Great Song Dynasty Writer

The evaluation of Chapter 4 A will be posted on the list for public announcement!
"I have served in the Northwest for ten years, and I have never seen such a penetrating and insightful strategy for dealing with the summer heat!"

These words were like a huge rock thrown into a calm lake, and the entire examination room instantly exploded.

"What? Your Majesty is praising me so highly?"

"Isn't Lu Beigu always at the bottom?"

He Cong heard it clearly from a distance and his face flushed red immediately. He had just mocked Lu Beigu for having "no tricks in his policy papers", but in the blink of an eye, he received such praise from the county magistrate.

"This poor fellow, could it be that he stole someone's manuscript?" he whispered angrily.

"Shh, keep your voice down!" someone next to him reminded.

At this time, Li Pan neither knew nor cared what the scholars in the examination room thought. He reached out and picked up Lu Beigu's answer sheet, and the paper made a slight rustling sound between his rough fingers.

"What's your name?"

Li Pan's voice was still hoarse, but it had a little more warmth.

"Student Lu Beigu, from Gulin Town."

"Gulin Town." Li Pan nodded thoughtfully. "But is it the Gulin Town in the Luo family's territory upstream of Anle Creek?"

"Exactly."

Strictly speaking, Lu Beigu was not from Hejiang County. His registered residence was in Gulin Town, which was under the jurisdiction of the Luo family, a vassal power.

However, that area was not under the direct jurisdiction of the Song Dynasty government, and there were no prefectures or counties established there, let alone county or prefecture schools.

Historically, Gulin Town and Hejiang County belonged to the same Linzhou during the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. With the Anle River water transportation available, travel was extremely convenient, so scholars from Gulin Town usually came to Hejiang County to study in the county school.

Li Pan's gaze lingered on Lu Beigu's wet clothes and the wound on his forehead for a moment, but he did not ask any further questions. He just continued to ask.

"Do you know the 'trade-driven policy'? Why has the imperial court never implemented a similar policy?"

By asking this question based on the policy essay, Li Pan actually implied a test.

Because if this policy paper was just a draft that Lu Beigu memorized, and not his real ability, then he would definitely not be able to answer it.

Lu Beigu's forehead was sweating. It wasn't that he didn't know how to answer, but he suddenly realized that being too strong wasn't a good thing.

Because he originally had the mentality of "since I'm here", he planned to just give it a try and get through the policy essay exam.

As a result, once I got into the state, I overperformed!

This is how to do?
You know, the policy essay results of the predecessor were not ideal.

It is inevitable that people will be suspicious of his sudden success and sudden rise to such power.

But there is no point in thinking about these things now. If I don’t answer them well and the level is different from what I showed in the policy essay, it will be even more troublesome.

——Instead of being suspected of cheating by the county magistrate, it is better to continue this outstanding state!
After thinking this through, Lu Beigu replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"To your Excellency, it's because of the word 'profit'. The government's finances are in jeopardy, and the lives of the soldiers and civilians in the northwest are extremely difficult. They often go months and years without receiving their full salaries, so the border forts rely heavily on the profits from smuggling to maintain their livelihoods."

"Moreover, the price of salt in Guanzhong is high, and the imperial court is unable to lower the price due to the profit of salt tax. Even if the common people are willing to support it, they are forced to buy smuggled green salt to make a living."

It is difficult for modern people to understand the significance of salt to ancient people, because a bag of very high-quality salt that modern people can buy for a few dollars in a supermarket is completely disproportionate to their income.

However, in order to obtain this substance that was necessary to maintain body functions, the ancient people had to spend a very high amount of money.

In fact, it was not that the Song Dynasty did not have enough salt, nor that it could not sell salt at a low price. Rather, in the face of limited fiscal revenue and the burden of the "three redundancies", if it wanted to continue to maintain the normal operation of the country, it had to implement a salt monopoly policy and sell salt at a high price.

Therefore, it’s not that no one has thought about sanctioning Xixia by banning the export of green salt, but it’s just that it was impossible to do so.

Because compared with the official salt in the Song Dynasty, Xixia green salt is not only of better quality but also cheaper. Even if we put aside the taste, the people in Guanzhong have to spend fifty-five coins per catty to consume the official salt, while the smuggled Xixia green salt only costs fifteen coins per catty.

If you are an ordinary citizen in Guanzhong, what would you choose?
As the policy essay exam had not yet ended, Li Pan did not continue to ask questions after a brief examination. He just said: "You can go change your clothes first to avoid catching a cold. I will send someone to call you after the exam." This was not a polite remark, but a very crucial matter.

In this day and age, it’s no problem for a young man to hold on for a while after falling into the water.

But if you don’t dry your body and change into clean clothes, it can be fatal.

"Students obey."

When Lu Beigu turned and walked towards the examination room door, he could feel everyone's eyes were focused on him.

Those who once despised and laughed at him now had disbelief in their eyes.

He was no stranger to this kind of gaze.

Lu Beigu has been a top student since childhood. When he was in school, skipping grades was as easy as eating and winning awards was as easy as drinking water. He graduated with a doctorate at the age of 22 and became a lecturer at Jiangnan University. At the age of 26, he was already an associate professor.

He is the brightest rising star in the field of humanities and social sciences in China, and he has led countless national projects.

Although Lu Beigu admitted that he was far inferior to his colleague and good friend Jiang Xinghuo in teaching and debating, the situation was the opposite when it came to studying, taking exams, and writing.

"Well, I died suddenly before I finished my paper and traveled through time. Now Professor Jiang's chance of being the second author is over. I hope he can be promoted to associate professor this year."

The warm spring sunshine shone on his body. Lu Beigu took a deep breath, feeling the fresh air without industrial pollution, and threw away the messy thoughts in his mind.

The dead cannot be brought back, but the future can still be waited for.

Since my soul has traveled to the Northern Song Dynasty, it is definitely impossible to go back.

Therefore, for Lu Beigu, the most important thing at the moment is to survive well in this era.

In this era where culture is valued over military affairs, a policy paper may not completely change one's fate, but it is enough to change the original trajectory of his life.

And his ability is definitely not just as simple as writing a policy paper.
When Lu Beigu returned to his dormitory at the county school to change his clothes, the magistrate Li Pan and several county school officials began to comment on the collected test papers in another room.

All candidates in the examination room outside are not allowed to leave and must stay where they are and wait for the results to come out.

The vast majority of them were rated C.

However, Xue Zheng was troubled by how to comment on Lu Beigu's policy paper.

This policy paper not only has unique insights, but is also written in a sophisticated style, quoting classics at will. How can it be the level of a county school student?
Well, the reason why Lu Beigu used a lot of allusions in the article was not because he was showing off his knowledge, but because there was a requirement in the scoring items of the policy essay that allusions must be used to prove the point of view. Su Shi even made up the allusion of "Three Killings and Three Pardons②".

And to be honest, the allusions used by Lu Beigu are not only extremely relevant to the argument, but are not even uncommon.

If we use the most popular "Taixue style③" in Kaifeng to write with allusions, it would be really difficult to understand.

"It can be rated A, but whether it's A+ or A+ is hard to say."

"Pride brings harm, while humility brings benefit."

County Magistrate Li Pan made the final decision: "Let's give it the top grade. Post it on the wall of the county school as the best policy essay of this exam."

After the papers were graded, Xue Zheng walked out of the room and went to the examination room to announce the results one by one.

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① During the Tang and Song dynasties, the honorific title for county officials was also "Yi Hou". During the Ming and Qing dynasties, titles such as Da Ling, Tai Ye, and Xian Zun were commonly used.

②The original text "During the time of Emperor Yao, Gao Yao was a minister. He was about to kill someone. Gao Yao said to kill three of the men, and Yao said to pardon three of the men. Therefore, the people feared Gao Yao's strict law enforcement and were happy with Yao's lenient punishment" was an anecdote made up by Su Shi to support his argument during the exam.

③ A literary style popular in the Imperial Academy at that time, characterized by the pursuit of strange and difficult writing styles.

(End of this chapter)