After the two people finished speaking, the scene caused an uproar.
Di Hanlin of the Great Zhou Kingdom came forward and said, "Everyone, please be patient! Regardless of who belongs to the Sixteenth City of Yanyun? The purpose of our King of the Great Zhou Kingdom is to bring out this content that everyone finds controversial. As a bonus, it can be regarded as a complete settlement of this territorial dispute. Is it possible that you have no confidence in the scribes of your country?"
Concubine Hua whispered to Xia Jiuyuan from the side, "Your Majesty, what they say makes sense! Seeing that they are bound to win, I'm afraid they don't know that we have the Liu family, a literary family that has been passed down for thousands of years, to help us. They are not Are you going to give us the Sixteenth City of Yanyun?"
Seeing Concubine Hua's vow, Xia Jiuyuan thought that this was true, and said, "Mr. Di, if you lose, are you unwilling to hand over the Sixteenth City of Yanyun? What should we do?"
Upon seeing this, the Crown Prince of Great Zhou stood up, "King of Great Xia, I am the Crown Prince of Great Zhou, and I use my identity as the Crown Prince as a hostage. If you or Beiliang Kingdom win! I can serve as a hostage until your sergeants take over Yanyun Sixteenth Leave behind the city!"
When Xia Jiuyuan saw what the Crown Prince of Zhou said, he said cheerfully, "Okay! As long as you don't default on your debt when the time comes, I agree."
Di Hanlin smiled and said, "The king of Daxia will have written evidence to prove it! Naturally, he will not default on his debt."
After saying that, he looked at Northern Liang Prince Ulda.
Urda said with a dark face, "Have you two countries agreed? Is it still useful if I refuse?"
He is also self-aware, and if he disagrees, he is just asking for trouble.
Di Hanlin smiled and wrote down the lucky number. After Xia Jiuyuan and the two princes signed it, it was considered a success.
When Xia Jiuyuan saw this, he smiled and said, "Let's all take a break. In an hour, the first external test will begin."
...
Xia Jiuyuan walked up to Liu Shiqing in person and said, "Mr. Liu, this poetry meeting is of great importance. Please do your best, as long as you come out on top. I will reward you greatly."
Liu Shiqing bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I will go all out."
Princess Ningping looked at Liu Shiqing with love on her face and said, "Mr. Liu, you are really too humble. With your ability, competing with them is just like bullying a child."
An hour later, the first competition began.
The first competition was to compose a poem on a given topic.
After everyone chose a topic from each other, they began to compose poems, which were then scored by specialized judges.
The results came out quickly.
Di Hanlin won the first prize with his song "Looking at the Moon" and won without any doubt. As a dark horse player, Liu Shiqing was only ranked third, which was a disastrous defeat!
Concubine Hua still shouted about the shady story at first, but after Liu Shiqing read Di Hanlin's poem, she resigned.
At the end of the first competition, people from various countries dispersed.
Xia Jiuyuan asked Concubine Hua to call Liu Shiqing over with a solemn expression, and said with a solemn expression, "Master Liu, please do your best tomorrow. If you lose tomorrow...then we will lose sixteen cities." !”
"Reporting to your Majesty... I can only promise to do my best. But Mr. Di Hanlin is worthy of being the best scribe in the world. His literary quality is beyond my reach!" Liu Shiqing lowered his head and said in resignation.
"Then what you mean is that the Great Xia Kingdom is destined to lose?" Xia Jiuyuan said with a gloomy expression.
Liu Shiqing nodded with an ugly face and said, "I can't say that I will lose, but my chances of winning are slim."
After hearing this, Xia Jiuyuan looked at Concubine Hua with a stern look on his face and said, "Concubine Hua! Do you still remember what you said just now?"
Concubine Hua looked panicked.
Princess Ningping also pulled Liu Shiqing's arm nervously and said, "Mr. Liu, you must have a solution, right? This time it's a very important matter... Please help me think of a solution."
Liu Shiqing couldn't help but frown, and suddenly thought of a person who said, "With Di Hanlin's skills, there is only one person in the world who can match him."
Princess Ningping heard the implication of Liu Shiqing's words and asked expectantly, "Mr. Liu! Do you know any other hidden masters? As long as you can win the Poetry Fair, you will be the hero of our Daxia Kingdom!"
Xia Jiuyuan also nodded and said, "Ning Ping is right, if you can win! I will reward you heavily!"
Liu Shiqing didn't care about this and said to Xia Jiuyuan, "Your Majesty, in this world today, perhaps my master is the only one who can defeat Mr. Di."
"Mr. Liu, your master?" Princess Ningping was slightly stunned at first, and then said with excitement, "I don't know, Mr. Liu, is your master in Kyoto? Can you invite him over?"
Liu Shiqing knew that Lu Qian was living in seclusion in the palace and showing off his identity as a eunuch. Naturally, he did not want to reveal his identity and did not say it clearly. He just said that he could try it.
"Mr. Liu, tell your master that as long as I can help us win this external test, I will agree to all the conditions he proposes." Xia Jiuyuan said and gave Liu Shiqing a token. He told Liu Shiqing that with this token, he could go in and out of the palace at will.
Liu Shiqing didn't hesitate, took the token and went out.
After leaving Jingyang Palace, we went straight to Liyang Palace.
He was also not sure whether his master was willing to help.
He knew very well that if he really lost, his life might not be guaranteed.
When they arrived at Liyang Palace, they inquired and found out that Lu Qian had been assigned to the Jingxin Garden.
They found Jingxinyuan again, and after showing Xia Jiuyuan to the token guard, the guard let him go.
After entering, I saw at a glance that Lu Qian was a little embarrassed and I didn't know what he was doing.
"Master!"
Lu Qian slowly raised his head and saw Liu Shiqing at a glance, and said with some surprise, "How did you get in here, kid?"
Liu Shiqing knelt down without saying a word.
Bang bang bang!
He kowtowed three times and said, "Master, please save me!"
"You have to change your habit of kowtowing to others... I'm just a eunuch. I can't even save myself, so how can I save you?"
Lu Qian said while stirring some crushed coal ash with a shovel.
Liu Shiqing stood aside respectfully and explained the situation of today's external examination.
After Lu Qian heard this, he smiled bitterly and said, "Then how do you know that I am that person's opponent?"
After speaking, Lu Qian took a wooden mold from the side, pressed the mixed slime, and demoulded it, and a piece of briquettes was ready.
Lu Qian was freezing to death last night. After questioning, he found out that the charcoal distributed in the Jingxin Garden was all loose and broken charcoal, which could not be burned at all, so he thought of turning the broken charcoal into briquettes.
"Master, although Di Hanlin does have literary talent, compared with you, he is still far behind. Master, please help me. This time, if I fail the external examination, I may be in danger of life." Liu Shiqing stood aside, looking at He looked at Lu Qian sincerely and asked for help.
