Dong Yizhi was a little proud and felt that he was making decisions for the people. However, in the afternoon, Shen Ruiming came to give his opinion, thinking that he was "ruling the country according to trouble", "trampling on the rules at will", and "not obeying the law"... Dong Yizhi made a fuss. The eldest brother was boring - because he himself had set the age limit in this province. Some people also questioned how the household registration work at the police station was done, and asked them to report their age as they pleased, which made Mu Min look very ugly.
In the end, it was Lin Baiguang who came out to smooth things over, saying that this could be regarded as a move to "attract people's support". Several old men also had the intention of "fighting to win back the money", which was different from ordinary troubles. This kind of "heart-to-senator" enthusiasm should not be attacked. Furthermore, In this old society, the literate population itself was small, and it was even smaller when measured by age.
Finally, he came up with a compromise plan and immediately issued a public announcement. The general idea was that in order to meet the needs of the broad masses of people to actively serve the Senate and the people, the age limit for this public examination was cancelled. As long as they are over 18 years old and in good health. Anyone with a disability can apply for the exam. As for those who lie about their registered age when registering, they must correct it at the police station before applying. Otherwise, they will be disqualified from the exam and will be held legally responsible. As for whether some candidates should be held accountable for making noise at the registration location , Lin Baiguang felt: "... At the moment, people's opinions are based on the fact that some matters should be lenient rather than harsh, otherwise the purpose of legislation and governance will be lost."
On the day of the exam, Yuan Shuzhi and Zeng Juan spent an early morning. Zeng Juan's mother had already prepared two test baskets. Since ancient times, all candidates who are going to take the exam must prepare for this. Whether it is a college examination, a provincial examination or a general examination, There are three consecutive exams, each lasting three days. It is said that it is three days, but in fact, you only enter the exam in the evening of the first day. The exam papers are handed out at midnight (that is, at midnight) on the next day, and they are handed in in the morning of the third day.
In the examination room, candidates not only have to write essays, but also eat, drink, and have diarrhea. Therefore, all the items needed for eating, drinking, and toileting, as well as bedding, must be prepared. However, whether the candidates are rich or poor, the examination basket and the items inside also have their own destiny. Different places.
There had never been anyone in Zengjuan's family, and Zengjuan had never passed the college examination. These two examination baskets were borrowed by Zengjuan's mother from an old neighbor. They were the possessions of an old scholar who had spent his whole life studying and taking exams. The bamboo examination basket had been exposed to rain, wind, smoke and fire for decades, and was so black and yellow that it was hard to tell how old it was, but it was still strong.
Zeng Juan’s mother had already prepared the necessary items: the four treasures of the study, bronze hammers, trumpets, door curtains, stoves, candlesticks, candle scissors, rolling bags, and charcoal; and food for the occasion: dim sum, lotus seeds, dried longan, fried rice, Pickled cucumber, ginger, asafoetida...
There are so many things that cannot fit in one basket, and they have to be gift-wrapped. For rich families, servants will naturally carry them to the door. Once you enter, you can pay a few bucks to ask the husbands and veterans in the field to do it for you; for ordinary families, servants will carry them to the door. All you have to do is work yourself; if you wait any longer, you won’t even be able to put together the rice and vegetables in the exam basket, so you will have to scrape together some necessary things to bring in.
Zeng Juan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, because the newspaper and the registration office had already said: This public examination will be divided into written examination and interview. Only those who pass the written examination will be admitted to the interview. The written examination only lasts for one day, and lunch is uniformly prepared by the government, so there is no need to prepare so many items.
After talking it over with my mother, I was able to avoid having to carry the test basket that weighs dozens of kilograms. I only packed the items required for the test into a bag and took it with me. Zeng Juan said: "I see that Australian cadres and soldiers all have a bag.
With a shoulder bag, you can carry things and it is convenient to carry. It’s a pity that I didn’t buy it.”
As he was talking, he suddenly saw Zhang Yu and his waiter coming with a food box. It turned out that he knew that today was the day when Zeng took the public examination, so he specially packed a food box with snacks from the store.
"Ajuan, I wish you a quick start and immediate success!" Zhang Yu said.
The hands of a pair of friends held each other tightly, and Zeng Juan felt an indescribable warmth in his heart. For more than half a year, it was Zhang Yu who had spent money and effort to build bridges and pave the way for his public examination career, completely out of calculation of rewards.
Friendship like this, what more could I ask for? He nodded excitedly.
"Ziyu hasn't come back from Lingao yet. If he is in Guangzhou, he will come to support you!" Zhang Yu said. After that, he said some words of encouragement to Yuan Shuzhi. Finally, even Mingnu came out and said a few auspicious words.
He congratulated his uncle and "Grandpa" on their "soaring into the sky" and "making a blockbuster success". Yuan Shuzhi's eyes were moist when he said it - he was a man with no relatives and no family, and he had never had the joy of a family, but now he got a word of concern from this little girl.
After saying this, I was very excited and said to Ming Nu: "Good girl, grandpa will definitely fly into the sky!" Everyone laughed when he said this.
Saying goodbye to their relatives and friends, Zeng Juan and Yuan Shuzhi embarked on the journey of taking the public examination.
The Civil Service Examination was held at the original Guangdong Gongyuan of the Ming Dynasty. Due to the large number of recruitment positions, the number of applicants increased sharply. More than 2,000 admission tickets were issued. There is no such large school in Guangzhou that can be used as an examination venue.
Wei Bifu, the former counselor of the General Office of the General Office of the General Office of Guangzhou Prefecture who was retained, suggested that the original Guangdong Gongyuan be used. This Gongyuan located on Dashi Street has 5,000 booths, which is enough to handle all candidates.
Even for the senators from the 21st century, this Gongyuan is an architectural miracle. It has continuous houses and a magnificent atmosphere. The senators, including Liu Xiang, must visit this place when they come to Guangzhou.
At this time, Zhang Yunmi, the examiner of this civil service examination, was upstairs in Mingyuan, looking at the continuous black roof tiles. This building is the commanding height of the invigilator to monitor the entire venue. This public examination also served as the invigilation office.
the location of.
Because this was the first time that the Senate organized a large-scale unified examination, and all aspects paid great attention to it, Liu Xiang originally wanted to send the National Army to maintain order in the surrounding areas and serve as the examiner himself. Lin Baiguang suggested that it should not be too grand.
"Although the civil service examination was born out of the imperial examination, we are not engaged in the imperial examination system after all. It is best not to leave such an impression on the public. To maintain order, just send more police officers. As for the examiner, Zhang Yunmi, the principal of the existing Guangzhou Cadre School
He is the most suitable candidate.”
Seeing that Liu Xiang was still reluctant to give up, he whispered: "This class of candidates has a strong traditional mindset. If they pass the exam, they will most likely regard the senior examiner as their 'student' in the future. It doesn't matter if it's a little girl like Zhang Yunmi. It doesn't matter if it's another veteran."
At once……"
These words shocked Liu Xiang into a cold sweat, and he cursed himself for forgetting this! So he appointed Zhang Yunmi as the examiner.
Zhang Yunmi is no longer surprised by the changes in her various temporary positions - she has begun to adapt to her role.
"This place is so big!" Zhang Yunmi admired as he stood on Mingyuan Tower.
The Mingyuan Tower is actually not very high. But in the 17th century Guangzhou city where there were almost no buildings, the second floor was the commanding height, enough to overlook the entire Gongyuan.
This tribute courtyard faces south, and the main building has a symmetrical rectangular layout. It is surrounded by high walls and has watchtowers at the four corners, making it look like a small city.
The central axis of the building, from south to north, is the Toumen, Yimen, Longmen, Mingyuan Tower, "Tiankai Wenyun" archway, Zhigongtang, Jieshentang, Jukuitang and the back gate.
The central axis of the Gongyuan is a stone road with towering ancient trees on both sides. Many of the stone slabs are broken and overgrown with weeds. After this attack, you can still see that there are weeds everywhere in the gaps in the road - under the Ming Dynasty, this Gongyuan was also a three-story building.
It is only used once a year. It is a large area and difficult to maintain. It feels somewhat deserted and dilapidated.
Both sides of the stone road are densely packed with residences. There are dozens of residences in a row. On the wall at the entrance of each row are numbers written in Chinese characters, in the order of the words in the "Thousand-Character Classic": "The sky and the earth are dark and yellow, the universe is vast, the sun and the moon are waxing."
"Zhang, morning and night list..." to number. The word "天" is in the east, the word "地" is in the west, the word "Xuan" is in the east, the word "黄" is in the west, and so on, until the number houses are arranged. This
Mingyuan Tower is located in the middle of the entire Gongyuan, and plays a role in monitoring the entire venue.
Zhang Yunmi was curious and once went to the alley to take a look. He saw that the dormitory was short and narrow, only 3 feet wide, 4 feet long, and 6 feet high. He couldn't stand upright or lie down inside. He could only hold his head.
Sit in it. There are two layers of brick supports on the wall inside the building, and a wooden board called a "number board" is placed on each layer. One is used for sitting and lying, and the other is used as a desk. Candidates light candles and compose in it. In autumn,
The weather was still hot, and thousands of people were crowded into this small shed with no ventilation. They were sweating in the sweltering heat and bitten by smoke and insects. They searched desperately for the withered intestines and racked their brains to piece together the article. You can imagine the hardship of composing in it.
What Zhang Yunmi couldn't stand the most was that each row of dormitories had several "stinky dormitories" that were used as toilets. Candidates defecated in them and the stench was overwhelming. Although it had been a long time since the last exam when she visited,
You can still smell the stench of feces and urine when passing by the stinky hall. For this reason, she made a special report: Applying to build several large toilets in the Gongyuan for the use of candidates. Even using cesspits is much more hygienic than the stinky hall where people defecate in the open.
"Reporting to the head, it is already 8 o'clock. Do you want to let the candidates enter?"
"Open the gate and let the candidates in." Zhang Yunmi nodded in agreement.
The new rules are that the exam room door opens at 8:00 am, the exam officially starts at 9:00 pm, and ends at 12:00 pm. The second exam starts at 14:00 pm and ends at 17:00 pm.
Zeng Juan and Yuan Shuzhi were waiting outside the door. The door was dark and crowded with candidates. Because of the large number of people, the police had blocked the surrounding roads and only allowed people with admission tickets to enter. Everyone was looking forward to seeing it.
What does the "Australian Imperial Examination" look like this time?
Yuan Shuzhi has never been to Gongyuan, but I have heard people say that when people are allowed to enter the Gongyuan Township Examination, they use cannons as a signal. First, three cannons are fired to open the gate, then three cannons are fired to open the ceremony gate, and the last three cannons are fired to open the gantry. Once the gantry is opened,
It was considered a formal entrance. At this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of a cannon on Zhenhai Tower, followed by the sound of bells and drum towers in various places in the city. He struck eight times in a row and knew that it was what Australians call eight o'clock, which is also the time of Chenzhong.