Chapter 90: Unfair appointment of officials, Jianghuai storm rises
Without the help of his colleagues, Li Chun was completely alone. He could not enter the acrobatic yard, and all the intersections in Jiangdu were owned by owners. He could only perform on the ground under the city wall. How could the business be good? According to him
He said that there were far more entertainers than theatergoers there, and sometimes he could not earn even a penny for a day's work.
With no income, nowhere to stay, and no need to travel south, Li Chun finally became a beggar and died in the corner of the city three days ago.
Entering the world is so dangerous. No matter how good you are, if you make one wrong move, you will lose everything.
Tonight, Li Chun and Zhou Shi are talking about the time when they were performing arts with their master in the capital.
"To talk about the lively places in the capital, apart from the temple fairs in the first month, it is Tianqiao. It is said that there was only one teahouse in Tianqiao at first, and some artists were raised to attract customers. Later, there were many people doing business around it, and tourists were also attracted by it.
Attracted here, people and land prospered, becoming a scene in the capital.
"The first time Master took me to the overpass, he would just lay down on the roadside. He would do tricks, and I would help him out - that is, make jokes or explain Master's moves. That day we made more money than I have ever seen in my life.
There are so many..."
Li Chun fell into memories and talked about his master's skills again.
"Hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the sky bridge, the judges are also well-informed, just like swords, pills, beans, rings - you don't know? They are swallowing swords, passing pills under the moon, immortals picking beans, and nine rings. These four tricks are all
Everyone knows real kung fu. It’s not called magic at all in the capital, and the judges won’t pay for it.
"But my master has a special skill that scares people every time he uses it. When he saw that the spectators around him were almost gathered, he stood on the bench and asked me to lift. I was only ten years old at the time.
It's so big, how can I lift it? But when Master recited a mantra and said "get up", he suddenly became very light and I could lift it with one hand.
"The spectators were about to shout "Hello" at this time, but the excitement was yet to come! I raised it a few times, and while the bench was still in the air, I twitched my hand and bowed to ask for money. But my master stepped on the bench and floated in the air.
!Then he pretended to be angry and scolded me for how I failed in my performance and still won a round of applause."
Li Chun's narration made Zhou Shi know a lot of things in the world, which helped him become successful in the capital in the future. This is a story later.
At three o'clock in the morning, the ghosts dispersed one after another, leaving nothing behind.
Jiang has been so peaceful these two days, and no one has died unjustly? Zhou Shi doesn't know if he should feel lucky or sigh.
"Forget it, now that I have the life-saving straw of the merit algorithm, I don't necessarily have to rely on the things in the iron abacus to save my life. By the way, I need to accumulate more virtues and do good deeds, lest the merit algorithm trick me to death..."
After all, he is a person in the shopping mall, and it is inevitable that he will do some cunning things that will damage his merits, so he should save more during normal times.
As for how to accumulate merit, he already has a plan in mind.
The next morning, Zhou Shi called Agui and Xue An to the front hall and told them about his plan to add river delicacies to Fengdelou's menu.
The reason why I called Agui here is, firstly, because the matter has not been finalized yet, there are still unresolved issues, and Agui is quite strict; secondly, because the river delicacies can only be made by Xue An, and Chen Dayou is afraid that he will have to do it.
opinions, and Agui and Xue An have different positions, so there is no quarrel, and he has also seen Xue An's ability in Yueqing Tower.
Sure enough, after hearing the shopkeeper's plan, Agui did not object, but raised two difficult questions:
"It's certainly a good thing to have more variety in our dishes, but I heard that the water in the fish market is very deep and it's not easy to handle. And Fengde Building is famous for its stir-fried dishes. Now that we're going to make river seafood, will the guests accept it?" "As long as it is done well, there will always be people who will buy it. As for the origin of Hexian, I plan to ask Shopkeeper Meng for help."
"Oh?" Agui thought for a moment after hearing this, and realized that this was really a good idea. The fact that Yueqinglou could buy good Jiangtuan balls proved that they must have a way. They had also helped Yueqinglou so much,
They should help both emotionally and rationally. But...
"Shopkeeper, what should I do if Shopkeeper Meng turns his back on his account and refuses to admit it?"
Zhou Shi smiled and said, "No. There is no one among them who wants to be a master of Xue An. As long as he comes forward, Meng Xingyuan will definitely relent."
"Worship Xue An as my teacher? Really?" Agui looked at Xue An, his eyes full of surprise.
Xue An was also very shocked. The shopkeeper was clearly not in the kitchen at that time. How did he know about this?
Zhou Shi said with a smile: "You don't know, as soon as the kitchen was finished yesterday, Fatty Liang pulled Xue An aside and asked Xue An to teach him his skills, except for serving tea... Xue An, with this
Is there anything wrong?"
When he and Zhao Xuan were "ambushing" in the backyard last night, he happened to see Xue An and Fatty Liang coming out of the kitchen. He quickly hid aside and eavesdropped on their conversation, and found out that Fatty Liang was eager to become a disciple.
Zhou Shi had never had a good impression of Fatty Liang before because he was the chef of Yue Qinglou, he had a ferocious face, and he was said to like to put on airs in the back kitchen. But this incident made him have a distaste for this master who has the spirit of "my master"
Added three points of respect.
"Well, if Master Liang is willing to speak for us, Shopkeeper Meng may be more likely to relent!" Agui was a little excited. After seeing the results brought by the shopkeeper's opening up of the dock market, he also had considerable confidence in this reform.
Looking forward to it.
Xue An's expression was a little worse. He was already introverted, and suddenly a man who could be his father wanted to become his disciple. He didn't know what to do for a while. But he thought that since the shopkeeper wanted to ask Fatty Liang to build a bridge, he would definitely help.
He handled the matter well and did not raise any objections.
"Then, when will you go see Shopkeeper Meng?" Agui asked.
"There's no rush, we'll have to wait two days before we talk."
Agui understands that the shopkeeper wants to have one code and one code. He cannot let Meng Xingyuan feel that they are suppressing him by helping Yue Qinglou. Instead, they should help each other so that both parties can benefit.
This trick is really good... Agui's admiration for the shopkeeper deepened even more.
"In two days, I will call the guys together to announce this matter and let everyone express their opinions, and then go to Yueqing Building." After Zhou Shi finished speaking, he let them go about their business.
For the next few days, Fengde Tower was silent.
On this day, Fengde Building had just finished its business at noon, and He Shouxin came.
After arriving at the private room, he took off his clothes and said straight to the point: "People from the Jianghuai Chamber of Commerce have been recruited. They colluded with Wu Zhaokun and planned the fraud together."
Finally... Zhou Shi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly served tea to He Shouxin, asking him to explain the case carefully.
In the early days of the founding of Daliang, the south was stable and rapidly developed and prospered. However, the north had been plagued by wars and intrusions by barbarians all year round and had not yet recovered. In the imperial examinations, students from the south always took the lead and dominated the rankings, while students from the north had difficulty in obtaining merit.
Considering that the people in the north would be uncertain in the long run, the current government implemented the north-south list system, allowing candidates from the north and the south to be admitted separately to demonstrate fairness.
However, the population in the south is larger than that in the north, and the difference in the number of candidates who take the examination every year is even greater. However, the number of people who finally get admitted to the exam is evenly divided between the north and the south. In addition, the level of the candidates in the north is indeed a bit lower than that in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so the candidates in the south are
Very unfair.
After the imperial court relaxed the restrictions on merchants who were born to participate in the imperial examinations, major chambers of commerce provided support to local candidates. They established schools, invited celebrities to give lectures, and provided food, clothing, housing, and transportation for candidates who came to Beijing to take the exams. They just wanted to allow local people to enter the official career.
Expand your influence and improve your status as a businessman.
Jianghuai was originally a place with outstanding people, but the appointment of officials was unbalanced. Even if Jianghuai's sons had the ability to stabilize the country, it would be difficult to win more positions. In addition, in order to appease Bashu, the imperial court was biased in appointing officials.
Seriously threatening the interests of the Jianghuai Chamber of Commerce.
Therefore, the Jianghuai Chamber of Commerce came up with a crooked trick. They bribed senior officials of the imperial court and arranged for the son-in-law of the Minister of Rites to serve as an official in Jiangdu, the important place in Jianghuai. They slowly won over him, contacted the Minister of Rites through him, and planned an imperial examination fraud case.
Let Yu Zicai leak the test questions to the Jianghuai Chamber of Commerce so that Jianghuai's candidates can prepare in advance.
Unfortunately, this shocking case, planned for ten years, involving collusion between officials and businessmen, and involving more than 20 high-ranking officials of fourth rank and above, fell apart. First, the bribe money accepted by Wu Zhaokun was discovered, and then the secret letter framed by the Bashu Chamber of Commerce was also exposed.
, the traitor Wei Yanxing in the Bashu Chamber of Commerce was also exposed, and finally Yu Zicai, the Minister of Rites, was also thrown into prison, awaiting retribution.
Who would have thought that the truth about this major case was actually the work of a restaurant owner in Jiangdu City.