"Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-

When Li Ling curiously asked why Zhou Ji was so in a hurry, a drum sounded echoed over the entire Luoyang City. Although each drum sound was separated for a while and there was no urge to force him to be impatient, the footsteps of pedestrians on the street unconsciously accelerated the drum sound, and Zhou Ji even shook the reins and kept shouting, urging the horse to leave quickly.

"Lao Zhou, what is the reason for this drum sound?" Li Tong also asked curiously.

"This is the sound of the drums in the four cities in the city. After three hundred drums, all the markets in the four sides will be closed. Those who stay in it will not be able to come out, and may be taken down by the officers and soldiers who are patrolling the night. "

"Then why do you guys go so fast? We are not in the market."

"Because after the Guard in Guanshi, the Guard in Guanfang was heard. It was three hundred times, and then each yard would close the gates. Those who stayed outside would be arrested by the night patrol officers and soldiers. The minor ones would be fined, and the serious ones would suffer."

Li Ling and the others then showed a look of silence. So that's it. No wonder everyone was in a hurry to travel, but they were grabbing the time. However, he was still a little puzzled: "This Luoyang is our capital of Dayue. I remember that there was no curfew in Song and Bianliang in advance. Why did we get another curfew when we arrived at Dayue?"

"This is not a curfew. As long as you are inside each yard, you can walk freely at night. However, you are not allowed to walk at night outside the yard gate. Now there are many restaurants and tile houses in each yard, and other places to play, so the night life of people in the city is quite rich."

Li Ling nodded. It seems that the government made such arrangements for public security considerations. Indeed, if more than one million soldiers and civilians were divided into more than one hundred areas like this, something really happened. The government would also allocate personnel nearby to deal with it, and it would not spread the chaos to other areas.

Amid the sound of drums, the speed of the carriages continued to accelerate, passing by the people, and then galloped over several open imperial roads. Soon they entered the inner city from the outer city, and then rushed from the south to the east of the city.

When the sun was only half still hanging in the sky in the west, the sky was getting darker, and there were fewer pedestrians on the road, and the drums were still echoing, their carriage finally stopped in front of a house deep in the alley. Zhou Ji stopped quickly and dismounted and rushed to Li Ling, who was looking at the house in front of him, and said, "Mr. Li, this is the place we have arranged for you. Originally, there were two or three places in the city that were larger, but most of them were in the outer city and the west of the city. There were many merchants and poor people there, and there were fish and dragons mixed up. Only the house here was the quietest, so that you could live here to prepare for the exam."

"Old Zhou, you are too modest. Such a good house and such a good location. If I don't think it's enough, I really don't know where to live." Li Ling smiled.

Indeed, the house in front of me is located in Changye Lane in the middle of Xiurenfang. There are quiet and large houses on both sides. They occupy a lot of land, and they have as many as three inches. The door-side door alone is twice as big as Li Ling’s newly bought house in Jiangcheng County. Thinking about it, this place is Luoyang, the capital, and I am afraid the value of this house is dozens or hundreds of times that of his own.

Yue'er looked at the door and the snow-white walls with surprise on her face, and couldn't help but say, "Brother, can we live here?"

"Yes, we have settled here for the first time during this period. This is a pity that countless candidates who come to Beijing to take the exam like me." Li Ling replied with a smile, then got up and left the carriage, "Let's go in first."

For ordinary candidates, they have worked hard to come to Beijing to participate in the imperial examination. Even if you are already well-known in the local area, you have to be careful when you really get to this Luoyang City where you are crouching tigers and hidden dragons. As for finding a place that suits you, it is even more difficult.

Most of them can only stay in some medium and low-end inns, and only those who are related can live in inns specially prepared for officials entering Beijing. Of course, some people who are really rich will choose to live in those luxurious inns with extremely high prices, or simply rent a house to live in, but the expenses are too high, even if they have a fortune, they can't afford to rent at least a hundred taels of silver per month.

The living conditions of these people are obviously not as good as those of Li Ling's courtyard. The Inn is naturally crowded and quiet. As for renting a house to live in, they are usually in the outer city. How can they compare with the courtyards in the inner city?

Originally, Li Ling planned to spend a lot of money to live better, but he didn't expect that making friends with the Cao Gang would easily get such benefits. However, he did not feel flattered or uneasy at all, so he asked Lao Zhou to go up and call the door, and then followed him into the courtyard.

Naturally, someone should take care of the huge yard on a daily basis. After Lao Zhou came in and greeted him, more than a dozen men, women and maids came out to greet him. Some of them did miscellaneous work and some worked in the kitchen. They all looked very honest and did not look like people from the Cao Gang at all.

"Mr. Li, they are all families of our Cao Gang's children or servants who are well-known in the city. If you have any questions here, just leave them to do it. There is no problem." Zhou Ji said, looking at these people again, "Mr. Li will stay here during this period. He is our young master's good friend, just like the young master. You must do your work seriously in the future. If something goes wrong, you will be severely punished!"

After a few words, the more than ten people became more and more restrained and respectful, and they all came forward to pay homage to Li Ling and the others, saying that they were young and young. Li Ling smiled and met them one by one. After asking about their title, he temporarily accepted the house.

Seeing that Li Ling had no problem, Lao Zhou smiled again and said, "Since the young master has settled here, I have finished all the errands. I have to go to several other industries in the city, so I will say goodbye first. In two days, I will come to visit the young master."

"Do you have other industries in Luoyang?" Li Ling asked curiously.

"Of course, although our Cao Gang uses the canal transportation as the foundation, it also does other industries on weekdays. You don't believe it. We have a bookstore in Luoyang, which is in Xiurenfang. However, it was used by a customer to pay off the debt. We were not doing well and we were about to close. We can only use the house deeds and land deeds to make a fuss."

"Oh?" Li Ling's heart moved, and he became a little interested. "When can I go and have a look."

"Welcome at any time." Lao Zhou said, and remembered another point, "By the way, Mr. Li, there is a Guihaiju in Huaidefang next to Xiurenfang. If you have free time, you can go and take a look before the exam."

"Hmm? Is there any benefit there?" Li Ling said curiously. The other party even mentioned that he wanted to go and take a look before the exam. Could it be that he could buy test questions there?

"Now Guihaiju is the most famous restaurant in Luoyang City. The wine and food inside are the most expensive. There are three or five kinds of wine and food there to reach a large table in the restaurants elsewhere. But on weekdays, business is still booming, and many scholars, masters and nobles like to go there.

"Because there is a roster there, specially designed for eloquent and knowledgeable scholars, there is a monthly debate topic. As long as you can speak wonderfully and beautifully, you can not only avoid all the expenses of drinking and food, but also become famous in Luoyang, and even enter the eyes of some noble people. From then on, you will rise to the top in the officialdom."

"There are such benefits?" Li Ling blinked in interest.

"It is said that the boss of Guihaiju is an extremely noble figure in the court, who can hand over the words to His Majesty. Young Master, in addition to exams, this imperial examination is actually more popular. If you can really get the appreciation of some great figures, you will have a greater chance of taking the palace and high school in the future."

Li Ling nodded in agreement. Indeed, when he arrived in the capital and took the exam, the candidates would no longer compete with their simple reading skills. After all, there were only so many of the Four Books and Five Classics. Everyone was smart, and their articles were all tempered through exams, and no one was worse than anyone else. At this time, the comparison was luck, fame and other talents.

In this way, some off-market competitions are more valued than games in the exam. This is why some people who fail to win the exam today would rather stay in the capital for three years and just wait for the exam. Some people would come to Luoyang a year earlier, just to seek a chance to become famous.

Speaking of which, in the Tang and Song dynasties, when the imperial examinations were not too strict, there were even candidates who specialized in the path of high-ranking officials, treating books, poetry, etc. as road-questioning stones, and also in high school because of this. Although the strict imperial examination system implemented by Dayue has almost cut off the relevant evil paths, there is still a gap left after all. As long as the examinations are hosted by people, there will always be flaws.

After explaining everything, Zhou Ji officially said goodbye and left. At this time, Yue'er, who was wandering around the yard, had no idea how many times he sighed: "This yard is so big and there is a garden... Brother, will we really live here in the future?"

"Yes, let's live here. In the future, we will have a big house that truly belongs to us, which will be bigger and more beautiful than this." Li Ling smiled and touched his sister's head, and then felt a sense of gratitude in his heart.

Speaking of the journey of the imperial examination, I have never suffered much. From the home court of the county examination to the government examination, there are still thousands of families. Even the provincial examination, even the provincial examination, the wife was mediocre because she relied on Mr. Zhang Ru. I thought that it would be a little trouble to come to Luoyang this time, but I didn’t expect that after a chaos, I got the help of the Cao Gang. There was no worries about the subsequent examination, at least I didn’t have to worry about food, accommodation and other things.
Chapter completed!