Anger is anger, you still have to sleep when it's dark, and there is still a long exam waiting for you.

In June, when it was too hot, everyone spread the mats on the ground and slept directly on the docks, and only a few who were not used to it went back to sleep in the cabin, including silence.

About the fourth watch, someone suddenly came over and shouted: "It's time to get up for the exam, let's go." ”

The candidates woke up one after another, shook up their companions who were still asleep, and began to touch the black clothes and shoes, and it became a mess.

Compared with the embarrassed same year outside, Shen Mo was much more calm, there were lights on the boat, and there were scholars around him, so he washed up slowly, put on the clothes for the exam, and ate some breakfast, and then got off the boat.

The candidates outside were finally finished, although many of them were disheveled and even barefoot, but the crowd had already walked out, and they had to follow with a sad face, muttering: "It's not a good sign, it's not a good sign." ”

Under the starry sky, there was a black rumbling all around, and the silence couldn't tell the east and west, north and south, but he just followed the team forward, and after walking for about a quarter of an hour, he ran into another team of candidates, so the two strands turned into one and continued to move forward.

It took another half an hour to reach the destination...... A ghost knows what the place is on the big square. At this time, it was still very dark, but there were many people, and it was estimated that there would be thousands of people in silence.

Then the roll call began, and as in the case of the prefectural exam, some people played lanterns from each prefecture, gathered the candidates according to the prefecture, and then began to enter the roll call.

The candidates in Shaoxing Mansion are unlucky, ranking eighth, and they will have to wait for the first seven mansions to enter before they have the opportunity to enter.

At this time, a small official wearing a uniform came over and said in a loud voice: "Pay one or two pieces of silver, and you can go first." ”

The asking price is too high, and many candidates are daunted, but this is what the little official wants, if it is too cheap and everyone can afford it, it will not reflect the priority.

Seeing that the rich people were donating money one after another, those poor scholars could only smack their lips with envy, and said in their hearts: 'Why don't I have a good father?' ’

When the little official was about to arrive at the two counties of Shanyin and Huiji, Shen Mo suddenly said in a loud voice: "Everyone, this year is not more than ever, if you go in late, it is not certain whether there is a seat or not." I put forward an initiative, we should go in together when 170 people from Shaoxing City come out together. He said this for a reason...... In previous years, the college examinations were conducted in separate venues, and the students first went to Hangzhou to test the main mansion and the nearby Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing and Ningbo five mansions. The rest of the provinces should concentrate on the state examination booth at a later stage. However, there was a shortage of soldiers outside, and the students who cherished their lives would never go out, so they recruited candidates from 11 prefectures to Hangzhou for the exam...... Anyway, he alone has the final say.

The exam room is still the same exam room, but there are twice as many candidates, what should it be like? You can figure it out with your toes.

Seeing that everyone nodded, Shen Mo took off the burden from Shen An's back, and said in one fell swoop: "I still have a total of twenty taels of silver, are you willing to make up this one hundred and seventy taels with me?" "Shen An was about to cry, and said in his heart, how could I get such a loser young master?

When he entered the city, he gave everyone ten taels of silver to pay some money, which everyone saw, and at that time they felt that this head of the prefecture and county was very righteous, and now he saw that he had to raise money for the candidates who couldn't afford to pay the silver, and they all admired it in their hearts, so they didn't care whether they had money or not, they all came over, and emptied all the money on their bodies, and no matter how much, they had to put it in Shen Mo's hands.

Shen Mo hurriedly stopped: "This is a mess, we have to get as soon as possible." Saying that, he raised his voice slightly and said, "It's better to ask a few people with better family backgrounds to cushion for everyone first, and then settle the account on the way back after the exam...... Of course, I don't want my twenty taels. The reason why he adopted such the simplest and most ambiguous method was not only because time was precious, but also because in the Ming Kingdom, there were many things that could not be calculated with money. If the calculation is too clear, it will be clear who can afford it and who can't afford it.

Not to mention those who can afford it, just to say those who can't afford it, they will inevitably feel disgraced, and some people will even feel humiliated, and they can't help but not admit his affection, but will complain about him for many things, and it is possible to hate him.

It is precisely because he knows that the Chinese people, especially the scholars, 'face is more important than everything', that Shen Mo used this most confusing method. Besides, there are only a small number of people who can't afford to make money, and with his twenty taels of foundation, the children of the rich family will not pay too much.

There are a few rich candidates, you are ten taels, I am twenty taels, and after a while, I made up one hundred and seventy taels and gave it to the little official who was waiting on the side.

The little official was holding so much silver, and the whole person was shocked, and said repeatedly: "I have worked here for twenty years, and I have never seen you so united. ”

The praise of a small person made the candidates from the two counties proud, and the rich candidates were even more red-faced, so happy that they couldn't help themselves, and said in their hearts: 'This money is too worthwhile! ’

One hundred and seventy candidates from Shaoxing City, under the envious eyes of other prefecture and county candidates, followed closely behind Shen Mo, crossed the crowd with their chests folded, and entered the examination room first. At that time, many people have not forgotten the excitement in their hearts until they are old.

When they entered the examination room, they saw that in front of the courtyard of the school palace, there were densely packed examination tables, although hundreds of candidates had been seated, they still seemed very empty. Everyone said 'good luck' and dispersed, each looking for their favorite seats.

At first, when I sat down, I didn't feel any particular benefit. But when an hour later, when all the candidates entered, everyone realized how wise the silent action was, and saw that the originally empty examination room was already crowded with people...... There are only 4,000 seats under the shelter, and thousands of candidates have to sit on the extra seats and start praying that it will not rain on a cloudy day.

It's easy to settle down, it's already midday, the sun hasn't come out yet, and it seems that the prayers of the candidates have worked.

At this time, the Lord Tixue in a crimson four-grade official uniform finally appeared, and when he looked at the large number of candidates, the head of the Master Tixue was big - because there were so many papers, he was the only one who approved them, which was really self-inflicted, and he was going to die.

But after thinking about it, this is much easier than going to the exam house by house in previous years. 'It will be a moment when you are burdened by sin!' Master Tixue comforted himself. Only then did he adjust his state, announce the discipline of the examination room to the candidates, and explain the number of examinations, only one daytime main examination will be conducted today, and the content of the examination will be exactly the same as the prefectural and county examinations, and the second session will not be 'supplemented'...... Seeing the strong reaction of everyone, Master Tixue explained with a smile: "The current situation is tense, everything can only be simplified, but please rest assured, as long as the situation eases, this official will add another supplementary record at the end of the year." ”

The school magistrate has three major responsibilities, one is to organize the entrance examination of the prefecture and county schools, but at the end of each year, go down to the prefecture and county schools to conduct the annual examination of the students, hyperplasia and epiphytes in the school, so as to decide a series of rewards and punishments. The third is to conduct a scientific examination of the students of the prefectural and county schools to determine the list of candidates who will participate in the township examination.

It can be said that this old brother is in charge of the enrollment, middle school and graduation of the provincial government and county schools.

So he just straightened his face slightly, and the audience fell silent. The inspector then announced the exam questions, which were two current texts, all of which were intercepted questions, and both of them belonged to the strange ...... It is estimated that Ba Chengren can't even solve the question correctly, I don't know if this is a bad idea that the student came up with to reduce the difficulty of grading.

But this is not difficult to be silent, after these months of learning with Xu Wei, he feels that his jumping thinking ability has been greatly improved, although it is not strong enough for Xu Wei to be out of tune, but it is still easy to use it to solve a truncating problem.

After successfully solving the problem, it was another grinding effort, and he didn't finish answering the paper until it was almost dark, I don't know if he was too worshipful of him, Tao Yuchen actually waited for him to get up, and then got up to hand in the paper.

Because the college exams were all vague, the Nati scholar didn't know Shen Mo, took his paper and glanced at it, and was about to put it aside, but he was immediately attracted by the beautiful pavilion body. I couldn't help but look at the young boy's scroll carefully.

After reading it, his reaction was very strange, carefully looking at it and being silent for a long time, but he didn't make a sound, just nodded and asked him to retreat.

When Tao Yuchen came up, Master Tixue took his scroll and asked softly, "He's just silent, right?" ”

Tao Yuchen smiled and nodded, "How do you know?" ”

"There are only a handful of articles that are better than yours." Tixue whispered: "Say that he won you twice in a row, I believe it." ”

Tao Yuchen was about to speak, but he heard Master Tixue say again: "But I'm going to let you be the head of the case, my junior brother can't lose to him three times in a row." "As he spoke, he picked up a pen to write on his scroll." Because it is a test that determines the entrance to prefectural schools, the results of each prefecture are not compared horizontally, but only vertically within the prefecture. Therefore, the students do not need to consider the situation of other provinces, and can determine who is the head of Shaoxing Mansion.

"Never." Tao Yuchen said urgently: "The world knows the relationship between you and me, and also knows that I lost him twice in a row, if I win this time, what will they think of Master Tixue?" ”

Lord Tixue thought for a while, nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. He whispered again: "Little Sanyuan?" It's too cheap for this kid. ”

(To be continued)