After opening the jar of wine, Xu Ping poured a small bowl for each of them and said to Cao Wei: "Taiwei, how about trying this wine?"

Cao Wei looked at the small bowl in front of him and said, "This bowl is exquisite, it's just too small! Who among the soldiers is patient with this small bowl!"

Zhao Zi hurriedly said: "This wine is too strong, and you can't use a big bowl. You are all using this kind of small bowl."

Several people drank the wine, Cao Wei savored it for a while, and said to Xu Ping: "Your wine is interesting!"

The five people drank a few more bowls, but Cao Wei refused to let Xu Ping pour it down and said, "All these are left. I have time to go find a few old friends to taste. It's not interesting to drink with you!"

Lin Wensi is a literati here, and everyone else is a junior. Cao Wei can't let go and feel very unhappy. He wants to cheer and drink with his old comrades to drink.

Xu Ping put away the remaining wine and handed it to Cao Wei's personal soldiers, and ordered people to come to the sorghum Daqu.

Cao Wei drank it and commented: "Actually, this wine is also excellent, but it's even worse than the previous one."

Zhao Zi followed and said: "For several months, the wine here has been getting better and better. It is no longer spicy and savory. The taste is mellow and thick, and the strength in the wine has not diminished."

This is because as time goes by, the wine can be aged for a period of time before selling. If the time is enough, the aged wine stored by Xu Ping will be even better after three years.

It was noon that several people drank a bottle of white wine and felt a little drunk.

Cao Wei and Zhao Zi were fine. They both had just aroused the enthusiasm of drinking, but Xu Ping was so drunk that Sang Yi had the same alcohol capacity as him. Lin Wensi had the smallest alcohol capacity and had stopped drinking for a long time, but just used tea instead of wine.

At this moment, the personal soldiers and Shi Yannian rushed over from the capital.

After seeing the ritual at the "Drunk Pavilion", Cao Wei smiled and said, "I heard about the famous name of Manqing for a long time, and I have both poetry and wine. Today I have time to have time, so let's get drunk together!"

Shi Yannian said a few polite words, sat down, and everyone continued to drink.

After drinking two more drinks, Xu Ping couldn't stay with him anymore and said to several people: "I'm just recovering from a serious illness. I can't drink too much, so I can't accompany you. Just have fun!"

Cao Wei was about to stay, Shi Yannian said: "My little master suffered that disaster a few days ago. He was very ill. If you can't drink, don't force it."

Everyone had no choice but to sit by Xu Ping.

After a while, Xu Ping saw that several people had eaten a lot of wine and meat, and could not put them down, so he said, "I'll come when I go."

When I arrived at the wine shop, I served two large plates of peanuts, one soaked in vinegar, and one fried in oil. I also made a shallot and tofu and a cold egg and served them together. These were all made by Xu Ping in the wine shop according to his memory. Unfortunately, he was born at the wrong time and did not meet the taste of the people here. Those who came to drink with poor laborers all wanted to eat some meat and other oils and water in their stomachs. They pretended to be elegant and thought these things were rough and not sold well.

He brought it to the pavilion, everyone took a few bites and said together, "This is good, just for drinking! With such a good thing, why don't the little master come in the morning?"

Xu Ping just smiled bitterly. He brought it up early in the morning, but I’m afraid you can’t eat it either. This thing is used to grind your teeth after you have oil and water in your stomach. If you keep eating it, you will feel tired.

Today, the wine was drunk until the sun was drooping, and Cao Wei, Zhao Zi and Shi Yannian went back with a group of personal soldiers.

In addition to the less than two jars of wine, Xu Ping also made several jars of sorghum rosy and asked several people to take them back. Shi Yannian was afraid of being banned from drinking, and he never dared to bring them too much. Every time he was just a gourd, Cao Wei was a high-ranking master, and he would be hugged in front of entering and leaving the city gate. Who dared to check him! With this glory, Shi Yannian brought a large jar back to enjoy it.

Although Xu Ping refused to accept the money no matter how much he said, Cao Wei still threw a large invoice of silver to him. After all, he was a big shot who had been a great man who signed a letter to the Privy Council after the Jiedushi. How could he make such a small advantage?

Seeing Cao Wei and his party leaving in a mighty manner, Sang Yi sighed: "A real man can be like Grand Marshal Cao, which is worthy of his life!"

Xu Pingqi said: "Since a scholar has such ambition, he should give up his pen and join the army. With the talent of a scholar, it is not necessarily difficult to rise to the top in the army."

Sang Yi sighed: "You are not as good as the gold list. You can't be as good as the military. You can't be as good as the martial arts. You are talking about people like Shi Manqing and me!"

Xu Ping was silent.

The Song Dynasty implemented the recruitment system, and there was always only one word for the army, giving money. Money was given to the war, money was given to victory, and money was given to defeat. The emperor had to pay for his birthday, money was given to his marriage, and money was given to his children. Money was given to the state's wedding, and money was given to the funeral. This word for money was given to the soldiers, and also gave to the impression that warriors were despised.

Yue Fei has a famous saying: Civil officials do not love money, military officials do not hesitate to die, and the world will be peaceful. This sentence is often used too much, but in fact it is just the basic policy of the Song Dynasty. When civil officials treat them with etiquette, civil officials should accept their loyalty and regard money as dirt. When military officials do not use etiquette, they should win over money. When they get money, they should do things. Don’t be greedy for life and fear death when they are used. Therefore, corruption is a serious crime for civil officials, and military officials are just a trivial matter.

However, historical facts have proved that when the government is in chaos, neither of these two can be done.

At this time, people's hearts are greedy for money. Is it brave to fight for promotion or to get more money. This concept has been passed down from the Five Dynasties and is almost deeply rooted.

When a literati abandoned his pen and joined the army, everything else was a trivial matter. Only a gentleman was willing to join the villain. For many scholars who cherished their reputation, it was impossible to make a turn. Song Taizu once said that he wanted to let all the military officials in the world read. Reading was not about reading words and writing, but about knowing etiquette and righteousness, so that the army could climb out of the quagmire corrupted by money. However, it eventually became an empty word. In the end, the civil officials cherished their reputation and generals loved money, and the general direction did not change.

Shi Yannian started his career as a Jinshi, but he was in the ranks of military officials and was engaged in the work of civil officials. This is a typical example of the fact that civil officials could not succeed in martial arts. The low official position and the meager salary were secondly. The disgraceful halo of the military officials truly depressed the will of those who promised their own poetry and books.

Although Xu Ping also understood this era, he still could not deeply feel the characteristics of this era. The Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system, but was deeply influenced by the troubled times of the Five Dynasties. This influence was not only an impact on the rulers when formulating policies, but also deeply penetrated into all aspects of society.

People like Sang Yi and Shi Yannian, who both read poetry and books and wanted to win a formal background in a Jinshi, and also used swords and knights to promise themselves with their own will. This is a personality that was torn apart by the legacy of the Five Dynasties and the reality of the times. Xu Ping would encounter this type of person later, which made him understand the huge difference between this era and books.

During the Five Dynasties, literati often changed from literature to martial arts, traveled to the countryside, and offered advice to the rulers in hopes of being valued. The time came, even raised troops and gathered to compete for the world. This legacy still existed in the early Song Dynasty. If scholars were not recruited by the rulers, they would often travel around, call on friends and become the key concerns of the rulers.

The improvement and prevalence of the imperial examination system is closely related to this background. The earliest purpose was to recruit these people from the people into the court. Therefore, it was extremely common for Song Taizu to win the title of the top scholar by fighting for the ranks, and it cannot be said that he looked down on the imperial examination and literati. With the development of society, the purpose and means of the imperial examination have been changed, but at least it has not been reversed in the Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore, in "Water Margin", there was a failed candidate Wang Lun. The failed candidate often became the leader of rebellion in the Song Dynasty. The imperial examination at this time was very different from the later purpose of strengthening the ritual order of the ruling class. The process of the imperial examination was very different from that of later generations. It was a natural meaning.
Chapter completed!