"Don't be careless!" Zhao Zongji didn't say anything, Chen Xiliang, who was listening to all directions, turned his head and reprimanded: "Although the number of admitted people in the hall lock test is larger, the level of candidates is much higher, not much easier than the main test!" ”

"Good ......" Chen Ke hurriedly humbly admitted his mistake and intercepted Chen Xiliang's words.

What is a lock hall test? This is a special examination for 'officials' in the imperial examination of the Song Dynasty. The so-called 'officials' were a special group of officials in the Song Dynasty...... For example, those who rely on the favor of their parents, use military merits, or pass the non-Jinshi examination to obtain official positions, in a word, those who do not pass the Jinshi examination become officials.

It is said that the purpose of taking the Jinshi examination is also to become an official, so why should you be admitted to the Jinshi again after becoming an official? However, in the officialdom of the Song Dynasty, Jinshi was the right way, with fast promotion, big face, and good reputation, and all high-ranking officials in the imperial court and local areas had to be born as Jinshi to serve. And the so-called 'officials' are called miscellaneous backgrounds, most of them are idle, or trapped at the bottom and cannot be promoted, and once there is a problem, they are always the ones who bear the black pot, no way, who makes them not from the right path?

Therefore, these 'officials' have taken the Jinshi examination one after another, in order to improve their political and metallurgical status and obtain better development. And the Song court's attitude towards 'officials' participating in the Jinshi examination also went through a process from prohibition to restriction, to permission and then to laissez-faire.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the founding monarchs and ministers summarized the regime changes caused by the dictatorship of military generals and the lack of livelihood of the people since the end of the Tang Dynasty and the dictatorship of military generals, and began to consciously govern the country with literati. As the main means of recruiting talents from all over the world, opening a branch has become a top priority. In order to avoid the powerful from infringing on the interests of commoners and scholars, and to establish a fair image of the imperial examination, it was forbidden for 'officials' to participate in the imperial examination.

However, this is contrary to the interests of officials...... The Song Dynasty's indiscriminate favor to officials was unprecedented, as long as the officials did not make mistakes, no matter how bad they were, they could always have a shadow in the end. As for those high-ranking and powerful officials, they can shade several children. Therefore, successive generations of officials have gone forward and succeeded. Little by little, this ancestral system was leveraged. Until it becomes a feast for the powerful.

First of all, in the Taizong Dynasty, some officials could lock the hall and take the exam, that is, take the exam in a separate examination room, and after the examination, it was reviewed by the Ministry of Rites separately and presented to the emperor to avoid favoritism. However, at that time, after passing the qualifications, he could only transfer to the official rank, and could not be given the name of the department, in order to show that the imperial court cherished the name of the department and did not give it lightly. Moreover, those who fail will also be removed from their official positions. The prefects who recommended escorting them were also punished, and it was obvious that the imperial court still had a negative attitude towards the participation of officials in the imperial examinations.

Under such harsh regulations, many officials did not dare to ask for the examination, and even if they were willing to take a risk, the local examiners and recommenders did not dare to easily agree. Such a provision is obviously detrimental to officials, and naturally it is opposed. Later, he came to the Zhenzong Dynasty. Only then will the first one be treated equally. However, some officials did not award the champion to show the court's 'love' for the poor scholars.

In this dynasty, taking advantage of the fact that orphans and widows are easy to bully, under the unremitting appeal of officials, the restrictions on the locking of the hall began to be relaxed, first no longer punishing the fallen and their escorts, and increasing the number of times that officials should be lifted from one to two. Up to an infinite number of times. Up to now, there is no difference between officials and ordinary scholars except that they have to take separate exams and cannot win the top prize.

Moreover, in order to protect the children of the common people, the measures of ordering officials to lock the hall and apply to the examination separately, and the measures of separate marking and admission have also become a privilege with the surge of civilian children taking the examination...... To know. In the Jiangnan region, where culture and education are developed, the acceptance rate of the solution test reaches one out of 100, and only one out of 100 people can be selected. Even in the northwest, where the culture is least developed and the number of test takers is the least, it takes ten li to be one.

The acceptance rate of the lock hall test is 3 out of 10...... It is thirty times that of the Jiangnan exam and three times that of the Northwest exam. And we know that for scholars with real talents, the higher the admission ratio, the probability of winning the award increases exponentially. Moreover, the polarization of the children of the eunuchs is serious, although there are the kind of top people cultivated under superior conditions as Chen Xiliang said, but there are also a large number of second ancestors who do not learn and have no skills and want to try their luck, which increases the probability of admission to real scholars.

After a simple analysis, if Chen Ke is not confident, then he really has to see a psychiatrist......

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"The only thing I'm worried about is that Master Xie." When he arrived at Guozijian and waited for the entrance, Chen Ke whispered: "I heard Wen Qixian say that Xie Jingchu has already promised that I will not be able to pass this pass." ”

"Why are you saying it now?" Zhao Zongji glanced at him and said, "Now that Master Xie has already locked the hospital, how can I help you?" ”

"I don't need your help." Chen Ke smiled: "Now that Wen Yanbo is no longer the prime minister, are you still willing to take this risk as a person surnamed Xie?" ”

"It's better to be careful." Zhao Zongji said.

"Hmm." Chen Ke said: "I have my own countermeasures. ”

"Don't worry." Zhao Zongji patted him on the shoulder and said, "If he dares not to take you, I will sue the official." ”

"Not really." Chen Ke smiled and said, "It's time for me to go in." He took his bed roll and waved goodbye to Zhao Zongji.

"The snacks in your food box are made by my sister herself, and they are not sweet." Zhao Zongji reminded him: "You can't waste it." ”

Chen Ke nodded, and said in his heart that this little county lord really loves cooking. said goodbye to the relatives who came to see him off, and Song Duanping entered the gate together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A fence was set up in front of the Guozi Prison, and the family members who saw them off could only go to the gate, and after entering the gate, they were only waiting for the soldiers to enter.

When the drums sounded on the fifth watch, the Guozijian opened the door, and the patrol soldiers who maintained order began to line up, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites in charge of examination affairs also lined up in front of the door, each holding a sign in his hand. An official shouted in front of the door: "According to the words on the north side of your name, find the corresponding examination office, quickly line up and stand, and after a quarter of an hour, begin to enter the venue in turn." ”

Chen Ke looked at the signs carefully, and in the order of the thousand-character text, they read 'Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang, Universe Desolation' and the like. He took out his name from his arms, flipped it to the back and saw that there was a 'autumn character fifteenth' Song Duanping and Shiro Goro also had their own serial numbers, and the four of them high-fived, and then they went to line up.

Chen Ke walked to the twenty-first and saw Lu Huiqing, and many people he knew in the same year, and greeted him one after another...... The people who participated in the Guozijian exam were either inmates or students, and celebrities like him were naturally known to many people.

As he spoke, before he knew it, it was finally Chen Ke's turn to enter. The official of the Ministry of Rites, who was playing the word 'autumn', led their group of forty people into the gate of the Guozijian. Inside the gate, there are officials who check the roster and strictly check the candidates, including names, places of origin, age, appearance, etc., to inquire and check in case someone takes the test on their behalf.

After everyone was identified, the card-playing official led them further inside, turning into a makeshift shed on the left.

Only then did the official put down the sign and said to everyone with a straight face: "You will pay homage to the Holy Master later, and you must bathe and change your clothes." You have a tea time to shower and go to the exit to pick up your belongings. ”

This is not a new rule, the candidates have heard about it before, and they have started to take off their clothes. But it can't help but feel a little ridiculous, is this an exam room or a bathhouse?

In fact, this is a means of guarding against entrainment. Like the proxy examination, entrainment is also a common fraud method in the imperial examination, and the tricks are endless, which is difficult to prevent. When candidates in the Tang Dynasty entered the venue, they not only had to check the items they were carrying to see if they were carried, but they also had to be searched up and down, inside and out, and all over the body. The officials and soldiers shouted and drank one by one, which made the weak scholars feel chills, and for this kind of search, the backbone of the people felt unbearable, thinking that it was an insult to their personality.

In this dynasty, as the competition in the imperial examination became more and more fierce, the search and inspection of candidates entering the examination became more and more strict. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to strictly enforce the examination discipline, candidates were required to loosen their knotted hair, untie all their clothes, and pick out their ears and noses to prevent candidates from stuffing notes in their ears and noses. For this kind of search and inspection, many candidates feel unacceptable, they have expressed their protests, many candidates saw this kind of search, immediately brushed their sleeves away, gave up the qualification to participate in the township examination. The ministers of the court also thought that this kind of search was excessive, which was indeed not respectful enough for scholars.

In view of so much opposition, the imperial court finally came up with a compromise approach, requiring all candidates to bathe in designated places and then wear uniform clothes provided by the authorities. While the candidates are showering, the invigilator can also double-check what they are carrying. In this way, it can not only prevent the candidates from being entrained, but also save the face of the candidates, so as to achieve the good effect of 'preventing abuse and not losing courtesy'.

But this method of search is time-consuming and requires a lot of material support, and only the Song Dynasty, which is not short of money and pampers readers, will always do so.

The design of the bathhouse is also very interesting, four thick bamboo pipes, across the ceiling, there is a row of fine holes in the bamboo pipes, when the candidates stand under the stripes, they hear the sound of running water, and after a while, the thin holes will spray water, it is actually a shower, and it is still warm water......

Of course, it is impossible to take a shower happily, and at the urging of the officials, Chen Ke and the others simply rinsed, then went outside, dried themselves with a towel, and received their clothes...... The inner and outer clothes provided by the Gongyuan are only two sizes, but fortunately, the Han people pay attention to loose dressing, and they can make do with it.

Chen Ke looked at the Confucian robe that was shortened on his body, and felt very twisted, but when he saw Gorou's body, he felt that his body was quite okay......

Partition -

I'm sorry everyone, there have been a lot of things at home in the past two days, and there have been fewer updates, but fortunately, I'm done, and I'll write more tonight. (To be continued)