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On the first day of the first month of March, the first examination after Emperor Yufeng succeeded to the throne began. Outside the gate of the Gongyuan, a large number of candidates with baskets in their hands and anxious faces gathered. Everyone knows how important it is to be able to jump over the dragon gate for their future. Among these people, there is even such a person with gray hair and an old face. Compared with others, their faces are a little more calm, but there is also a little helplessness.

I only heard the chief examiner Ma Fengchu shouting: "Open the tribute gate!" The gate of the Tribute Courtyard, which had been passed down for hundreds of years, slowly opened, and the crowd entered in order, bowing their heads one by one. There are two small halls next to each of the corridors, called the "Inspectorate Hall", which is used to check whether the candidates have entrainment. When you enter here, you must be at the mercy of the servants, and you must untie your clothes and search carefully.

However, there are also those who go through the door, and this place is just a passing scene to deal with the errand.

Tang Zengyuan, the deputy chief examiner, glanced at the move that was rushing in from below, and couldn't help but feel emotional. He also came through this road, and naturally knew the difficulties and obstacles. First, there is a ten-year cold window, and then there is the hospital test, the township test, the meeting test, and the palace test, and many people have to be screened out at each level. Even if he came to the capital to participate in the Spring Festival all the way, but after all, there are only a few people who can get the Jinshi, Tang Zengyuan has seen many young people who are known as prodigies and talents fall on their heads and bleed in the imperial examination, but this is all helpless. Since ancient times, the imperial examination has been a single-plank bridge for reading out of the country, and those who have no grace on the road can only struggle to find a way out on it.

Previously, Tang Zengyuan also inquired about Ma Fengchu's intentions and learned that the examiner also had the intention of reporting the shortcomings of the imperial examination. Therefore, he decided to co-sign with him after the end of this course, and even those unlucky targets were found. But. happened to encounter such things as the so-called epidemic, so it was delayed.

He was thinking nonsense there. Unexpectedly, the chief examiner Ma Fengchu walked up to him with a smile, and suddenly said, "Lord Tang, what's the matter, are you still thinking about something?" ”

Tang Zengyuan came to his senses at this time, shook his head in self-loss and said, "It's just a little feeling." I'm afraid it's not the first time I've presided over the Spring Festival, why, seeing so many people moving down, don't you have any ideas? He raised his head leisurely, "Since the emperor has entrusted such a great task to you and me, and the responsibilities are very important, I am afraid of disappointing the holy grace!" ”

Ma Fengchu patted Tang Zengyuan's shoulder understandingly, although the two were of the same age, he was a child of a family after all, and he couldn't fully understand the hardships of a poor scholar. Of course, it's not as sad as the other party. However, Tang Zengyuan's last words made him feel a wave of ominous omen, and it was easy to settle down and comfort: "Lord Tang." If this prevention can't eliminate the disaster, then it's a real number of days, and it can't be reversed by manpower. You can smell it, too, and the sour vinegar smell in it almost smokes people down. I don't know how many jars of vinegar those servants poured into it. Either way, we can only do our best. ”

Feng Wuhou on the side saw the solemn appearance of the two of them, and couldn't help but laugh in his heart, and stepped forward and said in words: "The two adults are both people who came over on the imperial examination field, don't you need to express this kind of emotion?" Besides, the so-called natural disasters are just a rumor, and if anyone dares to do anything in it, this king must kill them! A sudden sinister look appeared on his face, apparently in earnest.

Ma Fengchu and Tang Zengyuan were dumbfounded when they heard this, but they both nodded involuntarily, and the three of them walked into the examination room together. Seeing the two examiners and a prince from the prison at the same time, the crowd hurriedly bowed together. After the two chief and deputy examiners returned the ceremony, they led these lifters to pay homage to the tablet of Confucius, the "Holy Master of Dacheng". Once all the work is done, the candidate will actually enter the number room. I saw that in the room that could only accommodate one person, the candidates were busy lighting candles, putting a pen and ink inkstone, and then standing up upright, and the examiners in each room had to distribute the test questions. Everyone smelled the unusual smell in the examination room, but they didn't ask any questions, and no one wanted to touch the mold easily.

After the first test question was announced, Ma Fengchu and Tang Zengyuan also relaxed. The two of them thought to themselves that they had been impartial all the way this time, and they did not accept half of the benefits from others, so they felt open in their hearts. Ma Fengchu even secretly said behind his back: "This time's candidates are really a great blessing, bumping into the two of us who don't want money." Tang Zengyuan was very funny, of course he knew the meaning of this colleague's contrivedness, but it was just to invite pets, and he said it so high-soundingly. However, he also knew that there were drawbacks in the field, so he did not relax, but instead inspected the examination venues one by one with his hands behind his back.

The first day of the Gongyuan was very quiet, except for one candidate who quit because his body could not support it, everyone else was there to answer the questions. Tang Zengyuan silently inspected for a while, but found that several seemed to be talented, so he secretly paid attention. He also knows that now that the imperial court is employing people, if he only takes those nerds, it will naturally not work, and in the emperor's mind, it seems that talents who can understand the way of world affairs and economy are more important.

On the second day, Tang Zengyuan was also a little tired, so he was no longer as rigorous as on the first day, and after slipping around, he wandered in the room and changed to Ma Fengchu to go out to inspect. He is really a little tired, and his body is fine, but his heart is hanging like this, which is really not a taste. He had just been squinting for half an hour, and an errand officer rushed in in a fuss and reported in a panic: "Lord Qiqi, there are three candidates in the east who seem to be unable to do it!" ”

Tang Zengyuan, who was still sleepy just now, suddenly felt a thrill, couldn't take care of anything, rushed forward in a few steps, and asked nervously: "What's going on, wasn't it okay yesterday?" He is usually the most kind and easy to deal with, but at this time, his face is cloudy, and his expression is a little terrifying.

The errand officer probably didn't expect Tang Zengyuan's reaction to be so nervous, and he was stunned for a moment before he replied in a panic: "That place is Lord Li's sub-examination room, and he has been patrolling over there, but it has always been very quiet. It wasn't until just now that one of the candidates suddenly collapsed, followed by the two people next to him who also failed at the same time. All the candidates are very nervous, and now there is a bit of chaos over there. Tang Zengyuan ran out without waiting for him to finish, but he was a smart person. Considering that others might have other associations, his pace slowed down, and his face changed to a calm look. to the ground. Only then did he realize that things seemed to be more serious than he had imagined, and the three candidates were lying there with blue faces. It seems that there is a momentum of more air inlet and less air out. At this time, the chief examiner Ma Fengchu had also rushed over, and when he saw this scene, he couldn't help but turn pale, and scolded Li Junda with a slap in the face: "What the hell is going on?" Well, how could these three people suddenly become ill? The wind on the side was silent, but he was weighing the matter in his heart.

Li Junda himself was also extremely panicked at this time. Seeing Ma Fengchu getting angry indiscriminately, he couldn't help but feel a little tired in his heart. But the other party is the examiner, and he doesn't know how much higher his grade is than himself, so he can only tell the reason for the matter in a low voice. Hearing that the symptoms of these three people had neither warning nor later reactions, everyone couldn't help but look at each other. However, a vicious smile finally appeared on Ma Fengchu's face: "It's still the emperor Shengming, who thought of these things in advance." Come on, go to my room and invite Lord Shen and Master Chen! ”

Tang Zengyuan was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized. It turned out that the emperor had expected that it would be useless to take precautions, so he actually prepared all the chief and deputy doctors of the Tai Hospital. But. He, the deputy chief examiner, didn't know anything about this matter, which also made him quite unhappy. After thinking about it, Tang Zengyuan was relieved. Seeing that all the examiners in the audience were dumbfounded, it was conceivable that the emperor only ordered Ma Fengchu to do so, and it was a good thing that he didn't know, at least he didn't have to worry about it. The wind is unprepared, but his eyebrows are raised. A deep smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, since Feng Wuxian attaches so much importance to it, it is really a bit tricky to think about it, no wonder he wants to let himself carry the top cylinder in this examination room.

However, when he saw the four figures behind Shen Ruhai and Chen Lingcheng again, Tang Zengyuan, who was quite familiar with the internal affairs of the palace, was already stunned. The emperor is a big deal this time, these six people include the most skilled doctors in traditional Chinese medicine in the Tai Hospital, and they can all be regarded as national hands, if there is no way, then this matter can really be described as providence.

The six imperial doctors circled around the three candidates, after all, they were all really talented and learned, and they quickly diagnosed the condition of the three people, which was a bit similar to a kind of epidemic that is very easy to appear after a flood, it has always only been transmitted by mosquitoes, and the onset period should not be as rapid as this time. Chen Lingcheng looked carefully at the three of them for a while, and sure enough, they all had a red spot on their backs.

"Maybe someone did it on purpose." Chen Lingcheng said with a solemn face, "Master Li, what strange flying insects could you have found in the examination room before?" ”

Li Junda couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, and it took a while to come back to his senses, "I haven't seen Lord Chen's so-called flying insects. However, if someone really secretly sabotaged the imperial examination of the imperial court, they might have bought off the examination room errand officer. He suddenly remembered the sneaky appearance of an errand officer when he inspected the examination room before, and immediately lifted his spirits and said, "I have seen one suspicious person, and I heard that they said that it was a new errand officer, called Feng San's ......."

As soon as the words fell, Ma Fengchu rushed out in a few steps, grabbed an errand and ordered him to bring the man, and then turned back angrily. He glanced at the three candidates again, and then asked in a low voice uneasily, "Lord Shen, Lord Chen, are they saved?" "In other words, it will be an ordinary test, which one will not kill a few candidates, but this time it is the first Enke of the new monarch to ascend the throne, and secondly, the emperor has no trace and attaches great importance to the so-called "epidemic", so Ma Fengchu is also twelve points of heart, lest the death of someone make the emperor unhappy, or set off rumors.

"It's okay, fortunately, I found it early, and I should be fine if I pour two doses of medicine." Shen Ruhai's expression was a little relaxed, and he wrote down a prescription with his pen, and casually ordered another imperial doctor to grab the medicine. Tang Zengyuan was not at ease, so he followed the imperial doctor to get the medicine. He was the one who was frightened, and he was worried that there was something missing. No sooner had he walked than four or five of the servants entered the room with a thief-eyed fellow. That Feng San couldn't help but flash a trace of fear in his eyes when he saw a group of officials in different places in official uniforms, but they were all looked at by Chen Lingcheng and Feng Wuhou.

Feng San stepped forward to greet him, but heard Ma Fengchu shouting angrily: "Feng San, as a servant of the Tribute Academy, you actually intended to murder Juzi, what crime should you be guilty of?" ”

Ma Fengchu, who was extremely angry, didn't care about any real evidence, and when he saw the restless look on the face of the person in front of him, he felt a little more disgusted in his heart, so he began to ask for the guilt, "Just now, Master Li saw clearly, you stayed in front of the number room of these three lifters for the longest time, and you didn't know if you had a bad heart, and you didn't invite it from the truth?" He wanted to deceive this person, so regardless of whether Li Junda had seen it before or not, he exposed it straightforwardly. Lingyun Zhiyi Without a Trace Volume 9 Jiangshan Chapter 19 The exam begins