Chapter 2611
The overall situation is the most important thing. These four words basically blocked Tao Hongfang's possibility of continuing to investigate the truth of the matter. However, Tao Hongfang did not think that the situations encountered in Hangzhou would really affect Haihan's stability. For the parties involved, the changing direction of these things may affect their future and destiny, and they are extremely important opportunities. However, for this emerging empire that is developing rapidly, they are all just trivial matters.
Tao Hongfang was not the kind of person who would dig into something that was wrong. After he thought clearly about the stakes, he made a decisive decision not to try to change things that were beyond his ability.
After putting aside these "noisy things", Tao Hongfang's life became more relaxed. In the next few days, he and Bai Letong traveled together to inspect the area around the West Lake to find a suitable place to build a mansion.
August has entered in the blink of an eye, and the first rural examination hosted by the Donghai Region is about to take place. Students from all over the country have arrived in Hangzhou one after another, making the city more and more lively. Scholars stayed in all the inns large and small inside and outside the city, and even the place where Tao Hongfang and others lived was no exception.
They come in and out every morning and evening, and almost always meet scholars with their servants coming to stay. The price of accommodation in this place is really not low, but it has convenient transportation and complete supporting facilities, so some scholars with relatively good financial conditions still choose to stay here.
However, these scholars probably could not have imagined that one of the invigilators for this provincial examination actually lived in this place, and had probably met them in person. If this news spreads, I'm afraid the threshold of the courtyard where Bai Letong lives will soon be trampled down.
This is also due to the fact that Bai Letong is not a local official. When the Donghai Region Administrative Committee announced the list of invigilators, he had not yet been sent to Hangzhou to participate in the preparations for the provincial examination, so the outside world did not know that there were people outside Hangzhou. Such an invigilator was temporarily appointed by the Executive Committee.
However, after Bai Letong experienced the turmoil of the previous rural examination, his enthusiasm for the imperial examination has been greatly reduced, and he even lacks interest in the job of invigilating the examination. If he hadn't considered that he would have to explain something after returning to Sanya, he would probably have quit his job.
On the sixth day of August, Bai Letong packed up his personal belongings and went to the Gongyuan in the southeast of the city to report. According to the long-standing rules, examiners must enter the examination room to report on the sixth day of the lunar new year, and then conduct closed management, isolating contact with the outside world, and will not regain freedom until the end of the provincial examination.
However, before closing the door, the examiners have to attend a banquet called the Horse Riding Banquet. This banquet is equivalent to a symbol of the beginning of this rural examination. After the banquet, the examiners entered the examination room, and the officials who marked the papers and the officials who invigilated the examination were placed separately. They would not meet again until the end of the rural examination.
Bai Letong has learned all kinds of new knowledge taught by his fathers, but this time the provincial examination still follows the old system, and the test subjects are the Four Books, Five Classics, and Cewen Bagu. He is not very good at these fields of knowledge. Therefore, I am only responsible for invigilating the examination and will not participate in marking and marking the examination papers.
The provincial examinations during the Ming Dynasty were extremely difficult. Candidates had to take three consecutive examinations, entering on the eighth, eleventh, and fourteenth days of August. However, the actual time to answer the examination was on the second day after entering the examination room, and you had to leave the examination room. Wait until the third day.
As for the examination room, the conditions in Gongyuan were extremely poor. Each candidate could only be allocated an extremely narrow single room. The space in Room No. 1 is very narrow and crude. The "furniture" inside is only two wooden boards. One is placed on top as a table, and the other is placed on the bottom as a chair. At night, the two boards are put together to serve as a bed. During the exam period, I would eat, drink, have sex, and sleep all in this room, and I could not come out until the exam was over. Regardless of whether he is a student from a poor family or a wealthy second generation, the examination environment he faces in Gongyuan is the same. From this point of view, it reflects the fairness emphasized in the imperial examination.
As the invigilator, Bai Letong's duty is to patrol the examination room from time to time to check whether candidates have cheated. It's just that he had learned the inside story of the provincial examination before, and he no longer had much hope that this examination could truly and effectively select talents. Therefore, the patrol rate during the invigilation process was not high, and Quan regarded it as just handling errands. .
According to the old system, the first test of the rural examination was the "Four Books", the second test was the "Five Classics", and the third test was about current policy. Basically, Confucian classics were the main assessment content. Bai Letong believed that simply studying these old Confucian classics would not be able to train qualified officials for Haihan. This was one of the reasons why he had insisted on revising the test plan earlier.
But it was a pity that his efforts were not recognized. In order to ensure that the provincial examination could proceed smoothly, Shi Diwen rejected his proposed test question plan. Of course, it may also be to ensure that some important people who got the test questions in advance can pass the provincial examination smoothly.
No matter what the truth is, it has greatly dampened Bai Letong's enthusiasm. Before this exam begins, some people are sure to get the title on the gold list, and some poor students who don't know the truth may be squeezed out of the qualifications to gain fame by these people. However, sacrificing the interests of some people can achieve greater benefits for the country. This seems understandable. After all, the purpose of holding the provincial examination is to select outstanding talents who can serve the country and who can make greater contributions to the country. , who should be more qualified to be selected.
The nine-day rural examination is a big test for both the candidates and the examiners. Bai Letong has never been forced to be grounded for such a long time. He can only walk around in the Gongyuan every day to watch others doing questions. He is not allowed to speak or talk to others at will. This is really suffocating him. Uncomfortable.
When the provincial examination ended, not only the many scholars who had been fighting fiercely in the examination room for many days were relieved, but also the invigilators who had struggled until this point.
After Bai Letong left the examination room, he didn't even bother to celebrate. He returned directly to his residence. He took the time to take a hot bath and change into clean clothes, and then quickly started to catch up on his sleep. These days, I barely slept on the hard bed in Gongyuan. I relied on drinking tea to stay awake during the day, and I was already very depressed. Bai Letong asked his entourage to stay outside the house and refuse to be disturbed by all visitors. Even if the sky was about to fall at this time, he had to sleep comfortably first.
Bai Letong slept for a full day and night. If he hadn't been hungry, he might have been able to sleep for several hours. After eating, Bai Letong felt that he had recovered to seven or eight points, then he washed and changed clothes and went to meet his companions.
(End of chapter)