On March 17, the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the last scene of the county examination in Mizhi County was about to begin. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

A total of 20 people will participate in the face-to-face examination, and if nothing else, these people will all pass the county examination and participate in the government examination in Yan'an Province in June.

The content of the face review mainly includes two aspects, one is to paste the scriptures, that is, to write and recite the four books and five classics in the exam, and the other is to make a strategy, that is, political views and current affairs, the face review is not very complicated, and the difficulty is not very great, such as pasting the scriptures, excerpting the passages in the four books and five classics, mainly the passages in the "Analects", writing or reading out the first sentence or two sentences, and the candidates will recite or write out all the words in the back, which is completely correct and is considered to be passed.

The policy is even simpler, the magistrate asks some questions, and it is enough to answer honestly, as long as you don't say reactionary words, and there are no obvious mistakes.

The face of the county examination is actually to prepare for the upcoming government examination, so that the candidates who have passed the county examination are familiar with the process of the government examination, so that they can better deal with it, after all, the government examination is more formal, at least they need to be confused.

The interview is carried out in the wing room behind the lobby, the county magistrate waits in the wing, and the candidates listen to the name of the county government and the secretary of the ceremonial room, and after the queue, follow the ceremonial room official, bypass the lobby, and go to the back of the wing.

After this interview, the name of the head of the county examination case will come out, and it will be posted on the eight-character wall outside the county office early the next morning.

Wu Fanhui entered the county office and came to the courtyard in front of the lobby to wait, and the rest of the candidates who passed the second or third exam were also waiting here.

As soon as he stood up, Wu Fanhui felt a different vision, he was not very familiar with the candidates who participated in the county examination, the twelve candidates of the Wu family who participated in the county examination, he was the only one who was eligible to participate in the face-to-face refu, and the rest were all eliminated, a few days ago when he was drinking in Sihailou, the patriarch Wu Mianqing once talked about it in his ear, it is estimated that this is the result of the county magistrate balancing the relationship between the families in the county, since Wu Fanhui may become the head of the county examination, then the other children of the Wu family, if they do not have special talents, Don't think about being taken care of.

Wu Fanhui came to the county seat for more than half a year, most of the time in the Wu School, almost no contact with the outside world, and did not know the students of other schools, and later his family moved to the county, most of the time he stayed at home.

Besides, before the county exam, Wu Fanhui was unknown, had no status in the family, and it was impossible for him to have much contact with the outside world, which made it even more impossible for him to know anyone.

Wu Fanhui carefully looked at the roster, his name was ranked first, the second and third were all surnamed He, and he should be the son of the He family, the fourth surname was Li, the fifth was surnamed Liu, the sixth was surnamed Wang, and the seventh to tenth were also surnamed He. When he saw this roster, Wu Fanhui's heart was a little sad, but also a little angry, in many historical records about the end of the Ming Dynasty, he remembered sporadic comments, that is, the imperial examination at the end of the Ming Dynasty has gradually revealed major drawbacks, that is, it is difficult to produce students from poor families.

The children of the scholar family, because of many prerequisites, can indeed study hard and receive good etiquette education, these education make them more prominent, and the children of ordinary families are not comparable, this phenomenon leads to the emergence of students from poor families to a certain extent, but such a situation should attract the attention of officials at all levels, and to a certain extent help those poor students who are willing to study hard, so that they can also get ahead.

The order of the face-to-face repetition is determined by drawing lots.

In the eyes of everyone, Wu Fanhui walked in front of the ceremonial secretary for the first time and drew the first note, he did not deliberately choose, but picked up the first note.

In front of all the candidates, the clerk opened the first note.

It said "one", and Wu Fanhui actually drew the number one.

The rest of the candidates couldn't help but whisper, the face of the county test is not as good as the competition hundreds of years later, drawing the number one is the performance of luck, and the number one of the face is the best, there is a preconceived concept in this, the first candidate seen by the county magistrate must be the most impressive.

What's more critical is that Wu Fanhui is the only candidate who passed the first main exam in the county examination.

It's not a stroke of luck.

Wu Fanhui doesn't have such an idea, he knows that all this can be arranged, twenty sticky notes are arranged in order, if he has the element of gambling luck, after going up, look for it among the sticky notes, and draw one from the middle, then he may lose the first opportunity to participate in the face-to-face recovery.

Although it is only a face-to-face in the county examination, who can say that it is not a psychological test for the candidates.

Even the ceremonial priest looked at the young man in front of him with different eyes.

After the lottery was completed, all the candidates stood in order in the courtyard, and the priest began to verify by name.

After the roll call, the warden stood up and began to read out the requirements of the face-to-face reply, which was nothing more than a dignified demeanor, serious answers to questions, etc., and the candidates who had completed the face-to-face review left the county government directly, and were not allowed to continue to stay in the county office, let alone have any language communication with the candidates who had not yet conducted the interview.

The warden finished announcing, and the priest began the roll call again.

"Wu Fanhui, go with the warden to face to face...

Entering the wing, Wu Fanhui found that the magistrate was actually standing with his back to him.

"Candidate Wu Fanhui has seen Lord Zhixian."

"Yes, the first one to participate in the face-to-face review, this official didn't mistake you."

Lu Weibiao turned around and looked at Wu Fanhui with a smile on his face, which made Wu Fanhui mutter, what kind of face is this, the whole atmosphere is chattering.

"Wu Fanhui, are you fully prepared to participate in the face-to-face reunion?"

"The candidates have indeed prepared, but whether they are ready or not depends on the study of the magistrate."

Lu Weibiao laughed, obviously happy.

"I have always paid attention to you, you have a good temperament, not arrogant or humble, you are generous, I have seen this official twice, without the slightest nervousness, it is not simple, this official has presided over the county examination three times, and it is the first time I have seen a candidate like you."

"That's because the examinee is stupid and doesn't know the Tianwei of the county master."

"Hehe, I didn't expect you to know flattery, okay, since it's a face-to-face reply, then the official is the book back to business."

Wu Fanhui is ready, although he can't fully memorize the Four Books and Five Classics, but some of the classic articles, that must be memorized in their entirety, and he is reciting on the basis of understanding, which is much stronger than those candidates who are devoured alive, at least in the process of memorization, he knows that the tone is frustrated.

After being silent for a while, the magistrate did not speak, which made Wu Fanhui, who bowed his head, a little strange, and couldn't help but raise his head slightly and look at the magistrate.

Two eyes collided in the air, one was sharp, with inquiry, and the other was peaceful, like a clear deep pool.

Wu Fanhui didn't bow his head immediately, but met the gaze of the magistrate, and about three seconds later, he bowed his head again.

"Wu Fanhui, when the Wu family was in the first month, there was a great change, the mother of the Wu family betrayed the family, lost her heart, and was expelled from the family, do you know this."

"The examinee knows that Kuang was the examinee's grandmother, because of what happened many years ago, she was dissatisfied with her father and the examinee, and she intended to calculate and suppress, and then she did not listen to the dissuasion of the family elders and insisted on going her own way, which led to the situation being uncontrollable and eventually causing a catastrophe."

"It's strange, Kuang's calculations against you and your father, it is said that you should hate them to the core, why can't this official hear it from your tone, is there any other reason for it?"

"The candidate is young, not yet born, his father and mother left the county, the candidate grew up in Ma'anshan Village, has never seen the Kuang family, not to talk about special hatred, the candidate knows some of the past events of the family, feels that the Kuang family is also a person who suffers, the Kuang's later encounter, the candidate thinks that he is to blame, do not do to others what he does not want, since he has suffered, he should empathize, experience the taste, consider others, are all internal matters of the Wu family, why bother to fry each other with the same root, and do not listen to the advice of the family elders, Even if the entire family is ready to be destroyed, the so-called poor people must have something to hate, and what happened to the Guo family afterwards is not surprising. ”

Lu Weibiao listened very seriously.

When Wu Fanhui spoke, he raised his head slightly, and Lu Weibiao could see his eyes.

Wu Fanhui's eyes were calm, but when he said the end, a trace of sharpness flashed.

The changes that happened in the first month of the Wu family, Lu Weibiao was already very clear, he was surprised that Wu Mianqing made arrangements and deployments, and successfully resolved such a huge family crisis, but he was also puzzled, could Wu Mianqing really be so powerful, he could make arrangements properly, and thought of every step of the situation.

After Wu Mianqing became the patriarch of the Wu family, Lu Weibiao also had several contacts with him, and the overall feeling was that Wu Mianqing was inclined to be generous and thoughtful, but lacked the demeanor of a general.

Just hearing Wu Fanhui's words, a thought suddenly popped up in Lu Weibiao's mind, that is, this young man must know everything, and may even have some key ideas.

"Wu Fanhui, what you said is very good, according to your age, it is very good to be able to have such a calm attitude, if the official did not guess wrong, you are placed high hopes by the family, I don't know how you will treat the kindness of the family in the future."

"The grace of dripping water, the spring reciprocates, the candidate is the son of the Wu family, and the family's affairs are the candidate's affairs."

Wu Fanhui felt that his face was a little hot, after all, this was a duplicitous word.

"That's right, okay, the interview is over."

Leaving the wing room, he walked out of the county office, Wu Fanhui was still a little dizzy, what kind of face is this, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Four Books and Five Classics, but after sobering up, he couldn't help sighing, the county master is indeed powerful, such a face-to-face recovery, may be able to test many people.