From a slave to the Great Qian Martial Saint

The spring college entrance examinations began at the end of February.

On the training ground, recruited students and those recommended for official positions lined up on both sides, all with solemn expressions.

According to the college rules, students must be on the list of successful candidates in at least one of the two entrance examinations (autumn and spring) to graduate.

Otherwise, you will have to repeat the year.

There are only three top-ranked candidates, totaling fifty people. After two rounds of assessments, at most one hundred people will make it onto the list.

But this year there are as many as 150 or 160 students in the college.

Besides, in reality, it's unlikely that someone who made it onto the autumn list wouldn't make it onto the spring list, or vice versa. In fact, quite the opposite is true; truly outstanding individuals often have their names on both lists!

Thus, after removing duplicate spots, only about seventy or eighty people will be able to graduate successfully.

They only make up half of the total number of students in the college, so the probability of being eliminated is quite high!

Of course, those with connections could still get a military position even if they failed the exam twice.

For example, Chen Shi's destination had already been decided.

But that doesn't mean that those who were recruited through the imperial examinations didn't care about the autumn and spring examinations.

First and foremost, face!

As scions of prominent families, they value their reputation above all else. If they fail to graduate from the Zhechong Academy after a year of study, wouldn't they be ridiculed and unable to hold their heads high in front of their relatives?

Secondly, as it's a major exam, there are extra rewards.

These rewards are often the envy of even the most ambitious and ambitious officials.

For example, the topic of "A Dialogue with Zhuge Liang" in this year's autumn exam.

And in this spring examination, the top-ranked student will be rewarded with a top-grade elixir!

In reality, pills are not classified into grades, but only into different levels of efficacy. Some pills with the best efficacy are commonly referred to as "top-grade"!

Top-grade elixirs are something that not only these collateral branches and outsiders possess, but even many direct descendants of aristocratic families do not have.

It must be said that the Zhechongyuan does indeed have some wealth.

"Heading to select wooden military dummy figures!"

After a short while, the relevant matters concerning the spring exam were explained, and the instructor led the group to the wooden dummy field.

In fact, although the rewards differ each year for the autumn and spring exams, the format and rules remain largely unchanged.

The same applies to this year's spring college entrance examination.

The two sides were divided into two groups, namely, those recruited through the imperial examination and those recommended through the civil service examination. The assessment ended when one side annihilated the other.

The final top three rankings are determined based on everyone's performance in the matches, with the most important criterion being the number of enemies killed.

The rules are simple.

A moment later, the group arrived at the wooden dummy arena.

Since it's a battle between two armies, the first thing needed is an army. The Zhechong Academy trains generals, not cannon fodder. The autumn exam tests strategic thinking, while the spring exam tests troop deployment.

Each student can select one hundred wooden military puppets to serve as their army.

After six months of training, everyone basically had an idea of ​​what kind of military puppet to choose.

Chen Shi, however, looked around and found the place quite unfamiliar.

Because he offended the candidate for the Imperial Examination by "cheating" in the autumn exam, the candidate kept causing trouble for him, so he didn't touch these wooden military puppets except for the first few days.

"Forget it, let's choose the spearmen."

He had already mastered the Snake Formation from the Eight Trigrams Formation.

However, a mere hundred people cannot form a snake formation. Moreover, the snake formation is much more complex than the single-line snake formation, requiring different types of troops to correspond to the snake's head, body, tail, eyes, and tongue.

For example, the snake tongue, which is responsible for probing and luring the enemy, needs highly mobile cavalry, but the wooden puppets of the Zhechongyuan are all infantry and have no cavalry.

Therefore, Chen Shi simply chose one hundred spearmen.

"An inch longer, an inch stronger." When he first started training, Chen Shi chose to be a spearman, so he was somewhat familiar with the role, at least more so than with the other soldiers.

Besides, Chen Shi had already achieved the top score in the autumn examination and was slated to join the Longxiang Army. He had gained both prestige and practical benefits, so his performance in the spring examination was of little importance to him.

As for the top-grade pills as a reward, well, Chen Shi didn't want to get first place again; the benefits were minimal and the trouble was considerable.

"It's definitely much more difficult now."

With a wave of the command flag, the hundred spear-wielding puppets swayed and collided with each other, making it difficult to even move them out of the wooden dummy field, let alone form a battle formation.

Chen Shi frowned slightly; it seemed he still needed to figure it out.

An hour later, on the south slope of the back mountain.

"If you can't even operate a military puppet, how can you talk about troop deployment?"

"He really is a good-for-nothing."

Upon seeing Chen Shi, who arrived late, and the hundred crooked soldiers behind him, the rest of the Zheng Pisheng sneered, their eyes filled with mockery and disdain.

And yet he still got first place in the autumn exam.

This time, the test of troop deployment, although using military puppets, is still a real battlefield with real swords and spears, so it's not something you can cheat on based on connections or background.

"Sorry I'm a little late."

Finally arriving at the scene, the military figures stopped, and Chen Shi stepped forward, cupping his hands in greeting to the crowd.

"It's not just a little late, we've been waiting for an hour!"

"The situation in war is ever-changing. If we actually get to the battlefield, you'll be charged with delaying the battle even before the fighting begins."

With a cold snort, someone couldn't help but complain.

But fearing Chen Shi's "background," they dared not speak too harshly.

"Alright, it's getting late, let's discuss the battle plan."

Then someone else spoke, and the people who had spoken earlier stopped talking.

Chen Shi gently scratched the tip of his nose and walked closer.

On the open ground, a war sand table was set up, and the enemy and our forces were already deployed.

Our army is positioned on the southern slope, while the enemy is positioned at the northern foothills. Each student has 100 soldiers, while the number of recruited students and those recommended for official positions is roughly the same, around 70 or 80 each, which means each has 7,000 to 8,000 soldiers.

Thinking of this, Chen Shi couldn't help but look around.

Each unit consists of one hundred military puppets, and with seven or eight thousand puppets distributed across the hillside, the area does not appear crowded.

Puppets are puppets after all; once they're lined up and standing together, they don't move. If they were real soldiers, the space required would definitely be much larger.

"Let's all share our opinions and discuss how to fight this battle. Relying on Nangong Caiyun and Feng Chi, these 'recommended scholars' have been arrogant for a year. This time, we must thoroughly defeat them and show them our strength!"

A man who looked to be in his mid-twenties, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, spoke with a solemn expression.

Chen Shi did not know the man's name, but he seemed to have a prominent family background, so he was implicitly regarded as the leader among the recruits this year.

"A bunch of commoners, thinking they can compare to us after studying military strategy for a year? It's laughable. In my opinion, we should just sweep them aside!"

"That's right. I see that many of the candidates for the imperial examinations don't even know some simple formations. The difference in strength is huge, so there's no need to use any tricks against them."

"Defeat them head-on and show them the difference in skill!"

First one person made the suggestion, and then a whole bunch of people responded.

Even those who were recommended for official positions still looked down on those who were recommended for official positions.

"In previous years, there would have been no problem, but this year, with Nangong Caiyun and Feng Chi, these two are cunning and treacherous, and we must not underestimate them."

The man with sword-like eyebrows spoke, then shook his head slightly.

Seeing that he rejected the suggestion of direct confrontation, the people who had spoken earlier, though disagreeing, did not say anything more.

"Young Master Su is right. Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit, so we can't be careless either."

After a brief silence, Xiao Yunhu suddenly spoke, a slight smile on his face.

"How about we lure them out and draw them in deep?"