The dragon roars and tigers roar in the imperial state, which was the highest peak in the southeast. The green mountains are around us, and the Yellow River flows with the city. The smoke of cooking fires passes through chaos, and people return to the city, and the guests lean on the building with wine. How many heroes talk and laugh, and the sunset floats on the head of the tree.

After several days of running around, on the eighth day of August, Li Ling and his team finally arrived at Huaibei Provincial Town and in front of Xuzhou City.

The provincial capital Xuzhou has always been known as the thoroughfare of five provinces. From this, you can go east to north to Shandong, capital, west to western Jin, Sanqin, and the Grand Canal passes through the city. With its geographical convenience, no prefectures in the two Huai Rivers can go beyond the right ones.

Because of this, Xuzhou has been a place where military strategists have fought for since ancient times. Over the past thousand years, countless battles have occurred here, either heroic or arduous. After a thousand years, there will still be larger-scale and more important wars.

It is precisely because Xuzhou has such a convenient geographical environment that after its founding, Dayue regarded this place as the provincial capital of Huaibei. This city not only became a military rank, but also became the economic, cultural and political center of the two Huaihe Rivers. Especially when the governor's office of the two Huai Rivers also settled here, Xuzhou City became more and more important.

It is still more than ten miles away from the city. Li Ling on the carriage can clearly feel the majestic spirit of this important city in Lianghuai. The huge city wall towering above the plain is entrenched on the open Huaibei Plain like a legendary ancient giant god, guarding this common people's waters and lands, making people feel awe.

Li Moyun on the shaft seemed to be moved by the spirit of the city, which significantly slowed down the speed of the carriage. Finally, he couldn't help but sigh softly: "This Xuzhou City is so tall and too big..."

"Of course, this place is my Huaibei provincial capital, and there is also the governor's yamen stationed here. The size of the city is naturally not comparable to that of a small county town like Jiangcheng or Jiangbei. It is said that there are now 120,000 households in the city and a population of 500,000, which is almost half of the capital." Li Ling became calm again at this time and introduced to the other party with a smile.

These words made Li Moyun exclaim and sigh again: "Five hundred thousand people, our Jiangcheng is less than 100,000 people."

"That's why it's the reputation of being the first city in the two Huaihe Rivers." Li Ling just smiled slightly. A 500,000 population is really a piece of cake for him. In the future, any county-level city has a population of more than one million. Compared with that, Xuzhou is really a small place, and the quaint and towering city walls make people look a little grand.

"Don't just be amazed, hurry up and hurry up. We're all away from the others." Li Ling said and patted the carriage again. Li Moyun then realized, laughed, shook the reins, controlled the horse to move forward at a faster speed, and chased the carriages and horses ahead.

This time, the candidates from Jiangcheng County came together in groups, with dozens of carriages and hundreds of people gathering together to rush on the road. It was really huge and eye-catching. When they arrived in front of the city gate, the team was particularly concerned by the soldiers guarding the city, and someone immediately stepped forward to ask.

After knowing that they were local students who came to take the provincial examination, they had only seen their wooden signs and respectfully welcomed them into the city.

The provincial examination is imminent, and now Xuzhou City is full of literary atmosphere. The officials and the officials also regard assisting candidates in the smooth examination as their top priority. Naturally, there will be no difficulties left at the city gate. They also specially sent someone to visit the inn that suits their wishes in the city.

Xuzhou's economy is far beyond the reach of Hengzhou Prefecture City. As soon as he passed through the city gate, Li Ling saw a wide street covered with bluestone slabs extending forward, almost without a glance. In addition to the straight path that can accommodate five or six carriages, dozens of various shops are opened on both sides, which is so prosperous and bustling that many candidates who have never seen the world are dazzled after just looking at it for a while, and they don't know what to pay attention to.

Li Ling was naturally calm and focused on scanning the signboards of those stores. He found that the taste of the shops here is indeed much better than that of prefectures and counties. It is no longer the same standard naming method of a certain store, but is full of variety, with both gimmicks and cultural heritage.

Take the restaurant for example. In addition to Taibai, Zuixian Second Floor, which looks like a chain store, he also saw impressive restaurants such as Pinxiang Pavilion, Zhongding Tower, etc. As for the inns they are most eager to find now, there are more varieties here.

"Dear scholars, the Wenkuiju, the best inn in Xuzhou City is the Wenkuiju. Many candidates who come to participate in this provincial examination like to stay here. The environment here is quiet, and there are also friends who specially arrange all related matters for the candidates, so that you can easily go to the examination room without any trouble." The gangster who was responsible for leading everyone into the city smiled and added another sentence, "It's just that the cost here is a little more expensive. The daily room cost is about seven taels, and there are other miscellaneous expenses, which are about fifteen taels."

Although the high price is not considered a problem of merchants being poor, after hearing this, more than 80% of the candidates still shook their heads like a rattle and did not dare to move in. They may have little wealth, but they dare not waste it like this. Not every candidate is a family of aristocratic families, so there is no need to worry about money.

Of course, some people decided to move into Wenkuiju. Soon after the team, which was originally quite neat, was divided into different places.

Although Li Ling had a lot of money, he didn't want to be such a sucker, so he continued to move forward with the brigade. Soon, they came to another inn that is quite large: "Dear scholars, this is also a famous inn residence in my Xuzhou city, called Zheguiyuan. Although it is not as thoughtful as Wenkuiju's service, it is better than spacious and quiet, and the price is fair. You only need five taels a day to move in. If you can pay ten taels of silver, there will be a small cross-yard with a unique courtyard, so you won't have to be disturbed by others."

With Wenkui's high price comparison, the lower price of Zhegui Garden is naturally even more tempting. Even Li Ling pondered for a moment and asked, "What about the next inn environment?"

"The next step is Xue Family Inn. Although the guest rooms are spacious enough, there are many residents in all kinds of religions and all kinds of places. I'm afraid it's not as quiet as these two places. Dear scholars, they all want to show off their skills in the provincial examinations, and they can't be disturbed by outsiders, do you think so?"

This really caused everyone to nod. Li Ling also looked at Xu Cang, who was a little worried about the side of the side, and said, "Then let's go in first. If it's appropriate, I will have a room to move in across the courtyard."

With him starting, others followed suit, and at once more than 20 people were interested in moving in the Zhegui Garden. Those idle groups could obviously get benefits from it, and they immediately cheered up and entered happily to negotiate arrangements. Soon a friend came out to welcome the guests.

The price here is indeed as the gang said, slightly lower than that of Wenkuiju, and there are still several cross-yards. Li Ling did not hesitate at the moment, quickly asked for one cross-yard and called on Xu Cang to move in with him.

This made Xu Cang a little embarrassed: "Brother Li, I..."

"Brother Xu, friends have the right to be rich. Since I am more affordable, it is worth helping you. Don't you regard me as a friend, so you want to stay somewhere else?" Li Ling said with a smile.

He said this, so Xu Cang certainly couldn't refuse any more, so he immediately thanked him. Anyway, he really owed Li Ling a lot, and he didn't care about this more.

At the same time, Fang Zigui also chose to check in here. Seeing Li Ling chose to cross the courtyard again, he came forward and joked: "Brother Li is indeed extraordinary. Wherever he goes, he stays in the best guest rooms."

"Haha, I'm really more people here, so it's more suitable for private rooms to cross the courtyard. By the way, we can exchange more experiences in the next few days. In another five or six days, we will be the provincial examination, so we have to hurry up."

"It's easy to say."

When I heard their conversation, the shopkeeper who was still writing and drawing on the account book suddenly smiled and said, "It's time for all scholars to come. Tomorrow morning, my store will invite great scholar Zhang Hefeng to give lectures in my Zhegui Hall. If you are interested, you can listen. This will be of great benefit to your next provincial examination and imperial examination."

"If you have such a thing, you have to see it." Li Ling smiled and nodded.

In Wei and Liang, he also heard that in large places like the provincial capital, capital, there would be some senior scholars who would give lectures during the imperial examination, teaching students the experience of the classics, or the experience during the imperial examination. Often, such literary events would attract many scholars and candidates to participate, but the local area of ​​Hengzhou Prefecture rarely had such a prosperous era because of the unrest of Wenchang.

Unexpectedly, he had such an opportunity when he arrived in Xuzhou this time, Li Ling was naturally very interested. After asking people about the specific time and location of the Zhegui Hall, he made up his mind to attend.

In fact, it is not just him, but even Xu Cang and others yearn for it. Since they have all stayed in the inn, they cannot miss such a grand event.

As Li Ling and his team moved in, the teams that had been traveling from the county town became sparse. Those people's families were not in good condition and could only go to a worse inn. Many people had envy and disappointment in their eyes.

Only two guys quickly separated from the team after this, turned to a corner, and whispered:

"There is no chance along the way. The guy around Li Ling is extremely alert and it is really hard to deal with."

"Yes, now he is staying in the inn again. Zhegui Garden has always been closely guarded, so it is even harder for us to do it. What should we do?"

"It's better to wait a moment, and wait until he finishes the provincial examination, and we will look for an opportunity to start when we go back? After all, there were dozens of people together when they came, but it may not be possible to go back. As long as he is allowed to leave the order, it is a good time for us to start."
Chapter completed!