The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 293 Arrival in Nanjing
In the examination room outside Xuzhou City, after reading the prompts on the examination paper, the examinees felt very satisfied with the examination questions which were different from the previous imperial examinations.

In the traditional liberal arts exam in the morning, there are only ten questions in total. The first nine questions are worth 37 points each, and the last question is worth [-] points.

However, the answer to each question is not simply to give zero and ten points, but to make a judgment based on the answers of the candidates.

All correct answers are naturally given full marks, but half of the answers are also awarded points. The closer to the correct answer, the higher the score. Beautiful writing is also a bonus item.

As for the ten questions, the first six questions are selected from one or two passages from enlightenment books such as the Three Character Classic, Hundred Surnames, Thousand Characters, and Disciple Regulations. Candidates only need to write the next paragraph silently. Knowledge related to history, geography and some natural common sense.

The last question is to write a short essay according to the title. As long as you don’t digress, you can use prose or poetry, or describe it in vernacular.

With such an examination paper, it can be said that as long as seven or eight-year-old children who have received enlightenment can write those books silently, it is almost guaranteed to pass.

So at this moment, no matter whether it is the men's examination room or the women's examination room, everyone is ecstatic when they see this simple test question.

Those boys and girls, and women in their 30s and [-]s have an advantage. The former have not been enlightened for a long time and are most familiar with these enlightenment books, while the latter have reviewed them again when educating their children.

On the contrary, those serious readers have forgotten most of these enlightenment books, but no matter how much they forget, they will still remember some, plus the words are beautifully written. , it is not difficult to pass the exam.

After some candidates wrote their name, gender, place of origin and number according to the prompts above, they answered all the above contents in just half an hour.

Of course, there are also some talented ladies and wits who, after answering the first nine questions, seriously think about the tenth question, wanting to write a beautiful article, and some even plan to write a poem or word.

There was only one and a half hours to answer the questions. With the sound of a cannon, the soldiers in charge of each examination room announced the end of the examination. All candidates sat down in place and were not allowed to write any more. Then the soldiers sealed their names one by one on the spot and collected the test papers.

After collecting the test papers, they immediately issued the papers again, and then continued to answer the questions. There was no rest time at all, and they were not allowed to go to the latrine halfway.

After the second test paper was handed out, it was already past noon, and the second test paper was naturally about arithmetic. It was densely packed with simple numbers and symbols, which made all the candidates unable to get used to it for a while.

Fortunately, in the past two years, those who are going to take the imperial examination are already familiar with the ten numbers and symbols. Even those ladies and wives who decide to take part temporarily have mastered the ten numbers and related symbols after a few months .

And as long as you master ten numbers and symbols and simple formulas, this math test paper is easier than the liberal arts test paper.

The math test paper also only had ten questions, all of which were simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, two application questions, and one question about finding the area of ​​a figure, all of which were within the hundreds.

Compared with the liberal arts test papers, the examinees answered the questions silently, but when answering the mathematics test papers, the examination rooms were extremely lively.

Some recited the multiplication table with their eyes closed, some counted with their fingers, some listed their calculations on the scratch paper, and more still took out their abacus, and it was crackling non-stop.

However, most of the people who use abacus are shopkeepers of restaurants, accountants of rich families and some wives, mainly because of habit.

Others don't know how to use an abacus, and most choose to recite the multiplication table, or directly list the calculation formula on the scratch paper.

Because the multiplication table, and related formulas and symbols have long been published in the royal newspaper.

The mathematics test paper is much more rigorous than the liberal arts test paper. There are only two kinds of answers, right and wrong. The scores are either full marks or zero marks. After repeated calculations, the answer was finally written on the test paper.

In the end, the largest courtyard examination in the Ming Dynasty only lasted a total of three hours before it was announced that it was over. After the candidates left the examination room, most of them had joy on their faces, obviously very satisfied with their performance.

Of course, there are also some real scholars who complain to each other that the exam questions are too simple. Except for the last article of the liberal arts, other questions make their talent and learning completely unable to be used, not to mention how depressed they are.

At this time, more than 2000 garrisons were busy sealing up the test papers, and all the officials in Xuzhou were relieved to see that nothing had happened.

Early in the morning of the second day, ten imperial guards rushed back to Nanjing with a large number of test papers.

Local candidates in Xuzhou also began to disperse, while candidates from other places had to stay in Xuzhou, waiting for their results while preparing to take the next provincial or even general examination.

Because the announcement issued by the imperial court at the beginning of the year has already stated that on the first day of February, the seven provinces and prefectures will conduct a unified hospital examination, the provinces will conduct a unified rural examination on the first day of May, and the general examination will be held in Nanjing on the first day of September, and it will be the same every year in the future.

That is to say, as long as you have the strength, you can take the college examination, then the township examination, and then the general examination to perform a triple jump.

After passing the college examination, most people are full of confidence in the next rural examination, and even have great confidence in the Jinshi in the general examination.

In this atmosphere, even though they knew that the questions in the rural examination were much more difficult, except for some ordinary children with poor financial resources, who planned to study hard for another year, almost [-]% of the candidates planned to continue to challenge the rural examination.

When Zhu Cihong arrived in Xuzhou with his people, three days had passed since the hospital examination, and he felt quite regretful. He only stayed in Xuzhou for two days, and then continued south along the canal to Nanjing.

When I arrived in Nanjing, it was mid-February, and the test papers from various regions in the south of the Yangtze River had been collected in the Ministry of Rites.

Zhu Cihong did not choose to enter the city with great fanfare this time. After arriving in Nanjing, he just took ten people in disguise and went directly to the palace.

Because the city of Nanjing is already overcrowded at this time, if he chooses to enter the city with great fanfare at this time, it will definitely cause large-scale chaos.

As the largest city in Ming Dynasty, Nanjing has the largest number of people participating in the rural examination. In the entire Yingtian Mansion, a full 30 people came to participate in the courtyard examination outside Nanjing, so even though there are countless inns and restaurants in the city, they still cannot live there.

However, although there are the most candidates, the conditions of the Nanjing examination room are the best. Not to mention that the Nanjing Gongyuan can accommodate 2 people at the same time.

The four newly built academies are also empty. If each academie is crowded, it can also accommodate 3 to [-] people for the exam. In addition, the military barracks outside the city can also be temporarily vacated, so the indoor exams are basically done.

(End of this chapter)