Jia Yujing of Red Mansion

Chapter 88 The County Examination Begins

Winter has turned to spring, and it is already February in the blink of an eye, and the county examination is about to begin.

Early that morning, Wang Yi came to his door. He made an appointment with Jia Qiong to pledge his security for him.

To participate in the imperial examination, you must apply for acknowledgment documents before the county examination to prevent false identity or attending the examination in another place.

Generally, candidates will choose "joint guarantee", that is, five candidates who also want to take the exam guarantee each other. This is called "five-child knot".

If one of them falsifies his or her identity, the other four will be implicated.

This can play a very good role in mutual supervision. Of course, there are certain risks in doing so.

Another way is to find a local resident to be your insurance policy, so that you can avoid the risk of mutual insurance.

But in this case, the risk will all be borne by Lin Sheng.

If something goes wrong with the guarantor, Lin Sheng will be revoked as a scholar and may even face jail time.

Therefore, it is generally difficult to find a local student to be a guarantor. Except for relatives and friends who know the situation well, people who do not know them may not be willing to spend money to find someone to be a guarantor.

The Jiangning County Government Office was not far from Jia Qiong's house, so the two of them walked there directly.

From a distance, I could see a long queue forming in front of the county government office. There were 500 people outside the county government office alone, and there were many police officers standing by to maintain order.

The candidates who came to register for the exam were only around eight or nine years old, mostly in their teens, and some in their twenties and thirties.

Jia Qiong usually wears a sword when he goes out. In addition, he is tall. Once he stands behind the team, he immediately stands out from the crowd.

Many children who came to sign up cast curious glances at him, which made Jia Qiong feel a little embarrassed.

Just like Chang'an City is divided into two counties, Chang'an and Wannian, Jinling City is also divided into Jiangning County and Shangyuan County.

To the south of the Qinhuai River is Jiangning and to the north is Shangyuan.

As the saying goes, "If you did evil in your previous life, the county magistrate will be attached to Guo; if you are full of evil, you will be attached to the provincial capital of Guo."

The most difficult thing to do is to be a county magistrate in the same city as a prefecture or provincial capital.

If you work under the nose of your superiors, you will not only lose the prestige of the county magistrate, but you may also take the blame at any time.

Jiangning County is affiliated with Guo Nanjing, which can be regarded as one of the most difficult county magistrates to serve.

Among the high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the city, not one of them could be offended by the seventh-grade county magistrate.

Precisely because it is difficult to become the magistrate of Guo County, those who can secure this position are all shrewd and experienced people.

Now Jiangning County Magistrate Tan Ming is in his 40s and has been in this position for eight years. He can be called an official veteran.

He hasn't been promoted after working for so long, not because he didn't do a good job, but simply because he took too much blame.

In terms of ability, Magistrate Tan is definitely not bad, otherwise he would not be able to sit firmly in the position of Magistrate of Jiangning.

Today is the day to register for the county examination. He has already mastered which children of dignitaries in the city are going to register for the examination.

Just when Jia Qiong felt embarrassed, a thin old man in a green robe walked out of the county office quickly and walked straight to Jia Qiong.

He asked with a straight face: "My friend is Jia Qiong and Jia Yujing."

Jia Qiong was a little surprised how this junior official knew him, but he still nodded and said, "Exactly."

Upon hearing this, the official's face instantly put on a smile, he raised his hands and said, "It is indeed Mr. Jia, he is so handsome and brave.

I am Zhao Liliang, the county magistrate of this county. Magistrate Tan has already told me that I would like to see Mr. Jia. Please come in with me. "

Jia Qiong understood as soon as he heard that he was being asked to jump in line, and secretly thought that the county magistrate would take care of things.

He cupped his hands and said, "In that case, please ask the county magistrate to lead the way."

People of all eras hate queue-jumping. When Jia Qiong and Wang Yi walked in, they heard a lot of complaints.

But after learning that he was Jia Qiong, these complaints immediately disappeared.

Led by Zhao Xiancheng, Jia Qiong and the others came to the ceremony room unimpeded, which was the registration place.

At this moment, there are several clerks sitting in the ceremony room, registering the candidates.

When they saw the county magistrate leading people in, they immediately understood what was going on, and immediately assigned one person to go through the registration procedures for Jia Qiong.

The review was relatively strict. The clerk asked Jia Qiong's name, age, and resume of three generations.If you want to take the imperial examination, you must have a clean family background and have not been engaged in despicable occupations such as prostitution and slave labor within three generations.

Other candidates asked very detailed questions, and even if they noticed something was wrong, the clerk would ask them again and again.

But Jia Qiong is just a formality here. Who in the world doesn't know what kind of person Jia Qiong is. He is the pride of Jinling City.

Finally, the clerk took out an examination card from the drawer and put a "floating stamp" on the back, which described the appearance of the examinee.

For example, it is written on Jia Qiong's name that he is "seven feet seven tall, with a fair face and no beard, and a very good appearance."

Finally, Wang Yi was asked to sign and seal on it, which was regarded as the confirmation being completed.

After leaving the ceremony room, Jia Qiong asked the county magistrate to lead the way, and went to Magistrate Tan specifically to express his thanks.

After all, they showed kindness, and out of courtesy, Jia Qiong had to say thank you in person.

Moreover, the county examination is not anonymous, and the results are determined by the county magistrate, so Jia Qiong has to leave a good impression on the marking officer.

This year, the Jiangning County examination is scheduled for February [-]th. The government examination is usually in April and the college examination is in June.

If you pass the academy examination, you will be considered a scholar, which means you have half a foot in the door of the gentry.

Jia Qiong's marriage was scheduled for May, between the government examination and the college examination.

If he succeeds in the August Township test, Jia Qiong will immediately set off back to Beijing with his family.

If you have anything to say, it will be long, if you don’t have anything to say, it will be short. In a blink of an eye, it is the day of the county examination.

At five o'clock in the morning, it was still dark outside, but there were already little lights shining through from various places in the city, like a river of stars converging in one direction.

Jia Qiong also got up early in the morning, had some light breakfast, and went out amidst the blessings of her relatives.

The county examination is an examination organized by the county government, and the examination centers vary from place to place.

In some poor counties, the examination room may be a temporary straw shed, and even the tables and chairs must be carried by the candidates themselves.

Of course, Jiangning County is not in such a tight situation. There is a tribute courtyard left over from the previous dynasty in the city, just to the west of Confucius Temple.

The county examinations of Jiangning County and Shangyuan County are held in Gongyuan, which can be regarded as one of the best county examination examination rooms in Dachu.

The county examination process is relatively loose and is arranged by each county magistrate. The examination is usually divided into three sessions.

The first game is the main game, the second game is called the secondary election, and the third game is called the face-to-face election.

Each exam takes one day, with two days between the two exams.

If you fail the first test, you will have to participate in the re-election.

This is equivalent to a make-up exam opportunity, and the candidates who pass will participate in the final interview.

The face-to-face selection is to let the county magistrate take a test in person, so as to avoid people who are cheating and passing the test.

For students with real talent and learning, this is just a formality to have a drink with the county magistrate.

Because the two counties share the same examination room, the county examinations in the two counties are conducted separately every year. The county examination in Shangyuan County has ended on February [-]th.

The county examination is the most basic examination and is not difficult for Jia Qiong.

So he didn't feel any nervousness. He walked quietly to the car and strolled all the way to the outside of the examination room.

Every street corner going to Gongyuan was guarded by soldiers, and only candidates holding examination cards could enter.

People who come to see me off can only be sent here.

Tian Li and Ping An said together: "I wish my second master a successful exam."

"Haha, you already know how to say auspicious words. Who did you learn this from?"

"The eldest lady taught me."

"Okay, good study.

You guys go back, I'll just go back by myself after the exam. "

Jia Qiong took the exam basket from Ping An and walked to Gongyuan along with the army of candidates.

　It would be better if you have tickets for pursuing reading.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)