On the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, there was a severe cold.

There are still nine days until New Year's Eve. The weather is freezing and everything is hibernating. At the same time, it is also a day to get rid of the old and bring in the new.

As a warm-up for the Chinese New Year, Dahan's sacrifices are not very grand. They usually just gather at home to hold stove and tooth sacrifices.

Of course, it is good to have family fun, but when you are away from home, you can only go out to a restaurant and have a toothpaste to satisfy the sense of ritual.

Especially for Li Kun, who came to Beijing to take the exam, he studied hard for two months and took advantage of the opportunity to eat a good meal and make up for the nutritional deficiencies.

He was short of money and didn't think about choosing a good restaurant, so he wandered around the roadside alleys.

I happened to see a mutton soup restaurant with a sign at the door - 30% off for the Jinke Examination.

Li Kun was so happy that he immediately walked into the store.

The space in the store is not large, but it is well-organized. There are several long wooden tables placed here and there, and the benches next to them clearly look old.

Li Kun stood at the threshold and took a deep breath, taking in the smell mixed with the aroma of herbs and meat, and had a full meal out of thin air.

"Hey, sir, please come in."

The waiter in the shop was afraid that he was not a century-old shop, so he spoke in an extremely authentic manner.

Li Kun took out the food card from his pocket, asked for a 30% discount, and was about to order some food.

Suddenly I heard someone calling me from behind.

"Uncle Jian! Here! Look behind you!"

Li Kun felt that the voice sounded familiar and turned around subconsciously.

Passing by the diners sitting around the table in small or small groups, Li Kun soon saw a familiar face.

A fellow student who was able to take the exam, Li Du.

In front of him were a bowl of mutton soup, a half flatbread, and a new newspaper in his hand.

When Li Kun saw this, he quickly smiled and walked to Li Du's desk: "I never thought it would be such a coincidence that I would meet Si Zhi when I came out to have my teeth punched."

Unlike Gu Xiancheng and his arrogant gang, Li Du does not engage in gangs, and his relationship is more pure.

Without the worry of causing trouble, Li Kun was still willing to make friends with Li Du - just because of the name and his talent.

Li Du folded up the new newspaper and put it on the stool next to him, looked at Li Kun and said with a smile: "It's just that poverty and illness are related, and they are both tempted by the 30% discount."

When Li Kun heard this, he couldn't help but laugh: "A man who is poor and ill has a very sharp mind."

The two looked at each other and smiled, Li Du stretched out his hand to invite Li Kun to sit with him: "In addition, I also heard that the first-level Jinshi in the previous subjects, such as Shen Gong and Yu Gong, are mostly repeat customers of this store. Since I want to be talented, I have to do so.

It’s a thorough one.”

It’s normal for stores to use gimmicks to capture the customer flow that comes every three years.

Especially the restaurants outside major halls, most of them were consecrated by a certain Taoist priest, blessed by a certain deity, and visited by many Jinshi in the past.

On the contrary, this shop is one that Shen Shixing often eats at, so it can't be fake.

Li Kun sat down generously and ordered food from the waiter. Then he turned around and said, "Sixi is clearly an open-minded person who has no intention of pursuing an official career. Why are you still obsessed with it?"

Li Du is a very special person.

If someone says they have no intention of pursuing an official career, they are simply pretending to be crazy. Otherwise, what would they try to do if they came here with eager eyes?

But Li Du was different. He was Yu Dayou's staff. He came to Beijing just to work for Dong Weng and take the general examination.

He has publicly stated that even if he becomes a Jinshi, he will resign and return to Fujian to continue working for Yu Dayou.

That's why Li Kun said that he is an open-minded person and should not practice praying before exams.

But when Li Du heard this, he smiled and shook his head: "Uncle Jian's words are wrong. Although I have no intention of pursuing an official career, becoming a Jinshi in high school is exactly my obsession."

Li Kun was very happy and looked curious: "Why is this?"

Li Du did not hide anything, sighed and said eloquently: "Nowadays, the world values ​​civility over military affairs. Even though I, Commander-in-Chief Dong Wengyu, have great military exploits and amassed a great reputation in the southeast, I am often humiliated by mere petty officials."

"What those villains rely on is just their background as a Jinshi."

"As a staff member, I can't change the general trend of the world, so I thought I might as well become a Jinshi to give my boss some face."

"Whenever I meet someone who talks about civil and military status, I will be able to talk about myself."

Li Du was from Jinjiang, Fujian, and he could be said to be die-hardly loyal to Yu Dayou, who was kind to Fujian.

Whether it is the self-written "Conquering the Barbarian General Commander Xu Jiang·Yu Gong Gong Xing Ji" or assisting Yu Dayou in revising the "Zhengqitang Collection", one can see his heartfelt admiration.

Li Kun had read this person's writings and naturally understood what Li Du was like - if not for this, the two of them would not be so close.

However, this statement involves current issues, and there are many people at that time who have different opinions.

In line with the principle of not wanting to cause trouble, Li Kun took advantage of the situation and said: "One civil servant and one military officer, one cannot say which one is more important and which one is less important. I heard that in the middle of the month, His Majesty also added a military minister to the Wenhua Palace.

After consulting the court discussion, it can be seen that the central government also understands the principle of complementing civil and military forces."

This is strange to say.

It turned out to be the Ministry of Rites who took the lead.

Ma Ziqiang, the Minister of Rites, and the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, reported that starting from the Jiajing period, Japanese pirates, Tatars, Walas, Duman, and even Jurchens all became more and more aggressive. Border defense and military pressure gradually increased, and the number of military discussions in the court increased.

It is also increasing.

But every time he held court discussions, he could only turn over the memorials to the general and talk nonsense.

Without experience in the military, talking about military affairs simply cannot hit the point.

In this case, why not call the governor of the capital camp, who has the highest military position in the capital, to come to the court meeting for consultation?

Moreover, according to the ancestral law, it is in line with the etiquette and law system to establish a military advisor.

Li Kun didn't know whether the officials were surprised or not, but anyway, when he first heard it, he was surprisingly surprised.

This is the most appropriate time to give it to Li Du and Xini, who are dissatisfied with the big government.

After hearing this, Li Du secretly shook his head.

If there was really no difference between civil and military affairs, Yu Dayou would not have been directly demoted home by Inspector Li Liangchen with a bullet in July of the fifth year of Longqing.

The dignified first-grade official position, just because it is the military position of military governor, is immediately worthless. I am afraid it is not even as good as a seventh-grade county magistrate.

But there's one thing Li Kun said that's right.

The recent situation in the center has indeed been unpredictable and unpredictable.

Whether it was the replacement of the governor of the Jingying camp, Gu Huan, to join the court to discuss the military affairs, or the mobilization of the Jingying camp in the second half of the year to start garrisoning in all directions, or even the extraordinary promotion of Ji Liao.

It all makes people feel that the center's behavior is different from the past.

Of course, what puzzled Li Du the most was that at the beginning of last year, Zhang Siwei and Yang Bo successively petitioned to reinstate Yu Dayou. What happened?

Neither of us are familiar with each other.

It was strange that this matter was brought up by Zhang and Yang, who were completely unfamiliar with it.

And things got even weirder after Yu Dayou came back to power.

After Yu Dayou went to Fujian, the central government did not give him any clear instructions. Yin Congjian, the governor of Fujian, kept suppressing Yu Dayou. He who refused to give people or provide food was no different from an idle gentleman.

Li Du, who was originally a staff member, also suggested that he should get in touch with the "leaders" Zhang Siwei and Yang Bo and ask for help, so that Yu Dayou could continue to lead the army in the war.

As a result, after the letters went back and forth, I discovered that the two authors had both returned to their hometowns.

There was no other way, Yu Dayou had no choice but to correct his mentality and continue to sit on the bench in Fujian.

However, things took a turn for the worse the month before last. Another demoted official from the capital came to visit and asked Yu Dayou to follow the emperor's order and assist him in rebuilding the Shipping Department.

This is nothing!

The emperor has not yet taken charge of the government, so who are you trying to scare with the emperor's decree?

At this time, Yu Dayou and Li Du seemed to be involved in a huge central battle, and they did not dare to act rashly.

We had no choice but to make excuses and send Li Du to Beijing to find out what was going on in Beijing.

It will take some time to get information.

The most economical way and the most reasonable reason for staying is to take the Jinshi examination.

Because the topic was sensitive, the two of them stopped talking in a tacit understanding.

At this moment, the waiter brought Li Kun's food.

While Li Kun accepted it politely, he changed the subject without leaving any trace: "I saw Sizhi reading the newspaper just now? Is there any news recently?"

The word news originated from newspapers.

Dictionary copying is not considered a newspaper. It is for officials to read. Only those that are for the public are called newspapers.

The earliest rise of private newspapers was in the former Song Dynasty - "People like new things and are curious, and they all take tabloids as their light."

The output is as fast as "one piece of paper at sunrise", and the market is so wide that "it can be passed on to ten people, and it can be passed on to hundreds of people, and even reaches all the prefectures and counties."

You can see how hot it is.

However, private newspapers must be banned. Not only should they be "banned with great pain"! They should also be "criminalized and rewarded"!
To be continued...