There were several obviously different people standing a few meters away. These people were all wearing official uniforms and carrying knives at their waists. They looked like they had at least ninth-grade official titles and had a strong temperament. They didn't look like they were here to check the imperial examination, but like they were here to capture important criminals.
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They stared eagerly at every student who came forward, and all the students who were watched turned pale.
The middle-aged man who looked familiar to Su Ziji held a small metal plate in his hand and looked over it. He was stunned for a moment when he met Su Ziji's eyes.
Su Ziji quickly calmed down and replied to the yamen servant who asked him again: "It's the student, Su Ziji."
The yamen officer nodded, and immediately two people came forward to touch Su Ziji's hair bun, and then briefly searched his lower body to see if he had brought anything in. This was a preliminary check.
After the initial inspection, Su Ziji was immediately urged to move forward.
Su Ziji resisted the urge to look at these people and walked into the Gongyuan.
"What, is there something wrong with this person?" Several military attachés asked when they saw the middle-aged man looking at the young student.
"No, we just met a few times." The middle-aged man Gao Yaochen shook his head.
"Sure enough, this job is not that easy. I wonder how the examination rooms in other counties are like?" One person nodded and said casually.
"Master Zhang, it is impossible for the noble Lord Tianhuang to be buried like this." The middle-aged man glanced at the students behind him with stern eyes, looked back and said softly: "The clan plate showed some changes last night. If you think about it carefully, you can only prepare for today's government examination. Don't take it lightly.
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"That is to say, it is very likely that it is among these students, so let's continue." The speaker was obviously just complaining casually, and continued to pay attention after finishing speaking.
Su Ziji didn't know that he had been focused on just now. When he walked into the Gongyuan, he saw four officials holding lamps standing in front of him.
They stood facing the entrance, with the words on the lanterns in their hands clearly visible. Because of the examination references, the candidates naturally knew which examination room they were going to.
"T-shaped field?" Su Ziji glanced at the test, walked towards the lantern holder holding the lantern with the word "D", and lined up.
As thousands of candidates were sorted out one by one, it was already completely bright at this time. An eighth-grade official came out and said a few words loudly, and the yamen servant sang at the signal: "Students are entering——!"
The four lantern-holders turned around and walked in four directions, and the long dragon behind them also moved.
It wasn't until he finally reached the T-shaped field and was carefully searched again that Su Ziji breathed a sigh of relief.
"Although the government examination has been simplified and the content of the examination must be much less, it is really troublesome just to go through the process."
"I hope I can pass the exam in one go."
I sat in a simple shed with simple partitions on both sides and a straw shed above. If it rained heavily or there was a fire, the students here would surely suffer.
"No wonder the exam was chosen in April. In other months, this environment would be more painful for the candidates."
After finding his seat according to the examination quotation, Su Ziji did not need to study ink. According to the regulations of this dynasty, starting from the government examination, in order to prevent unnecessary accidents, except for the examination quotation, candidates were not allowed to bring anything with them.
, pens, inks, paper and inkstones are all provided by the examination room, as are even meals and water.
Fortunately, the exam was shortened to only one day, with a meal at noon. After handing in the essay, you can leave. It will be dark at the latest, so you can light a candle.
Su Ziji didn't think it was that easy. In fact, it was quite the opposite. After taking the government exam for a few days, one could naturally polish the articles slowly, but this required a certain amount of urgency on the part of the student.
If you get stuck for a moment, you won't be able to get creative ideas flowing out, and you can only sigh and miss this opportunity.
"In line with the atmosphere of the new dynasty, everything requires efficiency." Su Ziji couldn't help but sigh.
After the candidates entered the hall, they only had to wait for a while before the yamen came to hand out papers, pens and ink.
Su Ziji touched a stack of white paper and checked the pen and ink again. Then he felt relieved. These were not high-quality products, but they were quite satisfactory. No one could fault them.
Although these things are subject to wear and tear and can be replaced at any time, if there are no problems, there will still be no problems.
After a while, the yamen officers patrolled the venue with signboards and posted examination questions on boards, which was the same as during county examinations.
The students who come to take the prefectural examination have all experienced the county examination, and naturally they will get into the groove quickly.
"The policy theory will be tested directly?" I originally thought that memorization, diction, and Mo Yi would be tested, but I didn't expect to skip it directly this time and only take the policy theory test.
Su Ziji was startled at first, then felt happy.
Although I am not afraid of the first two because I am familiar with the Five Classics, I am more advantageous if I only test policy theory.
It is difficult to say what the level of seventh level is. It may not be enough to pass the exam, but in the government examination, there must not be many children with this level.
And I already had experience in policy theory, and Fang Juren believed that as long as I was lucky, I would be able to pass the exam.
"The reason for canceling memorization, diction, and Mo Yi is that they all test basic skills, and the basic skills have already been tested in the county examination."
"And although they are not very difficult, they are very trivial and time-consuming. If the exams are taken three days in a row, the time does not matter. If they are taken in one day, the candidates' time will be squeezed."
"It is only natural to cancel the memorization, diction and meaning."
"As for this policy, it has something to do with floods." Su Ziji raised his eyebrows slightly, a little surprised that it would be such a topic.
"Although this dynasty has always attached great importance to practicality in recruiting officials and inheriting the system of the Wei Dynasty. In order to select officials and govern a party, this is just a government examination. To use such a topic as a policy decision is it to look down on children, or is the flood already imminent?"
Such thoughts only flashed by, and Su Ziji picked up his pen and started writing slowly on the draft paper.
"There is no need to be steady when writing this topic. It's just about water control... No, it's not just that." Su Ziji immediately put down his pen again.
"It seems to be just related to floods, but in fact it involves all aspects, including money from the Ministry of Household Affairs and people from the Ministry of Works. These are just superficial, and there must be other forces involved. This seems to be just about water control, but it is very difficult.
It may be a competition between several forces."
Su Ziji thought about it again and again, and decided to follow his heart. He picked up some water control methods that he knew in his previous life and wrote them down.
But the language is also polished to make it beautiful but not sharp.
The calligraphy now is much better than that in the county examination.
Fang Zhen once commented on the shortcomings of the Guange style that I wrote at the time. Now this shortcoming has been made up for by gaining a lot of experience and practicing diligently.
Although it is not exactly elegant, graceful and beautiful, it can still give people a sense of roundness and plumpness.
"This way you can highlight the topic without being too sharp and causing trouble."
By the time Su Ziji finally finished writing the draft, noon had arrived, and yamen servants were delivering food and water to each examination shed.
Since everyone's gastrointestinal tract is different, the food is just cakes without any oil or meat, and the water is boiled water, not even crude tea.
This is not because the government is stingy, but because they are afraid that if there is a problem with food and water, who will be responsible?
Su Ziji was afraid of staining the paper, so he hurriedly cleared the things on the desk. After eating a tasteless meal and resting for a while, he carefully copied the contents of the draft onto the official paper.
After I finished copying word by word, I blew on the ink, and a dense trickle of sweat broke out on my forehead. It took a huge amount of energy to finish the writing in one go.
"Even I feel dizzy. Where are the other students?"
After a quick glance, he saw that everyone's faces were pale and they didn't dare to look more. He checked again and found that there were no problems and no taboo words had been missed by him. Su Ziji breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, it was approaching dusk, and candidates rang the bells one after another and handed in their papers.
"Or, I can try it now." Seeing that everything was completed, Su Ziji moved his lips slightly, as if he was reciting his own test paper silently, and stretched out his hand to touch the test paper.