There is a cloud in the Book of Changes, "Observe astronomy to observe the changes of time, and observe humanity to transform the world", which means that the monarch understands the celestial phenomena through the observatory to observe the fortune of the times, and examines the humanities through the tribute courtyard to educate the world. Therefore, the Shuntian Gongyuan is located in the southeast corner of the Chongwen Gate in the capital, and stands opposite to the observatory, which is the metaphor of the acquisition.

It was built in the thirteenth year of Yongle, starting from the former site of the Ministry of Rites of the Yuan Dynasty, since the Ming Dynasty is the important place of the imperial court to pick up talents, in addition to undertaking the township test in the area of North Zhili, it is also the place of the national examination. Therefore, among the fifteen tribute institutes in the country, it is the largest and most noble, and its scale is magnificent and magnificent, which can only be felt by experiencing it in person.

When Shen Mo came down from the green sedan chair that was carried by the four people, he saw the sky full of stars, and the bucket handle was spinning upside down, and it was just after midnight. He straightened his robe and walked towards the gate of the Gongyuan with a steady pace. The capital in August is already completely autumn, and in the early hours of the morning, there is already a bit of a chill.

Facing is three bluestone archways standing side by side, coiling dragons and carving phoenixes, embellished with Zhiling, looking very gorgeous and solemn. On the left archway, there are two big characters written on the outside, and the four characters of "Ming Jing take scholars" are engraved inside; And the largest archway in the middle, there are only words on the front, which is the Yongle Emperor imperial pen inscription 'Tiankai Wenyun' four big characters.

Looking through the archway, the end of the square is the tribute courtyard. The wall of the Gongyuan is as high as one zhang and five feet, and it is also covered with thorns to prevent people from cheating over the wall, so the Gongyuan is called "Thorny" and "Thorny Courtyard". There are also hope towers built on the four corners, which are convenient for observation and observation...... This is an examination room, it's a heavily guarded prison!

You can hear the drums of the third watch from the tower. Shen Mo saw that the official road in front of the Gongyuan was already brightly lit, and the soldiers of the Beijing camp specially sent to supervise the field, holding a lantern in one hand and the saber at his waist in the other, lined up in two rows with their heads held high and indifferent, alerting the entire range of the Gongyuan.

Shen Mo knew that these soldiers were not only assisting him in proctoring the exam, but also monitoring them.

When he moved his gaze from a distance to the bottom of the archway, he found that there were already dozens of officials standing there, all of whom were his subordinates in the autumn season.

Shen Mo walked over, and those people, under the leadership of the two deputy examiners, smiled silently and said: "Everyone, I won't say anything superfluous, just eight words, 'work together and help each other'." ”

Everyone nodded and said, "Your Excellency's order!" Then they met one by one, one of the two deputy examiners was the cabinet Si Zhilang, Zuo Zanshan Zhang Siwei, and the other was the Hanlin Academy attendant Lu Tiaoyang, the three of them couldn't help but smile when they met, and secretly said that the specifications of this township test were high enough - no, although the official positions of the three of them were not too high, they were all five or six grades, but their own quality was there!

Silence, Jiajing for thirty-five years, Bingchen champion.

Zhang Siwei, 32 years of Jiajing, Gui Chou Branch, the first place in Shu Jishi.

Lv Tiaoyang, 29 years of Jiajing, Gengxu Ke Bangyan.

It is no exaggeration to say that the three of them are qualified enough to read the Shuntian Township Examination, but now they have to complete this matter together, which can only show one problem, that is, the incomparable attention from above.

Looking at the eighteen fellow examiners, there are also several old acquaintances, there are silent in the same year, Dali Left Commentator Hu Yingjia, pedestrian director Sun Piyang, as well as Wang Chen's youngest son, Wang Shizhen's younger brother Wang Shimao, and a few others He also knows, but there is no need to introduce them one by one.

After a while, the auspicious time arrived. The three cannons in front of the tribute courtyard rang out, and under the silent gaze, the soldiers slowly opened the gate; Three more cannons, and the door opened; Three more cannons, and the gantry is opened! A total of nine cannons were fired, and the Suncheon Gongwonwon, which had been closed for two and a half years, finally reopened!

After letting go of the cannon, Shen Mo led his examiners and walked into the Gongyuan from the right side of the road, and another row of brocade guards entered in parallel from the left side, they were the supervisors of the township examination, and the director of the leader, Shen Mo, also knew one of Lu Bing's thirteen Taibao, and Zhu Jiu of the Thousand Households of the Northern Zhili Thousand Households.

He glanced at Zhu Jiu, and Zhu Jiu immediately noticed that the eagle's sharp gaze greeted him at once, and when he found out that it was silent, he immediately raised his edge, and even had a faint smile on his face, but this is not the place to say hello, the two sides looked at each other, and then withdrew and looked straight ahead.

The two pedestrians walked through the rows of examination houses, and when they arrived at the public hall, there was an incense case in front of the hall, and the incense and candle tributes were all available on the case. The civil and military officials stood in front of the hall, and Zhu Jiu took a step forward, turned around, cleared his throat and said, "There is a holy decree!" ”

"Long live my emperor, long live, long live, long live......" Shen Mo led all the officials to kneel down and receive the order.

At this time, Zhu Jiu took out the holy decree and read out the appointment of Shen Mo and others, Zhu Jiu read out the appointment of Shen Mo and others, and finally closed the holy decree and said: "Yesterday, Lord Taibao gave a lecture, and his old man said that the emperor wanted me to bring a message to Lord Shen and you. ”

"Listen to the hadith."

"Your Majesty said - you may think that the triennial big competition is just a routine business, for the Ming Dynasty, it is true, but for you people, it is a scientific expedition related to the future, and even life and death; You examiners are all selected by me, either from the world eunuchs, or from Qing important families, with good official reputations and a bright future. I'm going to use this opportunity to see if you can take on a more important burden, whether it's real or fake? Zhu Jiu memorized it all night before he could blurt out like this, and said: "The scientific examination is a great ceremony for the country to select talents, and it is a major event related to talent selection, national prosperity and political stability. We must be fair, we must be public, and we must not be partial! ”

As he spoke, Zhu Jiu's gaze became extremely calm, and he swept over the crowd: "If anyone has distracting thoughts, please go out now, if you miss this opportunity and live up to Your Majesty's expectations, I will bring these people to justice!" At that time, don't say that your officials don't understand people! ”

After Emperor Zhu Jiudai finished speaking, he stepped forward to worship the big case. Behind him, there were officials who covered his face with two shades. Zhang Siwei stepped forward and knelt down to invite the Three Realms Demon Emperor Guan Shengdi to come in to suppress it, and invited General Zhou to come in to patrol the field. Then the official let go of the shade, and silently bowed three times and bowed nine times.

Then Lu Tiaoyang knelt down and asked the 'Seven Songs Wenchang Kaihua Zitong Emperor' to enter the main test, and Lu Tiaoyang invited Master Kuixing to come in to shine, and Shen Mo still stepped forward to ...... Of course, every time he saluted, the people behind him had to follow, and it was indispensable.

After inviting Guan Gong Zhou Cang and Wenqu Wenkui, Shen Mo got up and ascended to his seat, and saw that there were already two teams of soldiers standing in front of the row of examination rooms...... On the road, in front of each row, there were two people, one holding a red flag and the other holding a black flag.

Nodding silently, the clerk's office on the side struck a gong, and the paper was burned on the road, and the soldiers holding the flag shouted loudly: "Kind ghosts enter, resentful ghosts enter!" "It turns out that the red flag is used to recruit candidates' ghosts, and the black flag is the ghosts of candidates. If you do good deeds and accumulate virtues, there will be ghosts who come to repay your kindness, give you a beating on your back, rub your shoulders, and even help you make a cheat sheet or something; If you usually do all the bad things, you will come to make trouble for you, such as spilling ink on you and letting you graduate directly.

At this time, a gust of wind swept through the corridor, rolled up the paper and ash, and rolled under the red and black flags, and even the staunch materialist Shen Mo was swishing and numb in his spine, and his heart said, 'There can't really be a ghost, right?'"

After inviting the ghosts and gods, I entered the Zhigong Hall...... Only the examiners were allowed to enter, and the invigilators scattered to all corners of the examination room to perform their duties.

Silently led the examiners to bow three times and kowtow nine times in front of the tablet of Confucius, the 'Most Holy Master of Dacheng'. Then on behalf of the examiners of each room, he swore an oath: "For the country's society, take the people fairly, do not follow personal feelings, do not ask for help, and do not accept bribes - if you have this heart, the gods will die together!" ”

This can be regarded as worshipping all the gods and ghosts, silently walked out of the Zhigong Hall, and when he stood on the stairs, he looked at the stars in the sky and found that it was already the fourth watch.

Seeing that the examiner had come out, Zhu Jiu, who had been waiting outside, said, "My lord, the candidates outside the door have been assembled and can start at any time." ”

Shen Mo nodded, and shouted: "Open the dragon gate!" ”

So the candidates carried the test baskets and rushed in, and in the corridor between the dragon gate and the instrument gate, they were checked and searched one by one...... These are all anti-cheating measures before the exam, the former is to eliminate the substitute test, and the latter is to prevent entrainment.

The substitute test is to find a gunman, this does exist, and it is impossible to prevent it, but most of them occur in the county examination, the government examination, and the hospital examination. That delay is three years, and no one can afford to delay.

Therefore, although the township test exists, it is also rare, and the main means of cheating is still 'coercive words'! Those candidates who want to cheat, the eight immortals cross the sea, each shows their powers, and brings the exam materials and even the written articles into the examination room through various forms, so that they can refer to or copy them during the exam.

Accompanied by Zhu Jiu, Shen Mo stood on the top of Minglun Tower and looked down, only to see the search inspectors holding the roster to check the names, origins, ages, and appearances of the candidates one by one. The soldiers searched the candidates all over their bodies...... Needless to say, the test basket and test box, even the hair must be scattered, the clothes must be untied, and the shoes must be removed to see if there is any coercion.

Silently listening to the officials and soldiers shouting and shouting one by one, calling the names of the candidates like prisoners, he felt quite unhappy in his heart, and couldn't help frowning slightly.

Zhu Jiu observed his words and expressions on the side, and whispered: "The kindness and love of adults is a blessing for the candidates...... It's better for me to let them converge and converge, and it will pass with one eye open and one eye closed. ”

Who knew that Shen Mo shook his head and said, "This is not the time for mercy. Although most of the students are polite and honest, there are always some lawbreakers who take risks, and if these people are let go, it will be a great injustice to most of the candidates who have not cheated. ”

Zhu Jiu said solemnly when he heard this: "An adult is really an adult, but he thinks deeper than us old people. As he spoke, he patted his chest and said: "Since adults are enforcing the law like a mountain, I will personally go to the ninth child, so that you can always see what is like a torch!" ”

Shen Mo nodded and smiled: "I want to see my brother's ability." He had already heard that Zhu Jiu had been the most powerful head catcher in the six doors, and he could see that he couldn't hide anything in his bones with a pair of tricks.

As soon as Zhu Jiu went down, the noisy corridor immediately quieted down. There is no way that his flying fish costume and embroidered spring knife are too eye-catching and shocking. Raising his hand to stop the officers and soldiers from saluting, his eagle-like gaze swept in front of the candidates, and said coldly: "Let me introduce myself, Zhu Jiu, one of the thirteen Taibao, is one of the thousands of households in Shuntianfu, a certain brocade guard, this is the eighth invigilation of the township exam, and the cheating candidates caught by his subordinates are not thousand, but also eight hundred!" ”

After speaking, his eyes fell on a candidate who was constantly shrinking back in the crowd and said, "If you want to cheat, you have to pass my level first!" Then he pointed at the examinee with his hand, and the two men immediately pulled him out of the crowd like chickens, and then searched him in public, but found nothing, so they had to let him go.

The candidate was frightened for a moment, not much, turned around and walked into the crowd.

"Stop!" But he heard Zhu Jiuye's loud shout, which frightened him and stood on the spot.

"Take your clothes off." Zhu Jiu said coldly.

The candidate trembled like chaff when he boarded.

The brocade guard immediately grabbed him back and forcibly removed his robe, revealing a silk shoulder with a lining inside. This time, without the instructions of the ninth master, the Jinyi guard took down the shoulder and saw that the thread of the liner was not sewn at all, and with a light pull, it fell off - revealing a few pieces of white silk inside.

The candidate immediately collapsed to the ground.

Jin Yiwei presented the silk, Zhu Jiu took it over and took a look, the size of each piece is not large, the brush words on it are written in small block letters, and the title of the article is marked with a red pen, and the words are only three or four millimeters wide, and the handwriting is very clear.

Zhu Jiu clicked a few more candidates, and all of them were searched...... There are palm-sized pocket books, as well as white silk, white silk, and pieces of paper, and there are all kinds of hiding places, and there is even a master who keeps the fraud information in his mouth and tries to get by, but Zhu Jiu found at a glance that this person's expression was wrong, and he was also inarticulate when he replied.

In just a quarter of an hour, the first group of 300 people was passed through again, and eight people with information were found; Then another group was put in, and fifteen more entrained ...... were found Zhu Jiu ordered the cheating candidate to wear a flail and pull him to the outside of the Gongyuan to show the public, and then said to his opponent with a cold face: "Put the trick in the spot, do you make people very happy?" ”

The officers and soldiers couldn't hold back their faces, and the evil fire in their stomachs could only be vented to the candidates in the next group.

Zhu Jiu asked people to hold the seized cheating tools and return to Minglun upstairs as if they were invited.

Hui but not expensive praise, silent naturally not stingy, he said: "Admiration, really admiration!" ”

Zhu Jiu grinned and said, "If you check more, you will have experience." ”

Shen silently beckoned, motioned to the soldier holding the cheating information to come over, and said, "Look at these masters, what kind of cheating method are they going to do." As he spoke, he picked up a pocket book and couldn't help but be surprised: "It's just a work of art." Looking at the thin little book silently, there is a full set of "Four Books and Five Classics", as well as "Linwen Tips", and even the format of the answer sheet, evasion and other exam knowledge, it can be said that this is a set of test-taking books. However, it is no more than two inches long, only one and a half inches wide, the paper is as thin as a cicada's wings, the front and back are written, the words on it are as small as sesame seeds, and each page has at least more than 500 words, and the handwriting is neat and clear...... You know, there was no miniature printing technology in this era, and every word was written one stroke at a time, which is estimated to be the legendary ingenuity.

After admiring several breathtaking reference books, I silently picked up a piece of white silk, and at a glance I knew that this was a well-written article, so I could understand how well the candidates were guessing the questions...... He suddenly remembered that Li Zhenlai had guessed questions for several provinces this year, and he didn't know if he could continue to magical.

While thinking wildly, he was silent and focused his eyes on Bai Aya, this look didn't matter, he was so frightened that his hair stood on end, and he almost lost his soul!

I saw that the title of the first part of the exam question was 'I don't know if I live'!

Coincidence coincidence, it must be a coincidence, silent thumping heartbeat, trembling to look at the second page, only to see that the title of the article is 'The gentleman is ill and unworthy of his name'!

The silent heart was about to jump out of his throat, and he used all his strength to open the third page, and now his heart stopped beating completely, and his whole body was extremely cold.

I saw that the title was: 'Virtue: Yan Yuan, Min Ziqian, Ran Boniu, Zhonggong'...... One is a coincidence, two are magical, but can all three questions be bet on? Even if I believe that I can bet on it, can the emperor believe it? Can all senses be trusted? Now I can't wash it by jumping into the Yellow River!

In his life, Shen Mo had seen a lot of strong winds and waves, but this time he was really out of order, and the boundless sense of fear was suppressed all of a sudden, and as soon as his eyes were black, he fainted.

(To be continued)