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Five days later, the highly anticipated public recruitment of scholars finally kicked off in Jingzhou. This exam included a total of 105,000 scholars, from all counties all over the world, and even from Liaodong. Although only one person could be admitted out of twenty people, only one person could pass the second official exam, it still aroused the enthusiasm of the scholars, and everyone had hope for themselves.

This was so rare and commendable in the Han Dynasty, where family status and reputation were used as the criteria for selecting officials. It was so rare and valuable. Every taxi who took the exam treated this opportunity with the greatest enthusiasm and rigorous attitude.

There is no place in Xiangyang that can accommodate 100,000 people to refer to at the same time. In addition to the academy and the library, even the government officials of the prefecture yamen also used it. In addition, several large sword halls and academies were temporarily requisitioned by the government as examination rooms.

In fact, in the Han Dynasty, paper was far from popular and very expensive. Most books were still bamboo slips, which led to a very narrow spread of transformation. Most of them were centered on the gentry of various counties, including brothers from aristocratic families and scholars who depended on the gentry. This also led to the uneven quality of reference scholars. Many scholars even came to take the exam after only reading a few volumes of the Analects.

This is completely different from the fact that more than 100,000 people took the imperial examinations in the Tang and Song dynasties.

This time, nine younger brothers came to the Cui family to take the exam, but most of them came at their own expense. Cui Si was the only taxi who came to the exam on behalf of the family. He was the nephew of Cui Zhouping and the direct brother of the Cui family. This time, he came to Jingzhou to look for opportunities with the family's trust.

Before leaving, the head of the family and several elders of the family talked with him earnestly, and it still echoed in his mind. Liu Jing's strong rise had already vaguely competed with Cao Cao.

More importantly, Liu Jing is a direct royal family. If he seizes the world, the Han Dynasty will inevitably revival. So whether the Cui family can gain its due status in the revival of the Han Dynasty that is likely to come is a major event that the Cui family must face.

Against this background, Choi Si represented the Choi family in this exam, and he was bound to win.

Before dawn, Cui Si went out. He was at the home court of Jingzhou Academy. He was less than a mile away from the inn where he stayed. Although it was not yet dawn, the street was filled with taxis for Jingzhou Academy. Many of the taxis were carrying lanterns, and the stars were dotted, which shone with the sky, making it particularly spectacular.

"Brother Zhaoyuan"

As soon as Cui Si walked to the front of the gate, he heard someone calling him behind him. When he turned around, Xun Zhi ran quickly with a bookcase on his back. A young man was following him. The two of them ran forward. Xun Zhi smiled and said, "I just went to your inn and asked, and I said that you just left, and I chased him."

Choi Si apologized and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know if my brother will come."

"It's okay, I'm just passing by the inn."

At this time, Cui Si nodded to the taxi next to him again. The soldier was also present when they were drinking together that day, but Cui Si forgot his name. The young soldier smiled and said, "I am Deng Hong, Nanyang, do you still remember Brother Cui?"

Cui Si slapped her forehead and smiled, "Yes, you are Deng Chong. I remembered it. A guy who is very good at drinking."

The people laughed together. At this time, the dull bell sound came from afar. This was to inform the soldiers to enter the examination room. When the people met, Cui Si and Deng Hong were both in the examination room B, while Xun Zhi was in the examination room Ding. Xun Zhi bowed and smiled, "Then I will say goodbye to the two brothers first. We will have a party to have a drink at noon, so let's meet at Zhaoyuan's inn."

"No problem"

Choi Si bowed and said, "I wish my brother a smooth exam first, and the top high school list." "Everyone passed the exam with each other."

Xun Zhi smiled and went to the Ding exam room ahead. Cui Si and Deng Hong walked into the B exam room together.

The examination room was in a hall that could accommodate thousands of people. There were thousands of small tables and a mat. Each person sent a piece of paper and brought his own pen and ink.

In addition, there is a bamboo basket next to the table, with a bucket of rice, a Chu money, and a thick hemp blanket. This is the fee and souvenir for each candidate to return home from Jingzhou. The hemp blanket comes from Hanzhong, and there are hundreds of thousands of hemp blankets in the Nanzheng warehouse, which is just a souvenir for the scholars.

There were whispers in the examination room, and the soldiers were rumbling through the basket excitedly. Even if they failed the exam, they did not come in vain and went back with some gains.

At this time, an examiner shouted loudly on the platform: "Please be quiet for everyone."

The scholars were quiet, and the hall of thousands of people was silent. The examiner shouted loudly: "The basket beside everyone is the return fee given to everyone by Liu Zhoumu. The blanket can be used to mat or cover in winter. It is very practical. It is Liu Zhoumu's intention. Thank you for coming to Jingzhou for taking the exam."

At this time, the soldiers burst into applause, the examiner waved his hand, and calmed everyone down. He continued: "About today's exam, there are five questions in total. I will announce the questions, which involves the Analects of Confucius, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Great, Guan and Han Fei. The test is real, but there is only one piece of paper. Everyone should use it for ease. After filling in the name, hometown and exam, use the note next to it to paste it, be careful not to have any problems. If the name is leaked, it will be invalid."

The examiner's words burst into thunder in everyone's heart. It was not a question of being a name, but the books involved, the Analects of Confucius, the doctrine of the mean and the great, belonging to the category of the Four Books, and there is no big problem.

The key is that the last two books, Guan and Han Fei, made many people feel overwhelmed, especially Guan, which is very remote and many people have never read them. Unexpectedly, they became one of the five questions in the exam.

"Everyone is quiet. I will announce the first question below. Please listen carefully. I will only say it all in total."

............

The exam was only half a day, and at noon, the soldiers came out of the examination room one after another. Everyone looked solemn and walked in a hurry, and seemed to be in a heavy mood. Obviously, the exam questions were much more difficult than they thought, and many candidates had decided to go back to pack their luggage and return home.

There is really a big gap in the level of scholars. Some people are rich in five cars, while others only read a few books and then claim to be scholars to take the exam.

"Brother Cui, how did you do in the exam?" Xun Zhi couldn't wait to ask.

"I think it's pretty good, at least I've answered it. As for whether it fits the examiner's appetite, I don't know how good my brother did in the exam."

Xun Zhi laughed, "I think it's very good. Actually, I know that Liu Jing also admires the Legalists, so I specially studied several books of the Legalists repeatedly. Unexpectedly, I really got the exam for Guan and Han Fei, and I'm very glad."

At this time, Deng Hong sighed, "I answered all the previous questions very well, but unfortunately, I can't remember them completely and haven't finished them. I guess I will fail the exam."

Cui Si patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I know what you know. You will definitely achieve in Jingzhou."

Xun Zhi was still excited and shouted: "Don't think about it after the exam. Let's cross the river to Fancheng to drink."

"Drinking and drinking" people laughed together, walked out of the inn, hired a mule cart, and drove towards Fancheng on the other side of the Han River.

...........

The first round of examinations is just a college entrance examination. Those who pass the examination can go to Jingzhou Academy and Yizhou Academy to enjoy the government’s money and food subsidies, and also support their families. This alone makes scholars from all over the world flock to them.

As for the second round of official exams, since there are not many candidates, this is undoubtedly a car for the huge number of candidates. Many candidates do not expect to pass the official exam. They are all waiting for the first round of the results in ten days.

After the academy exam, wealthy candidates went to Jingzhou to visit each other, but some of the aristocratic families with clear goals were still studying the works of the Legalists to prepare for the second round of the official exam.

In a flash, eight days passed, and there were only two days left before the first round of the release. Liu Jing and dozens of senior officials of the General's Mansion were discussing the final release list.

"Jiang joined the army, please tell everyone about the situation first." Liu Jing said to Jiang Wan with a smile.

Jiang Wan nodded and said to everyone: "There were 105,480 candidates in this exam, and there were 8,55 copies of the scrapped papers. The main ones were all misnamed. Some were not fooled, resulting in the leak of names, while others were closely misnamed and stuck with names. The other nearly 100,000 candidates had a big gap. Nearly 20,000 candidates only answered one question in the Analects of Confucius. Less than 10,000 people answered four questions, and only more than 2,000 people answered five questions. The main one question stumped most candidates."

Liu Jing frowned and said, "There are actually eight thousand scraps."

"It's the first time that many people take the name exam, so there are many problems. According to regulations, those who open their names must be invalidated."

Liu Jing didn't say anything else, and turned to ask Fei Guan and said, "I don't know how many scholars the academy in Bashu can accept."

The General Cavalry Office was not only the former senior officials of Jingzhou, but also appointed many people from Yizhou, such as Dong He, Fei Guan, Fei Yi, Yin Jing, Liu Ba, Li Hui, Peng Yi and others. Dong He served as the post of Sima. This is the number one senior official second only to the military advisor and the chief secretary. He is in charge of the prison laws of Jingzhou and Yizhou. This is also Liu Jing's favourite with Dong He.

Fei Guan served as the post of Zhizhong and also served as a Yizhou Bianjia. Yizhou government belongs to his jurisdiction. Fei Guan stood up and said, "In addition to Yizhou Academy, each county also has its own county. In the past, they recruited Bashu brothers, but now they can also recruit students from other states. I have estimated that they can recruit about a thousand, but I have a saying to me."

"Just say it bluntly"

Fei Guan said slowly: "Recruiting five or six thousand men to study in the academy and providing them with money and food is undoubtedly to support them. This seems a bit unfair. I hope they can do some things and cannot be idle. The whole family relies on the government to support them."

There was a lot of discussion in the lobby, and most people agreed with Fei Guan’s opinion. The huge amount of money and food consumed by five or six thousand people a year was a heavy burden on the government, and everyone asked for reform.
Chapter completed!