Suo Qing stroked his beard and smiled slightly, "Does the county magistrate know about the imperial court sending envoys to Dunhuang?"

Li Jin was stunned. He really didn't know what the court sent envoys to Dunhuang for?

Seeing his doubts, Suo Qing smiled and said, "The messenger came for the Dayun Maitreya statue. I heard that the Holy Emperor attached great importance to this great statue and sent his confidant to participate in the construction. People will arrive in the next few days. This is a major event in Dunhuang!"

Li Jin was stunned, "Didn't he say that the statue of Maitreya will not be built in Dunhuang?"

Li Jin immediately realized that he had missed his words. How did he know that the statue of Maitreya was not built in Dunhuang? Isn’t this equivalent to telling Suo Qing that there were people in his court?

Suo Qing pretended not to understand and smiled and said, "I haven't heard that Dunhuang is not built. Anyway, I received a letter from the King of Wei. The emperor sent a confidant. The King of Wei did not say clearly who the person was sent. Anyway, the person was coming, and the preparations for the great statue should be started as soon as possible, but I hope this time the Suo family will complete it."

Suo Qing certainly knew that this time, Maitreya statue was an excellent opportunity to advance, far exceeding the so-called Martial Arts Examination.

If he could get the creation of the statue of Maitreya and please the emperor, then Wu Chengsi would say to the emperor again, that this is the loyalty of the Dunhuang Suo family, which will be of great benefit to the future of the Suo family. In any case, he must not let this opportunity go.

He originally wanted to promise the Li family other benefits, but Li Jin asked Yu Suo family for help. So Qing decided to take this opportunity to get the Li family out of the construction of the Maitreya statue.

Li Jin understood that this was the condition of the Suo family. Suo Zhiping helped him stop Li Zhen from participating in the quota competition. The statue of the Dayun Maitreya was exclusive to the Suo family, but... this condition is a bit too high.

He pondered for a moment and said, "But the Zhang family and the Zheng family may also participate in the construction of the Maitreya statue."

"The Zhang family has made it clear that they will not participate this time. As for the Zheng family, I will talk to Zheng Lin."

Suo Qing's eyes narrowed, and the implication was that your Li family was left. Li Jin pondered for a moment.

Although such matters should be discussed and decided by the family elders' meeting, time is tight. In order to get the last place to Beijing and get Wang Xiaojie's recommendation letter, he finally decided to make concessions.

.........

Just as Li Jin and Suo Qing reached the exchange conditions, the deputy army envoy Zhang Ting also sat in the back garden of his mansion and looked at his son Zhang Li riding a horse and shooting arrows.

Zhang Li is Zhang Ting's second son, and he is twenty years old this year. He looks very much like his father, tall, square face, and handsome. The Zhang family has been martial arts for generations, and Zhang Li has been receiving systematic training at the age of six.

The innate martial arts foundation and acquired hard training made him the best among young children in Dunhuang. Without Li Zhen, a magical commoner, he would definitely be the number one in Shazhou.

Zhang Li is not a bachelor of the state. He is actually a team leader of Dou Lu Jun, but he has also studied in the state. This time he participated in the martial arts examination as a bachelor of the state.

He is bound to win three places to enter Beijing. If he can pass the exam in Beijing, he can be promoted from the team to the captain.

Although his father was the deputy military envoy, if he wanted to be promoted to lieutenant, he had to be appointed by the Ministry of War. The military promotion system was very strict, and his father had no choice.

Zhang Li kept urging his war horses to gallop, and fired his bows from left to right, shooting arrows at the target fifty steps away.

Although it was night, a lantern was hung above the target, so it was clear that if it was daytime, he could ride and shoot at eighty steps.

Zhang Ting next to him was meditating and silent. He witnessed Li Zhen's riding and shooting with his own eyes today. The instant double shooting, the magical skills in the middle of the arrow were much more skillful than his son. Although his son ranks second, he was actually too far behind Li Zhen.

But it was a conversation between him and Wang Xiaojie today, and Wang Xiaojie obviously knew that the list was decided.

So he finally changed his mind, what does it mean to write a letter of recommendation only when meeting his requirements? Who knows what his requirements are?

To put it bluntly, Wang Xiaojie just didn't plan to write a recommendation letter. There was a reason to think about it. He had seen Li Zhen's riding and shooting, and then let him see other people's riding and shooting, so he would not be able to see him. Perhaps his request was the same level as Li Zhen.

Now Zhang Ting is in a dilemma. Should he tell Suo Zhiping about this or pretend to be deaf and dumb, pretending not to know anything.

In fact, the four major families in Shazhou are not a monolithic, but are in secret internal struggles. For example, there is a Doulu Army stationed in Shazhou, and the public security in Shazhou has always been under the Doulu Army, and Sima of Shazhou only holds a false position.

But three years ago, the Suo family left the relationship with the most powerful minister, Wu Chengsi, and Suo Zhiping became the Sima of Shazhou. He actually formed local prefecture soldiers according to the system of the Central Plains.

Suo Zhiping took over the security power of Dunhuang and Shouchang counties, turning it into local prefectures to manage public security within the city, and Doulu military controls external defense.

This is the system of the Central Plains, but this is the border of Shazhou. The governor also serves as the military envoy of Doulu Army. Even if Zhang Ting cannot serve as Sima of Shazhou, at least Sima's real power belongs to him, this is a convention.

Now that the Suo family has taken away his Sima Shi power, Zhang Ting can be happy.

Everyone knows that the secret disagreement between the Zhang family and the Suo family lies in this. It’s just that everyone can live a good life in terms of face. They are all villagers, so there is no need to tear their faces apart.

This time, everyone took the three places to go to Beijing. Zhang Ting took away one, and the So family took away one. As for the third place, it had nothing to do with him, Zhang Ting, so the So family and the Li family would discuss it themselves.

Thinking of the Suo family's infringement of his own interests, Zhang Ting finally made a decision. Wang Xiaojie valued Li Zhen's affairs and pretended to be deaf and dumb. As for the recommendation letter, he knew nothing.

...........

Every winter and spring, the prefectures and counties in the Tang Dynasty should select scholars from official schools or private schools, conduct preliminary examinations, and elect outstanding people to the Shangshu Province for examination, which is called Township Tribute.

If the local recommendation is inappropriate, not only will the person who was wrongly elected cannot be given the exam, but even all his fellow villagers will be implicated and deprived of the examination qualification. If there is serious fraud, it will even be implicated to the local government.

The same is true for Wuju. Each state recommends Wuju Township Tribute to the capital to take the Ministry of War exam every year. The quota is more or less. Shazhou has a small population, with only two counties in Dunhuang and Shouchang, so it only receives three quotas in township tribute every year.

The Wuju Provincial Examination is in the third year in Shazhou. Because there are too few places to go to Beijing, they are basically all set. Of course, the people they recommend are also children with skilled archery and good martial arts skills. They are not recommended as Li Zhen said, "After all, I will be implicated by the local governments when I go to Beijing to get ugly."

The martial arts spirit in Shazhou is extremely popular. This time, more than 600 people participated in the provincial military examination. Some children who studied literature are also practicing martial arts. These are scholars who studied martial arts in the state.

There were not many scholars from the state who participated in the provincial military examination, less than a hundred people, and the remaining 500 people came from six martial arts schools in Dunhuang County and Shouchang County.

The martial arts provincial examination test is a total of four exams: weightlifting, routine shooting, step shooting and riding shooting. Generally, if you pass the first three items, you will be considered qualified.

With this, you can obtain the qualifications of the local government to obtain the qualifications of the local martial arts, and with this qualifications of the martial arts, you can find a good job, which is also the purpose of most candidates.

For example, you can go to the prefecture and county corps as officials, you can go to guard the caravans, and if you have any connections, you can even join the Doulu army and become a low-level officer.

But if you want to go to Beijing to participate in the Ministry of War, you have to rely on cavalry and shooting to fight for it. In fact, almost all those who participated in the final cavalry and shooting to compete for the quota in Beijing were from state scholars.

Weightlifting and shooting skills have been tested before. Today is the test of step shooting and riding and shooting. The steps shooting are divided into three test rooms, while riding and shooting are held in the Dunhuang University Fields.

The east sky just turned white, the morning light was blue, and a crescent moon hung in the sky, but the streets were already lively, and young men wearing warrior uniforms and arrows on their backs could be seen everywhere.

Li Zhen rode a horse to the East School Field. Kang Sisi did not come with him today. She was an audience member and would not appear until the archery exam.

The entrance of the East School Field was crowded with registered candidates. Li Zhenzheng looked around, but heard someone shouting behind him: "Old Li, here! Here!"

When Li Zhen turned around, he saw an obese boy standing in a corner waving to him.

Li Zhen was overjoyed and hurriedly led the horse over, "Old Fat, have you registered?"

"Not yet! No hurry, it's useless to register early."

Fatty is Li Zhen’s best friend, named Jiuzhi. Everyone calls him Fatty Jiu, and his father is a famous butcher in Dunhuang.

Fatty and Li Zhen were the same age as Li Zhen. They grew up together. He was cheerful and funny. Master Wangchen also liked him quite a lot. He accepted him as a registered disciple and asked him to study and practice martial arts with Li Zhen.

The fat man did not read well in his books and his martial arts were ordinary, but he also had a unique skill, that is, he was powerful in flying swords, and he could hit every shot within thirty steps.

The fat man's younger brother Jiuping also came with his brother. He was Li Zhen's admirer and quickly took the reins of the white horse with diligent attention, "Brother Zhen, I'll watch the horse for you."

"Thank you!"

Only then did Li Zhen realize that the fat man was still holding the small skinny donkey he usually rode, and he couldn't help but ask strangely: "Old fat, let's take the test to ride and shoot later, what are you riding?"

The fat man scratched his head and said in distress: "I went to the mule and horse store to rent horses yesterday. I was one step late and all the horses were rented out, so..."

When Li Zhen saw Jiuping blinking at him, he immediately understood, so he patted the fat man on the shoulder and smiled: "It doesn't matter. If you are allowed to take the flying knife exam, you will be the quota for Beijing."

"That's! That's it! Alas, there's no way, I can't rent a horse, so I have to give up riding and cumming. I don't know how Sisi should laugh at me."

Jiuping next to him couldn't help but cover his mouth and laughed secretly. The fat man felt something, turned his head and glared at him fiercely, "Why are you laughing? Is your brother the kind of person who retreats in the face of trouble?"

Li Zhen couldn't help laughing, "Your brother never retreats at the last minute, he's just a little fat, of course he'll be a little slower than others. Everyone else is killed, he hasn't arrived yet, old fat, right?"

Jiu Zhi smiled and narrowed his eyes, feeling that "the parents who gave birth to me, and the one who knew me Lao Li."
Chapter completed!