Just as Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi were entering the Imperial Academy holding a collection of family records each bought for two thousand dollars, they saw an Imperial College student in his early twenties walking towards them.
This man's appearance was so extraordinary that Zhang Yue couldn't help but look at him a few more times.
This man was also walking by himself. When Zhang Yue looked at him, he couldn't help but look at him several times, and then looked at Huang Haoyi beside Zhang Yue.
As the three of them were passing each other, the other party suddenly stopped and turned around: "May I ask if these two gentlemen are from Fujian?"
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi both turned around. Zhang Yue said: "Exactly, Zhang Yue in Xiapu City, this Huang Haoyi is from Jianyang."
The man laughed loudly and said, "That's right."
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi couldn't help but look confused. The other party walked up to Huang Haoyi and said, "Your brother is Huang Jidao, right?"
Huang Haoyi smiled and said: "Exactly. Is it possible that my brother is familiar with my brother?"
The other party smiled and said: "Of course, didn't Brother Ling tell you to find someone named Cai Chizheng after you get to the Imperial Academy?"
Huang Haoyi was surprised when he heard this and said: "Because of this, could it be that my brother is the one?"
The other party smiled and nodded and said: "Of course. If it weren't for you and several Dao brothers, Dao Brother Ren's appearance is somewhat similar, and I would have missed it."
Huang Haoyi said a few words to the other party with a look of surprise on his face, and then said to Zhang Yue: "Sanlang, I recommend to you that this is my brother's fellow countryman, his surname is Cai, his given name is correct, and his cousin's name is Zhengzheng."
"Cai Que? Which Que?" Zhang Yue looked in disbelief.
"It's true."
Zhang Yue was almost stunned when he heard this.
It was even more astonishing than when I heard that my second brother was Zhang Dun.
Who is this person in front of me?
Top of the list of traitorous ministers in the history of Song Dynasty! In terms of ranking of traitorous ministers, he also defeated his second brother and Cai Jing.
But how did Huang Haoyi's brother know him?
"Why didn't you two come to me first? Could it be that I, Cai, am not worthy of your brother (Huang Haoqian)'s trust?" Cai Que looked unhappy.
Huang Haoyi said quickly: "I originally wanted to pay homage to Brother Chizheng after surrendering the ultimatum."
"Oh? Surrender? Where did you do it?" Cai Que asked after hearing this.
Huang Haoyi pointed to the door of the Imperial College and said: "It's run by the Jiujia Bookstore. They also asked us to collect family records, and each of us received two thousand yuan."
Cai Que shook his head and said: "You guys! I'm not familiar with the place in Bianjing, and I don't know how to find help from my fellow villagers. Fortunately for Zhang Sanlang, you have your brother to explain it to you, but you are still so arrogant. Give me your family records, and then Come with me."
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi handed the collection of family records to Cai Que. Cai Que walked in front of the bookstore with his long sleeves fluttering and said, "You two are waiting outside the door."
After saying that, Cai Que walked into the bookstore alone.
Zhang Yue hurriedly asked Huang Haoyi: "How did your brother know this Brother Cai?"
Huang Haoyi said: "Hasn't my brother been studying in Chenzhou? Cai Chizheng is also living in Chenzhou."
"Living in Chenzhou?"
"Exactly, Brother Chizheng's father is from Quanzhou in Fujian Province. He once joined the army for Chenzhou. He was dismissed because he offended Chen Situ (Chen Zhizhong). The family returned to their hometown because they had no money, so they lived in Chenzhou. There is a beginning but not a beginning."
Zhang Yue sighed: "It's so miserable!"
Huang Haoyi said: "Yes, my brother got acquainted with Cai Chizheng because he was studying in Chenzhou. Since we are all from Fujian and living in a foreign land, we often helped him. This Cai Chizheng is indeed a talented person, and he is extremely talented in writing and writing. Well, several fortune tellers once said that his appearance is quite similar to Li Deyu, a famous prime minister in the Tang Dynasty, and they also said that he will support his elder brother when he becomes successful in the future."
"But last year in the spring exam, my brother was on the gold medal list, but Chizheng failed. Fortunately, he was admitted to the Imperial College. If you and I enter the Imperial College in the future, we will have to entrust him to take care of him."
Zhang Yue thought to himself, Damn it, why have we been so confused with the treacherous minister all day long?
Before the two of them could talk over a cup of tea, Cai Que strode forward and threw a thousand dollars to Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi. He scolded: "Don't waste money indiscriminately in the future! What kind of place is this Bianjing? Is this the capital of Beijing?" It’s not easy. If you can sell all the gold and silver in one night, it’s not worth your money.”
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi had no choice but to be taught.
Zhang Yue himself did take it for granted. He was still thinking that he could settle things with money instead of using favors, and he would not look for someone if he could not find someone.
That's modern, but why did we promote relatives, fellow villagers, and clansmen in ancient times? This is how relationships trouble each other.
"I will take you to submit an ultimatum first, and then go to Taixue later." Cai Que said.
The two returned to the Imperial College, and Zhang Yue talked with Cai Que about the attitude of the bookstore clerk.
Cai Que smiled and said: "Of course, I tell you that everything in the world is for profit, and everything in the world is for profit. The reason why you guys look so bad is because you have no money."
"Do you think that the bookstore's biggest job is to write for you a collection of family records and verify your writing since birth? You're wrong. The bookstore's biggest job is to pretend to be a scholar, smear the text, and hire someone to write for you."
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi were shocked when they heard this.
That's right, there were two levels of bookstores in the Song Dynasty. The first level was a normal bookstore selling books, and the second level was just like that, and the way was so wild.
But Zhang Yue still couldn't help but ask: "Won't the Yamen investigate the matter of blatant impersonation?"
Cai Quedao: "Anyone who runs a bookstore is not only a person who is familiar with fraud, but who is either a rich family or a poor family, so how can the government dare to investigate? Take the matter of false registration. In the past, every time I encountered the examination room, I would take the supplementary examination. Wen, Supervisor of Taixue Hall."
"Many people who are lucky enough to go to the capital to buy prison certificates privately, try to change their names, or pretend to be in the inner household in order to make progress. Are there many such people over the years?"
Zhang Yue understood that not only did the Imperial Examination and the Kaifeng Prefecture Examination have more quotas, but the imperial court also gave them more Jinshi places.
Therefore, many scholars either pretended to be students of Imperial College, Guangwen Hall, or pretended to be members of Kaifeng Prefecture, and were qualified to participate in the Imperial College Examination and Kaifeng Prefecture Examination.
But the person responsible for verifying the qualifications for the examination is not the government, but the bookstore.
how so?
Because the government could not guarantee the results of the examination, it was left to private bookstores.
And the bookstore was not a notary institution at the beginning. It was indeed a copywriter at the beginning, writing pleadings in the official format on behalf of the common people.
After that, the bookstore's rights gradually expanded, until it was able to endorse the authenticity of provincial examinations and examinee candidates, and check the true identity of the candidates on behalf of the government, such as whether they had fake registrations.
After the bookstore approves it, it will be submitted to the government for review of qualifications.
If there is no such process as a bookstore, if an examinee cheats in the future, the entire responsibility lies with the government. With a bookstore, if there is any false registration, the government can completely blame the bookstore.
So the bookstore came to this place, and those who could communicate with the bookstore clearly marked the price to apply for fake registration for the candidates. The more money they paid, the more they could help take the exams.
"How much does it cost to apply for fake citizenship?" Zhang Yue couldn't help asking.
"It used to cost six to seven thousand dollars, but now it costs ten thousand dollars!"
Zhang Yueshou said thoughtfully: "It's not expensive! Also, if you are a child of a noble family, you don't have to pretend to be a member of the family. Only those who are born in the Han family can do this deceitful way."
Cai Que glanced sideways at Zhang Yue, then smiled and said: "That's right, Sanlang sees things very quickly. You are from a decent background, and there is no money in the bookstore, so you ignore it."
"Haha," Zhang Yue laughed, "Listening to Brother Zhi Zheng's words is really better than ten years of reading."
Cai Quedao: "I don't dare to take it seriously. Sanlang has the demeanor of a disciple of a famous family. I wonder if he is familiar with Zhang Ziping, the number one scholar in the current subject?"
Zhang Yue said: "It's just a one-sided acquaintance."
Cai Que smiled slightly, and Huang Haoyi couldn't help but said: "Brother Chizheng, his second brother is Zhang Zihou."
"Oh? Is it Zihou? No wonder, no wonder."
Zhang Yue pretended to be embarrassed on his face, but in his heart he said, no wonder, no wonder, no wonder the two traitorous ministers from the New Party fell in love with each other so early?
Zhang Yue thought about it again, but with Huang Haoyi's big mouth, he couldn't hide his whereabouts in Beijing even if he wanted to.
The three of them met the scribe. When the scribe saw the bookstore's seal, he stamped it on the two of them without even looking at it, and gave it back to Tang Jiu. Ma Wu handed over the official document and told them that the Taixue exam would be held in ten days to determine whether they would be admitted to the Taixue. .
Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi were very happy to see how easily things could be done with Cai Que's help.
Zhang Yue said: "If it weren't for Brother Chizheng, I really don't know how troublesome it would be today. Why don't you let me be the host? How about inviting Brother Chizheng and Shiro to have wine and tea?"
Upon hearing this, Cai Que smiled noncommittally and said, "Let's go to Taixue for a walk first!"
Cai Que immediately took Zhang Yue and Huang Haoyi to visit the university.
At first, the university only had Xiqingyuan. Later, with the deepening of Fan Zhongyan's reform, it continued to expand and was merged into Yuhou Gongyu, the capital of the Ma Army. The Wuchengwang Temple expanded Taixue.
Even the west verandah of Chaojiyuan, which was dedicated to receiving officials from the local government who returned to Quezhu, was converted into a law school.
Now Taixue has thirty schools, each with thirty people, for a total of nine hundred students.
After visiting Taixue, Zhang Yue asked them to have a drink again.
Cai Que smiled at this time and said: "A little help is nothing to mention. I tell you, Sanlang, it's not easy to be away from home and in the capital. If you keep more money on you, there will be many places that can be used in the future."
"Today I will show my kindness as a landlord and treat you two to Taixue's steamed buns."
Zhang Yue almost forgot about Taixue Steamed Buns, which are very famous.
During Wang Anshi's political reform in later generations, Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty inspected the Imperial Academy to see what the students were eating, and casually took a piece of steamed bun to eat. Song Shenzong was very satisfied after eating it, and happily said to his left and right people: "You can support your scholars with this, and you will have no regrets!"
Even the official family praised the buns. What else can I say? The taste must be first-class.
From then on, Taixue steamed buns became a famous delicacy in Bianjing.
Cai Que went to the restaurant to get six freshly baked buns, and the three of them shared the food under the pavilion. The steamed buns of the Song Dynasty were steamed buns. Zhang Yue took one bite and he was filled with meat fillings. It was full of sincerity and did not cut corners at all. It was fragrant and juicy, and his mouth was filled with oil.
Not to mention, although it doesn't have the bonus of Song Shenzong's name, it tastes really delicious.
Taixue Baozi is well-deserved, and I tried it on the first day I came to Bianjing.
At this moment, Zhang Yue felt a bit like traveling in later generations and checking in on delicious food.
Zhang Yue silently made up his mind that he would work hard to get into the imperial examination, just like the buns here.
