1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2611
The overall situation is the most important thing, these four words basically blocked the possibility of Tao Hongfang to continue to investigate the truth of the matter, but Tao Hongfang did not think that these situations encountered in Hangzhou would really affect the stability of Haihan.For the parties concerned, the changing direction of these matters may determine their future and destiny, which is an extremely important opportunity, but for this emerging empire that is developing at a high speed, everything is just a trivial matter.

Tao Hongfang is not the kind of person who will dig into the horns of the dead. After thinking about the stakes, he made a decisive decision not to try to change things beyond his ability.

After letting go of these "nosy things", Tao Hongfang's life became easier. In the next few days, he and Bai Letong went together to inspect the area around the West Lake, looking for suitable places to build a mansion.

In the blink of an eye, it has entered August, and the first rural examination hosted by Donghai Region is coming soon. Students from all over the country have arrived in Hangzhou one after another, making the city more and more lively.All the inns, large and small, inside and outside the city have referenced scholars staying there, even the place where Tao Hongfang and others live is no exception.

They go in and out every morning and evening, and almost always encounter scholars with servants coming to lodge.The price of accommodation in this place is really not low, but the advantage is that the transportation is convenient and the supporting facilities are complete, so there are still some scholars with better economic conditions who choose to settle here.

However, these scholars probably could not have imagined that one of the invigilators of the rural examination also lived in this place, and it is very likely that they have met themselves.If this news gets out, I'm afraid that the threshold of the courtyard where Bai Letong lives will be trampled down soon.

This is also due to the fact that Bai Letong is not a local official. When the list of invigilators was announced by the Donghai Region Management Committee, he had not been sent to Hangzhou to participate in the preparations for the rural examination, so the outside world did not know that there were Such an invigilator temporarily appointed by the executive committee.

However, after Bai Letong experienced the turmoil of the township trial before, his enthusiasm for the imperial examination has been greatly reduced now, and he even lacks interest in the job of invigilating the exam.If he hadn't considered that he would have to explain something after returning to Sanya, he would probably have resigned from the job voluntarily.

On the sixth day of August, Bai Letong packed up his personal belongings and went to report to the Gongyuan in the southeast of the city.According to the long-standing rules, the examiners have to enter the examination room to report on the sixth day of junior high school, and then conduct closed management to isolate contact with the outside world, and they will not regain their freedom until the end of the rural examination.

But before closing the door, the examiners will also participate in a banquet called the banquet of entering the curtain.This banquet is equivalent to a symbol of the opening of this provincial examination. After the banquet, the examiners will enter the examination room, and the officials who mark the papers and the officials who invigilate the examination will be placed separately. They will not meet again until the end of the provincial examination.

What Bai Letong learned were all kinds of new knowledge taught by his parents, but this time the rural examination still followed the old system, and the tests were the Four Books and Five Classics, and Stereotyped Policies and Questions. He was not very good at these fields of knowledge. Therefore, in this township examination, he is only responsible for invigilating the examination, and will not participate in marking and correcting the papers.

The rural examinations in the Ming Dynasty were extremely difficult. Candidates had to take three consecutive examinations, entering the examination hall on the eighth, eleventh, and fourteenth day of August respectively. Wait until the third day.

As for the examination room, the Gong Yuan had extremely poor conditions, and each examinee could only be allocated a very narrow single-numbered room.The space in Room No. [-] is very narrow and simple, and the "furniture" inside is only two wooden boards, one on the top as a table, the other on the bottom as a chair, and the two boards are put together to make a bed at night.Eating, drinking, and sleeping during the exam are all in this numbered room, and they can't come out until the exam is over.

Whether it is a student from a poor family or a wealthy second generation, the examination environment faced in the Gongyuan is the same.From this point of view, it reflects the fairness emphasized by the imperial examination.

As the invigilator, Bai Letong's duty is to patrol the examination room from time to time to check whether the candidates have cheated.It's just that he has learned the inside story of the rural examination before that, and he no longer has much hope for whether this examination can truly and effectively select talents, so the frequency of inspections during the invigilation process is not high, and the right is to deal with errands up.

According to the old system, the first round of the township examination was the "Four Books", the second was the "Five Classics", and the third was the theory of current policies. Basically, the main content of the examination was Confucian classics.However, Bai Letong believed that merely studying these old Confucian classics would not be able to train qualified officials for Haihan.

But it is a pity that his efforts were not recognized. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the rural examination, Shi Diwen rejected the test question plan he proposed.Of course, it may also be to ensure that some important people who got the test questions in advance can pass the provincial test smoothly.

No matter what the truth is, it has greatly dampened Bai Letong's enthusiasm.Before the exam started, there were some people who were sure that they would get the gold medal, and some poor students who didn't know the truth might be squeezed out by these people to get the honor.But sacrificing the interests of some people can exchange greater interests for the country. This seems understandable. After all, the purpose of holding the rural examination is to select outstanding talents who can serve the country. Who can make greater contributions to the country? , who should be more eligible to be selected.

The nine-day rural examination was a big test for both candidates and examiners.Bai Letong has never been forced to confine his feet for such a long time before. He can only walk around in the Gongyuan every day to watch other people do the problems, and he can't speak or chat with people at will. uncomfortable.

When the provincial examination is over, not only the many scholars who have been fighting hard in the examination room for many days are relieved, but also the invigilators who have struggled until this time.

After Bai Letong left the examination room, he didn't bother to celebrate at all. He went back to his residence directly, took a hot bath as soon as possible, changed into clean clothes, and then quickly started to catch up on sleep.These days, I hardly slept a full sleep on the hard bed in the Gongyuan. During the day, I relied on drinking tea to keep me refreshed, and my energy was already very weak.Bai Letong asked his followers to stay outside the house and refused all visitors to disturb him. Even if the sky was falling at this time, he had to sleep comfortably first.

Bai Letong slept for a full day and night, if it wasn't for the hunger in his stomach, he might still be able to sleep for several hours.After eating, Bai Letong felt that he had recovered to seven or eight points, so he washed and changed his clothes and went to see his companions.

(End of this chapter)