The Ming Dynasty started with caution

Cheng Minzheng had tears in his eyes. The prince has become a talent! This poem is enough to be famous for thousands of years!

Zhu Houzhao turned around happily, looked at everyone with his nose, and was arrogant. He couldn't help but feel happy in his heart.

"You come up with the next poem!"

Yang Shen hesitated to speak, thinking for a long time, and couldn't think of a more magnificent and heroic artistic conception than this. He said ashamedly: "I lost. The poems I chanted before were not as good as this poem. Brother Weiwu hides his shortcomings. I really admire him!"

Zhu Houzhao was delighted and turned around to ask who Yang Shen was. This palace wants to worship him as a teacher and learn to write poems.

"This poem was not written by this palace. What a coincidence. The person who wrote this poem is also called Yang Shen, but there are only these two sentences." Zhu Houzhao was arrogant. He also admired such poems and disdained to pretend.

That's it?

That's it?

The scholars were both excited and disappointed.

Cheng Minzheng opened his mouth slightly. It was a pity that such a good poem only had these two lines.

For a time, this poem became the highest challenge for the library.

No one could match the next poem. Cheng Minzheng wrote a few subsequent lines, but felt that he had finished the poem and threw the paper into the basket.

Half an hour later, Zhang Xian was shocked when he heard this poem.

He immediately asked the craftsman to erect a stone tablet in front of the library.

Carve these two lines of poetry.

The Tengwang Pavilion in Jiangnan is famous all over the world with "Tengwang Pavilion Preface"!

Perhaps, Liangxiang Library can also rely on these two lines of poetry to become famous all over the world and pass on its reputation for generations.

There are only two lines on the stone tablet, but there is a majestic momentum that hits you in the face, which makes people applaud!

The remaining blanks can only be written by future generations. Zhang Xian wanted to offer a reward of 100 taels of silver, but it would be vulgar to lure such a poem with money.

…

Forbidden City, Huagai Palace,

Emperor Hongzhi was shocked and read the poem over and over again. His blood was boiling and his heart was agitated. He couldn't let it go for a long time...

"It has such a magnificent artistic conception. Just reading it out makes people feel refreshed! What a good poem! Was it written by the prince?"

"I don't know, but... the prince once secretly studied music in the East Palace and wrote poems." Mou Bin reported truthfully.

Emperor Hongzhi smiled bitterly and shook his head: "It can't be written by the prince. If he wrote it, he would have come to me to ask for credit."

Mou Bin nodded and felt that it made sense. Could it be written by Yan Chengjin?

It's impossible...

How could Yan Chengjin, at such an age, have such a high level of transcendental understanding? The person who wrote this poem has clearly experienced a lifetime and is a mature person.

Yang Mansion,

Yang Tinghe recited these two lines of poetry, paced back and forth in the study, exclaimed again and again, and was so excited that he could not calm down: "Well written, so well written!"

Yang Shen came back from Liangxiang and asked his father for advice. Who knew that his father was amazed after listening, and his reaction was exactly the same as his.

Yang Tinghe shook his head and sighed: "It's difficult, I can't continue, and my father can't continue either. Who wrote it?"

Yang Shen felt a little aggrieved: "Zhu Xiaoshou said that the person who wrote this poem is also called Yang Shen..."

Zhu Xiaoshou... Isn't that His Highness?

Yang Tinghe didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The prince sneaked out of the palace just to compete with his son in poetry. Yang Tinghe coughed dryly and said: "Son, if Zhu Xiaoshou asks you to compete in poetry again in the future, you should let him go."

"Father knows him?"

"He is His Highness the Crown Prince."

"..." Yang Shen.

……

The two lines of poetry made the Liangxiang Library famous.

Old Confucian scholars from the capital and surrounding counties also came to pay homage to this stone tablet.

"As long as the last few sentences are connected, you can be famous for thousands of years."

Yan Chengjin found that in Liangxiang, a small place, you can see scholars in Confucian robes and silk scarves everywhere, and there are more of them than the people of Liangxiang.

"It's boring to go back to sleep after reading."

"Yes, Jiangnan is beautiful, with misty waves on the river, and it's the time for pleasure boats to be busy at night. We went to Beijing too early."

A few scholars walked on the street.

It's a pity that the skyscraper water car can't be driven, and it earns nearly 100 taels less every day.

That's 3,000 taels a month, a luxurious mansion.

Most of these scholars have rich families, and Liangxiang has no place to spend money, so they find it boring.

The Ming Dynasty was an era where you could make money with ideas. When the hot water bottle came out, many gentry threw away the soup bottle and rushed to buy the hot water bottle.

The autumn grain collection was imminent, and Zhang Xian said to Yan Chengjin: "Sir, can the autumn grain collection be delayed? I have submitted a petition to ask for it to be collected next year?"

The autumn grain collected was not much, and the current waterway construction required three stone of rice and two stone of flour every day to barely maintain it.

The newly built library emptied the treasury of Liangxiang.

Tax arrears were very common in the Ming Dynasty. What's worse, when there was a famine, the court exempted all new taxes and arrears.

"Just owe it."

The Yan family didn't have much silver either. They took out 150,000 taels to open a shipyard, and most of the family's treasury was empty.

Out of the government office, walking on the streets of Liangxiang, everything looked like silver.

"Whose mansion is this?"

Yan Chengjin looked at the mansion. It had been in disrepair for many years and was even older than the Yan family. The red paint had fallen off, revealing rotten wood.

"This old house has been sold for several years, but the price is too high and no one wants it." When Wang Bushui bought the shop, he asked around and found out that it was so shabby that it could be sold for 1,200 taels.

The location is not good, and it is in Liangxiang, so 500 taels is a sky-high price.

Even the shops on the streets of Liangxiang only offered 1,000 taels at most.

"Buy it for me!" Yan Chengjin said.

Wang Bushui thought he had heard wrongly, and it would cost more than 100 taels to repair it.

Yes, Master Yan likes shabby things the most...

Wang Bushui quickly found the owner of the house and brought back the deed. Yan Chengjin took a look and found that it was the old house of Hu Gong.

Opening the gate, there were three refugees hiding inside. They looked like ghosts even without makeup.

They were dark and skinny.

A bit creepy...

Wang Bushui was about to drive them away. Lin Song put his hand on the spear and the servants picked up sticks, fearing that they would rush over and beat people, but Yan Chengjin stopped them.

"Where are you from? Why don't you go to the straw hut?"

"I just came from Hejian Prefecture and there is no straw hut."

The refugees who came late had no straw huts or fields, so they could only live here. It was cold outside. Those who could bear it went out to find food, and those who couldn't bear it curled up here.

"Go to the straw hut, someone will settle you down."

Several refugees were grateful and knelt on the ground, kowtowed one after another.

Yan Chengjin said to the sedan bearer, "Take them to find Mr. Zhang and build another straw shed over there."

The sedan bearer led them there.

After walking around the yard, he got a general idea of ​​the structure of the house. The house was big enough and could be partitioned off to make a large "adventure house".

The drawing skills Yan Chengjin learned in the Ministry of Works came in handy again. He drew a sketch and asked Wang Bushui to find a craftsman to repair it.

"Will it not be dark if we repair it according to this picture?" Wang Bushui doubted Yan Chengjin's drawing skills.

"It must be dark."

Wang Bushui found a craftsman to seal the top of the yard, and the whole mansion became gloomy and scary in broad daylight.

What puzzled Wang Bushui even more was that Master Yan also bought coffins, ropes, mirrors, paper money, big pots, combs, red cloth and other messy things...

Ten days later, the whole house was finally decorated according to Yan Chengjin's requirements.

Liangxiang refugees’ straw huts,

Suddenly, a contest for ugly people was held. Wang Bushui shook his head: “Not ugly enough, next one.”

“Is there anyone who wants someone who is ugly?”

“I don’t know, isn’t this the big boss of the workshop? He has a special hobby.”

Many refugees felt ashamed because they were not ugly enough.

Those who thought they were ugly stood up, but their confidence was hit by Wang Dadong’s disappointed eyes.

How ugly should they be…

Wang Bushui selected twenty people and brought them to Yan Chengjin for selection. After strict screening, only fifteen people were left.

The next step was rehearsal. The refugees hid in designated places and listened to Yan Chengjin’s instructions on when to come out.

“So it’s to scare people? We know this!”

“…”

These refugees were self-taught. Yan Chengjin walked through it all over again and was almost scared to death…

It felt a bit creepy.

“The gate needs to be changed, and it should be more festive.” Yan Chengjin felt that this gate was not good and it would easily scare people away.

Wang Bushui simply hung up big red lanterns, which was no different from an ordinary inn.

The next day, Lao Wang's study printed out the official newspaper, and Liangxiang Qiyu House opened for business.

The one who cared most about the news of Lao Wang's bookstore was the scholar. He had been bored in Liangxiang for a long time and wanted to have some fun.

The scholar was surrounded outside the gate, and he came to see this Qiyu House.

"Mr. Wang, what is sold inside?"

"There is nothing to sell inside, just a few refugees, dressed up and scared people. If you want to have fun, you can go in and take a look. One or two silver per person." Wang Bushui smiled and told the truth.

"Don't blame me for not reminding you, this house is very scary, and those who are timid should not go in."