Yuan Luo returned to the palace, and then ordered the imperial army to search the capital vigorously, and arrested and killed the East Sea King who had infiltrated in the past two years. For a time, the security of the entire capital was much better.

After the New Year's Day, news came from the north that the peace talks with Beirong finally achieved decisive results, and Tiangeguan returned to the court with a price that both sides could barely accept.

The cost of gold and silver is not too much, three million taels of silver, 200,000 taels of gold, and a large number of porcelain, silk, brocade and other items. The officials of the Ministry of Households calculated and basically moved the treasury upright.

The bottom of the national treasury also indicated that Yuan Luo could only redeem the money of the northern people from his own small vault.

These days, seeing batches of gold and silver goods being packed, being transported, and finally disappearing at the end of the northern horizon, Yuan Luo only felt that his heart was bleeding.

Fortunately, the silver can still be earned, and the regaining of the Tiange Pass is of unparalleled significance to the peace of the entire dynasty. A peaceful environment can make money faster. In the past two years when Tiange Pass fell into Bei Rong's hands, the business route from the north to the western regions was depressed.

And Yuan Luo recently developed a new way of making money.

Wei Huang was holding a tea cup and a small saucer at the back, looking left and right, his face full of wonder.

Such a gaffe, only because this set of teapots and cups is so beautiful. She had never seen such a colorful tea set. I originally thought that the accumulation of large piles of color blocks would look vulgar, but I didn't expect it to be extremely vulgar, but there is a kind of extravagant beauty. The whole is glowing with a blue light, like a gemstone.

"This is called cloisonné. How about it, isn't it beautiful?" Yuan Luo picked up the tea cup and took a satisfied sip.

She had previously ordered the workshop in the palace to study glazed products, and wanted to make a fortune following the example of the predecessors. Unfortunately, after studying for several months, there was no decisive breakthrough in technology. Yuan Luo was anxious to spend the money, so she remembered the old craft of cloisonne, which is famous in history.

It happened that she had read cloisonné popular science articles in a magazine in her last life and still remembered the basic production process. With the right direction, the craftsmen in the workshop naturally became much easier to experiment, and a good finished product was presented in just two months.

Although it is incomparable with the perfect and delicate lines of later generations, it is already a historic masterpiece in this era.

Yuan Luo specially selected a set of the most exquisite, and showed it up when Wei Huang came to find her later to try the effect.

Nowadays, the popular tea sets and tableware all advocate elegant colors and smooth lines. Whatever rains over the sky, what clouds gather at twilight...all follow the literary and fresh route. Crimson sapphire blue has been denounced as a nouveau riche habit.

But Yuan Luo believes that beauty is common, and the key to those things that are denounced as cheesy is that they are not gorgeous enough. When I put the batch of tea sets on hand into the market, I promised to change the aesthetics of the upper class of Tianyu. Just look at the look of Queen Wei that she loves now.

Queen Wei looked at it many times, and finally put the teapot down. She glanced at Yuan Luo. This tea set is really similar in style to this woman, gorgeous and exquisite, yet hard in texture.

"Are you going to sell this thing for money?"

"Yes, the millions of taels of gold and silver sent to Beirong must be earned back as soon as possible." Yuan Luo said with a smile, and for the family of the family, this thing is also a big killer for making money.

"You are so short of money, I still have some money over there, you can use it first." Queen Wei pinched the belt of his clothes. Seeing Yuan Luo staring at her with scorching eyes, she looked out of the window embarrassedly, and added, "Remember that it was lent to you. Don't forget to give me an IOU."

Yuan Luo's heart warmed slightly: "Okay, when I make a fortune, I can even return the profits to you." Queen Wei's small vault also has a few hundred thousand taels.

"Don't worry too much." Queen Wei pursed her lips and said awkwardly.

"It's rare for you to have this thought, how about it be regarded as a share of investment in the business?" Yuan Luo suggested, showing the professional smile of future salesmen treating customers.

Without introducing a few words, Queen Wei discarded her helmet and armor. "Whatever you say is good, I don't understand it anyway."

Before leaving, she happily picked up the set of tea cups placed on the table, "Anyway, this will belong to me first." Three days later, at the palace banquet, she took out this thing to entertain the concubines and maternal wives. Have a face.

That afternoon, Wei Huang ordered the female officer to send her private money.

It was more than Yuan Luo expected, which was 360,000 taels. After a little inquiries, Yuan Luo knew that this little girl sold several farms and shops outside the palace, and collected the money before bringing it to herself. That was the powder shop that Webster gave her. They were all good business of Rijin Doujin. She sold her money so casually and gave her money. This trust is really moving! She looked arrogant on the surface, but actually she didn't even think about taking it back after it was sent. Yuan Luo felt a little sweet.

***

As the weather warmed up, another major event that Yuan Luo cared about, Chun Wei began.

In this imperial examination, Yuan Luo further improved the procedures with reference to the knowledge of later generations. Especially for the confidentiality of the examination questions, she specially drafted five sets. Choose one of them. The key questions are all made by her. , Was finalized at the last minute. The biggest change from previous years is that there are not only regular policy essays in the test paper, but also extra points.

The day before the exam entered, Cheng Wei took a few masters from Jin Linsi and got the test questions from Yuan Luo. Sent to the inner library for printing, and then sent to the examination room overnight.

Cheng Wei is also quite a literary person, otherwise he would not be promoted to deputy by Lian Yanqiu. Looking through the examination papers this time, he was still very confused.

The imperial concubine appended several additional examination questions at the back, covering various aspects of farmland water conservancy. It is indicated on the examination paper that these questions are not included in the total score and will not affect the ranking of the imperial examination. But based on these questions, some talents will be specially selected.

Yuan Luo really needs talents in this area very much, because according to the original book, there will be a severe drought in the beginning of spring this year. There will be no rain for a few months, followed by a severe locust plague, which swept over a dozen states and counties, gnawing up farmland. .

Moreover, this is just the beginning of Tianyu's natural and man-made disasters that have lasted for several years. The real killer was at the end of summer, when the Manchu civilization was still troubled by drought and locusts. At the end of summer, the expected rainstorm came.

Before the people had time to cheer for the relief of the drought, new disasters followed.

Because of continuous heavy rain, the Huanghe River burst its banks, flooding tens of thousands of hectares of fertile fields downstream. The dying people who were tortured by drought and locust plagues are even worse.

No hundreds of surnames left their homes and family members, formed refugees, and fled north. This flood lasted for two full years. As a result, several riots and chaos broke out in various places, which directly changed the political trends of Tianyu as a whole.

At that time, the war in the north was not over, the national finances were stretched, the disaster relief was weak, and the suppression of violence and chaos was not timely.

But it is very ironic that for Sikonglin and Yuan Luo in the original book, this series of natural disasters is actually a benefit.

Because the time of the outbreak of these famines happened to collide with the East Sea King's conspiracy.

The King of East China Sea originally relied on the powerful soldiers and strong financial resources of the country to advance all the way, occupying the capital and ascending the throne. But not long after he became the emperor, there was a mess all over the floor, and he was utterly disturbed.

The disasters that have lasted for several years have caused the people to say that it is precisely because of the East China Sea King’s conspiracy that these disasters were incurred. Some people even accused him of impure blood, which was caused by the previous generation of princesses and palace slaves. The more I took my place, the monkeys were crowned, that's why they angered the sky and brought down this series of natural and man-made disasters.

This kind of statement seems very funny to Yuan Luo, but it can't stand in the fertile soil of this era.

As the rumors spread, the popularity of the East China Sea King plummeted, and even the hundreds of officials in the court began to be affected by this statement, thinking that the East China Sea King was not righteous and unworthy of being an emperor.

So afterwards, Sikonglin's little court counterattacked from the west, so it could be so smooth. By chance, the flood came to an end after Si Konglin returned to the capital.

auzw.com Now that the East Sea King’s treason has been pushed back in advance by herself, and the East Sea King has also been killed. Without this back-hand man, the natural and man-made disasters of the next three years will have to be her own. Up. Yuan Luo didn't doubt that if the response to missteps turned into the prolonged natural and man-made calamities in the original book, there would definitely be enchanting concubines who would harm the country, leading to continuous disasters.

Therefore, Yuan Luo has deep hopes for this imperial examination.

After the examination, which lasted for several days, Wenhua Court urgently reviewed and got the results soon.

There are really a few things that can be made.

Scholars who can get to this point are not stupid. Although the additional questions at the end of the examination paper indicate that the additional questions are not counted, the imperial court has listed these questions, which must be meaningful.

So not only did everyone answer the additional questions at the back, but they also wrote very long eloquently.

Yuan Luo directly throws aside the flashy policy papers that show his writing and trace the origin of farmland water conservancy from the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, focusing on those that are practical.

There are really a few eye-catching articles, some from the perspective of the resettlement of the victims, some from the perspective of sanitation and epidemic prevention, and some from the aspects of the distribution process of disaster relief funds.

One of the most eye-catching articles analyzes the maintenance of the river course directly from the topography, geology and the water potential in the flood season. The most rare thing is that it even mentioned the protection and reinforcement of the trees and grass on both sides of the river embankment. Yuan Luo was amazed, this is a concept that will be mentioned by future generations of environmental protection.

The scholar's other achievements are also very outstanding, and several articles are well written.

Yuan Luo couldn't wait to turn out her name, and the moment she caught her eyes, she was dull for two seconds.

Shen Dongliu... really an acquaintance. This guy should still be a teacher in Gu Yi's house.

***

After Chunwei, Yuan Luo gave a banquet by the Qujiang Pool as usual.

Si Konglin also attended and presided over the opening ceremony with a polite manner, which was also the result of Yuan Luo's repeated training. Strive to portray the emperor's stupid but gentle and kind image in the eyes of everyone.

After drinking a glass of wine, the emperor left, and what was left was a banquet between the young scholars and many officials in attendance.

Yuan Luo went back to replace the imperial concubine's support, dressed in men's clothing, and mixed into the venue.

Walking in the corridor, he covered half of his face with a folding fan in his hand.

Looking out from the corridor, the gardens on both sides are filled with literati who toast and drink. Observing carefully, among the hundreds of scholars, they have vaguely divided into several factions.

Although he intervened in the exam questions this year, Yuan Luo did not interfere too much in the evaluation of the scores. In the end, most of the people admitted to the exam were from family members. These people greeted friends at the banquet, talked with the officials attending, and were familiar and enthusiastic.

A small number of children from poor backgrounds, most of them get together in groups, discussing the future, and most of them will be sent to the state and county to serve as civilian officials. If you are unlucky, you may waste more than ten years or even a lifetime.

Yuan Luo stood in a circle and quickly found his goal.

Shen Dongliu is standing under a big tree. He is holding a cup in his hand, frowning, and looking cute. He is ranked as the highest ranking scholar in this class, but he has no companions around him. It's bleak enough to think about it like this.

It's because of Yuan Luo that she became like this. Since Shen Dongliu's high school scouting for flowers, the old material between him and the original owner was quickly turned out and began to ferment. It was originally only a small thing that the noble class knew, but now even the poor students have heard of it. Fear the power of the imperial concubine and dare not openly discuss it.

As a result, Yuan Luo originally wanted to summon Shen Dongliu to talk about water governance issues, but now it is not easy to summon him alone.

While no one was paying attention, Yuan Luo approached Shen Dongliu and patted him on the shoulder.

"I think Xiongtai has been in a daze here, how about going for a drink as follows."

Shen Dongliu turned around, only treating it as an invitation from a fellow scholar, almost grateful, "Good, good!"

Yuan Luo wore a men's suit, and in order to conceal his identity, she also put on a moustache, and her brows and eyes were still bright.

Shen Dongliu was dull for a moment, always feeling that these eyes were a bit familiar.

Yuan Luo closed the folding fan and gave him a cordial smile.

Shen Dongliu yelled suddenly, then turned and ran...ran away...ran away...

Watching him disappear into the dense forest with Yiqi Juechen, Yuan Luo:...

As for the reaction so intense? She is so sincere.

This guy's extraordinary behavior caused a small spot of attention around him, and many people looked over here.

At the same time, there was a low voice, "Who is that? Why are you making so much noise at the palace banquet."

"It seems to be Shen Tanhua. I mean the one who ran past."

"Who is the other person?"

"Sneaky, very suspicious."

Upon seeing this, Yuan Luo quickly turned and walked down the corridor.

After leaving the banquet venue, I arrived at a side hall next to Qujiang Pond. Before entering the gate, I heard a shout from behind: "Stop!"

Yuan Luo turned around and looked around. It turned out that it was Gu Yi and several guards chasing after him. He is in charge of the security of the banquet. Just after receiving a notification, a person with a hidden head and face appeared at the banquet, so he stopped by and checked.

"Who are you?" Gu Yi approached and asked seriously.

Yuan Luo covered half of his face with a fan, staring at him with big bright eyes, looking innocent.

Gu Yi glanced at her again, quickly showing an expression of embarrassment, "Niang Niang..."

This recognizes it... Yuan Luo closed the fan boringly and tapped her palm, "No need to salute, this palace is a micro service."

Gu Yi's expression twitched when he bowed, especially after seeing the two moustaches on Yuan Luo's lips.