In front of the county school notice wall, Li Hongyi looked at the top of the list in a daze, his expression was extremely complicated, and his heart was mixed.

At the top of the list is clearly written the three big characters "Li Hongyu", and his name ranks fourth, behind Wang Kuiju, and the three words "Li Hongyi" seem quite eye-catching in his opinion.

Li Hongyi's brain was a little confused, if Zhao Xin took the first exam, he would still be able to accept it, but the cowardly Li Hongyu was inferior to him in all aspects from childhood to adulthood, and suddenly became the head of the county exam, which made him have a huge contrast in his heart, and it was hard to believe that the scene in front of him was true for a while.

"Sure enough, it's the head of the case!" Li Renbo, Li Hongyu and others walked over, and everyone showed surprised looks when they saw Li Hongyu's name on the top of the list, and this result was beyond everyone's expectations.

"Could it be a mistake?" Suddenly, a questioning voice came from the crowd, after all, Li Hongyu was too obscure, which made everyone feel unbelievable.

"How is this possible! These examination papers must first be marked by various examiners, and then the best ones will be selected from them and handed over to the magistrate for judgment, how can it be wrong? But then another voice rang out, rejecting the man's questioning.

You must know that the papers that can enter the top ten are all circulated by the examiners who live in the papers, and finally handed over to Chen Yu, the chief examiner, to determine the ranking.

Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to make a mistake in the ranking on the list, and Li Hongyu's answer sheet must be unique, so it has won the favor of the examiners and Chen Yu.

"You guys are going to prepare, the magistrate will set up a banquet at noon to invite the top 50 candidates on the list, and you can't be rude at that time."

Li Renbo felt that some people were too suspicious, how could Chen Yu, who was born in Jinshi, not be able to distinguish the merits of the county examination answer sheet? Therefore, after a deep groan, he said to Li Hongyu, Li Hongyi, Zhao Xin and other candidates on the side, telling them not to forget to go to the banquet today.

"The student made a note of it." Li Hongyu and the other candidates from Baihe Town, who were in the top fifty, invariably bowed to Li Renbo and honestly agreed.

Li Hongyi secretly glanced at Li Hongyu, who was standing expressionlessly, and felt a trace of bitterness in his heart, he didn't want to be crushed by Li Hongyu if he lost to anyone.

"The topic is unique, the arguments are clear, the writing is outstanding, and it seems that a lot of work has been put into the scriptures."

At this moment, in the Minglun Hall of the County School, after carefully reading the answer sheet in his hand, he said to Chen Yu with a smile, "I didn't expect that the most powerful candidate in Baihe Academy was not Li Hongyi, but this little-known Li Hongyu. ”

"The county was also quite surprised, I didn't expect him and that Zhao Xin to stand out."

Chen Yu was drinking tea, and immediately laughed when he heard the words, the results of this county test were really beyond his expectations, he was optimistic that Li Hongyi and Wang Kuiju could win the first place in the county test, but he didn't want to kill two Cheng Biting Jin halfway, and actually compared Li Hongyi and Wang Kuiju.

"Li Hongyu, Zhao Xin, Wang Kuiju and Li Hongyi, the strength of the four is obviously higher than the rest, if they are taken to other counties alone, they will definitely be the head of the case!" Wang Cheng put down the answer sheet in his hand, pondered for a while, and then smiled at Chen Yu, "Lord Zhixian, according to the opinion of the lower officials, they are very likely to be admitted to the juren." ”

"This is not easy to say, Huguang only admits eighty-five people for each session of the examination, and Huguang has jurisdiction over fifteen prefectures, two Zhili prefectures and seventeen scattered prefectures, one hundred and eight counties, one person in each county is not enough, it is not easy to come up with four!"

Chen Yu shook his head with a smile when he heard this, and said leisurely while sipping the tea in the cup, "However, the four of them are indeed manufacturable materials, it depends on the will of heaven." ”

"It's man-made, and the lower officials are optimistic about them." Wang Cheng knew that Chen Yu admired Li Hongyu and the four of them very much, so he said with a smile.

After all, not every county can have that kind of outstanding candidates, and Jiangkou County has four at once, which is simply pie in the sky, and it is impossible to find it.

To tell the truth, there is only that in the local government, and there is not much difference between the local officials, after all, everyone will whitewash their achievements.

However, the results of the imperial examination cannot be faked, especially if there are many talents and people in the territory under his jurisdiction when he is in office, then whoever has greater achievements in promoting the local style of writing and propagating education, and naturally has a stronger capital for promotion.

Therefore, every magistrate hopes that there will be a few more potential candidates in the prefecture and county he governs, so that he can not only overwhelm others in terms of political performance, but also be very glamorous in terms of face.

Moreover, if these candidates enter the officialdom in the future, they will be their protégés and become an important part of their officialdom network.

At noon, Chen Yu held a banquet in the restaurant in the county to invite the top 50 candidates on the list, which was a great honor for those candidates.

During the banquet, Chen Yu exhorted these candidates, hoping that they would make further progress and achieve better results in the next government and college examinations, so as to gain the fame of Xiucai and glorify their ancestors.

But if you want to get the show, it's not easy, don't look at the Jiangkou County County Examination, there are hundreds of candidates who have obtained the qualification to participate in the government examination, because each government in the Ming Dynasty has a quota for each children's examination, so there are very few students who can get the fame of the talent after the government examination and the hospital examination.

Taking Xiangyang Prefecture as an example, Xiangyang Prefecture of the University of Nuo University only admits 50 students for each college examination, while Xiangyang Prefecture has seven counties and one scattered prefecture, and the average number of students admitted to each county for each child examination is less than seven, which shows the fierce competition.

This is why everyone wants to be the head of the county exam, which is not only an honor but also can avoid the tragic exam in the future.

It's a pity that there is only one case, which means that the candidates who participated in the children's examination had to come step by step, and only after the county examination, the government examination and the hospital examination could they obtain the fame of Xiucai.

The top 10 candidates in the county exam were fortunate to sit at the same table as Chen Yu, and they were usually the best contenders for the children's test students in Xiangyang Prefecture, so they were treated differently by Chen Yu, and it was also an incentive for the rest of the candidates.

The people sitting on the left and right sides of Chen Yu are naturally Li Hongyu, who won the first place, and Zhao Xin, who won the second place, Li Hongyu is still silent, Chen Yu asks a question and he answers, not as talkative as Zhao Xin and Wang Kuiju, Li Hongyi and others.

In fact, Chen Yu likes and appreciates Li Hongyu very much, he thinks that Li Hongyu is a person who really does learning, he is not sophisticated and smooth, he is a piece of jade without pollution, and he will become a great tool after carving.

In Chen Yu's view, although Li Hongyu may not be suitable for politics, he will definitely have some achievements in academics, and the Ming Dynasty now needs scribes like Li Hongyu to promote intellectual development.

"Hongyu, you have achieved the fame of Xiucai, do you want to participate in the children's exam later?" After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Chen Yu smiled and asked Li Hongyu, who had ruddy cheeks beside him.

Although Li Hongyu seems to be not good at talking and is quite unfamiliar with social interactions, this does not prevent everyone from toasting to the head of the county trial case of Xinke.

"The student's case came by luck, so I want to compete with the children in the house to see what the students are lacking." Li Hongyu bowed slightly to Chen Yu when he heard this, and replied seriously.

Li Hongyu knew very well that of course Chen Yu hoped that he would take the later exams, and if he got good results in the government examination and the hospital examination, he would be counted in Chen Yu's political achievements, and he would definitely not let Chen Yu feel disappointed.

"Okay, the county also wants to see how strong the chosen head is." Chen Yu couldn't help laughing when he heard this, picked up his wine glass and said to Li Hongyu, "Then this county wishes you a successful start and success!" ”

"Lord Xie Zhixian." Li Hongyu hurriedly picked up the wine glass with both hands, respectfully touched it with Chen Yu, and then drank it all.

"It seems that he is not so wooden, and what he said just now is very appropriate!" Zhao Xin looked at Li Hongyu with a smile, and said to himself after taking a sip of the wine in the wine glass.

In fact, Zhao Xin didn't realize that although Li Hongyu was silent in front of Chen Yu, he was not wooden, and he answered Chen Yu's questions at the wine table just right, and his expression did not appear flustered, and he behaved differently than usual, but she had long been confused by Li Hongyu's appearance, words and deeds and did not notice this change.

Of course, Li Hongyu does this for a reason, no one will like a really wooden person, so he has to treat different people differently according to different situations:

In front of everyone in Baihe Town, he could show cowardice and woodenness, but in front of Chen Yu and other outsiders, he just said little, and dealt with Chen Yu and the others quietly.

"Lord County, the students heard a few years ago that Lord County Zun proposed to raise donations from soldiers in Liaodong, and the students thought that Liaodong was close to Gyeonggi, which was a matter of safety for the Son of Heaven."

After putting down the wine glass in his hand, Li Hongyu pondered for a while, looked at Chen Yu solemnly and said, "Therefore, after discussing with his mother, the student decided to donate 10,000 taels of silver to contribute to the country." ”

"Ten thousand taels!" Hearing this, Chen Yu couldn't help but be stunned, looking at Li Hongyu with a surprised face, never expecting Li Hongyu to give him an unexpected surprise.

Everyone present was also stunned, and looked at Li Hongyu in amazement, shocked by his sudden move.

Since the beginning of the year, Chen Yu has been running back and forth in the county, trying to raise money to donate to the soldiers of Liaodong, but with little success, only to date to raise more than 4,000 taels of silver, you must know that Jiangkou County is one of the richest counties in Huguang, in his opinion, at least 20,000 taels of silver can be raised.

For this fundraising, those powerful people in the county are not very enthusiastic, in their opinion, Liaodong is far away from Huguang, and it is not their turn to worry about things there, who is full of money and materials to donate.

But since Chen Yu has already opened this mouth, it is naturally difficult for those county magnates to shirk the prevarication, and they scraped together more than 4,000 taels of silver to Chen Yu.

To be honest, not many people believed that Chen Yu would really give those silver to the soldiers of Liaodong, in their opinion, this was just a means for Chen Yu to make money, and the more than 4,000 taels of silver was equivalent to honoring Chen Yu.

And now Li Hongyu alone has to donate 10,000 taels of silver, which is simply an unbelievable thing, in the eyes of everyone, Li Hongyu is either sick or crazy, and his spirit is extremely abnormal.