Chapter 288 Spring Examination

After talking about small talk, Yang Zhengshan also turned the topic to business, "By the way, I have something to ask Brother Liu!"

"Brother Yang, please speak!"

"If I want to build a salt field in Tenglongwei, I wonder if the court can allow it?"

"Build a salt field!" Liu Zhe's expression became serious, "The number of salt fields in the court has not changed for more than 30 years!"

"Well!" Yang Zhengshan calmly picked up the tea.

After a little thought, Liu Zhe said, "It's not impossible, but it requires the consent of the Central Military Governor's Office! And if Brother Yang wants to make money from the salt field, it's best to go to the Liaodong Salt Transport Office to make connections."

Darong's salt fields are all in the local area, but they are not governed by the local government, but by the Ministry of Revenue's Salt Transport Office. Each salt field has a commander and the Secretary is responsible for management.

However, there are exceptions to salt fields, that is, military-controlled salt fields, or salt fields belonging to the Five Military Governor's Office.

The salt fields of the Five Military Governors' Office were mainly built for the imperial guards and some camp soldiers. The army had many soldiers and they were relatively concentrated. They needed a lot of salt on a daily basis. If conditions allowed, it would be more convenient to build a salt field.

For example, the imperial guards of Kyoto had a salt field in Haijin Town, east of Kyoto.

Some other garrisons and navy near the sea also had salt fields.

However, the salt fields of the Five Military Governors' Office were relatively small in scale, and the output of the salt fields could not be sold to salt merchants.

Of course, the court had its own regulations, and the garrisons had their own methods. They could not sell the salt produced by the salt fields to salt merchants, but they could sell it to other salt fields.

Moreover, this matter had become a tacit agreement, and both the Five Military Governors' Office and the Salt Transport Department tacitly agreed to this matter.

The reason was simple. The Five Military Governors' Office certainly did not mind the garrisons below making more money, and the Salt Transport Department did not care about who dried and boiled salt, but who transported and sold salt, that is, salt permits.

Salt permits represent huge profits. The big men of the Salt Transport Bureau can make a lot of money with salt permits, but they will not snatch food from those poor cooks.

But if Yang Zhengshan wants to sell salt to other salt fields, he naturally needs to go through the relationship with the Liaodong Salt Transport Bureau.

There is no big problem with the Central Military Governor's Office, but Yang Zhengshan has no way with the Salt Transport Bureau.

"Brother Liu, do you know anyone from the Liaodong Salt Transport Bureau?" Yang Zhengshan's purpose of asking Liu Zhe is to see if Liu Zhe has any relationship with the Salt Transport Bureau.

Liu Zhe smiled when he heard this and lowered his head to sip his tea.

Yang Zhengshan looked at him helplessly, "Brother Liu, just say what you want to say!"

Liu Zhe is not a fool, how can he not see Yang Zhengshan's purpose.

"It's a pity that I don't know the officials of the Salt Transport Bureau!" Liu Zhe said with a smile.

"Really don't know?" Yang Zhengshan looked at him.

"Really don't know!" Liu Zhe said affirmatively.

Yang Zhengshan frowned, "Then we have to think of another way!"

Liu Zhe laughed, "Brother Yang, I don't know the officials of the Salt Transport Department, but I know the Salt Inspector of Liaodong!"

Yang Zhengshan was stunned, and then slapped his forehead. He only thought about the Salt Transport Department, but forgot that there was a Salt Inspector above the Salt Transport Department.

Although the rank of the Salt Inspector is not high, its actual status and authority are superior to those of the Salt Transport Department.

"Brother Liu, I'm talking to you about business, so don't joke with me!" Yang Zhengshan looked at Liu Zhe with some resentment. This guy was obviously teasing him just now.

"This is not my fault. It can only be blamed on Brother Yang for paying too little attention to official affairs. Doesn't Brother Yang know that the new Liaodong Salt Inspector is Zheng Xiao?" Liu Zhe laughed.

"Zheng Xiao! This name sounds familiar!" Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and fell into deep thought. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to his mind, "He is Mr. Liu's student!"

When Liu Yuanfu came to Beijing, Zheng Xiao happened to go to Chongshan Town to supervise the house seizure of the case of treason. At that time, Zheng Xiao also visited him on behalf of Liu Yuanfu.

He still had a deep impression of Zheng Xiao, but the two had only met once, and it had been a long time, so he didn't think of it for a while.

"Then should I send someone to congratulate him!" Yang Zhengshan smiled again.

Liu Zhe didn't say anything, just sipped the tea casually.

He was just a scholar, and he just needed to give Yang Zhengshan some advice. As for other things, he was not suitable to show up.

Yang Zhengshan didn't force it. He understood Liu Zhe's temperament and Liu Yuanfu's character.

Liu Yuanfu was a stubborn old man, but he was not different from the world. His stubbornness was mainly reflected in his strong principles, and he was still very enthusiastic to his relatives and friends.

Liu Yuanfu has taken good care of the Yang family over the years, firstly because the two families had formed a deep friendship when they were in Yinghebao, and secondly because Liu Yuanfu recognized Yang Zhengshan. In Liu Yuanfu's eyes, Yang Zhengshan is undoubtedly a good official who can help the military households live a good life.

…

There are two provincial governors in the northeast of Dayong, namely Liaoyuan Provincial Governor and Pingyuan Provincial Governor, and Liaoyuan Provincial Governor is also the so-called Liaodong region.

However, the jurisdiction of Liaodong Salt Transport Bureau is not limited to the salt industry of Liaoyuan Provincial Governor, but also includes Pingyuan Provincial Governor and Shanhe Provincial Governor in the south, but the salt industry of these three provincial governors is mostly concentrated in Liaodong, so the Salt Transport Bureau is named after Liaodong.

The office of the Salt Transport Bureau is located in Liaoan Prefecture, which is the station of Liaoyuan Provincial Governor.

Liao'an Prefecture is not far from Tenglongwei. Liao'an Prefecture is located to the south of Qinghua Prefecture. Tenglongwei is about three hundred miles away from Liao'an Prefecture City. However, this road is not easy to travel because there is no official road between Tenglongwei and Liao'an Prefecture City.

After talking with Liu Zhe, Yang Zhengshan thought about it again and wrote a letter to send to the Central Military Governor's Office.

If you want to build a salt field, you must first obtain the consent of the Central Military Governor's Office, and then you can go through the Salt Transport Bureau. This is the process. If you go to the Salt Transport Bureau first, it means that you don't take the Central Military Governor's Office seriously.

As for whether the Central Military Governor's Office will agree, Yang Zhengshan is a little bit unpredictable.

Although he has Ningguo Gong as a backer in the Central Military Governor's Office, he has never actually met this old Duke. The things he did before were reasonable and not out of line, but this time the construction of the salt field was somewhat out of line, and it was a bit unprofessional.

He didn't know whether Ningguo Gong would agree to his request.

However, although he couldn't go to the Salt Transport Bureau to handle the salt field now, he could go to congratulate Zheng Xiao first.

First, get closer to each other in advance, so as not to need him at the last minute.

Yang Zhengshan thought about it, and wrote another letter to Luo Shang in Chongshan Pass, asking him to send a gift to Zheng Xiao on his behalf.

Although Yang Zhengshan was in charge of the salt field and salt industry, Luo Shang would definitely be the one standing in front of the stage in the future. It was necessary for Luo Shang to meet Zheng Xiao first, and also let Luo Shang know more about the Salt Transport Bureau.

Just as Yang Zhengshan was planning for the salt field and salt industry, the three-year spring examination in Kyoto also kicked off.

Kyoto in March was really lively, especially on the ninth day of the first lunar month, when the streets were full of horse farms, and the more southward they went, the more congested they were.

Yang Mingcheng and Lu Wenyuan were considered to have arrived early. They went out at dawn, but when they approached the examination room, they were still blocked behind. They had no choice but to get off the carriage and walk over.

The situation on the street was similar, and many candidates who participated in the spring examination had to get off the carriage and walk.

The temperature in Kyoto in March was not high, especially in the morning, the cold was still very heavy.

Lu Wenyuan was wearing a thick cloak and was walking forward in good spirits.

Yang Mingcheng and three guards were on his left and right, helping him carry the exam basket and protecting him to prevent anyone from bumping into him.

The more careful you have to be at this time, because if something unexpected happens, Lu Wenyuan will have to wait another three years.

"Wenyuan, I have prepared two small pots of herbal wine for you. If you feel cold, you can drink a small sip. Herbal wine can not only drive away the cold, but also refresh you."

"In addition, I have prepared some ginseng slices for you. If you are sick, you can hold a slice in your mouth and take a nap. Maybe the illness will be cured!"

The Spring Examination was held in three sessions, one for three days. During these three days, the candidates could only stay in the examination room. They could only eat, drink, defecate, urinate and sleep in a one-square-meter examination room.

If you don't eat well and don't sleep well, after an exam, candidates with weak bodies are likely to get seriously ill, and candidates with good bodies will also feel exhausted.

"Don't worry, brother, I will take good care of myself!" Lu Wenyuan said with a faint smile.

Lu Wenyuan was full of respect and closeness to Yang Mingcheng. Although Yang Mingcheng sometimes behaved very naively and was a bit fussy, it was undeniable that Yang Mingcheng was really kind and had always been sincere to him and the Lu family.

"Well, do your best to take the exam after you get in. It doesn't matter if you don't do well. Dad said you are still young. Even if you don't pass this year, you can still take it again in three years!" Yang Mingcheng said with a simple smile.

If it were someone else, they would definitely not say such a thing, after all, such a thing was somewhat unlucky.

What do you mean by "if you don't pass this year, you can take it again in three years!"

If this was said to someone else, it would probably be understood as a curse.

However, Lu Wenyuan didn't care about these things at all. He always had an elegant smile on his face and his eyes were always full of confidence. He was not so fragile that he would collapse mentally because of a word.

Besides, he knew that Yang Mingcheng said this with good intentions and didn't want him to be too nervous.

As they were talking, they had already arrived at the entrance of the examination room. "Brother, I'll go in first. You guys should go back early too!"

"Okay, go in quickly! I'll pick you up after the exam!" Yang Mingcheng looked up at the long queue in front of the examination room and said.

You need to queue up to enter the examination room and undergo a body search. Lu Wenyuan waved his hand, took the examination basket and went to queue up.

Yang Mingcheng stared at him entering the examination room before he felt relieved and turned back to the house that the Yang family bought in Kyoto.

The house of the Yang family in Kyoto is not big. It is just a small house with two entrances, which is similar to the small house that Zhou Lan gave to Yang Zhengshan in Chongshanguan.

However, the price of this house is not cheap. In Chongshanguan, such a house costs about more than 1,000 taels, but in Kyoto, it costs 8,000 taels of silver.