control the heavens

Chapter 17
On the ninth day of the second month of the lunar calendar, the sky had not yet brightened, and the city gates of the capital opened an hour earlier than usual, and there were city guards standing on both sides of the gates.

According to the rules of the imperial court, in order to show the importance attached to the examination, only scholars who participated in the imperial examination can enter the city with their student status on this day, and the rest are not allowed to enter the capital.

On the street, there are officers and soldiers everywhere, and every officer and soldier is full of energy. When they see someone making trouble, they will step forward to catch the troublemaker and throw them into Jingzhaofu Prison.

Tang Han got up early, washed up and had breakfast in the inn, then walked outside the inn.

"A rich family doesn't need to buy fertile land, there are thousands of grains in the book; there is no need to raise a high hall to live in peace, there is a golden house in the book; don't hate unscrupulous matchmakers, there is Yan Ruyu in the book"

Before walking out of the inn, I heard Juren who came to participate in the examination singing this exhortation poem on the street outside. At first, there were only a few people singing in twos and threes, but after a while, many Juren also joined in, and their voices It even surpassed the beeping sound of the watchman.

Tang Han smiled, but he didn't mean to laugh at it. This time, he will try to cross the single-plank bridge.

If you can pass the test, you must have the fame of a Jinshi. With this fame, good land, beautiful concubines, official status and wealth are basically at your fingertips. It is no wonder that those who take the exam are so excited. At the pinnacle of life, I am afraid it is difficult to maintain a calm mind, right?
In the previous life, the national attention during the college entrance examination, and one out of three thousand in the civil service examination are nothing compared to this examination.

During the Ming Dynasty, there were thirteen chief secretaries, plus the capital and Nanjing, that is, fifteen provincial-level units. Each province had at most a hundred scholars who passed the rural examination of that year, plus the previous years. For example, there are about 2 people participating in a general examination, but only 300 people can make it to the list in the end, and only a hundred people can get high school Jinshi in the palace examination. It can be said that the competition is very fierce.

This is unimaginable in the society of the previous life.

In this era, it takes an average of at least 30 years for a child to start reading at the beginning until he finally becomes a Jinshi.Except for those with extraordinary talents, most of them were already over thirty when they were selected as Jinshi, and began to enter middle age.

Ten years of hard study! ?
It's more than ten years of studying hard in the cold window!

This is simply a lifetime of youth.

Tang Han was walking on the street, and saw that many scholars who participated in the examination looked to be 30 years old, and some even reached the age of 40. In this era, 40 years old is already a grandfather, but there are still some people who are persistent in the examination , we can see the charm of this imperial examination.

Among the scholars walking on the street, Tang Han can be said to be the youngest Juren, and immediately attracted the attention of many people. From time to time, silk handkerchiefs floated across the air and fell around Tang Han.

Tang Han looked up, and saw young girls waiting to be married sticking out their heads from time to time in the attics on both sides of the street. The timid and shy glanced and then looked away, and the bold ones directly pointed at Tang Han. Beckoning, trying to get his attention.

This kind of scene happens every year during the imperial examination, and the people in the capital have long been accustomed to it. After all, which girl does not have a spring?Who doesn't want to find a good man with both talent and appearance and a bright future?Regarding this, Tang Han just smiled slightly, but did not make any reaction, and walked very calmly towards the Gongyuan where the examination was held.

It is the same process as the previous rural examination. Candidates are divided into provinces and enter the Gongyuan in turn. The first thing to do is extremely strict search.

After some inspections, Tang Han was guided into the Longmen of the Tribute Academy, and together with the candidates from various provinces whose order was disrupted, he began to look for his own number house.

Fortunately, he was lucky, the dormitory assigned to him was considered a good location, spacious, bright and undamaged, so he didn't need to worry about getting wet in the wind and rain.

In a good mood, Tang Han first cleaned up the sanitation in the dormitory. When the dormitory was cleaned up, it was already noon and it was time for lunch.

At this time, the exam has not yet started. Normally, in order to allow every scholar who comes to Beijing to enter the exam as much as possible, the annual exam will not start until around [-] pm. Tang Han simply ate a piece of beef , then sat on the couch and meditated.

When the bell rang nine times, Tang Han opened his eyes and saw an officer and soldier coming up with a test paper. Tang Han took a look at the test paper. This test is not much different from the rural test. The content of the first test is still three Questions about the Four Books of the Way, Questions about the Four Ways and the Five Classics.

However, compared to the rural examination, the most important questions in the general examination are the three questions and four books, because these three questions were written by the emperor himself, so the examiners will also focus on this aspect.

Basically, whether you are successful or not, it depends on these three questions. If you answer these three questions well, as long as you don’t hand in blank papers for the following questions, basically a gongshi will not be able to escape.

But if the answers to these three questions are not good, no matter how good the answers in the next few exams are, it will be useless. Looking at the entire imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty, I have never heard of anyone relying on the gongshi in the last two exams.

Tang Han has thousands of volumes of books in his heart, and he is rich in learning. Now that the content of the first exam has been answered, unless there is something tricky, Tang Han will not fail the exam based on the first exam paper.

After closing the test paper, Tang Han began to close his eyes and rest his mind. After Tang Han stepped into the first-class state of the rivers and lakes, his five senses were sensitive, and the complaints, silent reading, and laughter of the surrounding scholars all fell into Tang Han's ears.

This test is stricter than the rural test. Scholars are not allowed to leave, even if they want to relieve themselves, they must be accompanied by officers and soldiers at any time. Otherwise, they will be judged as cheating if they leave easily. Once they cheat, they will never It is allowed to take the imperial examination again, and the title of Juren will also be cancelled.

As for how to call the yamen servants, officers and soldiers, there is a small bell in each scholar's house, as long as you wake it up, someone will come immediately.

The second session started on the third day. After the officers and soldiers collected the test papers, they distributed the second test papers. It can be said that the intensity is very high. It is a very big challenge for those weak scholars who rarely exercise. Some students even couldn't hold on and fell ill.

After three exams in a row, basically all the candidates looked sick, their faces were pale, and some of them even got frostbite and got chilblains because of insufficient warm clothes.

Tang Han has already stepped into the first class in the Jianghu. This test is naturally harmless to Tang Han. Tang Han walked out of the gate of the Gongyuan calmly. At this time, there were many scholars in front of the gate of the Gongyuan. There were expressions of anxiety and worry, some sighed, and some candidates even shed tears.

This test is like a single-plank bridge. If you pass one step, you will reach the sky. If you fail, you will have to study hard for another three years.

"Brother Tang, how is the test going?" A Shaanxi scholar saw Tang Han, and hurriedly stepped forward and cupped his hands.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Tang Han saw that this student was a scholar from Xi'an Prefecture, named 'Lin Peng', who was in the same class as Tang Han: "I don't know how Brother Lin is doing this time?"

"Oh, I'm miserable. It's my first time to participate in the test, and my head goes blank when I get nervous..." Lin Peng sighed.

Tang Han didn't say anything, 2 people participated in the examination, but only 300 people made the list, only a very small number of people could make the list, and most of them failed.

At this time, many Shaanxi students came over and greeted each other warmly. They saw Tang Han's face smiling, and they knew Tang Han's talent and name, and knew that Tang Han was very likely to be on the list. This is a good opportunity to get close.

"Everyone must be extremely tired. You should go back and rest early. The list will be released tomorrow, so don't be rude in front of people!" Tang Han said to everyone with a smile.

Seeing this, everyone bid farewell to each other and left.

. . . . . .

Unlike the township examination, the day for the ranking of the general examination is very fast. Basically, the ranking will be determined and the ranking will be announced the next day after the general examination is completely over.

In the morning of the next day, the list was posted in the Ministry of Rituals, and at the same time countless teams were dispatched to announce the good news to the upstarts living in every corner of the capital.

Tang Han did not go to the Ministry of Rites to read the list like other scholars, but meditated in the room.Regarding his ability, Tang Han was very confident, unless the examiner cheated for personal gain, otherwise he would definitely not fail the exam.

"Boom boom boom!"

A sound of beating gongs and drums sounded from outside the inn, accompanied by the exclamation of the scholars in the inn, and there was a lot of discussion. Someone came to announce the good news, indicating that a scholar in the inn had made it to the list.

Once on the list, you will have the title of "Gongshi". Even if you are not awarded the title of Jinshi in the palace examination, you can become an official's staff.And once on the list, you can take part in the palace examination and see Long Yan.

(End of this chapter)