Chapter 3: The Ill-Intentioned Wealthy Ximen

Just like a question he once saw on a certain platform before transmigrating:

Theoretically, as long as you memorize the Four Books and Five Classics in ancient times, you can pass the top scholar exam,

why do the vast majority of people not even pass the scholar exam?

A high-voted answer is: The last imperial examination of the Qing Dynasty, the palace examination question:

Egypt used foreigners and failed, Japan used foreigners and prospered,

analyze the pros and cons and propose countermeasures.

Regarding the imperial examination, Zhang Jie also knows a joke that he doesn't know is true or false:

The Theory of Xiang Yu and Napoleon.

In 1901, Cixi ordered the reform of the imperial examination, adding Chinese and foreign politics and history to the examination content.

To cater to this purpose, once when the examiner set the question, he put Napoleon of France into it.

Because the examiner roughly knew that Napoleon was a fierce general who ended in failure like Xiang Yu of China,

so he set a Chinese and foreign comparative question: "The Theory of Xiang Yu and Napoleon."

The examiner who set the question was fashionable, but how could the eight-legged essay candidates from all over the country keep up?

So a joke was made.

A candidate wrote at the beginning:

Xiang Yu is a hero who can pull mountains and cover the world, how can he not take the broken wheel?

If the broken wheel repairs its own government, how can it be taken by Xiang Yu?

If you take the whole wheel and don't win, let alone take the broken wheel?

Translation is as follows: That Xiang Yu is a hero who can pull mountains and cover the world,

how could he not be able to pick up a broken wheel?

Moreover, if the broken wheel repairs itself and recovers, how can it be taken by Xiang Yu?

If you can't win by taking a good wheel, let alone taking a broken wheel?

Not to mention the imperial scholar who has no trace yet, Zhang Jie's first goal now is to pass the Autumn Examination in August today and become a provincial graduate.

And with his current accumulation, wanting to be as easy as taking the scholar exam is no longer possible.

Originally, his idea was to wait a few more years, and wait until he had more certainty before participating in the provincial examination.

Who knew that plans could not keep up with changes, heaven has unpredictable winds and clouds, people have misfortunes and blessings,

and the most important thing is that people have no intention to hurt the tiger, but the tiger has the intention to hurt people.

He had to be forced to participate in this year's Autumn Examination,

and now he is racing against time to make a surprise attack.

"Sigh!

If it weren't for the fact that my parents died suddenly three years ago, how could the Young Master be so anxious?

And those damn horse bandits, what's wrong with doing anything, but they had to rob my Zhang family's caravan.

Otherwise, with the Young Master's talent, taking the exam three years later, the fame of a provincial graduate would be in his pocket.

It's just that it's hard for the Young Master now."

Looking at the anxiety that flashed across Zhang Jie's face, just walking out of the study,

Pan Jinlian, who was turning to close the door, was full of sighs and pity.

Perception is also exceptionally sharp with the increase of spirit, plus the two of them are together every day,

and they have long been in harmony, so how could Zhang Jie not know Pan Jinlian's thoughts.

Regarding the death of his parents in this life, although Zhang Jie was slightly sad, he was not very grieved.

For one thing, in this Water Margin world without antibiotics, hormones,

and various special drugs, life and death are normal.

A little cold or fever can make a strong man fall within two or three days.

Secondly, the age of his parents in this life is actually not small.

As mentioned earlier, Zhang Jie was the only son Zhang Dahu had in his old age,

and Zhang Dahu was already over fifty when Zhang Jie was born.

By the time he grew up to his teens and Zhang Dahu died, he was already over sixty, almost seventy.

In ancient times, when people in their forties could call themselves old men, Zhang Dahu was already considered to have lived a long life.

Zhang Dahu's death was considered a happy funeral in everyone's eyes, not only not sad,

but should be held with gongs and drums in a lively manner.

However, for this, Zhang Jie had to observe mourning for three years.

According to the regulations of the Great Song Dynasty, the mourning period is usually three years.

During the mourning period, one must wear mourning clothes, eat vegetarian food, forbid entertainment, not marry, not attend banquets, etc.

Why does Zhang Jie, a modern person without the habit of mourning, need to observe mourning?

Zhang Jie's answer is that he has to observe it.

The particularity of a scholar's mourning: during the mourning period, a scholar cannot participate in the imperial examination,

and must handle it with "concealed mourning," otherwise, the qualification will be canceled.

And Zhang Jie, who had no power to resist and had to follow the customs of the place, had to wait three years before participating in the courtyard examination to pass the scholar exam.

Because mourning is seen as a manifestation of morality, it will directly affect the reputation and official career of a scholar.

Zhang Jie, who is determined to pass the imperial examination and become a small official,

and live a carefree life after this hard-won second life,

how could he leave such a big stain on himself?

And the reason why Zhang Jie is so anxious to pass the provincial graduate exam now,

is because someone has targeted him, or rather, targeted his

Zhang family's thousands of acres of land and dozens of shops with considerable assets!

Just when he participated in the courtyard examination, the largest and most important caravan of his Zhang family encountered bandits outside the city.

Not only were all the goods lost, but even the clerks and instructors who escorted the goods died several!

This encounter gave Zhang Jie a head-on blow:

He thought he had clearly recognized the cruelty of this world,

but when he saw the corpses of those clerks and instructors who were missing arms and legs and unrecognizable,

he truly realized the cruelty of this world—

in this Water Margin world, a little carelessness will lead to death!

After the incident, Zhang Jie tried to report to the official to solve it.

That Wen Bin, the county magistrate of Yanggu County, the parents of tens of thousands of people, and the "Hundred-Mile Marquis" of this hundred-mile radius,

after receiving his 500 taels of "bandit suppression sponsorship funds," stated firmly:

"Horse bandits, must be suppressed, must be suppressed!

Only days without horse bandits are good days!"

Then he let his county lieutenant take more than a hundred old, weak, sick, and disabled soldiers out of the city to "suppress bandits."

Just when Zhang Jie thought that this county lieutenant could have some results, at least he could deter the horse bandits,

he took the soldiers out and turned around a few times and came back...

This was greatly beyond Zhang Jie's expectations:

Although he had some conjectures about the slackness of the Great Song's bureaucratic system,

he did not expect the Great Song's bureaucratic system to be so slack to this extent.

Even the most famous corrupt official in our Manchu Qing, Lord Heshen, knew that he had to do something after receiving money!

This also let Zhang Jie know that others are unreliable,

if he wants to live well in this Great Song, the only person he can rely on is himself!

In the past, there was still his cheap father Zhang Dahu to shelter him from the wind and rain,

now that his cheap father has passed away, he can only rely on himself to shelter himself from the wind and rain.

What Zhang Jie can think of now is to pass the provincial examination, become a provincial graduate,

and after having a higher status, go to retaliate against that group of horse bandits.

And according to Zhang Jie's secret investigation, he found that this was not a simple bandit robbery and murder case,

but someone in the city combined with the bandits outside to plot against Zhang Jie's family property!

This person, everyone who has read Jin Ping Mei and the illustrations inside must be no stranger,

it is exactly the wealthy Ximen who later worshipped the powerful minister Cai Jing of the imperial court as his godfather and acted almost recklessly in Yanggu County!

However, Zhang Jie was not very surprised by this:

Not all of the assets of the wealthy Ximen were legal wealth obtained by his own careful management.

According to Zhang Jie's investigation, most of the wealthy Ximen's property was obtained by force.

This wealthy Ximen had just annexed the property of his good friend Hua Zixu not long ago,

occupied Hua Zixu's wife Li Pinger, and now he has targeted Zhang Jie's family property.

"Ximen Qing, you want my Zhang family's wealth, and you are not afraid of being stuffed to death!"

Zhang Jie, sitting in the chair, secretly hardened his heart.

He pulled open the drawer on the desk and took out an object to play with carefully.

This object was made of high-quality metal, and the surface had been finely processed, flashing with a cold, gloomy light.

If there was another transmigrator here, he would be able to see at a glance what Zhang Jie was holding:

It was exactly a short-barreled flintlock gun with a barrel, firing mechanism, and stock!

Zhang Jie had no sense of security in the years he came to the Water Margin world,

so he used the knowledge he had seen in his previous life to invite several master craftsmen,

manufactured the barrel, hammer, firing pin, spring, stock, etc., and finally assembled it by Zhang Jie himself.

Here, Zhang Jie could not help but thank himself for liking to browse certain apps before transmigrating,

and having more or less some understanding of firearms knowledge.

Otherwise, even if his spiritual power increased after transmigrating,

and he knew his previous memories like the back of his hand, a clever woman could not cook without rice.

As for black powder, I think everyone knows, one saltpeter, two sulfur, three charcoal.

If Ximen Qing continues to push step by step,

Zhang Jie doesn't mind using this guy who is epoch-making in the Water Margin world to send him to the West!

And if the flintlock gun doesn't work, Zhang Jie also knows a little about the manufacture of nitroglycerin... ===== CHAPTER 4 =====