Zhao Shiheng was wearing a patched linen shirt and holding a pass issued by the Ministry of Education, waiting for the Qianxing Company's passenger ship at the Luzon Port.
The rest of the scholars were accompanied by relatives and friends.
Zhao Shiheng stood by the dock, all alone.
When he was three years old, his father died and his mother passed away, and his uncles and uncles in the village immigrated to Luzon from all over the country.
In a small village, there are more than 30 dialects. If there were not more people in the north, the villagers would not be able to communicate with each other.
The impoverished villagers had to collect a mouthful of food from each family to feed Zhao Shiheng.
It wasn't until a primary school was built in the village that Zhao Shiheng, an orphan, could eat and live in the school for free, that his life improved.
The days I miss the most are the days when I was studying at the University of Luzon.
Luzon University is not even ranked among the top 100 universities in the empire, but it is the best university in Zhao Shiheng's heart.
Zhao Shiheng obtained the title of Juren as the first in the A list. He originally wanted to stay in Luzon and become a seventh- or eighth-rank minor official.
However, he was persuaded by his classmates that he wanted to realize his ambition and contribute to his hometown. Only by obtaining the title of Jinshi would he have some opportunities.
It would be a pity that he would not take the examination and try to obtain the Jinshi.
Zhao Shiheng also received funding from the alumni association, so he does not have to worry about life problems in the months after the provincial examination.
Most of the candidates in Luzon, in order to adapt to the atmosphere of the scientific examination and obtain the latest information about the scientific examination, took commercial liner to the capital after the provincial examination.
Zhao Shiheng could only choose the free ferry sent by the Ministry of Education.
This passenger ship departed from Australia in July and traveled to various regions in Southeast Asia to receive scholars.
Luzon will be the last stop for this passenger ship.
Zhao Shiheng was the first person in the A list. He was rewarded by the governor's Yamen and had some silver coins in his hand.
But it was not easy to live in the capital. He had to keep some silver coins for his expenses in the capital.
Try not to let life in the capital affect his imperial examination.
Zhao Shiheng, unlike others, has many opportunities to come back.
He had made up his mind to take part in the imperial examination only this time.
No matter what the results of this imperial examination are?
He has no regrets.
You must go all out this time to avoid regrets for the rest of your life.
A shrill sound came from the loudspeaker erected next to the port.
"The Dengke passenger ship transported by the Ministry of Education has arrived at Pier 6. Scholars heading to the capital are asked to board the ship as soon as possible. The Dengke passenger ship will only stay for two hours."
Zhao Shiheng was awakened by the sound of the radio, and he immediately went to Pier 6.
A huge passenger ship that could carry hundreds of people was docked at the pier.
The crew had lowered the gangway, and they were standing on the deck, shouting with loudspeakers: "Scholars heading to the capital, take the pass to board the ship.
The pass can only be used by yourself, family members and friends are not allowed.
There is no charge. There are many rooms on the cruise ship. Choose an unoccupied room."
Zhao Shiheng took advantage of the rest of the scholars to say goodbye to their relatives and friends, and boarded the passenger ship.
After he boarded the passenger ship, he saw the decorations on the passenger ship.
Zhao Shiheng had previously thought how dilapidated this passenger ship was?
Some disparaged it as a broken ship.
The decoration on the passenger ship was far more prosperous than he imagined.
His own straw hut was not even comparable to the toilet on this passenger ship.
Zhao Shiheng looked at the door of the accommodation area. There were signs on the door indicating whether there was someone there or not.
He found an unoccupied room and went in. He thought the space was very small, but this space was five or six square meters, which was already a large space.
He was looking at the situation in the room when the room opposite opened, revealing a girl wearing a cotton shirt with twin tails.
Zhao Shiheng was stunned, and he blurted out: "Why are there still female candidates?"
Tong Yan pinched her waist with her hands, puffed out her cheeks, and said with wide eyes: "Why are you like this?
He looks very young, but he has an old-fashioned mind."
Tong Yan often hears doubts, but she gets angry every time she hears them.
These stupid men fail to pass the imperial examination, so they belittle themselves in other ways.
"I'm sorry." Zhao Shiheng apologized awkwardly, "We in Luzon have never had a female candidate. I didn't expect other places to be so open."
Zhao Shiheng learned from the newspaper that the areas along the Strait of Malacca benefited from the dividends of maritime trade.
There are many wealthy families in the area. They have been influenced by foreign countries and are very open-minded.
Some examples of women doing business and taking imperial examinations were reported by the empire's authoritative newspapers.
"Girl, I just arrived on the passenger ship, and I haven't gotten to know the female candidates on the passenger ship yet. How many of you are there?"
Even in school, Zhao Shiheng had not had much contact with girls.
He didn't know how to communicate with girls, so in order to prevent the atmosphere from being awkward, he asked this question casually.
When Tong Yan heard this question, she became even more angry.
"Hmph! You just look down on us female examiners, I will definitely beat you in the imperial examination results.
So what if we have less than ten female examiners? The imperial examination depends on the results."
Zhao Shiheng's temperament changed when he saw the woman opposite him.
Only villains and women are difficult to raise. This is truly a wise saying.
Zhao Shiheng shook his head and said: "Ten people is already a lot. I asked the steward of the passenger ship and found that there were more than 60 people in the Nanyang region boarding the ship, and the proportion of women was already quite large.
What? You still want women to win more than half of the exams? This is simply impossible."
Tong Yan snorted again and said in a bad tone: "Don't look down on us female candidates, then we will wait and see about the imperial examination.
We women are no worse than you men."
Gulu, Gulu.
As soon as Tong Yan finished speaking, Zhao Shiheng's hungry stomach made a sound.
Zhao Shiheng was trying to save money on food. He didn't eat breakfast or lunch, so he was going to the passenger ship for a big meal.
Seniors have already told me that the food on the passenger ship is very rich, including beef, mutton and seafood that were not available before.
The most important thing is that the canteen on the passenger ship provides a variety of food for free.
When Tong Yan saw Zhao Shiheng's appearance, she laughed.
Zhao Shiheng rubbed his belly and asked, "When will the restaurant on the passenger ship open?"
Tong Yan pointed to the front right and said: "The restaurant can serve food at any time during the day.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! If you are hungry, go to the restaurant. There are no other strict rules there except no waste."
Tong Yan suddenly became happy when she saw Zhao Shiheng's confused look.
"I was so angry with you just now that we just happened to go to the restaurant to eat together."
Zhao Shiheng stumbled a little and said: "I can find the restaurant, there are signs on the road.
But, but, what to do with the things in the room?
There are some manuscripts of mine here, and it would be very troublesome to lose them."
"You really think of yourself as a great writer."
While Tong Yan was talking, she demonstrated how to lock the door with the key.
This man really came from a poor place.
These kind of candidates are usually strong opponents. They can pass the examination by self-study in a small place, and their talents are far beyond ordinary people.
Tong Yan used to think that this man was pretending to be poor like her, but now it seems that he is a truly talented person.
She immediately wanted to make friends, and her father told him to make friends with more geniuses, so that his future career would be smoother.
Tong Yan saw that Zhao Shiheng had locked the door.
Then she said: "You just came here, and I have been living with this girl for more than half a month. I will take you to the restaurant.
It seems like you have never eaten Nanyang lobster. This dish is rarely cooked every day, so you must grab it in advance."
Zhao Shiheng didn't understand before, why did his predecessors say that women are fickle?
Now he truly understands what it means to be a fickle woman?
This new female scholar had a very unkind tone toward him at first, but now she softened her tone, and her expression changed too quickly.
The two of them came to the restaurant. The space inside was relatively large, enough for more than ten people to dine together.
Zhao Shiheng followed Tong Yan in ordering dishes, and ordered several dishes that he could not afford and had never seen before.
Tong Yan put these dishes on the table and said happily: "Big man, you must have a good appetite!
I have eaten all these vegetables and medicines, and there is only a few leftovers from last time. This restaurant actually made me hungry for a whole day."
Zhao Shiheng looked at the meals, nodded and said, "This order is no problem."
After he finished speaking, he immediately ate the food. Zhao Shiheng was very hungry now.
Tong Yan also happily ate her favorite dishes.
While the two of them were eating quietly, there were two fellow scholars sitting next to them on the table with their dinner plates.
Huang Da said with a smile: "There is still someone who dares to eat with the crazy girl. This must be the new official in Luzon."
Wang Fugui glared and said: "Don't talk about crazy girl, we can't afford to offend her.
Let’s talk about this imperial examination. I heard that the Minister of Education is Wang Linjiang, the former governor of Fujian.
This Mr. Wang is very good at getting things done and won't stop wherever he goes.
The Imperial Imperial Examination has been running for so many years, and it has always been undergoing minor repairs.
After Mr. Wang comes to power, will he carry out drastic reforms?
Once this happens, all our preparations will be in vain."
Huang Da's eyes widened and he said helplessly: "We can only pray that the cabinet can suppress Mr. Wang now.
Otherwise, we will most likely become cannon fodder in this imperial examination.
After this situation occurs, the scholars who were able to be on the list before suddenly cannot be on the list, and they will definitely make a fuss."
Wang Fugui smiled and said: "What's the use of making trouble? It's not whoever makes trouble has the right.
The imperial examination results have been released. Unless there is collective fraud, no matter how good the reasons are, they will not deny the results of the imperial examination.
Mr. Wang Linjiang will not be too rough in his work, and he will definitely not fall into any trap.
If the imperial examination system is really changed, then it will only mean that people and matters are subject to fate.
If one does not do well in the imperial examination, then all candidates do poorly.
The imperial examination is based on a fixed quota of Jinshi.
Even if some content is changed in the imperial examination, if the exam fails, everyone will not do well in the exam.
As long as the rankings don’t change, there’s no problem.”
Zhao Shiheng happened to finish his meal at this time and listened to the discussion of the two scholars.
He agreed: "This brother is very right, the imperial examination is based on rankings, not results.
The difficulty of the questions in the imperial examination has nothing to do with whether you are a Jinshi or not.
Over the years, everyone has paid attention to whether the imperial examination is ranked A or B, and what the specific ranking is.
Never pay attention to the scores in each subject of the imperial examination?
You don’t need to be too anxious. If the imperial court wants to reform the imperial examination, it will definitely appease our generation of scholars.
The biggest possibility is to increase the number of Jinshi.
Everyone hopes to pass the imperial examination, and who will stop the reform of the imperial examination?
If someone does this, none of us who are taking the exam will let this person go."
Tong Yan asked in surprise: "Is it really possible to increase the number of Jinshi scholars?
Except when the imperial court is short of officials in the early stages, the number of Jinshi scholars every year will be dynamically adjusted based on the tax payments of each province.
But the overall thing is that the quota will basically increase according to the number of new provinces, and it will not increase too much suddenly."
The imperial court allocates the number of Jinshi, and each province has a fixed quota. According to the tax amount of each province, the number of Jinshi will be increased additionally.
Wealthy provinces like to be divided into several provinces, so that the number of local Jinshi will increase.
The local voice's right to speak in the court will be greatly enhanced.
This is also the reason why the local people are very supportive of Nanyang Province being divided into two.
In this way, not only the number of official positions will increase, but the number of Jinshi will also increase.
Nanyang Province's original tax contribution ranked among the top five in the empire.
Even if it is divided into two, it will not fall into the top fifteen.
Tong Yan also saw an interesting story in the newspaper.
In order to increase the number of local Jinshi scholars, Jiangsu Province has been making divisions.
Each government wanted to become an independent province, but things got very loud. The cabinet reprimanded them, and then things calmed down.
When Wang Fugui heard Zhao Shiheng's words, he said happily: "Heroes have similar views. This brother has a deep understanding of the imperial examination.
I have the title of Australian Juren Wang Fugui, may I ask who your brother is?"
Zhao Shiheng heard the scholar sitting next to him take the initiative to introduce his situation.
He also clasped his fists and said: "Zhao Shiheng, the Juren of Lu Song."
Huang Da said in surprise: "Zhao Shiheng, the first person in Lu Song.
My brother is already number one and has no shortage of silver coins and beauties, so why are you still taking the imperial court's free passenger ship?"
Zhao Shiheng spread his hands and said: "My experience as a child taught me that everyone's help has a purpose.
Some people are looking for fame, and some are looking for profit.
If I really accept donations, I will have no choice but to do so in the future.
I haven't starved to death yet, so why should I hand over my future just for a little bit of food?"
Tong Yan heard Zhao Shiheng's story and she admired Zhao Shiheng's approach, which ordinary people could not do.
In the huge corruption cases that broke out in Nanyang before, too many officials were dragged down using similar methods.
As long as officials are tempted, these aristocratic families have enough methods to lure people into trouble.
They were about to pack up their plates and leave when the radio in the restaurant rang.
"I am Captain Wang Badan, and I received the order issued by the General Affairs Department.
His Majesty the Emperor has decided to add thirty Enke Scholars to the imperial examination this year.
These Enke Jinshi were all conferred in West Asia.
All scholars, prepare early and strive to get a good result in the exam."
Tong Yan looked at Zhao Shiheng with burning eyes and said happily: "Brother Zhao, I am Tong Yan, a member of the Xiabei Juren.
You are really awesome. You just predicted that with the reform of the imperial examination, the imperial court will definitely increase the number of Jinshi.
This really hit the spot, the imperial court really did this.
The imperial court has not done this for more than ten years, so something big must have happened in the imperial court.
Then the probability of reforming the imperial examination is already very high."
Huang Da immediately came over and said excitedly: "Huang Da, a member of the Xianan Judiciary Committee, paid homage to the big man. He is worthy of being the best person in Luzon. The big brother's knowledge far exceeds mine.
My journey has been worthwhile, and I have great people I can seek advice from.
Coupled with the increase in the number of Jinshi places provided by the imperial court, there is finally hope of passing the Jinshi examination this time.
We border provinces cannot conquer the inland provinces and have always been stepmothers.
Most of the Jinshi who pass the examination every year are outsiders who have taken advantage of the situation.
I hope I can be a Jinshi this time, and the system that is unfair to us can be changed."
Zhao Shiheng consoled him: "If the imperial court carries out reform of the imperial examination, it must be improved.
The imperial examination is too important to the imperial court, so it will definitely be treated with caution.
Now the news is transmitted very quickly, and we should get specific news before we arrive in the capital."