Of the four goals, he has already completed two, and the remaining two goals can be achieved slowly.

Get famous first? Wu Zhi thinks no, at least not too famous now!

People are afraid of being famous, and pigs are afraid of being strong. He couldn't move until he passed the provincial exam and couldn't reach Didenko. Showing off before the exam will attract jealousy and hatred to him, and he will become the target of public criticism, and it is easy to attract the cold shots and dark arrows of others, resulting in the possibility of falling short in the provincial examination. Shooting a bird in the head, such examples abound throughout the ages, and he has experienced it before, and he doesn't want this to happen to him again. So what he has to do now is to hold his tail and lie dormant quietly, prepare well, cope with the exam, and take the provincial exam first.

In fact, what Wu Zhi didn't know was that he had actually become famous a long time ago! The word "Tianjingsha Qiusi" written by him when he was taking the exam in Enzhou has already spread in Bianliang, the capital, through the recitation of the scholars who went to Beijing to take the exam. All the literati and writers in Bianliang City, dignitaries and nobles have copied and sang, and for a while, everyone knew that Enzhou had a talented man named "Wu Zhi" and wrote a wonderful poem. It's just that Wu Zhi didn't go in and out of the place where the wind and snow were blowing, so naturally he didn't hear anything outside the window, and he seemed lonely.

In the blink of an eye, entering the winter, the weather was getting colder, Wu Zhi and Pan Wei took the time to report to the Ministry of Rites, indicating their family status, age, place of origin and the number of times they participated in the imperial examination.

Everything was done, from then on, Wu Zhi every day, except for occasionally taking Xiao'e out for a walk, inquiring about the business market in the capital and going out to taste food and fight tooth sacrifices, the rest of the time stayed at home, read books, brush questions, meditate, practice boxing, kick and kick (he brought the Keju he bought before to the capital), and at the same time clicked Pan Wei to help him delineate the general scope of the exam, and drew up some question types for him to practice, and also brushed the questions himself. After all, Wu Zhi is Xie Yuan, there is no elder or younger, and the master is the first, although Pan Wei is full of doubts, he also follows him to read the book seriously and brush up on the questions.

Pan Wei observed Wu Zhi every day, and found that since Wu Zhi, who was strong in blood and strength, had not once run into the Washe Gou Fence since he came to the capital, advancing and retreating in an orderly manner, and he was very self-disciplined. Ashamed of himself, he still wanted to go to the Vasher Hook Fence to be a vassal and elegant, so he could only go with the flow, and follow Wu Zhi to review his homework every day in an orderly manner, reading books and brushing questions.

The first time he participated in the provincial examination, Pan Wei was obviously not confident, and he didn't have much expectation for whether he could pass the provincial examination, but only to accumulate exam experience and leave it for the next time he came to clear the customs, so he was happy to relax when he saw Wu Zhi relaxing.

Xiao'e and Wang Er take care of the two of them every day, buying vegetables, cooking, laundry and sweeping the floor, all by them. Wu Zhi couldn't intervene if he wanted to, and when he did, it would always attract Xiao'e's resentful eyes, so he had to let her take care of it.

But every time Xiao'e went out, Wu Zhi asked Wang Er to follow him, and in the capital, personal safety was a problem, and he couldn't be careless. Xiao'e is the person he sees as closer than his sister now, and he doesn't allow any mistakes.

As for Wu Xiu and Feng Niang, on the third day after Wu Zhi came to the capital, he wrote a letter to the family of Ping'an, sent it to the Zhizhou Mansion of Qinghe County by post, and entrusted Pan Weimin to hand it over on his behalf, and within dozens of days, they should be able to receive it.

In this way, time flies, the first month of the fourth year of Shaosheng is quietly coming, and the new year has arrived! In the first month, the capital Bianliang is full of New Year's flavor, the city is full of lights everywhere outside the city, the sound of firecrackers bids farewell to the old year, the spring breeze sends warmth into Tusu, every household wears new clothes, changes the old charm, and celebrates the New Year lively.

Wu Zhi and his entourage were far away from their hometowns and homesick, and they were all sad and tasteless, and they spent a slightly deserted and incompatible New Year in the capital.

In addition to being sad, after the first day of the first lunar month, Wu Zhi did not forget to send New Year's greetings to Zhou Tong, Lin Chong and Wang Jin, and to contact and enhance the relationship between each other's fellow disciples and apprentices.

After the Lantern Festival, when the spring breeze in February was like scissors, warm and cold, the provincial examination seating list "Du Bang" drawn up by the Ministry of Rites was finally announced two days before the exam. Wu Zhi and Pan Wei walked together, and when they came to the Gongyuan, they checked their exam seat numbers, and there were many students who took the exam, and they were divided into different examination rooms for the exam.

On the third day (i.e., 5 o'clock in the morning), the sky was just bright, the breeze was a little cold, and the triennial provincial test came as scheduled.

After a strict body search, Wu Zhi and Pan Wei carried a bookcase containing examination equipment on their backs and a food box in their hands, and walked firmly into the Gongyuan under the guidance of Xiao'e and Wang Ermu, rushed to their examination room according to the order of their seats, found their own seats and sat down, and prepared for the exam.

As with the exam, after all the candidates enter the examination room of the Gongyuan, the Gongyuan will be locked and closed for three days. During the three days, candidates are not allowed to enter and leave, and board, lodging, rest, and exams are all in their seats. Within three days, there were four consecutive exams, the first test of the scriptures, the second test of the scriptures, the third test of one poem, and the fourth test of three strategies. This provincial examination was presided over by Chen Xian, a waiter of the Ministry of Rites.

The question was sent, and as expected, the scope of the exam almost revolved around the reform of the new law, the attack on the old party of Yuan Yu and the war against the Western Xia, it seems that the imperial court attached great importance and urgency to the reform of the new law and the war against the Western Xia!

Wu Zhi saw the question, smiled, and then abandoned distracting thoughts, began to think slowly, and answered the question without hurry.

When Pan Wei got the test questions, he was obviously surprised: "My good man, why is the scope of the questions so familiar, almost all of them are the content of reading and practicing with Wu Zhi during this time!" ”

If it weren't for the fact that Pan Wei had been following Wu Zhi during this time, he would have doubted whether Wu Zhi had missed the question in advance. In addition to being surprised, he didn't dare to be careless, and started the question slowly. Pan Wei kept admonishing himself in his heart to be calm, calm, and calm!

The three-day locked exam was very boring and cruel. For three days, except for being able to walk around under the supervision of the officials when going to the toilet, the rest of the time had to stay in their seats, exams, food, rest, and who knew the difficult taste, it was really indescribable and painful.

The first test of the scriptures, that is, the examination of the great scriptures, is to take the meaning out of context from the "New Meaning of the Three Classics" to examine the candidates' understanding of the meaning of the scriptures and how to elaborate them. "The New Meaning of the Three Classics" refers to the five books of "Yi Guanyi", "Book of Songs", "Book of Books", "Zhou Li", and "Book of Rites". This test of the scripture is a quote from the "Book of Rites": "Those who want to be clear and virtuous in the world will rule the country first; Those who want to rule their country must first gather their families; Those who want to gather their families must first cultivate their bodies; Those who want to cultivate their bodies must first correct their hearts; Those who want to correct their hearts must first be sincere; If you want to be sincere, you should know it first; Zhizhi is in Gewu", asking how to explain and how to do it? In this paragraph, "leveling the world", "governing the country", "Qi family", "self-cultivation", "righteousness", "sincerity", "enlightenment", and "Gewu" are very important keywords, which are actually torture to ask students how to cultivate themselves and govern the country and the world, how to cultivate virtue and righteousness, and how to learn from things. Wu Zhi directly quoted Fan Zhongyan's famous sentence "The worries of the world first, and the joy of the world after the world" to start the quotation, and try to expound his views according to the taste of the new party, without digressing from the topic.

In the second test, a passage from the Analects and Mencius is quoted to examine the students' learning of these two books. The question in this test is to quote the "Analects" as the political chapter - Mourning Gong asked: "What is the people's obedience?" Confucius said: "Righteousness is wrong, and the people obey; The people are not convinced", requiring candidates to discuss how to govern and serve the people? This topic is a bit simple, nothing more than meritocracy, meritocracy, hiring by virtue, staying away from traitors and villains, and so on. Wu Zhi read according to the script, and he didn't want to answer how surprisingly he was, as long as it fit the topic.

The third test, which is to comment on a proposition, is equivalent to an argumentative essay. The title of this trial is "The New Law for the People and the Benefit of Government," and this topic is very simple and rude, and it nakedly expresses the New Party's thoughts of singing the praises of its own merits! Wu Zhi despised it very much in his heart, but he still followed the trend, and according to the thoughts of the new party, his thoughts flowed, and he came to praise it against his will, praising the benefits of the reform of the law and belittling the old party.

The fourth test, the question and answer questions, asks candidates to make "countermeasures" to the questions posed by the examiner. In this trial, the question is: how to strengthen the army? How to deal with the invasion of the Tanguts? How can we keep our borders safe? These three questions were also particularly straightforward, and they put the problems that the imperial court and the New Party were most worried about and concerned about in front of all the candidates. These three questions were difficult for Wu Zhi, and he wrote down thousands of words with ease.

For each exam, Wu Zhi first slowly drafted it step by step, checked and revised it, and then slowly transcribed it on the answer sheet after confirming that it was correct, and after checking that there were no typos, he would be considered to have completed the answer. For each exam, Wu Zhi generally only took a few hours to complete the answers, and he did not hand in the papers in advance after answering the questions, so he rested and slept quietly, and slowly passed the time.

The terrible pressure of the exam made some candidates have to quit the examination room in advance, some of them did not do well in the exam and quit gloomily, and some of them were carried out by the officials due to physical exhaustion, crying and crying, and all kinds of life are all about it.

The tense and tiring three-day exam finally ended, when Wu Zhi finished handing in the test papers and waited for the sealing official to seal the test papers, the official transcribed the test papers, carrying a bookcase, carrying a food box, and easily walked out of the examination room to leave the Gongyuan, at this time the sky was completely dark, and the lights were on.

Pan Wei also happened to come out of the tribute courtyard with a suitcase at this time, he looked tired but very excited, walked to Wu Zhi's side happily, looked at Wu Zhi with complicated eyes, and nodded to Wu Zhi with a smile, looking at his appearance, he should have done well in the exam.

The two returned home silently, and Xiao'e and Wang Er were already looking forward to it. After eating a meal and taking a hot bath, Wu Zhi didn't think about anything, and slept groggily until he slept until noon on the second day, when he woke up, and then he came back to his senses and returned to normal.