The emperor never expected that the dish "Reading thousands of books" would turn out to be preserved eggs mixed with tofu!
Slice the tofu lengthwise with a knife, then divide it into two parts and spread it out like a book page. Place chopped preserved eggs and a sauce mixed with soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and sugar in the middle.
The most difficult part of this dish is cutting the tofu. Each slice must be evenly thick and must not be cut crookedly. If the chef's hands shake even a little, the entire dish will be ruined.
In addition to this dish tonight, there are also fried wild rice (wild rice) bacon, garlic paste and soybean (eggplant), pickled fish fillets, black bean stir-fried double greens (green bamboo shoots, cucumber), coriander stir-fried louvers, and fresh meat and stir-fried mugwort. Tofu skin.
The soup is our specialty chrysanthemum tofu and seaweed soup, and the snacks are crab meat soup dumplings, fish meal lion head and Qianharu dragon beard noodles. ap.
Eunuch Liu and Liu Funian had four dishes and one soup in the next room, while the other guards took turns eating the standard three dishes and one soup.
The emperor was very happy to eat, but he didn't know whether it was because the food in the imperial dining room was too uniform, or because he rarely came out to change the taste. Finally, he said something that startled Li Dan: "Tomorrow, I will ask the chef to come to Sihaiju and learn a few tricks from them!"
"How can this be true? If Your Majesty is interested, I will ask the shopkeeper here to bring the master to the palace to teach. How can I help you all to come to Sihaiju?" Li Dan gave the emperor a spoonful of fish fillets and said:
"Your Majesty doesn't eat folk dishes very often, so it just tastes fresh. In fact, the skills of the chefs here may not be very good, and in fact, each of our stores does not rely on one or two chefs to support the store."
"Oh, what do you say?"
"Other families have their own master chef. This person is the backbone. If he leaves, the restaurant will suffer a lot of losses.
Sihaiju is not like this. The purchases are unified, the dishes are unified, and the frying techniques are also the same. Even the chefs graduated from Yu Gan's technical school and were assigned to various stores.
They also have assessments. If there are three major mistakes, they will be demoted and transferred to other stores. If there are still mistakes, they will even be fired. "
The emperor blinked after hearing this and nodded with a smile: "This is a good idea, sir. I will go back and think about how to give the imperial chefs an assessment."
"Anyway, you can't let them think that they can stop making progress with their royal salary." Li Dan suggested with a smile: "But you should leave such trivial matters to the eunuch in charge. His Majesty cannot spend all his time on this. "
"If there is nothing important to do while you are preparing for the exam, I won't bother you." Before leaving, the emperor played with the pencil and looked around. Li Dan told him that it was made of black lead and clay with a core made of two pieces of wood. It's done.
"Is this... your business too?" The emperor asked, "Isn't it expensive?"
"It's not expensive!" Li Dan shook his head: "One tael of silver can buy one hundred and twenty. It used to be troublesome, but now the hardware factory has made a special lathe that uses a hand crank to drive the cutter head to process wood chips. The speed is faster and the output has increased. .
Today, Jiangxi alone can ship 80,000 to 100,000 pieces per month. Although the pencil factory has less than a hundred employees, it is the one that makes the most money and has the easiest work. We basically place disabled veterans in that factory. "
"Then... what if the palace needs it?" Eunuch Liu saw His Majesty looking over, he understood, and immediately asked: "Can your club give priority to ensuring supply?"
"No problem!" Li Dan said quickly: "The color of the pencil can be adjusted darker or lighter. It is very convenient to carry it with you to write notes and does not dirty your hands. If you make a mistake, you can use steamed buns to erase and rewrite."
"Oh? You can also erase and rewrite?" The emperor was surprised.
"Uh, Mr. Li, can you provide a batch for trial in the palace?" Eunuch Liu asked simply.
"Well, I'll arrange for someone to send two boxes to the Sihaiju store on Xiangjun West Road. Liu Gong can send Liu Xi to pick them up the day after tomorrow!" The emperor nodded with satisfaction.
Li Dan was sent to the stairs. Xu Datong had already sent someone to wait there, and he also packed some snacks and some braised food in food boxes.
In order to avoid being distracted by people, Li Dan did not continue to send him off. Standing at the door, he saw the emperor standing in front of the carriage and sighed. He looked back at Li Dan and patted the carriage with his hand. Li Dan understood and hurriedly bowed and bowed deeply to the end. .
When he looked up again, Liu Funian was leading the way, and the car was driven all the way to Yinmen under the protection of six guards.
The bridge went.
His arrival in the capital was delayed. Apart from attending a gathering of Anhui students at the invitation of the Mu brothers, Li Dan spent the rest of his time actively preparing for war.
The emperor did not come to the Raozhou Guild Hall in person, but Liu Xi was so exhausted that he ran here every now and then. When he comes, he brings a note with questions written on it, and when he leaves, he often brings a stack of paper, on which Li Dan writes replies, suggestions or advice with a pencil or quill.
However, the emperor finally felt embarrassed and asked Li Zhu to come in the name of visiting relatives, so that Li Dan and Qian Min could learn more about the examination procedures, precautions and some of Li Zhu's own experiences from him.
The two brothers slept on the same bed at night, and Li Zhu said many words to Li Dan. It was like a timely rain, which made Li Dan feel relieved immediately. It turns out that the scientific examination is nothing more than that, he thought.
Uncle Qian Min finally decided to take the exam after hesitating for a long time. Li Zhuo's experience introduction was also very important to him. Looking back on the previous exams, Qian Min upheld the integrity of a scholar and never wrote articles praising virtues.
This time he decided to change himself. As long as he could enter the Hanlin Academy to see the royal collection and stay in the capital to see the secret collection of the Huiwen Hall, he decided to endure it!
During the Han Dynasty, scholars wanted to be officials either because they were descendants of distinguished officials, or they were recommended by local officials or celebrities, or they were so famous that they reached the ears of officials or emperors and were actively invited by them (this is called Zhengpi).
This is ideal, but it is not efficient and there is no standard for measuring talents. Appointment of officials seems very random and can easily lead to conflicts and discord.
As the population multiplied, cities increased, and administrative divisions became increasingly detailed, conflicts arose between the large demands of officials and the inefficient recommendation system.
So Cao Wei developed the "nine-grade Zhongzheng system", in which the officials responsible for recommendation divided local talents into nine grades and submitted them to the Ministry of Personnel for future use.
This is still the election in the rural elections, which solves the problem of lack of selection standards, but while easing the relationship between the aristocratic families and the court, it is more convenient for their children to become officials based on their family background and nepotism.
It is still difficult for poor families to squeeze into the ranks of power. On the contrary, it increases the role of aristocratic families in the political power, creating a large number of powerful "aristocratic families".
Such as the Wang family of Langya, the Li family of Longxi, the Yang family of Guanzhong, the Xie family of Dongjun, the Xiahou family of Qingzhou, the Dou family of Hebei, the Dugu family of Hezhong, the Pei family of Hedong, and the Yuwen family of Shaanxi You. Of course, there are more roles in the medium and small scale.
These aristocratic families were large enough to influence the succession of the throne and the change of national power. They were a cancer that all dynasties after the Jin Dynasty had to rely on but were unable to solve.
The last chapter mentioned that Li Dan told Emperor Jingwu that Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty admired Confucianism and took the opportunity to establish the imperial examination. His intention was to select talents through the imperial examination system and give these grateful and humble children power and status so that they could suppress the powerful families.
As a result, he acted too hastily, which not only led to frequent recruitment and depletion of people's power, causing complaints from the lower classes, but also deeply offended the large and middle-class families on which the Sui Dynasty was built.
Yang Xuangan, Li Mi, Cheng Zhijie (the prototype of Cheng Yaojin), Qin Qiong, Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, Shan Xiongxin, who later led the peasant rebellion, Pei Ji who incited Li Yuan to raise an army, and of course Li Yuan and his son, all came from aristocratic families, and none of them were farmers. !
With the peasants unwilling to wait for death and the nobles dissatisfied with the emperor, it is surprising that Emperor Yang was able to secure his position.
However, the imperial examination at that time was only a primitive one, not as rigorous as later generations, nor did it completely revolve around the Four Books and Five Classics.
Due to the needs of governance, it is mainly divided into three subjects: Xiu Cai Ke, which examines strategies, Jin Shi Ke, which examines practical policies, and Ming Jing Ke, which examines the meaning and purpose of classics, with Ming Jing Ke being the highest.
At this time, the imperial examination allowed ordinary people from poor families to submit their resumes to the examination room, register for examination qualifications and take the examination. This was regarded as opening up a new way for people in the world to become officials outside the imperial examination system.
But at that time, the imperial examination was still in the shadow of recommendation and did not occupy an important position.
The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were rich in content, with subjects including talents, Mingfa (law), Mingzi, Mingshu (arithmetic) and other subjects. The forms are diverse, including current affairs policy analysis (short answers), scriptures (fill in the blanks), essays (proposal compositions), etc.
The imperial examination system is also related to the imperial examination
Coexistence did not die out. It did not gradually decline until the middle of the Tang Dynasty. With the end of the split and the re-intensification of centralization, the imperial examination system began to become the main channel for the promotion of officials.
During the Yingzong period of the Song Dynasty, the pattern of the Jiexi (prefectural examination), provincial examination (college examination), and palace examination (hui examination) was formed, and it was stipulated that they should be held every three years. The name-blending and transcribing of examination papers also started in the pre-Song Dynasty.
During the Shenzong period of the pre-Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi was the Prime Minister, and he canceled poetry, Fu, Sutra (fill in the blanks), and Mo Yi (explanation of meaning), and only retained the three subjects of Confucianism, Theory, and Strategy, emphasizing the purpose of "applying the Sutra."
In the previous dynasty, sinology was not highly respected. In the name of reforming the economics and provinces, poems and treatises were cut off. In the provincial examination, joint examination and imperial examination, the Egu people and the Semu people only took two tests on the meaning and countermeasures of the classics, while the Han and Southern people There are also additional tests on Ci, Fu and essays, and the content of classics and meanings is limited to Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.
This developed until Emperor Taizong of this dynasty came to the throne, and established a complete pattern of county examinations (for children), government examinations (for scholars), academy examinations (that is, rural examinations, promoting people), joint examinations (for Jinshi), and palace examinations (for conferring officials to the top three).
The content also covers the four subjects of classics, policy theory, judgment and poetry. The classics covers the four books and five classics, which is far beyond the scope of the previous dynasty.
As a re-established Han regime, Zhao's Confucian-business background enabled the monarchs of all dynasties to show more openness and tolerance than the previous dynasties, and at the same time they were more pragmatic.
The test took place in Gongyuan. Li Dan got up before dawn that day. After washing, Li Dan ate some snacks and eggs as usual, but Qian Min didn't dare to eat. The two of them were sent out by Jiao Tong and got on the carriage together.
Today Lu Jiu only had two horses. The carriage was illuminated by the headlights and headed north along Jingzhao Street to the foot of Beigu Tower and turned towards Gongyuan Road. The carriage stopped at the foot of the Fangqiu Garden wall, where the two of them picked up their trunks and got out of the car.
Fangqiuyuan was originally an open space. Emperor Xuanzong used it as a training ground for the Imperial Guards. In order to train the Imperial Guards, he dug lakes, built rivers, and created hilly fields.
When the Queen Mother was supervising the country, she felt that it was not good to have thousands of forbidden troops shouting and killing people in the city, so she moved the school grounds to the city south of Hanhui Gate, and the dormitories of the forbidden troops were also moved from Hanhui Gate to Shanli Gate. So that area is now called the parade ground and the military camp.
This side is renovated with part of the funds from the royal family and Guide Mansion. It is open to private tourists from February to September every year. When entering the park, people need two coins. They are used for pensions for the elderly, weak and poor in the city, and for camps in the park. The salary of a carpenter.
Its east wall is already within sight of the gate of Gongyuan, so the carriages sent by wealthy families to their sons are parked under the north wall. However, as soon as Li Dan's car appeared, it immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding people.
The two supervisory censors who were standing on the steps of Longmen (i.e. Gongyuan Gate) supervising the inspection also noticed the carriage from a distance. Soon, a Yulin officer came forward and handed over to them: "Please, you two, I dare to ask." What’s your name?”
"Li Dan from Yugan, Qian Min from Lujiang."
Li Dan had come to register for assassination a few days ago, and he had memorized all the names of Jieyuan from all over the country. The officer immediately gave Li Dan a military salute: "You have seen Li Xiaoqi, and there is no need to line up for Mr. Jieyuan. Please come along." I come."
Li Dan had no choice but to exchange blessings with Qian Min, and then followed him to the two censors. After the censors nodded, the officer led Li Dan in through the side door.
A kind old scribe checked the name, place of origin, etc., read the county's opening document (similar to a letter of introduction), and after a simple inspection, issued the ticket (indicating the name, place of origin, and room number of the applicant), indicating that A clerk behind him guided Li Dan into the venue.
When I came in, I saw that there were not many people. It turned out that the gate was very slow to let people in. People who came in were excited, curious, or full of anxiety.
"Uh, isn't my room over here?" Li Dan couldn't help but feel strange when he saw him leading him through the rows of numbered rooms toward the back.
"Sir, your room number is correct. It's right in the back. It's quieter in the back. The subordinate is in charge of your row. If you have anything to do, please feel free to tell the subordinate, but just don't raise your voice."
Li Dan was so surprised when he heard what he said that his jaw almost dropped. In my previous life, I had read countless time travels, which described how difficult the imperial examination was, and how the Jinshi examination required eating, drinking, and defecation for nine days. How could it be that it was completely different here?
He was taken to the last row of huts. The place was not big, with an area of at most four seats (six square meters), and there were even partitions.
There is a window, and the batik curtain at the door is hung on a copper hook. Next to the hook is a small wooden sign: Tianzi No. 2!
"This..." Li Dan looked back at the smiling friend pointing at the wooden sign with his finger: "Is there still Tian Zi No. 1?"
"Yes!" the clerk replied seriously: "It's right next door to you.
During the second imperial examination of the Renzong Dynasty, the late emperor secretly came to take the exam under a pseudonym. University scholar Wu Xixiang recognized him and did not say anything, so he was led to this room to take the exam. However, the house has been sealed since then and has never been used again. "
After he finished speaking, he looked around and lowered his voice: "It is the palace's arrangement to let you take the exam in this room. Look, Tian's grace is so great, isn't it? The shelf against the wall is quite wide and the height is appropriate.
I've put the bedding on the bed. If you're tired, you can rest and recuperate before continuing. There are charcoal pots and mosquito coils underneath, and there are tea kettles and clean cups on the table. If you want to refill water, eat something, or use the toilet to change clothes, just call the officer.
You don’t need to worry about anything when you leave, just leave it as it is, and the subordinates will naturally come and clean it up. The day after tomorrow, when you come in, you will still be in this room... "The clerk looked around and saw that no one was coming, and asked him to please close the windows and doors if he felt cold at night.
"I won't be the only one with this famous name, right?" Li Dan asked.
"Of course not. Every time, seven or eight people have to be packed in here. They are usually noble disciples." Just as he said this, he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly warned:
"Most of these people are good, but occasionally there may be a scoundrel or a bastard who comes to the office and interferes with it. If there are such people, you must leave them alone and leave them to the subordinates. yes."
After saying this, he smiled bitterly and said, "I know that you, both civil and military, are not afraid of that kind of thing, but if you show up, the chief examiner will have no choice but to deal with you, so don't get excited!"
Seeing that it was still early, the clerk advised him to go back to sleep and said, "The inspections cannot be completed until dawn. When the time is almost up, I will naturally remind you."
After hearing what he said, Li Dan handed over his hand, asked for his surname, Sun, took out Zhang Yiguan's banknotes and stuffed them into his hand. Sun Xiaoli cupped his hands and walked away with a smile on his face.
He was naturally happy. He got a consistent score in one exam, and three passes in three exams was more than double his monthly salary!
Li Dan was sitting on a wicker chair in the room, and there was actually a duck down cushion under his butt!
Compared to what I saw before, this place is completely different.
Take the narrow wooden board against the wall, with two benches on both ends. You can call it a bookshelf or a bed. Although it is only two feet wide, it can sleep people after all!
There are also tea, pastries, fruits, candles, fire media, rulers, Wangshan (a small wooden shelf for holding pens), etc. on the table. When you close the door, it becomes a small study!
I thought it was like the "Beggars Like Prisoners" I had seen before, but I didn't know it was actually like this. Sitting there, Li Dan gradually figured out that the people taking the exam were divided into three, six, and nine grades. Naturally, they were not uniform. Everyone was in the same room and the same conditions.
He looked at the location of the central watchtower (watchtower) and estimated that he was in the row closest to the examiner's office.
After looking at the rows in front of him, Li Dan suddenly realized that the rooms in the front rows were small because there was a corridor at the back. Patrolling officials or petty officials could monitor the situation inside through the sill windows on the back wall.
There is no corridor on the back wall of the Tianzi row where I am, and there are no sill windows on the back wall, so there is more space to make the people inside more comfortable.
Alas, these are all the sins of the privileged class! I thought I could experience the real imperial examination in this life, but unexpectedly, the little emperor knew how to take care of himself, and he was directly upgraded from a single room to a presidential suite.
Well, let's make peace with it. Li Dan lay down on the wooden board and decided to go back to sleep as suggested by Sun Xiaoli. Because of the kind arrangement, Li Dan would not pretend to be decent and ask for a room like the one Qian Min was in.
He really doesn't want to show off right now, he just wants to sleep peacefully and then try his best to do well in this exam. At least you can't let the emperor feel disappointed, right? He thought about it and felt that with his own strength, it shouldn't be like that!
"I will leave for Yangzhou tomorrow, and I will pay my respects to Emperor Yangdi's tomb by the way."
