Making money, taking exams, and raising a family in rural imperial examinations

Chapter 150

Since the teacher said he would deal with the affairs of the people of the vassal, then Lin Ze didn't care about it, and continued to prepare for the test with peace of mind.

In short, although he and Fu Wangshizi did a little bit well, but at the same time, it also left an impression in the ears of Jingzhong and His Majesty. If there is something wrong with him at this moment, it is clear that it must be done by the people of the vassal.

At that time, how could the Holy One not be angry and do something under his nose? This is not just ignoring the king's prestige, but a blatant challenge.

The people in the domain are afraid that they still don't want to make trouble with the emperor openly, so he should be fine for the time being.

However, for the sake of safety, there are still a lot of nursing homes in the Han Mansion. When Lin Ze goes out, there are some more people who secretly protect him. It is best to keep an eye out just in case.

There is less than half a month left before the exam.

It is impossible for Lin Ze to study at home all the time behind closed doors. He still has to go out for a walk, look at other candidates outside, and estimate the strength of his competitors.

The content of the general examination is generally similar to that of the rural examination, but the difficulty is different.But the results of the general examination are not limited to one paper, and sometimes fame is a bonus point. Fame is a very important thing for the arrangement of the subsequent rankings and whether the emperor pays attention to it in the palace examination.

Therefore, before the exam, most of the candidates will allocate part of their energy to participate in various poetry conferences, etc. If they win the first prize and leave a name in the ears of His Majesty and the examiners, their official career will surely rise.

Lin Ze is naturally not exempt, although the 'Mr. Han' may help him to get his name in front of His Majesty, but he has to make a name for himself.

After all, Mr. Han seems to be a hidden force of His Majesty, who doesn't show his face very often, and his name is not only useful to His Majesty, but also to the ears of ministers in the court, so he still has to come out for a walk.

Dou Ying, who has already taken the exam once in this aspect, is very familiar with the way, which poetry conference is the most famous, which restaurant and teahouse is the most suitable for gathering talents and scholars, she knows very well.

So after Dou Ying found a place to settle down and rectified, she actively ran to Lin Ze to join in the fun.

However, poetry is Lin Ze's weakness, so every time Lin Ze goes there, he really joins in the fun.

And the talk at the meeting was not what he imagined, it was all about irrelevant paper talk and flattery, a group of people thought they were great, and if they had a slightly different opinion, they would be besieged by everyone's words, and they would not accept refutation at all .

This is not a seminar, it’s just a bragging conference for a group of people. Lin Ze didn’t go after going there twice. Ah, a bunch of big fools.

I am afraid that truly talented people will not come to this kind of seminar, so Lin Ze spends his time in various restaurants and teahouses, listening to the latest news in the capital, and seeing the scenery at the foot of the imperial city, except for the poetry meeting. It is also good to meet a few candidates with good knowledge and have an impromptu exchange.

It's just a bad reputation.

But it doesn't matter, because Lin Ze found that he seems to have become famous in the capital, because of Prince Fu and the derisive and mocking poem he left on the cloth village wall.

But this fame is a bit different from what Lin Ze imagined. Everyone praised his courage and strategy, but there are other rumors...

The specifics are like this, that day Lin Ze was taking Zhang Yu's son and three young apprentices to a restaurant to eat and taste the delicacies of the capital.

For foodies, besides shopping, eating is of course the way to play outside. Their family, master and apprentice are all loyal lovers of food, and they are determined to try all the famous food in the capital before going back.

Because the consumption in the capital is too high, Lin Ze doesn't mean to use it casually when he has money, so he didn't call a private room, so he ate in the lobby on the second floor by the window.

There were so many people in the lobby that it could be heard around if the sound was a bit louder, and there were quite a few people who mentioned the name 'Lin Ze' at that time, so it was hard for them not to hear it.

At that time, I only heard the young talents dressed in Confucian shirts at the next table gathered together, their expressions were a little bit uneven,

"Hey, have you all heard of the scholar who mocked and taught the people in the domain? I heard that someone knows who that guy is..."

"Who is it? Brother Wang, tell me quickly, this person is well-known in the capital now, everyone talks about him, it is said that he seems to be a candidate for this exam, what he did that day, I'm afraid he took a risk and came out to claim his name!" "

"Hehe, you took the risk and came out to name yourself? Brother Qian, you are wrong. That person doesn't need to be named. He has a great background."

"What's the situation? Brother Wang, tell me quickly, don't be tricky."

"Then I'll just say it, don't be intimidated... that man's real name is Lin Ze, on the surface he is an ordinary examinee from a remote place, but in fact... he is the illegitimate son who lives among the people... the prince .”

The last two words were said in a very low hoarse voice, Lin Ze didn't hear them at first.

But couldn't hold back the shocking content, someone couldn't help exclaiming, "Prince?!"

"Shh, be quiet!"

The Confucian scholar who broke the news was kicked hard by his companion who couldn't hold back his anger, and immediately covered his mouth.

Lin Ze, who was the rightful owner, choked on the tea so violently that he coughed violently, almost coughing himself to death.

Why did he become an illegitimate prince?Why didn't he know it himself?

After a brief shock, the Confucian scholars over there became more curious, and continued to ask the Confucian scholar named Brother Wang for answers.

That brother Wang doesn't know where he heard it, but he said it in a decent way,

"...Actually, this matter is no longer a secret in the capital. Think about it, if Lin Ze has no confidence, he dares to fight and make trouble with the prince of the feudal clan just because of his status as an ordinary judge. Isn't he afraid of death? ?”

"I heard that those people from the vassal land have been in the capital for more than half a month, and they have been domineering all the time. Your Majesty has nothing to do with it, but this time when the Lin Ze incident came out, your Majesty immediately slapped the table and became angry, and an imperial decree grounded all the princes. , Summoning the feudal king, oh no, it’s the feudal princes who came to Beijing to discuss crimes, isn’t this a clear way to support your son!”

"Furthermore, Your Majesty has not established a crown prince for many years. Some time ago, when the princes offended, His Majesty dealt with them immediately without saying a word. The remaining eighth and ninth princes who were younger were ordered to leave the palace to build a mansion before they reached the age. He has no qualifications for succession... now there is no prince in the palace, what do you think is going on?"

What's going on, it's clear that His Majesty is ready for His Royal Highness to become the heir apparent. The emperor's grandsons are still young, and the possibility of succeeding to the throne is too low.

"Could it be that this Lin Ze is really...?"

"It's almost inseparable. If not, how could His Majesty be so angry with the local people for an ordinary examinee?"

"This Enke exam, I'm afraid it was paved by His Majesty, we are all foils, hey..."

At the end, that brother Wang Confucian sighed.

The others also showed a little bit of discontent and resignation. Everyone has studied hard for many years, but in the end they still inevitably lost their backgrounds, which is really reconciled.

Afterwards, other diners in the restaurant also vaguely mentioned it from time to time.

As the protagonist who was talked about by everyone, Lin Ze was amused and surprised at the beginning, and finally became pondering.

He didn't think it was just a random guess or rumor. If he hadn't thought too much, he might have become a pawn used by the ministers of the court to suppress the emperor.

Now His Majesty has made it clear that he wants to rectify the court and the vassals, take all the power into his own hands, and act as a real promise.

But doing so will inevitably touch the interests of the powerful, how can these people be willing to be trembling all the time?It is absolutely impossible not to do something, and his appearance is an opportunity that can be used...

"So, we still live a comfortable life in a small county town. If we stay here for a few more years, our life will be cut in half."

Lin Ze was very helpless to these rumors. The affairs in the court were too complicated. After thinking about it a few times, gray hairs would appear. No wonder the teacher had so many gray hairs after not seeing him for a few months.

But fortunately, the original body is an out-and-out ordinary farmer, with no special status, no matter how rumored it was, it was all a matter of gambling from above, so he couldn't be burned.

After thinking about it for a while, Lin Ze had no choice but to give up, and in his current capacity, he couldn't control it, so he had better concentrate on coping with the trial.

Even the common people knew about the illegitimate prince, so it was impossible for the ministers in the court not to have heard of it.

This news really caused a lot of shock. As the saying goes, things happen for a reason, and they are said in a decent way, as well as His Majesty's various actions and attitudes, things may not be groundless.

This matter is not a trivial matter, it is related to the country and the country. There have been countless founding emperors who were born in the people since ancient times, but the successor prince who was born in the people is unprecedented. ah.

Therefore, under the instigation of people with good intentions, Sheng Yongxuan continued to receive all kinds of oblique memorials with vague meanings.

Regarding the examination questions, they also put forward their opinions one after another. They made it clear that they were afraid that the emperor would open the back door for his "son" and use the imperial examination to create momentum.

Regarding this, Sheng Yongxuan was silent and did not express any angry attitude, and directly waved his hand and handed over all the opportunities for the exam questions to the ministers without intervening in the slightest.

It doesn't matter who spread the rumors, anyway, there are only a few waves of people guessing and guessing, all of them are against him. After all, this is not the truth. He wants to see what these people want to do, and send him to his door to die. If he doesn't accept this 'gift', I'm really sorry for myself...

The emperor's appearance of being fair in this way made everyone a little puzzled.

I don't know if His Majesty has other plans, or he is too confident in his 'son', thinking that the other party can make a big splash in Enke this time.

Thinking of this, all the ministers are not polite, racking their brains to ensure that this 'folk prince' will be shot to death in the meeting!

After all, if His Majesty insists on going his own way at that time, he can't ignore the eyes of the world and directly appoint a prince who has returned from the people as the heir. That will definitely give the vassal a chance to rebel against the Qing emperor.

********************

With the spread of various rumors and the names of various talents in the city, the time for the examination is approaching.

Compared with the rural examination, the general examination is obviously more difficult and strict.

When taking the township exam, it is strict in various local counties and cities, but it will still be based on the thoughts and habits of provincial officials. Some places are more relaxed. For example, when Lin Ze took the exam, he spent money to bribe officials in the exam room to improve himself. Conditions for the next exam.

Locally, these are turning a blind eye to these things, but it will not work if you know how to try, and it is impossible to relax at all.

Not only that, but there are also very strict regulations on what to bring and what to wear in the exam. Lin Ze of other dynasties is not clear about how to take the imperial examination, but the rules of the Daji Examination are really strict to the extreme.

According to the regulations, all candidates in the general examination are not allowed to carry their own pen and ink, which will be provided by the government.

Even the clothes you wear, food, etc. are all prepared by the court. To put it bluntly, you can only go in as a naked person, unless you want to take something with you unless you swallow it in your stomach.

There is also the problem of going to the toilet. During the rural examination, you go to a special place to go to the toilet. You can also take the opportunity to get up and walk around to exercise your muscles and bones. The smell is the few unlucky candidates who are located around the hut.

But the test is not enough, eating and drinking for nine days in the test dormitory, everyone suffers together...

Lin Ze almost burst into tears when he learned about the situation of the test.

From the bottom of his heart, he admires those candidates who have taken the test countless times. He feels that this kind of torture is enough to go through once. Those who have repeatedly failed and failed in every exam are true heroes!

Time flies by.

When the time for the general examination comes, just like the rural examination, everyone has to get up before dawn and rush to the Gongyuan to line up.

The difference is that this time, Lin Ze didn't go by himself, someone finally delivered it. Zhang Yu and the housekeeper of the Han family accompanied him to the entrance of the Gongyuan.

"Sir, pay attention to the candlelight when you answer the paper at night, and be alert. After the exam, my son and I will pick you up."

It is rare that Zhang Yu, who has always been shy, took the initiative to give Lin Ze a big hug at the gate of the Gongyuan.

I didn't say cheer up or say that it doesn't matter if you don't do well in the exam. It's just a normal reminder. Mentioning the grades at this time will only make people nervous and increase the psychological burden of the exam. It's better than a normal reminder.

It is also necessary to pay attention to the candlelight in the halls. The halls of the Gongyuan are all made of wood. Now it is the summer when the sky is dry and the things are dry, and the water is most likely to leak.

With a smile in his eyes, Lin Ze hugged him tightly, took a deep breath of Wen Zhangyu's unique light body fragrance, and then smiled,

"Don't worry, your husband-in-law is more afraid of death than anyone else, and I will be the first to run if you run into the water. Stay in the Han Mansion well, and when you return to your hometown after the exam, let's... add a younger brother to Dongdong, like yours." Wish you well?"

"Well, what you said, don't go back on your word."

Zhang Yu's cheeks turned red when he heard that, but he really wanted to have a child more.

On the contrary, Lin Ze is not at all enthusiastic about heirs, so that sometimes he has to be cheeky and take the initiative in that matter, satisfying someone's evil greed.

There are people coming and going around, although the husband and wife don't say anything when they hug each other when they part, but they can't be too sticky in the public.

With a little hug and a few words of advice, Lin Ze walked towards the main entrance of the Gongyuan with the letter of guarantee under Zhang Yu's reluctant eyes.

Dou Ying arrived early, and was waiting for him at the stone statue of Yuehao Confucius with a few candidates who also held guarantee books.

The general examination is the same as the township examination, and it is also to find candidates for joint insurance. These are the joint insurance candidates that Lin Ze and Dou Ying are looking for together. They are all from several counties around Qingshan County, and they are barely fellow villagers.

"Brother Yuntang."

Several people greeted Lin Ze with a smile.

Originally, due to the habits of modern people, Lin Ze always used his real name when dealing with outsiders, but the rumors of the "bastard prince" forced him to use words. At present, only Dou Ying knows that he is Lin Ze.

Speaking of which, Dou Ying was also very surprised at the time, but after hearing Lin Ze's explanation that there was something private in the court, she was relieved to ignore the rumors.

It’s not that I really believe in Lin Ze, but the rumors are too absurd. If Lin Ze is really an illegitimate prince, how can he be like an ordinary candidate when he goes to Beijing to rush for the exam? At least you have to have some guards or something to escort him alone, otherwise come here How normal is it to assassinate something.

Lin Ze also greeted everyone with a smile, and went to line up to wait for the inspection together. Since he is willing to co-guarantee, everyone must have confirmed their trust in each other.

Although Juren is rare in the small area of ​​Nanyang Town, the number of Enke who came to take the exam this time can be described as plethora.

After all, there are so many students from all over the country, and the total number of students who are admitted in each provincial examination is still a large number. Day after year, the number of candidates for the examination is very considerable.

This is also the reason why Juren has the qualifications to be an official, but it is difficult to get a position arranged by the court, so he still has to figure out his own way.

It's an old saying that there are too many monks and too little porridge, which is the same as the modern civil servant examination. Thousands of troops cross the single-plank bridge.

Still queuing up until dawn, it was Lin Ze's turn to check. He was not allowed to bring anything. He took off his coat, inner garment, shoes and socks, changed into the uniform uniform prepared by the government, and entered the examination room empty-handed.

This completely eliminates the opportunity for candidates to tamper with clothes.

Maybe everyone will question what to do about the government's black box operation?That can definitely tell you that it is almost impossible.

Because the officials who set the questions will be imprisoned in the special hall of the palace from the moment they set the questions, and they will not be allowed to contact anyone during the period. To Gongyuan.

Moreover, all invigilators and examination paper officials also have strict regulations and restrictions. Whoever dares to tamper with the imperial examinations will be dismissed from office and ransacked his home after being reported, and a fool will risk the lives of the whole family.

Besides, the people selected in the final imperial examinations were all assigned to the six divisions, and choosing someone who didn't have real materials would be a disaster for themselves in the end, wouldn't it?

It is precisely because of such strict imperial examinations that Daji is prosperous today, because regardless of the conduct of the officials below, at least in terms of ability and knowledge, there is absolutely real ink.

Wait for all the candidates to check and sit in the dormitory.

At the hour of the hour, accompanied by a loud shout of "open—examination", the invigilator hung up the silk cloth of the test questions in his hand, and the examination officially began.

"come on!"

After Lin Ze saw the exam questions clearly, he secretly cheered himself up, and immediately began to grind ink on the plain paper and start drafting.

Although the general examination is nine days like the rural examination, and the scope of the examination questions is similar, but in order to shorten the marking time, the time for collecting the papers is different.

There is only three days for a question, and once the three days are up, the papers will be collected and sent to the palace to be graded by the marking officials, and then the next question will be hung up. The time is very tight, unlike the rural examination where you can choose to do what you are good at first , do what you can't do again.

This rule is a bit unfavorable for Lin Ze, but there is no way, the world can't always go as it wants, it's time to test the resilience.

The order and scope of the examination questions in the scientific examination are still the three types of pasting scriptures (recitation), essays (rhetorical articles), and policy theory (current affairs), and then the focus is different. Mathematical questions are classified in the topic of policy theory.

Compared with the provincial examination, Lin Ze can clearly see that the difficulty of the examination questions has increased by not a little bit.

The posting (recitation) of the first session is a little better. No matter how tricky it is, it will not be difficult for everyone who has memorized the Four Books and Five Classics backwards. As long as you don’t be too careless and careful, there will be no problems.

So this question is actually more about the calligraphy of the students. People are like their characters, and calligraphy is the first impression of the ancients.

Of course, in order to prevent the examiners from judging "one of us" based on the notes and being unfair, all the officials see are the test papers that have been transcribed by a special person when marking the examination papers. After the revision is completed, they will see the real handwriting of the examinees.

Calligraphy is not Lin Ze's strong point, but under the strict supervision of the teacher, the novel fonts he developed by himself can also catch people's eyes and guarantee that they will not be eliminated.

Lin Ze is not good at writing poems and lyrics in the second round of essays (rhetoric), it is really a very tragic story.

He passed the poems and essays so-so, but it was the title of the couplet. I don't know what the officials of the DPRK and China thought, so they asked the candidates to come up with the couplet.

In other words, the only way to judge the superiority and inferiority of this couplet is to stump the examiner with your upper couplet.

This is really worrying grandma...

Which one of those reviewers is not an old fritter with a lot of knowledge and five cars? How is this different from letting the rookie scrap iron fight with the king and overlord?

Not to mention Lin Ze scratching his head, there wasn't a single candidate who didn't frown in the entire examination room, thinking to himself that this year's Enke was really fucking annoyed.

During the provincial examination, they focused on unpopular arithmetic, but they did not play cards according to common sense during the general examination. Could it be that they deliberately wanted to kill them!

I have to say, everyone is telling the truth...

Due to the appearance of a certain 'illegitimate prince', the few ministers who set the questions in the court racked their brains to think about the exam questions with a difficulty level above five stars. Convinced.

Your Majesty has a policy to keep things secret, and they also have countermeasures to solve problems, hum!

As a result, all the candidates scratched their heads and wailed in their hearts.

Lin Ze was also very worried for two days. On the third day, seeing that time was running out, he simply gave it up.

The exam questions presented this time clearly meant to make things difficult for others, so he would not be polite. He is not strong in anything, so he is best at taking advantage of loopholes and doing crooked ways.

After thinking about it in his mind, Lin Ze waved his hand and wrote.

He smirked, and wrote down on the test paper that no one would be able to do it until the dynasty was destroyed. To be precise, it was a pair that dared to come out.

"...The Qin Emperor founded the ancestors, the Han Wu established the state, the Three Kingdoms quelled chaos, and the Western Jin Dynasty swayed; all the past, the eternal emperor is the present."

A very simple pair of flattery, it is not difficult to make a match, but the premise is that you have the courage.

Do you dare to say directly, or metaphorically, who is better than the current emperor?Are you sure you answered this question incorrectly?It is a dead end!

Change it, change it, if you have the ability, you will pass Xiaoye's paper with a cross...

Lin Ze put down his pen to rest, and rested happily for a while.

After the papers were taken away and the final exam questions were posted, I put away my thoughts and continued to write.

******************

In fact, it’s not true that Lin Ze can’t write eternal poems, which will definitely make people amazed and eye-catching. If he really writes, can he, a person who has traveled through the future, lose?

I have memorized so many ancient poems in Chinese class since I was a child, I can't remember all of them, but I can still have a few impressions.

But Lin Ze didn't really want to do that. He felt a little sorry for other students who really worked hard to study hard. It's not easy to get ahead in this era. He doesn't have to squeeze others out for the sake of showing off. He is really ashamed.

Therefore, he would rather pass the test with careful thinking and ingenuity than save time and take shortcuts with the ancient poems in his mind.

After finishing the previous two exams, the examinees in the Tribute Academy had almost exhausted their energy, and both mentally and physically began to show signs of exhaustion.

Especially now that the weather is still hot, although it is better than that of the rural examination, the temperature still hasn't dropped.

I couldn't take a bath and I was already covered in sweat, but now I have a bucket next to it, the smell that permeates the whole Gongyuan is really ecstasy, even though the officials have cleaned up very diligently, it is really uncomfortable.

Taking into account the weather conditions, the imperial court has been very generous and prepared mung bean soup, herbal tea, fruits, etc. for everyone to understand the summer heat every day.

His Majesty even waved his hand and offered to donate his own ice bank, so that the candidates could get a bowl of crushed ice every afternoon when it was the hottest time.

But there are still a lot of poor physical fitness, and the elderly are a little bit unable to hold on on the fifth day. On the sixth day, before the papers are collected, candidates leave one after another because they cannot support their bodies.

Lin Ze looked very sad.

I am extremely glad that I am young and strong and pay attention to exercise, otherwise he would be one of those who come in vertically and go out horizontally.

Adjust your mentality, the topic of the last policy discussion is the most important.

Whether you can be admitted as a tribute student, and whether you can go to the palace examination to meet the emperor, these are very critical examination questions.

Policy Theory examines current affairs. To put it simply, it is to use a difficult problem encountered by the court to ask you to come up with ideas to show your ability to handle affairs. To put it bluntly, the imperial examination is to select officials.

Compared with the "governance theory" of the general examination of the township examination, the current politics of the examination is really in line with reality.

The exam questions are very simple, and there are only four words in a simple summary-drought in the north and flood in the west.

"..."

Seeing this topic, Lin Ze's eyes widened.

I almost couldn't hold back and shouted, and yelled, 'Teacher, come out quickly, are you cheating on me! '.

We can't blame him for reacting so strongly. The question of 'Northern Drought and Western Waterlogging' was brought up by Mr. Han in his exams. Later, after paying homage to the old guy, he also had an in-depth discussion with the old guy on this issue.

It can be said that he didn't need to think too much about this question, and he could immediately start answering it. It was completely tailor-made for him.

Lin Ze was a little shocked.

But soon he let out a sigh of relief. The topic was not as simple as he imagined, because it also included arithmetic problems.

To put it simply, if you want to get full marks for this policy theory, then while writing out the direction to solve the northern drought and western floods, you must also calculate and write an answer that can really be used based on the official data.

The simplest analogy is, for example, here is a river asking you how to get there?

You answer: build bridges.

Then the question arises, how high and how big should the bridge be built?How to start repairing it?This is the key to the final answer.

If you can't give an answer with specific details, you have to give a general data direction.

This is the reason for the current test question.

As soon as the question came out, the examinees scratched their heads again, and couldn't help scolding their mothers in their hearts. What the hell is the court doing this year? They actually took this test!

The problem of drought in the north and flood in the west has not been resolved from the beginning of the founding of the country to the present. A group of veterans in the court have only stared blankly for many years. Except for repairing dams and water storage ponds to reduce disasters, they can only do so in disasters. Disaster relief and rescue after the occurrence.

This also leads to the waste of a lot of money in the treasury on these things, and the appearance of corrupt officials is always inevitable in every disaster relief.

Therefore, this problem that has not been solved for hundreds of years, now let a group of young people in their [-]s and [-]s come, it can be said that it is an unsolvable problem at all.

There is no way, but they can’t hand in blank papers, so all the candidates can only bite the bullet and talk clichés. The general suggestion is to build more dams and ponds for water storage, and then work hard on disaster relief strategies after the event to win the prize.

Only Lin Ze was the most relaxed, holding a pen, writing vigorously without any hesitation.

His policy advice can be summed up in one sentence:

... Slender canals, level mountains, and regulate droughts and floods from the west to the north.

The simple explanation is to build a long canal from west to north that runs through the two places, level the key mountain range that affects the northwest between the two places, and flow the water from the west to the north, so that the drought and flood problems of the two places will be solved naturally.

This is a huge project, and it is not difficult to implement in modern times, but in the eyes of ancient people, it is an impossible thing to complete.

Even if manpower and material resources can be used to repair the long canal that runs through the water, how can it be possible to flatten the mountains?

Could it be that, like Yu Gong in myths and legends, God moved the world and sent an immortal to help?Isn't that nonsense!

Of course Lin Ze knew that he was going to hand in this strategy, and he was afraid that the examiner would call it 'ridiculous' before he finished reading it, and then throw it aside.

So he could only bite the bullet and ingeniously listed his outline of his strategy and theory in such a simple and clear way before answering the questions, and then began to analyze and answer.

Lin Ze only wrote half of the paper for an eloquent policy theory; the other half was blank and used for drawing, in order to prevent the marking officer from understanding it, and to show his own policy theory more clearly enough to be practical.

For this reason, he had the cheek to apply for a piece of charcoal and a ruler from the invigilator, mainly for drawing three-dimensional drawings.

Then he received the glorious treatment that the invigilator specially sent two officials to guard him fiercely for a day and a night...

The nine-day exam ended with everyone almost dying suddenly in the exam room.

Lin Ze leaned on the wall and walked out of the Gongyuan. He didn't even have time to talk to Zhang Yu's son who was waiting for him at the door, so he passed out and was carried home by the panicked Zhang Yu and others. No matter how healthy he was I can't stand it anymore.

The general examination consumes far more brainpower than the rural examination, and there are not a few candidates like Lin Ze who fainted when they walked out of the Gongyuan.

Those who are not dizzy are not much better. Those who are rich are taken home by sedan chairs at home, those who have no money are supported by their own family members, and poor candidates who come from other places without family members are supported by candidates who know each other to go to the hospital first. Go to the restaurant and drink a bowl of medicine.

A group of people seemed to have walked out of purgatory, it was horrible and smelled bad.

But fortunately, the patience and persistence at this moment may be exchanged for the chance of leaping over the dragon's gate and soaring into the sky, which is worth it!

……

at the same time.

The imperial palace, in the Qianyuan Hall.

A group of examiners is no better than the examinees. The examinees have to stay in the Gongyuan for a full nine days, and they have to stay in this special hall for marking the papers until all the test papers are finished.

During this period of time, they ate, drank and lazed in this hall. Although the environment was not as bad as the dormitory, the days like house arrest were not pleasant.

The most important thing is that the emperor will come here every morning after the end of the morning court. He clearly handles government affairs to accompany everyone to endure hardships, but in fact it is basically to monitor their fairness in reviewing papers. For whom it is self-evident, he deliberately uses the emperor's coercion to scare everyone. battle.

It seems that His Majesty really attaches great importance to this 'folk prince', he can do such a shameless thing...

The ministers who were grading the papers complained very much, but fortunately, His Majesty said that he would not interfere, so he really did not intervene in the examination questions and grading papers, which made everyone feel more comfortable and surrendered.

The students had just finished their strategy test, and the ministers had just finished marking the second round of poems and couplets.

This is because they deliberately came out to embarrass someone. The ministers read each test paper very carefully, for fear of missing the test papers of important people, and at the same time, they also tested how many amazing candidates there are this year.

Judging from the expressions of the marking ministers, it is obvious that the quality of this year's candidates should be good, and everyone has satisfied smiles on their faces.

However, when an old examiner saw Lin Ze's answer sheet, his satisfied smile disappeared...

In the end, I really couldn't help whispering 'groove! ' said a word.

Although the sound was very small, it was very loud in the quiet hall where only the sound of turning pages was heard. Not only the ministers around him heard it, but even the emperor sitting on it heard it.

Sheng Yongxuan put down his teacup, glanced at the old minister's weird expression, and made some guesses.

"Mr. Xu, what kind of paper did you read and get such a big reaction?"

When everyone heard this, they looked at Mr. Xu with curiosity.

Mr. Xu is a veteran cabinet minister left behind by the former emperor. He has always been steady and serious.

But looking at the other party's expression, it doesn't look like seeing the performance of a shocking talent, on the contrary, it feels like wanting to scold her...

Mr. Xu really wanted to scold his mother now. It was the first time in his life that he encountered a bold examinee who dared to play tricks on their examiner, but he didn't dare to scold her, because scolding the test paper in his hand was equivalent to scolding the emperor. , What the hell is going to be beheaded and ransacked.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this year there is really an astonishingly 'talented' examinee, and this couplet is... well, I am sorry for losing my temper, so leave it to Mr. Xue. I believe that Mr. Xue has always been talented. Self-satisfied, I will definitely be able to match."

Xu Lao smiled out of conscience, and then resolutely handed the test paper to the table of the nemesis minister next to him.

Mr. Xue instinctively had a bad feeling, but he couldn't return the test papers after they were handed over, otherwise he would lose face, so he could only bite the bullet and pick them up.

Then, he kind of wanted to kill the old guy next to him...