Spring is coming from the east, spring is coming in late summer, time is like flowing water, and the time will soon come to June.

June is summer, the climate is relatively hot, and June in Lingnan is even more so, the climate is unusually hot and humid, and at the same time, after the scorching sun, the torrential rain will pour down in an instant.

Guizhou, whose sub-city was built in the Tang Dynasty, has been repeatedly added and repaired, and has gradually expanded to its current scale.

The whole city of Guizhou chooses a relatively flat location between mountains and rivers. The Dongjiang River flows from north to south, directly to Yangshuo, the river is wide, the water flow is very rapid, and it can be navigated. The city is surrounded by tall and beautiful peaks, with the western and northern peaks close to the edge of the city. There are also several peaks within the city. The rest of the terrain is flat. The south is purple and close to the Nanyang River.

Guilin's landscapes are the best in the world, and the scenery of Guizhou is of course beautiful.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, prefectures and counties were established, and Guizhou, together with Guangzhou, Rongzhou, Yongzhou, and Annan, was called the Five Governors, which governed the forty-five prefectures of Lingnan, so the Five Governors were also called the Five Governors of Lingnan.

Songzhi Road, Junfu Prefecture, County, Guangnan Road is divided into Guangnan West Road and Guangnan East Road, the East Road is located in Guangzhou Prefecture, and the West Road is located in Guizhou.

Therefore, Guizhou is actually the larger state capital of Lingnan.

At this time, it was raining heavily in Guizhou, and the torrential rain poured down from the air, and the raindrops the size of soybeans smashed on the ground and the water, making a crackling sound.

Dense raindrops fell on the eaves of the gate tower above the tall city walls of Guizhou, and descended along the corners of the eaves, as if beads were connected with strings, and they formed a straight line.

Falling on the ground of the city walls, there was a dense ticking sound.

At this time, five or six Song officials stood under the city gate tower, and the official uniforms of Zhu, green, and blue on their bodies were almost wet by the raindrops drifting in.

"God is not beautiful, the road is muddy and difficult to walk, it is really hard for the students." An official in his 40s, dressed in a vermilion official robe, sighed as he looked at the students who braved the heavy rain to enter the city to take the exam.

Because Quang Nam West Road is located in a remote place, the road is difficult to travel, and at the same time, Quang Nam West Road cannot be compared with Gyeonggi Road and Kaifeng Prefecture, there are more scholars who study and the style of study is more prosperous, so the liberation test of the state army of the prefectures of Quang Nam West Road is not held in every state capital. At this time, almost all students from the state capital of Guangnan West Road rushed to Guizhou to participate in the liberation test, and many students who were far away even rushed to Guizhou several months in advance.

At the same time, the examiners in Guizhou are not worried about what to take the exam, and people can only go to the state capital with a large amount of money, and they will not go over the mountains and mountains to such a remote state capital, and the state capital with a scarce amount of money will come to participate in the test.

On the contrary, many students from Guangnan West Road rushed to the state capital with more money...

Of course, the Song government also has a way to prevent impersonation, such as ten people have insurance, etc., but there are policies and countermeasures, and the situation of taking the test is repeatedly prohibited, and the transportation is inconvenient, and the information cannot be transmitted in time, so it is impossible to put an end to the situation of taking the test.

But even so, the Jingshi Kaifeng Mansion is different, after all, it is at the feet of the Son of Heaven, and it is relatively rare.

The other person, who was also wearing a vermilion official robe, nodded: "At present, it seems that this is still the case on June 15." ”

"Lin Tongju, today is June 5th, and there are still 10 days before June 15th, why do you say that it will definitely rain on June 15th?" The forty-year-old Zhupao official asked in surprise.

"Yin Zhizhou, Xia Guan has lived in Lingnan for a long time, this rain is intermittent, and it will not stop without ten days and a half months." Lin Tong replied.

The forty-year-old Zhupao official is named Yin Mochuan, who is the governor of Guizhou, and is also the invigilator of the Guizhou release test.

Lin Tong's name is Lin Wencheng, and Ren Tong is the supervisor of the Guizhou examination.

"Judge Hu, how many students will participate in this release test?" Yin Mochuan then asked a judge named Hu Wenhai in a green robe.

Hu Wenhai, the judge of the Guizhou Festival, is the chief examiner of this release test, and the other chief examiner is Xu Bin, who joined the army in Guizhou.

"Yu Yin Zhizhou." Hu Wenhai replied: "So far, more than 500 students have come to Guizhou to take the exam. ”

Although Hu Wenhai is the chief examiner of this release test, Hu Wenhai is Yin Mochuan's subordinate, that is, his staff officer, so he speaks respectfully.

"So much?" Yin Mochuan was surprised when he heard this.

Lingnan is a place where people of many ethnic groups gather, in addition to the Han nationality, there are also Zhuang-Dong language tribes, Miao Yao language tribes, slang, wingmen, Li, barbarians and other hundreds of ethnic groups living in Lingnan.

Of course, the Song court allowed the Lingnan tribes within its jurisdiction to participate in the imperial examination, and even founded the Fan School, but Lingnan was full of smoke and miasma, the road was difficult to travel, and many of the Lingnan tribes still lived a life of slash-and-burn cultivation and drinking blood, and many people didn't even know Chinese characters, so how could they participate in the imperial examination?

Therefore, the previous imperial examinations were dominated by Han people, and the Yi people were extremely rare, and there were very few half-Han and half-Yi people like Li Sanjian.

The number of Han people living in Lingnan is not large, so there are even fewer students, and more than 500 people came to take the test this time, which is one of the more in Guizhou, which was generally around 200 people in previous years.

"What's the use of more?" Hu Wenhai shook his head slightly when he heard this: "There are very few people in Lingnan who have real materials, and it is a great fortune that more than 500 people can lift their heads." ”

"Hehe" Lin Wencheng smiled when he heard this: "There are only sixty people, is Hu Xianggong afraid of making up for the shortage?" Hu Xianggong is too worried"

"Lin Xianggong." Hu Wenhai then shook his head and said, "What's the use of making up enough?" How many people can go to high school to take the Beijing Rite Examination? Moreover... ”

Hu Wenhai said this and did not continue.

At present, the imperial court is ruled by the new party, and the new party's proposition is to build schools, county schools, state schools, taixue, and national prisons, and to take scholars by the method of three roundings, and gradually there is a trend of replacing the imperial examination, and even abolishing the imperial examination is possible, so that the quota allocated to the imperial examination is getting smaller and smaller.

The amount of the imperial court's tribute to Guangnan West Road this time was only sixty, which was much less than in previous years, so there were fewer chances for Lingnan to pass the imperial examination, and it was almost impossible.

Lingnan Juzi has paid tribute three times in a row, and no one has been killed, which is also one of the reasons why the amount allocated by the imperial court to the east and west roads of Guangnan is scarce.

If there are people on the east and west roads of Guangnan to pay tribute and the title of the first and gold lists, it can be described as "unprecedented", which is not too much at all.

"Judge Hu is reasonable." Yin Mochuan let out a long sigh and said, "No matter what, we should do our best to choose scholars for the imperial court and earn an honor for Guangnan." ”

The number of tributes and the number of officials is also one of the evaluations of the performance of local officials.

The local officials of the Song Dynasty generally practiced the system of one examination a year and one term of office for three years, but for remote places, such as the east and west roads of Guangnan, local officials such as Zhizhou, Tongju, and Judge basically realized a term of office of two or two and a half years.

When the term of office of local officials expires, the imperial court will conduct surveys and examinations on officials to evaluate their performance.

Of course, although the main content of the examination course is mainly to assess the civil status of officials, enter the old age, have no grievances in prison lawsuits, urge the department not to disturb, screen out the traitors and thieves, provide relief to the poor, do not migrate, agricultural and mulberry reclamation, water conservancy and repair, and many other inconvenient aspects, but the tribute is also one of the contents of the examination, and there are a lot of extra points.

Only officials with outstanding performance are eligible to be transferred to places with favorable conditions or close to Beijing as officials, or even directly transferred back to the central government to serve as officials.

The barbaric land of Lingnan has a harsh climate and difficult conditions, and the most important thing is that the miasma is pervasive, epidemics are rampant, and if you don't get it right, you will die here, so no one wants to be an official here.

Some officials were deposed to Lingnan as officials because they offended the emperor's relatives, high-ranking officials of the imperial court, or even offended the emperor.

Therefore, leaving the east and west roads of Quang Nam is the desire of many officials.

"The lower officials and others obey the orders of Prime Minister Yin." When all the officials heard this, they replied together.

"For those students who are really poor, we still need to take care of one or two, subsidize and subsidize some of their accommodation expenses." Yin Mochuan continued.

All the officials nodded yes together.

At this time, the rainstorm was slightly lighter, and there was a foggy scene between heaven and earth, the smoke and rain were hazy, and the city of Guizhou was shrouded in a fog, which had a unique charm.

The most important thing is that the air in the rain is exceptionally fresh and pleasant to smell.

"Judge Hu, how about I be admitted to the hospital?" Yin Mochuan then asked Hu Wenhai with a smile.

The lock-up time for the Guizhou release test is set for 10 days, which means that the release test time is scheduled for June 15, so the hospital needs to be locked for 10 days before June 15. The release test is generally locked for 10 days, while the provincial test of the Ministry of Rites is generally about a month.

The so-called locking of the hospital is one of the means to prevent cheating in scientific examinations.

Before the official examination, all temporarily appointed examiners must stay in the Tribute Academy, close the courtyard door, start drafting questions, collect test papers, arrange students' seats, and finally be discharged from the hospital just before the examination.

During this period, it was the time to lock the courtyard, and it was not allowed to leave the tribute courtyard for half a step, and the examiners ate, drank, and slept in it.

However, although the examiners were not allowed to go out, their lives in the tribute court were very comfortable, and the imperial court would allocate special funds for the tribute court.

The examiners drew up questions in the Gongyuan, discussed knowledge, and met friends with literature, except for no kaki and maiko, there were other basics.

Some of the state officials in the most remote state capitals quietly recruited some kaki and maiko to pass the time, which is another matter.

Although the rainstorm was slightly lighter, it was still raining, so Yin Mochuan rolled up the placket of his official robe and rolled it up to his waist, then took off his official boots, stood barefoot in the water and smiled at Hu Wenhai and others: "How about we have fun with our son?" ”

"Hahahaha, obey the orders of the prime minister." The officials laughed and took off their official boots together, and walked towards the tribute courtyard with kicks and taps.

A group of officials of all ages were giggling and laughing like children, and they were very happy.