Every time I discuss technical problems with Huang Chengyan, time always flies.

In the blink of an eye, the sun, which had just risen from the top of the mountain one moment, ran to the edge of the dam of the great river in the opposite direction.

Luan Yi saw that things were almost over. If you do more, it will be on paper, and the specific details will only be explored in the future.

This time, it has been two days since he left the imperial court, and there are still many official affairs piled up in the study waiting for him to cook. He couldn't continue to delay here, so he immediately asked Huang Chengyan for his resignation, saying that he still had important matters and needed to rush back to Licheng immediately.

Before leaving, with a little politeness and a little unwillingness, Luan Yi once again sent a request to Zhuge Liang for an invitation.

As Luan Yi expected, Zhuge Liang still refused.

Luan Yi sighed and didn't say anything more. took the reins handed by Luan Fu and turned over on the horse, bowed to Huang Chengyan's family, and walked away.

Looking at Luan Yi's distant figure in the sunset, Huang Chengyan asked Zhuge Liang, "Kong Ming, what do you think of our Qi king?" ”

Zhuge Liang said: "I often heard people say that King Qi knew astronomy and geography, and his talent was unprecedented. My nephew once thought that this was the world's reputation, but today I saw King Qi in person, and heard the principle of the stability of the triangular structure, only to know that those praises are not groundless, and the talent of King Qi is really rare in the world. ”

He then added: "It's more important. King Qi is eight years old, he became famous as a young man, and now he is wearing meritorious services and is in a high position, but he is not proud. When I came to my uncle's house, there was no shelf at all, drinking the people's water and eating the fireworks in the world, which made people very moved. In addition, when the king of Qi invited the child to enter the court, he was politely rejected by the child, but his face did not change his face, and he was not angry at all, which also shows that the king of Qi is open-minded and broad-minded. To be ruled by such benevolent and righteous people, the world is very fortunate, and the people are very fortunate! ”

Huang Chengyan nodded and agreed with Zhuge Liang's words. "Since Liang'er is so optimistic about King Qi. Why did King Qi invite twice, but Liang'er repeatedly refused. ”

Zhuge Liang looked at the direction of Licheng County with a longing face, and replied: "It's not that the child doesn't want to follow King Qi. The reason why he refused the invitation was because he felt that if he was invited to serve in the palace of King Qi today, outsiders would say that the nephew had borrowed his uncle's relationship and climbed high branches to get an errand through the back door, rather than relying on his real talent and learning. As the saying goes, the mouth of the defense is worse than the defense of Sichuan, and it is difficult to gain a foothold even if you enter the court as an official. ”

Huang Chengyan thought about it carefully, and what Zhuge Liang said was not unreasonable. "But you rejected King Qi's invitation, how can you join the court?"

Zhuge Liang smiled proudly, "Doesn't the Church of Our Lady have a big exam every four years to recruit church priests for all believers in the church?" ”

"You mean?" Huang Chengyan suddenly realized.

Zhuge Liang affirmed: "That's right! I'm going to take an exam. For reference, my nephew has been going to church every week since the beginning of last year and has just been baptized as a believer this year. In this way, the reference condition is satisfied. Once you are on the list, you can become a priest of the church, and at that time, isn't it equivalent to serving in the tent of His Royal Highness King Qi? ”

Huang Chengyan questioned, "But your father's last wish is to let you become an official in the court, not to run to the church to be some kind of servant." ”

Zhuge Liang imitated the posture he had just learned from Luan Yi and shook his index finger to express his denial. Said: "Uncle's words are wrong. Don't you think that the present church is the court of the future? ”

Huang Chengyan was stunned. Oh, yes! The high-level leaders in the Church of Our Lady, whether it is Guo Jia, Xu Shu, or even Mao Jue, Xun Yu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Xi Zhicai, Jia Xu...... It seems that he did not hold a high position such as the Three Princes and Nine Secretaries in the court, but only held some deputy positions such as Cao Yuan.

But anyone with a discerning eye can see that Luan Yi is cultivating them in the direction of high-ranking successors, and when the dynasty is changed, the church group can move to the court as they are and become the core of the future court.

By that time, the Church of Our Lady was the court, and the court was the Church of Our Lady, and they were already partly part of each other.

Huang Chengyan was immediately relieved and agreed to Zhuge Liang's request to take the route of the scientific expedition.

As a result, Zhuge Liang appeared in the examination room of the church in the eleventh year of the Holy Yuan Dynasty.

Speaking of which, the church's examination and recruitment system was borrowed by Luan Yi from the Manchu scientific examination system. The examination is divided into four levels, the reference person needs to first take the examination of the county where he is located, and compete with his colleagues in the county, the top five are regarded as talents, and then participate in the county examination in the following year to the Junzhi of the county, and pass the assessment is to raise people.

Xiucai can go to the state examination to be held next year, and the top 20 in the assessment can get the title of tribute student, and go to Jinan to participate in the quadrennial national examination, which is the so-called palace examination.

Unlike the imperial examination system in later generations, the church recruited not only male priests, but also female priests—both men and women. Therefore, there are not only men but also women who are involved in the Church's scientific expeditions. The two are treated equally, answer the same questions in the same examination room, and be selected for admission after the examination.

In the eyes of people in the 21st century, this is understandable and deserved, after all, in that era, the high school entrance examination, the college entrance examination, the big examination and the small examination, men and women were equal. However, for the Han Chinese in the second century AD, the idea of male superiority and inferiority of women remained solid. It is undoubtedly a very humiliating thing to be compared to a woman in the examination room.

However, the fact is that there are many talented women in the previous examinations, and many of their results are stronger than the others (referring to males), and even rank first.

In the previous three years, Zhuge Liang had met such a woman in the process of obtaining the status of a tribute student, and the first woman in the state examination ranked second, following Zhuge Liang. This shocked Zhuge Liang for a while, and often secretly thought: It turns out that not all women have long hair and short knowledge, and there are people among them who can learn like this.

Zhuge Liang later told Huang Yueying about meeting a strange girl in the exam, and asked Yueying if she wanted to refer to it and serve the country in the future. Huang Yueying's thoughts were originally more traditional under Huang Chengyan's indoctrination, and she felt that it was her duty for a woman to stay at home and teach her husband and children, and showing up was a manifestation of immorality.

At this time, Zhuge Liang advised Huang Yueying not to limit her thinking to a narrow dead end, but to learn from those outstanding people who are at the forefront of the times, and to learn to abandon secular concepts for the sake of the country. In this regard, he moved Cai Yan out as an example, and asked Huang Yueying, "You see, even Princess Qi has come out to be an official." And she is the first female official in Dahan. Can you say that Cai is not virtuous? ”

Cai Yan has been Huang Yueying's idol for a long time, and after hearing Zhuge Liang's words, she suddenly opened her mouth. "Yes! The princess can be admitted. I can do it too. Yueying's competitive heart was immediately given. I think she has studied from her father for more than ten years, and she can be regarded as a successful student, and if she refers to it, she will definitely not lose to the man.

The only difficulty is that Huang Yueying has not participated in the previous county, county, and state styles. If you are not a tribute student, you are not eligible to take the national examination.

In desperation, she begged Huang Chengyan to find Luan Yi to intercede, so that she could open a back door.

Huang Chengyan was reluctant at first, but he couldn't bear Huang Yueying's stubborn beating, and finally had to write a letter to Luan Yi with his old face.

Originally, there was a perfunctory affair with his daughter, but he never thought that Luan Yi would send someone to send Huang Yueying's Gongsheng identity certificate the next day, as well as this year's national examination admission ticket.

As a result, Huang Yueying became a filler in this year's national examination list.

……

Before the national examination, scholars from all over the country rushed to Jinan, among whom the scholars from poor families accounted for the majority. Coming from a poor family, they do not enjoy superior educational resources since childhood like the children of the wealthy families of the scholars, nor can they be sheltered by the recommendation system like the children of the wealthy families of the scholars, and they are doomed to the fate of becoming officials in the future from the following life.

They need to work hard, and they need to work hard to change the life that has been passed down from generation to generation, facing the loess and facing the sky.

And the emergence of the church scientific examination system is undoubtedly the best choice for them to find another way. So, in the past four years, they have worked hard and worked hard, waiting for this moment of blockbuster and gold list title.

They wore clothes with obvious regional differences, and spoke dialects from the south, north and south, gathered in Jinan, setting off the extraordinary liveliness of this ancient land.

In the past Jinan State, the current Jinan County of Qi State, the merchants in the county had already experienced two national examinations before this. Savvy as they have long since discovered the potential profits contained in the national examination. As a result, they have used the national examination as a gimmick to show their way of business.

This inn has changed the private rooms in the store to "Fish Leaping Dragon Gate", "Bright Future", and "Gold List Title"...... It's all auspicious words.

There is a shoe shop over there that has simply changed its signboard - "High Rise Stack!" ”

Listen, can you not be promoted by wearing the shoes of this house?

For a time, there was a surge of people in Licheng County, Jinan County, and the voices of selling came and went.

The location of the national examination is not far from Luan Mansion, which is now the Qi Palace. It is located on the shore of the spring pool. This spring was originally part of Luan Yi's mansion, and it was the place where the horses and horses were drunk and washed in the back house.

Luan Yi later heard that the people outside the back door of his mansion had difficulty getting water every day, and the water source was far away from home. It was decided to enclose the spring outside the courtyard and give priority to solving the people's draught.

In this regard, the people of Jinan were very moved. After the news spread, everyone in the world praised King Qi for loving the people like a son. There are even literati and scholars who praised the king of Qi for making springs, saying: "The king of Qi loves the people like brothers and sisters, and he can't bear the hardships of the people." In the old days, the pond in the courtyard of the palace was lost to the homes of the common people. ”

So, in order to thank King Qi for his kindness, the spring has a new name among the people - Wangfu Pond.

The National Examination of Our Lady of Importance is held in a huge courtyard on the west side of the Wangfu Pond. The courtyard door is divided into three entrances, and in front of each door, 36 church guards and 36 maids search the male and female candidates separately to prevent the candidates from carrying cheating.

When Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying arrived at the field, there was already a long queue in front of the door.

Huang Yueying looked at it, there were hundreds of people, and then sighed, "When can I go in!" ”

Zhuge Liang said quietly: "It must be soon!" ”