I slay demons and demons with poetry

Chapter 226 The Township Examination Arrives
July passed by in a trance.

Still scorching August arrived.

The provincial capital of Yuzhang on Jiangnan West Road is even more lively now.

Once again, the most eye-catching township examination in a province is coming. Such examinations are also held everywhere in this piece of China. It can be said to be another year's grand event in the world.

The Xuezheng Yamen had already posted a notice in mid-July, saying that the Jiangnanxidao Township Examination was coming soon, and the examination hall would start to be cleaned. The inside and outside of the examination hall would be checked and searched by special personnel, and the identities of the reference candidates would be confirmed one by one.

The whole city also seems to be speeding up at this time. For a while, there are students everywhere. Various shops put up signs one after another to attract customers through the township examination. There are also constant banquets between various guild halls. Yes, all the tabloids were flooded with gossip for a while.

But all of this suddenly changed at the end of July. There were few students walking around in the streets, and there were students studying hard with books in all guild halls, prefectural schools, academies, and bookstores.

The tense atmosphere of the exam has enveloped the heads of all the talented students, almost overwhelming.

On August [-]rd, the morning of the first day of the rural examination, when the whole city seemed to have not woken up, the students in various guild halls had already taken action.

"Junior Brother Song, the process of this rural examination is not much different from that of the college examination, but you can't leave the examination room. It's hard work for three days and two nights. That's inevitable."

Song Mu was wearing a light gown at the moment, with his long hair simply tied behind his head with a crown, holding a test basket in one hand, two robes and oil-paper umbrellas in the other, and was going with Fu Zefeng and others. Exam streets walk together.

"Yeah, it's the first time for me to take this township exam. I heard that it's so hard. In previous years, some students couldn't hold on in the exam room."

Sun Fang, who was walking by Song Mu's side, also said at the moment, he still has two dark circles on his face, and he has been studying hard for the past two days, obviously he has not had a good rest.

Song Mu walked among them, and said with a smile at the moment.

"Everyone, Senior Brother, Song also understands the pros and cons in his heart. Of course, Senior Brother and I are both young people, so naturally we can pass this kind of exam."

Having said that, Song Mu bowed his hands to several people.

"Brothers, in the examination room, Song is going to compete with everyone."

What Song Mu said was a bit funny, everyone laughed at this moment, and Fu Zefeng stepped forward and patted Song Mu on the shoulder and said.

"Junior Brother Song, if you don't write one or two good articles this time, I will be offended!"

Several people laughed one after another, and at this moment they all went in the direction of the examination institute.

There were also students constantly appearing on the road along the way, all of them were carrying test baskets and holding things, some were walking forward in small groups chatting and laughing happily, some were walking forward alone with their heads buried in a hurry, and some were carrying Scroll, still shaking his head all the way, stumbled on the road.

There are all kinds of strange things, but everyone here is a first-class scholar of the Dawen Dynasty.

Song Mu and the others were walking forward when Ge Long suddenly saw a few people in front of them, and immediately stepped forward to say hello. Song Mu and the others were a little confused, but saw those people stop and look over. Hastily stepped forward.

"Lao Fu, Junior Brother Song, Brother Sun, these are students from the Xunyang Mansion. They met each other when we were hunting a few years ago, so we recognize each other."

"This is Yi Xuesheng, the chief case of Xunyang Mansion in 23 years, and he is a very talented student."

Ge Long smiled and introduced a medium-sized scholar to the crowd. The other person's appearance was quite satisfactory, but his eyes were extremely radiant.

Hearing Ge Long's introduction, everyone stepped forward to say hello. This Yi Xuesheng also bowed his hands to everyone respectfully, but his eyes fell on Song Mu at the moment.

"This must be Song Mu, the chief case in Jizhou Prefecture last year, right? Now that we meet, he is indeed a heroic boy!"

The other party immediately praised Song Mu, and Song Mu also smiled and stepped forward to cup his hands again.

"Brother Yi's reputation is too high, I just got it by luck."

Yi Xuesheng laughed a few times when he heard this, then shook his head and said to Song Mu.

"Brother Song is being modest. You are a legendary figure who has been published in "Tianxia Wenkan" for half a year. If your case is a fluke, then we have picked up a fame from the sky."

Having said that, several people smiled immediately, and Song Mu also grinned.

Everyone walked together, and this Yi Xuesheng seemed to be quite a cheerful person, and he was speaking to everyone at this moment.

"Speaking of which, this year is really a gathering of talents. Outstanding students from various prefectures have gathered here, such as Bai Zhifan from your Jizhou prefecture, Qin Ying from Ganzhou prefecture, Ren Yuanyu from Raozhou prefecture, and Zhang Zhou from Hongzhou prefecture. This year's Zhang Tianju, this year's Xie Yuan, but I don't know who will get it."

"Brother Yi's poems and poems are impeccable, but there is no need to worry too much."

Ge Long was talking like this, but Yi Xuesheng shook his head. At this moment, he suddenly turned his gaze to Song Mu on the other side.

"Brother Song? But I don't know what you plan to do this year?"

Song Mu was taken aback when he heard the other party calling him suddenly, but he shook his head when he heard the other party's question clearly.

"Song doesn't dare, I'm so talented and shallow, if I can be selected, it's already a fluke."

Upon hearing this, Yi Xuesheng shook his head seriously, and looked at Song Mu with firm eyes.

"Brother Song, you don't have to be so modest. I've read your articles and poems, and they are very deep in meaning. Even my teacher is full of praise."

"Although you have only been a scholar for one year and came to the township examination, you should not be underestimated."

Saying this, several people beside him also looked at each other, with different expressions on their faces, but most of them also wished a few words.

Song Mu didn't dare to say such big words, but just bowed his hands to everyone.

"Since everyone is so optimistic about me, then Song Mu must work harder to get a ranking."

What Song Mu said was quite satisfactory, and everyone bowed their hands in congratulations.

Not long after, everyone had already arrived in front of the examination room. Although it had just arrived at Chen's hour, there were already quite a few people coming to the examination room.

There are many prefectures in Jiangnan West Road, and the populations in the areas under their jurisdiction vary. Song Mu's Jizhou prefecture is even downstream, but more than 100 people came.

But those rich and prosperous prefectures, such as Xunyang Mansion and Rao State Mansion, the number of examinees who came to refer to them was astonishing, as many as several hundred.

"I'm afraid there will be more than three thousand talents in the provincial examination this time, right?"

Someone sighed, and the people next to him were also deeply moved.

"I'm afraid it's more than that. I heard that this year many military scholars will also refer to it, so the number of people is extremely large. It is estimated that the examination room will be full."

"Then I'm afraid there will be a lot of candidates this year. Last year there were only 170 people, but I don't know how this year will be?"

"In previous years, it was more than one out of ten, so I hope it will be the same this year."

"It's good now. A hundred years ago, there was a provincial examination in Jiangnan West Road, and only forty people passed the exam!"

The voices of discussions from the students around continued to come, and Song Mu had already arrived under the wall of the examination institute at this moment, and looked up and looked around.

This examination hall is located in the center of the city, covering a huge area, and it is rumored that it can accommodate more than 5000 people to take the exam at the same time.

This was originally because Jiangnan West Road took over the examinations for students in Guangdong and other places in the past. Later, each prefecture built its own examination institutes, and Yuzhang Examination Institute was not full every year.

And this is not the most famous. "Here I will introduce why the situation of the rural examination is different. The main thing is that I will be the main examiner, and then I will study politics as the main examiner. There will be supervisors coming down to review the papers"

Rumor has it that there are tens of thousands of examination rooms in the examination institute in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and students from the three provinces take the examination together, the scene is spectacular.

It's just that there are many differences between the current rural examination and what Song Mu knew. In history, there were originally three exams, each for three days, but here it was condensed into three days and two nights.

The reason may be related to breaking through the realm.

The chief examiner is no longer sent by the imperial court, but the local Xuezheng is the chief examiner. The papers are issued by officials of the Ministry of Rites, and then the inspectors sent by the Ministry of Rites collect and review the papers, and then hand over the red list to Xuezheng for announcement.

Song Mu looked up at the examination institute at this moment, and he was also emotional at the moment, just like when he saw the examination institute for the first time last year.

It has only been a year since I came to this world, and this is the second time I have stepped into the examination room.

Although at different times and in different places, it is the same dream.

For higher fame, for a more long-term grand future.

……

(End of this chapter)