Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 6: What a Big Gift
When Lu Beigu changed into dry clothes and came out, students who were preparing for the Cold Food Festival holiday were leaving the county school in groups of three or five.

Some people were in a good mood, some were dejected, some were trying to remain calm, and more people looked at Lu Beigu with complicated eyes.

Going against the crowd, Lu Beigu did not move forward, but turned sideways to make way and stood in the corridor waiting quietly.

"Congratulations, Brother Lu! Your policy paper received an A!"

"It's true that real people don't show their true colors!"

The two scholars who had just supported him said this, with a look of embarrassment and awe on their faces.

"Brother Lu, Brother Zhang."

Lu Beigu bowed solemnly: "Thank you both for your help!"

"As scholars of my generation, this is only natural," said the scholar named Lu Guangyu. "But Brother Lu hid it so well. We were all mistaken."

Lu Beigu didn't explain too much.

On the one hand, his predecessor was indeed a mediocre person, and as a top modern liberal arts scholar, the two cannot be compared.

On the other hand, if his classmates at the county school thought that he was hiding his abilities before, this would actually be a good thing for him.

At this time, a clerk from the county school came over.

"Your Majesty ordered me to take you there."

Lu Beigu understood in his heart, this was within his expectations. After all, there were many people in the examination room and some things were difficult to talk about in detail.

The "Strategy for Defending Against Summer" he wrote was a strategic analysis report ahead of its time in the Song Dynasty at that time, enough to attract the attention of the county magistrate who had served on the northwest front.

After saying goodbye to the two of them temporarily, Lu Beigu passed through the winding corridors of the county school and was taken to a secluded room, and then the clerk closed the door.

The room is not big, but it is elegantly decorated, with tea sets placed on a low table by the window.

Li Pan was sitting cross-legged on a cushion, holding a copy of Lu Beigu's essay in his hand.

With the rise of the urban middle class in Song Dynasty society, chairs became popular, which directly led to the disappearance of the kneeling culture. Even among the scholar-officials, few people would choose to kneel, which represents the "Wei and Jin style". Most of them would sit cross-legged casually and comfortably.

"Greetings, Lord Ling."

"Sit down." Li Pan said without raising his head.

Lu Beigu bowed respectfully and then sat down cross-legged. He noticed that Li Pan had changed out of his official uniform and was wearing indigo-colored casual clothes, looking more like a weathered old farmer.

"This policy paper of yours," Li Pan finally put down the paper and looked at Lu Beigu with sharp eyes. "It's not something an ordinary person can write."

The air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment.

"I just like reading military books every day and occasionally gain some insights." Lu Beigu answered calmly.

What this means is that this time the topic was half predicted, and there was some element of luck involved. This also indirectly explains why the previous policy essay results were very poor.

Of course, whether this reason makes sense or not is not really important.

Li Pan nodded, not commenting on this explanation.

For Li Pan, it didn't matter whether Lu Beigu had been hiding his abilities before or was trying to please him now.

What’s important is that if Lu Beigu can elaborate on the unfinished meaning of “The Strategies for Protecting the Summer” and even make it practical, then it will actually be helpful to Li Pan’s official career.

Because Li Pan knew very well that there was a big man in Sichuan who was very interested in this kind of thing.
He slowly picked up the kettle, poured boiling water into the teacup, and then stirred it roughly with a tea whisk.

After doing this, he handed over a piece of paper on the low table.

"I've come across an article that I find appealing, and we both seem to get along quite well. I'll give this to you as a meeting gift."

Lu Beigu took it and took a look at it, then he was stunned.

Lu Beigu thought the magistrate would commend him for this policy paper. But he never expected that the paper would contain a guarantee for relocation!
If you don't know the inside story, you might think, isn't it just a transfer of household registration? What's the difference between a town and a county?

But in fact, there are very deep intricacies involved, because in the Song Dynasty, the native place system was not only strongly tied to the imperial examination system, but also involved an important matter concerning the vital interests of the candidates.

That is the "jie'e①" required to participate in the provincial examination of the Ministry of Rites after passing the state examination!
It can be said that this is an extremely precious gift!

This is also the greatest help Li Pan can give to Lu Beigu within the scope of his authority, which fully demonstrates how much he values ​​Lu Beigu.

As for Lu Beigu, although he could live a comfortable life even without taking the imperial examination with his knowledge and talent, it is always a good thing to have a stable channel for social class advancement, and there is no need to be hard on himself.

Therefore, Lu Beigu stood up and saluted.

"I am deeply grateful for your love and care!"

Seeing that he understood the importance of this piece of paper, Li Pan nodded.

He took a sip of tea, stroking the rim of the cup with his rough fingers.

"Now that the county exam is not far away, in addition to policy essays, you must also put more effort into poetry, prose, calligraphy, and calligraphy. Do you understand?"

“Students understand.”

Lu Beigu agreed solemnly, but he was secretly thinking in his heart that the mess left by his predecessor was indeed tricky. His scores in Mo Yi and Tie Jing were terrible, and his poetry and prose could only be considered barely passing.

It is almost impossible for ordinary people to make up for these shortcomings in a short period of time.

Fortunately, he is not an ordinary person.

After finishing talking about Lu Beigu's future, Li Pan was silent for a moment and then suddenly asked.

"You've never been to the northwest. How did you know about the conflict between the Hengshan chieftain and the Xia ruler? And how did you come up with the 'Five Bait' strategy to divide them?"

Lu Beigu's heart trembled. This question was not easy to answer. He couldn't say that he had read it in a history paper.

But no matter how he answered, he would not be regarded as a spy from Western Xia.

After all, there was a geographical distance, and there was no radio at that time. The Xixia people would have been crazy to cross Guanzhong and Hanzhong and find a county school student in the southern part of Shu to serve as a spy.

Not to mention that Shu had no useful intelligence that Xixia needed, let alone whether an ordinary county school student could access it. Even if there was such intelligence, do you know what it meant that in ancient times, the roads were thousands of miles apart and most of them were mountain roads?

By the time the information was delivered, the opportunity had already passed.

"I once met a merchant from the northwest and heard him describe the situation in the border areas."

Li Pan stared at Lu Beigu for a long time, then suddenly smiled: "Do you know why I was transferred here from Qinfeng Road?"

Lu Beigu shook his head.

"Because I submitted a petition to you, some of the ideas I proposed coincide with yours. Therefore, seeing your proposal today is like meeting a kindred spirit."

Lu Beigu suddenly realized that it was no wonder that Li Pan attached so much importance to his policy proposal.

"Your proposed strategy of 'establishing a strong foundation for the frontier' would indeed save the financial burden if we reduced the existing garrison troops in the forts and increased the number of native archers, then concentrated the elite troops to form a field cavalry. However, the original text seems to be unsatisfactory, and I would like to hear your true thoughts."

Lu Beigu's heart skipped a beat.

Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin launched the Chenqiao Rebellion and established his country by using his army to bully orphans and widows. He also felt deeply that the trend of "the emperor should have the strongest army and horses" in the late Tang and Five Dynasties threatened the throne, so he established the current deformed military system of the Song Dynasty.

This issue is extremely sensitive.

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① The Song Dynasty followed the Tang Dynasty system, and Jinshi was selected in the prefectures. Not all candidates who passed the prefecture examinations could go to Beijing to take the exam. Instead, different quotas of Jiezhuang were given according to the population of each prefecture, so it was called "Jie Quo".

② In the Qingli Peace Agreement, Xia abolished the title of emperor but retained its country name. Song appointed its ruler as the Lord of Xia and gave him a gold-plated silver seal, two inches and one centimeter square, with the words "Seal of the Lord of Xia" written on it. He was allowed to appoint his own officials and nominally pledged his loyalty to the Song Dynasty, following the legitimate rule.

(End of this chapter)