One wheelbarrow, two wheelbarrows...ten wheelbarrows...twenty wheelbarrows... many poor students watched the arrival of the wheelbarrows in surprise.

However, after the two large wooden barrels on the wheelbarrow were unloaded, steamed buns, rice, meat buns, mutton, fish soup, pickles... one by one appeared. Chunniang stood happily next to the wheelbarrow and shouted to the poor students working: "Children, don't do it anymore, come and have a meal..."

Yao Yi walked forward slightly, looked at the many delicious foods in the bucket, and looked at Chunniang in surprise and asked, "Auntie, can we eat these things too?"

Yao Yi thought that these foods were given to the craftsmen who just worked, because the food was really rich. Many of these poor students had been in March and didn’t know the taste of meat.

They would not even think that the King of Qi had given them a place to live and so many things to live. Now the King of Qi gave them food to eat, which was really touching.

"You are eating... don't be polite. The young master said, you can eat as much as you can. Although the young master cannot send you money now, the food will be guaranteed. This is what our young master wants to you...!"

Chunniang said to me, all the poor students felt a hint of warmth from the bottom of their hearts.

This incident soon caused some response in Chang'an City. In the hearts of the people, Li You's image was once again positively praised. However, in the hearts of those aristocratic families, what Li You did was like doing childish behaviors that only children would do.

Everyone was disdainful of Li You's behavior of sponsoring poor students. How can I say it? Although the Tang Dynasty had an equal attitude at this time, it did not provide equal help.

Let me give you an example. During the Qing Dynasty, everyone knew the location of the capital. A Guangdong candidate was almost separated by "100,800 miles". How did they take the exam and how did they solve the expenses on the way?

You should know that there were no high-speed trains at that time. Even if you were riding a carriage, you would never have to reach your destination for a few months. It is not as convenient as it is now. You can book a hotel online in advance and arrive the day before the exam.

At that time, I had to live on the road for a long time, and the expenses of food, clothing, housing and transportation were added up.

It would be fine if it was a wealthy family, but how could poor students afford it?

First of all, you must understand that the minimum exam that can be taken in Beijing is also a test.

In order to avoid poor students giving up the exam because they have no travel expenses, all dynasties will give candidates certain subsidies.

Taking the Qing Dynasty as an example, nearer provinces such as Hebei can get 4 taels of silver, candidates in Anhui can get 20 taels when they are far away, and candidates in Guangdong, Hainan and other places can get as much as 30 taels, which means that today's purchasing power is more than 20,000 yuan!

In fact, if you are qualified to take the imperial examination, you will not need any expense along the way, because the court came forward to help candidates with no food and accommodation!

How to distinguish between candidates and non-students?

The court arranged a special car for each candidate, called a "public car". The letter initiated by candidates such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao in the late Qing Dynasty was also named "public car book".

A bus is not a casual car. The Ministry of Rites will specially make a small yellow flag with the words "Ministry of Rites Examination".

After reading these, do you think the ancient candidates were very comfortable and the benefits were very good?

In fact, the benefits of candidates are far more than that, because the buses pass by the checkpoints along the way are exempt from inspection, so they are also China's earliest "purchase agent".

Because of his special identity, bandits and robbers never dared to rob the road when they saw the bus.

Otherwise, if the superiors pursue the matter, local officials at all levels will do their best to suppress the bandits in order to keep the black hat.

In addition to economic and security guarantees, once you are qualified to go to Beijing for the imperial examination, the originally poor families can also become rich immediately.

As future officials, local landlords and rich gentry naturally have various benefits to win over and win over. Maybe even their precious daughters can be delivered to their doorsteps in order to establish a good relationship with these future officials.

With so many benefits and benefits, even poor students will never be poor once they pass the provincial examination.

But this was not the case in the Tang Dynasty. The poor students of the Tang Dynasty did not receive any favor from the court, and they all depended on themselves. Not to mention the bus, all the money they went to Beijing was saved by their families. This money was not much. More importantly, when they went to Beijing for the exam, 80 or even 90% of them were not selected.

Without the positive support and appearance of the court, poor students are of very small value, so what Li You did at this time seems childish, stupid, and naive. Everyone says that Li Tai likes literati, so why don’t he fund poor students?

I think many people will definitely think that funding poor students is a good move. If you spend a little money, you can get the hearts of poor students. Why not do it?

But in fact, this is just your idea... If the imperial court does not support it strongly, it just opens a crack. Then it would be ridiculous if you are doing such a thing.

When King Li Tai of Wei and Fang Yiai were together, the two mentioned Li You's funding for poor students this time. They used two idioms to describe what Li You did.

The first is to attract attention, and the second is to gain more than you gain.

Needless to say, it is more important to mock Li You for deliberately showing off his kindness and losing money. It is very simple. You have given him help to those poor students now, but as long as they pass the imperial examination.

If they marry a wife from a wealthy family, they will no longer be poor. Li You's good deeds have all become stains for poor students. On the contrary, some poor students who have become sons-in-law of wealthy families will deliberately wipe out this disgraceful past.

This is also the reason why Li Tai and other aristocratic families have not been to support poor students. It has no value. There are too few poor students who have made their way forward. If someone really makes their way forward, just turn the poor student into his own. It's very simple...!

But... what Li You did was not meaningless at all. At least he spent a little money and received favor from two people. The first one was the Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin wanted to strongly support poor students, but many times, Li Shimin had to consider a lot, so all he could do was to open a crack, and the rest of Li Shimin was powerless for the time being.

Because at this time, the Tang Dynasty had five surnames and Qiwang, the related group of Long and the Shandong group he established himself, he could not directly overturn these, so he hoped that poor students could stand up, but they did not have the ability to help them.

Li You's approach directly attracted Li Shimin's heart. On the next day, Li Shimin ordered many of the books in the palace to be sent to the bamboo house built by Li You to temporarily accommodate poor students.

And the person who sent these books was Ma Zhou, the official who came up from a poor family...!

....................................

Ma Zhou is the representative of poor students. Ma Zhou is a real poor family. He has no fathers who are officials in his family and is poor. Ma Zhou loses his parents when he is young and is particularly proficient in the Book of Songs and Zuo Zhuan. When he grows up, he is not respected by his fellow villagers because of his unruly behavior.

During the Wude period, he was appointed as a teacher assistant in Bozhou and drank alcohol every day, not taking the lecture seriously.

The governor Da Xishu scolded him many times, but Ma Zhou resigned in anger, wandered between Cao and Bian, and was insulted by Junyi, and was insulted by Cui Xianshou. So he went west to Chang'an in anger. In Xinfeng's hotel, the owner only invited the vendors but did not take care of Ma Zhou. Ma Zhou asked for a bucket of eight liters of wine and drank it leisurely. The owner was deeply surprised.

When he arrived at the capital, he stayed at the home of Chang He, the general of the Central Army.

Later, at the home of Chang He, the general of the Central Army... Li Shimin invited Ma Zhou in four and then soared forward.

Finally, he was elected as one of the prime ministers of the crown prince Li Zhi by Li Shimin. Li Shimin had a strong eye for Ma Zhou, which was the biggest reason why Ma Zhou was loyal to Li Shimin.

....................................

The sun shines brightly, Chunniang is here again. This time, Chunniang made a lot of braised fish for the students as Li You ordered, because Li You didn’t know where he heard it, fish meat nourishes the brain.

Now there are 100 bamboo houses built, and there are nearly 350 poor students coming here.

Chunniang shouted: "The kids... have eaten..."

Follow you, you can see that scholars in groups of three or three in the bamboo house will come out together, holding their own trays in their hands and smiling out of the bamboo house. Of course, there are also scholars who are fascinated by reading books. Fortunately, these poor students are more friendly, and whoever is fascinated by reading books will bring some food to each other.

"Aunt, what are you eating today?"

When they came to Chunniang's side, the sweet-mouthed student would call Chunniang Aunt, and Chunniang was also very happy with this sentence and immediately replied: "Today I eat braised fish...and chicken soup, ginger, pickles, steamed buns, rice, and fullness...!"

"Wow...!"

After listening to today's dishes, many students showed happy expressions.

Chunniang smiled and said, "Young Master said, fish can nourish your brain. You are scholars, just to replenish your brain. Come and make a meal quickly... Come, come, come...!"

Just as Chunniang was calling everyone to make food, a middle-aged man about forty walked to Chunniang with a smile on his face, looked at the food in Chunniang's bucket and asked, "May I ask... can I eat these too..."

When Chunniang saw that he was dressed as a scholar who had been dressed in a coarse cloth linen all his life, he knew that his family was poor at first glance, so Chunniang answered without thinking: "Of course... Come on, I give the gentleman a tray. If the gentleman wants to eat, I will tell me...!"

"That's so thankful, but I've eaten a little too much, I don't know... is there any restrictions?" The middle-aged man asked embarrassedly again.

"There is no limit, my son said that compared with physical workers, the students are mental workers, and they also need to eat and drink well. However, my son has been short of money recently and can only give these poor students some basic guarantees. Otherwise, my son will also prepare milk for the students...!"

"It's already very good, it's already very good..." The middle-aged man was slightly moved and looked at the braised fish, rice, ginger, steamed buns, and a wooden bowl of chicken soup in his tray.

The middle-aged man said slightly: "When I was in the imperial examination, I only ate mixed grains and steamed buns, lived in the old temple in the mountains and fields. His highness was kind-hearted. I wanted to thank him for the poor students of the Tang Dynasty...!"

"I...?" Chunniang was also stunned, looking at the other party and asked, "Sir, are you..."

The middle-aged man looked at Chunniang and smiled slightly: "I have eaten these, and I will tell you who I am..."
Chapter completed!