After Huang Zhiyuan passed the examination as a new scholar, he was not in a hurry to return to his hometown. Instead, he continued to take him with him in Xunzhou City to prepare for the Guangxi Provincial Examination that would be held not long after.
In order to ensure that the joint examination can be held on time in April, the county examination, prefecture examination, and college examination in various places are not only merged into one examination, but also not far away from the township examination.
In order to allow students from western and even northern Guangxi to arrive and participate in the provincial examination, the rural examination was not held in Wuzhou this time, but in Xunzhou Prefecture. It is expected that there will be hundreds of people participating.
Because not only these new college students from Xunzhou Prefecture, but also new college students from other prefectures in Guangxi will also rush to Xunzhou Prefecture to participate in the provincial examination.
Even among the scholars of the previous Ming Dynasty, many of them applied for the provincial examination.
This time when the Tang Dynasty ascended to the throne, any talented scholar from the previous Ming Dynasty could take the provincial examination directly as long as they wanted to. There was no need to have a natural talent or anything like that.
Many Ming Dynasty scholars who were not even qualified to participate in the provincial examination were greatly moved after hearing this, and many of them went to Xunzhou in advance to participate in the provincial examination.
The time interval between the college examination and the township examination was very short. Huang Zhiyuan had not had time to rest for a few days to adjust. The township examination began. This time, the number of participants in the township examination was even more than he expected. A total of more than 800 people signed up.
Take the exam.
Although most of them are new students, scholars from the previous Ming Dynasty also account for half of them.
The provincial examination also lasted three days, and the content of the examination was similar to that of the college examination, but the questions were definitely more difficult. This time, Huang Zhiyuan tried his best to stand out. After the examination, he felt like he was going to collapse.
After the results were released, he, Xu Hanshi and several other people who participated in the provincial examination went to wait early in the morning to see the results.
It didn't matter, he actually found that his name was at the front. Although it was not the top three, it was still in the fourth place.
If this were replaced by the palace examination, he would be the top two.
This made him extremely excited, because he finally passed the exam. Even if the exam was from the Tang Dynasty, it was still a exam. And more importantly, even if he failed in the subsequent examination, he could still be a seventh-grade candidate.
Official.
His close friend Xu Hanshi also did not fail the list, but his ranking was a little lower, only over 200.
This time, more than 800 people took the Guangxi Provincial Examination, but only 250 were selected. It can be seen that the probability of admission is still very high, but is this important to the candidates? Not important, the important thing is
I passed the exam myself.
Before these new imperial examinations could be celebrated for a few days, people were taken aboard a naval transport ship bound for Zhaoqing the next day.
Not only them, more than a hundred candidates from Guizhou had already set off, and candidates from several prefectures in Guangdong were also on their way to Zhaoqing.
When a total of about 500 new subject candidates from these three provinces went to Zhaoqing, a small number of candidates had actually arrived in Zhaoqing in advance, and they were the candidates of the Ming Dynasty.
Although there were only a few people who came, there were only a few dozen people, and most of them were not very good candidates who had no hope of being admitted to the Ming Dynasty. However, this is not important. The important thing is that they were former Ming Dynasty candidates, and they also came to participate in the Tang Dynasty's imperial examinations.
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The Ministry of Etiquette treats these people very favorably, providing them with good food and drink, and the only thing missing is the flower girl who warms the bed.
The academic level of these people is not important. What is important is the political signal they sent after taking part in the imperial examination!
And these are the purposes of Li Xuan’s imperial examination!
Huang Zhiyuan and other people from the New Imperial Examination took a boat down the river, heading eastward at a very fast speed, and arrived in Zhaoqing not long after.
After arriving in Zhaoqing, he found that there was a huge difference between Zhaoqing and Xunzhou Fucheng. Although the recent changes in Xunzhou Fucheng were also very great, they were nothing compared to the changes in Zhaoqing.
First of all, the cleanliness of the streets is almost unbelievable. There is not a single poop or urine on the streets. This is simply unbelievable.
Moreover, the buildings on the street are all neat and tidy. No business dares to encroach on the street. It's not that there is no such thing. In fact, there were some in the past, but those who dare to do so have already been fined.
The Tang Dynasty generally did not bother to imprison those who violated the rules, especially those whose violations had little negative impact. Instead, they mainly imposed fines, and heavy fines.
The reason for doing this is very simple, it's all about money.
The Tang Dynasty was poor, and as a judicial institution, it was even poorer. Patrol bureaus in various places often needed to develop their own financial resources, otherwise they would not even be able to pay the salaries of the patrol officers.
Therefore, fines have become an important means of generating income for them, and there are even set targets. They go out to patrol the streets to maintain security, and how much fines must be paid to the health patrols in a day. If the fine is too much, there will be a bonus, and if the fine is too little, the salary will be deducted.
Under the attack of this income-generating method, basically the city appearance and even public security of the cities under the Tang Dynasty were significantly improved. Several important cities, such as Liuzhou, Wuzhou, and Zhaoqing, were so good that it is unbelievable.
the point.
After entering Zhaoqing, Huang Zhiyuan frequently saw police officers in black uniforms patrolling the streets. He also saw many military soldiers in military uniforms patrolling the streets in groups, carrying rumored muskets.
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We can't see so many elite soldiers in Xunzhou, but more patrol policemen in black uniforms and soldiers from the robbery camp. Regular army soldiers are very rare.
After arriving in Zhaoqing City, they were concentrated in several large houses. However, if you are not short of money, you can also stay in inns outside. If you have relatives and friends who can take refuge, you can also go there. The food provided by the official
Accommodation is free, you can come or not.
Huang Zhiyuan has no relatives and friends in Zhaoqing, but his good friend Xu Hanshi has relatives and friends in Zhaoqing to rely on. To be precise, this relative is a colleague of Xu Hanshi's second grandfather. He was demoted in the Ming Dynasty and is now an official under the Tang Dynasty. Xu Hanshi
Second Grandpa has already made arrangements by writing a letter in advance. When they arrive in Zhaoqing, they can go and join them. Not only will food and accommodation be more convenient, but they will also be able to learn more about the inside story of the imperial examination.
It will have greater benefits for their exam preparation!
Therefore, Xu Hanshi took Huang Zhiyuan with him to seek refuge with his second grandfather's colleague, Chief Sun, the sixth grade officer who served in the Guangxi Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Director Sun was extremely happy for their arrival and even chatted with them all night, explaining in detail some of the key points that they needed to pay attention to during the trial.
Outsiders may not know it clearly, but Chief Sun, who is an official in the Ministry of Accounts of the Cabinet, has long heard that His Majesty personally gave instructions for this imperial examination. The Four Books and Five Classics are only the most basic ones, and the focus is on policy theory and historical theory.
Of course, this does not mean that the Four Books and the Five Classics are not important, because the Four Books and the Five Classics are the entry barriers. If the level of the Four Books and the Five Classics is not good enough, they will not even be on the list. But if you want to get a good ranking, policy theory and historical theory are the key points, because the Four Books
The Five Classics can help you pass the examination, but it is policy theory and historical theory that can help you get a good rank.
Although the proficiency of those who were able to take part in the examination varied from good to bad, the level of the Four Books and Five Classics at that time was not that bad. Moreover, under this system, the questions on the Four Books and Five Classics were not too difficult, and even the questions were not very difficult.
I don't know how to ask any set questions, I will only ask the most basic questions. To put it bluntly, any one of the five or six hundred people who are preparing to take the exam can easily answer it.
Therefore, the focus of this general examination and subsequent imperial examinations is on policy theory and historical theory.
Director Sun even brought them a few volumes of test questions and textbooks from the Imperial College, and said that most of the new candidates for the imperial examination in Guangdong this time were students from the Imperial College, and their strength should not be underestimated.
Because the Tang Dynasty conquered Zhaoqing not long ago and did not have time to rule the various states in Guangdong. Due to the expected arrival, the large-scale military operation has basically ended. The First Army has not even gone to Guangzhou, but
When I went to other areas outside Guangzhou, although they had been conquered militarily, effective rule had not yet been established. There were not many candidates from Guangdong who applied for this Dengji Enke exam.
Unlike Guizhou and Guangxi, they have established complete local governance. The place in Guizhou has been ruled for more than a year, and the time in Guangxi is less, but it has been a few months.
Therefore, since there are not many local candidates in Guangdong, most of the new imperial examination candidates in Guangdong are students of the Imperial College.
In the following days, Huang Zhiyuan and Xu Hanshi devoted themselves to studying the teaching materials and topics at the Imperial College, thinking repeatedly about how to write better policies and historical theories, and even read many history books in the face of the battle.
On the contrary, the Four Books and Five Classics were thrown aside. Anyway, they have studied the Four Books and the Five Classics for more than ten years. Their level is not top-notch, but it is not far behind. What's more, the Four Books and the Five Classics cannot be mastered quickly. If they don't study for a few days, it won't have much impact.
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In the process of studying hard, although Principal Sun was kind to them, Mrs. Sun was quite complaining about them. Although she did not say it explicitly, she also said that it was not easy to live in the capital. Their old man was just a sixth-grade principal with no real power.
, the house they were assigned was just a small courtyard with only a few brick houses. There were five or six people in their family, which was not very convenient to live in.
Huang Zhiyuan did feel inconvenienced. Chief Sun's family did not have many houses, and there were also female relatives. In order to avoid suspicion, Chief Sun's young daughter and daughter-in-law had not left the house for several days.
However, even though it was inconvenient, he endured not leaving in order to get advice from Master Sun.
He stayed for four days, and when the examination was about to begin, he said goodbye to Xu Hanshi. On the day he left, he clearly saw the joy on Mrs. Sun's face: "Finally, these two
I sent him away personally!"
After leaving the Sun Mansion, they first went back to the examination hall to prepare. Early the next morning, they rushed to the examination room with other candidates to start the first examination in his life.
If you are selected as a tribute scholar, regardless of the results of the subsequent palace examinations, you will still be from the same background as a Jinshi scholar and will be awarded an official position of the sixth rank.
If he fails, Huang Zhiyuan has already planned to continue studying for another year, especially the two subjects of policy theory and historical theory. He must be more proficient and wait until the spring exam next year.
After taking the test on the articles of the Four Books and Five Classics with great trepidation, when it was his turn for the theory and theory section, just looking at the questions made him frown!