Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty's examinations were divided into three sessions, held on the ninth, twelfth, and fifteenth day of February respectively.

This year, due to the addition of Mingfa subjects and Mingshu subjects, examinations will continue to be held on the 18th and 21st after the third joint examination.

In order to increase their chances of admission, many candidates have applied for the Mingfa and Mingmao courses. I plan to take these two subjects after the general examination.

There are even those who specifically aim at these two subjects and don't pay much attention to the first three examinations. They plan to pass the exams for the law or calculation subjects.

Although such people are few, they represent a new direction. For example, Niu Jinxing of Henan Lushi is targeting Mingshuke.

He only passed the examination in the provincial examination last year. He didn't have much hope of becoming a Jinshi. He had no plans to take part in this examination.

Unexpectedly, the emperor newly established the Mingfa Department and the Mingshu Department. He had been fond of Tianguan Fengjiao Secrets since he was a child, and was quite proficient in astronomical divination and other miscellaneous subjects, so he had some attainments in arithmetic.

Thinking that he was better than many people in arithmetic, Niu Jinxing went to Beijing to take the exam, intending to pass the Mingshi Jinshi Examination.

It's just that he's not well-informed enough and doesn't know about the mock exam. After arriving in Beijing, I learned that in order to prepare for the Mingfa and Mathematical Examinations, the capital held two mock exams. If he could come earlier, he could take the second mock exam and gain more experience in the examination room.

Nowadays, Niu Jinxing can only copy the simulation test questions and reference answers sent by some people like other candidates, and try to figure out the math test questions.

"A chicken and a rabbit share a cage, calculate Pythagorean, measure acres of land..."

"These test questions are very simple, but there are too many questions!"

Looking at these arithmetic questions, Niu Jinxing felt that most of them were not difficult, but the scope of the test questions was relatively wide, and it was difficult for someone to master them all.

What especially caught his attention was that there were so many questions in the calculation section. If he was slow in calculating, he might not be able to answer the entire test paper.

This examination method was the strategy decided by Zhu Youjian after watching the answer sheets of two mock examinations.

Because he found that many people do not have enough mathematical knowledge. If the test is too deep, not many people may be able to answer the questions.

Moreover, those advanced knowledge in astronomy and other aspects are not of much use to officials. There is no need to take such a deep test, which makes many people unable to answer the questions.

Therefore, his strategy was to refer to the tests of later generations and set up many test questions so that most people would not have time to answer them.

Through a large number of questions, distinguish candidates for the exam.

This is also the reason why he wants to implement the 100-percent system, but because other conditions are not mature, he has not adopted it yet.

Niu Jinxing has now discovered that if there is enough time, he can answer most of the questions.

However, for the math test, only two hours were given to answer the questions. He could only answer half of the questions in this time.

"What should I do?" 』

Thinking irritably in his heart, Niu Jinxing suddenly heard a sound coming from outside, and a child said loudly:

"Sell newspapers! Sell newspapers!"

"The special issue of Beijing News publishes examination questions and reference answer sheets from previous years."

"If you are willing to try it, come and buy it!"

The sound was crisp and clear, coming from the alley outside.

Out of curiosity, Niu Jinxing walked out of the hotel to check.

When I got outside, I saw a kid of twelve or thirteen years old, carrying a cloth bag, surrounded by a group of people, selling newspapers and periodicals.

The name of this newspaper is the "Beijing News", which is quite famous in the capital. The four characters "Special Issue for the Examination" are written on the front page and they are bound together.

From Niu Jinxing's perspective, this newspaper was printed quite beautifully, the paper quality was good, and the handwriting was also very clear.

Compared with those newspapers with blurred printing and poor paper quality, the quality of the Beijing News special issue is more similar to that of books.

So he immediately became interested, picked up a newspaper like everyone else, and asked:
“How do you sell newspapers and periodicals?”

"How much does it cost?"

The little boy said:

"This is the flower paper used in the palace. It is printed with a metal plate. There is only one copy in the world."

"One tael of silver per share, no bargaining."

Niu Jinxing was stunned when she heard that it was too expensive.

The price of Ming Dynasty books is generally three to five cents of silver, and one tael of silver can buy twenty or thirty books.

Nowadays, a newspaper costs one or two silver, which makes him feel that it is too expensive.

No wonder many people just browsed it but didn’t pay to buy it.

The people living around here are not very wealthy. Of course, you have to think carefully about spending one or two silver dollars to buy a book.

However, Niu Jinxing was not among them. His father was Ji Shan, the eighth-rank official in Prince Lu's palace. Although his family was not wealthy, they had quite a bit of money. The reason why I live here is to keep in touch with my fellow villagers Juzi.

So, after looking through the newspaper and approving its quality, Niu Jinxing readily took out five taels of silver and bought five newspapers——

I want to keep one for myself, and I plan to give away the others back home. Things bought from the capital are naturally more valuable when brought home.

It can be said that he has already thought about how to get back home and how to explain it when he returns home.

After he bought it, he made a few more moves and gritted his teeth and bought newspapers and periodicals.

After a while, the child sold out his schoolbag and went back to get newspapers and periodicals.

The rest of the items that were not bought were immediately expressed as a pity. But they were reluctant to spend a tael of silver to buy them, so they could only borrow copies from people who bought newspapers and periodicals.

Niu Jinxing met a man and asked him to borrow newspapers and periodicals to copy.

This person is also from Henan, coming from Qi County, Kaifeng Prefecture, and Niu Jinxing, who is from Lushi County, Luoyang Prefecture, can barely be called fellow townsman.

The reason why Niu Jinxing knew about him was because he heard from Juzi in Henan that this fellow named Liu Lishun had passed the examination seven times after passing the examination in the thirty-fourth year of Wanli. Now this is the eighth time, which is called Extremely unlucky.

I saw that he had gray hair and that he was in his forties or fifties and still wore shabby clothes. Niu Jinxing felt sad, feeling that he had seen what he would look like more than ten years later. He took out a newspaper and gave it to Liu Lishun and said:

"Brother Liu can just take it and there is no need to waste time copying it."

"Just think of it as a gift from me to Brother Liu, let's make friends!"

Liu Lishun hurriedly declined:
"How can this be done? It only costs one tael of silver!"

"And I have done all these questions. I just want to see how others answer them."

Unwilling to accept good intentions.

For most people, a tael of silver can be easily taken out, but it is not likely to be a big problem.

But Liu Lishun's situation is that he has been going to Beijing to take exams over the years, and his family fortune has been exhausted long ago. Now he relies on the financial support of He Dengyun, a wealthy man from his hometown.

Facing the stranger Niu Jinxing, she was unwilling to accept his kindness of one tael of silver.

Niu Jinxing pretended to be bold and said:
"Brother Liu, if you feel sorry for yourself, just give me some pointers on your experience in the examination room."

"Speaking of which, I just won the national examination last year and it was my first time to take part in the examination!"

Liu Lishun was surprised when he heard this. He glanced at Niu Jinxing and estimated that he was in his thirties. Thinking about how I passed the national examination at the age of twenty-five, from being so high-spirited when I was young, to being in the same position for many years now. He sighed and said:
"With my experience in the examination room, I have nothing to hide."

"As long as Brother Niu doesn't think I'm unlucky or will get bad luck!"

Hearing what he said, Niu Jinxing really regretted it, worried that he would get bad luck and lose his rank for many years to come. However, he was quite scheming and did not show his inner taboos. Instead, he continued to ask Liu Lishun for advice on his experience in the examination room and what to pay attention to.

During the conversation, Niu Jinxing discovered that Liu Lishun's knowledge was extremely solid, far better than his own. This makes Niu Jinxing even more puzzled. I wonder why such a person has been inactive for many years?

"Is it really that difficult to take the exam? Even people like this can't pass it?" 』

This discovery made Niu Jinxing quite depressed. He felt that even Liu Lishun could not pass the exam, let alone himself.

For a while, I even lost the confidence to take part in the examination.

Seeing him suddenly wilting, Liu Lishun felt quite sorry. He knew that many people would lose confidence after communicating with him. So comfort Niu Jinxing said:
"Brother Niu, don't think you can't pass the exam if you're not as good as me. I'm just unlucky."

"Even my mentor said that with my ability, I should have been a Jinshi a long time ago. The reason why I didn't get it now is because of bad luck."

"But people don't always have bad luck. Wu Shangmo won the imperial examination in the eighth examination, and I should be close to it!"

He comforted others with his mouth, comforted himself in his heart, encouraged himself to continue to take the examination, and strengthened his determination to pass the Jinshi examination.

Wu Shangmo was awarded Jinshi at the age of fifty-five, and was promoted by the emperor to the post of chief envoy at the age of sixty-six, which really inspired many people.

Liu Lishun took him as an example to strengthen his confidence.

Listening to this, Niu Jinxing's heart felt cold. He didn't want to be like Wu Shangmo, who took the exam for more than 20 years before becoming a Jinshi. So he answered weakly:

"Brother Liu, who is the teacher?"

"Why are you sure Brother Liu can win the Jinshi?"

Liu Lishun hesitated for a moment, and when he saw that everyone around him had left, he whispered to Niu Jinxing:

"Brother Yu's mentor is Duke Yuan of Jiehuan, a native of Suizhou, Guide Prefecture next to Qixian County."

Hearing Niu Jinxing's "buzz" sound, he looked at Liu Lishun with wide eyes. I really didn't expect that this old Juren, who looked very down and out of appearance, was actually a disciple of Yuan Keli, the Minister of War.

Yuan Keli is the deputy examiner of this subject and the head of the Ming Law Section.

No wonder, Liu Lishun thought that he was just unlucky, and his level had already made him a Jinshi——

With Yuan Keli's knowledge and his previous experience as a co-examiner in the palace examination, how could he not see that Liu Lishun's knowledge had already arrived, and his failure to pass the examination was purely due to bad luck.

This time Yuan Keli served as the deputy examiner, and Liu Lishun participated in the joint examination for the eighth time. He must be like Wu Shangmo, whether he will be able to recover after going through ups and downs.

And with Yuan Keli's status, Liu Lishun will definitely have a prosperous official career after becoming an official, far better than ordinary Jinshi.

Thinking that Lao Juren, whom he accidentally met, had such a promising future, Niu Jinxing pulled him excitedly and said:

"Brother Liu, you must give me a hand!"

"Explain it to me more!"

He completely regarded Liu Lishun as a future Jinshi and sincerely asked him for his experience in the examination room.

Liu Lishun frowned slightly when he saw that his attitude changed drastically and he became visibly more eager. I feel that Ox Venus is a bit of a snobbery and is not someone with whom I can have close friendships.

This made him regret that he should not have revealed the teacher's name.

But this matter was not a secret. Many fellow villagers knew about it. Liu Lishun thought that fellow villager Niu Jinxing would know about it sooner or later, so he did not deliberately hide it.

Now it seems that he is still a bit hasty. There is a big difference between raising people and raising people.

Ox Venus is a juren who is very good at clinging to others.

Being entangled in Niu Jinxing like this, Liu Lishun had no choice but to give him some advice. After hearing that Niu Jinxing planned to take the arithmetic major, he breathed a sigh of relief and gave some advice:

"Master Yuan is in charge of the Mingfa subject. Because I want to avoid suspicion and am not good at the Mingfu subject, I don't plan to take the exam for these two subjects."

"But I heard people say that if you want to get good grades in mathematics, the most important thing is to do the questions."

“It’s best to be familiar with all kinds of topics and become fluent in them.”

Niu Jinxing was excited when he heard it and felt that he knew the secret.

In his opinion, there is nothing difficult about the questions in the Mathematical Calculation Section. The only difficulty is that he is unable to answer the questions due to lack of time.

If he can answer the test paper after he is familiar with the questions, he has a good chance of passing the exam. So he hurriedly asked:

"Is it useful if the questions are familiar?"

"Where are there so many exercises?"

Liu Lishun was at a loss for words and didn't know where there were so many exercises.

At this moment, the voice of the child who was selling newspapers came over again and shouted:

"Sell newspapers! Sell newspapers!"

"The Beijing News' special issue on etiquette and arithmetic is out. Come and buy it now!"

"If you want to take the law and calculation subjects, don't miss it!"

Hearing the two people pause, Niu Jinxing suddenly took steps and ran towards the place where the sound came from. He grabbed the child and asked:

“What’s in the Numeracy Special Issue?”

"How many questions are there?"

Startled by him, the child said in a panic:
"Don't mess around. The Beijing News is now under the supervision of the internal government."

"Our family is full of royal guards, and we run a unique business."

Niu Jinxing didn't care about the royal guards or the inner palace guards. He looked at the people gathered around him, let go of the child, and asked:

"How many questions are there in the special issue on counting?"

"How much does it cost?"

Seeing that he really wanted to buy it, the child took out a newspaper and said:

"A piece of five taels of silver contains arithmetic knowledge and five sets of test questions."

"The questions are all modeled after the mock exams, and there are reference answers."

Niu Jinxing was excited, thinking that with these questions to practice, he would most likely be able to adapt to the math test.

So he immediately took out five taels of silver and bought a special magazine on mathematics.

If the price wasn't too high, he would have bought a few more copies like the special trial issue.

Juren gathered around him again, and some of them didn't understand why he was so excited. However, after hearing people explain that math questions need to be solved, some people who planned to take the math exam also spent money to buy a copy.

Others who plan to pass the law exam do not feel the need to study for the exam. But out of the desire to familiarize myself with the exam questions, I also bought a special issue on etiquette.

The newspapers and periodicals brought by this child were quickly sold out, earning hundreds of taels of silver.

Of course he couldn't carry such a heavy piece of silver, and it was also very dangerous.

After he asked for help, a patrolman wearing a red vest soon came over to help the child carry the money and deliver it to a nearby newspaper distribution center. (End of chapter)