Chapter 64: The Autumn Test (I)

After going back, a few days later.

There are old, even fifty or sixty-year-old children, with gray hair, which makes people feel pity, at this age, what if they pass the exam? It's nothing more than to prove yourself before you die, and a lifetime of hard work is not in vain.

There are teenagers, the youngest is almost fifteen years old, and Fang Xin's incarnation Li Rui is also at this age.

Of course, there are also rich and poor, most of the rich come in carriages, and even bring servants, while the poor are dressed in cloth and don't even have to wear green shirts.

For a while, the sales of wine, paper, ink, and even food have increased significantly, so that the teeth of the nearby operators are about to fall off, and they wish they were doing it every day, but this is delusional after all, only one month in three years!

Fang Xin also ignored it, and according to Li Rui's foundation, he figured out the ink scroll and tried the pen one by one.

In this way, a few days passed, and his mother He Shi worked day and night for the past few days, and finally made a set of green shirts for him, but this green shirt can not be worn now, and new clothes were made of linen, although the cloth quality is not good, but it is clean and clean.

A pair of mille-feuille shoes, the thread and needlework are all handmade, the bottom is thick, and I don't know how much thought has been spent and how much hope has been sent.

August 8th, it is the day of the autumn exam, early in the morning, He Shi has already gotten up, ready early, as soon as Fang Xin came out, he got this clothes and shoes, and he didn't know what the taste was in his heart, thinking, if there was no him, Li Rui would have missed several times, wasted the years, and I don't know how long his mother was looking forward to and disappointed again and again, how long can he wait?

Pity the heart of the mother in the world, and hope that the son will become a dragon, after all, there are not so many dragons, but they all hope to succeed, and to meet this point is the greatest filial piety, otherwise, even if it is daily filial piety, it will be difficult to settle in the end.

With this heart, Fang Xin put it on silently, although it was August, it was actually September of the solar calendar, and it was just right to put it on, and he drank some porridge at the moment, and said: "Mother, I went by myself." ”

"Hmm!" He didn't know what to say, but he answered, Fang Xin walked a long way, looked back, and saw his thin and thin mother leaning against the door, looking at it from afar.

Seeing this, Fang Xin's eyes were hot, and he hurriedly walked forward, and when he reached the street, he slowed down, and at this moment, all the children from the counties under the county had already come, and they were all a little nervous, passing through the road and arriving in front of the Xuezheng Academy.

The walls of the academy are five meters high, and the gate is thick, but in front of the door is a group of soldiers, all wearing armor and holding long knives, and they make a scandium sound when they walk.

Only a child approached in front, and the people inside shouted: "All the children are lined up on time, no noise, no competition, no violators are not allowed to enter!" ”

This drink, suddenly everyone was solemn, so they stepped forward, one by one to check the documents, the seal issued by the child, checked it at the moment, and put it in one by one, not a child, if there is no holy decree, dare to break in, it is a capital crime, but it can be killed on the spot, this is the rule established by Taizu.

When I got inside, I heard an official shouting: "All candidates, all put them into the bucket and clean, there must be no mistakes!" ”

Of course, the official said, this is in response to the "Confucius pen Spring and Autumn Period", in fact, because of these two seasons, neither hot nor cold, people from all over the country can adapt, such as the cold winter, people from the south do not adapt, how is it good?

That's why the imperial court took this into account, so it was decided.

But in the Spring and Autumn Period, it is also the easiest to spread the epidemic, not to mention the provincial city exam, that is, the county exam, a county is less than five or six counties, more than a dozen counties, and each county must have hundreds of children, so there are at least thousands, and there are even thousands of them.

In addition, the wind of entrainment is endless, so Emperor Taizong of Great Chu, considering this, decreed that the college must prepare thousands of barrels, and when the candidates enter, they must be cleaned together, so that the candidates can take the exam cleanly, and at the same time, it is also to check whether there is a meaning of entrainment, and it is a beautiful life: "Shower and meditate to take the exam!" ”

Under this order, many old candidates naturally passed by, and they untied their clothes, but the new students were very embarrassed, but they also had to undress and put them into the bucket.

Fang Xin also found a bucket and stripped down, but he felt that it was full of medicinal smell, it turned out that there were a large number of licorice, Lu root, honeysuckle, mung beans and other things in the water, which were used for disinfection.

Fang Xin's body was clean, washed, and came out, and at this time the clothes had been checked, and he could put them on again.

It turned out that the rooms here were all wooden rooms, with a table, a chair and a couch, and a basket, which was changed once a day, with tea, eggs, rice, pancakes, and even half a chicken, which was eaten by the candidates for a day.

This is the legal regulation of the imperial court, no matter whether it is high or low, it is the same.

After Fang Xin entered, he saw several pen inkstones on the table, of different thicknesses, but all types were available, and the materials were not said to be good, but they were also good, and there was a stack of white paper, which was also a unified distribution of items, which was supposed to be recovered, but because of the exquisiteness, there were often candidates who took it away privately after the exam, and the government also checked it at the beginning, and then it was difficult to check, and it was not willing to talk about punishment for this matter, thinking about it anyway, you are all scholars, so it is just that, so I acquiesced.

As soon as the candidates enter the room, they are not allowed to go out, there are health problems, naturally there is a toilet for you, what is the end of the test and leaving the venue is all nonsense, you just have nothing to do, sleep here to sleep, and you are allowed to enter and not go out within three days.

An hour later, the candidates have already entered the examination room according to the brand, and the examiner gave an order to immediately seal the door, and from now on, except for the Holy Decree, even the Prime Minister and the Lord are not allowed to enter.

The 2,000 candidates are naturally divided into several districts, called rooms, one room, two rooms, three rooms until twenty rooms, each room has 100 rooms, each with three examiners, and five patrolmen, who guard and supervise day and night.

There are three chief examiners, one principal and two deputies, who can patrol around each room at will.

After all the lists were confirmed and the candidates were verified one by one, the examiners breathed a sigh of relief and personally distributed the exam papers.

The three people Fang Xin saw, one was a middle-aged man, wearing an eight-grade official uniform, and the last two, relatively young, wearing a nine-grade official uniform, this was the Xiucai exam, which was the examiner of each house, and was also sent by the imperial court, and the others were sent by local scholars.

When Fang Xin saw them come in, he bowed deeply again and again, but he didn't say much.

The middle-aged man looked at the name tag and saw the word Li Rui, his eyes flashed with a strange light, and he checked the pen and ink again, and found that it had been polished, and there was no problem with the fineness, so he didn't say anything, sent the exam papers, and said: "You wait for the exam to be good, there is cheating." ”

Fang Xin respectfully responded, bowed deeply, and waited for the three of them to go out, Fang Xin sat down, took out the exam papers, and when he looked at it, his heart was relieved, and he couldn't help but smile.

Sure enough, there are ten thick examination papers, but they are nothing more than the scriptures, which is the model of filling in the blanks and dictation of modern poetry scrolls. The examiner selects a page from the scriptures and prints one line on the test paper. Based on this line, candidates are asked to fill in the context associated with it.

If you are an ordinary candidate, in fact, you are familiar with the reader, this can also pass, but ten exam papers, there are tens of thousands of words before and after, to answer these tens of thousands of words, a word is good, and it is not an easy thing, there is no chance of writing brush words, there are really typos, you can also draw a circle, and then write the right word on the side, but in this way, the evaluation is naturally low.

Especially this kind of exam, it is simply related to the fate and future of life, so many people are nervous, and they will be abolished as soon as they are nervous.

After writing one page, polish the ink again, and then write another page, each page on the table, waiting to dry on itself, so that the wet ink does not stack and stain the exam paper.

Fang Xin came in March, he was already proficient, although it was a brush block (the examination room requirement), he could write more than 1,500 words in an hour, he didn't eat or drink at the moment, he continued to write, and it seemed that someone had come on the way, and he didn't fake his head.

When the ten volumes were finished and the last one was placed on the table, he realized that it was already dark, but at some point, someone actually helped him light the candle.

Fang Xin didn't care, just on the candle, read the exam papers one by one, and found that the words were beautiful and upright, and there was a condensation between the turns, not like an exam, but like a calligraphy competition, and all the answers, one word was good, the volume was clean, and the lines of the words were neat, and he smiled smugly at the moment.

After laughing, Fang Xin thought about it and laughed again, he finished writing it on the same day, but how many people have their own control? Even if you write it yourself, it will take about six hours, so it should be sent out now and collected by tomorrow's roll, a total of 24 hours.

The exam is generally like this, of course, the palace exam is an exception, the reason is very simple, at that time, the basic skills were no longer tested, and a paper was written on the spot by a son of heaven, about 1,000 words, and it should be written on the spot.

Take out the basket, although the food is cold, but at this time I am hungry, I don't care, I pull the chicken leg to eat, drink water, at this time the surroundings are quiet, many people are still writing, and some are ready to take a break and write again tomorrow.