The engineering exam does not require any questions, as long as there are inventions and creations that can be used, you can take it. These inventions and creations can be both civilian and military, they can be real objects that have already been made, or they can still stay in the design stage, and some home remedies for curing diseases can also be used to participate.

This system was already in place in the engineering examination last year, but the effect was not very good, and almost no decent invention was received. The Han nation of this era is undoubtedly the best nation in the world, and there are many great inventions among the people, but many people will regard their inventions as treasures and refuse to show them easily. In order to attract more people and better works to participate in the engineering examination, Liu Xin proposed the concept of patents. Every invention or secret recipe that passes the exam may not only be rewarded handsomely, but will also be protected by the government in the future, and anyone else who wants to use or imitate the invention must pay a corresponding price.

Liu Xin believes that with these measures, this year's engineering exam will definitely be much more successful than last year's, and it doesn't matter what exam questions are formulated.

As for the martial arts exam, there is no need for any special test questions. Even if the martial arts students who take the exam are usually familiar with military books and battle strategies, they can only talk about soldiers on paper if they have not participated in actual combat, so the martial arts examination is purely a test of bows and horses, and a competition of martial arts. Thinking about it like this, Liu Xin understood that Cai Yong naturally wanted the questions of the liberal arts exam, and this was the most difficult place for Liu Xin.

To put it bluntly, the questions in the liberal arts exam are almost the same as an essay topic, but Liu Xin has not even graduated from elementary school, so it is really not easy to come up with a suitable essay topic. Liu Xin searched his intestines and scraped his stomach, pondered for a long time, and then said, "Mr. Bo, please come over with your ears." ”

Although Cai Yong was in a hurry, he was prepared, and actually took out a pen and paper from behind him, and said respectfully: "Please write the title on the paper, seal it and store it, and then open it on the day of the exam." ”

Regarding the ancient imperial examination, Liu Xin has only seen some clips from TV and movies, and he doesn't know much about it. However, he also knew that sealing the good exam questions in advance was indeed an effective means to prevent leakage, but he didn't expect Cai Yong to come up with this method without a teacher.

But Liu Xin didn't take Cai Yong's suggestion, but smiled and said, "If Liu can't even trust Mr., then who else can Liu trust?" ”

Without waiting for the excited and inexplicable old gentleman to excuse himself again, Liu Xin had already whispered a few words in his ear, and then said: "These two questions are both policy questions, you can choose one of them, or you can announce both questions at the same time, and the candidates can choose one of them to answer." As for the content of the subset of economic history, etc., Mr. can dispose of it at his discretion. Liu can't stay for a long time, so he will leave, please take care of yourself! ”

When he first heard Liu Xin's two topics, Cai Yong didn't think there was anything special, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt unfathomable, and couldn't help but be stunned on the spot, and even Liu Xin didn't understand what he said goodbye to.

Outside the north gate of Xiangyang City, a large group of people were already ready to go. These horses were carefully selected from the rest of the Third Legion, a total of 5,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry, forming a large escort force. If Liu Bei saw that there was such a powerful army outside the city, he would definitely be glad that he only had the idea of ambushing Liu Xin and did not put it into practice.

In fact, from Xiangyang to Yumen Pass, they are already under Liu Xin's control, in addition to the regular legions, there are also local armies whose combat effectiveness has been greatly improved, especially the pervasive phantom secret spy, and it is difficult for any brigade to escape Liu Xin's ears and eyes. In this case, even if Liu Xin only brought a small number of guards, it was difficult for anyone to pose a threat to him. This time, though, the situation is a bit peculiar. In addition to the fifteen thousand horsemen, there were many carts and prisoners bound together with ropes.

Every cart is full, including silk, porcelain, and tea, which are the focus of Liu Xin's trip to the Western Regions, and the key to whether the Silk Road can be restarted, so Liu Xin will mobilize heavy troops to protect it.

The prisoners were non-lethal prisoners, who had been trained for a period of time at the headquarters of the Engineer Corps in Xiangyang, and were now going to be sent to Xiliang as slaves in the Engineer Corps to participate in the construction of the new city of the grassland. Originally, these prisoners were to be escorted alone, because Liu Xin had to pass through Liangzhou when he went to the Western Regions, so he brought these prisoners with him, which also saved a team of soldiers who were specially escorted. Among these prisoners, Liu Bi, the leader of the Yellow Turbans, was also tied with ropes with other prisoners, like a string of grasshoppers.

Liu Xin joined the group of men and horses and headed north, because the porcelain on the cart was afraid of bumps, and the speed of the march slowed down, and it was not until evening that he came to the territory of Xinye County. As is customary, the troops were not allowed to enter the city, so they set up camp outside the city. The Xinye County Order had already received Liu Xin's order, and there was no need to come to see him. However, this county commander is quite good at being a man, and he didn't come, but he sent his subordinates to lead sheep and wine to reward the three armies. Because it was said on the surface that these sheep and wine were sent to comfort the soldiers, Liu Xin did not refuse, so he asked the captains to accept them.

Drinking mellow wine, nibbling on delicious leg of mutton, and the evening breeze blowing, the soldiers who had been tired for a day gradually relaxed their nervous mood. At this moment, the group of prisoners who were surrounded in the middle of the camp suddenly let out a commotion.

Because they were marching on their own territory, most of the soldiers seemed a little relaxed, and when the sound of the commotion came, many people were still sitting on the ground, grabbing the mutton, and looking over there with a blank face, and the first to arrive at the prisoner's camp was actually a personal guard team responsible for protecting Liu Xin's safety. After a whip, the commotion quickly subsided, and the cause of the incident was clarified. It turned out that I don't know who threw the leftover leg of mutton bone into the group of prisoners, causing those prisoners to scramble.

After listening to the reports of the guards, Liu Xin couldn't help frowning. Although it was only an ordinary escort in peacetime, he was too disappointed by the slow response of the army. If this were not a riot caused by sheep's bones, but a real enemy attack, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Liu Xin came over and reprimanded the captains who were about to lead the team, and then issued an order that starting tomorrow, a drill should be organized every night, and the fifteen thousand soldiers would be divided into several groups and take turns to play the role of guarding the camp and stealing the camp.

In fact, these soldiers had already undergone rigorous training, and it was compulsory to attack the enemy camp at night and prevent the enemy from stealing the camp, but all of them thought that the march was a dangerous trip and relaxed their vigilance.

However, their relaxation woke Liu Xin up, and their leisurely good days came to an abrupt end. If the magistrates offered meat, they would still have it, but they would certainly not have to drink the wine. And every nightfall, a group of men and horses will quietly leave the camp, and then it will be the second watch, or the third watch, or even the fifth watch, and there may be shouts of killing around the camp. Regardless of whether the camp was successful or not, all the soldiers would tense their nerves all night long, because those who failed to defend the camp were not allowed to eat all day the next day, and no one wanted to be hungry for a day, only to cheer up the spirit. Similarly, those who fail to steal camps will also be hungry for half a day, but because the difficulty of stealing camps is quite greater, the punishment will be relatively light.

After six consecutive days of marching and night drills, the soldiers looked a little tired, and another day's journey was about to reach Chang'an, Liu Xin finally issued an order, tonight there is no need to move the drill of stealing the camp and defending the camp, everyone can have a good rest.

Receiving this order, all the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, except for the soldiers who were in charge of night patrols and duty, everyone else fell asleep early.

On the first night, when shouts of slaughter were heard outside the camp, the prisoners began to riot again, but soon fell silent under the whips of the guards. In the next few days, they already knew that these shouts were just a drill conducted by the soldiers, and they gradually became accustomed to it. But tonight, after the third watch, it was still quiet outside the camp, which made the prisoners a little uncomfortable.

Liu Bi tossed and turned, but he couldn't sleep all the time, and couldn't help but listen carefully, except for the slight snoring around him, there was no movement. Liu Bi couldn't help but sit up, but he brought the prisoners who were tied to a rope with him. The prisoners had been sleeping soundly, but when he woke them up, they inevitably had to mumble a few words. Liu Bi hurriedly made a silent gesture and asked in a low voice, "Do you want to escape?" ”

Although he is a yellow turban thief, he can be regarded as having been in the army for many years, and in his experience, the soldiers in the battalion have been highly nervous in the past few days, and now once they relax, they will definitely sleep deeply, even if it is thunder, I am afraid it will be difficult to wake them up. Liu Pi naturally didn't want to let go of such a good opportunity.

The prisoner closest to Liu Pi was called Lao Wang, who was sentenced to ten years of hard labor after injuring someone's life in a neighborhood dispute, that is, he had to work in the engineering corps for six years before he was released. Ten years is really not a short time, hearing Liu Bi's words, Lao Wang couldn't help but feel moved, and looked around with half of his body raised.

But I heard a person next to me muttering softly: "Neurotic." ”

Lao Wang turned his head to see that it was the second cow from the next village. Erniu is a habitual thief who has been taught repeatedly, and this time he was sentenced to three years of hard labor. Lao Wang couldn't help but ask: "Erniu, don't you want your wife?" ”

Erniu is different from Lao Wang, three years have passed in a blink of an eye, why should he take this risk? Erniuli ignored them, turned over and continued to sleep.

Liu Bi had already seen that this old king also had the heart to escape, and couldn't help but say: "The surrounding guards are lax, if you don't run away tonight, when will you stay?" ”

Lao Wang also sat up, suddenly sighed, and said, "We are tied up in a string, how can we escape." ”

Liu Pi smiled strangely and said, "Come and see." ”