Chapter 202 In the nd year of Jiajing, the Immortal Dynasty was established! In the fiftieth year of Jiajing’s reign, late December. For less than half a year, the Ming Dynasty was unprecedentedly lively. First of all, the new Imperial College of the court announced the specific regulations for the reform of the imperial examination system in the 52nd year of Jiajing, as well as all the subjects of the new imperial examination for all walks of life. There are four major categories that students need to take exams for. 1. The meaning of the three religions. Confucian classics, examine the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism, clarify the teachings of sages and wise men, and understand the changes of ancient and modern times. Explore Buddhist teachings, understand the cycle of life and death, and seek spiritual liberation. Study Taoist teachings, Taoist classics, and understand Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. 2. Nine schools and hundreds of arts.
The selection of the top nine classes covers areas such as history, state affairs, and military affairs, and selects people with noble sentiments and outstanding talents. The nine types of skills include medicine, divination, calligraphy and painting, music and etiquette, and are used to select people with special talents and skills. The knowledge of the lower nine classes involves all aspects of life in the market. 3. Five elements and eight operations. The five elements of the industry include car companies, ship companies, business companies, foot companies, and dentist companies. They select people who are familiar with the fields of transportation, commerce and trade. The eight skills are goldsmith, silversmith, coppersmith, blacksmith, tinsmith, carpenter, bricklayer and stonemason, and people with exquisite handicraft skills are selected. 4. Comprehensive miscellaneous knowledge. Including classics, policy essays, poetry, arithmetic, and law. At that time, people from all walks of life, including all schools of thought, all religions and professions, as long as they had some aspirations, began to actively prepare for the exam. They only have one year left. Fortunately, as early as the 48th year of Jiajing, the Ming Miscellaneous News had revealed to everyone the key contents of the new Imperial College imperial examination, and many people who wanted to participate in the imperial examination were well prepared. It’s just that this time the court has officially issued an announcement, which will make it appear more formal and also confirm the subjects for the exam. Secondly, the most exciting thing in the entire Ming Dynasty was the second thing, that is, a lot of news suddenly began to spread among the people. In fact, the court has always had immortal magic. Not only that, many people in Nanjing city saw huge falcons and immortal practitioners. With the publicity of some illegal booksellers who privately published Ming newspapers, the stories were very detailed. But strangely, these booksellers were not arrested by the government. This also made more people turn their attention to Nanjing, and even many people began to flock to Nanjing. What's more, it is said that in Nanjing City, everyone, from officials to ordinary people, has inherited the magic of immortality. These two things completely made the Ming Dynasty lively. The city of Nanjing, which was already extremely prosperous due to the prosperous Ming Dynasty, became even more prosperous during this short period of half a year. In order to attract more people, the owners of some local restaurants, inns, teahouses and opera houses even claimed that immortals were offering them a place to stay or that immortals had bestowed treasures on them. Merchants from other countries in the southeastern coastal areas were also attracted to Nanjing.
For a time, the city of Nanjing was a hodgepodge of true and false people, and it seemed like the Ming Dynasty, a place even more lively than the capital. Nanjing. The temporary residence of the imperial envoy is located in a manor on the edge of Xuanwu Lake. Between the sky and the earth, snow and fog formed into a gray area. Under the long corridor, Hai Rui stood with his hands behind his back, quietly looking at the heavy snow in front of him. He heard footsteps behind him and Wang Yongji walked over. "Prince Yu has replied," Wang Yongji said, and he came to Hai Rui, stood side by side, and said, "Four words: stay calm." "As expected," Hai Rui said slowly, "Prince Yu will not be involved in this matter. In fact, Prince Yu has already given up on Lord Xu. Success or failure has nothing to do with Prince Yu." "Now, all the financial allocations of the court are spent on the army. The three major camps alone consume nearly 30% of the silver in the national treasury. A few days ago, the commander-in-chief of the five armies applied for a large sum of money from the Ministry of Revenue." "In the two capitals and thirteen provinces, all places are recruiting children of school age to join the various military commissions. The current cabinet, the New Party, the Yan Party, Zhang Juzheng and others have all started a new round of layout and game." "That's the army!" Hai Rui put his hands behind his back and rubbed his fingers gently, "The shadows of the two kings are behind all of them." "As for Nanjing City, it has now become a desolate place." When talking about the desolate place, Hai Rui's eyes flickered and he said, "The imperial court no longer issues orders, and news from Nanjing is no longer reported." "This is the tacit understanding of everyone. Li Chengwu's party has already made things worse. Now all the subjects of the Ming Dynasty are looking at Nanjing City. He just wants the emperor to take action, and Xu Jie is the same." "He is waiting, waiting for the emperor's sword to fall." "Hoo," Wang Yong took a breath of cool air and said, "Brother Gangfeng, what about you? Are you also waiting for the emperor?" "Heh," Hai Rui chuckled after hearing that, and said, "Didn't you say that I'm an imperial sword?" "How can a sword have its own thoughts?" Hearing Hai Rui say this, Wang Yongji couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Stop teasing me." After he finished speaking, Wang Yongji was startled, and then he said, "You said..." As he spoke, he pointed to the top of his head and mouthed the word "Emperor" to Hai Rui, and said: "Why haven't you made a move yet?" "The incident has become so serious that almost everyone in the Ming Dynasty has tacitly accepted the existence of immortal cultivators in Nanjing. It seems that it is about to become a city for immortal cultivators. Even the six departments of Nanjing have tacitly accepted the attitude..." "Now the whole of Nanjing seems to have been forgotten by the court, and the fight between the cabinet and Li Chengwu has come to an end." "…What are you waiting for?" "As a result," Hai Rui calmly said two words in response to Wang Yongji's question, "In the fifty-second year of the Jiajing reign, the imperial court will announce to the entire world the fact that the method of cultivating immortality exists." "The Immortal Law will be spread to the whole world sooner or later. This is a necessary step for the Ming Dynasty to grow and develop." "Now, Xu Jie has taken this step ahead of time. From now on, Nanjing City will be the first pilot project of our Ming Dynasty." "As for why the emperor hasn't taken action yet..." Hai Rui paused for a moment, looked at Wang Yongji, and said, "To be honest, I don't know either." When Wang Yongji heard Hai Rui say he didn't know, he was stunned. In his opinion, Hai Rui should know the emperor very well, but he was surprised to get such an answer.
"You don't have to look at me like that." Hai Rui looked at Wang Yongji, smiled slightly, and said, "I never speculate on the emperor's intentions. I only look at the future of the Ming Dynasty. No matter what the emperor does, as long as it is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, I will do whatever the emperor tells me to do." Well, you don't try to guess the emperor's intentions. If you go crazy, no one else will have a chance to do anything. "Ming Shou, in your opinion, what will the emperor do?" Hai Rui asked again. "Me?" Wang Yongji pointed at himself, then frowned and thought for a moment, staring at the snowy mist in front of him and said slowly: "First of all, you and I both know that spreading immortal magic to Nanjing City is not a big deal..." Hai Rui nodded, said nothing, and just looked at his friend. "Secondly, the biggest problem of the whole thing, even if it is Li Chengwu, there is Xu Jie, the core of the Xu Ge Lao's scheme, is now very clear, that is to use the imperial power as an excuse!" "From Li Chengwu's perspective, Xu Jie's behavior offended the emperor." "From Xu Jie's perspective, he wanted to use this to attract Li Chengwu to join the game and make things worse." "Well, if the matter has gotten to this point, there may be other people in the cabinet who are behind it, helping Lord Xu to pull it off." "The ministers have usurped the imperial power. This..." Wang Yongji said, shaking his head, "I think the emperor will not let Elder Xu off easily. Even if he builds Nanjing into the first immortal cultivation city in the Ming Dynasty, the result will not change much." "The emperor will not blame the spread of the immortal law, but no emperor will ever allow his power to be tampered with." "Since ancient times, all powerful emperors have regarded their power as more important than anything else. The world, the people, and the interests of the dynasty all come after the imperial power." At this point, Wang Yongji has already expressed his point of view, which is that Jiajing will definitely kill Xu Jie. "Your analysis is correct," Hai Rui nodded and said, "But if the emperor kills Lord Xu, then won't he be used by Li Chengwu?" "The imperial power cannot be tampered with, but it also cannot become a knife in the hands of others. Vice versa, if the emperor spares Elder Xu, then Li Chengwu's party will be killed by the sword." "By the same token, the imperial power has become a knife in Xu Jie's hands." After hearing Hai Rui's analysis, Wang Yongji's pupils shrank, and then he suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and spoke slightly faster, saying: "But Yan Song and his son did the same thing a lot." "Didn't they also form cliques in the court, exclude dissidents, and take bribes..." As he spoke, Wang Yongji's tone suddenly became weaker, and then he murmured, "It's different." "Everything the Yan Party does is to cater to the will of the emperor." "If the emperor's will is not with Yan, then the Yan Party will not be able to stir up any waves... The emperor seems to be deceived by the Yan Party, but in fact..." At this point, Wang Yongji took a deep breath, looked at Hai Rui with a serious expression, and said, "In fact, both factions have touched a reverse scale!" "You already know the result, right?" At this moment, Wang Yongji looked at Hai Rui with a look that seemed to be saying, do you still dare to say that you have not guessed the emperor's intention? "Oh," Hai Rui chuckled and said nothing. He continued, "Ming Shou, I have almost finished writing the case file on Zhang Wenyuan's smuggling. I submitted it at the beginning of the year 52 of Jiajing." "During this period, it is best to write down a record of the possibility and direction of the spread of immortal seeds and immortal methods in Nanjing City. Although the court will not care about only a small part of the 'Qi Yin Jue' formula being spread, as a minister, you must fulfill your responsibilities." "Huh," Wang Yongji exhaled, and said angrily, "How to be an official and fulfill my duties? I don't need Master Hai to teach me." "Mingshou, Mingshou, you are so stingy," Hai Rui laughed, and then something occurred to him, and he said, "The Emperor gave me a jar of the best wine earlier. Brother Mingshou, are you willing to drink with me?" "The case has not been concluded yet, so I dare not drink with my superior." Wang Yongji turned around, put his hands behind his back, and looked very noble. "A bottle of spiritual source, if..." Hai Rui continued to speak, but before he finished speaking, Wang Yongji turned around and bowed, saying, "I respectfully obey your command!"
Well, you can't get on with anyone but cultivation resources. He is not like Hai Rui, who has the emperor behind him. He only has Prince Yu behind him. Zhang Juzheng recommended Hai Rui to Prince Yu. Then because of Hai Rui, he entered Prince Yu's mansion and became a scholar in Prince Yu's mansion. When Hai Rui exposed the relationship between the two parties and the two princes, he was also sent to Ningbo Prefecture. With the breakdown of the relationship between Prince Yu and the Qingliu, his current position is very embarrassing. Although Prince Yu has not given up on him, resources will not be too tilted towards him. As he spoke, Wang Yongji stood up, but he couldn't suppress the smile on his face, looking very proud. Seeing this, Hai Rui shook his head and chuckled, and then Wang Yongji also laughed out loud. …… In a blink of an eye, it was the third day of the first lunar month in the fifty-first year of Jiajing. The setting sun was blood-red and dust was rising. In an open space on the outskirts of Shangyuan County, which is under the jurisdiction of Nanjing, a young man was running away in panic. Behind him was a galloping horse, and sitting on the horse was a strong man wearing a conical hat and holding a broken knife. "Swoosh!" The broken knife in the sturdy man's hand flew out. Before the young man could react, he felt a huge force hitting him from behind, and then his chest was broken, and half of the bright red broken blade stuck out. The young man only felt an itchy throat and a mouthful of blood spurted out. Then he fell to the ground and struggled in pain in the yellow earth. "Whoa!" With the neigh of the horse, the strong man jumped off the horse and kicked the boy over. He drew out the broken knife with a cold look, squatted down and grabbed the boy's hair. "Ho, ho... ho... gulp..." The young man was gasping for breath and blood foamed from his mouth. The sturdy man raised his hand and pierced the boy's heart with the broken blade, killing him instantly. Then, the sturdy man coldly took out a package sealed with oil paper from the package that the young man was holding tightly in his arms. After tearing off the oil paper, inside was a piece of tortoise shell larger than an adult's palm and a somewhat tattered letter. "Is this the magic?" The sturdy man pursed his cracked lips and stroked the cold tortoise shell. His cold expression finally changed, becoming fanatical and excited, and his face was shaking. After a brief excitement, the sturdy man stuffed the tortoise shell and the letter into his arms, then jumped on the horse, swung the whip and rode away. "Crack!" The sky was full of dust. Not long after the strong man left, a black crow flew by, circled in the sky for a few times, and then landed, standing elegantly on the boy's forehead. After a while, a ghostly figure came rushing over. It was a young man with dark skin. Looking down at the young man, the young man took out a small notebook from his bosom, took out a pen and licked it, then wrote: "Shangyuan County, the winner of No. 543 died, and the new winner Qian Kuo is on his way..." After saying that, he put away the book, frowned, looked at the crow still standing on the corpse, and said: "You beast, are you trying to be lazy? Why don't you keep up?" "Ga!" The crow tilted its head and made a cry, as if protesting against being scolded. "What a clever beast, it's really annoying!" After muttering to himself, the young man took out a wooden box from his arms, took out a spirit insect as thick as a thumb from it, and threw it to the spirit crow. "Ga!" Seeing the spiritual insect, the spiritual crow excitedly opened its mouth wide and swallowed it in one gulp, then looked at the young man eagerly. "Get out!" The crow cried out after being scolded, but it did not disobey the order. Instead, it flapped its wings and flew away towards the direction of the strong man. Seeing this, the young man glanced at the worms in the wooden box, pursed his lips, and with an idea in mind, he picked up one with a small clip, hesitated for a moment, and threw it directly into his mouth. With a "pop" sound, the gravy burst in the young man's mouth. His face froze at first, and then his eyes widened slightly. The taste is surprisingly good! "No wonder the higher-ups ordered not to withhold the crows' rations. The spiritual energy contained in these insects' bodies is much richer than that of other flesh-and-blood creatures!" The young man smacked his lips and looked at the three remaining insects in the wooden box, but he still held back. "It's been three months, and No. 543 is still not fixed. How long should I follow this line?" Thinking of this, the young man took out a scroll from his arms and opened it. A spider web drawn with a pen is presented.
At the center of each spider web is the city of Nanjing, and each node on the edge of the spider web is marked with a red dot. "Tsk!" Looking at the spider web, the young man smacked his lips and said to himself, "In the past six months, of the 30,000 copies of the immortal arts that were originally sent out, the ones left in the city now are all children of dignitaries, except for the ordinary people who knew how to hide themselves from the moment they got the immortal arts. The rest who didn't know how to hide were all killed without exception, and then the skills began to leak out..." "Hey, but this scope is limited to Yingtian Prefecture. The entire Yingtian Prefecture and the places where it intersects with other prefectures are strictly guarded. None of these people will be able to spread the immortal law to other places." "Group A has more than a thousand immortal arts, more than half of which are in the city, and the rest are scattered to various counties..." The young man said as he opened the scroll and read: "Jiangning County, Daoxiang Village." "The Li family has obtained the tortoise shell No. 670. The third generation of the Li family, Li Tianming, is seven years old. He has a sophisticated mind and is of the best quality. He has obtained spiritual rice from spiritual crows and has drawn qi into his body in three months." "Jiangning County, Zhuyuan Village." "The Wang family got the tortoise shell No. 820. The third generation of the Wang family, Wang Feng, is ten years old. He is simple by nature. He was fed with spiritual rice by a spiritual crow. After two months of drawing qi into his body, his aptitude is determined to be at the upper level..." "Jurong County, Yaogu Village, the son of the village chief, Zhou Chai... Liyang County, Yuxi Village, the youngest daughter of the Zhao family... Jiangpu County, Yixing Village, the son of a boatman, Liangqu, was judged to be in the top class and will be given priority training..." Looking at the names and families that were recorded one by one, stable, the young man shook his head slightly, sighed softly, looked at the boy whose body was already cold at his feet, and said with regret: "Shangyuan County is a tributary county. You said you got the immortal method, but you were so proud of it. Now the whole Liulin Village has been destroyed, and you were also killed... I gave you the chance but you didn't use it!" After saying that, the young man shook his head, "Shangyuan County is no longer a seedling of immortality..." After saying this, the young man put away the scroll and sighed, "Of the 30,000 copies of immortal arts at the beginning, after the initial elimination, only 10,000 of the first batch of immortal seedlings remained. The remaining 20,000 or so have already been lost..." "Now, most of the more than 20,000 copies have been found and the names have been registered. The deadline is next year," the young man counted on his fingers and said with a grim expression: "I am responsible for following the thirty people, and there are still twenty who have not settled down. I hope that one year will be enough!" With another sigh, the young man strode away. …… Time flies, and it is June of the 51st year of Jiajing. Another half a year has passed. At night, in Nanjing City, at the residence of Dong Cheng, the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture. "Huh," Dong Jia took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. His fair face was red and had a few beads of sweat on it. He then turned his head to look at the twenty-year-old black-clothed woman sitting cross-legged on the couch. She was full of joy and said, "Master, I have opened twenty of the 210 acupoints in your body!" Dong Jia's face was full of joy as he spoke. Hearing this, the long eyelashes of the woman in black who was sitting cross-legged trembled, and then she slowly opened her eyes and looked at the girl with a happy face, but there was no encouragement in her eyes, only coldness. "You can only open up 20 acupoints in a year. What's so good about that? Do you know that among the children of ordinary people in Nanjing City, there are some who got the immortal method later than you, and now they have opened up 60 acupoints?" “Do you know that in the capital’s Immortal Palace, the 12,000 Immortal Seedlings have now all completed the practice of drawing Qi into their bodies and have begun practicing the first level of Qi training. Even 30% of the Immortal Seedlings have already broken through to the first level of Qi training. Of the remaining 70%, half will be able to break through to the first level of Qi training this year, and by next year…” As she spoke, the woman in black took a deep breath and said, "My Ming Dynasty will have 12,000 more true immortal cultivators!" Hearing the words of the black-clothed woman, the joy on Dong Jia's face slowly faded. The joy of breaking through the twentieth acupoint just now disappeared in an instant. However, the pride in her heart still made her mutter in a low voice: "That's because they are in the capital and have a large number of spiritual resources..." "Shut up!" Seeing that the girl still dared to disobey, the woman in black stood up and scolded coldly, "You only see that they have a lot of resources in the capital and the Immortal Palace, but have you ever thought about it, even if the same resources are allocated to you, why would you get more?" "Tell me, what is your ranking?" the woman in black asked coldly. "One hundred and sixty, sixty..." Dong Jia moved his lips and spoke haltingly. "What's the ranking of your tortoise shell?" The woman in black looked down at Dong Jia and said coldly. "Ten, thirteen." Dong Jia fell completely silent at this point.
"Let me tell you, among the 10,000 Immortal Seedlings in Nanjing City, the one currently ranked first was originally numbered 87." "Moreover, he has no father or mother, and no family like yours that can support him in practicing immortal martial arts without regard for the consequences. He is just a beggar, but in addition to the talismans and elixirs every month, the spiritual resources he receives are no less than the immortal seedlings in the immortal mansion." “Do you know why?” the woman in black said, sternly, “Because he’s better and works harder than all of you!” "When you eat, he is practicing. When you sleep, he is still practicing. When you are complacent, he is still practicing. Except for the necessary rest, he is practicing all the time!" "...I!" Dong Jia opened his mouth, wanting to refute something, but in the end he could only lower his head and muttered, "I'm sorry, Master. I know I was wrong. I will continue to practice now." After watching the girl calm down and start practicing, the woman in black's eyes flashed. She walked to the window with her hands behind her back, looked at the bright moon in the sky, and spread out her palms with an idea in her mind. A faint aura lingers. Her name is Xu Zhi. She is one of the core members of the Xu Jie family and is also a person who is not recorded in the imperial court. She obtained the immortal cultivation method in the 45th year of Jiajing, and Xu Ge Lao obtained the immortal method in the 42nd year of Jiajing. Now it is the 51st year of Jiajing, which means she has been practicing for six years. Her current cultivation level is at the second level of Qi training, while Elder Xu's cultivation level had only recently broken through to the third level of Qi training. It seemed like there were other people in the clan who had obtained the immortal arts together with her, but they were only at the first level of Qi training now, and it had been six years, and they were only at that first level. This is certainly due to the imbalance of resources, but everyone started from the same starting line and made the same efforts, but the results were different. "It's obvious that cultivating immortals is related to hard work, but the relationship is not that big. The key is resources and... talent..." Thinking of this, Xu Zhi looked at Dong Jia again and thought to himself: "The ranking of the ten thousand immortal seedlings is actually a ranking of talent..." Thinking of this, Xu Zhi came to the table, took out a thick notebook from his arms, and continued to record. "Number 13, Dong Jia, the winner of the immortal technique, has been ranked lower again. His talent has been re-evaluated and determined to be Class C, medium..." This set of talent rankings is the same as the ranking of the Daming Immortal Palace. …… Time flies, and another half a year has passed. The time finally came to the second day of the first lunar month in the fifty-second year of Jiajing. On this day, auspicious snow fell from the sky. It was still Prince Yu’s Mansion, but the people there were no longer the same as before. In the dining room, three people were sitting at a small table, and there were no servants around to serve them. The dining table was filled with rich spiritual energy. The exquisite dishes were all made from spiritual vegetables and spiritual birds. A large pot of steaming hot and fragrant spiritual rice gave off an enticing aroma. Prince Yu sat at the top seat. On his left sat Wang Chonggu, a member of the New Party in the current cabinet, and on his right sat Ma Fang, a famous general who was supposed to be in charge of Yingzhou Prefecture. At the beginning, Prince Yu recruited Wang Chonggu and Ma Fang. Wang Chonggu was recruited into the cabinet and became one of the leaders of the new party today, while Ma Fang was arranged to stay in Yingzhou Prefecture. At this moment, compared to the relaxed and calm Wang Chonggu, Ma Fang, who has always been unrestrained and looks like a rough soldier, is a little restrained. He usually eats meat and drinks in big gulps, and the noise he makes when eating is as loud as thunder and lightning. But now he eats rice in small mouthfuls, sitting upright, looking very uncomfortable. Well, even though the spiritual energy contained in the dishes in front of him was much richer than that in Yingzhou Prefecture, it still tasted like chewing wax. At the dinner table, Ma Fang blinked from time to time and winked at Wang Chonggu, but the latter seemed not to see it.
"This morning," Prince Yu finished the rice in his bowl, leaned over to scoop himself some spiritual porridge from the jade basin, put down the spoon made of spiritual wood, sipped a mouthful of spiritual porridge, and said, "The palace has issued an order that the government will be discussed at noon tomorrow in Yuxi Palace." Hearing this, Wang Chonggu, who was eating, nodded and said, "I also received an order from the palace yesterday." Ma Fang blinked and just listened silently. "The date of the imperial examination has also been set. It will be on the ninth day of the second lunar month. From the provincial examination to the metropolitan examination, and then to the palace examination, the provincial examination will be completed in the first month, and the metropolitan examination will be held in the third month after a month." "The palace examination will be held two months later!" "That is, the imperial examination will end in September of the fifty-second year of Jiajing, and the results will be announced to the world," Prince Yu said, taking a sip of spiritual porridge, then picking up a small pickle with chopsticks, looking at the two of them, and said, "Talk while you eat, no need to be restrained..." After that, he continued to talk to himself: "In the past two years, the reform has been implemented quite well, and the people's thinking has gradually changed. If you want to completely reverse it, it will take time, and you can't be impatient..." Wang Chonggu nodded, and Ma Fang, who roughly understood what he said, also nodded. "After the imperial examination, which is in September, the court will officially announce that the Ming Dynasty will become the Immortal Dynasty... We will talk about these trivial matters later. You have to take more responsibility in the army, the commander-in-chief of the five armies..." Prince Yu paused for a moment and said, "There should be a result tomorrow!" Hearing this, Wang Chonggu was slightly startled, and an inexplicable look flashed in his eyes. He knew what Prince Yu was talking about. The Nanjing incident, the struggle between the two parties is coming to an end. Who will win or lose? No one can tell! Because victory or defeat is in the hands of the emperor! But to Prince Yu and others outside the field, neither Xu Jie nor Li Chengwu was a winner, and victory belonged to those who did not participate in the war! But for a smaller number of people, the outcome has already been decided. For example, Yan Song who understood Jiajing, and Hai Rui... The former is based on the understanding of Jiajing and the tacit understanding between the emperor and his subjects, while the latter is based on the insight into the interests of the Ming Dynasty. "..." (End of this chapter)