The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

On the seventh day of March, the day of the unified scientific examination in various parts of the Song Dynasty, since this test is to make up for the big autumn exam that was suspended last year, and the next month will be the provincial exam and spring exam, so the time It seemed rather hasty, and for no reason added a more tense atmosphere to the candidates all over the world.

The examination room for the solution test on Jingxi Road is located in the Gongyuan, Rendian Street, on the left side of Bianliang City. This is also the examination room for the provincial examination. Adapt to the examination room of the provincial examination in advance, but the premise is that you have to pass the level of understanding the examination.

As early as more than ten days ago, the prefectures and prefectures from the entire Beijing East and West Road, including Kaifeng, Yingtian, Jeju, Yunzhou, Caozhou, Xuzhou, Danzhou, Puzhou, and Gunzhou, had successively arrived in the capital. , the reference number is as high as more than 270 people, and the admission quota issued by the Ministry of Rites is only [-] people from the east and west of Beijing, which is close to the admission ratio of [-] to [-]. One can imagine.

Su Jin went to bed very early last night and got up just after dawn. After taking a shower and exercising in the morning, he ate breakfast and put on the moon-white gown and square hat uniformly issued by the Gongyuan under the service of everyone. Of course Don't forget to hang the big three yuan jade pendant on the belt in a conspicuous position.

Xiao Sui'er directed the servants to pack the quilt, food box, change of underwear, water bottle, etc. into a shoulder-style large test basket, carried them into the carriage, and inspected them carefully, and then they were satisfied. Clap your hands, don't dare to delay, go early to get the number of the number house, if there are too many people, go late and don't know how long the delay will be. [

Several people went straight to the Gongyuan in two carriages. The closer they were to the Gongyuan, the more people flowed. The students gathered from various inns in the Gongyuan Square. Su Jin lifted the curtain to watch the people hurrying on the road with test baskets on their backs. And the examiners who did it sighed in their hearts. This imperial examination is the starting point for young people in this era to pursue their dreams; after ten years of hard study, people will become famous all over the world once they become famous; this is very similar to the college entrance examination of later generations.

What surprised Su Jin was that there were quite a few hunched old men on the road, with a lot of eyebrows and beards, and wrinkles on their faces that criss-crossed like ravines on a high loess slope. Kao Lan walked alone, watching it made people feel bitter.

Before the car arrived at the Gongyuan Square, they heard the voices of people in front of them. From a distance, the square was crowded with people. The carriage could not enter the square at all, so everyone had to get out of the car outside. Su Jin ordered Xiao Zhuzi Waiting here with the two coachmen, he took Xiao Sui'er and Rou Niang Huan Niang to the square.

Walking into the square, I saw all kinds of people, tall, short, fat, thin, old and young, all gathered in a circle to talk and talk endlessly. The expressions of the people were also different, some were anxious, some were confident, some were laughing and cheering, and some were taciturn. ;Small merchants and hawkers are also shuttling among the crowd, treating this place as a market, hoping to make a small profit, but unfortunately, when they come, they have already prepared everything, and the business is not very good.

Su Jin took three beautiful women to stand on the square, and immediately attracted countless eyes. Some people regarded Su Jin as a dandy, and even brought the women to take the exam. It was obvious that he was a rich family. It's just a cutscene; some people are so envious, they secretly swear that they must go to high school, and when the time comes, they will marry a few concubines who are more beautiful than these three girls, and they will take them around with them.

Su Jin didn't care how everyone looked at him, he was turning his head to look for Wang Anshi and others, there were too many people here, and he couldn't see Wang Anshi and others if he blocked his sight; when he was in a hurry, he heard someone shouting from the east : "Brother Su Xian, we are here."

Su Jin turned his head and looked, on a dismounting stone at the east end of the square, there was a person standing on the top of the stone and waving at him. Upon closer inspection, it was Wang Anshi.

Su Jin quickly responded with a wave of his hand, leading people to squeeze all the way to meet Wang Anshi. Hundreds of students from Yingtian Academy gathered there. Most of them knew Su Jin. This gentleman is a famous person in Yingtian Academy, how could he not know .

Su Jin clasped his fists all the way, came to Wang Anshi and others and said with a smile, "You brothers came so early, I thought you didn't come."

Wang Anshi smiled and said: "We are not like you, I woke up in the middle of the night because of the hard bed in the inn, so I pulled out Song He and Heng Xin to occupy the seats."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Once the solution is over, brother Jiefu will bid farewell to the hard bed. After high school, you can jump into the dragon's gate, so you should be patient first."

Wang Anshi laughed and said: "I would like to borrow your good words, but you can see that there are seven to eight thousand people taking the exam, so it is difficult to just take the first two or three hundred."

Su Jin said: "Brother Jiefu doesn't even have confidence. What else do I have to take the exam for? I can pack up and go home."

Wang Anshi spat: "Stop being a good boy, let's squeeze forward quickly, the roll call will be called after a while, I hope I can get the first batch of numbers, otherwise it will be another three days of suffering."

Su Jin understood what he meant, and there were only 8000 sheds in the tribute courtyard, and each shed had ten rooms, and only more than 12 people entered the venue. The [-] people could only be divided into two batches to enter the examination. Seven eight nine three days and three nights, in fact, the test can only be completed after reaching NO.[-].

Su Jin was also a little worried. Obviously, the two batches of test questions were different. If the rules he found were out of order because of this, it would be very annoying.

Several people squeezed forward with straight necks, and when they squeezed to the gate of the Gongyuan, they were yelled at by the soldiers guarding the door: "Squeeze what, squeeze what? We will issue numbers according to the names of their respective states. Can I get it? The order is set."

Su Jin, Wang Anshi and others stared at each other with big eyes, and a group of old-fashioned people around them looked at them with contempt and said, "It's the first time I'm taking the exam, and I'm just a baby."

Wu Hengxin retorted: "What happened to the first exam? Is it more embarrassing than failing the exam repeatedly?" [

Those few said angrily: "Why did you fail in the exams? I waited for the Jeju Prefecture School to pass the exam only three times. Zhou Changqing of Yunzhou took the exam for 15 years, and no one has ever seen him ridiculed."

"That's right, the prefect of Yunzhou also praised him for being as tough as a mountain."

Wu Hengxin was about to fight back, Su Jin pulled him back and said, "What's the point of arguing with words? If you fail to win, you won't win. If you boast a flower, you are still a generation that has lost your reputation. People are proud of the number of exams." , we can't make comparisons on this."

Those people rolled their eyes and muttered, "We'll see if you can go to high school in one fell swoop, and don't become a member of Sun Shanxia at that time. Big talk will become a joke."

Wang Anshi said: "Several! How about we make a bet, Wang Anshi from Yingtian Academy, this is Su Jin from Yingtian Academy, and these two are fellows from Yingtian Academy Wei Songhe and Wu Hengxin, the four of us If someone is successful in the exam, how about a few of you climbing around the tribute courtyard? If you win the exam, you climb around once, if you win the exam, you climb twice..."

Those students said: "Then what if you don't win?"

Su Jin interjected, "How about climbing around the tribute courtyard ten times for anyone who doesn't win?"

The few students hesitated to answer, Wang Anshi smiled and said: "Why don't you bet that none of you will win, but as long as one of you wins, I will climb around the Gongyuan ten times, otherwise you will climb ten times. It's time to bet, don't you take the exam because you think you can go to high school?"

A student said: "Then who can guarantee that you will win?"

Wang Anshi said: "Shut up if you don't dare. You have come to take the exam, but you have no confidence. Are you here to try your luck? The imperial examination is a matter of selecting talents, not a place to gamble on luck; several bearded Forget it, it is right to want to take the imperial examination, but failing the imperial examination three times is enough to show that several of them are not this material at all; I would like to advise you, if you are a good student this year, if you pass the exam, you will be happy, if you fail again, go back quickly Pay some capital and do some business; the wife and children in the family still need you to support them, don’t make your wives and children suffer with you, so what should you do?”

Wang Anshi's words are slanderous, but it is indeed the same truth. In this day and age, the wife and children in the family have to live a hard life after taking the imperial examinations until they are 50 or [-] years old. In fact, persistence for so many years is actually worthless; it is even more hateful for those who later passed the imperial examination and entered official careers, and finally abandoned their wretched wives in order to marry a beautiful and young heartless one.

Several middle-aged students were ashamed, annoyed, and ashamed by Wang Anshi's embarrassment. All of them bulged their eyes and couldn't speak angrily. When Su Jin and others left, one of them spat and cursed. : "These guys are five and six, what qualifications do they have to accuse us? It's really unreasonable, they really treat themselves as a piece of garlic."

A student next to him came over and said, "You guys, don't be unconvinced. Do you know who that handsome boy is among them?"

"Who cares? Why wait with me?"

"Cut, he is the famous Su Jin. He gave his name and surname, but you pretend not to know; don't tell me that you don't even know who Su Jin is. Ordered to deal with food affairs, rectify the administration of Huainan Road officials, and single-handedly picked Su Jin who was a gangster in Bagong Mountain, you really don't have eyes, and you call them young children, it's ridiculous."

"What...?" Several middle-aged uncles were full of black lines. They really didn't hear clearly just now. They had heard of Su Jin's name a long time ago. Su Jin has become a new generation of idols in the world. Su Jin is for himself These unreputed candidates rectified their names. What he did showed that those without fame are equally capable. Several uncles thought that they would be able to meet Su Jin in person that day, but they didn't expect to meet each other. Dispute.

The uncles were very remorseful, and they couldn't help but blame the candidate next to him at the same time: "Why didn't you tell him earlier when you knew him? What's the use of postponing at this time?"

The student was reprimanded and scolded in his heart: You are blind, but you blame others. You are really a bunch of messy people. No wonder you failed the imperial examination in the three realms. If you guys become officials, you must be foolish officials ;I curse you for failing in ten subjects, and failing in the exam until you die.

……

As soon as the hour arrived, the closed gate of the tribute courtyard opened with a clatter. Hundreds of soldiers came out of the tribute courtyard surrounded by three chief examiners, and all the students rushed in, blocking the entrance of the tribute courtyard.

One of the examiners, with thick brows and big eyes and thick black beard under his chin, frowned when he saw this, and said in a loud voice: "People come, draw a line, and anyone who crosses the line will be dealt with immediately, what a shame!"

One of them stepped forward to promise and gave orders loudly. The soldiers whipped out their whips and beat the students continuously. They beat the crowded students back with their heads in their arms. Those who didn't know what to do behind them still rushed forward. The hog-killing howl of being trampled on the ground led the crowd to disperse. Already seven or eight students were trampled on the ground and cried loudly. [

Su Jin and others were stunned watching from the outside, what's going on?Thousands of troops and horses crowded the single-plank bridge, but it was not on the bridge yet, but a few fell down.