Gao Pragmatic walked around the county government examination room with the food in his long-eared bamboo basket, and then he brought it out intact.
It was still early at this time, and his examination paper was picked up by the county master on the spot. As usual, it only takes two or three days at most for the county to release the results. At that time, he can take the various documents and certificates given by the county and go to Kaifeng Mansion for examination. So Gao pragmatically thought about it and asked the four servants who came with him to discuss it themselves. He would go to Gao Laozhuang alone to announce the good news to Zhang. He planned to stay at Wu Bo's place for two days and wait for the county government to release the results. It's not too late to go back.
Eat melons outside the county government... Oh, the onlookers saw that Gao Pragmatic had handed in the paper so early. They were all so excited as if they had been selected by the county magistrate. They made a lot of noise, and many people smiled and asked the county government to knock the gong. Playing drums - This is not just nonsense, but this is a habit in many places. For candidates who hand in their papers early and are accepted by the county magistrate on the spot, the county government sometimes has musicians playing and beating to see them off.
But although Gao Pragmatic met the above requirements, he did not enjoy this treatment. Xinzheng people have always regarded the Gao family as the face of Xinzheng over the years, so they asked the county government to send musicians out through heckles.
Gao Pragmatic himself was not very interested in these frivolous things, but he couldn't stand the crowd of booing people. Some idle guys were just theatergoers and were not afraid of big troubles. Moreover, they knew that this was a happy event. The young master of the Gao family could not blame them. So they all stepped forward to stop Gao Pragmatic's team and asked him to wait, saying that maybe the county government was not ready, after all, the young master of the Gao family handed in the paper too quickly.
The Gao family has been an official for generations, and they are not powerful bullies. Gao Pragmatic really didn't dare to speak politely to Xinzheng Xiangzi at this time, so he had to stay where he was, dumbfounded, and felt a little embarrassed - as if he was asking the county government for help. The "treatment" is the same.
This may be regarded as "kidnapped by public opinion" to a certain extent, right?
Fortunately, this embarrassment did not last long. In less than half a stick of incense, the gate of the county government opened, and a group of drummers came out, playing the locks and beating the gongs. They were all beaming with joy.
In front of the team of drummers, there was a middle-aged man who looked like a master, holding two notices in his hand. He walked quickly to the announcement place, raised his hands and bowed in all directions to the onlookers present, and said loudly: "Fellow fellow countrymen! Be quiet! Here is the transcript of Mr. Gao’s test paper just now. Just wait for a while after all the candidates in the county government have released their cards (leave the examination room), and then the results will be announced! The other copy is the copy of the exam paper that the county official gave just now, and Mr. Gao For the corresponding couplet, the county magistrate told me that the list can be posted in advance, so that all the countrymen can take a look!"
The various people who were watching were extremely satisfied, especially some idle men, who applauded one after another and recommended a few people who had read the book to come forward and read it out.
The master posted the list and congratulated Gao Pragmatic with a smile. Gao Pragmatic said a few polite words, and Gao Jue next to him also handed out the red envelope with a smile on his face - this is a customary reward, usually not much, and will not be released. Silver or copper coins, usually treasure notes. But the printing of treasure banknotes has stopped at this time, and there are not many in circulation on the market, so the red envelopes of the Gao family are really a waste of money. However, Gao Pragmatic is not a particularly low-key person, but he also does not like to show off, so The reward is usually only two or three pieces of silver, just for good luck.
The master didn't really want the money, he just wanted to "bring some happiness". After taking the red envelope and complimenting him a few times, he excused himself and went in on the pretext that there were still exams in the yamen.
Now that the drummer has come out, the person Gao Pragmatic sent home to announce the good news does not have to go back alone. Anyway, the drummer has to go to Gao Laozhuang to "send the good news", and the Gao family's servants will go with him. The drummer was in high spirits, because the Gao family was a family of officials, and they were always generous with rewards when someone in the family passed the exam. A team of people played hard and saw Gao pragmatically off.
Now Gao Pingshi doesn't want to go to Uncle Wu's house anymore, so he can only go back to Gao Laozhuang together.
When they arrived at Gao Laozhuang, Mrs. Zhang had already known the news in advance, went out to celebrate the occasion in person, and asked her servants to give rewards to the drummers - Mrs. Zhang was more pragmatic and generous about this kind of thing than Gao, and she was happy to receive one or two pieces of silver for each red envelope. The drummers' faces all bloomed, and they kept praising Gao Jingshi's performance in the examination room just now. They praised Gao Jingshi as if he was a Wenqu star descended from the earth. Those who didn't know it thought he had won the Jinshi.
After finally getting rid of all the things of welcoming people and sending them off, Gao Jingshi had time to explain the test situation to Zhang in detail. After hearing this, Zhang was very happy and said: "Young man, you have three tests. This is your first test." It went smoothly, it just depends on whether we can get the case."
The so-called case head is the elegance of the first place in the three boy examinations: county examination, prefectural examination and Taoist examination.
The Gao family has led scholars in Xinzheng for decades, and there are many cases where the sons of the Gao family have won the first prize. Mrs. Zhang felt that since her son's article was submitted quickly, it also won high praise from the county magistrate, and even said, "This is If Wen Ruo is not worthy of this comment, no one in Henan will be worthy of this comment this spring." Then the county chief should not be able to talk about it, so he said this.
Gao Pragmatic originally thought about things like exams, "It doesn't matter if you score high, it's good if you can pass." But after hearing what Zhang said, he realized that it shouldn't be a big problem for him to get a county case title. Not to mention that he wrote the article very smoothly, but because he took the county examination this year, he has already made several scholars in the county who have some literary names and hope to get good results in the reference to back off. , preparing to take the exam again next year, in order to avoid the pragmatic edge, he felt that I must be the leader of this case.
After the county examination was over and the government examination had not yet started, Gao pragmatically took a good rest at home for a day, and planned to take some time the next day to go to the planned excavation site of Xinzheng Coal Mine to take a look in person. Who would have thought that on this day, the county government would actually publish a list of the county examination winners, and even make copies of all the successful papers and publish them together with the list to show fairness.
Of course, this operation itself is not uncommon. For example, in talent promotion ceremonies such as the provincial examination and the joint examination, the candidates' essays and the examiner's comments must be published to the whole country, verbatim. However, when it comes to the county examination level, only a few will announce it. The Xinzheng County Lord probably took into account the reputation and strength of the Gao family in Xinzheng and felt that not announcing it might arouse doubts from the outside world, so he made this move.
With the Gao family's family background, it was natural that they had already arranged for people to "sit down" at the gate of the county government. It was not necessary for Gao Pragmatic to go and check it in person. As soon as the county government's county examination results list was announced, the news came out in less than an hour. Passed back to Gao Laozhuang.
Here is a situation: if it was in the Qing Dynasty, if the county magistrate took the government examination and the Taoist examination, regardless of the results, at least he would definitely pass. The reason is that if he did not pass, the county magistrate's face would be ruined. It's too ugly, as there is a big factor of official protection here; but it was different in the Ming Dynasty. County case leaders could be dismissed in the government examination and Tao examination, so the list of county examination results in the Ming Dynasty was called the round list.
The so-called round list means that the list is in the form of a circle. The name of the first place is written in the center of the circle, and the outside is written clockwise according to the results. One circle is fifty. If you get more, Then write another circle outside the first circle, and it must not be arranged horizontally or vertically. This method indicates that the successful list is not final yet and needs to wait for the prefectural examination and the road examination. However, for central northern counties like Xinzheng, one circle is basically enough.
As expected, in this year's Xinzheng county test mid-round list, the name written at the center of the list is Gao Pragmatic.
The first case in the county!
