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In early March of the eighth year of Jian'an, Xiangyang City, Jingzhou.

The dawn dawns and the morning glow first appears. The young leaves on the roadside are covered with dewdrops, showing a crystal clear luster in the morning glow, sparkling and gratifying.

As a "crunch" piercing sound spread, the four gates of Xiangyang City were opened, and pedestrians who had been waiting outside the city gate rushed into the city.

A load of fresh vegetables rises and falls regularly on the shoulders of the porter, who is not strong, but does not swing from side to side; Carts full of live poultry followed the porters into the city, followed by women in their thirties with bamboo baskets, covered with floral cloths, which contained a basket of eggs for half a month's livelihood of the family.

With these people who rushed to the city gate early in the morning to wait, they crowded into the city gate one after another, and Xiangyang City, which was still immersed in silence, suddenly became lively, and many people in the city were disillusioned, and the streets and alleys became noisy.

The plan of the day begins in the morning, and a new day begins.

When hundreds of people rushed to the entrance of the Dongcheng vegetable market with their burdens and wheelbarrows, an extremely eye-catching bright yellow brocade silk was posted on the wall where wanted or reward notices were posted in the past, attracting many onlookers. In fact, many people have seen this kind of yellow notice when they are waiting to enter the city at the city gate, but they are in a hurry to enter the city because they have a burden on their shoulders and no free hands, so they do not care to watch it; In addition, most of them are illiterate, and if there is no literate and hyphenated "sir" to read to everyone, even if they get over, it will be in vain.

Seeing this bright yellow brocade silk, people immediately thought that this was another bounty notice for reporting the assassin. It must have been the assassination of a gentleman of a certain family or a big family, and the government could not find any clues. So he posted a reward and arrested the murderer. Notices like this offering a reward for the arrest of the culprit are posted every ten days and half a month. The common people have long been accustomed to it.

The appearance of the reward notice can be traced back to the assassination of the Southern Dynasty emperor Liu Biao three years ago. At that time, Liu Biao had not yet been called the emperor, he was still the pastor of Jingzhou, and the assassins in Xiangyang City were rampant that year, and almost every day the descendants of the official eunuch family were assassinated, and even the state pastor Liu Biao was shot in the left arm by the assassin, and the assassination was very rampant, and it had reached the pervasive Cheng dù. For this reason, the defenders of Xiangyang City blocked the city gates. The chaos of catching assassins all over the streets, and arresting people as assassins whenever they saw a burly young man, lasted for a long time.

For a whole year, the city of Xiangyang was full of rumors, so that the people around the city did not dare to enter the city, and the tender green vegetables were rotten in the ground and did not dare to sell them in the city. This commotion can make the surrounding people miserable. The blockade of the city gate is equivalent to cutting off their livelihood, and the whole family can only tighten their belts to live, and they will not see a little oil and water all year round. A stomach full of bitter water but nowhere to cry, the pain is unspeakable!

Since then, the people have been stereotyped against such bounty notices, believing that neither the killed nor the murderer are good things. Then I encountered the bounty notice again. They usually come up to join in the fun, to see which big family has been unlucky enough to be attacked by the Assassins, and you have a gag with me. Then they dispersed, doing whatever they wanted. I don't care about the end result of these bounty notices. Because this kind of thing is far away from them, the croppers who dig from the land, and they are poor and white. Aside from the hundred and ten pounds of flesh and bones on their bodies, they had no long objects, so the Assassins would not attack them anyway. As for things like reporting the whereabouts of assassins or providing clues, as long as the idle ruffians in the city would sharpen their heads to earn such a reward, the real farmers were not enthusiastic about it at all, more than less, and living a life as a duty was the right thing to do.

However, today's notice seems to be different from the past. The high-quality yellow satin glittered in the sunlight, and the black handwriting and red seal on it could be seen from a distance, especially the fist-sized seal was particularly eye-catching and dazzling. The moment they saw the notice, many people couldn't help but curse secretly: "Which family's loser thing is this, such a large piece of silk is enough to make new clothes for the child and his mother, and it was actually used by the government to paint and paint, it is a waste!" His fucking cub sells Ye Tian and doesn't feel distressed, he deserves to die! ”

scolded and scolded, but couldn't help but be curious, and involuntarily stepped forward, staring up at the yellow silk notice while listening to the "sir" standing directly below the notice read the content of the notice in a frustrated tone. It is true that the handwriting on the yellow silk is very clear, each word is as big as an eyeball, but it is a pity that the words know them, but they don't recognize the words, and they look up and stare at the notice just for show, staring at the big eyes and small eyes, and they are really blind. Illiterate!

It wasn't until the curious people came forward to check that they saw that the notice on the wall was not pasted with paste, but nailed to the wall with four iron nails as thick as chopsticks, which were very firm and could not be torn off. The nails of this era were not cylindrical, but quadrangular iron nails, with large heads, the size of a fingernail, relatively narrow tips, and a body about an inch long. This kind of nail uses a large amount of iron, just like it is really built one by one, just like building an arrow, so the price is expensive, ordinary people will use this kind of solid iron nail when building a house, and it can generally be saved, and if there is a wooden wedge instead, try not to use iron nails, which can save a lot of money.

Obviously, when these vegetable farmers who came to sell vegetables early in the morning saw the iron nails nailed to the wall, they couldn't help but feel a pain in their flesh: "It's too loser!" Yellow silk notices and iron nails are posted, how rich does this have to be to have such a big stroke, no wonder the assassin will take the initiative to find the door? ”

As more and more people gathered, the well-dressed "gentleman" standing directly below the notice finally opened his mouth and began to show off his knowledge: "The edict of the Jin Kingdom, carried by the sky, the emperor's edict said: Under the whole world, it is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's minister." Today, I am grateful for the suffering of the common people in the world and the difficulties of Confucian students, and hereby promulgate this edict. At the beginning of the eighth day of April in the eighth year of Jian'an, the first imperial examination was held in Chang'an, and all men who were descendants of Yan and Huang, who had reached the age of 16, who thought that they had learned only or had a skill, could take the examination regardless of region, race, or origin. The imperial examination is divided into hundreds of schools such as literary examination, martial arts, arithmetic and Huang Zhishu, etc., the subjects are not limited, mainly practical, and the purpose is to benefit the people of Li, but all the elders who have a skill are among the exams. Those who pass the examination will be hired and famous; Those with outstanding talents will be promoted exceptionally, and their wives and small families will be placed with preferential treatment. After the promulgation of this edict, the imperial examination will be held every two years, and the time of the examination will be announced three months in advance. Chin this! Emperor Li Li of the Jin Dynasty, February 25, 8th year of Jian'an??????"

After reading the edict, the well-dressed "sir" deliberately lengthened his tone, and at the end of his life, he pointed to the fist-sized cinnabar seal under the notice, and added: "Folks, take a closer look, this is the unique jade seal of the Western Jin Dynasty Emperor, so this edict is by no means a false rumor, it is actually written by the Jin Emperor himself, which is true and credible!" ”

After reading the edict, the erudite "gentleman" explained in detail, line by line, sentence by sentence, until all the onlookers understood, and then he withdrew his voice and disappeared without a trace.

"Imperial examinations? This is quite new, anyone can take the exam, as long as they are admitted, they can become an official? An old man in his fifties muttered in disbelief.

"Yes, I have never heard of such a good thing in ancient times!" Zhang, from the same village, continued to talk, obviously she was also skeptical, and did not believe that there was such a good thing as pie in the sky. Because she has a son who loves to dance with guns and sticks since he was a child, he is as strong as a cow, but he is not good at farming, he thinks about fighting and killing all day long, and he dreams of making contributions on the battlefield. It's a pity that the child's father died early, and the mother and son depended on each other, and Zhang was reluctant to let his son join the army, lest his son never return. Therefore, until now, my son has been doing nothing all day, and he is about to become an idle ruffian.

After seeing this notice, Zhang felt that if the edict was true, it would be an opportunity for his own children. Because she thinks that her son is very powerful, none of the more than 100 young people in the village can beat him, the most important thing is that her son is willing to use his brain, as long as he is a little prepared, even if more than 100 young people go together, he is not his opponent, and they still beat them.

When Zhang was thinking to himself, a noble lady beside him spoke: "My son has been studying hard in Lushan Academy for ten years, but he has no way out, this time he must let him go to Chang'an to give it a try, once he passes the exam, then the day of my old Wang family to get ahead will come!" Obviously, this is a landlord's wife, that is, a rich man, although the family is rich, but the status is not high, and it is incompatible with the wealthy family.

The words of the rich lady of the Wang family fell on the ears of the vegetable farmers like a bomb, which made everyone's hearts surging and their blood boiling. Let them not help but think that the rich man's son is willing to rush to Chang'an, and his own boy can also go, the edict said that there is no limit to the region, no matter the background, as long as you have the ability, you can take the exam.

What's more, the "gentleman" just now also said that as long as the people who went to take the exam this time entered the territory of the Western Jin Dynasty, they did not have to worry about not being entangled, and the emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty had ordered all counties along the way to be responsible for escorting the candidates to Chang'an, with all the accommodation and food. This is a great thing that has never been seen in the past, anyway, my own children are idle, and they do have some ability, and it is not impossible to try their luck.

"Sister-in-law of the Zhang family, you take a look at the stall for me, I'll go home and come back in a while."

"This 、、、 Brother Li is slow, and the slave family is going back to cook for the child, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you."

“??????”

Almost at the same time, the same scene was being staged in every street and alley in Xiangyang City, and there were always more than 50 well-dressed "gentlemen" who specialized in interpreting the edicts of the Western Jin Dynasty. In less than half an hour, more than half of the people in the entire Xiangyang City who were accustomed to getting up early heard about the imperial examination, and then this ancient anecdote swept through the entire Xiangyang City like an unprecedented tornado.

―――――― To be Continued ―――――――――――――― (To be Continued......