination were all top talents from all over the country, and their levels were mostly similar.

People like Yang Shen, a genius who leaves everyone speechless, are simply outliers.

Whether these top talents from all over the country can perform well in the imperial examination, their talent and learning have become just an embellishment. It all depends on the candidates' writing style and whether it meets the examiners' expectations.

Even with Tian Fu's talent and knowledge, there was no guarantee that he would pass the exam. Otherwise, he would not have been only a juren in his middle age.

What is ironic about Li Dapu is that according to the original history, the chief examiner of the next section in the ninth year of Zhengde was Liang Chu, and many of the candidates such as Huo Tao and Tian Fu who were against Liang Chu were admitted by Liang Chu.

In the original history, the "Liang Ci Fu case" broke out in the seventh year of Zhengde and it took more than a year to be settled.

In the ninth year of Zhengde, Liang Chu's prestige was completely lost and his reputation was in disgrace.

Therefore, as soon as the successful candidates of that subject appeared, those who wanted to do something would give up, while those who wanted to work hard to get ahead would do so.

Although the special examination was now held earlier, the "Liang Ci case" was also brought to an end ahead of schedule because of the incident in the Tongzhengsi, which allowed Zhu Houzhao to cut the Gordian knot and end it early.

The situation we are facing now has almost the same political background as the one in the ninth year of Zhengde in history.

Under such circumstances, Huo Tao and Tian Fu have a high chance of successfully making the list.

In the ninth year of the Zhengde reign, Huo Tao was the first place in the imperial examination, the first in the country. He was also the first in the palace examination, the fourth in the country.

His ranking in land tax was not low either, ranking tenth in the second class of the palace examination and thirteenth in the country.

The chief examiner Liang Chu had great power in deciding the ranking of the imperial examination.

Liang Chu, the second-ranked examiner, was also deeply involved in the ranking of the palace examination. After all, when the palace examination results were shown to the emperor, the order was arranged by these people.

In other words.

These two crazy guys who are against Liang Chu have no idea how much Liang Chu likes them!
It can be said that Liang Chu almost single-handedly brought these two people to the forefront of the world among talented people from all over the country with similar levels.

Then, the final result came out.

Huo Tao's defense was broken on the spot.

As the first in the second class, as long as he follows the procedures, he will surely have a seat in the Ming cabinet.

However, Huo Tao did not even bother to take the examination for the title of Shujishi according to the procedure, and he did not even enter the Hanlin Academy. He went straight back to his hometown to get married, and never returned to the court until Liang Chu resigned.

As for the land tax, he no longer cared about the relationship between the emperor and his teacher. He would encourage the emperor from time to time to confiscate Liang Chu's property. Damn it.

——"If the savings are confiscated, the tax revenue of the whole country can be reduced by half."

The bloody stories hidden in this dull history are truly astonishing.

Fortunately, Huo Tao and Tian Fu didn’t know, but Pei Yuan knew.

It was the daring Captain Pei who knew!
If this year's special examination was really promoted, and Zhu Houzhao also seized the opportunity, he would let Liang Chu be the chief examiner.

Then, a perfect opportunity will arise!

Pei Yuan can target Liang Chu as long as he can organize enough reliable candidates, and then use Huo Tao and Tian Fu as samples to intensively learn the writing styles of these two people.

Then, Pei Yuan can mass-produce Jinshi in this special examination!

As long as he achieves this goal, Pei Yuan will be able to have a huge influence on an entire generation of court officials.

Huo Tao and Tian Fu are both talented people, and using them as anchors, we can confuse cause and effect and accurately grasp the examiner's preferences and political inclinations.

The correct answers are all there, so why don’t you do it?

The huge profits involved forced Pei Yuan to take a gamble!

That's why Pei Yuan took a huge risk to kill Liang Ciwu. In addition to putting the final shackles on Cheng Leixiang, he also wanted to completely tie the land tax to his chariot.

Pei Yuan looked at Tian Fu silently, allowing Tian Fu to digest his words.

His gaze shifted and fell on the table in front of the window.

Pei Yuan ordered Chen Xinjian, "Light the lamp."

Chen Xinjian immediately found the oil lamp, picked out the wick, took out a fire starter from his waist, blew it up and lit it.

Pei Yuan picked up the article on Tian Fu on the table and took a look at it.

What the hell is written...

The handwriting is quite good.

Pei Yuan blushed slightly and rolled up the article. "I'll take it back and ask someone to look at it for you and see how good your article is."

Tian Fu came back to his senses.

He looked disappointed, sighed, and said to Pei Yuan, "Thank you very much, Captain Pei."

Pei Yuan smiled, knowing that this guy had accepted the reality.

Pei Yuan said to Tian Fu again, "I will send you some questions in a few days, and you can practice."

Pei Yuan lied, "You should know my ability. There are a few people who work for me among the examiners. I will let them get familiar with your writing style and recommend you a future when the time comes."

Huo Tao and Tian Fu are certainly talented, but Pei Yuan is more eager to increase sales now.

As for the subsequent operations, they will have to wait until Wang Chang takes office as Governor of Shandong.

At that time, Wang Chang, the governor of Shandong, would come forward and try his best to find a well-behaved and useful candidate for Pei Yuan.

Once these Shandong candidates, who are particularly good at taking exams, figure out what those small circles are up to, they can launch a surprise attack. If they are lucky, they can get at least half of the 40% quota for the north!
If there is one stone of talent in the world, then two dou of Jinshi of this generation will come from Pei's family.

The plan goes through!
Even if Tian Fu had made all the calculations, he could never have imagined the level of this reckless warrior in front of him, whom he could never figure out, standing on.

After hearing Pei Yuan's words of righteousness, he bowed again and said, "Thank you very much, Captain."

Pei Yuan smiled and patted Tian Fu, "What is our relationship? Why are you so polite?"

When Tian Fu heard this, his face was full of bitterness.

Why had he been so desperate to provoke this guy?

Pei Yuan had just returned to the city and had many things to deal with, so he didn't stay any longer. He stood up and was about to leave, looking at Cen Meng.

Cen Meng remembered that Pei Yuan had no place to go after entering the city today, so he came here first. He immediately had an idea and asked quickly, "Captain, should we leave the things we brought with us for Mr. Tian?"

Pei Yuan looked at Cen Meng with satisfaction, slapped his forehead with his palm, and a look of realization appeared on his face, "Oh, by the way, I almost forgot, I also prepared a gift for Brother Tian."

Pei Yuan laughed heartily.

He is tall, good-looking, and just the perfect age of nineteen. He looks sunny and handsome when he smiles.

Even Tian Fu thought that this reckless warrior was a charming person.

Pei Yuanyi stretched out his hand, took the sack from Cen Meng, and gently placed it on the Tianfu table.

Tian Fu was puzzled, "What is this?"

Pei Yuan had come several times before, and although the two of them had a pleasant conversation, he only brought some wine and food. This was the first time that this Jinyiwei captain came to the door with a gift.

Pei Yuan smiled and stretched out his hand, motioning Tian Fu to look for himself.

Tian Fu untied the sack with confusion, and immediately a strange smell came out.

He was a scholar and had never been exposed to these things, so he didn't think much about it at first.

He smelled the obviously wrong odor, looked at the blood-stained lime powder in the sack, and then looked at the round shape of the cloth bag inside.

Tian Fu suddenly understood what was inside.

——It’s a human head!
Tian Fu's hands began to tremble. He looked at Pei Yuan in astonishment and asked incoherently, "Qian, Qian Hu, what does this mean?"

The smile on Pei Yuan's face remained unchanged.

Although Pei Yuan's expression did not change at all, at this moment, Tian Fu suddenly felt that the sunny and cheerful smile just now seemed to be full of cruelty and mockery.

Pei Yuan stretched out his hand and probed, motioning Tian Fu to continue opening it.

Although Tian Fu was frightened, he was now in a difficult situation.

He could only continue to untie the cloth bag with trembling hands.

When the cloth bag was opened, a hideous human head covered in blood was immediately revealed.

——Liang Ci'e!

Tian Fu was so frightened that he almost dropped the head on the ground.

Tian Fu felt a chill in his heart, filled with fear, "Is this Liang Ci'an?"

Pei Yuan did not answer. He looked at Tian Fu, and the smile on his face slowly faded away.

Tian Fu had seen Liang Ciwu many times, so it was not that he didn't recognize Liang Ciwu. He just couldn't believe it.

When his mind became clearer, he immediately asked in panic, "Captain, what do you mean by this?"

Pei Yuan looked at Tian Fu calmly, spoke slowly, and tried hard to show his sincerity.

"I admire Brother Tian's talent very much. If Brother Tian wants to kill Liang Ci'an, just tell me and I will get his head for him."

Pei Yuan paused, then continued, "I heard from Yang Fang that Brother Tian is a strategist."

"Pei has also heard a little about the tactics of the strategists. They are nothing more than using tricks to deceive and confuse people in order to achieve their goals."

"It's just that Brother Tian made a mistake. If you want to persuade me, you don't need so many tricks."

"Your talents and abilities are enough for me to do this for you willingly."

"I am willing to use my utmost sincerity in exchange for our mutual understanding. Brother Tian, ​​please do not do such polite things in the future."

After Pei Yuan finished speaking, he glanced at the heads on the table, smiled at Tian Fu again, and then turned and left.

Cen Meng and Chen Xinjian followed immediately.

The two men were like wolves roaming on the grassland, following Pei Yuan, the wolf, and slowly walked out of the yard.

Tian Fu looked at the head on the table, then looked at Pei Yuan who was leaving.

I was dizzy for a long time.

Tian Fu suddenly recalled a story for no reason. When Prince Dan of Yan was raising assassins, he once cut off the hand of a maid as a gift because Jing Ke praised the beauty of her hands.

Therefore, when Jing Ke was faced with the situation of entering Qin to assassinate King Ying Zheng of Qin, he had no way to refuse.

Even the whole world believed that Jing Ke should sacrifice his life to repay his loyalty.

Tian Fu looked at the head on the table, tears streaming down his face unconsciously. After a while, he suddenly burst into tears, "My clan is exterminated!"

Pei Yuan walked out of the alley where Tian Fu lived and asked Cen Meng, "Do you know any crowded places? I can go there to show myself."

Cen Meng thought about it and said tentatively, "At most, there are a few brothels."

"That won't work." Pei Yuan was very self-respecting.

Then he continued, "Liang Ci'an and I have a grudge. Liang Ci'an died suddenly this time, and I am prone to arousing suspicion. If I deliberately do something out of line, wouldn't that be incriminating myself?"

Pei Yuan asked Cen Meng, "How many soldiers are left in the city now?"

Cen Meng thought for a moment and replied, "The ones who went out this time were only those from Puxianyuan. There are still 150 or 160 people left. We didn't inform Tan Tai Fang Tu and Si Kong Sui about this action, so there are quite a few people who can be mobilized now."

Pei Yuan thought for a while and said, "Then I'll go meet Xiao Yan. If he scolds me, that would be great."

The emperor already knew that Xiao Yan had helped Pei Yuan to tip off the emperor, and Xiao Jing also stepped in and forced Xiao Yan to stay at home and claim to be sick.

The key point is that when the emperor went to induce a confession, Xiao Yan took all the blame under the strong suggestion of Chen Toutie.

This really made Xiao Yan's mentality explode.

Therefore, it is reasonable for Pei Yuan to go to Xiao Yan to reconcile.

Even if there is some trouble, it makes sense.

What's more, Pei Yuan was hoping that Xiao Yan would make some noise.

So Pei Yuan took Cen Meng and Chen Xinjian to find Xiao Yan.

When they arrived at the gate of Xiao Yan's mansion, Pei Yuan asked someone to inform the Left Commander-in-Chief, saying that it was his old friend Pei who wanted to see him.

Not long after, a steward came out with a frown on his face and said unhappily, "The Left Commander is not seeing guests, everyone please go back!"

Pei Yuan knew that the manager was probably scolded, so he deliberately said angrily, "Humph, I, Pei Yuan, thought you were a brother, but I didn't expect you to be so irresponsible!"

After yelling a few words, he left in anger.

After coming out of the Xiao family's alley, the three of them stood on the street, hesitating about where to go next to sign in and make their presence felt.

Someone hurriedly caught up with him and said, "Captain Pei, wait a minute. My Left Commander wants to see you again."

"Huh?" Pei Yuan was surprised. Could it be that Xiao Yan felt that he was at a disadvantage after being scolded by him and wanted to scold back?

Xiao Yan, who has seen his own abilities, shouldn't be so naive.

Pei Yuan thought about it and immediately said with a smile, "Okay, since the Left Commander wants to see you, then I will go meet you right away."

(End of this chapter)