The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 450: Starting to Get Scared
In the past few days, many strangers have appeared in Luoyang.

The number of soldiers in Luoyang also increased accordingly, and there were patrolling soldiers everywhere.

This is because the county examination is about to begin.

Originally, most of the minor officials in the county were recruited directly from the local area by officials, and the rest got their positions through bribery.

The low-level officials of the Wei Dynasty actually needed to participate in legal assessments and recommendations from the three elders. This system existed very early, dating back to the Western Han Dynasty. However, when it came to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the assessment was cancelled and the only thing that mattered was financial resources.

The powerful people benefited from this, and the local area was divided into two factions: the officials sent by the court and the local officials composed of local powerful people.

Don't expect these petty officials composed of powerful people to provide much care for the people.

They are often more brutal than the big families. After all, the big families look down on the petty profits of ordinary people. They want to take the biggest share. The oppression they inflict on the people is invisible and is passed down from layer to layer. However, the oppression given by the powerful is the most direct and is felt most deeply by the people.

The reason why Cao Mao wanted to divide the ranks into multiple levels was to replace those petty officials who had gotten promoted through spending money and flattery. He did not dare to say that all those who participated in the assessment today had clean family backgrounds and were not from powerful families, but at least these people had some knowledge and abilities.

As Guo Ze said, background cannot determine a person's character.

But even those poor scholars who felt pressure during the county examination were determined to participate in the county examination.

The county exam was not difficult and had a very high acceptance rate. Initially, there were more than 700 people from Luoyang who took the exam, and more than 500 of them passed.

This time, the county examination was held in the government office, which the scholars in Luoyang found very strange.

The county exam will be held here, the prefecture exam will be held here, the state exam will be held here, and finally the palace exam will be held here.
There is no need to go out at all.

But scholars from other places will naturally come here.

The difficulty of the county examination is much higher than that of the county examination. If those who pass the county examination are regarded as "contract workers with a regular salary", then those who pass the county examination can be regarded as "regular workers with a regular salary". This is because the minor officials in the county are generally recruited by the county governor and others in person, and it is difficult to get them by spending money.

Moreover, at this level, the powerful families would begin to intervene, and the origins of the people serving as county officials would change from local powerful people to children of powerful families.

This is completely different.

Of course, the subjects of the examination remain unchanged.

Cui Hong stood among the scholars who were taking the exam. For some reason, he felt vaguely excited.

He has always wanted to prove his talent, not through his father, but only through himself.

The questions in the county exam were child's play for him. Cui Hong felt that even if he asked ten-year-old children in his clan to take the exam, they would definitely pass, not to mention himself.

He was very confident in himself. Unlike other children from wealthy families, he regarded this assessment as an opportunity to display his talents.

I will definitely be able to take first place this time.

Just as Cui Hong was thinking about these things confidently, the time for the assessment to begin was almost here.

These scholars from the surrounding counties were divided into different circles according to their origins. Obviously, the regional politics of the Han Dynasty had been replaced by the clan politics of the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

During the Han Dynasty, if scholars from two different counties met, they would definitely be divided into circles according to their regions.

Even if you are from a big family and your fellow county member is just a commoner, you have to stand with him, otherwise it would be a betrayal of your hometown.

But at this moment, they made their choices based on their own backgrounds and did not care about their common people at all.

Cui Hong stood farther away than anyone else and didn't get close to them at all.

It’s not that no one from a prominent family tried to win him over. After all, his father was one of the Nine Ministers. However, Cui Hong remained indifferent.

Nai Gong is different from you guys.

At this moment, someone suddenly stood beside him with a smile.

"Mr. Cui, long time no see."

When Cui Hong saw this person, he was stunned for a moment and instantly remembered who he was.

This man is tall, with a faint smile on his face, and looks like a very famous person.

He looks much younger than Cui Hong.

Cui Hong is not very old, he is not even thirty years old, only a little younger than Zhong Hui. Ahem, but Zhong Hui cannot be treated as an ordinary minister.

Cui Hong was a young scholar at this age.

But the person in front of him was much younger than him.

"Mr. Du."

The man in front of me is called Du Mo, who became famous in Luoyang when he was young.

Just as the other party was about to speak, Cui Hong said, "The assessment will begin soon. If you want to come to me to solve your confusion, you are really a little late!"

Du Mo smiled bitterly, and hearing Cui Hong's impatience, he quickly saluted and left.

The children of wealthy families were very disdainful of the county examination, always feeling that it was a humiliation to themselves.

But when facing the county examination, they seemed very serious.

After all, being a minor official in the county was a humiliation for them, but being a county official was not so unacceptable.

You know, it's not easy to take on the position of county official.

Many people wanted to take on the role but failed to get it.

The examination started soon, and the ten students walked towards the examination room in an orderly manner. There were too many people coming to take the examination this time.

Therefore, the examination venue was changed to the parade ground, which made it easier for supervision.

But when the soldiers saw the body-searching soldiers, some of them shouted, "This is disrespectful to us! Why? Get out of the way!"

Hearing this cry, Cui Hong was a little confused.

Why does it sound so familiar?
That's not right. How could anyone dare to say that?
When Cui Hong looked at those people, he knew in his heart that something bad was going to happen.

Because that person was not from Luoyang, but came from another county for reference, and he was so bold to ask the person in front of him to let him pass, which could only mean one thing,

He did this in his previous county exam and succeeded.

Otherwise, how could he dare to say that?
Obviously, Wang Xun, who was standing in the distance and looking at this side, noticed this scene and immediately frowned.

"Come here, take these people down and search them."

Wang Xun is the governor of Henan. The fact that he came here in person is enough to show how much importance he attaches to the assessment.

The soldiers rushed forward, and those people continued to threaten him, but these threats were useless to Wang Xun.

So what if your father is the prefect?
My father is a fucking Situ!
Do you think I'm afraid of you?

After these people were captured, the soldiers actually found cheating tools on some of them.

This made Wang Xun's face extremely dark.

"Where are these scholars from?"

"Heyin."

"All candidates from Heyin should be removed from the examination. There is cheating in the Heyin examination."

"Don't allow them to participate in the county exam. Send someone to arrest the Heyin County Magistrate now!!"

Wang Xun gave the order immediately.

This made the scholars from Heyin extremely dissatisfied, and they started to make a fuss, but Wang Xun didn't care at all.

He looked at the rest of the people again.

"When these people entered the county government office without a search warrant, why didn't you report them? Why didn't you impeach them?"

"From now on, this will be the case. If there is widespread cheating, everyone's qualifications will be disqualified and their past scores will be revoked."

"All officials responsible for this matter must be punished!"

After saying this, Wang Xun looked at the several officials in charge of invigilating the exam. The meaning in his eyes was very clear. They hurriedly saluted and said, "I will definitely not let you down!"

Only then did Wang Xun take his men and leave the place angrily.

Cui Hong shook his head. The officials of Heyin were probably in trouble.

There was a commotion outside the examination room, but Cui Hong still walked in on time.

As expected, the difficulty of this assessment has increased significantly.

Cui Hong watched and no longer had the feeling to answer questions freely as before. He had to think for a moment. He suddenly felt that even if those people were allowed in, they might not be able to pass such an assessment.

Because the questions in this exam are more policy-oriented, this is not a simple question of filling in the blanks with classics, but rather asking you to combine classics to answer practical questions. Even with cheat sheets, it would be difficult to complete these questions, unless you have someone else write for you or you know the test questions in advance.

Just when everyone was concentrating on the assessment, news of what happened here also reached Cao Mao.

"well done!"

"How dare someone who had to cheat to pass the county exam take the prefectural exam?!"

Cao Mao was very angry.

Zhang Hua hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, this is unavoidable. However, it is necessary to use this incident to deter the assessment officials in various places."

"I believe that in the future, we can have the Ministry of Personnel review officials from all regions and have them conduct simple assessments every once in a while. This will help screen out those who have slipped through the net and also ensure their ability is maintained."

"Also, this state core is a bit redundant. Your Majesty, after the county examination, you can proceed directly to the final step. Most of the officials in the state are appointed by the officials in the imperial court. In the end, those who pass the examination will still serve as officials. Isn't this redundant?"

Zhang Hua has already seen many problems in this imperial examination.

Cao Mao listened to his story very carefully.

He is worthy of being called the talented assistant of the king of the Western Jin Dynasty.

If Zhang Hua had been born earlier or later, he would have become very famous in later generations.

Just as Zhang Hua was talking about the imperial examination, Cheng Ji hurried in and interrupted him.

"Your Majesty, the Xiongnu Left Wise King Liu Bao, who brought his hostage to pay his respects, was negligent in not welcoming the Ministry of Rites in advance."

Cao Mao frowned immediately.

"Liu Bao, the Left Wise King of the Xiongnu?"

Isn’t his son the famous Han Chanyu Liu Yuan?

Cao Mao remembered that in history Liu Yuan was indeed sent to Luoyang as a hostage, but that should have been a long time later. It seemed that his consecutive victories had made the surrounding Hu tribes feel afraid, so they hurriedly sent hostages, fearing that he would take action against them.

ps: I have had a cold for a week and it hasn't healed yet. I have a sore throat, cough all the time, and also have a headache. I have been taking medicine for a week, but nothing is working. I am going to get an IV drip today, and will come back to write after it's done!
(End of this chapter)