After completely suppressing the Li family, Yu Santian became even more rampant in the village! The three elders in the village have been completely undermined. If he lets out one word, half of the gangsters in Youxi County will respond! Not only will the civilians in this county suffer deeply, but he even has to make a move to the official mine!

The Ming government mining usually uses indicator mining. What is the indicator system? When the emperor heard that there were minerals in a place, he sent a eunuch to supervise the mine and issued an indicator. For example, he had to pay 20,000 taels of silver a year. As long as the eunuch in the mining supervision can complete the indicator, the emperor would not care about it. If the place that the emperor was favored by the emperor had rich minerals and annual output was more than 20,000 taels of gold, the extra part would naturally fall into the pockets of eunuchs and officials at all levels. But what if the mineral deposits were not as rich as the emperor expected and only paid 5,000 taels of silver a year after hard work, what should he do? No matter! In short, if you have to make up the 20,000 taels of silver, the mineral output is not enough, you will be levied locally. The result of this is that people in the mine location often suffer from miserable life.

Therefore, mining, a good thing that should have been beneficial to the country's economic development, was turned into a disaster that disturbed the people and the country by the bureaucratic system!

Fortunately, there are no other places in Yanping, and the minerals are still abundant. In addition to completing the indicators issued by the emperor, there is still a large piece left for officials at all levels to embezzle! Now, not only are the eunuchs in the mining supervision, but officials at all levels are taking action on this chain of interests, and even the underworld forces have intervened!

It has been almost two years since Li Yan woke up. He lives in Youxi, and his father and brother work in the mine. With his sensitivity to economic behavior, he has already learned about the serious problems in the morning! In fact, not only him, but even officials at all levels are clear about this, but they know that no one is willing to take care of it! Why? First, because of the trouble; second, because there is no need!

In any era, the efficiency of private institutions always seems to be higher than that of public institutions. Although the veins occupied by official mines are better, the miners in official mines work harder, but the income is only a little bit, and there is no incentive mechanism. The more they do, the less they do, and the better they do, the worse they do, so everyone has no motivation to do it. Anyway, the money is not their own after it is dug out. Although the private mines controlled by local bullies have poor veins, their operations are more flexible, so the benefits are often better than those of official mines!

Of course, these mine bullies are also very good at being a human being. When they dig out ten taels of silver, there will always be a few taels of silver that will be filial to officials at all levels! Officials at all levels of Yanping do nothing. As long as they turn a blind eye, they can collect money. On the contrary, if all these mine bullies are destroyed and all private mines are turned into official mines, the efficiency of the official mines seems unlikely to increase the total production of Yanping minerals. More importantly, officials at all levels are not beneficial!

Who will do the unhelpful things?

Therefore, Yanping Mine Stealing has accumulated many years of damage, and officials from previous prefectures and counties either joined forces or were helpless, and none of them could come up with countermeasures!

It is precisely because Yu Santian was so relieved, because he knew that the one covering his head was a large protective umbrella made of silver! Even if the emperor went out for a tour in a small suit, he could not do anything to him - unless he sent a large army to completely level the place, Yu Santian would sit on an iron-clad chair!

But now, Li Yanzhi seemed to be willing to poke the hornet's nest! He was not completely passive in this matter.

On the eighth day of the April 1st, the Yanping Prefecture Examination began. According to convention, the chief examiner was the Yanping Prefect. Before the exam, Youxi County had already sent the enrolled personnel to the prefect's office. The Zuandian of the etiquette room originally wanted to tamper with Li Yanzhi's name, but was scolded by Youxi County!

"As an official in this county, you have always been clear about public and private affairs! How dare you do this! Could you be so mean to trap me for being unfaithful and unrighteous!"

In fact, the people around you know whether the magistrate of Youxi is clear about whether the public or private matter is clearly distinguished. However, a seven-year-old boy from Youxi passed the county examination. This incident has spread far and wide. It is said that there are senior officials in the palace who know about it. For example, the prosecutor Xu, who happened to visit Youxi for inspection of criminal matters, was told by Youxi. Under such a background, if Li Yan did not go to the government examination, it would inevitably lead to suspicion. If the whole thing was exposed and the local literati and officials knew about it, it would be difficult for Youxi to explain it!

Five days before the exam, Li Yanzhi set off, and still, like last time, Li Gang carried him to the capital city.

But he didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he saw the gate of Yanping Prefecture.

I was safe all the way, without encountering any obstacles or ambush.

If he went to the mansion to file a complaint more than a month ago, according to his mother and his brother, although he was on the same road as today, I am afraid they would not be able to reach Yanping at all!

"Brother, we have prepared five taels of silver this time and can stay in the inn." Li Gang said, "So you can take the exam with peace of mind. It's better to be proud of your ancestors!"

Who knew that he planned so, and others also planned so! After all, the prefecture exam is different from the county exam. Unless people live near the prefecture city, they usually have to travel far away to get here. The students who are referring to the first time, especially those who are still young, usually have parents or tutors to accompany the exam. It is not surprising that the whole family is sent to accompany the exam like Su Qi'er in "The Beggar's Top Scholar".

Therefore, half a month before the exam, all the shops in Yanping City were ordered! Where is the turn of brothers Li Yanzhi?

Li Gang found half of the city, but couldn't find a place to stay! Finally, he thought of the Promoter, so he came to discuss with his younger brother: "How about we go find him?"

"No!" Li Yan said straight: "You can't bother him."

"But I really can't find a store! We have no relatives here!"

Li Yanzhi thought for a while and said, "I just saw a City God Temple with a big storefront. It's better to stay in front of the City God Temple for one night."

"How can that be!" Li Gang shouted: "You are going to take the exam the day after tomorrow! How can you not have a good place to sleep well!"

Li Yan smiled and said, "It's nothing great about a mansion test." He was so calm because he had a plan that was much more important than participating in the mansion test!

In the end, Li Gang couldn't twist him, so he had to agree.

In the dark place, Yu Santian's minions flashed out and disappeared again. After they disappeared, Li Yanzhi suddenly looked in this direction.

In Yanping Prefecture, I don’t know who is the hawk and dog or the prey.

The conditions for the government test are much better than those for the county test.

In addition to better economic places in the county examination, there are generally no special examination sheds. The examination sheds are generally equipped with examination sheds. The examination sheds are used as examination halls during the examination. If the superiors recommend the school officials to be temporary, they must also be their temporary yamen. Therefore, the examination sheds for this examination are usually built more decently: there is a gate in front and a courtyard behind. There are pavilions in front of the main hall, and there are ceremonial halls next to the main hall, and there are ceremonial doors, an inner chamber, a gatehouse, a soap room, a kitchen, and a study. As the official examination hall, there are courtyards in the middle, and there are two large open sheds in the courtyard. According to the number of people who have taken the examination in the previous sessions of the residence, the large open sheds will be separated by more than a dozen to dozens of rooms. Therefore, the scale of the examination sheds in the government can be imagined!

The time for entering the examination room for the government examination is also different from that for the county examination. The county examination is a daytime examination, while the government examination has to enter the venue in the middle of the night.

At dusk that day, brother Li Yanzhi could not find his residence, so Li Gang sat under the eaves of the City God Temple, arranged himself into a meat chair, and asked his younger brother to lean on him to rest. Li Yanzhi knew that if he didn't rely on his elder brother, he would be uneasy, so he leaned in his elder brother's arms and closed his eyes to rest. Seeing that the time was approaching, Li Gang woke up his younger brother and rushed to the examination room together.

When he arrived here, Li Gang couldn't help but gasp. It turned out that the examination room in the palace was so large, which made sense! Because the students who took the examination were usually far more than those who took the county exam! The provincial capital with relatively developed economy and culture may have more than 1,000 candidates alone. Although Yanping is in a place, the reading atmosphere in some places in Fujian is also strong. There are always hundreds of candidates who come to the examination, invigilator, invigilator, and in troubled waters. Then there are thousands of people! After entering the examination room, the courtyard was filled with vendors selling various food and snacks. Li Yan looked over, but he felt that the crowd was crowded, which was even more lively than a temple fair!

Since it was night and the examination room was crowded, the students who were referring to the exam and the family members who accompanied the exam were easily separated. Once they were separated, it was extremely difficult to meet in the messy crowd. In order to deal with this situation, someone invented a high-footed lantern with clan surnames or signs written on it. In this way, even if the candidates were separated, they could be retrieved as soon as they looked up.

Unfortunately, Li Gang did not have this experience, and the experienced Lu Xiucai was already neglected from their family at this time. At this time, he squeezed around in the crowd and shouted: "Sanzai! You have to grab my hand! Don't get lost! Hurry up!"

But what are you afraid of? Suddenly, a family came in a hurry for some reason. Li Gang felt that Li Yanzhi's hand was loose and the two brothers were washed away. He quickly turned around, but was blocked by several candidates.

The crowds are getting more and more crowded, but Li Yanzhi has disappeared from the crowd and can't be found!

"Brother! Sanzai! Sanzai!" Li Gang was so anxious that he almost cried! The long-eared bamboo basket containing stationery and other objects was still in his hands! My brother didn't have this bamboo basket, so how could he enter the exam room!

He searched for the middle of the night like a headless fly, but he couldn't find Li Yanzhi! It was finally dawn, and most of the people who were taking the exam had already gone to rest first. It was deserted outside the exam room, so it was easier to find some people! But he still didn't see Li Yanzhi's shadow!

The scope of his search gradually expanded, turning into a city running around! Before he knew it, he walked to the City God Temple again, it was already noon!

"What should I do? My parents handed Sanzai to me. Not only did I not let him rest well, but I didn't send him to the examination room safely, and even lost everyone!" Thinking of this, Li Gang, who was honest, almost cried!

At this moment, a very unfamiliar voice heard: "Brother, what are you doing?"

Li Gang was stunned for a moment, and when he looked at Li Yanzhi, he saw that Li Yanzhi came out of nowhere and was looking at him with a smile.

"You, you...ah!" He rushed over, picked up his brother, and shouted, "Where have you gone?"

"Ah! Boss, please be gentle!" Li Yan shouted, "Don't forget that your brother is only seven years old! You'll almost break my spine!"

Li Gang let him go and asked again: "Where did you go last night!"

"Let's get separated." Li Yanzhi said indifferently.

"Get apart? That...that exam matter..."

"I didn't go in on time." Li Yan said straight: "Then I will naturally not be able to pass the exam."

Li Gang exclaimed: "How is that good!"

Li Yan smiled and said, "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, I have done something more important than participating in the palace examination." (To be continued)
Chapter completed!