Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 196: Bangyan Repeats
"Dang...dang...dang..."

"Enter the class!"

"Tens of millions of years old!"

On May 15th, when Feng Ao was still thinking about recruiting Liu Jilian as his grandson-in-law, the court meeting in Chang'an City was held as scheduled.

Amid the singing of rituals, the ministers entered the Xuanzheng Hall one by one, and then welcomed the emperor to hold court.

"Be flat!"

After Li Chen took his seat, he immediately signaled to all the ministers to stand up, and they straightened their backs one after another.

Before Li Chen could ask, Prime Minister Linghu Tao bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, news has come from Hengzhou that on the first day of the first month of this year, the Chengde Army reported that the Jiedushi Wang Yuankui had passed away, and the army appointed his son Shao Ding as the deputy Jiedushi, and made Shao Ding the successor of Chengde. Please recommend Shao Ding as the Jiedushi of Chengde."

The replacement of the military governors of the three towns in Heshuo was undoubtedly the top priority for the imperial court to stabilize the country.

The attitude of the new governor is extremely important to the imperial court.

Compared with Youzhou and Weizhou, the rotation of Jiedushi in Chengde Town was relatively stable.

The Wang family had occupied Chengde Town for more than seventy years. Although Tian Hongzheng took over Chengde during this period, he was captured by the soldiers gathered by Wang Tingcou, the military commander of Chengde, less than a year after he took over. Tian Hongzheng's entire family, his subordinates, officers and officials, and 300 others were killed.

Afterwards, Wang Tingcou was promoted to the governor of Chengde Army, and the post of governor of Chengde Army was passed down by him and his son Wang Yuankui for 35 years.

Now that Wang Yuankui has passed away, his son Wang Shaoding has been recommended by the generals and soldiers in the army. This shows that the Wang family is still very popular in Chengde Town.

Thinking of this, Li Chen said, "This Wang Shaoding should be the grandson of my sixth brother, right?"

The sixth brother mentioned by Li Chen was Li Wu, the sixth son of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, Li Chun, and Wang Shaoding's mother was Li Wu's daughter, Princess Shou'an, who was granted marriage by Emperor Wenzong of Tang.

"Your Majesty, Shao Ding's mother is indeed Princess Shou'an."

Linghu Tao bowed in response, and Li Chen nodded and said, "In that case, let's appoint Wang Shaoding as the governor of Chengde."

"Your Majesty is wise..." Linghu Tao praised generously, and then continued:

"Your Majesty, the imperial examinations have been rather haphazard in recent years. There are no real talents to be recruited, and they are just adding to the number of people who can enter the government."

"The officials of the Ministry of Personnel submitted a memorial to the emperor, saying that the imperial examination should be discussed in detail so as to improve the work."

"We, the ministers, have discussed and hope that starting from the tenth year of Dazhong, there will be a temporary suspension of three years. After the expiration of the period, when the time comes to take the imperial examination, the officials will list the candidates first and have the Zhongshu Sheren question them again..."

Linghu Tao proposed to suspend the Jinshi exam for three years. Li Chen nodded and said, "In recent years, the Jinshi exam has admitted very few talented people."

"To be honest with you, I have not been able to think of a talented scholar so far. In this case, I will temporarily stop for three years."

"The three provinces will discuss this matter with the Ministry of Rites, and we hope to select talented and virtuous people in three years."

"We obey your order..." Officials from the three ministries and the Ministry of Rites bowed in greeting.

Soon, the news of the three-year suspension of the Jinshi examination spread in Chang'an City, and this news made many scholars in Chang'an City feel pressured.

"The imperial court has temporarily suspended the Jinshi examination for three years. If you cannot pass this year, you can only wait for the Jinshi examination in the 13th year of Dazhong."

"This year I should work hard!"

"Alas...if this news gets out, I'm afraid all those scholars who are planning to take the imperial examination next year or the year after will come to Chang'an to compete with me for the few places that can pass the examination this year."

In the taverns of the East and West Markets, many scholars were discussing the suspension of the Jinshi examination system.

In a private room on the second floor of a tavern, a figure remained unmoved, just flipping through books on classics and history.

Seeing his serious look, a servant who came with him couldn't help but say:
"My dear, this year's imperial examination will be a fierce competition."

"My dear, you know Chen Yaya, why don't you ask him to recommend you to Liu Jilong, the governor of Longyou, and work under him?"

The young man the servant was talking about was Huang Chao, who had been drinking with Chen Ying and others last year.

Last year, Huang Chao hurriedly returned to his hometown of Caozhou. After taking money from his home, he hurried back to Chang'an and studied hard for half a year.

As he continued to review, he had great confidence in this year's Jinshi examination.

Facing the servant's persuasion, Huang Chao frowned:

"I am just a commoner. Even if I go to Longyou with the recommendation of Chen Yaya, I don't think I will be able to get any important official position."

"Besides, I am confident that I will pass the imperial examination this year."

A smile gradually appeared on Huang Chao's face, but the servant said:

"But I heard that the court is short of official positions, and many successful Jinshi have not been able to get an official position for several years or even more than ten years."

"Yes!" Huang Chao did not deny it, but nodded and said:
"If the court does not appoint me to an official position, I will go to Longyou to join the army. I think I can get a position as a county magistrate or a military officer based on my status as a Jinshi."

After saying this, Huang Chao smiled to his servant and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely pass the exam this time!"

Although he said this, the servant seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Throughout the city of Chang'an, there were many people who thought like Huang Chao. Most of them felt that they were extremely talented and were confident that they could pass the exam.

The servant did not dare to undermine his self-confidence, so he could only keep his mouth shut, thinking that it would not be too late to persuade his husband after the imperial examination was over.

Soon, the news that the imperial court had suspended the Jinshi examination for three years spread throughout the country through the spread of merchants.

Many scholars who were planning to take the Jinshi examination next year or the year after went to Chang'an in advance to prepare for the examination this year.

Of course, the imperial examination has no appeal to Longyou, especially Longxi.

At this time, Longxi was very excited about the return of Chen Ying and others.

"General Jie! Chen Yaya has returned to Lanzhou!"

On May 20th, when Liu Jilong was still practicing calligraphy in his study, Cao Mao's voice was heard in the courtyard.

He walked happily towards the study and bowed to Liu Jilong outside the door: "General, Chen Yaya has returned to Wuquan County."

"I'm glad you're back!" Liu Jilong let out a breath, put down his brush, and looked back and forth on his calligraphy.

His handwriting is not beautiful, but it is much neater than a few years ago.

"General Jie, this is the document sent by Chen Ya Ya on horseback. Chen Ya Ya not only did a good job in business this time, but also brought you a lot of good news."

Cao Mao walked into the study and presented the document.

Although Liu Jilong was surprised, he washed the ink off his hands first, then wiped them dry before taking the document.

At the same time, Cao Mao also explained: "I have brought back three concubines for you. It is said that they are all capable and good-looking. They have been sent to Didao."

"In addition, Chen Ya Ya went all the way south and recruited more than 3,500 Hankou people in Lingzhou. Gao Changshi sent someone to ask you where these people should be resettled."

Upon learning that Chen Ying had found three concubines for him, Liu Jilong had not yet uttered any absurd words when he heard that Chen Ying had brought back more than 3,500 people from Hankou to Longxi.

The dissatisfaction that had arisen in my heart disappeared in an instant, leaving only happiness.

"Good good!"

Liu Jilong said several good things in succession, and then said: "These Hankou people will be resettled in Wuquan County. Tell the county magistrate Dou Bin to properly resettle these people."

"In addition, provide these people with enough food rations, five dou for the big ones and four dou for the small ones, and let them open up wasteland."

"The harvest from the first three years of the reclaimed wasteland will go to the government, and the government will guarantee them three years of food rations."

"After three years, the farmland will belong to them, and they can just pay the regular taxes!"

More than 3,500 Han people suddenly brought the Han population in Wuquan to ten thousand.

Wuquan originally had 13,000 soldiers and civilians. Later, the military households were stationed in various states, and the population of Wuquan dropped to more than 16,000.

Now that Chen Ying has brought back more than 3,500 civilians, the population of Wuquan has increased to 14,000, including 4,000 foreign people and 10,000 Hankou people.

If Chen Ying could bring back people from the north in the future, the aborigines in Wuquan would be assimilated sooner or later, and the millions of acres of wasteland in Wuquan would become arable land sooner or later.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong felt happy and quickened the pace of flipping through the documents in his hands.

When he read to the end of the document, what appeared before his eyes was the money that Chen Ying earned after completing his business this time.

"After bringing back 3,576 civilians, 1,000 oxen, and 2,000 draft horses, we were able to bring back more than 28,000 taels of gold and more than 30,000 strings of cash. Chen Ying has done a great job!"

In the face of Chen Ying's achievements, Liu Jilong closed the document and immediately praised him: "Promote Chen Ying to the position of General of the Upper Prefecture under the Duhufu."

"Yes!" Cao Mao bowed happily, and then drafted a promotion document for Liu Jilong.

Previously, Chen Ying was an eighth-rank brigade commander. Now he jumped five levels and became a general of the upper prefecture directly under the Duhufu, with a rank of seventh rank and an annual salary of eighty shi.

In addition, there are 250 acres of official land.

Jumping five levels in a non-wartime situation is already a high reward.

Although the Longxi army called Chen Ying "Ya Ya", that was just a title that made it easier for him to do business outside. In fact, he was still a brigade commander.

Now that he has been promoted to the rank of a general in the upper government, it seems more legitimate for him to call himself a yamen runner.

Thinking of this, Cao Mao also smiled and said, "General Jie, you have three beautiful ladies in your house." "Go!" Liu Jilong waved his hand impatiently, but then asked tentatively, "What do the three ladies look like?"

Liu Jilong had not tasted meat for 22 years, so he was naturally craving for it.

But he had been living in a precarious situation for the past five years. He finally settled down in Long'an, but there was no woman he liked.

Now Chen Ying has found three concubines for him. Although he was somewhat unhappy at first about Chen Ying's abuse of public resources for personal gain, now that he thinks about it, there is nothing wrong with what Chen Ying did.

"I heard that these women were selected by Chen Ying and Yang Xin from the horse shop in the East Market of Lingzhou. They are both beautiful and graceful."

"It's a good deal?" Liu Jilong frowned when he heard that. "It cost a lot of money, didn't it?"

"I heard it was more than 700 strings of cash." Cao Mao smiled awkwardly.

Upon hearing this, Liu Jilong said decisively: "You should withdraw these more than 700 strings of cash from the government and give them to the treasury. Don't use public money for personal purposes."

Liu Jilong understood the principle that what the superior does is what the subordinates should follow. If he opened this door, others would follow suit.

"Yes……"

Seeing Liu Jilian being so serious, Cao Mao had no choice but to bow.

Liu Jilian's annual salary was 400 dan, and in addition, he rented 1,000 acres of official land to military families in Didao for cultivation, and the amount of grain he could get every year was about 500 dan.

Although the imperial court gave Liu Jilian a fief of one thousand households, the fief had to be paid for by Longxi County of Weizhou itself, and the amount of grain allocated to Liu Jilian every year was about three hundred dan.

The total amount is about 1,200 dan, which is equivalent to 700 guan according to the grain price in Longxi.

It can be said that Liu Jilong had spent all his salary on these three women before he even received it.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong couldn't help but be shocked.

As expected, no matter in the past life or this life, I can’t save money if I have a woman.

Fortunately, he had saved a lot of salary in the past few years, so even if he took out 700 strings of cash, there would still be a lot of money and grain in the mansion.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong couldn't help feeling a little anxious. He wanted to return to Didao after resolving the issues in the four prefectures of Longnan to see what the three young ladies he had spent 700 strings of cash to get back looked like.

But there was no news from Yang Zhiwen yet, so he had no choice but to wait.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong suddenly thought of the celibacy of the soldiers in the army.

"Oh, Cao Mao, write a letter to Gao Changshi and ask him to see if there are any single women among the group of people that Chen Ying brought back."

"If there is one, we can help to find a matchmaker for those single brothers who followed us from Hexi."

"Yes!" Cao Mao responded with a smile, and then continued to write the letter.

Not long after, he walked out of the study with the letter. As soon as he walked out of the yamen, he saw Wang Sifeng, Yang Zhiwen and others at the door.

"Mr. Cao..."

When he saw Cao Mao, Yang Zhiwen hurriedly saluted because he knew that Cao Mao was someone close to Liu Jilong.

When Cao Mao saw Yang Zhiwen, he bowed and said, "I never thought that General Yang would come. I will send someone to deliver a letter and pass on the message for General Yang in a moment."

"Thank you, Mr. Cao." Yang Zhiwen only felt that Cao Mao was young and easy to talk to. If he had visited other generals, the little devils in front of them would at least ask him for a few strings of money.

Under his gaze, Cao Mao gave some instructions to several light cavalrymen and handed them several letters.

Seeing this, Yang Zhiwen thought something serious had happened to Longxi, so he couldn't help but ask, "Is Longxi in urgent need of help?"

"Haha, it's a big deal, but I don't need General Yang's help."

Cao Mao smiled happily and said to Wang Sifeng beside him: "Marshal Jie finally found a woman!"

"Really?!" Wang Sifeng's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but ask, "How many?"

"Three!" Cao Mao proudly raised three fingers and added:
"They are all women that Chen Ya Ya redeemed from the Lingzhoukou horse shop. I heard that they are both beautiful and graceful!"

"That's good!" Wang Sifeng nodded with a smile.

In this era, concubines did not have a high status, and many people even treated them as objects and gave them away, so it was not surprising that the two talked like this.

Yang Zhiwen, who was just standing aside, looked embarrassed. He turned around and saw Feng Bangyan's face was ashen.

"Oh, General Yang, I will go to the inner hall to report for you now. Please wait in the main hall."

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Cao..."

Cao Mao was confused and still immersed in the happy event of his own commander taking a concubine, completely ignoring the embarrassment on Yang Zhiwen's face.

After a while, he and Wang Sifeng took Yang Zhiwen and Feng Bangyan to the main hall and sat down.

Wang Sifeng was busy with government affairs, so he left after a few words of greeting, and Cao Mao also went to the inner hall to look for Liu Jilian.

Seeing that there were no outsiders around, Feng Bangyan lowered his voice and said, "Taking three concubines in one go, is this what you mean by not being interested in women, brother Dezhi?"

"Ahem..." Yang Zhiwen was also very embarrassed. After calming down, he explained:

"Meicheng, you just heard it. Liu Jilong is really not interested in women, so he took three concubines."

"Think about it carefully. When you and I were his age, we probably already had many wives and concubines in the inner courtyard."

"For someone of his status, it is not easy for him to take in three new concubines."

After Yang Zhiwen said this, Feng Bangyan could only suppress his temper, but he thought to himself that he would never marry his wife Xiaoqi to Liu Jilong.

While he was thinking this, footsteps were heard from the corridor. Soon Liu Jilong walked out of the side door of the main hall and bowed to Yang Zhiwen a few steps away.

"General Yang is here. I wonder how the discussion went?"

"General Jie, the matter has been settled. We are here today to finalize it."

Yang Zhiwen quickly stood up and looked at Feng Bangyan.

At this time, Feng Bangyan didn't notice Yang Zhiwen's eye signals at all, his eyes were on Liu Jilong.

Previously, he thought that Yang Zhiwen exaggeratedly praised Liu Jilong in order to convince his grandfather, but when he saw Liu Jilong in person, he realized that Yang Zhiwen had not praised him enough.

"Meicheng?" Yang Zhiwen whispered to wake Feng Bangyan, who quickly stood up and bowed:

"Feng Bangyan, courtesy name Meicheng, the magistrate of Nanzheng County in Shannan West Road, is here to meet General Liu Jie."

Liu Jilong, the "County Magistrate", bowed in return and then asked, "I wonder what the difference between County Magistrate and Minister of State is..."

"He is the grandfather of a certain family." Feng Bangyan explained quickly, and Yang Zhiwen also helped to explain:

"Meicheng is the grandson of the Minister of State. The Minister of State sent Meicheng here this time to show his sincerity. He wants to settle the horse trade with the Marshal as soon as possible."

Liu Jilong didn't think much about it. His mind was now full of thoughts on finalizing the horse trade and increasing the population of Longxi.

"Please take a seat, both of you."

Liu Jilong gestured for the two to take their seats, and then he walked to the main seat and sat down.

Cao Mao made tea for the three of them and placed the cups on the coffee table next to each of them.

"I wonder if General Yang and Magistrate Feng have had lunch yet. If not, why not try the cooking skills of my chefs?"

"This……"

"That would be great. Please help, Marshal Jie, to arrange it!"

Liu Jilong just asked casually, and before Yang Zhiwen could refuse, Feng Bangyan agreed.

Yang Zhiwen turned around and looked at Feng Bangyan, but saw that he no longer had the disdain on his face, and his face was full of eagerness.

Looking at his expression, Yang Zhiwen knew that the matter was mostly settled.

"In that case, Cao Mao, go ask the chef to prepare lunch."

Liu Jilong gave instructions to Cao Mao, who nodded in agreement and turned around to give instructions.

Seeing Cao Mao leave, Feng Bangyan asked without waiting for Yang Zhiwen to ask, "I wonder if General Liu Jie is married?"

"That's not the case." Liu Jilong answered truthfully, just waiting for the greetings before lunch.

After Yang Zhiwen realized what was happening, he quickly said, "Although Marshal Jie is a young hero, he is already 22 years old now and should start a family."

"If the commander-in-chief does not give up, I am willing to act as a matchmaker for him. I wonder what the commander-in-chief thinks."

As soon as he finished speaking, before Liu Jilong could react, Feng Bangyan took over the conversation and said:

"My daughter Xiaoqi is 28 years old. Although her appearance is not as good as that of the commander, she is more knowledgeable and well-mannered. If the commander does not abandon me, I am willing to become a close relative of him. What do you think?"

The two spoke with great emotion, and even Liu Jilong, who was slow-witted, reacted at this time.

"It's broken, you came for me!"

(End of this chapter)