Lu Zhuo was indeed dissatisfied with Su Wei's final plan, and he knew that if Su Wei's admission plan was followed, the final admission of Hebei scholars would be less than 20%, which would be far lower than the 40% quota he insisted on.

In fact, a very important reason why the competition for places this time has not reached a compromise is the insistence of Lu Zuo and Pei Ju, Lu Ju asked Hebei scholars to account for 40 percent, and Pei Ju asked for 20 percent of the merger scholars, these two regions accounted for 60 percent, how could other regions be convinced.

And Su Wei's harmony was actually depriving Lu Zhuo and Pei Ju of the interests they insisted on, which naturally made Lu Pei and the others very dissatisfied.

Of course, Lu Zhuo also has his own basis, he has investigated in advance, this time to participate in the imperial examination of the central capital, nearly forty percent of the scholars from Hebei counties, because the central capital itself is located in Hebei, it is very convenient for Hebei scholars to come to the central capital to participate in the imperial examination, a large number of scholars from Hebei counties poured into the central capital.

In addition, Hebei is the foundation of the new Sui, so Lu Zuo has every reason to think that the first imperial examination should take care of Hebei scholars, as the leader of the Hebei scholars, Lu Zhuo shoulders the expectations of the scholars from all over Hebei.

However, the collegial group finally approved Su Wei's plan by a vote, which made Lu Zhuo both helpless and very dissatisfied.

Coming out of Tianci Tower, it was just time for the lunch break, Zheng Shanguo smiled at Lu Zuo and said, "I have a bottle of good wine in my official room, Brother Lu will go and have a drink together!" ”

Lu Zuo smiled reluctantly, "Another day!" I happen to have something going on today. ”

"Then forget it, don't bother Brother Lu, just leave first."

Zheng Shanguo arched his hand, turned around and left, at this time, Cui Huan stepped forward and said in a low voice: "Everyone is in the Magnolia Wine Shop, if Brother Lu can't go, I'll tell everyone." ”

Lu Zhuo sighed, "How can I escape at this time, let's go together!" ”

The two of them left the palace and got into the carriage and drove in the direction of Taixue.

In the northwest corner of Taixue, there is a large wine shop covering an area of about five acres, called Yulan Wine Shop, just two months after opening, it is a piece of land purchased by the Li family of Zhao County in Zhongdu, and it has become one of the best wine shops in Zhongdu in a short period of time.

At the same time, it is also the gathering place of the important scholars in Hebei, more than a dozen important ministers from Hebei families regularly gather here, at this time, the Canglu room on the third floor is full of more than 20 officials, all of them are Hebei officials, today everyone gathers to the new military department squire Li Qingming to wash the dust, by Li Qingming's father Li Renshou to set up wine and entertain.

Although everyone in the room drank and ate, talking and laughing, but there was still an embarrassing atmosphere that was difficult to hide, in the corner of the room, Li Renshou sat alone at a small table and drank wine, looking very sullen, Li Renshou was originally appointed as Shangshu Zuocheng, but after his son Li Qingming served as the squire of the military department, Li Renshou was reappointed as the Taishou of Zhaojun, and the post of Shangshu Zuocheng was taken over by Wang Shan.

Li Renshou is not worried about being appointed as the Taishou, the Zhaojun Taishou has always been served by the Li clan, like the Zhaojun Taishou in the era of Emperor Wen of Sui was served by Li Jing's father Li Quan, so it is only natural for Li Renshou to serve as the Taishou of Zhaojun.

But the reason why Li Renshou was unhappy today was that his son Li Qingming did not attend the banquet held for him under the pretext of being unwell, which really made Li Renshou lose face, and Li Renshou couldn't be angry in public, so he had to settle accounts with his son after he went back.

At this time, an official said with a smile: "I heard that today the Xiangguo discussed in Tiancilou and decided to admit the imperial examination, I don't know what the situation is now, whether the list has come down." ”

"Brother Han made a mistake! Today is not to make a list, but to decide the distribution of places, and the interests have not been settled and compromised, how can the list be released. ”

"That's right, I heard that among the candidates who participated in the imperial examination this time, there are more than 16,000 scholars in Hebei alone, accounting for nearly forty percent, and in the final admission list, we Hebei scholars must have at least forty places, otherwise it will be unfair."

Everyone responded one after another, and the admitted scholars mainly went to Hebei and Qingzhou counties as officials, of course, Hebei scholars should be the mainstay.

At this moment, someone shouted at the door: "Lu Shangshu and Cui Shangshu are here." ”

Everyone got up one after another, only to see Lu Zuo and Cui Huan walking into the room quickly, and several heads of important families hurriedly stepped forward to greet them, Lu Zhuo waved his hand, "Everyone, please sit down!" No need to be polite. ”

Everyone sat down again, Lu Zhuo and Cui Huan also sat down in the seats left for them, Lu Zhuo glanced at Li Renshou, saw that he was depressed, and found that the seat next to him was empty, Lu Zhuo looked around, but did not see Li Qingming, so he asked: "Renshou, where is Qingming?" ”

Li Renshou smiled bitterly, "He went to the barracks yesterday to inspect and may have been a little cold, but he had a severe headache this morning and was not feeling well, so he couldn't say that he would come." ”

Lu Zhuo was stunned, what kind of reason is this, today he is to pick up the wind and wash the dust, no matter how unwell he is, he should show his face, Qingming is not a person who does not understand the world, Lu Zhuo thought about it, it is estimated that there is some family conflict between their father and son, and Lu Zhuo is not good to ask more.

At this time, Cui Shao'an, the younger brother of Cui Huan, asked: "I don't know if there is a result for the imperial examination?" ”

The room was suddenly silent, and everyone looked at Lu Zhuo and Cui Huan, which is related to the vital interests of each family, they all have children and protégés who came to participate in the imperial examination, and there were more than 400 children from the Lu family alone, and hundreds of people from the Boling Cui family, of course, they took this imperial examination very seriously.

Lu Zhuo's face was very ugly, he lowered his head and drank without saying a word, Cui Huan saw that Lu Zhuo was silent, he smiled and said to everyone: "This matter has been debated by the imperial court for two days, and everyone is holding each other, today Su Xiangguo proposed a plan, first admit 5,000 Tai Bachelors according to the results of the imperial examination, and then delineate the imperial examination admission ratio in various places according to the geographical proportion of Tai Bachelors, this plan has been voted on. ”

The discussion in the hall suddenly resounded, and even Li Renshou temporarily forgot the unhappiness brought by his son, he was also concerned about the imperial examination of the Li clan and his protégés, and the Li clan and his protégés had more than 250 people, which was related to whether their Li family could be revitalized.

Li Renshou coughed and asked, "Then Brother Cui thinks that according to this plan, how much of our Hebei scholars can be admitted?" ”

The room was quiet again, and at this time, Lu Zhuo sighed and said slowly: "So far, I will tell you frankly that the top 5,000 scholars have been drawn out, and as long as one of the three exams can be evaluated, you can enter the top 5,000, in fact, it has been counted, among the 5,000 scholars, Hebei scholars account for 900 people, less than 20%, that is to say, only 900 of the 16,000 Hebei scholars who finally entered the top 5,000, which is beyond my expectations!" ”

The room suddenly exploded, and everyone was anxious, in this way, there were not even twenty people who were admitted to Hebei Shizi, you must know that the new Sui is based on Hebei and Qingzhou, how to treat Hebei so thinly.

"No, it's not fair, we can't accept it!"

I don't know who shouted first, which immediately caused a voice of dissatisfaction, Lu Zuo slapped the table heavily and shouted angrily: "This is a decision made by the imperial court, as a court official, do you want to oppose the imperial court?" ”

"But this is not the decision of His Royal Highness King Qi!"

Someone muttered, which immediately aroused a resonance among everyone, this is obviously taking advantage of the absence of His Royal Highness the King of Qi to use the imperial examination for personal gain, if His Royal Highness the King of Qi is here, who dares to bully the Hebei scholars so blatantly.

"This matter has been decided, it's useless to make trouble, you have the ability to wait for His Royal Highness King Qi to come back and then complain, now no one is allowed to make trouble, Liaodong is fighting, no one is allowed to shake the army's heart, otherwise don't blame me for not remembering the old feelings."

Everyone had to be silent, Lu Zhuo didn't want to stay any longer, got up and rushed away angrily, Cui Huan felt that it was not appropriate to stay, so he quickly got up and went out, after a while, someone said coldly: "People say that there are people in the court who are good officials, it seems that there is no one in our Hebei department!" (To be continued.) )