"Brother Dongfang, did you not submit your self-recommendation letter at Jing Zhaoyi Mansion?"
"Hand it over!"
"Really delivered?"
"Really delivered!"
Zhang Xuezhou knew that the new emperor's search for talents was not fast, but he was in the convenient city of Chang'an, and he was among the first to submit a self-recommendation letter.
There is a huge shortage of personnel in various departments of the imperial court, with as many as thousands of people.
As long as you squint your eyes and submit your self-recommendation letter at the moment, there is at least a one-third chance of becoming an official.
If you want to include some introduction to your own strengths in your self-recommendation letter, this one-third will become an 80% possibility.
Sang Hongyang did not expect that Zhang Xuezhou was not among the 80%.
He had seen the first batch of small officials hired and checked them three times carefully, but Zhang Xuezhou's name was not among them.
When he came to transport millet for the sixth time, he also had to inform Zhang Xuezhou about the result of the failed resume submission interview.
It is impossible for the emperor to read all the job applications of scholars. They have gone through certain screening, such as eliminating those who wrote incorrectly or poorly, so as to select the best.
"Did you make a typo in your self-recommendation letter?" Sang Hongyang asked curiously.
"That's impossible!"
Zhang Xuezhou shook his head repeatedly.
He wrote a five-word self-recommendation letter, and all five words were written very correctly.
"Is that because your handwriting is not good?" Sang Hongyang asked.
"Is there something special about this character's form and meaning?"
Zhang Xuezhou thought about his printed words and felt that his handwriting was indeed unremarkable.
You can't blame him for this, after all, he lives in such an environment. He has been learning standard script since he was a child, and his writing tends to be printed.
This type of text is neat and tidy, but the defect is that it has no characteristics.
"Beautiful handwriting is naturally pleasing to the eye, and it can also be chosen by the Jingzhaoyi Mansion immediately," Sang Hongyang said.
"Then...then do you mean that I have to practice calligraphy?"
The new emperor's order to seek talents does not mean that it will be implemented once and then not be carried out, nor does it mean that these people will have no worries after they become officials, but there will be continuous screening.
When the imperial court is satisfied with the basic operation, some sub-standard people will be transferred from outside, thus creating vacancies.
It's just that compared to the first batch of recruitment, the second batch of recruitment is not so quick to arrange official positions. Instead, they need to participate in interviews at various government agencies, and they can only be replaced by official positions after receiving relatively excellent evaluations.
"I think you can practice it." Sang Hongyang nodded and said, "Look at these words written by my younger brother. Although these words are not as good as everyone else's work, this is writing that has won praise from His Majesty!"
Sang Hongyang thought for a while, then took out a bamboo slip from his pocket.
When Sang Hongyang spread it out carefully, Zhang Xuezhou saw that there were three math questions provided by him on the bamboo slips.
Mathematics questions are not the point. The point is that Zhang Xuezhou feels that Sang Hongyang's handwriting is not as good as his own.
"His Majesty actually praised this level of writing!"
Zhang Xuezhou thought for a while and finally decided to do what he wanted.
He took out a pen to draw, then took a piece of bamboo and wrote the five words "Dongfang Shuo seeks an official" according to Sang Hongyang's writing style.
"Brother Hongyang, see if there is anything wrong with my calligraphy?" Zhang Xuezhou asked for correction.
"I think there's nothing wrong with it!"
Sang Hongyang looked back and forth, and compared the calculations he had written, and finally felt that Zhang Xuezhou's handwriting was about the same level as his, and he was completely qualified to submit a self-recommendation letter.
"Then I'll go to Jingzhaoyi Mansion again!"
Zhang Xuezhou nodded and indicated that he was ready to submit his resume for the second time.
"good luck!"
Sang Hongyang made a gesture.
After going back and forth several times, he became a regular customer of Zhang Xuezhou and others' shop. Zhang Xuezhou and others didn't mind him sitting in the shop. Sang Hongyang even helped sell some millet products if he was interested.
Zhang Xuezhou left the restaurant, and Sang Hongyang took over temporarily.
He walked back and forth in the store, looking at the millet stored in the store from time to time, and taking some millet to count.
Sixteen grains of millet are equal to one bean, six beans are equal to one baht, twenty-four baht is equal to one tael, sixteen taels is one catty, thirty catties is one jun, and four jun is equal to one stone.
And when converted into volume units, there are units of 龠, he, liter, bucket, and dendrobium.
"This bucket of millet is short of 2,696 grains, but this container is a container issued by the official's office. If you want to pile up 2,696 grains of millet, it will be too much. Speaking of which, There are still some problems with the weight and volume standards, so should the standards be based on weight or volume?"
Sang Hongyang likes complex calculations and often does calculations that are difficult for ordinary people to understand in his free time.
When he waited for Rong Tianding and Xu Yuan to collect grain, he also classified the millet used for seeding into categories, and calculated the difference in grains caused by the different quality of these seed millet and ordinary millet.
Until Zhang Xuezhou and others returned to Liesi, he was still full of calculation problems.
"Brother Hongyang, the carriage is ready!"
Seeing Sang Hongyang lying on his stomach counting millet, Zhang Xuezhou gave a brief reminder.
Not only is it getting late now, but it's also time to pay the bills and deliver the goods.
"So fast!"
Sang Hongyang shook his head and squinted his eyes several times before returning to normal.
He hasn't thought about the problem yet, but he has to go back on time.
This made Sang Hongyang touch the money bag and took out today's half of the money very skillfully.
After the two parties exchanged words, he drove the carriage out of the West Market.
"Cousin, are those officials so blind that they didn't hire you? I heard a guy over there in the West City bragging. He said he was illiterate and asked someone to write a letter of recommendation. Now he is a senior official in the Internal Affairs Bureau. !”
Knowing that Zhang Xuezhou failed to become an official, Rong Tianding couldn't help but feel angry. Even the half a tael of cash and nearly a hundred yuan of net profit received today was no surprise.
"Cousin, I am not as lucky as these people." Zhang Xuezhou waved his hand and said, "But Brother Hongyang is from the palace. I asked him for advice today, and I will definitely be able to be recorded this time."
The second record is definitely not as good as the first record, and Zhang Xuezhou can't help it either.
He had no choice but to calm down and not compare with those lucky guys.
"Besides, if he enters the civil service without any knowledge or skills, he can't just ask others to do everything. At that time, he will still lose his official position," Zhang Xuezhou said.
"That's right." Rong Tianding nodded repeatedly: "If I had known that such people could become officials, I would have submitted one."
"It's not too late," Zhang Xuezhou said with a smile, "It would be a good thing if you could become an official!"
"No, no, no," Rong Tianding waved his hands repeatedly: "I'm just talking, I know how much I weigh!"
If the threshold is low, it would be good for Rong Tianding to be a minor official.
Not to mention the power gained, at least everyone can buy real estate.
But being an official was not comfortable either. If Zhang Xuezhou was an official in the east, he would have to be an official in the west, which caused a separation between the two.
Not to mention that this situation is not conducive to Zhang Xuezhou's settlement, it is also difficult for Rong Tianding to practice with Zhang Xuezhou.
As for Xu Yuan, let alone talk about it, the Nongzong monks don't like to come to Chang'an City, let alone become an official in Chang'an City.
Xu Yuan's biggest wish is that Zhang Xuezhou and others quickly become officials and buy houses, and then make more money, so that they can produce cultivation elixirs.
The three of them each have their own thoughts and pursuits.
"My job as an official is actually troublesome. I have to take a break in a few days. I might not be able to make it in time!"
Zhang Xuezhou feels that it is not a bad thing that he did not enter the first grade. There is not much difference between him and those who are ignorant and unskilled. Others are incapable of doing the work. He is capable but has no time to do the work.
It was even difficult for Zhang Xuezhou to determine whether he could catch up with the reports after Erlu announced the list.
This forced him to choose an official position that was not practical.
It's bad not to be an official, and it might be bad to be an official.
Zhang Xuezhou already had a hunch that his bureaucratic career would probably not be too normal.
