Beiyang new warlord

Page 634

In the entire Zhengyangmen Square, only Dong Shiyun and his two little book boys were left there dumbfounded.

The proud halo is scorned and useless, and the rules created are ruthlessly broken. A nobleman like Dong Shiyun is like a waste, useless.This charming young man seems to have become the beginning of the epitome of an era of scholar-bureaucrats.

The losers are not worthy of attention, and the eyes of the world are still on those who succeed.

In the society at that time, occupations such as industry and commerce foot teeth and masters and lawyers were all despised by people, especially the masters and ink officials. A group of gangsters who are outright villains, generally as long as they become officials, they basically have no hope of official career. Being able to be a ninth-rank sesame official in this life is already smoke from the ancestral grave.

But he, Liu Botao, came out as No. 2 in the imperial examination, the proud son of heaven!According to the unspoken rules of the Ming Dynasty’s official circles, at least he was born in a position of high authority in the seventh-rank Qingliu. Ke Dao gave the imperial censor as the starting point, and after taking the big red flower around Beijing to praise his achievements, he was full of joy and disbelief. Liu Botao It was followed by the two lucky ones who were favored by heaven and were led into the palace together.

The pressure brought by the imperial power is unavoidable even for those crazy scholars, let alone those masters who look at people with winks. They were led into the palace by two sergeants, and looked at the empty ceremonial prison. When it appeared in front of his eyes, Liu Botao didn't dare to look up immediately, and walked in with his head down and his robe in his hand. He was the first one to thump and bow heavily on the ground.

"Grassman Liu Botao/Student Li Guoyong, meet the Regent!"

"Get up! This king doesn't have so many rules, you are the stars today, come here, give me your seat!"

The imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty were fraudulent. At the end of each subject, no matter whether the top three scholars or the second-ranked Jinshi were all determined by default, it is ashamed to say that when it comes to Mao Jue, this imperial examination is actually still unfair.

Dong Shiyun is actually right!

Just like Wu Juncai, the number one scholar in Liucheng, who was born in a rich family in Shanxi, the nephew of Cao Sanxi, a great Shanxi merchant, and the five major merchant gangs in Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants played the leading roles. They were beaten to the point of bleeding, and their teeth were grinning, but the emaciated camels were bigger than horses. They were still very powerful in the Lianghuai saltworks and the Lianghuai trade.

Now Mao Jue wants to build two vertical and horizontal railways, and the horizontal railway must pass through Shanxi, and what is the need for the train to run now?Coal!The special product of Shanxi in later generations is the coal boss! The admission of Wu Juncai is the basis for Mao Jue to approach and cooperate with Shanxi merchants.

But having said that, among those old Ming scholars who were obsessed with studying, the children of Shanxi merchants still have a high level of communication with people and affairs. Although it is a favor to give him the number one scholar, it is not too fraudulent.

As for Li Guoyong, he almost missed it.He was born in the nobles of the capital. Indeed, in the defense of the capital and a series of wars in the late Ming Dynasty, these sergeants and nobles were really eye-catching, but it does not mean that these old families are sticks. All of them were cut off with real knives and guns at the border, and they had two brushes.

Now that Mao Jue is going to form the Imperial Army Corps, it is better to absorb these families into the army if the decline of these families causes social security problems. In fact, Li Guoyong's answer papers are not outstanding, and he will be in the middle of the civil service exams for future generations. For those who are below the level, giving him this opportunity is also an olive branch offered by Mao Jue to the nobles of the capital.

When the three sat down, Mao Jue was the first to smile and nod to Wu Juncai.

"Last winter in Shenyang, your uncle mentioned to this king that he has a nephew who is very talented in the world. When I saw him today, he is indeed a good-looking talent! Haha! His bragging is not in vain!"

Being so acquainted with the regent is quite a face-saving thing. He is worthy of being a son of Shanxi merchants. This Wu Juncai immediately reciprocated and gave him a big fist.

"Students have little talent and learning, and it is all thanks to the promotion of the Regent that they are today. In the future, the students will only be guided by the Regent. My uncle also set off overnight to go to the capital in person to thank the Regent!"

Shanxi merchants are quite acquainted. Wenmeng expelled Li Zicheng's troops. These guys helped him stabilize the situation in Shanxi in a short period of time and raised military supplies. Now Wenmeng entered the pass from Yan'an and swept Shaanxi and Gansu. He made plans behind his back, and now Cao Sanxi and others are coming to the capital to visit him, which is considered to be popular with him. Mao Jue also nodded involuntarily. It seems that this coal boss really needs to be raised.

After chatting for a few more words, Mao Jue's eyes fell on Li Guoyong, and his expression here became a little more serious, and became a lot more majestic. There is no desire to join the army. This is related to whether the nobles of the capital can gain a foothold in the new dynasty. This Li Guoyong is not at all the relaxed and freehand style of wooing people around the examination room that day. Jue has no problem.

It took Mao Jue more than 20 minutes to meet the two. During this period, Liu Botao, the second child, seemed to be a transparent person, sitting in the middle awkwardly. Mao Jue didn't even look at him. When he was embarrassed, Mao Jue finally Standing up, the three immediately turned over from their chairs again and knelt down.

"Recently, Pang Butang wants to set up a commercial department under the household department to operate independently. Juncai, you should be wronged, and you will be the head of the commercial department first. As for the national use, you will help the Hongge department to form the fifth corps of the capital. He will arrange specific positions for you! This orphan will not entertain you any more!"

"Thank you King Regent for your kindness!"

Aggrieved, being able to be able to be a sixth-rank official is a step up to the sky, and Li Guoyong is not in a hurry. Since Mao Jue wants to recruit the nobles of the capital into the army, his status will not be bottomed out. The only embarrassing one is Liu Botao. He didn't get anything, he was studying with the prince, but he could only kowtow to thank him.

Just when he was full of disappointment and wanted to resign, fate played a joke on him again, Mao Jue hummed slowly.

"Ying Ji, take the two talents out! Bo Tao, stay here!"

Only now did I pay attention to the inconspicuous Liu Botao. I didn’t expect him to be kept by Mao Jue for a secret talk, especially Li Guoyong, who was clearly envious and looked at him differently. Then he was led by Mao Liying. Out of the inspector of ceremonies.

Kneeling on the ground, Liu Botao's heart was beating like a drum, he really couldn't think of it, it was already unbelievable enough for him to be second in the list, why did Mao Jue leave him alone.

And although he started from grass roots, he knows how to advance and retreat much better than a conceited son like Dong Shiyun. Since Mao Jue looks at him so highly, if he fails to meet Mao Jue's requirements and complete the task, it will be a disaster rather than a blessing !Isn't there that saying that a companion is like a tiger?As long as Mao Jue cocked his mouth in dissatisfaction, his head would fall to the ground.

However, for two or three minutes, Mao Jue didn't make a sound.

I couldn't help raising my head cautiously, but I happened to see Mao Jue staring at him with thick eyebrows and big eyes. Those eyes were full of greed, possessiveness and other emotions intertwined with expressions.

Liu Botao saw that the chrysanthemums were getting cold, and he quickly lowered his head again, but his heart couldn't help crying, this Liao king can't be a man, can he?And it's not good for little fresh meat, but old bacon like him?

Mao Jue finally spoke here, full of joy, he asked hastily.

"Master Shaoxing's background?"

"Back to the Regent, the untouchables are right!"

"Master Shaoxing, do you have a circle of friends?"

After not staying for a few minutes, Liu Botao also left the palace. Hearing the heavy palace door close behind him with a bang, he couldn't help heaving a sigh of relief. As soon as the ground became hot, he suddenly hurried out, and immediately stopped a large carriage by the Zhengyang Gate.

"Go to the nearest Wenmo Bookstore right away, hurry up!"

Now he understands why Mao Jue chose him as the second place, not only for himself, but also for the same underappreciated teachers from Shaoxing, he saw him spread out the paper and write a large line of characters as quickly as a dragon.

"Brother from the same town, there are many officials in the capital! People are stupid! Come quickly!"

Chapter 6 and Four. Digging the Wall!

The salt government started from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and it has been the most important policy for the imperial court to collect money in the past dynasties. Even in the Southern Song Dynasty, it supported half of the country. But in this Ming Dynasty, the salt government is also deformed.

In the Qing Dynasty, the Lianghuai Salt Administration earned tens of millions of taels to 200 million taels a year, but even in the Wanli year, the salt water was only more than 200 million taels. During the reign of Chongzhen, it even fell below a million taels. , The country’s original policy of increasing fiscal revenue has become a money-gathering ground for a group of salt merchants and corrupt officials. More than [-]% to [-]% of the profits have been divided up by them.

However, it is precisely because of such deformed politics that a special rich group of salt merchants in Yangzhou has been raised. The salt merchants' rich assets have nowhere to spend, and they are spent on the cultural industry, which makes the cultural development of Jiangnan Unprecedented high speed and development, in which there are two special classes that specialize in serving salt merchants, Yangzhou Shouma and Shaoxing Shiye.

Mao Jue had already seen this Yangzhou skinny horse, Adelaina was considered a Yangzhou skinny horse, and Liu Botao was a member of Master Shaoxing.

The single-plank bridge of the imperial examination is too narrow, and the style of writing in the south of the Yangtze River is too strong. The poor children who have no family background and no connections can't pass it. In order to survive, some of them go into business, and some of them go out of business.

In the Qing Dynasty, Master Shaoxing became synonymous with counselors. Literati born in one place were secretly able to influence the political arena of the empire. In the long-term financial management, punishment, and taxation, these people also accumulated wealth. Deep valuable experience.

Mao Jue doesn't know the overall level of Shaoxing masters in the late Ming Dynasty, but Liu Botao's level is definitely higher than that of the professionally trained talents of Dongjiang Academy. Can order.

And it's not just a talented person who governs the region, but because of the regionality of Master Shaoxing, if he is admitted, he may be able to catch a bunch of people, especially when Mao Jue became an official, he also poached Jiangnan's big family In the corner of the wall, the local politics of some southern state capitals have been thrown into chaos, which is killing two birds with one stone.

So Mao Jue left him Liu Botao for ten minutes, and only told him one thing, which was to recruit people. He gave him the position of head of the official department, and promised that if he could recruit a hundred, he would be promoted to a doctor of the official department, one thousand , Promote the servant.

For Liu Botao, he can be promoted and bring fellow villagers along. This deal is too good for him. He directly rents a study room in the Wenmo shop, and he writes letters without a pen.

These letters had just been written, and the ink was still a little dry, so they were immediately invited away by the officials waiting at the door. What Liu Botao didn't know was that for him alone, he even mobilized a small half of Jiangnan in Liaozhen. The intelligence network, Lu Zhong, the new Jinyiwei commander under Mao Jue's command, was also mobilized and transported to the south of the Yangtze River in the form of flying birds.

The Nanming envoy is still dawdling on the road, and the densely packed letters that look like leaflets have been scattered all over the sky in the magistrates and county offices of Suhuchang.

Songjiang County Government.

The turmoil in the south of the Yangtze River these days is not small. The imperial court of the capital is destroyed. The Nanjing Six Department, which used to be a nursing home, has become the head of Huadan. It is said that the Liao King of the imperial court defeated the million-dollar army of the traitor Li Zicheng, and the court officials are likely to take the newly enthroned Emperor Hongguang to the north, and then they will receive even greater rights. The political leaders of the Donglin faction, down to the spiritual leaders of the Fushe, such as Zhang Pu, Zhang Cai brothers, and the four sons of the late Ming Dynasty, are all obsessed with fighting for power and want to take a bite of the future cake.

Mr. Zhu is shrewd enough. When the country was founded, he considered the situation of local officials relying on their families to bully the village. The Ministry of Officials has enforced the iron law for 280 years, that is, officials are not allowed to hold posts in the hometown.

But there are policies and there are countermeasures. Although the world is big, it can't escape the network of relationships. Officials here are in the same year and there are uncles. If your son is with me, I will help you take care of it. My nephew is with you. You look good This Songjiang county magistrate Gong Hao is similar. He was born in the Gong family in Hangzhou, which is the base of the Zhejiang Party. In Songjiang, it can be regarded as the stronghold of Donglin. The sex rich family has friendship, and he can be regarded as a stable official here.

But now, with such a strong wind, this small county government is naturally not immune. Although it can't get involved in the big power, it still has to consider the issue of standing in line, especially the Donglin clan who is usually tolerant. He, the nail of the Zhejiang Party, has begun to dislike him.