In the early morning of 25 April, the examination halls of various state capitals were crowded with candidates waiting to enter the examination, tall, short, fat and thin, old and weak, young and old, and so on.

The older ones in the crowd were already white-haired, and the younger ones were just teenagers.

No matter how old or young, all the candidates had excited and eager expressions on their faces, and they couldn't wait to rush into the gate of the examination hall immediately.

They have only been waiting for a scientific examination for decades, this is definitely a good opportunity to turn over, everyone is not willing to miss this opportunity, this year missed it, and I don't know when it will be next time.

At the moment of Shen, a bell rang in front of the examination hall, the guards opened the gate of the examination hall, and the officials announced the entry of the candidates.

The state test has finally begun!

Excited candidates with pen and ink, lined up through a simple inspection, and walked into the gate of the examination institute.

After all the hundreds of candidates were admitted to the hospital, and at three o'clock in the application, the official gave an order, and the forbidden army on duty in the examination hall closed the door.

In the examination hall, after the candidates are seated according to the number, they will start to drip grinding.

At the same time, the governor of the state government gave an order, and the officials in the field began to distribute the test questions and answer sheets.

After that, the governor of the state government went to each examination area to announce the rules of the examination room.

As soon as the time of application arrived, the bell in the examination hall rang, and the state examination began.

The test questions in each state capital are basically written by the governor of the state government himself, and very few are asked to ask the officials with higher qualifications in the state capital to write the questions on their behalf, but no matter who makes the questions, in theory, they are kept secret before the exam.

However, due to the fact that the state examination department only gives five recommended places to each state capital this time, the difficulty of the exam questions should not be too simple, of course, it cannot be too difficult, and the people who can be in charge of the state capital are people with flexible heads, as long as they want to select carefully, the top five can be selected by the exam questions.

The state test starts at the fourth quarter of the Shen hour and ends at the fourth quarter of the unitary hour, one test question, a full five hours.

Considering that the northern culture and education have been abandoned for a long time, and the state governments have not organized the state examination for many years, and lack of experience, the state examination requirements issued by the Ministry of Rites are not so strict and cumbersome, anyway, the provincial examination must be strictly screened again.

Five days after the end of the state test, the state government announced the top five rankings of the state test.

On the day of the state test list, the forbidden army team that had rushed to the states from Bianjing to supervise the state test appeared in front of the governor of the state capital.

They showed the local prefect or prefect an order jointly issued by the Ministry of Rites and the Privy Council, and the answer sheets of the top five candidates in the state examination were to be transferred to Bianjing for retention, and at the same time, the candidates were required to check their handwriting in person, and leave the thumb prints of the candidates' left and right hands on the examination papers.

Looking at the inspection order suddenly presented by the forbidden army team, some of the governors and prefects had slight doubts, some directly ordered their subordinate officials to immediately follow them, some hesitated, and some even questioned the identity of the forbidden army and the authenticity of the inspection order, and the scenes occurred in hundreds of state capitals almost at the same time.

In order to prevent the state government from not cooperating, there is an agreement on the reading order that the time limit is three days, and if the answer sheet cannot be transferred within three days, or the candidate's information cannot be checked, the candidate's qualification for the provincial examination will be cancelled, and the quota of the state will not be supplemented.

This time, the Ministry of Rites led the issuance of the order to prevent the state and provincial examinations from being effectively controlled due to the hasty holding of the imperial examinations, so that people with unscrupulous intentions took advantage of the loopholes and broke the face of the imperial court.

Emperor Zhao Yan attached great importance to the imperial examination this time, because this was the first imperial examination held since the relocation of the capital, and it was also the opening of the imperial examination in Bianjing after a hiatus of nearly 40 years, so the special order Prime Minister Shi Hao personally presided over the matter.

Fraud in scientific examinations has always been difficult to eradicate, let alone Jiangbei, which has not had imperial examinations for decades and has been negligently managed.

After Shi Hao expressed to Zhao Yan that there was a possibility of fraud in the state and provincial tests, and that it was difficult to control the current governance of the local government according to the current situation, Zhao Yan remembered the intelligence network and secret spy that Yang Congyi had mentioned to him, so he proposed that Shi Hao ask Yang Congyi about his suggestion to see if he had a suitable solution.

Shi Hao went to the Privy Council with the mentality of a dead horse being a live horse doctor and explained his intention to Yang Congyi.

Originally, Yang Congyi replied directly that there was no way, but after Shi Hao explained that the emperor suggested that he come to ask for a way to let him talk about how to help, Yang Congyi thought about it carefully, and studied and discussed the issue of candidates for the state and provincial examinations with Shi Hao.

In the end, they discussed a feasible method, and after reporting to the emperor for approval, they sent the most special elite military army of the Great Song Dynasty to replace the officials, and carried the order to the prefectures and capitals of Jiangbei.

The reason why the elite army was selected was first of all because it was a cavalry unit that had been formed for more than seven years and had outstanding achievements.

Secondly, because of the whole army of the elite army, everyone from top to bottom is literate and literate, and they will never run the wrong way with the map.

Third, and the most critical reason, the discipline of the elite army is absolutely strict.

This elite army was originally rushed to Xingren Mansion with Yang Congyi, and after hearing about the meritorious deeds of this elite army, it was accepted by Zhao Yan as the forbidden army of the Son of Heaven, and then under Yang Congyi's proposal, it has been stationed in Lanyang County between Xingren Mansion and Bianjing, Gong Wei Jingshi.

After being stationed in Lanyang County, the size of the Jingwu Army has also slowly expanded from the original 5,000 people to 8,000 people every year.

In order to carry out the task of this state test and supervision, the Jingwu Army allocated more than 5,000 people, but they did not rush to Bianjing to listen to the order, but Shi Hao, the prime minister who presided over the imperial examination, personally went to the Jingwu Army garrison in Lanyang County with the transfer order, and Yang Congyi did not leave Beijing to accompany him in order to avoid suspicion.

The key points of the state test inspection task, Shi Hao first explained in detail to the commander of the Jingwu Army, and then the generals and school officers of the Jingwu Army conveyed it down in turn, until every ordinary soldier who accepted the task, and finally Shi Hao immediately selected soldiers for inspection to ensure that everyone who carried out the task understood the content and key points of the task.

After Shi Hao left the transfer order, he left the Jingwu Army station, which team of forbidden troops went where he didn't know, and he didn't have to participate, according to the Jingwu Army commander, before leaving, all the forbidden troops, including himself, didn't know who would go where, because when the final mission was carried out, hundreds of reading orders were randomly distributed.

What to do, the reading order is clearly written.

And the forbidden army squad in front of him represents the majesty of the emperor and the imperial court.

Whether they are willing or unwilling, the prefects and prefects have no choice and no right to refuse.

Hand over the examination papers of the top five candidates in the state examination, find five candidates to leave handwriting on the spot, and leave thumb prints on the examination papers and handwriting, and then the candidates take off their shoes and socks, and the inspector and the forbidden army personally measure the height of each candidate, and record the physical characteristics, and then the candidates and the leader of the forbidden army jointly sign and press the thumb prints.

After this process is completed, the candidate's information is collected, and the inspection is over.

On the day that the various forbidden army squads got the complete information of the candidates, they urged their horses to rush to the Jingwu Army garrison in Lanyang County.

The information of the candidates recommended by the state government to participate in the provincial examination must be kept in the garrison of the Jingwu Army until the end of the provincial examination and the marking is completed, and the candidates' information will be transferred.

The imperial examination is a major national event, related to the hearts of students and people all over the world, and it is the first time in Bianjing that the imperial examination has been held in 40 years, and the imperial court has to be cautious.

Since August, students from all over the world have rushed to Bianjing to prepare for the provincial examination.

Since many Jiangnan students went to Bianjing to request to participate in this imperial examination, and they did not have a recommendation document from the local government where they were from, the Ministry of Rites sent a message to Jiangnan that Bianjing would hold a state examination specifically for Jiangnan students in mid-August, and after passing the state examination, they would be eligible to participate in the provincial examination.

On August 17, just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Ministry of Rites held a state examination for Jiangnan students in the examination institute, with as many as 100 participants.

Five days later, the results of the state examination were announced, and the top 30 candidates were qualified for the Bianjing provincial examination.

Most of the nameless people on the state examination list went home to Bianjing and returned to Jiangnan, of course, some candidates stayed in Bianjing, just to know the focus and difficulty of the Bianjing imperial examination for the first time, so as to prepare for the next imperial examination in advance.

Whether it is Jiangnan or Jiangbei, candidates and students who have never been to Bianjing are almost full of curiosity about Bianjing.

In September, there are more and more students and candidates in Bianjing.

According to the estimation of the Ministry of Rites, it has far exceeded the total number of people who have been qualified to participate in the provincial examination, which shows that the students in Jiangbei are very concerned about the imperial examination, even if they cannot participate in the provincial examination, they must come to feel the atmosphere of the imperial examination, and the heart of yearning for culture and education is not weak compared with Jiangnan.

The enthusiasm of the students for the imperial examination is enough to show their confidence in the Bianjing court, especially the hundreds of Jiangnan students who traveled thousands of miles to the north, which greatly encouraged Emperor Zhao Yan.

So before the provincial test began, when Shi Hao and others were busy with the provincial test, Zhao Yan also specially summoned the main officials of the Ministry of Rites to discuss the establishment of Bianjing Taixue, but in the end Shi Hao was politely rejected on the grounds that the time was not yet ripe.

Zhao Yan has the ambition to surpass the previous emperors of the Great Song Dynasty, so he not only wants to win the hearts of ordinary people, but also the hearts of the world's students and scholars, because they are the future of the Bianjing court.

On September 15, the provincial examination was held as scheduled in the Ministry of Rites Tribute Academy, and the identity of the candidates began to be checked at three o'clock on the same day.

At three o'clock, the entrance of the candidates ended, the gate of the Gongyuan was closed, and the iron lock sealed the door.

At four o'clock, a bell rang, and the provincial test officially began.

The Bianjing Provincial Examination is not due to haste and lack of preparation than Lin'an to simplify the process, reduce the difficulty, the whole provincial test is the same as Lin'an, after the hospital is locked, all candidates take one test a day, three times in a row.

Therefore, the provincial test is twice as difficult as the previous state test, and the subjects and content of the test have also increased a lot, and the test time is longer.