It was already late at night when Fang Yingwu came out of the governor's office. Although Mr. Wang did not give him any verbal promise, Fang Yingwu knew that things should be close.
It's just that with Wang Shu's character, it's impossible for him to open his mouth like this. It's hard for Fang Yingwu to imagine the serious Wang Shu saying to him, "Don't worry, I will help you open the back door..."
All in all, there was no need for Fang Yingwu to ask any questions, he could just wait and make a fortune while knowing full well.
Only one day later, news broke out in the city of Hangzhou - the candidates for the ten graders and examiners have been decided! Not only that, even the detailed list of the ten people has been leaked, and it is spreading among the scholars. .
Especially those scholars who saw that their school professors were selected as examiners, but they did not go back in time to communicate with others in advance, they immediately beat their chests and regretted their laziness. At this time, if they were in their hometowns, they could immediately come to congratulate them and congratulate them. I figured out a way to clear the door directly!
As for Mr. Xiang Chengxian, who worked so hard to come back, but his own teachings were not listed on the list, there is only endless disappointment...
Fang Yingwu also looked at the list and was immediately overjoyed. As expected, five out of the ten people were provided by him. Now, the cause of fraud in the provincial examination has taken the most critical step.
Ten fellow examiners will review the paper, and five of them are "one of our own". So even if it is randomly assigned, the probability that your paper will fall into the hands of one of your own is 50%. This is equivalent to saying that your probability of winning is almost 50%. .
Compared with the average admission rate of less than 3%, the probability of 50% is already unimaginably high. Maybe adding a probability of 20 to 30% will not be a problem in the future.
Some people may ask: Why did Fang Yingwu only help Grandmaster Li get half of the places for fellow examiners, instead of turning all ten of them into his own at one go? Wouldn't that give him a 100% chance of winning the exam?
But if he really wanted to do something like this, it would be like a thunderstorm. The examiners were jointly selected by the governor, the chief minister, and the inspector. If they all asked the great master to entrust Fang Yingwu to smooth things over, maybe the governor Wang is a relative. It's easy to talk, so where does the chief minister put his face? Being greedy and eating alone without letting others get a share of the pie will often only lead to bad things in the end.
After the news about the interview with the examiner broke up, it was another dark and windy night a few days later. An old man in his fifties knocked on the door of Fang Yingwu’s residence. “An old friend and elder heard that Mr. Fang was taking the exam. I want to encourage Xianggong Fang and ask the old man to come and deliver the message."
Fang Yingwu couldn't suppress his joy, held the old man's hand affectionately, and said excitedly: "I've been looking forward to it for a long time, and I'm sure the old man is here!"
The old man looked at Fang Yingwu for a few times and murmured in his heart: "This young man has a great appearance, but why is his mind a little unclear?"
He just came to deliver the letter on his master's order. He didn't know what was in the letter. The master just said he was delivering the letter for others.
Fang Yingwu accepted the letter and sent the old man who delivered the letter away. He took three steps and two steps at a time, returned to the room, lit a candle and looked at it carefully.
The content of this letter is ordinary. It seems to be just an old scholar's teachings and a few paragraphs of experience in reading the scriptures recently. By the way, there are a few words of praise for others.
But the most extraordinary thing is contained in the ordinary, and only Fang Yingwu can understand it. Because he knows that the content of this letter is written by the chief examiner of the provincial examination, Mr. Li, the deputy envoy of the Provincial Examination, but he signed it with an alias,
The handwriting is not the usual handwriting of Grandmaster Li - this is all to leave no evidence.
He helped the Grand Master find five examiner places, and this letter was the Grand Master's reciprocation. It was the reward he deserved, but it was also a reward that was hard to buy.
There are several paragraphs of reading experience in the letter, and the passages quoted in each paragraph may be questions in the provincial examination. In other words, the three most important questions on the Four Books will be selected from these paragraphs.
And more importantly, according to the prior agreement, the last words in the first five paragraphs of the letter will be "keywords." And in the examination room, Fang Yingwu should also use the same words at the end of the first five paragraphs of his first article.
This creates a secret mark.
The test papers are anonymous and re-transcribed. Under normal circumstances, the marking examiner does not know who the test paper belongs to. But if there is a pre-agreed secret code, and the assigned marking examiner happens to be one of them, then when he sees this secret code
You'll know who it is.
Now, Fang Yingwu can finally be absolutely sure that he is at least half sure of winning. Even if the test paper is unlucky and not assigned to his own examiner, he knows the questions in advance, prepares carefully, and writes a few essays that are better than others.
The article is not difficult, and the probability of passing it is at least 20 to 30% higher than that of normal people.
While others are still working hard to increase their hopes by 1%, others have quietly obtained a 70% to 80% certainty. In this case, if you still can't win, it's bad luck. It's not ordinary bad luck.
The secret happiness in Fang Daxiucai's heart was beyond words, but unfortunately, his reason told him that he could not share this joy with anyone, and he could only endure the secret happiness to the point of internal injury.
He was pacing back and forth excitedly in the courtyard in the middle of the night, sighing, "I have few close friends, but who will listen when my string is broken?" It was the same sentence, making a fortune in silence.
In the following days, Mr. Li, the chief examiner of the rural examination, returned to Hangzhou City first, but when he entered the city, he entered the Gongyuan without stopping, and then locked the door and refused to leave.
Immediately, the fellow examiners who were temporarily selected came one after another. Like the examiner, Mr. Li, they also went to the Tribute Courtyard after entering the city without seeing any outsiders.
From now until the end of the exam until the results are released, these examiners will be locked in the Gongyuan and theoretically cut off from all outside contact.
That day, Miss Wang Yu came to see Sister Lan and made an appointment to go to the temple to burn incense together. As soon as the two left, Fang Yingwu was sitting in the shade of a tree thinking about the exam questions. Suddenly, he heard someone outside the door shouting: "Brother Fang Xian
Are you at home?"
The voice belonged to Mr. Xiang, who probably came to Hangzhou from Chun'an again. Fang Yingwu hurriedly opened the door and said hello: "Brother Xiang came from Chun'an again. I think it was a very hard journey."
Xiang Chengxian was not in a very good mood, "The hard work is nothing, but running for nothing is really frustrating."
Fang Yingwu sighed and encouraged: "Just concentrate on writing books. With Brother Xiang's talent, you will have great opportunities without relying on connections, so why bother worrying about these things."
Xiang Chengxian waved his hand and said, "I won't talk about this anymore. I'm here to ask for help."
"Brother Xiang has given instructions, but it doesn't matter." Fang Yingwu behaved very generously.
"I came from home this time, and I brought a batch of silver coins with me. I plan to hold five or six banquets next, and I would like to ask you to be the host."
Fang Yingwu was extremely surprised. Now that most of the examiners were in place, the exam was really close. It was already time to sharpen one's weapons before battle. What was the purpose of this noble man's singing and dancing banquet instead of reviewing carefully? Isn't it just a show? , five or six games.
Xiang Chengxian said calmly: "This time the ten examiners come from schools in ten prefectures and counties across the province. What I want to invite are scholars from these ten counties. Even if I invite people from two counties at once, I have to invite five. Visited six times.”
"What are your plans?" Fang Yingwu asked in confusion.
Xiang Chengxian explained patiently: "Brother Fang Xian, you are a newcomer to the provincial examination and you don't know something. Writing an article is not just about being good, you also have to suit the examiner's taste before they will admit you. Some examiners like fluent and beautiful articles, and some Examiners like simple and heavy articles, and so on. Only when you understand the situation and write articles during the exam can you take the right medicine.
Although the ten fellow examiners have all entered Gongyuan and are no longer around, the students from their counties are still outside. I am hosting the scholars from these ten counties just to communicate with them and learn more from their mouths. The style of the examiners. The ultimate goal is to see which type is more common, so that you can know yourself and the enemy in the examination room."
Fang Yingwu sighed secretly, but he was still surprised, "If you want to be the host, just do it. If you are short of money, I will help you. Why do you need to ask me to be the host?"
At present, he has developed his reputation, and the layout for the exam is basically completed, and he is just waiting for the exam. In other words, there is no need for him to study the examiner's taste, so in this case, he really doesn't have much thought. Tossing. If it doesn’t do much good if you go to all the trouble, then what’s the point of tossing?
Xiang Chengxian heard this and shouted: "Brother Fang Xian, you don't understand. Brother Yu, I don't want your money, I only want your people!"
Fang Yingwu was so frightened that he took two steps back, "If you have something to say, please tell me. I am an artist, not a person."
Xiang Chengxian laughed and scolded, "Do you think I care about you?" Then he said helplessly: "You think I don't know that you want to keep a low profile? But I can't help it.
Nowadays, there are many people with my thoughts. Scholars from those ten counties are suddenly in high demand and are vying to be invited to attend banquets and cultural gatherings. The tables they have received are probably full of invitations, so I went Inviting people, I really don’t know how many people can be invited. If there are too few people, the effect will not be achieved.
And you are very famous now, and many people want to make friends with you, or at least those who are interested in meeting you. With you as my host, I guess you can help me attract a lot more people.
Besides, you have a close relationship with the court lady. It would be better if you could invite the court lady to accompany you! Of course, if you can make the court lady's worth cheaper and save me some money, that would be even better!"
Fang Yingwu was astonished. He didn't expect him to have such a use. He dared to ask him to serve as a big vase to attract guests.
After explaining, Xiang Chengxian asked again: "You and I are like brothers, there is no reason why you can't help me with this!"
If his friend begged him to this extent, he couldn't refuse, otherwise it would be too unfair. Fang Yingwu didn't say anything more and agreed immediately. Anyway, he didn't need to review anything now, and he wasn't afraid of wasting time and energy.
Xiang Chengxian smiled brightly and said, "You are not at a disadvantage. Don't you want to know the tastes of the examiners? This is called sharpening the knife and chopping firewood. Knowing more about the situation will not hurt the exam."
ps: The second update, it seems that the third update can be completed before 12 o'clock!