I'm really not King Jing of Zhongshan

Chapter 385
time flies.

Especially in the sweltering weather of Chang'an, time just passes away quietly in corners that people don't notice.

In the blink of an eye, it was the first year of the emperor Shengxin, the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month in autumn.

For Chang'an Chaotang, this day falls on the first and fifteenth day of each month, which is the Shuowang Dynasty for two days.

To be more precise, it is "Wang Chao" among Shuo Chao and Wang Chao.

According to the usual management, on the first day of each month, that is, the "Suo Dynasty" of Shuo Ri, the core issues of the court meeting will focus on the work that the court needs to deal with in the next month.

In the words of later generations, the Shuo Dynasty can also be understood as the work arrangement meeting at the highest decision-making level of the Han Dynasty at the beginning of the month;

Since the Shuo Dynasty at the beginning of the month is a work arrangement meeting, the Wang Chao in the middle of the month is naturally a summary and adjustment meeting.

——Through the hard work of the past fifteen days, how is the work that was arranged at the beginning of the month completed?

——Is there anything that needs to be adjusted or improved for the arrangements made during the early lunar month?
——In the second half of the month, should we continue to advance the work of the first half of the month, or make timely changes and adjust the direction?
The day was different.

This day is not only the day when the sun looks up in autumn and July, it is also the first time in the history of the Han family and even the Chinese civilization that the official examination is held.

On such a day of extraordinary significance, which is bound to leave a strong mark in the history, the attention of the whole Chang'an is focused on the abandoned schoolyard that has been repaired in the western suburb of Chang'an City.

Even Liu Sheng, who stayed in Chang'an to participate in the Xuanshi Palace, or to listen to the court ceremony, could not hold back his temper, and sent his close eunuch, the eunuch Ling Xiaque, outside the examination room. Said, "on behalf of the emperor to encourage the examination of the child";
In fact, Liu Sheng was really worried, and it was inconvenient to go to the scene in person...
·
"The time is right~!"

"By the imperial edict of the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and Your Majesty, open the examination room~!"

"All the candidates for the exam will enter the venue in order with the bamboo talisman issued by the prime minister~~~!"

Clang~~~
Clang~~~
Clang~~~~~~
"The time is right~!"

"By the imperial edict of the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and Your Majesty, open the examination room~!"

"All the candidates for the exam will enter the venue in order with the bamboo talisman issued by the prime minister~~~!"

Clang~~~
Clang~~~~~~
Outside the school grounds, at a distance of a hundred or ten steps from left to right, soldiers screamed with all their might, for fear that someone might not be able to hear their voices clearly.

And after remembering the roars one after another, the simple wooden doors, or 'wooden fences' in all directions of the square school yard, were slowly opened.

For a moment, the candidates instinctively wanted to push forward;
But when they saw the opening of the examination room, a group of guards from the Northern Army poured out from each entrance, and the soldiers slowed down resentfully, and belatedly picked up the The literati' shelf.

"Hold a bamboo talisman, pass it to the examiner outside the door to verify your identity, self-registration taboo, hometown, and what you have learned!"

There was another call sign that had obviously been rehearsed a long time ago, only causing the scholars to lower their heads sparsely, and took out bamboo charms of the same size from their bosoms, which were obviously produced recently;
Then he walked forward slowly, looking forward to it, as if he was looking forward to the next exam, or he was afraid that he would not be able to enter the exam room.

"At the end of his studies, Zhu Maichen, a native of Wuyi, Kuaiji County, has a little knowledge of poetry and books..."

···
"At the time when he entered Zheng at the end of his studies, the family of Chen Yiren in Xingyang, the first ruler of Huang Lao..."

···
"At the end of the school, the master father Yan, a native of Linzi, Qi County, has a little knowledge of the length and breadth..."

···
"End of school..."

"younger generation······"

"The young..."

Following the sound of greetings with accents from various places, the scholars who had gathered outside the examination room, waiting for something in a daze, also began to slowly enter the examination room.

Walking into the wooden gate, one can see that just half a month ago, the schoolyard in Dushang was still dilapidated, but now it has been filled with square books.

The arrangement of the book case is very similar to the formation of lieutenant soldiers: ten rows and ten rows, with a distance of nearly ten feet from each other, forming a "square formation of a hundred men";
And such a square array also has ten rows on the left and right, and more than eight rows on the front and back—it seems that there are only five or six 'square arrays' in the ninth row.

In the four directions of each phalanx, there is a huge wooden board with eye-catching characters written on it, such as: No. 99 to 190 / No. [-] to [-] and No. [-], etc.

In the end, the squares in the ninth row were still the same size of wooden boards, and the fonts on the wooden boards were naturally smaller and more crowded, such as: 190 to 290/[-] Two hundred to eight thousand [-] nine.

The entire examination room was covered with 85 or [-] square formations, each of which was covered by a temporary thatched 'sunshade' and supported by pillars arranged in a nine-square grid.

Except for the nine pillars in each sub-examination room, no matter whether it is between the book case and the book case, or between the sub-examination room and the sub-examination room, there is no longer any obstacle.

--A bird's eye view.

Standing at any position in the examination room and looking around for a week, you can have a panoramic view of the entire examination room.

Walking into the examination room and observing the numbers marked on the wooden board, candidates can easily find the 'square' they belong to, and after arriving at their sub-examination room, according to the specific number plate on the corner of the book case, they can accurately find the own position.

This process took about a quarter of an hour.

After all, there are always some unlucky people who were originally arranged in the northwest corner of the examination room, but entered the examination room from the southeast corner;

Therefore, in order to find their own positions, these unlucky people could only anxiously hold the bamboo amulet, look at the number intervals outside each sub-examination room one by one, and slowly walk a large diagonal in the entire examination room.

When all the examinees took their seats in front of the desk, the examiners who had been watching coldly, that is, Qianshi officials in official uniforms, finally stood up from their seats.

Except for the last one, which was examination room No. 86, the first 85 examination rooms had a hundred candidates, two Qianshi-level officials were assigned as examiners, and five guards from the imperial army maintained order.

Examination room No. 86, where unlucky people gathered, also had four examiners, five guards, and a total of nine people to maintain order in the examination room, but there were only seven candidates.

The four examiners were originally seated in the four volumes of the square examination room. When the leader stood up, the other three also stood up.

At this time, in every sub-examination room, the voice of the sub-examination room master, who was in charge of the sub-examination, was deep but also extremely penetrating.

"At this moment, it is the third quarter of Mao."

"According to the edict of the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and Your Majesty, the examination papers will be distributed every minute of the day, and the exam is starting now."

"Scholar candidates need to prepare their own pen and ink, and when they get the test paper, they need to write their name, place of origin, alumni, test room number, and seat number in the designated place."

"This examination room is the A-[-] examination room."

···
"The exam is starting at Chenshi, and the papers are being closed at noon. There is a time limit of two hours. There are a total of ten questions in the exam."

"At noon, the examiner shouted 'stop writing', the examination affairs should stop writing, and those who violated the examination paper will be invalid."

"From the start of the test to the closing of the papers, if candidates feel anxious, they can raise their hands to signal, and they will be accompanied by the invigilators;"

"If you feel unwell, you can also raise your hand and be diagnosed and treated by the medical officer."

"——Self-examination papers are distributed, and the candidates for the examination are not allowed to peek around, talk to others, and no noise is allowed!"

"Offenders will be expelled from the examination room and will be sent down to the imperial court!"

The chief examiners let out a deep voice, causing the candidates to shrink their necks suddenly, and subconsciously looked around the school grounds at the well-armored Northern Army jailers.

Like the four examiners, they are located in the same four directions of the examination room: there are five soldiers in each sub-examination room, and four of them are also standing in the middle of the four sides of the examination room.

The extra person, that is, the corporal leader of this 'corporate', walked among the candidates with his head held high, as if he was patrolling the battlefield.

And after the chief examiner announced the order of the examination room, the four examiners did not sit back in their seats, but wandered around the examination room like the chief examiner.

While walking, I didn't forget to check the candidate's information and seat number in order to avoid someone sitting in the wrong seat.

Fortunately, those who took the exam today were all intellectuals after all, and no one made the mistake of finding the wrong seat;
Everything was ready, and the candidates knelt down in front of the desks, quietly waiting for the moment when the exam would start.

And on the high platform in the middle of the examination room, the chief examiners of the imperial examination finally stood up from their seats...

"It is said that your Majesty passed the examination questions very early with the princes?"

Jia Gui chatted as if looking for something to say, which only caused Liu She, Wei Wan, Uncle Tian and the others to laugh stiffly. They obviously didn't make any eye contact, but they all said in unison: "At first, Your Majesty sent a total of seventy question."

"I just took a rough look and dropped a few difficult and easy exam questions for your Majesty."

"There are more than 50 left, and His Majesty personally selected ten of them."

"The more than 50 exam questions, I didn't remember clearly, and I don't know which ten of them His Majesty chose..."

Hearing this almost unanimous answer from the three most powerful people in the court today, Jia Gui just smiled awkwardly, then lowered his head and started groping in his arms.

——Jia Gui is a relative, so there is no need to spy on the exam questions.

Or it should be said: If Jia Gui wants to be an official, or if he wants to seek an official position for a kid in his family, he doesn't need to pass any examinations at all.

You only need to talk to the queen mother's sister, talk to the emperor's nephew, or cry to the empress dowager, and you will have an official position below a thousand stones at any time for the children of the Jia family to choose at will.

Although it is unlikely to be a position with real power, it is better than this imperial examination. Starting from the position of two hundred stones, you are like a small shrimp among small shrimps.

Furthermore, as Jia Gui's relatives, and with the backing of the Empress Dowager Jia, even if someone really promising in the ancestors passed the examination and became an official, outsiders would probably not believe it at all: this is a test of literary talent, not a test. background.

Originally, he was just looking for something to say, but Jia Gui didn't care too much about everyone's reaction;
He took out a copper spoon from his bosom, and solemnly looked in front of him. These three big men who could easily shake the dust off their sleeves could make waves in Chang'an.

"According to His Majesty's order, the answer sheets used in this examination will be provided by the new 'slips' made by my servant and the Shaofu."

"If you have no objections, I will order the answer sheets to be distributed."

Hearing Jia Gui's words, the three giants nodded in unison, and immediately cast suspicious eyes on the large wooden boxes under the high platform.

——The answer sheet, in this era, actually means a blank bamboo slip.

The Shaofu was in charge of the blank bamboo slips needed for this examination, which was naturally the reason for the question.

But as the three most powerful senior officials in the Han Dynasty today, Liu She, Wei Wan, and Uncle Tian are all very clear: this matter is probably far from that simple.

Liu Sheng wanted to appoint a relative from his mother's family to be in charge of the Shaofu. This was already something that the whole court could smell, but everyone tacitly didn't publicize it everywhere.

As a foreign relative, Jia Gui has the detached status of "as long as the emperor says I can do it, then I have to do it if I can't", but the Shaofu is the Jiuqing after all. If Jia Gui wants to be among the Jiuqing so smoothly, he must Make some achievements to block public opinion inside and outside the government and the opposition a little bit.

Obviously, 'providing blank bamboo slips for the examination' is almost a chore, and it can't be counted as a grade at all, and it will definitely not be a stepping stone for Jia Guiguan to live in Shaofu.

Furthermore, if it is really a blank bamboo tube, the more than 500 examinees, even if it is calculated on the basis that no one has one paper, the required 'answer papers' are definitely not what these few wooden boxes can hold... ··

"Could it be that the Jia family spent all their wealth..."

"Do not;"

"It should be Your Majesty."

"In order to gain momentum for my uncle, His Majesty used money from the Shaofu to use cloth and silk for the examination papers...?"

"If that's the case, is it too extravagant?"

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

With similar thoughts, Liu She, Wei Wan, and Uncle Tian all looked at the wooden boxes.

After that, there were square pieces of 'cloth' that were as white as snow and as thin as cloth. After a brief count by the officials of the Shaofu, they were distributed to the chief examiners gathered here from various examination rooms.

After about half a stick of incense, when the 'cloth pieces' were distributed to the examinees and laid flat on the desks in front of the examinees, the majestic voices of the examiners resounded over the examination room again.

"Your Majesty is sympathetic to all the candidates who have traveled thousands of miles away, and it just so happened that the Shaofu got this new paper, so he used it as the answer sheet for this exam."

"There are three answer sheets for each person, and if they are used up, they will be gone."

"After the literary examination is over, the examination papers are not allowed to be taken out of the examination room."

"Now, on the left edge of the three answer sheets, write down your name, place of origin, teacher's background, and the number of the examination room and seat, respectively, in an area no longer than one inch."

The first time candidates got the 'paper', their first reaction was surprise.

--Paper?

Shouldn't they all be brownish-yellow, rather rough, thick, and only used to wrap things?

How is this paper so thin, yet so white and flat?
After reacting, I was stunned, and the examinees quickly came back to their senses, recalling the "Examiner's Day" still echoing in their ears, and began to write down their own information on the answer sheet with a feeling of apprehension.

And on the high platform in the middle of the examination room, Jia Gui finally turned around with a smile, and slightly arched his hands to the three of them.

"This paper is named for His Majesty: Cicada Wing Paper."

"It was not until the order of His Majesty that I led the artisans of the Shaofu to work day and night, so that the full number was obtained half a month ago."

"If you are interested, you may wish to take a look..."

(End of this chapter)