After walking for less than two hours, the city walls of Qingyang Mansion were already in sight. Zhang Fan looked at this building nearly five centuries ago, and couldn't help but feel a sense of time and space confusion! He straightened his clothes, took his bags and walked into the city gate. The sergeant guarding the city knew that he was a scholar who came to take the exam when he looked at his dress, and many Xiucai had recently come to the county seat to participate in the township exam, so he did not stop him. Zhang Fan walked into the city gate with the respectful and envious gaze of the soldiers guarding the city.

This was the first time he saw a street market in the Ming Dynasty. Although the weather is cooler in the north, the weather in August is still very hot. The market was crowded with people, vendors shouting, peddlers hurrying to the streets, and all sorts of people busy with their lives. Zhang Fan looked at these people, although life was a little hard, they were all full of energy, and they also had many insights in their hearts. Maybe some changes have taken place in the lives of modern people, but the essence of life has not changed. The rich people above the restaurant on the side are still talking and laughing, and the people on the lower floor are still busy, maybe this is called life. At all times, Zhang Fan envies those successful people, whether their success depends on themselves or their elders. Zhang Fan also always believes that he can succeed.

On the street, you can see a lot of people who come to catch the exam, some are young like Zhang Fan, some are middle-aged and unambitious, and some are seventy or eighty, full of vicissitudes and perseverance! Seeing that Zhang Fan kept sighing in his heart, the Chinese really want to get ahead and want to be officials too much!

Since the next day is the time of the township test, all the inns in Qingyang Mansion are full! Zhang Fan searched for a long time before he found a showman who was willing to share the exam with him in an inn with not very good conditions. That person is from Heshui County, surnamed Wang, is in his forties, and he has not won the exam for more than ten years. Zhang Fan saw that he was a little silent, so he took care of himself and rested.

Early the next morning, Zhang Fan and Wang Xiucai got up and packed up their things. They had to rush to the Qingyang Mansion to listen to the proclamation before they could enter the exam. Wang Xiucai seemed to be a little anxious and left first. Zhang Fan ate some casually and set off early. When I arrived at the gate of the Yaya, I only saw that it was crowded, at least more than 500 people! Zhang Fan was indeed taken aback, he couldn't imagine that there were so many talents in a small Qingyang Mansion! It can be seen how many Ming intellectuals there are! Most of them are in their thirties, and there are less than ten talented people like Zhang Fan, who are only in their teens, which shows the difficulties of the Ming Imperial Examination.

This year is the first year of Longqing, the emperor granted amnesty to the world, and opened the imperial examination. This is really a happy event for the talents who came to catch the exam, especially those who are older, and many people have smiles on their faces.

Zhang Fan didn't have any joy, although there were many people admitted, but he didn't just want to be admitted! Zhang Fan must be in the top few to achieve his goal, and it is best to win Xie Yuan, so as to live up to his own visit to the Ming Dynasty! Zhang Fan is also full of confidence, he knows what will be tested in this exam in his memory, and he also knows that these things are clearly imprinted in his mind. Zhang Fan believes that he has the ability to achieve the crown!

The long story of the government only made Zhang Fan drowsy, and many talents on the side were as excited as if they had been beaten with chicken blood, Zhang Fan really didn't know what to be excited about, he didn't have that kind of infinite worship of imperial power!

It took an hour, and the government finally finished reading the article on the list, I don't know who ghostwrote it for the emperor, anyway, it won't be the article written by the emperor himself, and the talents present all knelt on the ground and shouted long live. Zhang Fan had no choice but to learn to kneel down with the people next to him. He didn't want to be too conspicuous, it wouldn't be worth it if he was killed again for a crime of contempt for the saint!

These passes are all over, it is close to noon, some students are in a hurry to take the exam, they haven't eaten breakfast, Zhang Fan saw that some people are already a little tired, most of these people are some young candidates, maybe it is the first time to take the township exam, I don't know if the government will be so wordy. Those older candidates don't have these problems and are obviously experienced. The students began to enter the examination room. Since there were many more people taking the exam this time than before, the indoor examination room could not accommodate it, so it was held on the school grounds of the Fuwei instead. Although some Xiucai think that as an intellectual, it is insulting to take the exam in those military schools with five big and three rough people, but in order to get ahead and for their dream of becoming an official, they still gladly accept it.

The scorching sun can't stop the enthusiasm of these talents, and some people are sweating hot, but they are still persevering. When Zhang Fan first sent out the test paper, he skimmed it roughly, and found that there was nothing he didn't understand, and his mood suddenly relaxed. With the calligraphy in this body memory, answer the questions unhurriedly. There are many people like Zhang Fan in the examination room, but there are not many people who are really confident, and most of them are just pretending.

Zhang Fan looked at the test questions and was a little puzzled. Doesn't it all mean that the imperial examination topics of the dynasty are all brain-dead? Although these topics can't get rid of the shackles of feudal etiquette and Confucianism, they seem to be very reliable, and it seems that if you are not familiar with history, you really can't talk nonsense, it will kill people.

There is plenty of time for exams, and most people are working hard to write for fear that they won't have enough time, while others frown and meditate as if they have encountered some problem. Zhang Fan is still writing his answers leisurely, and from time to time he will consider the deep meaning of the question. There are a lot of test questions, Zhang Fan answered the questions unhurriedly, using this most proficient calligraphy font, and tried to write every word decently. Sometimes I can't help but think that I have traveled back to the Ming Dynasty but still have to sit in the examination room like the college entrance examination, and I can't help but feel a strange feeling in my heart.

Soon Zhang Fan finished his test paper, he habitually checked it, revised some things that were not hot enough, and found that there was no problem. He looked at the time, it was almost dusk, and there were still nearly two hours before the end of the exam, and then he looked at the other candidates around him who were still writing hard, sometimes frowning. Zhang Fan already felt a little hungry in his stomach, obviously the little bit he ate in the morning had already been digested, he saw that some people were already hungry and dizzy and insisted on the "front line" in the examination room, and he did admire the spirit of the ancients in his heart. But that doesn't mean you have to suffer the same sins as them. Zhang Fan looked at the invigilator sitting in front of him, looked at the hundreds of candidates below answering the papers, and sometimes tasted tea, and raised his hand when he felt that it was almost over, indicating that he had finished answering. The government had noticed Zhang Fan a long time ago, and found that this candidate was not very old, but he was a little old, and he was very personable when answering the questions. He looked at Zhang Fan's records, and at the age of sixteen, he was admitted to Xiucai for the first time in the college examination, and he was still the first place, which is really terrifying! Now Zhang Fan has submitted the paper early, which shows that he is full of confidence! At that time, people didn't have the modern idea of breaking jars. The government officials motioned to the officials on the side, and the officials came to Zhang Fan's table, motioned for Zhang Fan to leave, and then sealed the side with Zhang Fan's name written on the spot with paper, in order to prevent fraud, these officials were illiterate.

Zhang Fan left the center of the examination room, and some candidates did not look surprised when they saw Zhang Fan handing in the paper in advance, but stopped asking questions in a hurry and concentrated on answering the paper; Some people don't look at Zhang Fan at all, they only know how to bow their heads and answer.

Zhang Fan came to the government without making a sound, bowed to the government office, and the government returned the salute and signaled that Zhang Fan could leave. Zhang Fan turned around and left the school yard and walked towards the inn, he didn't see the government after reading Zhang Fan's test paper again, he smiled very relieved.

After Zhang Fan returned to the inn, he sorted out his things, and then went out to eat, the things in the inn were much more exquisite than the street food outside, but they were also much more expensive, Zhang Fan didn't want to spend too much money on eating. ordered a bowl of noodles and a plate of beef, this is Zhang Fan's dinner, Zhang Fan, who has been hungry for a day, only thinks that this is a rare delicacy, and eats it. The people next to him looked at him in amazement, not because of a Xiucai eating on the street, after all, they have seen a lot of poor Xiucai, but they have never seen a Xiucai person eat like this, wanting to starve to death and be reincarnated.

Zhang Fan didn't care about the eyes of passers-by at all, and still enjoyed his own meal. Until he finished eating, Zhang Fan comfortably spit out a mouthful of turbidity, patted his somewhat full stomach, paid the bill and left under the surprised gaze of passers-by.

He wandered through the dusk bazaar and found things that were still being sold hundreds of years later, and he saw things that even his grandfather had only mentioned. It wasn't until it got dark that Qingyang Mansion was subordinate to the border and a curfew was to be imposed at night, so he returned to the inn.

In the guest room, Wang Xiucai was already sitting there not knowing what he was thinking. Zhang Fan said hello: "Brother Wang." ”

"Brother Zhang." Wang Xiucai returned the salute and fell silent again.

Zhang Fan saw that he was not very interested, maybe there was something wrong with the exam, and he didn't want to bother, so he lay down on his bunk and rested. He will go home tomorrow morning, and he will be out for two days, so as not to worry his mother at home.