The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde carefully checked the test papers. This time, he actually had five questions on classics, history, and current affairs. They were completely different from the questions Wei Guangde had taken in previous exams. This required him to improvise on the spot.

More than half a month ago, Wei Guangde and his eleven classmates took two boats dispatched by the Wei Institute to Nanchang City to participate in this year's rural examination.

The rural examination is held in three sessions. The first session tests the three meanings of the "Four Books" and the four meanings of the "Five Classics". Each question is more than 300 words. It actually tests the candidates' basic skills.

The content of the second exam is one "Lun" and five "Judgments": one from the imperial edict, the imperial edict, the table, and the internal medicine. This is actually to test whether the candidates have the basic conditions to be an official.

The questions of the third exam were changed again, and the five subjects were changed to classics, history, and current affairs policy, which can be regarded as the candidates' opinions on Anbang and Dingguo.

In order to prevent cheating, the atmosphere in the township examination room was very tense.

Candidates enter the venue at dawn and are not allowed to bring anything else except their own pens, ink, inkstones, and twelve pieces each of cursive scrolls and main scrolls.

A patrol inspector led people to search the candidates one by one, from their hair, clothes to shoes. If any inclusions were found, they would be immediately expelled from the examination room and their qualifications for the examination would be cancelled.

Another point that is different from the previous exams is that the three exams of the provincial examination are not passed. All candidates who take the provincial examination must take the entire exam. If they take one less exam, they will be deemed to have given up on the exam.

Before coming here, Wei Guangde was still a little worried. After all, many of the things he learned in this exam were crammed into Jiujiang Mansion.

But when he met Zeng Yuanshu in Nanchang City and learned the details of the provincial examination, he relaxed a little.

The examiner of this provincial examination is the same as the examiner of the previous college examination, the provincial academic officer.

The examiner of the rural examination, at this time, was actually selected by the three parties: the Chief Envoy, the Inspector Envoy, and the Patrol Inspector, instead of Wei Guangde having previously thought that Beijing officials or even Hanlin officials would be sent directly from the capital to invigilate the examination.

According to Zeng Yuan's account, there seemed to be a precedent of sending officials from the capital to various provinces to invigilate the provincial examinations in the early years. However, they were canceled by the court after only two visits. It was said that it was related to etiquette disputes with the invigilators.

But no matter who invigilates the examination, Wei Guangde can only go on one test at a time, and the exam he is taking now is the third and last test of the provincial examination.

At this time, the draft had already been thrown aside by Wei Guangde. He was now focusing on checking the main paper, which was the answer sheet. This answer sheet was not ordinary, and was slightly different from the previous answer sheets.

The paper must first write the candidate's name, year, place of birth, names of three generations and the classics. The paper must be printed and placed in a book at the Jiangxi Chief Envoy's Department, with a seal attached on the seam, and the name of the official who printed the paper printed on a long strip. Printed at the end of the volume.

This has many more marks than the grid test papers that Wei Guangde got before, and it also shows that the provincial examination is extraordinary and far from comparable to the previous examinations.

In fact, for Wei Guangde, these are secondary. His main concern is that this exam will be taken in the whole province. In the past six months, he has heard more than once about the greatness of the candidates from Nanchang Prefecture and Ji'an Prefecture. .

Yes, although he was still very confident in himself, at this time, he had to worry that he would not be able to pass the exams of the candidates from those two places.

Thinking about it, this was probably one of the reasons why Zeng Yuanshu wanted to study in Nanchang Mansion.

When he arrived in Nanchang City, Wei Guangde did not settle down to prepare for the exam. He was handed over by Zhu Shilong and Prince Zhu to have banquets all day long.

And Zhu Shilong's pomp was also grand. He not only invited candidates from Jiujiang Prefecture, but also candidates from all prefectures. Whenever they met, he invited them to join him for a banquet. It was very embarrassing before this provincial examination.

During the banquet, Wei Guangde contacted candidates from various prefectures, and through communication he also learned some information about the candidates for this provincial examination.

The passing rate of this provincial examination was not high. Nearly two thousand talents participated in the competition to compete for the 95 places.

This was nothing. What shocked Wei Guangde the most was that at the banquet, Wei Guangde also heard that many "heroes of the time" did not come to Nanchang to participate in the provincial examination.

There was a man named Sun Pu from the Sun family in Fengcheng who did not return to Jiangxi to take the provincial examination. It is said that because his father was an official in Nanjing, he directly participated in the provincial examination in Yingtianfu. There were only 135 places for admission.

Well, the person who said this was a student from Nanchang Prefecture, and a student from Ji'an Prefecture next to him immediately said that there were many similar candidates in Ji'an Prefecture.

Wang Ning, a scholar from Anfu County, Ji'an Prefecture, was similar to Sun Pu. He went to Huguang with his father, who was an official, and also participated in the provincial examination in Huguang.

Wei Guangde sat on the side and opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.

It seems that the fight has started again. You guys from Nanchang Prefecture saw that Yingtian Prefecture had more quotas for candidates, so you ran there to take the local provincial examination, while those from Ji'an Prefecture took the exam in Huguang. The quota in Huguang is the same as in Jiangxi. It is also a major province for imperial examinations.

Well, what else could Wei Guangde say? He immediately raised his hands and said to the two men: "When the two scholars return to Ganxi, they must introduce them to Guangde."

"Easy to say, easy to say."

Both of them agreed in the name of haha.

The provincial examination in Jiangxi is so scary that the talented people in their eyes have gone to other provinces to grab the quota for the provincial examination. This shows that the competition in Jiangxi's provincial examination is fierce.

Rubbing his swollen temples, Wei Guangde finished checking the essay he had written and was almost ready to hand it in.

Although there are three consecutive rural examinations, the time for the first examination is the tightest. The next two examinations are much better, at least the time is not so tight.

However, at this moment, Wei Guangde was still a little exhausted from taking three consecutive exams. If it were not for his identity as a time traveler, Wei Guangde felt that there was really no need for him to take the exam, and there was really little hope.

So far, Wei Guangde is still confident about his provincial examination.

Without him, it was really smooth to pass the exam, and he was worthy of his status as a time traveler.

With the end of the rural examination, Wei Guangde walked out of the gate of Nanchang Gongyuan along with the candidates who left the examination shed one after another. This rural examination was completely completed.

At the agreed place outside Gongyuan, their classmates from Nanchang Fu School gathered together, and then left Gongyuan and returned to the inn where they were staying.

Although the weather is sweltering, soaking in a bathtub filled with hot water to sweat away can relax your tired body and mind.

In the following days, all the candidates who came to Nanchang City had no intention of going out for sightseeing or visiting friends. Most of them chose to stay quietly in the inn and wait for the results of the provincial examination.

From the Ming Dynasty to the present, there has been a mature set of procedures for the college examination and the provincial examination. However, there has never been a fixed time for releasing the results. It is very random and completely depends on the work progress of the examiners in Gongyuan. arrange.

However, the provincial examination is a very important examination after all. The list of provincial examinations in each province must be reported to the emperor in the capital for his inspection. Naturally, they are extra careful, so it takes longer to grade the papers.

More than ten days have passed in a flash, and time has quietly entered September.