[Thank you very much for your support, and finally returned to the top ten positions on the monthly ticket list.] The Mid-Autumn Festival came back late, and seeing the support of my friends, I could only fight to the end tonight, and two chapters had to be rushed out. This is the first chapter. 】

Huang Shang is now rushing to the article.

The draft in front of Huang Shang can no longer be seen clearly.

On the large desk, stacks of books and manuscripts are stacked. Extracted and placed casually, the stacks of books stacked high look crumbling.

On the ground, there were already several books scattered all over the place, but Huang Shang only cared about constantly pulling out books from the pile of books to rummage through them, confirming whether the sources of the allusions quoted in his article were wrong, but he didn't have time to free up his hands to sort them out.

The oil lamp on the side has been refilled twice, and the fire is still steady, but the clear oil in the lamp has bottomed out. And the bottom is also seen in the teapot. A maidservant came in and looked at it, and lightly sorted out the books and manuscripts that had fallen to the ground, refilled them with oil and water, and then quietly retreated again.

The maidservants came in and went out. Huang Shang did not raise his head, but looked at the manuscript in front of him intently, not distracted by anything.

In April next year, immediately after the Jinshi Course, the examination will be opened, and there is not much time left for Huang Shang.

There are 25 articles on strategy and 25 treatises, describing the geography and military affairs around the Great Song Dynasty, and commenting on past wars and history. It's simple, but it's not so easy to write well. Only when the quantity and quality of the submitted articles meet the standards and pass the review of the two officials can they be eligible to participate in the system examination. This is also thanks to Huang Shang, he was unpopular in the exam, otherwise the article to be written would give him more headaches.

In addition, the six essays of the second level of the pavilion test are all unpopular. If you want to pass the test, you must go through the Nine Classics, the Classics, the Book of War, and the History. Many candidates can't even remember the source of the question, so they hate it. To delve deeper into these historical commentaries, half a year is almost an instant.

However, Huang Shang is still confident, as long as he can reach the front of the palace, he will win.

Among the various subjects of the system, there are six subjects that can be taken by those who have official status: virtuous and good Fangzheng can speak outright, Broadcom Tomb is clear in the education department, talent and knowledge are in the physical application department, and the detailed officials can make the political department, the knowledge of the Tao strategy and the strategy of the department, and the military strategy and far-reaching material are the border and parasitic department.

Among them, the first outspoken and extremely admonished is the most popular test, as long as the writing is good, and then scolding a little harder, most of them will be able to make a Chinese subject. Su Zhe was admitted in this way, and scolded him the hardest, so that Emperor Renzong didn't dare to depose him. Talent and knowledge are also in the physical department, and it is mostly talking. And the others are to be able to do practical things, and it is not good to have an empty mouth, that is, the Broadcom tomb is clear in education, and it must be a great Confucian who teaches one side and educates hundreds of thousands of people to be qualified to take the test.

So for so many years, all the departments have been vacant. Not to mention that no one came to take the test, even if someone took the test, they couldn't pass it. If you do practical things, you can be promoted directly, and if you don't do practical things, where will you have practical experience and let people pass the exam? At the same time, if you do a lot of practical things, how can you have time to study, and it is impossible to pass the exams of the two systems and the secret pavilion.

is only an outlier today. There is talent and experience. After getting the Jinshi background from the imperial court, he also had to take a system to come out. This is also to make the road to Jaesuke smoother and unobstructed.

Huang Sheng is preparing to take the test for military strategy, Hongyuan, and Ren Bian sends a subject. This subject requires candidates to have a very in-depth understanding of human geography on the border, and at the same time have a long-term and accurate view of the national strategy. This is tantamount to a tailor-made position for the yellow dress.

Of course, the examiner is also important. There are few people in the DPRK and China who are qualified to serve as the examiners of the military strategy and the frontier. Han Gang is the recommender, this has to be ruled out, but what about the rest? Lu Huiqing is outside, and the rest are only Zhang Dian and Xue Xiang.

And since it was recommended by Han Gang, Empress Taishang definitely had to give a face. As long as there are no big problems such as sneering, and the examiners have no objections, she will not object to giving Huang Sheng an identity from a science department.

This is called having someone in the DPRK and China who is good at being an official.

But then again, no matter how good you are at being an official, you can't just hand in some articles and pass it. Since the status of the system is still above the Jinshi department, the difficulty is naturally far greater. For more than 100 years, less than 50 people have passed the system.

After each major competition, the Jinshi examination papers that rank top in the subject will be made public, and the world will judge whether they are good or bad. If Huang Sheng can pass the exam, his articles will be made public. If he is embarrassed, what will he do in this subject? has been given the Jinshi background, if it is not for the sake of seeking a consummation, there is no need to work so hard.

There was only one chance, Huang Sheng would never allow himself to slack off, blinked his sour eyes, took a sip of astringent tea from the teapot, and threw himself into the manuscript in an instant.

……………………

It's really hard work.

Hearing the report from the other courtyard, Han Gang remembered himself when he went to Beijing to take the exam and studied hard at Wang Shao's house.

After a few months of hard work, I got a pass in the officialdom. Without a Jinshi qualification, where is it possible to rise so fast? It's a pity that I didn't have the literary talent of Huang Shang at that time, otherwise I would have written some strategies and edited them into a book and submitted them, maybe I could also be given a fellow jinshi background, and I would have avoided the tense sprint a few months before the exam.

However, Han Gang never regretted that period of hard study. Re-questioning one's mastery of scripture and history also made it possible to steal Confucianism and change pillars. Otherwise, you can't even do the basic quotation of scriptures, how can you convince Shilin? What do you rely on to debate with those great Confucians?

"Mian Zhong is at a critical time, let the other courtyard serve carefully. Let Tan Yun come over. Han Gang gave an order and asked the housekeeper to step back.

If Huang Shang passes the system, he will have more help in the court. Even if he takes the exam instead of speaking outright, as long as he is from a department background, he will be qualified enough to enter the Yushitai.

After Su Song entered the Xifu and Shen Kuo took office in Hanlin, the lack of control in the Taiwan Command was the biggest loophole in the court of Han Gang's family. If there is a trustworthy Huang Shang in Taiwan, Han Gang can focus on academics and don't have to worry too much about the problems in the court.

It's like a puzzle, making up for the shortcomings in his hands piece by piece, Han Gangchang remembers his layout of the court, and he can't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. It's just that now the first department of qi science has only a prototype in the court, and it is not far from the momentum of the old and new parties, and everything is still very early.

Tan Yun came over soon. He used to be the head of the small furnace of the ordnance supervisor, and once led the horse chopping knife bureau, and he was able to do things under Han Gang, and he was one of Han Gang's cronies in the ordnance superintendent. Now he was referred to the Mint by Han Gang, and he was on official business with another official who was promoted from the money supervisor in Beijing. Together with Su Lishe, who nominally promoted the Mint, and several minor officials who entered and did not enter the Mint, they together formed the management of the Mint in the center. At the local level, there are dozens of low-grade officials who manage the money supervisors in various places, who also belong to the newly formed Mint.

In terms of status, the Mint Bureau has been independent since it belonged to the Three Divisions of Salt and Iron Yamen, and changed to its current name, and its sequence in officialdom has not changed much. It is still one level lower than the first-level yamen under the political affairs hall such as the ordnance supervisor and the general supervisor. It's just because there is a big mink like Su Lishe in charge, which is slightly higher than the Firearms Bureau and the Plate Armor Bureau.

But there are so many officials in the bureau that they are above the superintendent of a temple. And it's very difficult to manage - the supervisors of the money prisons in various places are either clan relatives, state relatives, or the shadow of a high-ranking eunuch. If you make a mistake and want to play the board, a bunch of relatives and friends will immediately come over to help intercede.

Fortunately, Tan Yun's work is practical, and personnel issues are all handled by another officer, so he doesn't need to bother. And the people in the bureau will not be ignorant of the way, it is Han Gang who is really in charge of the mint, if he is provoked to turn his face, Queen Taishang will not protect it. These money prison officials, there are not many smart people, but they can see a lot of style, and no one dares to offend Han Gang's tiger power. Up to now, the three fires of the new official have not burned out.

The iron coins, the bronze coins for five coins, and the brass coins for ten coins, the three coins with the smallest value but the largest circulation, were also quickly successful in their technical skills. After a small range of trial casting, it has been approved by the Empress Taishang and the two governments, and the mold has been sent down and is being cast in large quantities. It is still stored in the storehouse, and after the winter solstice, it will immediately pass through the world.

However, the smoothness of personnel and production does not mean that the technology is smooth. The latest die forging experiment failed again today, and Tan Yun came here with the nature of pleading.

Trying to build a forging machine to suppress copper, silver, and gold coins is still an unattainable goal at this stage.

The original embryo of silver and copper coins can be minted first, and there is no need for even the pattern of the pattern, just a smooth metal round plate, which really does not take much effort. The machine that can be forged and stamped is very nerve-wracking. The power source is easy to say, water, wind, and animal power can be used, but how to convert this power into a machine that can continuously punch coins into shapes, no craftsman can give a satisfactory answer.

On the other hand, stamping also requires dies. It's like the mother model needed for coinage. However, stamping dies that can be used hundreds or thousands, preferably tens of thousands, require hard, wear-resistant materials. However, in this era, no matter what kind of alloy exists, it cannot achieve the required mechanical properties.

Whether it is cold forging or hot forging, these two problems also have problems that are difficult to solve.

However, the R&D funds allocated by the Mint are sufficient to be used. There are three groups of people in different places to tackle key problems in different places, and whoever succeeds first can get a reward from an ambassador. The military attache was promoted from a small envoy to an ambassador, which is no less difficult than the civil official who chooses his own person to become an official in Beijing, such a big carrot hangs in front of him, Han Gang does not worry that those craftsmen are not desperate.

In terms of hard work, the more than 20 craftsmen are no worse than Huang Shang.

All Han Gang had to do was wait now.