On the eighth day of August, the township examination was about to begin. Li Jie had just finished dinner and went to his room to rest. The township examination stipulated that admission inspections would officially begin on the fourth day of the examination. If he did not rest early, he would not be able to cope with the exam the next day.
At midnight, Fang Yi came to Li Jie's room and knocked lightly on the door.
"Young Master, you have to get up and rush to Gongyuan, otherwise you may not be able to make it in time."
Hearing this, Li Jie opened his eyes and looked at the dark night outside. He couldn't help but sigh that the imperial examination was really not easy in ancient times. He had very little sleep every night since he started practicing martial arts. He only needed two hours. I'm afraid other candidates are still dizzy now. It’s time to rush to the examination room.
Hearing the commotion in the house, Fang Yi left to prepare for food. She knew that Li Jie had always had a big appetite, so it would be bad if he didn't prepare enough food. The weather in August was still a bit hot, so this time he prepared large cakes that were easy to store. , full of materials, enough to be the size of a washbasin.
After Li Jie finished his meal, he carried the test box and went out. Lin Zhennan had been urging him for a long time. Before leaving, Mrs. Wang kept praying to gods and Buddhas in the sky, wishing Li Jie good results in the test.
In the carriage, Li Jie sat cross-legged and closed the door to meditate. Lin Zhennan didn't bother him when he saw this. Gradually, the surroundings became more and more lively, and the sound of horse hooves on the road became thicker and louder. After walking for a while, the carriage stopped and the boy said.
"Master, Master, the front is blocked and we can't leave. We can only go to Gongyuan on foot.
Hearing this, Li Jie stepped out of the carriage carrying the examination box. The carriage was noisy and the horses were noisy. It was still nearly two miles away from Gongyuan, and the road was already blocked. From time to time, there were examination boxes on the carriages in front and behind, and it was difficult to get out of the carriage.
Seen from the sky, the lights on the ground are like a long dragon, dotted with stars, as bright as day. The closer you get, the louder the noise. A dense flow of people in front of the Gongyuan gathers in front of the dragon gate, where candidates, government officials, and soldiers gather together.
In front of the gate of Gongyuan, there are gray-haired old Confucian scholars, young scholars in their prime, and young scholars like Li Jie. Their eager eyes are full of expectations, and they all hope that they will be ranked on the second list this time.
If you want to come to participate in the township examination, students from local governments, states, and counties must be among the top in the college examination to qualify for the township examination. Specifically, they must be among the top five in the first, second, and third classes in the examination to be eligible (a total of Sixth grade), so not only students can participate in the rural examination, but everyone has to go through a fight before the rural examination, and only the winner is qualified to come to Gongyuan.
Li Jie first went to the supply officer to get some charcoal and candles. The candles were used to answer questions at night. If three candles burned out and the task was still incomplete, he would be forced to help him out. Charcoal is mainly used to heat rice, but if it is February, charcoal will be used for heating. The weather in Beijing in February is still very cold.
As a large-scale unified examination, the rural examination requires huge expenses. It can be said that everything costs money, including the construction of the Gongyuan buildings, the unit prices of fruits and vegetables for the deer-calling banquet on the trail, and the labor wages of the men used.
Take the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination during the Wanli Period as an example. According to historical records, the cost of one Shuntian Township Examination alone was as high as more than 6,600 taels (PS: Calculated based on the current average price of 3 yuan per kilogram of rice, corn during the Wanli Period was 0.64 taels per kilogram, and japonica rice was 1 kilogram. Liang per stone, here calculated according to 1 tael of silver and 1 stone, equivalent to RMB=94.4*2*3*6600*=3738240, about more than 3.7 million). Generally speaking, the expenses of the rural examination are paid by the local prefectures and counties, so Every rural examination will put a lot of pressure on local local finances. Fuzhou Prefecture, a relatively mature place, can still bear these expenses.
The Gongyuan is a three-entry courtyard with five couplets on each side of the gate, which is called the First Dragon Gate. There are three plaques hanging on it. The plaque at the east end reads "Ming Jing Scholars", and the middle one hangs " "Open astronomical luck", while the west is "seeking talents for the country".
The time has reached the fourth watch. At this time, the gantry has been opened wide. The inspectors and search officers are ready. The candidates for the examination are being inspected and admitted one after another. The inspection of the provincial examination is more stringent. According to the regulations, the candidates can only You are not allowed to bring in pens, ink, inkstones, and daily necessities. You are not allowed to bring in any scraps of paper or words. Once prohibited items are found, the candidates will be shackles.
The candidate's number plate contains the three generations of ancestors and a general description of the candidate. If a candidate is found to be a fake candidate, the candidate will not be allowed to take the exam for life. In addition, the inspector will also check the examiners entering and leaving the examination room to prevent the examiners from taking advantage of their positions to collude. Internally and externally, there is fraud for personal gain. If the prosecutor's negligence leads to the occurrence of fraud, the prosecutor must be punished, so the inspection is particularly strict.
There were quite a few inspectors for the rural examination, and soon it was Li Jie's turn.
Although Li Jie had experienced inspection before, he was still a little uncomfortable with the inspection of the provincial examination. The items in the examination box were messed up by the inspector. According to the inspection officer's request, he had to take off his clothes, leaving only his underwear. On the body, after a rigorous inspection, he finally passed the test. The candidates around him breathed a sigh of relief. In their opinion, it was really degrading to politeness, but for the sake of fame, they had to endure it silently.
Li Jie tidied up for a while and entered the Gongyuan. What he saw was the second dragon gate. There were thousands of wooden houses built inside the gate. This was the examination room, which was specially used for candidates to answer papers and eat in the Gongyuan. stay.
A three-story building stands quietly on the central axis. It is the Mingyuan Building. It is taken from the meaning of "Be careful to pursue your goals, and your virtues will be thick" in "The Great Learning". The ground floor is surrounded by doors, and the upper two floors are surrounded by doors on all sides. From the window, you can have a panoramic view of Gongyuan from the upper floor, which plays the role of giving orders and directing the entire examination room.
Following the number plate issued, I found my examination room in the south. I looked around and saw that there were two 4-foot-long wooden boards in the room. During the daytime examination, the two wooden boards were placed on the upper and lower brackets to form a A simple table and stool can be used as a wooden bed at night.
When you enter the examination room, you can clearly see the traces of recent renovations. You don't have to worry about water leaks due to rain. Your examination room is located in the middle, far away from the toilet, so you don't have to worry about the smell.
After Li Jie entered the examination room, he first cleaned the examination room to remove the rotten smell, and then took out the things he would use today from the examination box and placed them on the case. Seeing that it was still early for the examination to start, he began to meditate and take a rest. At that time, candidates entered the surrounding examination rooms from time to time. Those who were farther away and closer to the corner could vaguely hear candidates complaining that they had been assigned to a bad number.
Time passed, and Li Jie opened his eyes again. It was already dark. Without a watch, he didn't know how long it would be before the start. Plus he was a little hungry, so he simply took out the copper pot, added some water, put it on the charcoal and cooked something to eat.
After Li Jie finished eating, a short while later, the sound of drums sounded from upstairs in Mingyuan. This drum sound meant that all the candidates had entered and everything was ready, and the exam was about to start.
Li Jie waited patiently for the test papers to be distributed. In the first round of the rural examination, there were three questions on the "Four Books", each of which was more than 200 words, and four questions on the meaning of the classics, each of which was more than 300 words. In the second session, discuss one topic or judge five ways, choose one from imperial edicts, imperial edicts, or imperial edicts, or internal medicine, and the discussion requirement is more than 300 words; in the third session, classics, history, current affairs, and policy are allowed to be reduced to two items, but the discussion requirement is more than 300 words. However, for scholars who are interested in winning the first prize, they will definitely fill in the five lines according to the regulations.
