The fourth day of September is auspicious.

The sky is still dark, and the air reveals the cold wave of autumn, but half of the city has already woken up. The lights are on in every house, and occasionally there is a strong knock on the door.

The rural examination is an opportunity to truly leap over the dragon's gate. If you cross this threshold, you will make a leap from civilian to official, and become a gentry class in the Ming Dynasty. From then on, you will have no worries about food and clothing.

The number of candidates in Guangdong is only 75, but the reference number is as high as 2,000. It can be said that thousands of troops are competing to cross the single-plank bridge. If you advance, you will be prosperous and rich, but if you retreat, you will have to study hard for three years.

No one is willing to wait for another three years, even if it is only a wasted year because it is Enke this year, no one is willing to wait. Everyone wants to jump over this dragon gate in one fell swoop.

Lin Haoran went to bed very early last night, but because of nervousness, he fell asleep very late. However, Huniu slept soundly and woke him up on time at the last moment.

Ah Qi brought a basin of hot water and asked Lin Haoran to wash his face. This simple man stood aside nervously. If the nineteenth uncle in front of him is successful, he will become an official and the leader of Changlin Village.

A great honor.

After washing his face, Lin Haoran dressed carefully. He was wearing a black Confucian scarf, a blue student uniform, foundation soap boots, and a belt. He was neatly dressed.

After Huniu was busy in the kitchen, she brought the prepared breakfast to the lobby of the restaurant. Today's breakfast was very simple, just a bowl of fragrant white porridge, pickles, and a few boiled eggs.

Wu Daoxing also got up early. While Lin Haoran was eating porridge, he took out a Taoist talisman and said: "There are too many evil spirits in Gongyuan. This year, Enke has been temporarily added. It is inevitable that evil spirits will cause trouble. This can make you

Avoid evil!"

Lin Haoran raised his head and glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, then accepted the talisman, and then said to him: "Please help me tell your fortune!"

"The land guarded by Wenquxing cannot be counted!" Wu Daoxing waved his hands flatly.

Lin Haoran did not force it. Seeing Hu Niu eating deliciously, he handed her the peeled eggs and asked curiously: "Why are you wearing this outfit again? Wasn't the collar dirty yesterday?"

"You have to wear it even if it's dirty! I wore this suit last time, and you got first place! It will definitely be the same this time!" Huniu took the egg, raised her face and looked at him with some pride and said.

Lin Haoran smiled helplessly, continued to peel eggs, and followed Huniu to enjoy breakfast.

The two had just finished breakfast when they heard a knock on the door. Ah Qi went out and came back, saying that Zhao Dongcheng's carriage was waiting outside the door.

Several people picked up their examination equipment and headed out with their things.

Zhao Dongcheng's complexion was not good. He must have not slept well last night, and his fair face looked very haggard. However, he maintained the image of a modest gentleman, greeted Lin Haoran respectfully, and took the initiative to give up his seat.

The words "Guangzhou Gongyuan" are hung in front of the carriage. Today's Guangzhou city is extraordinary. The whole city is under martial law. Carriage without this style of lantern is not allowed to go on the street.

When I arrived at Gongyuan in Guangzhou, my genius was bright.

Ah Qi helped move the things down, but when he was about to go inside, he was stopped. Each person could only bring one person in to help the candidates carry their luggage, but Huniu took the initiative to take over the job.

Huniu was actually very strong, but Lin Haoran took the initiative to take most of the heavy objects and only asked her to help carry an exam basket.

Huniu was more familiar with the square in front of Gongyuan than Lin Haoran, so she immediately took the lead and led the way. This was because this was actually a place where stalls were held. She had been here several times before and bought a lot of things.

There is a magnificent archway on the left and right sides of the square. The archway on the right is "Tengjiao", and the archway on the left is "Qifeng". There is also an archway in front of the gate of Gongyuan with the words "Tiankaiwenyun".

In front of the gate of Gongyuan, a gate has been built, but there are soldiers guarding it, and the candidates are blocked outside. A large group of candidates are standing here waiting for the provincial examination to begin.

As soon as Mao hour arrived, three cannons were fired in front of the Guangzhou Gongyuan, and then three more.

Zhi...

The gate of Gongyuan, which had been closed for two years, slowly opened, and the Enke Township Examination in the 36th year of Jiajing began.

"When the benevolent ghosts enter, they will repay kindness; when the resentful ghosts enter, they will repay hatred."

But I saw two groups of soldiers, one holding red flags and the other holding black flags, shouting loudly outside the camp gate.

The extremely nervous candidates in front of the camp gate couldn't help but look at each other, wondering which song these soldiers were singing and why they were performing such a great dance here.

An old candidate explained: "This is to summon ghosts! The ghosts of gratitude will hide under the red flag and follow them in, while the ghosts of resentment will hide under the black flag and follow them in, so people should do more good deeds and not do evil!"

Ouch!

When someone heard these words, they immediately took a breath of air-conditioning. Even the examinee who had no evil deeds could not help but feel chills at this time, as if he was really afraid that evil spirits would haunt him.

Lin Haoran looked inside the gate of Gongyuan and felt the gloomy wind. He couldn't help but reach out and touch the talisman.

At this time, the examiner Yin Tai, accompanied by several fellow examiners, appeared at the gate of Gongyuan and began to lecture the candidates in the square. First, he said some clichés to thank the emperor for his great kindness, and then warned everyone about the consequences of cheating.

The camp gate would no longer allow helpers to come in. Huniu was blocked outside. Lin Haoran followed the crowd into the gate and lined up in the long aisle for inspection.

"Oops! What are you doing! I just want to go in and accompany my brother. I'm so young and there's no way I can cheat!"

When Lin Haoran passed the ceremony gate and lined up to be inspected, he suddenly heard a very familiar voice. When he looked back, he suddenly broke into a sweat. He saw that Huniu had been caught trying to sneak in. This girl actually

I plan to sneak in and take the exam with him.

At dawn it was finally his turn to conduct the search.

Compared with the children's examination, the rural examination is more stringent in preventing cheating and has dedicated inspectors.

Faced with this opportunity to "leap over the dragon's gate", many students still cannot withstand the temptation and thus take desperate risks, such as carrying cheat sheets.

The search and inspection personnel are no longer held by local officials from the local government, but are handed over to the military, commonly known as the "inspection army." They are often experienced veteran oil soldiers, who can spot everything with just their eyes.

You can catch people out.

They hold small hammers in their hands and tap each item to see if it is hollow. Their seriousness is like a master appraisal. They will also cut open the rice balls and pastries to check.

Suddenly there was a commotion in the team next to him. A search officer yelled a few words, but he saw a middle-aged scholar kneeling down and begging for mercy. However, several soldiers wearing armors walked over and grabbed the middle-aged scholar.

The scholar dragged him out.

It was stipulated early in the Ming Dynasty that in addition to being "shackled" outside the Gongyuan for a month, the candidate's merit as a student member would also be revoked, and he would never want to take part in the imperial examination again in this life.

Compared to the pain of the found prisoner, the search force's morale was high.
Chapter completed!