The Sun family dispatched a group of about 20 candidates this time.

Among them, Li Meiting personally guaranteed five people, and the other fifteen schoolchildren were recommended by the family to find another student.

Three days ago, the Sun family had already sent someone to the county yamen room to register.

Although the county government establishment of the Ming Dynasty was not large, the houses of the courtiers, households, soldiers, criminals, workers, and officials were set up to correspond to the six departments of the central organization. Although the sparrow is small, it has all kinds of organs.

The county exam is the first level of the children's exam, and the county exam is not so particular, and there is no special student invigilation. According to the usual practice, the local magistrate is responsible for marking and admitting students, and the central government does not send another student official to invigilate the examination.

Zhang Duan, the magistrate of Zouping County, is an acquaintance of Sun Dan, and with him, Sun Dan's certainty of passing the test is much greater.

Aside from the last imperial examination, Sun Yue did not take the Taoist examination because he was unwell, which means that it was the hospital examination. Strictly speaking, this is the first imperial examination for the newly grown children of the Hou Sun family of Huichang, and the family attaches great importance to it. Half a month ago, the eldest and second masters of the Jingshi ordered someone to send each of the twenty candidates a set of the four treasures of the fine study room and a new set of scribe robes.

It was about five o'clock Beijing time in the later generations, and the schoolchildren all got up and gathered at the mill, and five small boats were parked in the river next to them, and the captains rubbed their hands and breathed white gas, waiting to send the schoolchildren into the city. The weather was still a little cold at the beginning of March, especially in the early morning. There are people who can't stand the cold and can't stand the buttresses.

Sun Fu, the housekeeper, also came to see him off, he recognized Sun Dan in the crowd, nodded, and smiled and asked people to send a large bundle of osmanthus branches.

The schoolchildren walked up one after another, folding a twig and pinning it to their belts. In ancient times, the imperial examination high school was called "the laurel in the middle of the month", and phonetically, the gui was "expensive", and everyone was asking for good luck.

Sun Hao squeezed over, pulled Sun Dan excitedly, and his voice trembled a little: "Brother Dan, great news." ”

Sun Dan remembered that he and Sun Jia went to the city to settle the bill at the bookstore yesterday, and his heart moved: "But what about the book?" ”

"Exactly, it's really ******......" Sun Hao had a smile on his face, and he couldn't help it.

But at this time, Mr. Li Meiting came over and glanced at Sun Dan: "Let's go." ”

"Where to go?" Sun Dan was stunned.

Mr. Li: "Come with me in a boat." As he spoke, he brushed the hem of his robe and took the lead on the boat.

Sun Dan whispered to Sun Hao: "It's not a big deal, I'll talk about it after the exam, and we'll meet in the book store when the time comes." Sun Hao, I am determined to win this exam and I am confident. But you have to be careful, don't think about anything else now, calm your mind, don't stumble. ”

"Okay, no problem." Sun Hao smiled: "I'm also a guy who doesn't hesitate, isn't it just an exam, I'm afraid of a bird." ”

Sun smiled lightly, if you talk about psychological quality, this Sun Hao's nerves are not ordinary, if he is also nervous, others are afraid that they will not be able to walk in fear.

I'm worrying too much about this.

On the boat, Li Meiting shouted loudly: "What are you rubbing, hurry up and get on the boat, you have also made so many rolls this month, as long as you memorize the model I gave you, it is not easy to pass the customs." It was so cold and early, so I went to sleep first and called me to the ground. After speaking, he ignored the crowd and went straight into the cabin of the black shed and fell asleep.

……

When they entered the city, the schoolchildren were stunned for a moment on the boat just now because of their young age, and they were all tired.

When they arrived at the wharf, everyone was not in a hurry to get off the boat, and someone from the county seat of the Sun family had already delivered a hot breakfast. After eating, Sun Dan went to the examination room with everyone.

At this time, the genius was just dawning.

The examination room is located in the hall of the county government, and the lights inside are very bright.

There are a total of more than 60 people in this exam, and the Sun family accounts for 30%, which shows the soft power of the Sun family.

The first hurdle before the exam is to verify the body, because there is no photograph to say, and each schoolchild has a slip in his hand with the person's physical characteristics written on it. For example, Sun Hao's physical characteristics are written "tall and strong, with a leopard's head and eyes", while Sun Gui's strip reads "short and thin, with high cheekbones".

Of course, Sun Dan's is not much better. Because of malnutrition, he is thin and ordinary, and there are no descriptions such as "the wind is suave, the jade tree is in the wind, beauty and wisdom are equally important, and the golden voice is crane-step".

Zhang Zhixian began to roll call:

"Huichang Hou Sun Family, Sun Hao."

"Huichang Hou Sun Gui."

"Maliugou Nie Yuan."

Schoolchildren entered one after another.

"Huichang Hou Sun Family, Sun Dan."

Finally it was Sun Dan's turn, Zhang Zhixian was stunned: "It's you?" ”

"I've seen the county magistrate, it's a late birth." Sun Dan hurriedly moved.

Zhang Zhixian: "Aren't you illiterate, why did you come to take the exam, or Mr. Li is guaranteed." Isn't this nonsense? ”

Sun Dan: "Just because you weren't literate two months ago doesn't mean you can't read now. The ancients did not see each other for three days, but they were impressed, let alone January. The late life is not the Wuxia Amon of the past. ”

"Hehe, I even know this idiom." Zhang Zhixian smiled: "Mr. Li Meiting is my senior, and I naturally believe in the people he recommends." It's understandable that you have an excellent memory and it's easy to read. ”

Sun Dan hurriedly said: "Later, I also listened to the sentence of the county magistrate on that day, 'why not study', so I made a wish to study." Speaking of which, the magistrate is still a late-born guide! ”

Zhang Zhixian laughed: "In a month, I don't know how well you have learned, I will take a good look at your paper later." If you're really a genius, the county might as well be an adult, and wait and see how far you can go. Let's go inside! He didn't verify Sun Dan's voucher, and let him enter the examination room with a wave of his hand.

After all the schoolchildren entered the examination room, Zhang Zhixian said to Li Meiting, who was standing next to him and napping: "Mr. Meiting, it's cool here, why don't you go to the flower hall to rest." ”

Mr. Li smiled; "No, there are twenty of my students inside, so I'd better go back to my house to avoid suspicion. Anyway, I, the guarantor, will send people to the examination room, and it's not interesting to delay with you. ”

Zhang Zhixian: "The disciples trained by Mr. Mei Ting are naturally good, and there is nothing to avoid suspicion. ”

Mr. Li looked at the sky: "The dragon gave birth to nine sons, and they are still different. To be honest, among this group of Sun family children, except for Sun Yue, I am only optimistic about Sun Dan. Perhaps, the Sun family can go to the end of the imperial examination. ”

"Oh." Zhang Zhixian was surprised: "Sun Yue doesn't say it, then Sun Dan has only been reading for more than a month, and it is rare for Mr. to be so optimistic." ”

"It doesn't matter much whether you are in the middle or not and how long you are talented." Li Meiting smiled: "At the beginning, Xie University only studied for a few years, and he was able to reach the first. I'm not saying that Sun Dan's talent is comparable to that of a scholar of Xie University. It's just that this son is really a reading seed, and the future is only limitless. Zhang Gong and wait and see.

To be proud, one must be young. This kind of thing is also to like the youth, admire the young and bully the old and weak. If I don't train a few people to come out in the past few years, I can't show my means. ”

"That's right, I think my brother Zhang Xuan is also a famous talent, but he hasn't been on the dragon gate until now, and he has the ambition in his chest. It can be seen that this imperial examination has its own fixed number, and non-human beings can force it. You and I don't gossip. Send Mr. Lee. Zhang Zhixian asked the water catcher to send Li Meiting to the dock to take a boat.

After Sun Dan entered the examination room, he found a quiet seat and sat down, and began to put the four treasures of the study room on the table one by one. In general, the county examination in the Ming Dynasty was not very strict, and there was no such thing as arranging seats, and candidates could just find a place to sit down when they entered the examination room.

There is only one county exam, and there is no time limit for doing two eight-strand essays, anyway, you can finish the exam questions within this day. Of course, generally speaking, an eight-strand essay with 800 words only takes half an hour to complete and can be completed in one morning.

Of course, if you want to drag on time, mushrooms can also be used all day. The yamen does not arrange food, but you are the one who starves.

When Zhang Zhixian sent the exam questions down, Sun Dan looked at it and didn't feel that it was too simple----

In fact, the county examination in the Ming Dynasty was not aimed at making it difficult for candidates, and the questions were very simple. Moreover, the purpose of the prefectural examination is simply to test the mastery of basic knowledge of schoolchildren.

These two questions are small questions, that is, find a sentence from the four books, cut off the upper and lower parts, and turn it into a few words with incomplete meaning. Then ask the test taker to make up the sentence in their minds and elaborate according to the meaning of the sentence.

In order to do this kind of question, candidates must first be very familiar with the Confucian classics, and find that these two questions are the sentence in the book.

If you can't even find the source of this question, you don't need to take this exam.

Therefore, in a sense, the county test is the rote memorization of schoolchildren.

As Mr. Li predicted, the two questions in this county exam are from the Analects. What's even more coincidental is that these two questions were asked by Li Meiting to be done in advance.

As soon as they got the papers, all the schoolchildren of the Sun family were ecstatic. That Sun Hao couldn't help but scream: "Straight lady thief, I've done this topic several times!" When Zhang Zhixian's majestic gaze stared at him, Sun Hao turned pale with fright, lowered his head and quickly started the question.

For Sun Dan, these two questions are really not challenging, if he is allowed to do it, just find two sample essays from his head and copy them, and he can finish them in a moment.

But he didn't want to be too good, so he refilled the inkstone, sharpened the ink unhurriedly, and then picked up the pen unhurriedly. As soon as he wrote the word "people" on the scroll, he heard Sun Hao shout, "Lord Zhixian, I'm done." ”

Sun Dan was startled, put the pen on the inkstone again, and looked up, Sun Hao had already rushed to hand in the papers.

From sending the rolls to handing in the rolls, Sun Hao only took a pot of tea before and after.

Sun Dan believed that these two questions were not a problem for Sun Hao at all, anyway, Sun Hao only needed to copy the homework he had done before. But Sun Dan still quietly shook his head, and sometimes, it is not a good thing to be too eye-catching.

Don't be the first, not the last.

It's for the mean.