A moment before dawn, the sky fell into darkness again.

The inn was brightly lit, and the students and scholars got up to wash, pack their things, and prepare for a crucial battle in their lives.

"Brother Zhu, has Brother Zhu washed up, go quickly......" Before the fat man Xue Chiren arrived, the loud voice came from afar.

The fat man Xue Chi walked to the door of Zhu Ping'an's room with a snort, and just raised his hand and was about to knock on the door, when the door opened.

"Let's go." Zhu Ping'an pushed open the door and said.

Zhu Ping'an walked in front, and the fat man Xue Chi followed closely behind, panting, and the fat person couldn't walk fast. Both of them were empty-handed, and they didn't even carry anything, and the fat man didn't even bring his golden lock and two wrenches. The college examination is similar to the government examination, and the things used in the examination should be provided by the examination room, and the examination discipline should be strictly taken to prevent cheating.

From time to time on the way, I met students and scholars who went to Jiangnan Gongyuan to take the exam, and they felt full of seriousness, and few were relaxed and cheerful.

"Ahem, ahem, wait for us." A call was heard in the distance.

Zhu Ping'an paused and followed the prestige, only to see several panting students and scholars walking on the bridge connecting the two banks of the Qinhuai River. are all acquaintances, among them, it was Zhu Ping'an's uncle Zhu Shouren who stopped Zhu Ping'an, and those who followed him were all Zhu Ping'an's villagers, including the uncle's fat friend.

Zhu Ping'an watched the uncle and others cross the bridge from the opposite side, and he didn't know what to say, this is going to be an exam, and he doesn't forget to take advantage of every opportunity!

Because of the urgency of time, Zhu Ping'an didn't want the fat man Xue Chi and them to introduce each other, so they walked to Jiangnan Gongyuan together.

When I arrived in front of the Jiangnan Gongyuan, the eastern sky had revealed a slight protein, and several clouds gathered in the sky, as if soaked in blood, showing a faint red, which seemed to indicate that today was an extremely bloody battle for the students and scholars.

At the gate of the Jiangnan Gongyuan, there were nearly 100 officials with serious expressions maintaining order, and there were dozens of armored sergeants on both sides standing across their swords, very serious. The candidates lined up separately according to the prefecture they came from, and the candidates from each prefecture were divided into two teams under the command of the official officer.

At the door, there were several cases, and after each case, there were two officials in yamen uniforms who were screening candidates from various provinces in front of the roll call.

In the roll call, each person's name is carefully noted with their place of origin, age, appearance, and three generations of resumes, all of which have been stamped in advance by the insurance warrant, or must be signed by themselves, which is more cautious than the prefectural and county examinations, in order to prevent fraud such as fraudulent examinations and substitutions.

The examiner sat on a chair in the middle of the gate, and the two rows stood with the candidates' subscribers.

The official pointed to the roll call book of the candidates, and the candidates stepped forward to answer, saying loudly who was the guarantor, and at this time, the examinee's student who should be insured stepped forward to screen, if it was found that it was not his own insurance, he should be raised on the spot, and the student officer would punish him on the spot as a fraudulent examination, and the consequences were very serious; If you find out that you should be protected, you should say loudly that you should be protected, so that the roll call is completed, and the candidates can enter.

"Zhu Ping'an, a native of Xiahe Village, is guaranteed by Sun Hongzhi, Liu Chuanwen, and Zhang Fangweng."

When it was Zhu Ping'an's turn, Zhu Ping'an stepped forward and bowed and sang loudly.

Soon, I heard the promise of my mentor Sun Laofu and several mentor friends, "Lisheng Sun Hongzhibao", "Lisheng Liu Chuan Wenbao". "廪生张放 Weng Bao "

After the guarantee was completed, the official nodded and motioned for Zhu Ping'an to enter the venue, and at this time, Zhu Ping'an had time to communicate with his mentor, Sun Laofu and others.

This time, Old Master Sun's eyes were quite commendatory.

Zhu Ping'an and Old Master Sun looked at each other, and hurriedly glanced at the school officer, who was a man in his fifties with a very official authority, with a very strong aura, a square face and a long beard, and he looked quite fair.

After just one glance, Zhu Ping'an was urged to move forward by the leading officer.

The gate of Jiangnan Gongyuan is a three-que gate, a wooden structure, with a pedestrian passage in the middle, and both sides are closed. The main entrance is five sizes, and the middle door is a plaque "Jiangnan Gongyuan". The left forehead "opens the door", and the right forehead "calls for Jun". There is a stone lion more than one meter high at the main entrance, there is a memorial arch on both sides, the book says: "Ming Jing takes scholars", "seeks talents for the country".

Zhu Ping'an was led into the gate of the Jiangnan Gongyuan by a small official, and walked less than two meters forward to see two stele pavilions, one of which was engraved with red characters "neat", and the other stele was engraved with the word "serious".

The little official led Zhu Ping'an to go forward for a short distance, Zhu Ping'an was shocked by a magnificent building, this is a square three-storey building, the door is hung with a banner "Mingyuan Building" three gold characters, the bottom floor is a wall on four sides, each has a round arch, the four eaves columns go straight from the bottom floor to the top of the building, the beams and columns are intertwined, and there are windows on all sides. Standing upstairs, you can definitely have a glimpse of the Gongyuan, and when the roll call is over, the examiner and the invigilator should be on this floor, commanding and directing the entire examination room.

This is worthy of being an examination room that can be used as a township test, but it is really not comparable to the county test and government test with a broken shed.

"Don't look at it, follow me to the house, there are people behind." The little official who led the way was accustomed to the surprise of the candidates who came to the exam for the first time to the Gongyuan, but habit is habit, and he still has to be urged, and he doesn't dare to delay the examination schedule.

"Oh." Zhu Ping'an came back to his senses and followed the leading officer to the house.

The so-called number room is the examination room for students' exams. Zhu Ping'an followed the leading officials around Mingyuan Tower to the west, of course, there are also houses in the east, but the number house where Zhu Ping'an is located is in the west.

Nima

When Zhu Ping'an saw the house, there were only these two words in his heart, the house was about one meter eight high, one meter two deep, about one meter wide, more than two meters on the outer wall, and there was no door. There are nearly 100 houses in one house, all of which face south, and the two houses are separated by brick walls. The big book "word" on the wall of the lintel of each lane is numbered, and the number is determined by the order of the "thousand-character text".

"Look, let's get in." The leading officer led Zhu Ping'an to a number house and urged Zhu Ping'an to hurry in.

Zhu Ping'an walked in under the urging of the small official, and looked at the number house, the two brick walls were between one or two feet from the ground, and the upper and lower brick supports were built to place the upper and lower wooden planks on it, and the two layers of wooden planks were staggered before and after, the upper plank was in front, the lower plank was back, the lower plank was a bench, and the upper plank was a table, which was very simple.

"Your college exam is okay, each exam is only one day, if it is a township exam, you have to take the exam for several days in a row, and at night take out the upper board and put it on the lower board to make the bed." The little official who led the way simply told Zhu Ping'an and left.

Sitting in the number house, Zhu Ping'an felt that there were only two words, one was grievance, and the other was fairness.

said that the grievance is because this house is too narrow, if you try to sleep, you can't stretch your legs, and the house is in disrepair, dark, damp and dilapidated; It is said that fairness is because regardless of the candidate's family economic status and social status, they are treated in this way, which fully reflects fairness.

Speaking of grievances, I can't help but think of the fat man Xue Chi, hehe, that goods will definitely shed their skin if they stay in the house for a day.

Soon someone put the exam supplies in a basket and sent them over, Zhu Ping'an took it and thanked him, and began to arrange and pack it up, and soon the pen, ink, paper and inkstone were all prepared one by one.

Everything is ready, just wait for the east wind.

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