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The Great Zhou Dynasty's imperial examination was first set in February, and later several changes were scheduled to be held in mid-March.

Unlike the provincial and provincial exams, there are more questions in the conference exams. There are three exams in total, each for three days. The entire conference exam is nine days in total. The same as the conference exams is that these three exams also test the classics, poetry, and question questions. The exam time is set at fifteen, eighteen and twenty-one days respectively.

Each exam takes three days. Similarly, once you enter the examination room, it will take at least two days before you can hand in the paper and leave.

There is no doubt that although the imperial examination is not in the "two lists", it is the most difficult and fiercest level of competition in the entire imperial examination.

The first test was held on March 15th, before the hour of Mao, at this time, the sky was not bright at all. Fortunately, March is generally the best time of the year, and it is neither rainy nor too cold.

The square in front of the Gongyuan was densely packed with scholars from all over the world, with a total of as many as 6,000. Like Ningjiang, there are very few people under the age of 20. Similarly, there are almost no white-haired people who can be seen during the Mansion and Prefecture tests. Occasionally, there are a few, and they are often scholarly families with excellent family backgrounds.

Just because students from poor families, even if they are confident in themselves, they usually can't stand it until they are 40 or 50 years old. They often have to hand over a sign to the Ministry of Personnel, saying that they have given up the imperial examination and finally replaced them in remote areas of poor villages and become county magistrates, county magistrates, and school officials. Some of them have a relationship behind them and can be arranged to the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River or relatively wealthy county towns.

Although wealthy people, although they have not been successful for many years, they are unwilling to go to other prefectures to be small local officials of eighth-rank rank and ninth-rank rank. After reaching a certain age, they feel that they have no hope, so they just honestly become local gentry in their hometown. Generally, magistrates, county magistrates, etc. transferred from other provinces do not dare to offend them easily.

In addition to the true scholarly family, the classics and scholars will never give up even when they are fifty or sixty years old.

In the crowd, Ning Jiang raised his head and looked at the stars in the sky that gradually became dim. At this moment, the stars began to retreat, but the dawn had not yet appeared. It was the darkest time before dawn. Around the square, on the iron pots raised high, fire rose, pouring out crisscrossing shadows from the people around him.

In the past few days, Xiao Meng, as the female guard at the Princess Luanmei's mansion, temporarily moved into the Princess' mansion so that her brother could avoid worries at this important moment. Qin Wuyan also followed her in. Behind Ning Jiang, only Qin Xiaoyaer was carrying Qin Xiaoyaer, who tied her breasts and wore green clothes, and looked like an ordinary little maid of eight or nine years old.

Outside the square, soldiers were arranged in a row, and every test was directly sent to maintain order. On the many watchtowers around the Gongyuan, there were Baidao masters sent by the Sanfa Office, which not only prevented the juren from cheating in the exam, but also to prevent someone from coming to cause trouble... Of course, those who dared to go to the Gongyuan during the exam were really impatient to live. As for cheating, once they were caught, they would be directly sent to prison.

The walls of Gongyuan are towering and the environment is gloomy. When it was built, it gave people a sense of majesty. The authority of the court was divergent, making thousands of students unable to speak. The hour of Mao was approaching, and with a sudden burst of bang, the door opened, and there was a sense of divine power. The flames around were swelling and further rose, and the whole audience was quiet, and no one dared to say anything.

This time, there were no boys and girls. Only officials, who were called in the courtyard, respectfully entered the school, presented documents, and several people came up to verify their true colors and found out that they were inseparable. Entering the main hall, worshipped in front of the statue of Confucius, received a number in front of the examiner, and then being held by two soldiers like prisoners, passing through the archway of "Gu Tian Kailuo" and entering the two gates. There was a monument on each side, engraving "Ming Jing Ju Sect to Recruit the Scholars" and engraving "Recruiting the Sages for the Country".

When entering the dragon gate, two other soldiers accepted it. They secretly took the number they received by the candidates and took it into their respective examination booths like hijacking prisoners.

There are more than 9,000 examination halls in the tribute courtyard, and there are thorns between the examination halls. These more than 9,000 examination halls are arranged according to the "Thousand Characters" and there is a watchtower in the center. The surveillance officers sent by the Ministry of Justice look down from a high place. There are also many watchtowers scattered around them. Each tower is guarding the Baidao masters sent by the Three Laws and Laws. They not only monitor the movements of the candidates, but also monitor each other, and no fraud is allowed.

After more than 6,000 students all entered the venue, it was already dawn. Ningjiang was arranged to Room No. 7 of the word "Wii".

Sitting cross-legged in the examination room, the sun shining on the ground outside, and the thorns on both sides were like needles. Of course, the entire examination room was locked, and a wooden barrel was placed outside the wooden fence. Ningjiang came to the edge of the wooden fence and looked up to the height, and could only see a clear sky. The clear sky was filled with white clouds. A gong sounded from afar, and several teams of soldiers were shuttled between the examination room, escorting clerks sent by the Ministry of Rites to distribute the test papers.

With a bang, a paper tube was also thrown into the barrel outside the wooden railing of the seventh room. Ning Jiang reached out to pass through the railing, took the paper tube in, then turned around, returned to the square low table step by step, sat upright, and poured out the two test papers inside.

On the first test paper, there are ten sub-questions, the first of which is written as a sentence in "Spring and Autumn Annals": "The first month of the spring of the king, the king ascended the throne."

Ning Jiang shook his head...Okay, this is another "slight meaning"!

"In the first month of the spring king in the first year, the Duke ascended the throne"... In fact, this short sentence is nothing more than the first year of Lu Yin Gong in the Spring and Autumn Period. When Duke Yin Gong ascended the throne, he was simply "time" and "events". It is probably similar to what someone did in a certain year, month, and day in a certain history books.

However, before Confucius, the original words recorded by the historian of Lu State were written as "The first month of the first year of the spring and the Duke ascended the throne." Later, Confucius wrote the pen to the Spring and Autumn Period and added the word "king". So why did the Saint Confucius add the word "king"? To explain this issue, he must mention the "Gongyang Zhuan", and then extend the various "righteousness" that Confucius himself had not thought of.

There are at least six of the ten topics that are such "subtle and profound", and the remaining four are deliberately used to make things difficult for others, and the strange problems in the Four Books and Five Classics. Fortunately, anyone who is interested in the imperial examination has already prepared for such topics and has nothing to say.

The second paper has only one title, which is a historical theory, which says "Duke Xian of Jin killed the prince Shensheng". Duke Xian of Jin listened to the slander of his concubine Li Ji and wanted to kill his son Shensheng. The young master Chong'er told Shensheng why you didn't explain? Shensheng said that his father favored Li Ji, and he would be uneasy without Li Ji's company. If I expose Li Ji's conspiracy, it would hurt my father's heart. It was for unfiliality, so I committed suicide...

If you write according to the truth, Ningjiang would like to write two big characters, one is "S" and the other is "B". However, this is the way of loyalty and filial piety that Confucianism has always advocated. The so-called "a king must die if his minister dies, and a father must die if his son dies, and a son must die if his son dies." Unless he really doesn't want to pass the exam, he can only write with the words "loyalty" and "filial piety".

Fortunately, because this topic is too orthodox, it is impossible for someone to break the topic... Of course, no one dares to break the topic. Since everyone can only write "loyalty" and "filial piety", what is really competing is actually the gorgeous words and the ability to quote classics, and Ning Jiang did not worry too much about this...

***

With a "bang", a stone flew out on the lake, causing six splashes of water. Six circles of ripples spread out, intersecting each other on the mirror-like water surface.

By the lake, the girl wearing a honey-colored chest-like skirt and a sword-wielding her waist jumped up excitedly. On the other side, Princess Luanmei looked at the innocent girl with a smile, and then someone brought a piano to her. She played the piano by the lake, and the sound of the piano was melodiously spreading.

When they arrived at night, the two leaned against the pavilion and talked and chatted. The girl told many interesting stories about her childhood with her brother. They were originally stories from small counties, but the eldest princess who had not left the capital in the past was also listened with relish.

The next morning, when the eldest princess got up in her clothes, she came to the garden. The girl was already practicing sword in the garden. The flowers and butterflies in the garden seemed to be attracted by her. She danced with a graceful beauty. The eldest princess looked at it with a smile, feeling that the sword dance reached such a level, which could be described as superb.

In the afternoon, the two sat together in the pavilion, basking in the spring of March. The girl thought, I wonder what my brother is now. The eldest princess also thought about the boy, and then thought, if he really passed the two levels of the imperial examination and the palace examination, would the mother really betrothed him? Then she blushed inexplicably...

***

During the first examination, Ning Jiang stayed in the Gongyuan for two days, and on the third day, he came out early in the morning.

After coming out, Qin Xiaoyaer came over and accompanied the master out of the inner city and returned to the house by the Ranshui River. At this time, there were only two of them in the house, which seemed a little deserted. During the past two days in the Gongyuan, he had basically eaten dry food. Although Ningjiang was not particular, he still took Xiaoyaer to a nearby restaurant to have a meat meal.

In the evening, they ordered takeout. The main reason for ordering takeout was that Qin Wuyan, who took care of their daily life these days, was not here, and Xiao Ya'er couldn't get it.

Since tomorrow is the second test, we will also arrive at the Gongyuan before dawn. Ning Jiang went to bed very early. Then, that night, he had a dream, dreamed of Qimeng and his sister.

At midnight, before Xiao Ya came to call him, he woke up by himself.

I cooked some noodles at home, and after eating, I went to the inner city. When I arrived in front of the tribute courtyard, I saw that Sun Shan was coming earlier than him, so I greeted him and asked him how he did the previous exam?

Sun Shan whispered: "Thank you... Brother Ning's care... I feel... it's okay!"

Ning Jiang nodded and looked to the other side. He saw Lu Zhiyuan standing there silently, and also saw Lu Zhiyuan's sister Lu Xifu. For Lu Xifu, whether she can be promoted to the Zheng family in the future depends largely on her brother's fame, so he was naturally quite nervous.

The gate of the Gongyuan was also opened at the hour of Mao. This time, Ningjiang was assigned the second examination room with the character "Jie".

After getting the test paper, it opened. This time, the test was poetry and fu, but, unlike in the past, most of the time, the test was a poem and a poem. But this time, I only wrote one poem, and the style of poetry was actually "Chu Ci". It seems that I planned to completely widen the gap between the candidates through poetry and fu.

The Chu Ci style is also called "Sao style", because the first person to create this kind of poetry was Qu Yuan, a poet from the Chu State, and the later Chu Ci was written imitating Qu Yuan's "Li Sao".

Of course, for Ning Jiang, as a time traveler, he has many excellent works in another world that can be used for generations. Although he can only use them, limited to genre and rhyme and cannot directly copy them, it is already a major advantage after all.

He spent a whole day reviewing the topic, and finally, from another world, a poet named Cao Zhi, he chose a poem for use. Because there is no Cao Zhi in this world, there is naturally no need to worry about being discovered, imitated or borrowed.

There is only one stone in the world, and Cao Zijian is the only one. As long as he has made great efforts in the rhythm and rhyme books, poetry and essays are probably the least worrying thing for time travelers. Ning Jiang even remembers that in another world, he once saw someone commenting on the protagonists in the online article who only knew how to copy poems after time traveling, saying that they... have no technical content at all!

***

"I don't let the years go by, my heart is tired of waiting, my world follows you to the far end of the world; the lights in front of the window are quietly extinguished at this moment, and my heart gently polishes your face like water. Your smile is still sweet as before, and your news is my treasured attachment..."

At the eldest princess's house, a girl sang a song softly. After she finished singing, the eldest princess in the flying phoenix bun and colorful shiny clothes asked in confusion: "This song... is so weird, and it is unheard of whether it is the lyrics or the tune."

The girl said, "This is what my brother sang, and he said he sang it blindly."

The eldest princess said: "Since your brother can write amazing works such as "The sky connects clouds and fogs" according to the lyrics of the December Drums, he is definitely not a person who is not good at music. How could he sing it blindly? This song must have a profound meaning, and I will study it for my good life!"
Chapter completed!