Madam, protect me!

Chapter 103 Li Nuo Encourages Learning

Ministry of Personnel.

Langzhong Yamen.

After lunch, Li Nuo and his wife came to the Ministry of Personnel.

Song Zhe handed a thick booklet to Li Nuo, frowned slightly, and asked: "Do you want to take the imperial examination?"

Li Nuo did not hide it, nodded, and said: "If you want to study Legalism, you still need to have an official position, so you can only try to take the exam..."

Song Zhe was silent for a moment, and said: "There are more than four years left. Since you want to take the exam, prepare well and don't embarrass your father."

Li Xuanjing won six championships in the past, which was unprecedented and unparalleled.

It would be fine if his son did not take the imperial examination. If he did, he could not expect him to take the championship in one subject, but at least he had to pass the imperial examination, otherwise it would be a disgrace to the Li family.

He did not expect Li Nuo to take the imperial examination six months later. After all, two months ago, he was still the stupid son of the Li family.

Even Li Xuanjing couldn't go from knowing nothing to being proficient in the six arts and passing the imperial examination within half a year.

Li Nuo didn't explain more to his father-in-law. His goal was clear. After getting the list of previous Jinshi, he turned directly to the 30th year of the Holy Emperor, which was the last imperial examination.

In that year, a total of 100 Jinshi were admitted.

He didn't need to look at the list behind. Li Nuo's eyes were directly locked on the first few lines.

The champion of the 30th year of the Holy Emperor was named Cui Shu. He was the champion of the imperial examination that year, but not the champion of any single subject.

This means that this person is balanced in all subjects, without obvious specialties or obvious bias. He is a talent with balanced abilities, but he is not what Li Nuo wants.

What he needs are those gods of war with bias.

Li Nuo also skipped the names of the champions of the subjects.

The champion of the music category is Liu Shang, the champion of the archery category is Wang Shao, the champion of the ritual category is Zheng Zhan, the champion of the imperial examination category is Du Tong, and the champion of the calligraphy category is Pei Ziyi. Li Nuo mainly focuses on the three categories of music, archery, and imperial examination.

The calligraphy category is a miscellaneous category. The essays of the champion of the calligraphy category may not be the best. It can only be said that the essays of the champion of the calligraphy category are the most comprehensive.

Li Nuo has another candidate for the ritual category. How can a young candidate have a member of the Ministry of Rites who understands the rituals and laws?

He still has to find a suitable opportunity to send his second uncle in.

Li Nuo copied the names of the three people on paper and said to Song Zhe: "Father-in-law, can you show me the files of these three people?"

He needs to know where these three people are working now. If they are not in Chang'an, then he needs to find another candidate.

Song Zhe looked at the names of the three people and asked: "What do you want the files of these three people for?"

Li Nuo said honestly: "These three people are the champions of the latest imperial examination. I want to ask them if they have any skills in these subjects..."

This reason is very sufficient.

In his previous life, when he was in high school, the school would invite some former top scorers to share their experience in the college entrance examination with his juniors.

Song Zhe picked up the paper, walked outside the yamen, and said, "Feng Lingshi."

An official immediately trotted over.

Song Zhe handed him the paper and said, "These are the three top scorers in the last imperial examination. Go to the case library and get their files."

"Yes."

Feng Lingshi responded and immediately trotted to the case library.

Song Zhe walked back to the duty room and said to Li Nuo, "Your idea is not wrong, but most Jinshi will abandon the six arts after passing the imperial examination. It has been more than three years since the last imperial examination. If they are asked to take the imperial examination now, let alone becoming the top scorer again, I am afraid it will be difficult for them to even pass the spring examination..."

Having said that, Li Nuo still had to try.

After a while, Feng Lingshi came in with three files.

The three files were all very new, with only a few pages on them. Li Nuo flipped through two of them, feeling a little disappointed.

The top scorer in the Imperial Examination, Du Tong, and the top scorer in the Archery Examination, Wang Shao, served in the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Guard Department respectively after they passed the imperial examination.

These two temples were in Chang'an, but they were promoted one year ago and half a year ago respectively, and were transferred to the border army, thousands of miles away from Chang'an.

Song Zhe glanced at the files and said, "The Imperial Examination and the Archery Examination are originally related to the military formation. If they cannot stay in the Ministry of War, they can still take the path of military officers, but their promotion speed is a bit fast. The Du family and the Wang family are both big families, and they must have used the power of their families to transfer them away."

There was only one file left in front of Li Nuo.

The top scorer in the Music Examination, Liu Shang.

Li Nuo was slightly relieved after flipping through this file.

Liu Shang was also promoted half a year ago and is now the Grand Music Order of the Grand Music Department.

The Imperial Music Bureau is a subordinate department of the Taichang Temple, responsible for the music performance of various grand events.

The Imperial Music Order is the head of the Imperial Music Bureau, a seventh-rank official, and is in charge of thousands of musicians.

Musicians must be summoned at any time for various activities of the court, and the Imperial Music Bureau is of course in Chang'an.

Not long after, Li Nuo and Song Jiaren left the Ministry of Personnel.

A moment later, a young figure walked out of the Ministry of Personnel and got on a sedan chair.

Jingzhao Prefecture Yamen.

This was the second time Zhao He stepped into the Jingzhao Prefecture Yamen. This time, he was taken into a tall yamen room and waited for a long time before a figure walked in.

Zhao He looked at him and immediately bowed and said, "Sir!"

The middle-aged man raised his hand, motioned him to sit down, and personally poured him a cup of tea, and asked, "Is there something wrong with the Ministry of Personnel again?"

Zhao He immediately said, "My lord, Li Nuo went to the Ministry of Personnel again today and checked the files of three officials."

The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows, put down the teacup, and asked, "Which three officials?"

Zhao He said, "They are the three champions of the last imperial examination, namely Liu Shang, the champion of the music examination, Wang Shao, the champion of the shooting examination, and Du Tong, the champion of the imperial examination..."

The middle-aged man picked up the teacup again, took a sip of tea, and then said, "The court doesn't let him investigate the case. He wants to get an official position through the imperial examination. The idea is good, but even if he is Li Xuanjing's son, can he catch up with other students in just a few years?"

Hearing that Li Nuo was looking at the files of these three people, the middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief.

He probably guessed what he wanted to do.

Want them to teach him the experience of the imperial examination?

As long as he didn't look at those officials, he could do whatever he wanted. There was no unusual movement for so long. The last incident seemed to be just a coincidence.

At this time, Zhao He took a sip of tea and asked carefully: "Sir, the promotion you promised me last time..."

The three people were Jinshi of the same year as him. The three of them have been promoted in the past few years, and only he is still in the Ministry of Personnel to watch the warehouse. He is anxious...

The middle-aged man glanced at him and said lightly: "Look at you, you are anxious again..."

...

Back to the Song Mansion, Li Nuo walked into the yard with a piece of paper in his hand.

There was a line of words written on the paper.

Taile Ling, Liu Shang.

The target this time is different from the past.

In the past, he arrested either civilians or second-generation officials.

Even though these people have prominent family backgrounds, they themselves can be said to be ordinary people, and Chang'an County Office can handle it.

But this Sir Liu is a real court official.

Taile Ling of the seventh rank.

For a seventh-rank official, let alone Chang'an County Office, even the Ministry of Justice only has the right to investigate, not the right to judge.

This time, he had to ask his father for help.

Li Nuo called Wu, the housekeeper, over, handed him the paper, whispered a few instructions, and then started playing Go with Mu'er.

After the two played a few games, Wu returned and handed Li Nuo an envelope.

Li Nuo opened the envelope and thought that the Mingjing Division was worthy of being the Mingjing Division. What they investigated was more detailed than the files of the Ministry of Personnel.

Liu Shang, the Grand Music Officer, was 26 years old and a Jinshi in the 30th year of the Zhisheng Period. Although his overall ranking was not high, he was extremely outstanding in the music department and was specially recruited by the Taichang Temple. In less than four years, he jumped two levels from a small music official of the eighth rank to the Grand Music Officer of the seventh rank.

Before he passed the Jinshi examination, he came from a wealthy family in Jiangnan and had a lot of family wealth. After passing the Jinshi examination, he married the daughter of a powerful person in Chang'an.

The Grand Music Office was responsible for the performance of ceremonial music. It had little power. Things like taking human lives lightly and taking bribes and perverting the law were generally not related to the officials of the Grand Music Office.

Liu Shang was not short of money, so he did not need to embezzle. He also did his job well.

He had a good resume in the past few years as an official. He did not make any major mistakes, otherwise he would not have been promoted so quickly.

However, the Mingjing Division still found out some things.

Liu Shang and his wife at home did not have a harmonious relationship.

Before the marriage, the daughter of the powerful was fickle and had long-term improper relationships with many men. She did not restrain herself after marriage.

Although Liu Shang was dissatisfied, he did not dare to show it because of the power of the other party's family.

After giving up completely, he often lingered in the brothels and halls in Chang'an to have fun and comfort himself.

The couple usually played their own games.

Every family has its own problems. Li Nuo did not comment on this.

For young officials with shallow backgrounds, this is the price they pay for marrying rich and noble ladies. The truth is often not as good as imagined. Some noble ladies in Chang'an are more open than men.

But Liu Shang was an official of the imperial court, and the imperial court prohibited officials from visiting prostitutes.

Although this law was not strictly enforced and the punishment was not severe, even the censors who could not tolerate any sand in their eyes were too lazy to care, but it was indeed a violation of the law.

If it was really serious, Pei Zhe would be locked up for a few days every month to reflect.

Although Li Nuo sympathized with this Taile Ling, for the sake of his own life, he could only let him suffer a little more grievance.

When they went to bed at night, the lady returned to the room again.

The two tacitly did not mention what happened yesterday.

Smelling the familiar fragrance beside the pillow, Li Nuo felt extremely at ease. When he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly heard the lady's voice.

Song Jiaren closed her eyes and suddenly asked, "Are you going to take the imperial examination?"

Li Nuo was sleeping in a daze and said "um" softly.

Song Jiaren thought for a while and said, "If you want to learn horse riding and archery, I can teach you..."

In fact, Li Nuo has other choices for horse riding and archery.

Although the two champions of the last imperial examination were no longer in Chang'an, the new imperial examination was approaching, and he could find out who was most likely to win the champion in the two subjects of riding and archery in the four major academies in Chang'an.

But since his wife was willing to teach him, those candidates would step back for now.

Imagining the scene of two people riding on the same horse and drawing the same bow, he suddenly felt less sleepy...

The next morning, after breakfast, Li Nuo and his wife went out.

Yesterday he agreed with her that she would teach him riding skills today.

Riding skills are a must-take subject in the imperial examination, so there are many horse farms near Chang'an.

Most horse farms are outside the city of Chang'an. After all, the horse farms require a large area, and buying or renting land is a considerable expense.

The land in Chang'an is very expensive. If you open a horse farm in the city, the profit is not enough to pay the rent, and it is basically impossible to make a profit.

Li Nuo chose a horse farm in Chang'an City.

One reason is that it is close, so you don't have to spend a lot of time on the road.

Another reason is safety considerations.

Last time, someone sent eight fourth-level masters to kill him.

They are so bold in Chang'an City. If they leave the city, the unsafe factors will increase greatly.

Of course, although the horse farm in the city is convenient, the price is much more expensive.

However, for the Li family and the Song family, things that can be solved with silver are naturally not a big deal.

This horse farm in the city belongs to Yunmeng Academy.

Students of Yunmeng Academy can use this horse farm for free with the identity card of the academy.

Students who are not students of Yunmeng Academy want to use the horse farm, and they have to pay ten taels of silver per hour.

Most people in Daxia can't earn ten taels of silver a year.

Naturally, they can't afford the cost of learning riding skills.

Having lived two lives, Li Nuo knew nothing about horsemanship.

He didn't even know how to get on a horse.

Song Jiaren had to teach him from the very basics.

She first taught him how to get on and off a horse in place, and when Li Nuo was proficient in it, he rode slowly along the horse field to develop the feeling of riding a horse.

Of course, she stayed with Li Nuo the whole time.

Even though he had successfully entered the legal family, he was still a mortal.

Once he fell off a galloping horse, or was trampled under the hoof of a horse weighing hundreds or thousands of pounds, he would be seriously injured even if he didn't die.

Under the patient teaching of his wife, Li Nuo quickly mastered the skills.

His movements, from being unfamiliar and stiff at the beginning, became more and more skilled and relaxed, and he began to deliberately increase his speed.

However, when he rode slowly along the horse field, he could still control his body.

But when the horse's speed increased, he felt uncomfortable with the bumps on the horse, his center of gravity became unstable, and his body began to shake violently.

At this moment, a figure descended from the sky and sat steadily behind him.

Song Jiaren leaned against Li Nuo's body and whispered: "Lean forward, clamp your legs against the horse's belly, don't be afraid, I'm here..."

With his wife here, Li Nuo was certainly not afraid.

He believed that even if he fell off the horse now, he would not fall on the ground, but in his wife's arms.

According to what his wife said, after changing his body posture, he was indeed much more stable.

And his wife was right behind him, so he didn't have to worry and could operate boldly.

At this moment, there were still many people on the horse field.

Most of them were students of Yunmeng Academy.

The man and woman attracted everyone's attention since they entered the horse field.

It was actually normal for a woman to appear on the horse field.

Students of Yunmeng Academy often had some intimate contact with those ladies on the pretext of teaching horse riding.

No matter how open this circle was in secret, it was still necessary to pay attention to the defense between men and women in public.

In public, even couples could not have overly intimate actions.

But riding a horse is so dangerous. If you are not careful, you may be seriously injured or even die. Of course, someone should be there to protect you.

In the face of life and death, the defense between men and women can be temporarily put down.

The horse farm is probably the only place where young men and women can have intimate contact openly.

But other people are men teaching women, but this couple is the opposite.

This kind of scene is the first time for everyone.

…

As soon as Song Yu and the other two entered the horse farm, they saw Song Jiaren and Li Nuo being affectionate on the horse.

In the horse farm, a man and a woman rode a horse together, their bodies tightly pressed together. If they were not taking the opportunity to be intimate, could they be learning to ride a horse?

Who would come here to learn to ride a horse?

Under the protection of his wife, Li Nuo galloped around the horse farm for several laps and had adapted to the rhythm of the fast horse.

Seeing Song Yu and others standing by the horse farm and watching, he tightened the reins in advance, and the horse walked in front of Song Yu and the other two and slowly stopped.

Song Yu looked at the two people on the horse and asked tentatively: "Brother-in-law, Jiaren, what are you doing..."

Li Nuo took the initiative to explain for his wife: "I am preparing to take the imperial examination, and Jiaren is teaching me horse riding."

Song Yu looked at the two people on the horse, thinking of the scene of the two people galloping around the horse field just now, he was silent for a while, but couldn't help asking: "Brother-in-law, you must know that the competition of the imperial examination is not about who rides faster, right?"

Song Jiaren was slightly stunned and asked: "Isn't it?"

Song Yu lowered his head silently.

The "riding" in the six arts refers to driving a carriage, not riding a horse.

These are two completely different things.

When driving, you don't ride on a horse the whole time.

Excessive pursuit of riding skills may even affect the results of the imperial examination.

After a while, he led the two to the other side of the horse field, pointed to the criss-crossing roads with many obstacles on them, and said: "The imperial examination refers to driving a carriage, which is different from riding a horse..."

Song Jiaren lowered her head slightly. This was the first time she heard of these things.

She thought that "imperial" meant riding a horse, and the imperial examination was about who could ride a horse faster, wasn't it...

Li Nuo glared at Song Yu.

Of course he knew that "royal" meant driving a car.

Was there any need for him to say more?

If Song Yu didn't say more, he could have stayed with his wife for a while longer in the name of the imperial examination, instead of standing here and listening to him explain what the imperial examination was...

Song Jiaren looked at Li Nuo.

Li Nuo was confused at first, then he said in surprise: "So that's how it is..."

Song Yu shook his head when he heard it.

They are indeed worthy of it.

There are few children of the rich and powerful in Chang'an who don't know what the "皇" in the Six Arts refers to.

If you skipped a few classes when you were young, you would not be confused between riding and imperial examinations.

Although he didn't know why his brother-in-law suddenly wanted to take the imperial examination, he patiently explained: "You misunderstood. The imperial examination does not refer to riding a horse, but driving a car. There are five types of imperial examinations, namely Mingheluan, Zhushuiqu, Guojunbiao, Wujiaoqu, Zhuqinzuo..."

After deciding to take the imperial examination, Li Nuo did enough homework on paper.

Of course, he knew what Song Yu said.

To put it bluntly, the imperial examination is equivalent to Daxia's driver's license.

The so-called five imperial examinations are five subjects.

That is, what Song Yu said, Mingheluan, Zhushuiqu, Guojunbiao, Wujiaoqu, Zhuqinzuo

The imperial examination has made some changes based on the original five skills, but it is still basically the five skills.

That is, when driving, the car responds to the sound of the phoenix, the car rushes along the curved bank without falling into the water, passes through narrow roads and drives freely, drives back and forth through forks, and shoots arrows from the left while driving.

These five subjects are designed to test the vehicle's stable driving skills, accurate cornering skills, fast narrow road passing skills, fast turning skills on crossroads, and shooting skills during vehicle driving.

Mastering these five skills can drive a horse-drawn carriage in the city and a chariot on the battlefield. It is a skill that all officials in Daxia must have.

Analogous to later generations, it is probably required that civil servants can be drivers to pick up leaders and drive tanks to defend the country.

After Song Yu explained all this, he was worried that Li Nuo didn't understand, so he said to Zhou Yu: "Go and demonstrate it to your brother-in-law."

There was a row of carriages parked not far away. Zhou Yu heard this and walked to a carriage without saying much. He smiled and said to Li Nuo: "Brother Li, please get in the carriage."

This carriage is smaller than the one Li Nuo rides every day, and it is open-topped. There is only a cushion at the back, which can only accommodate two people sitting side by side.

Li Nuo got on the carriage, and Song Jiaren also got on and sat side by side with him.

Zhou Yu sat at the connection between the shaft and the carriage, shook the reins, and the carriage started slowly and gradually accelerated.

When the vehicle passed the first section of uneven road, Zhou Yu did not slow down. The reins in his hand moved left and right. Li Nuo sat in the carriage and didn't feel much bumps.

Not only that, the two bells hanging in different positions of the carriage were not messy at all, and made regular and rhythmic sounds.

Li Nuo was amazed. Although Zhou Yu had no cultivation, he drove a carriage more steadily than Wu Guanjia.

This was the first of the five imperial carriages, called "Ming He Luan". "He" and "Luan" refer to the two bells on the carriage.

When driving over bumpy roads, "He" and "Luan" will make sounds.

This item requires smooth driving. When the vehicle passes through uneven roads, the rhythm of the two bells cannot be messy, and the passengers cannot feel too bumpy. The requirements are very high.

Li Nuo has only seen the corresponding description in books, and this is the first time to experience it.

After driving over this bumpy road, the road ahead suddenly narrowed.

Not only was the road narrow enough to accommodate only one carriage, but the route also became extremely tortuous.

At a glance, there were several "S" bends with extremely large arcs, and on both sides of the road, there were two deep ditches.

The speed of the carriage remained unchanged, and Li Nuo was worried that the carriage would fall into the ditch several times.

Facts proved that his worries were unnecessary. The carriage could correct its direction every time before falling into the water.

This is the second ditch, "Chasing the Water Curve".

This item requires that when driving a carriage, the vehicle can be controlled to turn along the bend of the water bank without deviating or even falling into the water.

After successfully passing through the winding ditch, the road ahead became straight, but there were several narrow gates on the road.

Li Nuo estimated that the width of these gates was at most three fingers wider than the carriage.

But Zhou Yu was able to speed through the gates without any scratches, and successfully passed the next few forks. On the last section of the road, he picked up the bow and arrow placed aside, bent the bow and shot, and accurately shot the target several feet away on the left side of the road.

These are the last three ditch of the five ditch: Passing the Junbiao, Dancing at the Crossroads, and Chasing the Birds Left.

Pass through narrow passages quickly and without scratching, maintain speed while accurately passing through designated forks, and conduct mobile shooting on a high-speed moving carriage...

Through this series of operations, the carriage just returned to the starting point.

Li Nuo got off the carriage and looked at Zhou Yu with a changed look.

You can't judge a person by his appearance. I didn't expect this guy to have such amazing driving skills.

Li Nuo couldn't help but exclaimed: "Awesome, awesome..."

Zhou Yu was a little embarrassed and said repeatedly: "No, no, no, my "Minghe Luan" rhythm is not stable enough, and "Zhuqin Zuo" didn't hit the bull's eye. There is still a lot of room for improvement..."

Song Yu rolled his eyes at him and said: "We are all family members, and you are still modest. Your father is a doctor in the driving department. Let's not talk about other subjects. Looking at the four major academies, who can compare with you in the imperial examination? I'm afraid you are the top scholar in this imperial examination..."

Although Zhou Yu didn't say anything, the smile on his face showed that he was still very proud of his imperial examination.

Only Li Nuo knew that Zhou Yu was not modest.

He met Zhou Yu a month ago. On that day, Zhou Yu and his gang were caught by him and taken to Chang'an County Court, where they were beaten with 90 sticks.

If his imperial examination was really good, then his portrait on the law code should have been bright.

This month, his driving skills should not have improved much.

This shows.

In the imperial examination - he still needs to practice.

Li Nuo also wanted to find a student who was proficient in the imperial examination and catch him, and light up his portrait on the law code to prepare for his own imperial examination in half a year.

If even the top scorer in the imperial examination was at this level, he would not have to consider others.

Li Nuo patted Zhou Yu on the shoulder and said seriously: "Practice well. There is still half a year before the imperial examination. I believe that your imperial examination can be greatly improved..."

Song Yu smiled and said: "This guy's father has forced him to practice the imperial examination since he was a child. In the imperial examination, not to mention the students in the academy, even the teacher is not as good as him. There is less than half a year left before the imperial examination. Even if he doesn't practice, others can't take away his imperial examination champion..."

Li Nuo said solemnly: "Learning is like sailing against the current. If you don't advance, you will retreat. Don't underestimate other students. Since Zhou Yu has this strength, he should practice more diligently. Anyway, he has worked hard for more than ten years. It doesn't matter if he is caught up by others in this half year because of a moment of laziness. Wouldn't it be a lifelong regret?"

Zhou Yu must improve.

The imperial examination is different from other subjects. Those officials in the court will definitely have no time to continue to hone their driving skills after becoming officials.

These students who have not passed the imperial examination, to some extent, represent the peak of the imperial examination.

If even Zhou Yu, who is at the top of the driving skills, is not favored by the Code, who else can Li Nuo turn to?

So Zhou Yu must practice hard.

Even if not for Zhou Yu himself, he must practice for him.

Zhou Yu was quite moved by these words of encouragement.

Brother Li is so famous that he can say such words, obviously he really treats him as a friend.

His expression became serious, and he said: "Brother Li, don't worry, I will practice hard and will not let you down!"