Be a master through ancient times

On the fifth day of September, registration for mock exams began.

"Brother Li, are you also going to sign up?"

On the streets of Xi County, a scholar trotted a few steps to catch up with the person in front, and after the two sides greeted each other, he asked casually.

The person called Brother Li responded: "Yes, Brother Zhu should also sign up, right? Why don't we go together?"

"Xiaosheng also has this intention, let's go there now!"

After the two scholars walked together for a while, they finally came to the branch patrol yamen in the county.The door of this yamen was open, and a sign was erected at the door, with a piece of red paper pasted on it.On the top of the red paper was written the three big characters of the registration office, and the lower part was written in smaller characters that candidates who want to apply must bring the scholar's documents to the county's branch office, and then pay two taels of silver after registration. Get an admission ticket.

The two scholars glanced at it briefly, then raised their legs and walked inside, because the content on it had already been published in the Education Newspaper.When they came to sign up today, they had checked it several times.

After entering the yamen, the hall facing the gate is the registration office.Different from the small window in the past, this time the entire hall is used as a place for registration.There are three tables in the hall, separated by screens, and an official sits behind each table.Immediately, the whole hall was full of people. After the scholar surnamed Zhu walked over, he was a little at a loss and didn't know who to apply for.The clerk sitting behind the first desk who was writing seemed to have noticed him, and asked gently, "Are you here to sign up for the mock exam? Did you bring the scholar's paperwork?"

The scholar surnamed Zhu immediately replied: "I have brought it, Xiaosheng has brought it!" He carefully took out the scholar's document wrapped in a handkerchief from his arms, and handed it to the official.

After the official took it, he put it at the bottom, and said: "You wait by the side first, and come over when you are called."

"Yes, thank you sir!" After the scholar surnamed Zhu thanked him gratefully, he quickly asked the scholar surnamed Li to hand over his scholar's document.

Then the two stood in the corner and waited. After waiting for a while, they heard the official shout: "Is Zhu Zongwen there?"

"Yes, my lord, Xiaosheng is here!" The scholar surnamed Zhu ran over excitedly, and then found that the man had written something on a piece of paper after opening the scholar's document, and checked the information with him while writing.After the important information was filled in, the man pushed the paper over and motioned him to sign in the two blank spaces.

Zhu Zongwen took the paper and glanced at it, wondering why he had to write the same content twice.But he didn't dare to ask, he just nervously picked up the brush and wrote his name neatly on it.After he finished writing, he took a look and found that 68 was written on the top of the paper.Zhu Zongwen was very surprised. In just one hour, more than 60 people have been reported?

"Young Master Zhu, take this piece of paper and go to the back to pay. Next, is Li Zeyang there?" The official tore off half of the scholar's document and the piece of paper just now, and then opened the next document to roll the roll.

Zhu Zongwen hurriedly stepped aside, and only then did he understand why he had to write two copies of the same content, presumably to keep the bottom line.He walked around the screen with the paperwork and the half-sheet and came to the second table.

There were fewer people behind the second table, and soon it was Zhu Zongwen's turn.This clerk looked unsmiling, and he didn't look as approachable as the first one.

Zhu Zongwen first handed over the document and the half piece of paper in his hand, and then took out the two taels of silver from his purse and handed it over.After the official took the silver, he skillfully took out a small scale and weighed it. When he found that the scale was full, he poured the silver down and dropped it into the silver box under his feet.After collecting the money, the man picked up the seal next to it, and stamped a large seal on Zhu Zongwen's half of the paper, engraved with the three words paid.

"Put away the documents, take this paper and go to the back to get the admission ticket." Zhu Zongwen felt a little flattered when he heard the official say something suddenly.He thanked him again and again, then put away the paperwork, and walked towards the third table with the stamped paper.

There are quite a lot of people here, and Zhu Zongwen looked forward on tiptoe at the back of the queue, and found that after they handed in the paper, they received a small piece of paper that was slightly stiff and the size of a palm.Because the people at the top of the queue were unknown, Zhu Zongwen didn't have the nerve to ask them what was written on it, but waited anxiously in his heart.

Finally, the people in front were all gone.Zhu Zongwen couldn't wait to take a step forward, and handed over the paper: "My lord, please read it."

Finally, the official nodded, took a look at the paper, then took out a piece of paper, filled in the blank space above with Zhu Zongwen's name, then looked at the next piece of paper, and wrote down what above.After finishing writing, he first painted a certain place on another piece of paper with a pen, and then stamped another stamp on the small piece of paper, but this stamp was printed with the words "examination admission ticket".

"Keep these two sheets well, and it's best to open them separately. If the admission ticket is not lost, you can use this paper to reissue it." The official was about fifty years old, and he spoke very kindly.

"Thank you, sir, for your reminder!" Zhu Zongwen thanked him again and again, and took these two items out of the hall.When he was standing in the yard waiting for Li Zeyang, he took out the piece of paper just now and looked at it carefully.The exam time written on it is from September [-]th to September [-]th.It also wrote that the location of the examination room is the upper left of the second row of the first examination room.

When Zhu Zongwen was wondering what the first examination room meant, Li Zeyang also came out.Seeing him, Zhu Zongwen quickly asked, "Brother Li, which examination room are you in?"

Li Zeyang was taken aback for a moment, and after being reminded, he picked up a small piece of paper and read: "The fifth examination room, the sixth row, middle and lower."

Zhu Zongwen was a little regretful: "It seems that we are not in the same examination room anymore. It's just what the number of the examination room above means. Aren't we taking the examination in the Gongyuan?"

Li Zeyang shook his head: "I don't know, we just need to wait and see what happens. The adults in the Department of Education will definitely make it clear. I think we only need to read the next issue of the Education News to know the answer. "

Zhu Zongwen agreed with him very much.The two carefully placed the examination admission tickets and other items next to each other, and walked out of the branch office together.They have been very excited since they saw the notice in the Education Daily two days ago.The newspaper said that the mock exam would restore the environment of the exam room as much as possible, and would give them a complete rural exam experience in accordance with the model of the rural exam questions, so that they could adapt to the exam in advance, so as to get good results in the rural exam.For this goal, they must take this mock exam!

……

It takes three days to sign up, which is also for the convenience of students in remote places not to miss the opportunity.In the evening of the seventh day of the lunar new year, registration is officially closed.The patrol officers of the seven counties in Zhangzhou Prefecture locked the registration form and the collected money into a box, which was to be brought to the prefectural city tomorrow to hand in.

On the morning of the eighth day of the eighth day, Chu Ci came to the big meeting room and ordered people to boil water and prepare tools for making tea. Once someone came, they would make a cup of hot tea to greet them.

At exactly the right time, all the sub-inspectors and other officials from the Education Department arrived.Chu Ci looked at the seven boxes opened in front of him, with a satisfied light in his eyes.It's not that he is open to money, but that the money represents the self-motivation of the students in Zhangzhou Prefecture.

When Chu Ci had this idea just now, he struggled a lot about whether to accept the cash.It’s not that the Department of Education can’t afford the money, it’s just that the mock exam requires a lot of manpower and material resources. If it’s not properly managed, the people below will be afraid of resentment. Occasionally, the subsidy can be afforded once or twice, but if you want to develop in the long run, it’s very difficult. Not good.

After much consideration, Chu Ci decided to charge.Two taels of silver is not much for a person who has already achieved the fame of a scholar, but after the money is collected, it will be of great effect.

Leaving aside the need for manpower to set up the examination rooms in various places, let’s talk about the process of producing test papers, printing, proctoring, and correcting test papers. Which one does not require money?For the originally leisurely Tixue Division, these are all extra tasks. If they are not given overtime wages that match the intensity of their work, it will not be so easy for them to do things next time.And even if they are forced to do it, they can only get a perfunctory result.

Chu Ci ordered Zhou Qing, Wang Ming and others to settle the accounts together. Wang Ming reported the number of applicants with the number, while Zhou Qing and his men weighed the money collected.The final result was that a total of 860 people in the entire Zhangzhou Prefecture signed up for the mock exam, and a total of 730 taels of registration fee was collected.

A few of the patrol officers sitting below looked at the actions above, and felt very lucky in their hearts that they didn't reach out their hands here, otherwise, if they calculated how much money they lost on the spot, wouldn't it be embarrassing?They Tixue adults, they are really careful in doing things!

"My lords, this silver is stored here first. Later, I will work with Mr. Zhou to calculate the silver taels needed for various tasks. When the time comes, you can come and withdraw it, and sign your name after you take it. "

The patrolmen below looked at each other in blank dismay. What does Master Chu mean, each item has a fixed amount of silver, and they must use this amount of silver to get things done?For the officials who had small plans in their hearts, this was not good news, but some of the quick-witted ones discovered that Mr. Chu wanted to pass the money to them through Minglu.

Why do you say that?Because if they are asked to post the money first and then reimburse the account, once they are found out, it will be embezzlement of public funds.But if there is a prescribed amount for each item of expenditure, it is tantamount to clearing the way. As long as they can get things done with the least amount of money, isn't the remaining money theirs?

Chu Ci really thought the same way. When the water is clear, there will be no fish. In this officialdom, no one's hands are completely clean.But as long as their greedy money is within the tolerable range, Chu Ci will not do anything to them.To put it another way, this is actually a test of their ability to handle affairs. Whoever has better means will get more.Of course, the premise is that they will not harm the interests of the common people, otherwise, the complaint box at the door will definitely teach them to be human, and the key to that thing can be found in Chuci.

After postponing the matter of Yin Zi, Chu Ci began to talk about the examination room again.He set up a total of seven examination rooms, which are actually the school halls in various counties, where there are examination number rooms similar to those of the rural examinations, and only by sitting in them can one truly experience the sense of urgency of being in the examination room.

He wrote the seven examination room numbers from one to seven, and then asked the patrol officers of each county to draw lots. Whatever number they drew, the school hall in their county would be the examination room number.After drawing this, Chu Ci numbered the question types required for the township examination and asked them to draw lots. Whoever got the question type was responsible for a few of these questions.When formulating a question, you can discuss it with the head of the local school and the masters, or you can solve it yourself.It needs to be submitted after two days. Once adopted, the person who made the question will get a reward.But the most important point is that no leaks are allowed.

Chu Ci was afraid that some people would not listen to him, so he emphasized it again: "The results of the mock test are not meaningful, they are only used for investigation, so that students can have a clear understanding of themselves. It’s not helpful to him. Please don’t do such a thing that harms others and yourself. Once found out, I will never forgive you!” His tone was low and tough, and the sub-inspectors below listened. , all of them promised that "the lower officials will remember the entrustment of adults".

After talking about the most urgent matter at present, Chu Ci asked them to rest here for a while, and sent someone to bring refreshments so that they could fill their stomachs first.Together with Mr. Zhou who is in charge of finances, Chu Ci discussed and distributed every money spent.

About half an hour later, the sub-road patrols who had rested enough saw their masters coming over to roll out the silver taels one by one.

Holding the heavy money bag in their hands, even though the officials knew that the money in it might have nothing to do with them, they were still in high spirits.After all, things like silver can make people feel happy just by looking at them.