Time flies.

Especially in the sweltering weather of Chang'an, time only passes quietly in the corners that people can't notice.

In the blink of an eye, it was the first year of the Son of Heaven's victory, the fifteenth day of the seventh month of autumn.

For the Chang'an court, this day is the first and fifteenth day of the first month of the month, that is, the Shuowang Dynasty for two days.

To be more accurate, it is the 'Wangchao' in the Shuo Dynasty and the Wangchao.

According to the usual management, on the first day of each month, that is, the 'Shuo Dynasty' on the New Year's Day, the core issues of the court will focus on the work that the court needs to deal with in the following month.

In the words of later generations, the Shuo Dynasty can also be understood as the work arrangement meeting at the beginning of the month at the highest decision-making level of the Han Dynasty;

The Shuo Dynasty at the beginning of the month, since it is a work arrangement meeting, the Wangchao in the middle of the month is naturally a summary and adjustment meeting.

——Through the efforts of the past 15 days, how has the work arranged at the beginning of the month been completed?

- Is there anything that needs to be adjusted or improved in the arrangements made by the New Moon Dynasty?

——In the second half of the next month, should we continue to push forward the work of the first half of the month, or should we make changes and adjust the direction in time?

But this day is different.

This day is not only the Wangchao of the autumn and July dynasties, but also the first time in the history of the Han family and even Chinese civilization that the official examination was held.

In such a day of great significance, and will surely leave a strong mark on the history, the attention of the entire Chang'an is focused on the western suburbs of Chang'an City, the abandoned school field that has been repaired.

Even Liu Sheng, the uncrowned son of heaven who stayed in Chang'an and participated in the Xuanshu Palace, or listened to the court, was unable to endure his temperament, and sent the personal eunuch next to him: the eunuch Ling Xia Que to the outside of the examination room, and called it 'Encouraging the Examination on behalf of the Son of Heaven';

In fact, Liu Sheng was really relieved, and it was inconvenient to go to the scene in person······

·

"Mao Shi Zheng~!"

"In accordance with the edict of the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and His Majesty, the examination room will be opened~!"

"All the candidates for the examination will enter in order with the bamboo talisman issued by the Prime Minister's Mansion ~~~!"

锵~~~

锵~~~

Qiang ~~~~~~

"Mao Shi Zheng~!"

"In accordance with the edict of the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and His Majesty, the examination room will be opened~!"

"All the candidates for the examination will enter in order with the bamboo talisman issued by the Prime Minister's Mansion ~~~!"

锵~~~

Qiang ~~~~~~

Outside the school grounds, at a distance of one hundred and ten paces from the left and right, the soldiers roared vigorously, for fear that someone would not be able to hear their voices clearly.

And after remembering this roar one after another, the simple wooden doors in all directions of the square school yard, or 'wooden fences', also slowly opened.

For a moment, the candidates instinctively wanted to push forward;

But at the moment when they saw the examination room open, a soldier of the Northern Army with strong and strong armor poured out from every entrance, and the scholars slowed down their pace stupidly, and then they picked up the shelf of the 'literati'.

"Holding the bamboo talisman, hand it to the examiner outside the door to verify the correct body, and sign up for it, the place of origin, and the teacher you have learned!"

Another cry that had obviously been rehearsed for a long time ago only provoked the scholars to bow their heads and take out bamboo talismans of the same size from their bosoms, and obviously from the recent past;

Then he walked forward slowly with anticipation, as if he was looking forward to the next exam, or he was afraid that he would not be able to enter the examination room.

"After the end of school, he entered Zhu Maichen, and the Wuyi people of Huiji County knew a little about poetry and books······"

···

"At the time of entering Zheng after the end of school, Xingyang Chen Yi people's family, the first treatment of Huang Lao ······"

···

"After the end of school, he entered the main father, and the Linzi people of Qi County knew a little about the length and ······"

···

"After the end of school, the ······"

"Junior······

"Afterlife······

With the sound of bows in accents from all over the world, the scholars who had gathered outside the examination room, waiting for something in confusion, also began to slowly enter the examination room.

Walking into the wooden fence gate, I saw that just half a month ago, the school field that was still in dilapidation has been filled with a square book case at this moment.

The way the bookcase is placed is very similar to the formation of soldiers in the army: ten rows and ten rows, with a distance of nearly one zhang between the front and back, the left and right sides, forming a '100-person phalanx';

And such a phalanx is also ten rows on the left and right, with more than eight rows in front and back - there seem to be only five or six 'phalanxes' in the ninth row.

In each of the four directions of the phalanx, there is a large wooden board with large striking characters written on it, such as: No. 1 to 99 / No. 100 to 199 and so on.

In the end, the squares in the ninth row were still the same size wooden planks, and the fonts on the wooden boards were naturally smaller and more crowded, such as: 8,100 to 8,199/8,200 to 8,299.

The whole examination room was covered with these eighty-five or six hundred squares, each of which was covered by a temporary thatched 'awning' and supported by columns distributed in the shape of a nine-square grid.

Except for the nine pillars in each sub-examination room, there is no longer any obstruction between the bookcase and the bookcase, or between the sub-examination room and the sub-examination room.

- at a glance.

Standing in a certain position in the examination room and looking around, you can see the situation of the entire examination room.

Walking into the examination room, and then observing the numbers marked by the wooden board, the candidates easily found the 'phalanx' to which they belonged, and after arriving at their own sub-examination room, they accurately found their position according to the specific number cards on the corner of the bookcase.

This process took about a quarter of an hour.

After all, there are always some unlucky people who were originally arranged in the northwest corner of the examination room, but entered the examination room from the southeast corner;

So, in order to find their place, these unlucky people could only hold the bamboo talisman anxiously, look at the number range outside each sub-examination room one by one, and slowly walk a big diagonal in the entire examination room.

After all the candidates were seated in front of the bookcase, the examiners who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, that is, the Qianshi officials in official uniforms, finally got up from their seats.

Except for the last one, which is the No. 86 sub-examination room, the first eighty-five examination rooms are all one hundred candidates, equipped with two thousand-stone level officials as examiners, and five forbidden army soldiers to maintain order.

In the No. 86 sub-examination room, where the unlucky eggs gathered, there were also four examiners and five jailers, and there were nine people to maintain order in the examination room, but there were only seven candidates.

The four examiners, each of whom had been seated in the square examination room, saw the leader stand up, and the other three also stood up.

At this time, in every sub-examination room, the low, but also penetrating voice of the chief examiner of the sub-examination room sounded.

"At this moment, it's three quarters of the hour."

"In accordance with the edict of the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and His Majesty, the examination papers will be distributed at the hour of the hour, and the examination will be held at the beginning of the hour."

"Candidates need to bring their own pens and ink, and when they get the examination papers, they need to write their names, hometowns, teachers, and examination room numbers and seat numbers in the designated positions."

"This examination room is the first four examination room."

···

"The exam is starting at the hour, and the paper is being closed at noon, with a time limit of two hours, and a total of ten exam questions."

"When noon arrives, the examiner 'stops writing', and candidates must stop writing, and the test papers of violators will be invalid."

"From the beginning of the exam to the end of the paper, if the candidate is in a hurry, he or she can raise his hand and be accompanied by the invigilator;"

"If you feel unwell, you can also raise your hand and be treated by a medical officer."

"——Since the distribution of the examination papers, the candidates are not allowed to watch left and right, talk to others, and make noise!"

"Violators will be expelled from the examination room, Lieutenant of the Imperial Court!"

The examiners snorted in a deep voice, causing the candidates to shrink their necks coldly, and subconsciously looked at the surrounding areas of the school, those well-armored Northern Army guards.

Like the four examiners, they are located in the four directions of the examination room: five soldiers in each sub-examination room, and four of them also stand in the middle of the four sides of the examination room.

The extra person, that is, the captain of this 'army', walked among the candidates with his head held high, as if he was patrolling the battlefield.

After the chief examiner read out the order of the examination room, the four examiners did not sit back in their places, but wandered around the examination room like the chief of the army.

While walking, I didn't forget to check the candidate's information and seat number in turn to avoid someone sitting in the wrong place.

Fortunately, the people who took the exam today are all intellectuals, and no one has done the thing of finding the wrong seat;

When everything was ready, the candidates sat down on their knees in front of their desks, quietly waiting for the moment when the exam began.

On the high platform in the middle of the examination room, several chief examiners of this imperial examination finally stood up from their seats······

"It is said that the exam questions, Your Majesty passed with the princes very early?"

Jia Gui chatted as if he had nothing to say, only causing Liu She, Wei Juan, Uncle Tian and others to laugh stiffly, obviously without any eye contact, but they invariably spit out a sentence: "At the earliest, Your Majesty has a total of seventy questions." ”

"I just glanced at it and removed a few difficult and easy exam questions for Your Majesty."

"There are more than fifty left, and His Majesty personally selected ten of them."

"I don't remember the more than 50 exam questions very clearly, and I don't know which ten of them Your Majesty chose······"

From the mouths of the three most powerful people in the court today, but hearing this almost unanimous answer, Jia Gui only smiled awkwardly, and then lowered his head and groped in his arms.

- Jia Gui is a relative, and there is no need to spy on the exam questions.

Or it should be said: Jia Gui wants to be an official, or wants to find an official position for any kid in the family, and he doesn't need to pass any exams at all.

You only need to find the Empress Dowager's sister to say a few words, find the emperor's nephew to mention, or find the Empress Dowager to cry twice, and there will be an official position below a thousand stones at any time for the children of the Jia family to choose at will.

Although it is unlikely to be a position of real power, it is always better than this imperial examination, starting from the position of 200 stones, and living is the small shrimp of the small shrimp.

Moreover, Jia Gui's relatives are backed by Empress Dowager Jia, even if there is really a promising ancestor and becomes an official through the examination, outsiders may not believe it at all: this is a test of Wencai, not a test of background.

Originally, he didn't have anything to say to mention, but everyone reacted like this, and Jia Gui didn't care too much;

took out a copper spoon from his arms, and looked solemnly in front of him, these three big men who can set off storms in Chang'an by dusting off the ashes on their sleeves casually.

"By order of His Majesty, the answer sheets used in this examination will be provided by the contemptible people and the new 'Jane' made by the Shaofu."

"If there is no objection from the princes, the contemptible people will order the distribution of the answer sheet."

Hearing Jia Gui's words, the three giants bowed their heads in unison, and even cast their suspicious eyes on the big wooden boxes under the high platform.

- Answer, in this era, actually means blank bamboo slips.

The Shaofu is responsible for the blank bamboo slips required for this examination, which is naturally the reason for the question.

But as the three most powerful high-ranking officials in the Han family today, Liu She, Wei Juan, and Tian Shu are all very clear: This matter is probably far from being so simple.

Liu Sheng wants to appoint a relative of his mother clan to take charge of the Shaofu, which is already something that the entire court smells, but everyone tacitly agrees that they don't publicize it everywhere.

And Jia Gui, as a relative, although he has the transcendent status of 'as long as the Son of Heaven says I can do it, then I can't do it', but Shaofu is Jiuqing after all, and if Jia Gui wants to be among Jiuqing so smoothly, he must make some achievements to slightly block public opinion inside and outside the government and the opposition.

Obviously, such a thing as 'providing blank bamboo slips for the examination' is almost miscellaneous, and it cannot be counted as a result at all, and it will definitely not be a stepping stone for Jia Gui's official residence in Shaofu.

Moreover, if it is really a blank bamboo tube, these more than 8,500 candidates, even if they are calculated according to no one's paper, the 'answer sheet' required is definitely not what these wooden boxes can hold······

"Could it be that the Jia family spent all their wealth in order to build momentum······

"No;"

"It should be Your Majesty."

"When His Majesty gave money to the Shaofu in order to build momentum for his maternal uncle, he used cloth to make the answer sheet for this examination······?"

"If that's the case, then it's too extravagant?"

"Tut-tut······"

With similar thoughts, Liu She, Wei Juan, and Uncle Tian all looked at the wooden boxes.

Then, there were square 'pieces of cloth' that were as white as snow and as light as cloth, and after a brief count by the officials of the Shaofu Prefecture, they were distributed to the chief examiners who gathered here from various examination rooms.

After about half a burnt incense, when the 'pieces of cloth' were distributed to the candidates and spread on the bookcase in front of the candidates, the majestic voices of the examiners resounded over the examination room again.

"Your Majesty has mercy on the candidates who have come from thousands of miles away, and it happened that Shaofu got this new paper, so he used it as the answer sheet for this exam."

"Three answers per person, and if you run out, you won't have them."

"At the end of the literary examination, the examination papers are not allowed to be taken out of the examination room."

"Now, on the left edge of the three answer sheets, in an area of no more than one inch, write down your name, place of origin, teacher's background, as well as the examination room number and seat number."

The first time they got the 'paper', the first reaction of the candidates was surprise.

- Paper?

Shouldn't they all be brown and yellow, and they're a bit rough and heavy, and they can only be used to wrap something?

How can this paper be so thin, so white and flat?

Reacting, they were stunned, and the candidates hurriedly came back to their senses, recalling the 'examiner' that was still echoing in their ears, and began to write their own information on the answer sheet with apprehension.

On the high platform in the center of the examination room, Jia Gui finally turned around with a smile and arched his hand slightly to the three of them.

"This paper is named for His Majesty: Cicada Wing Paper."

"Didn't you follow Your Majesty's order to lead the young craftsmen to work day and night, so that you can get the full number half a month ago."

"If you are interested, you may wish to take a look at ······"

(End of chapter)