The two masters said that they would start to draw up standards, and they began to speak at length.

"You two are here prepared. When the two of them talked about a paragraph, Tang County Ling stroked his beard and smiled.

"I've been thinking about this since I received the call, haha. Master Qin said with a smile, and Master Song also nodded slightly.

It's always better to be prepared than not to be prepared, after the two masters finished talking about their opinions, Zhu Gantang thought for a moment, and also talked about his own opinions, and the three of them began to discuss.

Tang County's order was just an observer from beginning to end, and he didn't intervene at all. Listening and listening, his expression kept changing, and finally he looked at the eyes of the two masters, with deep thought, it was completely different from before.

The three discussed harmoniously and quickly came to a conclusion, listing a total of twenty.

No matter what the category, there are essentially common parts. These 20 articles include all the ten categories of the apprenticeship test, and all categories can be applied.

"Yes, now we can get started. Zhu Gantang said with a smile.

This time, the two masters had no opinion.

The three of them officially began to mark and judge.

The three of them lived in one place, and the little official sent the cloth bags to them in order, and they opened them with their own hands to read them, and then put them back after evaluating the scores, and sent them to another place for another examiner to see.

The total score is 100 points, and the points are added or subtracted according to the 20 points previously determined.

However, according to the criteria set before the exam, the full score is not only 100 points.

On the wooden bench, five points can be added for each complete and practical mortise and tenon structure.

There is no upper limit to this bonus and can be increased indefinitely.

Of course, the people who are here today are all apprentices, and their abilities are limited, and if they can master more than four mortise and tenon structures, they are already geniuses among geniuses. The average apprentice usually has one or two of the most basic and simplest of them, and even then they can get a little extra points.

Of course, the premise of these five points is "complete and practical".

This completeness, on the one hand, depends on the production skills of the mortise and tenon joint itself, and on the other hand, it also depends on the effect it achieves.

The most basic function of mortise and tenon is to connect, and whether the connection is firm or not is the most intuitive standard.

Tang County Ling was born as a serious scholar, and it was the first time he presided over the local Baigong Movement, and he was actually quite curious about the related process.

And just now, the two masters actually gave him a dismount invisibly, and it was not as simple as he imagined to let him see the craftsmen.

Now as soon as the official scoring began, he walked over to Master Song and sat down, keeping an eye on his every move.

A soap-clothed servant stepped forward with a burlap bag of primary colors, which Tang Xianling remembered represented the work of carpentry apprentices.

Master Song untied the slipknot at the mouth of the bag and opened it to reveal a wooden stool inside.

Tang Xian Ling looked at this wooden stool and immediately frowned.

"This craft, dare to come to the apprenticeship test?"

What appeared in front of him was a square wooden stool, with a square surface, square legs, and a square beam between the legs.

Even before Tang County Commander became the county commander, his family background was relatively solid, and even a simple bench at home would make all kinds of tricks, and he really had never seen such a "unpretentious" to clumsy little stool.

Master Song didn't say anything, he touched the stool from beginning to end, then stood up, lifted it, and slammed it to the ground!

His action was so sudden that Tang County Ling was taken aback.

He jerked to his feet, took a step back, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Master Song, who had always been silent, still did not say anything at this time, picked up the wooden stool, looked at its number, and wrote on the paper: "No. 13, eighty-five points." ”

"Eighty-five, such a high score?" Tang Xian Ling saw it and asked in surprise.

"The shape is square, the length of the legs is appropriate, the thickness is the same, and there is no bending. The bench surface is smooth and clean, without burrs, strong and load-bearing, and it is undamaged. Complete and practical two kinds of tenons, plus ten points. ”

It was rare for Master Song to say such a long list of words, put the stool aside, and beckoned for the next one.

Tang Xianling was stunned when he heard it. At this time, another small official stepped forward to take this stool back into the cloth bag, but Tang Xian ordered to wave his hand to stop it, pick it up and savor it.

He could vaguely feel why Master Song would give this humble stool such a high rating, but he still couldn't understand it.

Finally, the wooden stool was put back into the cloth bag and sent to Master Qin. Tang Xianling pretended to be casual and paced over, wanting to see his opinion.

Master Qin's inspection steps were similar to those of Master Song, but in the end, he didn't simply smash it, but each of them held a stool leg and pulled it to both sides.

The lines are not moving, and they are very strong.

Master Qin nodded in satisfaction and wrote down the score on the paper in front of him.

Eighty-five points.

It's exactly the same as Master Song.

"Isn't this score a bit high?" Tang County Ling couldn't help but ask again.

When Shangfeng asked, Master Qin's attitude was much better than that of Master Song. He took the wooden stool and explained it to him.

"Adults think this stool is too simple, not very beautiful, and doesn't deserve this score, right? The master has the standard of the master, and the apprentice has the standard of the apprentice. We make all kinds of furniture, the first requirement is practical, and the second requirement is decoration. No matter how beautiful a stool is, it will collapse when you sit on it, so what's the use?"

"Take this stool as an example, its basic skills are very solid, not very beautiful, but it is indeed practical. You see the wooden line here, dug out at one time, straight and straight, and it has not been repaired with a stalk. I can't practice this hand without any effort. And the bench surface here, there is a knot, this kind of place is the most difficult to deal with, but he has done it so flat and neat, you see, you can't touch it, right? The whole stool is very strong, and it won't break if you sit on it for ten years. With this handicraft alone, there must be no worries about eating. ”

He told Tang County Ling a few more places, how to deal with a certain detail, how this person did it, and how to do it in place.

Tang Xian Ling had never studied these before, and when he heard this, he sighed: "This kind of small place, there is so much knowledge!"

"Ten years of sharpening a sword, we craftsmen are like this. After three years as an apprentice, I have already worked hard to learn this level. Further up, carving, tooth picking, three bent legs, wrong gold inlay...... There is no end to learning, and there is a lot to practice. ”

Tang Xianling didn't speak for a while, and then the little official presented another candidate's work.

As soon as Master Qin took it, he frowned: "What the hell! I can't even see the straight ink line that I played, what kind of carpenter work do I do!"

This stool is, and it is also a square stool, and the four legs are not the same thickness at first glance, and there are traces of ink lines on it. Compared with this, Tang County Ling knew how standard and accurate the square stool in front of him was.

This time, Master Qin didn't even try whether it was strong or not, and directly sentenced a two-point sentence on the paper. These two points are still because the candidate reluctantly uses a mortise and tenon joint to connect, but the two sides are not neat, and they can only be barely aligned, and the gap left in the middle is enough to stuff a chopstick......

Next, Tang County Ling opened his eyes and saw all kinds of stools of various sizes beside Master Qin.

Most of the candidates did a very standard no-tunic square stool, as they did in the first one. Their level is similar to this, the basic skills are solid, and the wooden stools made are smooth and sturdy, which is very practical.

For this kind of wooden stool, Master Qin usually gives eighty to eighty-five points, which will not be low, but it will not go up again.

This kind of apprentice, if he knows not only wooden stools, but also other furniture, is enough to become a teacher under serious circumstances, and it is not a problem to help ordinary farmers build a set of whole house furniture.

However, the apprentices did not take the average.

Only 30 people were selected for the apprenticeship test carpentry project. With only this level, it is impossible to stand out and be on the list of apprentices in Yushui County.

There are some of them that are relatively poor.

Like the one who only scored two points just now, it was not the worst that Tang County Ling had seen.

This one, when Master Qin got it, it was still the shape of a complete wooden stool, but it was made roughly.

The one he got later didn't feel right when it was still in the bag, and when it was poured out, it was full of scattered pieces of wood, and the shape of the wooden bench was not visible at all!

The most important thing is that this stool is the first to reach him, and it has not been tortured by Master Song's hot hands.

Master Qin was very speechless, and Tang County Ling was also speechless. He saw Master Qin write a zero score on the paper, and he couldn't wait to write an excerpt to report it to the upward, begging for a negative score for the apprentice's test!

At this time, another cloth bag was sent to Master Qin.

He touched it, but before he could untie the knot, he let out a soft "huh" and his eyes lit up.

"What?" Tang County Ling Zheng looked at it and hurriedly asked.

"That's interesting. Master Qin untied the knot and took the stool in his hand.

This time, even Tang County's eyes lit up.

The question of this round of apprenticeship examination is a wooden stool, although the picture shows a square stool, but in fact, there is no requirement that it must be round or square.

In contrast, the square stool is much less difficult than the round stool, and the exam time is only one day, and most of the candidates are illiterate, so it is natural to choose the square stool to do it.

But what appeared in front of Tang County Ling now was a round stool, a carved round stool.

Its bench surface has a total of two circles, the outer circle is round, but the inner circle is carved with a plum blossom picture. Between the rugged mountains and rocks, a plum blossom emerges ruggedly, blooming on its branches.

Under the flower branches, next to the mountain rocks, a deer lay peacefully, with a little pattern on its body, like petals on the branch falling on the body.

The carving of the whole bench is all hollowed, the thick part is about the thickness of chopsticks, and the thin part is only the thickness of a toothpick, which is delicate and complex, and beautiful!

Tang Xian Ling stared at this carving for a moment, and after a while, he said repeatedly: "Good painting, there is a sense of meaning!"

Then he asked, incredulously, "Did this really happen in one day?"

Master Qin didn't speak, he looked at the stool a few times over and over again, and muttered: "Relief, round carving, openwork." There are three different carving methods used for one stool...... What a quick hand!"