On Sanxian Street next to Dadong Wazi in Jingzhao City, there is a medium-sized inn called Sanxian Inn. It is relatively close to the Examination Yuan and has already been filled with scholars who came to take the imperial examination.
The scale of the imperial examination this year is unprecedented, and major reforms have been carried out. In the past, there was only the Jinshi subject, but this year there are three subjects: the Jinshi subject, the Mingjing subject and the engineering and calculation subject.
The application brochures were distributed to all states last year. The idea is very clear. The main candidates for the Jinshi subject are civil servants, the Ming Jing subjects are mainly for civil servants, and the industrial and computer science subjects are mainly for full-time officials. After being admitted to the industrial and calculation subjects, they need to go to Taixue for further study.
Four years.
In the past, those who failed the Jinshi examination were then admitted to Taixue based on their scores. As a result, many admitted scholars were not willing to study in Taixue, and most of them gave up after one year.
The major reform this time is to parallel the Taixue admissions examination and the imperial examination, allowing candidates to choose voluntarily, so that scholars who are truly willing to study Taixue can be recruited.
Ming Jing Ke also appeared for the first time this year. Since it is relatively easy to pass the exam, those who pass the exam will work as civil servants. There are clear regulations that if the civil servants who pass the Ming Jing Ke pass the exam perform well and have been engaged in civil service for more than eight years, they will have the opportunity.
Be promoted to a civil servant or a full-time official.
Therefore, most of the scholars who came to participate in the Ming Jing Ke this year are working civil servants. If they want to climb up and be promoted to officials, they must have merit and fame.
In a guest room at the end of the second floor of Sanxian Inn, there lived three scholars. The three of them did not come together and happened to live together. One was a scholar from Yang'an County, Jianzhou, Sichuan Road, named Xu Pei, and the other
They were Wang Pu, a scholar from Qi County, Taiyuan Prefecture, on Hedong Road, and Yu Shou, a scholar from Bianliang County, Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan Road.
Yu Shou was Xu Shou, the third son of Xu Xiantu, who changed his name to Yu Shou. His household registration was originally in Bianliang, but it did not change after arriving in Lin'an, so he registered in Kaifeng Prefecture, but he did not participate in last year's autumn exam, so he should not be eligible to come.
Jingzhao participated in the imperial examination, and Zhang Xiao specially recommended him as a candidate. He hurried to Jingzhao to participate in the imperial examination, and registered on the last day. With good luck, he found an empty bed in the Sanxian Inn.
"Let's go out to eat!" Xu Pei suggested.
Xu Pei is the oldest among the three. He is already thirty years old. He entered Yang'an County as a clerk at the age of twenty and has been working for ten years. Now he is the Hucao among the six county government officials. In the county government, they belong to the second group.
Among the first-level officials, there are two more officials above the six cao, namely, ashi and Dutou. The three of them are first-level officials.
Of course Xu Pei wants to make progress. If he passes the Ming Dynasty Economics Examination this time, he can be promoted to the position of Supervisor. There happens to be a vacancy for the Supervisor of Land and Houses in their county, and the other Supervisor is in charge of litigation and the magistrate of the county.
When the case was being filed, the prosecutor was sitting nearby to assist in the trial.
If you are lucky, if you work as a custodian for another three years, you will have a chance to be promoted to the chief bookkeeper.
In fact, not every scholar who participated in the Ming Jing Ke was ambitious and wanted to abandon his official position and become an official. They were very realistic, and the official position was too far away from them. They thought more about promotion, just like a junior clerk, he would not think about it.
When I become deputy county magistrate, I want to be promoted to section chief.
"Yushou, let's go have dinner together!" Wang Pu, a scholar from Taiyuan Prefecture, responded.
"Let's go! Go to Dawazi or Sanxian Restaurant?"
Xu Pei smiled and said, "Let's go to Dawazi!"
Among the three, Xu Pei's family is the worst off. He has a wife and children at home, and he relies on a meager salary to support his family. Fortunately, he still has twenty acres of ancestral land, so last year's rent became a burden for him to come to Beijing to take the imperial examination.
It’s not much, so you have to use it sparingly.
Needless to say, Yu Shou, his father gave him a thousand taels of silver, and he could withdraw money at Baoji Cabinet at any time, but he was very low-key and ordinary, and his food and clothing expenses were like those of a poor boy from Bianliang.
Wang Pu is a descendant of the Wang family, a large family in Taiyuan, but he is not a legitimate son, but a concubine, and his family does not have much money.
So of course the three of them had to go to the high-quality and low-priced Dawazi. They went to Sanxian Restaurant just to talk about it. Each of them would have to spend several hundred pennies to go there.
Ten cents is enough to eat well.
The three of them came to Dawazi, which was filled with dense snack bars and various signboards, giving people a feeling of trypophobia.
The business in Dawazi is very prosperous. Basically, the surrounding residents and a large number of scholars have also spawned errands who specialize in delivering takeaways. For example, some shops are too busy, and the shopkeepers will order a few bowls of soup cakes at noon.
An errand boy brought it to the store.
"Go to Jiang Laosan Soup Cake Shop, their meat soup cakes are pretty good!" Yu Shou suggested.
The three of them came to a soup cake shop. Soup cakes are noodles. The shop was small and full of customers. They found three seats in the innermost corner and squeezed in at a small table. This is a mom-and-pop shop where the husband cooks.
, the wife ran the waiter, and the young woman brought them three bowls of noodle soup.
"You three gentlemen, please first drink soup to quench your thirst. My uncle will prepare the soup cakes soon!"
The woman looked more delicate, with a plump figure, white skin, and a full smile, which made Xu Pei and Wang Pu stunned.
Yu Shou couldn't stand it anymore, coughed twice, diverted their attention and asked: "Why did Brother Wang think of taking the engineering and mathematics major?"
The three of them are very interesting. Yu Shou took the Jinshi subject, Xu Pei took the Ming Jing subject, and Wang Pu took the Industrial and Mathematical subject. Each of them took one subject.
Wang Pu took back his soul and smiled awkwardly and said: "Actually, my father wanted me to take the Jinshi major. When I went out, he specially told me that I must take the Jinshi major. If it is not possible, I can also take the Mingjing major, but I am not allowed to take the engineering test.
Arithmetic."
"Why do you think so, Your Majesty?" Xu Pei also took back the spirit that had been taken away.
"Prejudice! In his eyes, I was a carpenter and bricklayer after I took the Engineering and Mathematics exam. I had a low status. He didn't understand what a full-time officer was. In fact, I like smelting metal. I have loved watching the blacksmith burn iron in the blacksmith shop since I was a child.
It felt amazing to turn molten iron into molten iron and then cast it into various tools. I was going to go to Taixue University to study smelting, so I enrolled in the engineering and computing department, regardless of whether my father agreed or not."
Yu Shou nodded, "There are indeed various prejudices now, but it is this kind of prejudice that gives opportunities to those who are prophetic. There is less competition and they are good at learning and tempering. In the future, civil servants will not be able to serve as the chief minister, and they must be in the field of engineering and mathematics.
I heard that in the future, county officials will be divided into three categories: civilian officials, workers' officials and military officials. There will be a county worker position before the director and after the county captain. Four years later, Brother Wang will have a very good position.
He may take up the position of county worker, or at least be an eighth-grade official."
"Who is the county worker in charge?" Xu Pei asked curiously.
"It's very simple! Agriculture and animal husbandry, road and bridge construction, mining, various government-run workshops, etc."
"nice!"
Xu Pei said with some annoyance: "I had known that I would also apply for the engineering and mathematics major."
Yu Shou said calmly: "The engineering arithmetic subject is not easy to pass, it is no less difficult than the Jinshi subject, and Brother Xu has a wife and children. If you go to Taixue to study for four years, what will happen to your wife and children?"
Xu Pei sighed, "I miss life."
At this time, the female shopkeeper came over with a large plate and served them three large bowls of meat soup cakes, which are noodles cut into pieces, and then poured a large spoonful of fragrant and golden mutton minced meat, spread thickly.
In the bowl, it looks particularly tempting, and it's only thirty cents a bowl.
However, for Xu Pei and Wang Pu, no matter how tempting the soup cakes were, they were not as attractive as the female shopkeeper's figure. Once again, they were seduced by the female shopkeeper's plump figure.
Yu Shou was well-informed in Lin'an and had seen many more beautiful women than the female shopkeeper. He would not be tempted. When he saw the two of them lost their minds, he couldn't help but sigh: "Brother Xu, hurry up and eat the soup cakes! We have to go back."
As for memorizing, you can’t even memorize the entire Book of Changes and Book of Changes, so how can you test your knowledge of the classics?”