After chatting a few words, Su Tiancheng turned to the topic.

"Brother Liu, I just arrived today, and I don't know a lot of situations, and I don't know who the examiner is in this township test."

"Hehe, look at me, I forgot such an important thing."

Liu Zhongji inadvertently glanced at Su Tianhao, such a major matter, Su Tianhao is also going to participate in the township test, it is said that he knows the Tao, and he didn't say anything for Lu, but Su Tiancheng just arrived, and it was normal that he didn't have time to say it.

"The chief examiner this time is Xu Eryi, the director of the Ministry of Engineering, and Fu Youliang is in charge of engineering."

Su Tiancheng's body trembled inadvertently.

Xu Eryi this person, he is a person who knows the way, the director of the Ministry of Industry of the six products, when Chongzhen was in the first year, Shangshu was wronged by Xiong Tingbi, and asked for his rehabilitation, Chongzhen was not allowed, Chongzhen was not allowed to be reinstated in the second year of Chongzhen, and continued to be sparse, for Mao Wenlong, and guaranteed that Mao Wenlong did not embezzle military salaries with his family's life, Chongzhen was still not allowed, Xu Er resigned angrily, and he did not expect Chongzhen to be reinstated for five years, and he became the chief examiner of the Shanxi Township Examination.

As for Fu Youliang, he is not very familiar with it, but the power in the matter is very great, can not be ignored, although it is only the rank of the seventh grade, but the duty in the matter, is to impeach officials, to be able to hear the news, directly under the leadership of the emperor, this trick, so that many officials have a headache, every year during the Spring Festival, the six departments are given to the matter and the cabinet ministers to get together, nominally to discuss the gains and losses of the government, in fact, to appease a lot of people in the matter.

During the meal, everyone drank a little wine, and after the meal, Liu Zhongji said goodbye and went back to the inn, probably thinking that Su Tiancheng had traveled a long distance and needed to rest.

Back in the house, Su Tiancheng went directly back to the room, he wanted to think about some questions quietly.

During the Chongzhen period, the corruption of the imperial court was serious, the officials only knew how to be greedy for ink and enjoyment, and did not care about national affairs at all.

Su Tiancheng even remembered an allusion, the candidates who passed the township examination and the general examination, when they participated in the palace examination, they were unlucky and exposed, in front of the emperor, they couldn't write anything, and they couldn't speak well, and the emperor was helpless in the end, so he could only deprive this candidate of his fame.

Su Tiancheng didn't want to encounter such unspoken rules.

In terms of knowledge, he has full self-confidence, the previous Su Tiancheng's knowledge, coupled with his own understanding beyond this dynasty for hundreds of years, is fused together, is it really strange that he can't pass the exam.

If the system of the imperial examination is strict, everyone follows the rules, and their own knowledge is not enough to pass the township examination, then there is no way, and it is no wonder that others.

If you have knowledge and are squeezed down by those candidates who have no ink, it will be a shame.

There is only one time in three years of the township test, and the next time is Chongzhen's seven years, his age is not very old, it is said that he can wait for three years, and after three years, the twenty-one-year-old is also very good, but unfortunately he has no time to delay.

These are not peaceful times.

Su Tiancheng has always believed that he must become a member of the court officials, grasp power, and many things, so that it is possible to do a good job, starting from scratch, thinking about strengthening his own strength, thinking about protecting his family, and thinking about reversing the course of historical development.

He thought of Xu Eryi, and the "History of the Ming Dynasty" had a good evaluation of this person, calling him a great husband.

According to Xu Eryi's grievances for Xiong Tingbi and Mao Wenlong, Xu Eryi is the kind of person who admits death, hits the wall and does not look back, and even does not hesitate to resign from his official position, and his understanding is also a little extreme. It should be said that Xu Er has a sense of integrity, but the flaws are also obvious, and if he thinks he is noble, he has done something wrong, and it is difficult to recognize, but he takes it for granted.

Let's talk about Yuan Chonghuan's killing of Mao Wenlong, Yuan Chonghuan did not report to Zhu Youzhen, first cut and then play, in this case, he came forward to shout injustice for Mao Wenlong, what effect can it be, let Zhu Youzhen do it, follow and kill Yuan Chonghuan, at that time, the Jiliao front, the situation was critical, and Zhu Youzhen must take into account the overall situation.

If Xu Er thought about it a little, he shouldn't be sparse.

In fact, what happened later proved that Xu Er's matter was still in line with the emperor's idea, and Zhu Youzhen rehabilitated Xiong Tingbi and killed Yuan Chonghuan.

I don't know if Xu Eryi will change after experiencing these things, a few years have passed, he is still the head of the Ministry of Works, which shows that he is still stubborn.

This is really easy to change, and the nature is difficult to change.

Seeing such an examiner is a good thing for Su Tiancheng.

The content of the township examination is fixed, the four books and five classics, the Analects, Mencius, the University, and the mean are called the four books, and the Book of Poetry, the Book of Rites, the Book of Rites, the Zhou Yi, and the Spring and Autumn Period are called the Five Classics, and the examination questions are the original text of the Four Books and the Five Classics.

The content of the township examination must be based on the annotations of the Cheng Zhu School on the Four Books and the Five Classics, and no other commentaries are allowed.

The structure and genre of the article in the township test are also fixed, which is the well-known eight-strand essay.

Eight-strand text, as the name suggests, is eight parts, breaking the topic, undertaking the topic, starting the topic, entering the topic, starting the stock, middle stock, back stock, bundle of shares, and adding a big knot after the most luan, an eight-strand text is formed.

One of the most important parts is the middle stock, which is the focus of the whole article, which requires candidates to play to their heart's content, and the text should be relaxed and flexible, and it is easy to be false and not real.

Later generations criticized Baguwen as much as possible, believing that Baguwen had no practical use, whether it was public or private documents, literary and historical works, memoirs, lyricism, reasoning, etc., all of them could not be used, and they were only a stepping stone to the imperial examination.

But Su Tiancheng doesn't think so, even if it is an exam hundreds of years later, there are also rules, and the knowledge that must be mastered is to be examined, this is a fixed model, only under the fixed mode, the exam is easy to operate, otherwise, everyone writes articles according to their own thoughts, and the examiner and the examiner have no standards and cannot be marked.

Of course, Su Tiancheng does not support the eight-strand text, let alone dead reading, and even knows nothing except the content of the eight-strand text.

The imperial examination needs to rely on the knowledge mastered by Su Tiancheng before.

Thinking about these things clearly, Su Tiancheng didn't plan to find a way to visit the examiner.

The next day, Su Tiancheng went to Taiyuan Mansion to go through the formalities.

To participate in the township examination, there are still a lot of procedures to be handled, some of which need to be done in person, such as determining the identity, as for the later receipt of the number plate, the determination of the examination number, etc., there is no need to go in person, the township examination is held in the Gongyuan.

The procedures are divided into two periods, one period before the county examination, mainly for the Guozijian who participated in the township examination, and after the county examination, three to five days of time are concentrated for the candidates who have obtained the qualifications of the township examination. All the procedures are directly responsible for the Taiyuan Mansion Yamen, and they are also entrusted by the governor, including the announcement of the list, which is also on the wall outside the government office.

There is no difference between the Taiyuan Mansion and the Pingyang Mansion Yamen, and the specifications and models are similar.

Su Tiancheng took the letters, including many certificates issued by the Pingyang Mansion, and went directly to the Taiyuan Mansion.

The sergeant guarding the gate of the government office looked at Su Tiancheng's guide and waved his hand to let him go.

Entered the gate, passed through the Yongdao, passed the Yimen, the ring stone workshop, and finally saw the lobby.

At this time, some people were already waiting outside the lobby, probably to lead the way for the candidates, and these people were all officials in the government office.

After Su Tiancheng saw the officer, he took out a piece of broken silver from his body and naturally handed it to the officer.

This action was very fast, and if I didn't pay attention to it, I thought that Su Tiancheng had asked the official about something.

Seeing the silver, of course the official was happy, and took Su Tiancheng through the lobby and came to the back room.

The formalities are carried out in the ceremonial room.

Su Tiancheng has a series of certificates, all of which were issued by the Yamen of Pingyang Mansion, indicating that you are a student of a certain year, and have participated in several township examinations, whether you are eligible to participate in the township examination, and he handed these certificates to the priests or wardens of the ceremonial room, waiting for them to confirm their identity.

The next thing is to wait for the notice, get the number plate on August 6, and enter the Gongyuan exam in the early morning of August 9.

After the clerk reviewed the materials, he found that there was no problem, so he put away all the materials, and then issued a certificate to the candidates, saying clearly the relevant time, including when to get the number plate at the Yamen, when to arrive at the Gongyuan, etc., and the most important place to register the candidates' accommodation, which is to prevent something from happening and need to be notified urgently.

The time for registration is also limited, the fifth day of August must be completed, and on the sixth day of August, as the chief examiner and the same examiner enter the Gongyuan, the officials in the examination room are starting to be busy, making all the preparations, including pasting the exam number and so on.

The examination rules of the township examination are very strict, after the paper is collected, there is a special transcription officer, instructing the writer, the candidate's test paper is re-transcribed, and there is also a proofreading of the official to see if there is a transcription error, the chief examiner and the same examiner see a kind of handwriting, want to fake and cover up, it seems impossible.

But there are so many people who say hello, the relationship is also to pay attention to, what to do, is to make a fuss from the exam number, the transcription of the paper, you can see the exam number, if the examiner remembers a certain person, as long as he remembers his exam number, then he will naturally be able to take care of it, as for what the knowledge is, that is another topic.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination system was very strictly enforced, but unfortunately, in the Wanli and Tianqi years, especially during the Tianqi period, when Wei Zhongxian was in power, he regarded the imperial examination as a tool for collecting money and absorbing lackeys, which disrupted the imperial examination system.

Once this cancer spreads, the impact is fatal.

Su Tiancheng's procedures were very smooth, thanks to the letter, the people who held this kind of letter, in the eyes of the officials and the warden, were all candidates with unusual relationships, and of course they would not slack off.