Chapter 23: Provincial Examination

  "It is said that Tan Zu'an's third son, only 16 years old, is a rare talent. This year, he wrote 'On Encouraging Learning' and received praise from the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, making his name known throughout Hunan and Hubei. Although he is young and rarely appears in public, he, along with Chen Sanli, son of Chen Baozhen, Governor of Hunan, and Tan Sitong, son of Tan Jixun, Governor of Hubei, are known as the 'Three Young Masters of Hunan and Hubei' due to their birth into official families and scholarly households, and their ambitions for success... He somehow managed to get this difficult-to-obtain equipment from the Germans in Fuzhou. This smokeless gunpowder is just one part; there's also equipment for producing rifles and handguns, said to be the most advanced weapons in the world today. Tan Zu'an purchased two sets, one of which will go to Beiyang, while the other will be sent to Zhang Zhidong, but priority will be given to Beiyang... The Hubei side will have to wait..." Tang Bowen said.

  "That 'Exhortation to Study' I've read carefully, it's a rare masterpiece, obviously written to promote Western affairs...... Tan Wenqing himself doesn't deal with Western affairs, but lets his son write such an article, just to avoid offending Weng Tonghe. But if Weng Tonghe knew that the third son of the Tan family had sent me German machines, I wonder what he would think?" Li Hongzhang said with a somewhat relieved smile.

  "The friends of the tent also loved Tan Zu'an's 'Strong Learning Digest' and it was said that it sold well on the streets of Tianjin. However, my nephew still wanted to ask his uncle to release more copies and order a dozen or so more, for the reference of our friends... Also, those anti-opium pills are urgently needed..." Tang Bowen said.

  "Hey! Just got some silver, and there are gaps everywhere! However, the silver that needs to be spent will still be spent. Ji Meng, you take care of arranging this silver, after all, using such a method once is enough to ruin one's reputation. If it's used again in the future, there will be more memorials in the imperial court, understand?" Li Hongzhang said with a slight smile.

  "Nephew obediently follows uncle's arrangement!" After finishing speaking, Tang Bo Wen retreated and went out.

  "Tan Wenqing, Tan Wenqing! In the end, you still have such good fortune to have a son with such great abilities... haha..." Li Hongzhang said to himself as he stood in the living room, shaking his head and turning to go rest in the inner chamber. Today had been ruined by that scoundrel, and he was also feeling somewhat tired...

  Tan Yankai knew he couldn't change the course of history, and he was also helpless about the disaster in 1894. However, if he didn't make any effort and just resigned to his fate, he would be uneasy at heart. So he arranged for the Mauser rifle factory to urgently set up a smokeless gunpowder production line. In his mind, it was this land that mattered, not the Qing dynasty, which in his eyes was nothing but a piece of fat meat. He wished that this giant would go bankrupt tomorrow, but unfortunately, it was the people on this land who suffered, and the nation's vitality was severely damaged after being humiliated.

  Even if Tan Yankai didn't know anything in his past life, he knew that the Beiyang Fleet hadn't sunk a single Japanese warship. Japan had already begun using its "secret weapon" - smokeless gunpowder - during the First Sino-Japanese War. Although he was from a science background, he didn't have any concept of explosives. The fact that smokeless gunpowder could burn on steel was something he only knew from history books. However, as for whether the Japanese Navy had adopted this type of explosive now, he had no idea. But since he had the opportunity to cause some trouble for the Japanese, he didn't mind spending money to give the Beiyang a smokeless gunpowder manufacturing plant. As for how much history could be changed, that wasn't something he could predict. However, one thing was certain: if the Japanese encountered this type of bomb that could burn on steel at sea, their outcome wouldn't be good.

  The Gongyuan of Changsha Prefecture is located in the southwest corner of the city, with a very grand layout. As soon as you enter, you will see three stone archways standing side by side, with carvings of dragons and phoenixes, and auspicious clouds and mushrooms, which look very majestic. After arriving, Tan Yanke stood under the archway, where he had been before when he came to take the xiucai examination. This time, Fu Bo accompanied him again, holding his pen bag and scroll bag, with the examination basket placed at his feet. It's not possible to come to a place like this without bringing someone to carry things for you. In the Tan family, although he was highly respected, there was no one he could trust except for his father and mother, Li Furen. His younger brothers were still young and didn't understand things, and they couldn't help at this time anyway, since they were all in Fuzhou. As a result, only Fu Bo was left to accompany him from Xishu Tang.

  Because of Jianmin Pharmaceutical's affairs, many people in the family stretched out their hands, but the old master had already made it clear that this industry was his Tan Yanqing's. However, there were still some shameless people who reached out - his elder brother had asked Uncle Li Anqing for 5,000 taels of silver a few days ago, and although Li Anqing was weak-willed, he gritted his teeth and refused to give in, but was slapped by his elder brother. Tan Yanqing found out and without saying a word, brought the fully armed guard team to smash the stove of the old family!

  This incident triggered an earthquake within the Tan family, and several elders of the Tan family came to Zishu Hall to rebuke Tan Yanxin. Tan Yanxin simply expelled all the people in Zishu Hall except for five servants who maintained the operation, and set up two sentry posts outside the gate of Zishu Hall. The soldiers on duty must carry a Type 93 rifle with bullets loaded!

  "Xishu Hall was left by my father for me to study, whoever among the Tan family has the ability to continue taking the imperial examination can enter, others are not allowed to enter!" Tan Yanke stood at the main gate of Xishu Hall and said coldly to his relatives.

  Tan Yanqian is a bastard, and he has never been treated unfairly in the past. However, the Tan Yanqian of the past no longer exists. The Tan Yanqian standing here now can unhesitatingly point his gun at those who dare to defy him. He killed so many people in Fuzhou without batting an eyelid, and he doesn't mind killing a few more here. When he led his troops to attack his older brother's house, he didn't harm anyone, only smashing the kitchen utensils, just to give his half-brother a warning, and also to inform him of a fact - if the old man were to pass away one day, this Tan family would be under his control, and no one would dare to bully him in front of his eyes. This time, smashing your kitchen utensils is just a lesson!

  Tan Yanqin had only seen some scenes of family members fighting over property in movies and TV shows from his past life, he never thought such a thing would happen to him. Jianmin Pharmaceutical had an even greater use for Tan Yanqin, he had long wanted to develop the pharmaceutical industry, if the timing wasn't right, he would transfer all the funds for the future of the Tan family to this, and the detox pill was just the beginning, now people in the family want to take charge, what capital will he have to transfer the Tan family in the future when encountering difficulties? After learning that his uncle had been beaten, Tan Yanqin's unnamed fire immediately burned to the top of his head, he also wanted to take this opportunity to tell the entire family - except for the old man - he was the undisputed master of the Tan family, and a master who said one not two, what about birth order, whoever dared to move his heart would have no end with him!

  Facing the armed guards, some voices in the family immediately disappeared, which also made them realize that Lao San was not to be trifled with. His elder brother had a fear of this younger brother who was more than ten years his junior. Apart from writing a letter to Tan Zhonglin to complain, there was no other way. However, Tan Yanxin would not give him the opportunity. He had already written a letter to Fuzhou first. Since the other party could even beat up his uncle, it was natural that he could also play the trick of accusing others first.

  Tan Yan Kuan came to the examination hall with such a mood today, and he is now waiting for dawn to open the door.

  "Group Ahn! Group Ahn!" A middle-aged man shouted at the door with a lantern.

  Tan Yanqin took a look and found that the person was his uncle Li Anqing, so he greeted him. Li Anqing immediately ran over and said: "The weather may heat up at any time, Zu'an, you'll be in there for several hours, take care of your body!"

  Li Anqing finished speaking and took out a cloth package from his bosom, which was obviously wrapped around a small box. He opened the box and continued: "This is a secret medicine prepared by Tongrentang, specially for refreshing and sobering up, very effective; it's already made into honeyed pills, just drink some water and take one, very convenient. There's also a high-quality ginseng here, if you feel unwell, pinch off a small piece with your hand and hold it in your mouth, it can help for the time being..."

  Watching his uncle chatter like an old woman, Tan Yanqin felt a kind of indescribable feeling in his heart: "Not to mention his uncle, three years ago even his own mother was the same without status and dignity in this family. Now he is their only hope, so his uncle's attitude towards him has some other considerations, but this emotional bond will not be diluted..."

  "Uncle, don't worry, it's just an exam, I'll be out soon, no need to be so anxious..." Tan Yanqi said calmly.

  Li Anqing carefully placed the small medicine box into Tan Yanqian's basket, stood up and straightened his clothes, saying: "Your mother is not here, you have to listen to me! Whether or not you pass the exam doesn't matter, what's important is that you stay safe, otherwise when we return to Fuzhou I won't be able to explain it to your mother... Uncle has no talent, can only do some simple arithmetic, and isn't knowledgeable, so he can't help you much, but can only help with some necessary preparations... Tan An, after entering the exam hall don't panic, answer the questions slowly. I heard from people outside that you are famous in Hunan, those old scholars with white beards all praise you as a prodigy and genius. As long as you can calm down and take the exam, this jinshi title will definitely go to 'Tan'..."

  Tan Yanqian knew that this was his uncle comforting him not to be nervous before the exam, which reminded him of when his parents comforted him outside the examination room during the college entrance exams in his previous life. For a moment, he was stunned, but his self-control was strong, and after a brief moment, he came back to himself, smiling at Li Anqing: "Uncle, I'm fine now, and in two days you'll know that this scholar is actually named Tan Yanqian!"

  At this moment, including Fu Bo, the three of them couldn't help but burst out laughing, forming a stark contrast with the surrounding scholars who were under intense pressure. They drew strange glances from the crowd. Despite being the center of attention for so many people, Tan Yanqin didn't care in the slightest. He thought to himself that even if he had been admitted to university from among thousands of soldiers and horses, his admission rate was still much higher than that of Peking University's less-than-ten-admittees-per-province...

  Tan Yanqin did not notice that among the strange gazes surrounding him, a well-dressed and elegant "examinee" had been watching him with concern until he strode into the examination hall, at which point the door to the hall cut off the other's worried gaze.

  "The Western powers' foreign policy often takes the name of protecting territory but actually seeks benefits, and a review of nearly a hundred years of history can prove this."

  Tan Yanqian held the test paper in his hand, the first part was a five-character eight-rhyme poem, this type of question still existed in the imperial examination; The back was written with the famous eight-part essay. For the five-character eight-rhyme part, it was entirely up to individual talent, Tan Yanqian had not practiced less normally, especially when writing poetry, he had a kind of illusion - writing poetry was much easier than writing articles, this feeling did not know when it was produced, but the fact was also true, even the old man said that his poetry level had made rapid progress compared to before.

  What Tan Yanqing was most worried about, the five-character and eight-rhyme part, had a clear direction as soon as he got the test paper, and with one breath, two poems that made him very satisfied appeared on the test paper. This actually scared Tan Yanqing himself. However, he didn't think much about it and thought of ways to deal with the most important part - the eight-legged essay. From the style of the questions, this test paper must have been written by someone from the Western Affairs Party; otherwise, even diplomacy would be involved. If this were given to high school students in later generations to answer, they would definitely get confused. It can be seen that each era has its own characteristics, and this imperial examination is not something that ordinary people can handle.

  The layout of the examination hall was a series of "dovecote" style rooms, but Tan Yankei felt that the proctors all liked to run to his location, one after another. The one who left the deepest impression on him was a middle-aged man wearing a white crane supplementary official uniform with five pins, very thin and pale-faced. Tan Yankei knew that the white crane supplementary official uniform was for fifth-rank civil officials, and only prefectural officials could wear this kind of uniform in local areas. However, it was absolutely impossible for a prefect to come to this place. The only possibility was that he was an official from the capital - and could only be an official like a Hanlin Academy attendant reader.

  After understanding this section, Tan Yanqing knew who the person standing in front of him was - Jiang Biao, the educational commissioner of Hunan! The position of educational commissioner is very special in the complex bureaucratic system. It is also called the inspector of education and is a title given to officials sent by the Qing court to various provinces to conduct examinations for children and students every three years. They are selected from among officials who have passed the imperial examination, regardless of their official rank. During their tenure as educational commissioner, they hold the same rank as the provincial governor and governor-general. Fang Ruyu had introduced Jiang Biao to Tan Yanqing before, saying that he was a Hanlin Academy reader with a fifth-grade official title. It was normal to see Jiang Biao here, but if a county magistrate were to appear in this place, it would be unlikely that he could keep his position tomorrow.

  Jiang Biao's arrival could not surprise Tan Yanqing - his father was the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, with a rank of second-grade official, and he had seen many officials of the same rank in the government office, including Fu Tai, Ze Tai, and Fan Tai. He was also familiar with other local officials who were higher than fifth-grade officials. Therefore, receiving Jiang Biao, a fourth-grade official, was nothing out of the ordinary for him. Even if we count his father-in-law, he had met two education commissioners before, which was not surprising at all.

  Jiang Biao stood opposite Tan Yanke, who had only glanced up at him when he arrived and then continued writing with a expressionless face. Jiang Biao was clearly aware of Tan Yanke's identity and had intentionally sought out his exam seat, wanting to see what the prodigy who wrote "On Encouraging Learning" looked like, whether he had an extra brain compared to others. He admired "On Encouraging Learning" greatly, and even Zhang Zhidong, who promoted him, exclaimed "knowing one's own kind" after reading it. Unfortunately, as the educational official, Jiang Biao was not convenient to visit Tan Yanke at his residence, so he took this opportunity to take a look at the 16-year-old prodigy in the rumors.

  The young man in front of him gave Jiang Biao a deep impression - to say the least, that beautiful Yan-style calligraphy made him feel somewhat ashamed. Looking at Tan Yanke's calligraphy, he felt a sense of grandeur and majesty, with bold and expansive strokes. The Yan-style script had been neglected since it was criticized by Mi Nan Gong, and for three generations, from Song to Yuan to Ming, there wasn't a single master who excelled in writing in this style. In the early Qing dynasty, Dong Qichang's calligraphy reigned supreme, until Liu Shi'an and later Qian Mu, He Shaoji, and Weng Tonghe emerged, reviving interest in Yan-style script. Most Qing dynasty calligraphers focused on semi-cursive and cursive scripts, with some also excelling in seal and clerical scripts, but few wrote traditional regular script. Jiang Biao acknowledged that he himself didn't have the skill to write at this level, and in his opinion, only Wang Zhongtang could compare to this young man's abilities. However, he was unaware that Weng Tonghe had long been praising Tan Yanke's calligraphy.

  Tan Yanqian did not disappoint Jiang Biao. When Jiang Biao roughly scanned the essay he had written, he was already very certain that this young man in front of him was indeed the author of "Exhortation to Learning". And it was even more unquestionable that the chief editor of "Strong Learning Digest" was rumored to be - this essay was all about diplomacy, and nowadays, only "Strong Learning Digest" holds the key to introducing Western countries. In other words, this time's exam essay was simply a gift for Tan Yanqian to take the top spot. If he, as the founder and chief editor of "Strong Learning Digest", were to be stumped by this question, it would truly become a laughing stock if word got out.

  Jiang Biao's cold and stern face revealed a hint of a smile, and the officials behind him dispersed - "Such beautiful calligraphy, such a beautiful essay, if Tan Zu'an can't pass, then probably no one in this examination hall will be able to obtain the title of 'Held Man'!" Jiang Biao thought to himself.