. In October 200 B.C., Bai Lixian, the minister of the Chu State Reform Law, launched the Shinong Industry and Commerce Course, and the new law clearly stipulated that as long as the scholars of the Chu State, whether they were Xun Qi, families, children of scholars, or farmers, mercenaries, merchants and other poor children, they could participate in the national examination, and those who passed the national examination in various subjects were awarded the degree of public scholars.

The so-called national examination includes eight subjects: Legalism, Soldier, Farmer, Confucianism, Moism, Yin and Yang, Zonghengjia, and Swordsmanship.

This is of course the idea of Xiang Zhuang, a traverser, Xiang Zhuang is well aware of the pros and cons of the imperial examination, and he does not want the national examination of Chu to become a deformed eight-strand scientific examination, thus forcing the students of the whole country to be poor and only read the subset of scriptures and history all their lives, but they ignore the rest of the works and theories, which greatly destroys the progress of various disciplines.

As soon as this new law was introduced, it immediately caused an uproar.

The major families are nothing, their children can inherit their father's Yu Yin, and they are far higher than the children of the Shi clan and the Shu clan in their lifetime, and the competition between the two sides is not on the same level at all, so there is not much sense of urgency, but the Jiangdong Shi clan feels a great threat, so the reaction is extremely fierce.

Therefore, the scholars of the nine counties of Chu, after the defeat of Xiang Yu, basically fled to Jiangdong out of concern for the future, they had no way to compete with the children of the family for high-ranking officials and lords, they could only be some small officials, and the most outstanding performance could become the county commander, and the official positions in the five counties of Jiangdong were so much, and the competition was extremely fierce.

Now, the implementation of the Shinong Industry and Commerce Division has intensified this kind of competition.

Because the children of farmers, mercenaries, and merchants now have the opportunity to pass the national examination to obtain knighthoods, and having a knighthood means that they can also become officials, which greatly squeezes the living space of the children of the scholars.

Because although the proportion of children of peasants, helpers, and merchants who study is very low, the absolute number is quite large. There are nearly 1,000 large and small scholars in the four counties of Jiangdong, and there are more than 2,000 children of the scholars. Compared to the official positions that the Chu State can provide, this is already an extremely large number, and if you add a large number of children from poor families, the competition will not be ordinarily fierce.

However, although the number of scholars is quite large, there is a lack of a great scholar clan who is enough to lead everyone.

The so-called snake has no head, without a leader who picks the head, it is absolutely impossible to fight against the royal power, and the fame of the major families is enough. However, they were not willing to take the lead in contacting the majority of the scholars to fight against the royal power, and in the end, the opposition of the scholars failed to form a unified voice, and naturally it was not enough to prevent the implementation of the new law.

In the controversy of the government and the opposition, the first national examination of Chu State kicked off.

For the national exam. The children of the family did not bother to participate at all. Although the children of the scholar clan were reluctant, they still signed up, but the majority of the children of the poor families enthusiastically signed up, since the list was posted in all counties, counties, townships, and pavilions. There were children from poor families who had read and read rushed to Wuzhong to participate in the first national examination of the Great Chu State.

At the same time, the state of Chu ordered Yin Xiang to issue a proclamation that about 100,000 clan Zhuangding in each county under the rule of the levy and dispatch would serve as Yao servants and go to the banks of Gu Districtze and the Wujiang River to reclaim wasteland, but at this time, the whole country was immersed in the fierce discussion of the national examination, so this matter did not attract the attention of the government and the opposition at all.

The northern suburbs of Wuzhong. Rows of huts have been improvised erected.

These huts are dormitories for candidates taking the national examination, and many of them have already moved in with candidates. Of course, most of the candidates who live in these huts are the children of poor families, and those who are from wealthy families and the children of merchants will never live in this kind of hut, which can save a few dollars, right? Not a lot of words

To the north of the entire "dormitory area", there is a row of smaller, more crowded, but much more neat huts, which are the examination rooms for the national examination.

Bai Lixian, as the chief examiner, is taking dozens of officials to sort out the candidates' information.

When he was busy in the dark, Xiang Zhuang suddenly walked in surrounded by Jin Xiang and Huyan Zhengde, Bai Lixian and dozens of small officials hurriedly got up to salute, Xiang Zhuang waved his hand, signaled dozens of small officials to continue to do things, and then asked Bai Lixian: "Ziliang, there seem to be quite a lot of candidates for the national examination?" ”

Bai Lixian said happily: "The minister didn't expect that there would be so many people taking the exam. ”

Xiang Zhuang nodded and asked, "As of today, how many candidates have there been?" Bai Lixian flipped through the roster and replied: "Up to now, more than 4,000 people have signed up for the exam, and the minister estimates that there will be candidates coming over one after another in the next five days, and the final number of candidates should not be less than 6,000!" ”

Xiang Zhuang bowed his head lightly when he heard this, but he was slightly disappointed in his heart, like the imperial examination in later generations, there were tens of thousands of candidates in a province alone, and there were hundreds of thousands of candidates in the whole country, and the thousands of candidates in Chu were really not worth mentioning compared to them, and the quality of these thousands of candidates was also uneven, and the vast majority of them were only afraid of being indiscriminate.

After a pause, Xiang Zhuang asked again: "Ziliang, have the exam questions for each subject been prepared?" ”。

"The king of the return is ready." Bai Lixian turned around and beckoned, and four small officials under the door took out a key from their arms, and the four of them opened the four copper locks and opened a cabinet, and Bai Lixian immediately took one from each of the stacks of test papers placed in the cabinet, and turned around and handed it to Xiang Zhuang.

The first is the Legalist examination paper, the front is a silent writing question, requiring the candidate to write the full text of the Qi Civil Law silently, and in the middle are two specific civil cases, allowing the candidate to judge the case according to the law, but the back is a big proposition on the Qin Law, which is free for the candidates to play and comment on the merits and demerits of the Qin Law.

Xiang Zhuang couldn't help nodding again and again, thinking that this test paper was quite level, and if there were candidates who could answer it, they would basically be able to serve as judges in any county.

Then there is the soldier's examination paper, which is also a silent writing question in the front, requiring candidates to write the tenth volume of the forty-two volumes of Wei Yuzi, and in the middle are two specific combat examples, so that candidates can help the Chu army in the battle examples to find a way to win according to the knowledge of the art of war they have learned, and the back is still a big proposition about the Chu army.

Xiang Zhuang couldn't help but laugh when he saw it, the exam questions of this soldier were a little too much.

It is just a matter of writing the tenth volume of Wei Yuzi silently, and among the more than 6,000 candidates, maybe some people have really read through Wei Yuzi, you need to know that in Jiangdong now, Wei Yuzi, Sun Tzu, Analects, Shangshu and other classics have long been "flooded", even if they are children of poor families, they only need to spend a few five baht to buy a book to read.

However, it is a little difficult to let the candidates help Chu in the test paper to seek a way to win according to the knowledge of the art of war they have learned, if there are really candidates who can answer, even if they are soldiers on paper, at least they are materials that can be made, and Xiang Zhuang will definitely not hesitate to include them in the account.

As for the Chu army, it should be the exam question of Xiang Tuo, the general of the Great Chu State, if someone can really answer this question well, then wouldn't he be able to directly become the general of the Great Chu State! Moreover, even if Xiang Tuo is asked to answer this question, I am afraid that it will not be able to answer well, at least it is impossible to satisfy Xiang Zhuang, the traverser.

At that moment, Xiang Zhuang didn't bother to look at the test papers of the following subjects, and while returning the test papers to Bai Lixian, he walked into a hut next door, until there was no one else left and right, Xiang Zhuang smiled and said: "Ziliang, the question of the test paper is a bit big, you are not a selection adjutantant, you are clearly planning to select a national soldier for the widow, hehe." ”

Bai Lixian shook his feather fan and said with a smile: "King, it's always okay to try, maybe there are really national warriors?" ”

"Ziliang said with a smile, where did so many countrymen come from?" Xiang Zhuang waved his hand and said, "In this national examination, as long as two or three hundred usable materials can be selected, the widow will be satisfied." To be honest, Xiang Zhuang did not have much hope for this first national examination, and in his opinion, the symbolic significance of this national examination is far greater than the practical significance.

Pengcheng, the main gate of Huainan Palace.

Ma Ye looked up and down at the white-clothed Xiushi in front of him, the white-clothed Xiushi was about thirty years old, with a white face and no beard, although the white dark clothes on his body were very clean, but they were clearly linen, and they were patches and patches, which were very cold, but the handle and scabbard of the sword in his hand were full of gems, which was very gorgeous.

"What's your last name? What is the matter of asking for the king? Ma Ye raised his head slightly and asked coldly.

The white-clothed Xiushi frowned, and replied without being arrogant or humble: "In the next book, learn the sword from the table." ”

"Bishu Bi Xuejian?" Ma Ye looked at the sword in the hand of the white-clothed Xiushi and asked, "What is in your hand?" ”

The white-clothed Xiushi's face was obviously uncertain, but he still reversed the sword in his hand and placed it in front of him, and replied: "This sword is handed down from the ancestors, and the sword is cast by tasting the blue blood, so it is called the blue blood sword." ”

"Blood Sword?" Ma Ye looked greedy, and said, "Take a look at the official." ”

"You don't have to." The white-clothed Xiushi accepted the sword and refused without hesitation, "I came to Pengcheng not far away to ask for the King of Huainan, just to assist the King of Huainan to achieve a hegemony, but I didn't come to offer the sword. ”

"Assist the king to achieve hegemony?" Hearing this, Ma Ye was stunned and said, "It's up to you? It's just a joke. ”

The white-clothed Xiushi frowned, and said patiently: "I want to ask to see the king of Huainan, and please do it on my behalf." ”

"Then you don't have to." Ma Ye said coldly, "My family's big kingdom is busy, and I don't have time to see you, a mountain villager." ”

"So, I will take my leave." The white-clothed Xiushi smiled dumbly, then turned around and walked away, seeing the figure of the white-clothed Xiushi go away, Ma Ye's eyes flashed a trace of fierceness, and called the Huainan guards guarding outside the palace gate, "Go, immediately send someone to follow him, see which post house he settles in, and then report quickly." ”

"Whoa!" The Huainan guards suddenly agreed and took the order.

Besides, the white-clothed showman, as soon as he turned the corner, he met a gorgeously dressed middle-aged man, and the middle-aged man waved at the white-clothed showman and said, "Mr. wants to be a leader, why don't you go to Jiangdong to participate in the national examination?" ”

: That's a chapter for today. To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation......