Li Di did not think that with him, Kou Zhun, Wang Zeng and other ministers assisting the officials, the Song Dynasty would become a racecourse for the Xixia and Liao people.
Kou Ji secretly sighed and said nothing more.
Ma Yuanfang suddenly spoke up and came to Kou Ji's rescue, "Prime Minister Li, even though the Kou Ministry of Industry used some tricks, they didn't do anything to harm the people or harm the imperial court.
He did not violate the national law, but you are so aggressive, isn't it a bit too much?"
Li Di stared and looked at Ma Yuanfang, "I've gone too far? He plays with people's hearts and does whatever it takes to achieve his goals. Can't I question him?"
Ma Yuanfang glanced at Li Di and smiled sarcastically, exposing Li Di's lies.
"When it comes to playing with people's hearts, who in the civil and military dynasties doesn't play with people's hearts? There are countless people who use any means to achieve their goals? Why don't you reprimand others? Instead, you stare at a junior who has made great contributions to the country and the people.
Don't let go.
In the final analysis, it is the work of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce that is beyond your control.
You people who hold great power in the court always want to have everything in the world in your hands.
Whenever someone jumps out of your hands, you will feel unhappy."
When Ma Yuanfang said this, he paused, stared at Li Di jokingly, and said, "But have you ever thought about how many things in the world you can really hold in your hands?
If you could really have everything under control, where would there be poverty in the world? Where would there be misery?
You just bully the Ministry of Industry.
Those who know that you are young and are respectful to you will not plot against you..."
Li Di shouted angrily: "Ma Yuanfang!"
When Ma Yuanfang saw Li Di was furious, he said in a neutral tone: "What? You were told the truth by me and you became angry from embarrassment?"
Li Di shouted: "I, Li Di, am not that kind of person!"
Ma Yuanfang sneered, stared at Li Di, and asked: "Wang Qinruo is also a master at playing with people's hearts. His methods are several times more ruthless than those of the Ministry of Industry. What's more important is that he plays with people's hearts.
Self-interest, why don't you go and question him?"
Li Di gritted his teeth and said: "Of course I will not let Wang Qinruo go!"
"hehe……"
Ma Yuanfang laughed sarcastically: "Come on. The person who was framed the most by Wang Qinruo back then was Kou Zhun. Now that Kou Zhun is in the position of regent, he can't avenge Wang Qinruo, so what can you do to him?
"
Li Di was about to retort.
Then Ma Yuanfang waved his hand and muttered: "A person who is helping the court in a down-to-earth manner is not as comfortable as those treacherous villains who are guarded and guarded by you.
Those treacherous villains in the court were forced out step by step by you.
Can't we be less suspicious, less intrigued, and do more for the people?"
After listening to Ma Yuanfang's words, Li Di sat there with a gloomy face and said nothing.
It's not like he didn't understand what Ma Yuanfang said.
It's just that when you are in a high position, you cannot do many things according to your own ideas and temperament.
More often, the safety of the royal family has to be considered.
When the safety of the royal family was threatened, even if a great good thing happened, he had to take action to stop it.
Seeing Li Di's silence, Ma Yuanfang said calmly: "I don't care about the plans of the Ministry of Works, nor do I care that I have been dragged into the situation by the Ministry of Works.
I only care about whether the people benefit from the plans of the Ministry of Labor and Industry.
If the people are benefiting from the plan of the Ministry of Industry, and I am tricked once by the Ministry of Industry, what does it matter?
If the Ministry of Work and Industry has the means to make sure that there are no poor people in the world, even if I am plotted to death by the Ministry of Work and Industry, I will not even complain about it when I get to the underworld."
Li Di stood up suddenly, glanced at Ma Yuanfang and Kou Ji, and left the hall with a cold face.
When Kou Ji saw this, he couldn't laugh or cry.
Ma Yuanfang didn't care at all whether his words offended Li Di today. He looked at Kou Ji and said, "Boy, have you realized a little bit now that good people are hard to do?"
Kou Ji stretched out his hand and gestured, "A little bit..."
Ma Yuanfang nodded, "Since ancient times, it has been difficult to be a good person. Being a good person is a hundred times more difficult than being a bad person, and at the same time, you have to endure a hundred times the hardships.
But we cannot give up being a good person just because there are too many difficulties and hardships.
As long as your heart is upright, you don’t need to care about the way you do things, nor do you need to care about other people’s doubts.”
Kou Ji pondered for a moment, bowed to Ma Yuanfang, and solemnly said: "Thank you very much, Mr. Ma for your teaching..."
Kou Ji also understands what Ma Yuanfang said.
He even does it all the time.
But this did not prevent him from saluting an elder who was willing to teach him sincerely.
Ma Yuanfang smiled and waved his hand, "No need to be polite... Li Di's stubborn donkey, I'm afraid it will be difficult to figure it out for a while. I'm old and can't stand it for too long. I've troubled you to stay more in the examination room in the past few days."
Run a few times.”
Kou Ji cupped his hands and said, "No trouble..."
Ma Yuanfang nodded with satisfaction, stood up with a cane in one hand, beat his back with the other, muttered something in his mouth, and walked out.
"I'm old, I'm old... I can't stay up late..."
"..."
After Ma Yuanfang left, Kou Ji was left alone in the hall.
Kou Ji stared at the door of the hall and said quietly: "Although I have angered Grandpa Li, my plan has been completed, and it is almost time to harvest..."
As Ma Yuanfang said, it is difficult to be a good person.
When good people do good things, they are always misunderstood.
But when the results come out, all misunderstandings will be solved.
It is impossible for Kou Ji to stop his plan because of Li Di's anger.
…
Without Li Di, Ma Yuanfang, and Kou Ji, they took on the important task of inspection alone.
Although there are subordinate officials available, Kou Ji still likes to patrol the examination room by himself.
Of course.
He chose to personally inspect the examination room, not because he was loyal to his duties, but because he wanted to avenge his personal vengeance.
Kou Ji is not Kou Zhun, and he can tolerate enemies like Wang Qinruo jumping around in front of his eyes.
He would not let go of any of the students who had spread rumors and slandered him before, as long as they were in the examination room.
He followed the lists and rosters in his hand and compared them one by one to find the examination numbers of those students.
Then, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary.
From time to time, I pass by those students.
Occasionally something loud will fall out of the body.
Whenever he passed by those students, or something that made a loud noise fell from his body, those students would feel a little thump in their hearts.
Those students spread rumors about him and slandered him.
When facing him, I felt guilty.
If he was making some noise, how could those students still have the energy to answer the questions?
The beautiful articles in their heads, as Kou Ji passed by and interrupted again and again, finally turned into a mess.
How can the articles written be satisfactory?
Except for one or two who have strong ability to withstand pressure, most people who offended Kou Ji failed to make the list. That is normal.
As for whether they can pass the next subject, it depends on Kou Ji's mood.
Although Kou Ji may not necessarily become an examiner in his next subject.
But he still had a way to make those students lose their reputation.
Boring scientific examination.
It finally ended after a few days.
The students rushed out of Gongyuan with great relief.
The officials in the Gongyuan have entered the busiest state.
Li Di, who had been bored in the room for several days, finally appeared in front of people.
When Kou Ji saw Li Di again, he found that Li Di had obviously lost weight and had some red bloodshot eyes.
When he saw Kou Ji, he didn't ask any more questions.
Instead, he nodded and entered the examination room.
After the three examiners and more than a dozen subordinate officials arrived, Li Di gave a long warning and began to mark the papers.
The grading process is very similar to that in Qiuwei.
Almost everyone was busy reviewing their own papers.
Occasionally, when I encounter one or two papers that I am unsure about, I will take them out and discuss them with others.
"This volume is of outstanding literary talent. He is a great talent!"
Among the officials who were reviewing the papers, some were attracted by one of the test papers and couldn't help but admire it.
The others looked sideways.
When the officials who graded the papers saw this, they didn't show any sign of embarrassment. Instead, they greatly praised the papers in their hands.
"My colleagues, this volume is top-notch just from the perspective of writing and ink. Not to mention the content of the article..."
The rest of the people came over and took a closer look.
Someone stared at the paper, stroked his beard, and exclaimed: "Just looking at his writing skills, you can tell that this person has made great achievements in writing, and his articles are even more outstanding. He discusses the pros and cons of the imperial government's abolition of the border army, and he hits the nail on the head.
It can be regarded as a masterpiece.”
"The poems and essays are also excellent... To be honest, his poems and essays are quite spiritual. Even if I were to meet him, I would not dare to defeat him..."
"..."
Words of praise frequently came from the mouths of the officials who graded the papers.
Naturally, it attracted the attention of Li Di, Ma Yuanfang, and Kou Ji who were sitting in the back room waiting for the final trial.
Li Di told the clerk beside him: "What a great talent this article is that actually attracted their admiration. Go get it and let the three of me read it."
The clerk agreed, went out of the back room, and came to Li Di and the others with the papers in hand.
Li Di took the paper from the clerk's hand, glanced at it, and threw it aside.
Seeing Li Di's abnormal behavior, Ma Yuanfang curiously picked up the paper, reviewed it carefully, and said doubtfully: "Prime Minister Li, this man is quite talented in literature and knows a lot about the government affairs of the court. Why do you care about his paper?" , dismissive."
Li Di said calmly: "His literary talent is good, but his character is extremely poor. Even if we take him, he will be expelled from Chui Gong Hall during the palace examination. I don't want to see that I will be in the imperial examination of the Song Dynasty." Such a grand event was ruined in the hands of this person."
When Kou Ji heard this, he roughly knew who wrote the paper in Ma Yuanfang's hand.
It must be Liu Yong without a doubt.
Ma Yuanfang said with a puzzled look on his face: "Can Mr. Li determine who this person is just based on his calligraphy?"
The imperial examination adopted a name-blinding system.
Generally, it is difficult to determine whose name the paper belongs to without opening the blurred parts.
Although pen and ink calligraphy can determine who wrote the paper, it is not accurate.
Therefore, after the name-blinding system was implemented, some people came up with cheating methods of making hidden marks on the papers.
It's just that Li Di obviously didn't like this person and obviously had no intention of helping this person cheat.
How could this person leave a hidden mark for Li Di to discover?
Li Di stared at the paper in Ma Yuanfang's hand and snorted coldly, "I have seen his handwriting three times. And the sad and shrill words in his poems made my ears numb.
How can I not know who he is?"
Ma Yuanfang was stunned when he heard this, and suddenly said: "Liu Sanbian?"
Li Di nodded deeply.
Ma Yuanfang casually dropped the paper in his hand, stroked his beard, shook his head and said: "That is really not advisable..."
Ma Yuanfang did not deliberately remove Liu Yong.
But he really has a prejudice against Liu Yong.
Ma Yuanfang agreed very much with Li Di's statement.
He felt that there was something wrong with Liu Yong's character.
It wasn't that he was jealous of Liu Yong being surrounded by so many beauties, he really felt that there was something wrong with Liu Yong's character from Liu Yong's behavior.
What's the problem?
Disloyal and unfilial.
What is an official family?
That's your father.
If your father doesn't like you, if he says a few words to you, you have to accept it with an open mind.
Instead of writing poems to preach that the king and father do not recognize talents.
You are your father's people.
In public, he wrote poems and propagated that the emperor did not recognize talents.
Who will like you if you do such an unfaithful and unfilial thing?
It's already good if I don't kill you.
Still want to be selected?
Kou Ji picked up Liu Yong's paper amid the cold expressions on Li Di's and Ma Yuanfang's faces.
The eyes of Li Di and Ma Yuanfang fell on Kou Ji for an instant.
Kou Ji carefully reviewed Liu Yong's paper and couldn't help but admired: "It is indeed a brilliant literary talent..."
Kou Ji didn't deliberately praise Liu Yong just to help him win.
What Kou Ji said was true.
Because so far, apart from some important officials in the court, the only people who could write articles that even he could not understand were Fan Zhongyan and Liu Yong.
On the one hand, it shows that Kou Ji is ignorant and incompetent.
On the other hand, it shows that those who wrote the articles have studied the books and scriptures to a very high level.
When Li Di saw Kou Ji praising Liu Yong's article, he couldn't help but said, "Are you planning to risk the disapproval of the world and get this person who claims to be your student?"
Kou Ji held Liu Yong's paper and pondered a little.
Frankly speaking.
Liu Yong, as a famous person with a long history, appeared in front of him now, and he had some thoughts to support him.
But considering Liu Yong's reputation and style, he hesitated.
Seeing this, Ma Yuanfang said seriously: "I have to remind you that once you take him, you will inevitably be impeached by the officials."
Li Di gritted his teeth and finally spoke, "This person speaks regardless of the consequences. If he says something arrogant after being selected, or if he says something outrageous after becoming an official.
It will affect you when the time comes.
Cherishing talent is not a bad thing, but in order to support others and hurt yourself, that is not a good thing."