Chapter 241: Imperial Examination Case (III)

"Good job, thank you for your hard work."

Li Qing gently put the pen in his hand and looked at Wu Xingsu who had just rushed back from Pingkangfang, "Do you really see clearly that they are Yang Guozhong's son and Zhao Yue?"

Li Qing's praise made Wu Xing thrust his back, and he replied affirmatively: "I have always been very accurate in judging people. I have seen these two people, so I can't be wrong."

Li Qing stood up and walked to the window, his calm eyes staring at the deep blue night sky, and bright stars clearly covered the sky. He sighed slightly, and a helpless smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he thought to himself: "When will Zhao Yue get together with Yang Guozhong? I don't know. It seems that his ability to obtain intelligence is still too weak."

The matter was obvious. At that time, it was suggested that Li Jingyan be the King of Qing. Yang Guozhong wrote a letter to support him, and then a blind date between the two Lis was caused. Li Qing had never understood why they targeted Li Jingyan. Now he finally knew the answer. Zhao Yue, this was Zhao Yue who had pursued Li Jingyan but could not. Only he knew how important Li Jingyan was to him.

"I heard that Yang Xuan himself will also participate in the imperial examination this year. I think there must be an unspeakable transaction behind this test case."

Wu Xingsu's analysis made Li Qing suddenly laugh, "Your news is quite fast!" He looked at this loyal subordinate who had been following him since eastern Yunnan, as if today was the first time he met.

"I am from Chang'an. I used to have many friends in the Yulin Army, so I can basically know the news on the market."

"Xingsu, you and I have been with you for several years. You are the one I absolutely trust." Li Qing patted his shoulder and smiled gently: "Now I have brothers from Lifei around me, and sometimes I am neglected you. I have always wanted to set up an ear and ear organization. Now it feels even more urgent. The time is ripe. This ear and ear organization will be left to you to form. Are you willing?"

Wu Xingsu hesitated and said, "The Skeleton of Naxi City"

"The Skeletons are just making small fuss, not formal, and spreading rumors or something, but they can't do big things." Li Qing smiled slightly, "What I want is military-style governance. They need to have cold-blooded masters who kill ten steps, and have clones and beautiful girls, and they must be absolutely loyal to me. This requires soldiers like you to do it. You can pick 50 elite soldiers from my three hundred servants first. Even if you need capital, money is not a problem. The key is talent and loyalty. I believe you, don't let me down."

"Abide by the order!"

Wu Xingban knelt down and saluted with a solemn expression, "I will never let my lord down!"

"Go! Think about it carefully tonight and it will start tomorrow."

After Wu Xingsu left, Li Qing sat back in the chair. Perhaps influenced by Li Linfu, he also used a rattan chair, but he hid it comfortably and his thoughts became clearer.

The news brought by Wu Xingsu today does not have much effect on him at the moment, but this is a handle, a handle against Yang Guozhong. Since Zuozang was stripped from Taifu Temple and handed it to him, Li Qing clearly realized that with what he knew, Yang Guozhong would never give up and would definitely take the opportunity to take revenge on him. Now his son dares to sell the test questions privately. Li Qing sneered, if he had this handle in his hand, he would not be afraid that Yang Guozhong would turn to heaven.

The study door was gently pushed open, and Li Jingyan, who was a woman for the first time, walked in with a cup of tea. She walked gracefully, wearing a white long skirt like a flowing cloud, making her figure look more pretty and slender. She came to Li Qing, gently put down the teacup, and pointed the stack of manuscripts on the desk with a slender jade pointing at the stack of manuscripts on her desk, and smiled: "Li Lang, these manuscripts have been re-embellished for you. Have you read it?"

Li Jingyan is different from the Liang'er who came from the bottom of society. She has a high literary cultivation and can write poetry and essays. After she entered the mansion, she became his copywriter secretary and sorted out documents and other errands for him. Of course, she was not an aide, but just a clerk.

Li Qing smiled but did not answer, but reached out to put her waist, sat her on her lap, and kissed her gently on her jade-like earlobe. Li Jingyan gave him a sweet and shy look, trying to push him away, but his hand was caught by him. Her heartbeat, she looked at the door that had not been closed yet, and said anxiously: "Li Lang, this is going to be seen by others."

As soon as he said that, footsteps came from outside the house, which scared Li Jingyan from "Teng!" and jumped up from Li Qing's leg. Only one of Li Qing's personal followers said at the door: "Governor, there is someone waiting for you outside the gate, saying that he is from the Li Prime Minister's Mansion."

"Li Linfu?" Li Qing was slightly stunned. What did Li Linfu send someone to him so late?

When he saw Li Jingyan leaving, he grabbed her white wrist and leaned against her ear and laughed in a low voice: "When the golden wind and jade dew meet, it will be better than countless people in the world. Let's see you tonight!"

"Li Lang! You" Li Jingyan's face suddenly turned red, and she shyly sent a beautiful woman a flash of autumn to her lover and whispered: "Then I'll wait for you!" After that, she turned around and ran away in panic.

Li Qing woke up from her eyes that were like power transmission for a long time. He let out a long sigh. He really didn't know how many lifetimes he had obtained this baby. It's just a blessing! Forget it! After two years, he retired and bought a large farm to enjoy life. While he was thinking about it, his steps accelerated. Soon he came to the front of the mansion and saw a man in white robe standing with his hands behind his back. He looked at him and smiled without saying a word, but he was Li Yin, the son of Li Linfu.

"Why don't you explain clearly and let the distinguished guests wait for a long time!" Li Qing frowned, as if he was scolding him.

"Don't blame them, I'm vague, they don't know."

Li Yin took out an exquisite gold stamping post from his arms and respectfully handed it to Li Qing and said, "My father will set up a banquet for the minister to drink tomorrow, and I will give it to me."

"The Prime Minister sent someone to say that, and he actually sent a message to him and sent Brother Li Yin's big horse to do it. Isn't this going to save Li Qing's life?"

Li Qing took the post and joked, but was secretly surprised. Li Linfu invited him to dinner and sent his son to deliver the post. What is the medicine sold in this gourd?

He quickly glanced at the content on the post. The time was set for tomorrow. He bowed his hands and smiled: "Since the prime minister looks down on Li Qing so much, it will be on time tomorrow!"

"Since that's the case, I'll say goodbye." Li Yin replied to the liquor and was about to leave, but Li Qing called him.

“李银兄,听说你外放了?”

Li Yin's eyes suddenly became gloomy and shook his head with a lonely expression. He wanted to take the opportunity to take the concubine, but his wife's iron curtain rule shattered his dream. "Yes, I will go to the Shuofang Army to serve as a civil servant and take office in a few days. I don't know if I will return here?"

He turned over the horse and sighed again, "Then I wish Mr. Li a great future and a lot of wives and concubines." After that, he raised his hand and whipped the horse gradually faded away.

The next day, when the sky was dawn, Chang'an City became boiling. Tens of thousands of scholars were from Tongzhou, with good families riding horses and carriages, and were served by scholars. Those with poor conditions shrank their heads, sleeves, and were in a hurry, holding their wife's instructions and father's expectations in their hearts. Under the leadership of officials like the director of the office in Beijing today, they headed towards the imperial city. The examination room was set up in two places, the Imperial College and the Xuanzheng Hall of the Daming Palace, which were divided into the Jinshi and the Mingjing Department. There were originally scholars, Kaiyuan Li, Sanchuan, History, Boys and Mathematics, Calligraphy, etc., but after Tianbao, there were only two subjects left in Jinshi and Mingjing.

There are three exams in total, namely, poems and fu, and finally, there are five strategies. The contents of the two subjects are similar, but the focus is different. The Jinshi class focuses on poetry and fu, while the classics are more important than strategy, while the postscript (that is, verbal scriptures) is a basic subject, and the A and B are determined by the completeness of the verbal scriptures.

"Dang! Dang!" An empty and distant sound rang out in the sky of Chang'an. The noisy imperial city finally calmed down. The ambitious scholars concentrated and began their first sprint in their lives.

In the West City, the first official cabinet shop in the Tang Dynasty was located at the entrance, covering an area of ​​about 100 acres, with a magnificent appearance and a complex internal structure. There are hundreds of large and small houses and underground money troughs made of thick bluestone. In fact, this was not a new construction, but the headquarters of the original Wang Baoji Cabinet. Since it moved to Yangzhou, it has been requisitioned by the government and can be changed directly to a brand.

The commercial tax and rent in the West City were originally collected by the Municipal Office, but after the establishment of the official office, the account was two cents, and the Municipal Office checked the account and the official office collected the money. After the merchants were confirmed the tax amount, they went directly to the counter to pay the money with the tax verification form. The goods received after receiving the tax were taken.

Of course, the official cabinet shop also has the function of a private cabinet shop, storing and transporting copper coins for merchants and Chang'an citizens, and collecting money with the cabinet tickets issued by the official cabinet shop. However, it is still under pilot projects and the business cannot cover the whole country.

At noon, dozens of carriages drove to the front of the counter door. The carriages were filled with heavy nanmu boxes, and most of them were covered with copper coins. It was naturally the work of King Qing. The money was pulled from the manor outside Chang'an, and it was the old capital of King Qing to defeat Li Qing.

The person responsible for handling this matter today was Jia Hai, the chief manager of King Qing, who was the only Hai Zhongheng who escaped from the Hai family back then. Today, he was wearing a Hu dress with tight cuffs, with an arrogant face and a vigorous spirit.

“就在这里停车,把箱子都卸下来!”

Jia Hai's horse galloped to the front, and he turned over and got off the horse and ran up the steps with a dozen followers. Although the cabinet shop was an official office, there were only a few officials in charge of signing and dispatching goods in the cabinet shops in the west and east cities. Most of the other business workers and deacons were dug from the original Wang Baoji, which was no different from ordinary private cabinet shops. The arrival of dozens of carriages had already alarmed several deacons in the cabinet shop, and they quickly came out to check the situation.

"I'm a businessman from Chengdu, surnamed Jia, and has some money to be deposited in Guifang." Jia Hai bowed to the oldest deacon. He spoke of the Shuzhong accent, which was his hometown accent. It was naturally revealed without pretending.

Jia Hai pointed to the box behind him, "It's this money!"

Several deacons looked at the hundreds of large boxes piled up neatly on the carriage, and couldn't help but look at each other, with shock in their eyes. If these boxes were all filled, at least 50,000 to 60,000 yuan. Since the opening of the cabinet shop, most of them are mostly 10,000 yuan, and thousands of yuan are rare. The biggest one is the 10,000 yuan stored in the Bashu Trading Company.

But the rules of the cabinet shop are not allowed to inquire about the origin of the guests, and only recognize the money and orders. At this time, a big shopkeeper named Feng walked out and bowed to Jia Hai, asking politely: "How much does the guest want to save? How long does it take? Do you want to withdraw money in another place?"

"Most of this is Kaiyuan Tongbao, and there are some official gold and silver, which are exchanged by the official family, totaling 100,000 guan. I plan to save it for three months and get it in Chang'an."

"I understand, Master Jia can trust us, this is our honor." Manager Feng waved his hand and made a gesture of inviting him, "Come on! Let's go inside and talk about the details."

Since today is the first day of the imperial examination, in order not to affect the performance of candidates, except for officials from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites, all other officials have three days off. Of course, there are officials on duty in all provinces and Taiwan, so the government will not be paralyzed.

Li Qing is also in the Ministry of Revenue today. In general, the Ministry of Revenue is only responsible for formulating policies, transferring documents, auditing accounts, issuing instructions, etc., and the executive agencies of specific affairs are the following Taifu Temple, Sinong Temple, Salt and Iron Supervision and other supervisory departments.

Li Qing was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and his corresponding work was more leisurely. He only approved major matters reported by each department, and then reported to the left and right ministers of the Shangshu Province to review them, and finally went to the emperor's office. Therefore, a major event must be approved at all levels and the control is extremely strict. This is the Tang Dynasty's strict approval and judgment system. Under this system, most of them will not cause malfeasance decision-making such as using butts to make decisions. Of course, the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, the decision-making time takes too long and the administrative efficiency is low.

Li Qing's office was a three-in-one suite. He was in the innermost room, and there was a miscellaneous pen on his side. The middle room was divided into two, each with a staff member in charge of documents, and the outer room was a reception room, and sometimes he also had a meeting here.

Since Gao Shi became the Zuo Zangcheng, Li Qing has only one staff member. The man's surname is Chen, about fifty years old, and was born in a Jinshi in Kaiyuan. It's funny to say that this person is the secretary who was sent by the prince to Shazhou to monitor Li Qing. He had already left the prince. Because of his diligence and meticulous work, he won Li Qing's trust and always kept him by his side.

In the Tang Dynasty, after becoming a Jinshi, he only obtained the qualification to be an official, and not everyone could be an official. Many people could not wait to be appointed as officials, so they went to join some powerful powerful people and became their aides. They were recommended to the officialdom when they were not only Jinshi, but also many knowledgeable and capable people also took this path, such as Du Fu defected to Yan Wu, Jiannan Jiedushi, Li Bai later defected to King Yong, while Gao Shi defected to Geshuhan, the governor of Hexi Jiedu, etc.

At this moment, Li Qingzheng lay on his back on the chair, frowned, and on the table in front of him was a summer expenditure budget table for the eunuchs who were approved by Gao Lishi. The eunuchs are the agency that manages the affairs of the palace. To put it bluntly, this expenditure budget table is to ask for money. The palace needs to buy summer supplies, but there is no money to spend.

Li Qing pressed his temple in distress. He only transferred 300,000 yuan to Zongzheng Temple, the palace and the eunuchs to support the royal family and Li Longji. Now he has reached out to him again, but there is no money left in the vault to give them.

He shook his head helplessly. If those royal relatives and nobles could still drag them back, but the expenses in the palace could not be cut off. Only now can we make some money in advance from the vault and return it to the vault after the salt tax is escorted to the capital next month.

At this time, Secretary Chen hurried in with a document, "Sir, this is an urgent document just sent by Xishiguifang. Someone saved 100,000 guan at one time."

Since the establishment of the cabinet, Li Qing issued a secret order that anyone who saves more than 5,000 guan at one time must report to him, and more than 10,000 guan must be reported immediately in the form of emergency documents. He knew that he had made many enemies, including Yang Guozhong, King Qing and even Li Linfu, and many people who were jealous of him were hiding in the dark, so he had to take strict precautions and dare not be careless at all.

"Hundreds of thousands!"

This was an amazing number. Li Qing immediately sat upright and took the quick document and looked at it. A businessman from Chengdu, surnamed Jia, saved money for three months. A big question mark immediately appeared in his heart. He was also a businessman from Chengdu, but he had never heard of a huge family with the surname Jia. Besides, when doing business, the most important thing is to flow capital. This is the only time to save for three months. Is he really a businessman? Could it be that his surname is "fake"?

"No, I have to go see!"

He casually signed the expenditure budget table just now and handed it to Secretary Chen, saying: "I'm going to Xishi now, and I'm afraid I won't come back today. You transfer this document to Wei Jiansu and let him deal with it according to special matters, as soon as possible!"

Li Qing said as he strides outward. He turned over and ran towards the west market surrounded by everyone.

Unfortunately, Li Qing was still one step late. When he arrived at Xishijifang, Jia Hai had completed the deposit procedures and left. He counted all the money one by one. There was no mistake. A hundred soldiers were carefully transporting the money to the underground warehouse.

Li Qing came one step later, and he looked bad and complained that the people in the cabinet failed to keep the Chengdu merchant surnamed Jia, "Did you draw a portrait of that man surnamed Jia?" A secret portrait of the large depositor was also a way for Li Qing to leave a direct clue.

Manager Feng bowed to Li Qing and bowed, "Sir, we have already painted a portrait, but he was in a hurry to leave, so we can't keep him."

A portrait of a character simply outlined with ink lines was placed in front of Li Qing, and the painting was subtle and subtle. Li Qing was stunned immediately. He rubbed his eyes and couldn't believe the portrait he saw in front of him. Isn't this the son of Hai Lan, the escaped Hai Zhongheng? He finally showed up today.

"Sir, do you know this person?"

"Old friend, of course I know him!" Li Qing smiled coldly. He was already sure that the money was not good.

He immediately turned around and said to Manager Feng: "Do you have a way to find out where the money comes from?"

"It's really hard! Let me think about it."

Manager Feng lowered his head and walked a few steps. Suddenly he slapped his forehead and whispered: "There is a way."

Li Qing was overjoyed, "Tell me, what's the solution?"

"Sir, please come with me!"

Manager Feng took Li Qing to the Qiankuang. The Qiankuang was built underground, with excellent ventilation and very dry air, which ensured that the money was stored for a long time without rust. Every three steps there was a lamp on the wall, and the light was very sufficient. They walked directly to the nanmu boxes that they had just moved in. Manager Feng ordered people to open the two boxes on the edge, which were full of white official silver, twenty taels and one tael.
Chapter completed!