The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

The soldiers and the people all spent a peaceful and happy year.

In this cold winter, it is a blessing to have a roof of your own to shelter you from the cold and not have to worry about freezing to death or starving to death.

At the beginning of the first lunar month, people should visit relatives and friends everywhere, but people in Ze County don’t have many relatives to visit.

Most of the time, a few colleagues would just get together to play and kill time when they were not on duty.

As long as they play in moderation, Zhang Ping'an and Lao Tu will not be too strict with them.

In the words of Lao Tu, "Beggars still have three days left before the New Year, so it's a good time to take a break."

It is not until the tenth day of the first lunar month that the festive atmosphere begins to fade.

The military camp resumed its previous training.

To be honest, because the soldiers were used to being busy with training and various trivial matters, they actually felt uncomfortable after a few days of rest.

Most people say that time passes faster when there is something to do.

Lao Bale usually looks kind, but he is very good at training his subordinates. He has strict military discipline and his orders are strictly enforced.

The soldiers under him also respected him very much.

Within two days, the laziness brought by the New Year disappeared from everyone.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye, and it was the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month.

It is a very important festival for the people of Daxia.

We should have celebrated the Lantern Festival.

However, Ze County obviously does not have such conditions now.

Zhang Ping'an used the existing materials and instructed skilled craftsmen to make dozens of simple lanterns, which he hung on the main roads of the county town.

At least we tried our best to create some festive atmosphere.

The soldiers' dinner today was a little oilier than usual.

This is considered a holiday!

Even without firecrackers, acrobatics, riddles, or river lanterns, these are more solemn ceremonies.

But we are all on the same land, and at least the full moon we see is the same.

If you can have a heart as bright as the moon, why bother with lights and the Lantern Festival?

No matter when, just have light in your heart!

The next morning, Lao Tu was chatting with Ruan San, Liu Sanlang and others, saying that he had gained weight during the Chinese New Year.

Before he finished speaking, one of his subordinates came to report that the imperial court had sent an urgent messenger over three hundred miles to deliver the imperial pardon.

The old bald man almost suspected that he had misheard. He scratched his ears and said in surprise, "What? An imperial pardon?"

Zhang Ping'an was also a little surprised. He reached out to take the imperial edict, opened it, and read it carefully.

I saw a huge imperial seal stamped on the yellow silk, which was indeed an imperial decree of amnesty for the whole world.

The main point of the whole article is that the current emperor is ill, and after the imperial physician's full treatment, the effect is acceptable. In order to express gratitude to God for mercy, a general amnesty is granted to the world, and the reign is changed to the first year of Taichu.

After Zhang Pingan finished reading the imperial edict, Ruan San was shocked and even more puzzled: "We don't have any prisoners who meet the requirements for amnesty here, so this imperial edict has nothing to do with us!"

Liu Sanlang was even more obsessed with the question of the reign title. "It's fine if we just grant amnesty to the whole country, but why do we need to change the reign title?"

He lived for nearly thirty years, and this was the first time he saw an emperor change the reign title during his reign.

It’s about the same importance as ordinary people changing their family tree.

These are all very serious and cautious matters and cannot be changed easily.

"Let alone changing the reign title, even a general amnesty is the first time I've encountered this," the bald old man continued.

"All under heaven belongs to the king. Even though Ze County was just recovered not long ago, we are still part of Daxia. Even if we don't need to pardon anyone here, it is necessary for the government's orders to be communicated for such a major event," Zhang Pingan said in a deep voice.

After saying this, he thought carefully for a moment before continuing, "I estimate that in a few days, when the government reports back, the current distribution of power in the court will undergo significant changes."

"how do I say this?"

Zhang Ping'an did not pretend to be mysterious. At present, these people were all his trusted confidants.

In a few days, when the official report arrives, everyone will know, and it will no longer be a secret.

"Looking through history books, unless a new emperor ascends the throne, suddenly changing the reign title and granting amnesty, it may appear on the surface to be a good thing, representing the emperor's benevolence and compassion for the people. But in reality, it's a last resort, and the underlying reasons are uncertain!"

The old bald man understood immediately and pondered, "Are you saying that the emperor's health hasn't improved?"

Zhang Pingan didn't answer, but said, "This is my guess."

Liu Sanlang also understood: "It's just like when we country folk have a headache or a fever and can't get it cured, we go to the gods and pray to the Buddha. In fact, it doesn't necessarily work, it's just a hope."

"That's right!" Zhang Ping'an nodded. "Changing the reign title is such a serious matter. Since we received the imperial edict today, it means the six ministries have known about and been handling this matter for quite some time. After going through all the layers of formalities, it must have been at least two months ago."

"I understand. Now I understand it completely. The emperor is already young, and if he is ill, wouldn't the court officials be uneasy and unable to sleep at night? It is said that the current empress dowager's mother's family is not very strong. If it weren't for the support of Duke Wei behind her, and if the crown prince and the relocation of the capital were too hasty, there would be no day for her to rule the country from behind the curtain. Now it seems that there is a high possibility that someone will take advantage of the opportunity to ascend to the throne," analyzed the bald old man.

"It would be great if the emperor were a few years older and had a son," Ruan San said regretfully.

Liu Sanlang shook his head, understanding a little, "If the emperor had a son, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to sit on the throne!"

Zhang Ping'an thought through the details and realized that the details were truly terrifying. "Don't tell me, in the past few years since the capital was moved, the royal family has become increasingly depleted. The current emperor's direct blood relatives are either dead or sick. There's not a single adult left. The four or five who are still alive are all infants. Now, there's only one closest relative who's an adult, and he's far away in Shu. I heard he was semi-exiled there and basically doesn't care about court affairs."

These inside stories and interpersonal relationships were told to him intermittently by Qian Youyi and Master Lu in Lin'an.

It saved him a lot of trouble when entertaining people.

The old bald man had been in the army for a long time and had heard some things. "I heard that he was wrongly accused in the witchcraft case and ended up like this. He was once a gentleman praised by everyone in the capital. According to seniority, the current emperor would have to call him Twelfth Uncle!"

Liu Sanlang listened carefully and slowly sorted out the connections.

Ruan Sanze was overwhelmed by what he heard: "It's too complicated, really too complicated. How did you remember it? As expected, I'm not suitable for playing political games!"

Hearing this, several people smiled helplessly.

Zhang Ping'an and Lao Tu guessed the same thing.

As expected, the official gazette delivered three days later reported a lot of activity regarding appointments and dismissals within the Ministry of Personnel.

This further illustrates that the current power structure of the court has changed greatly.

Among them, the biggest change was that the court appointed four regent ministers.

The power is far above that of the cabinet.

This has never happened since the founding of Daxia!