Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

As the proctor who was the first to notice and report the fraud case in time, Lu Ci's words still carry a lot of weight.

Although it was not in compliance with the rules, the supervisor readily agreed to the request made by the officials he sent, and lent all of Li Jun's manuscripts collected from the study to Lu Ci for a look.

Then, continue to interrogate the person who framed Li Jun who was found out by following the vines.

Although Lu Ci only knew a little bit about handwriting identification, he drew lines one by one along the strokes, compared the angle of inclination, and carefully observed the strength of the brush strokes, the quality of the inkstone and brush used, and the unique habit of hooking back when drawing the brush. After that, the previous guess was quickly confirmed.

——Although at first glance, the shape of the font is different, but after careful comparison, no matter the material of the brush and ink, or the characteristics of the brushwork, they are definitely from the same hand.

It's just that Lu Ci also knew that the method he used to identify handwriting was completely different from that adopted by the supervisory officials, and it was obviously difficult to convince the latter.

The similarity in these aspects of handwriting alone cannot be used as ironclad evidence to correct Li Jun.

What's more, the thoughtful Father Li has not yet prepared for a rainy day, not only misleading the supervisor's investigation, but also preparing the 'culprit'.

Seeing that tomorrow is the day of the introduction test, as the examiner, he will be too busy to distract himself for at least the next three days, and then he will be busy evaluating the test papers and managing the affairs of the Gongyuan.

How come there is time to go over and over to investigate these things for the supervisor?

Lu Ci pondered silently for a long time, and finally came up with an idea, so he picked up the pen, took out a piece of clean white paper, and wrote the letter without haste.

Although he can't command the supervisors, he can't persuade them if he will meet for a while...

But someone can.

After writing the letter in threes and fives, and asking the officials to send it out, Lu Ci put the matter aside for the time being, relaxed and extinguished the candles, returned to his room, washed up briefly, changed his clothes and went to bed.

It has only been three years since Lu Ci went to the tribute exam, and the rules and regulations have basically remained unchanged. They also entered the exam at the time of Mao and accepted the papers at the time of You.

Although he lived in the Gongyuan, he didn't have to rush to his home like the examinees did, but Lu Ci, as the examiner presiding over the examination, naturally had to get up earlier.

However, he usually went to the morning court, and he was used to getting up at Yinshi, so he naturally didn't feel strenuous this day.

It's just that when he stood on the second-floor platform, while listening to the conversation of the examiners, he casually watched the prison gate and the inspectors with serious faces, and suppressed their tense behaviors to each of them in white shirts. The boys conduct search patrols.

He frowned.

Looking at the interesting appearance of these fellows, who are being chased like dazed chicks, stumbling, and too embarrassed to look around, just staring at the front...

He couldn't help but recall how he came here three years ago, and he suddenly felt a weird feeling similar to "I'm just a fool."

Because he was a candidate for the exam not long ago, he knew very well about some "fun little inventions" for cheating in the exam room, such as the small mechanism with the booklet inside, and the embroidered personal essay made with special embroidery thread.

After notifying the prison gate and shop inspectors in advance, the number of cheaters detected this time is much more than last time.

After hearing the report, Lu Ci couldn't help shaking his head: I don't know how many fish slipped through the net before.

After seeing with his own eyes the last batch of examinees entering the examination room in an orderly manner under the leadership of the supervisor, Lu Ci nodded to the five examiners who were quietly waiting beside him.

Immediately afterwards, he turned around, raised his wide sleeves and brushed slightly, with a gust of breeze, he went down the stairs without haste.

Five waiting examiners followed closely behind.

They were unconsciously infected by Lu Ci's aura, and there seemed to be a bit of murderous aura between their steps.

The moment they heard his footsteps, almost at the same time, all the candidates realized the identity of the person coming.

They suddenly raised their hearts to their throats, even though they were still apprehensive about the next tribute test, they couldn't help but raise their eyes, trying to pass through the curtain of people, and then through the delicate bead curtain...

I just want to see with my own eyes the appearance of Wen Qu Xing Lu Ci, who became famous three years ago with three yuan and No.

However, Lu Ci did not satisfy their wishes. After reading the precautions in the examination room routinely, he rang the copper bell on one side to announce the start of the examination.

The once-in-three-year tribute ceremony began with a single step, and the candidates no longer cared about distracting thoughts of wanting to see the real face of the proctor, and quickly put all their energy into the business in front of them.

So as soon as Lu Ci finished speaking, the "swish, swish" sound of the test paper being turned over was heard clearly, and because each person's reaction speed was different, there were one after another in the examination room.

Lu Ci smiled slightly.

Immediately afterwards, there was a dead silence brought about by concentrating on examining the questions and pondering the draft.

Wait for a while, and people with fast thinking and confidence should start writing, right?

When the thousands of candidates were nervous, Lu Ci smiled and picked up the tea, and guessed leisurely.

During the whole day when they were racing against time to write and write, both the proctor and the five examiners were all behind the curtain in a small room.

Unless some candidates don't understand the meaning of the question and ask the patrol officer for an application, they can neither speak easily nor leave easily, let alone do other things they want to do, they can only wait behind the curtain , sitting musty.

For some elderly people who are not in good health, it is very difficult to sit for a whole day.

Lu Ci is naturally different.

Not only was he the first time to be an examiner, he was full of freshness, and not long ago, he was still sitting in the position of those candidates...

Even if it is only through the bead curtain, observing everyone's reaction vaguely, it is interesting enough for him.

For example, this overweight Juzi couldn't stand the hot weather, plus he was nervous, and there were beads of sweat on his forehead all the time.

When he lowered his head and concentrated on writing, he became extra annoyed—if he didn’t get distracted in time and wiped it off with a handkerchief, the sweat would fall down his forehead and hit the paper firmly, blurring the handwriting into a ball Messy ink marks.

Once such a thing happened, he would have to throw away the paper he had worked so hard to write on, suppress his anger, and start over.

After repeating this three or four times, he became more and more anxious because he was worried that there was not enough time. His face was flushed, his hands were shaking, and his whole body even became precarious.

Seeing that he himself was in trouble, not only could he not think of an emergency solution, but his mentality was about to plummet, he shook his head in disappointment.

Although he didn't need to intervene, since it was his first time to supervise the test, he decided to help the other party.

So he summoned a patrol shop officer and whispered some instructions.

After a while, the man went back and forth, and brought back a small basin of ice and a snow-white towel.

Lu Ci asked him to dip the towel into the ice basin. The towel was gathered and wrapped around a few smaller pieces of crushed ice to form a simple ice bag. Give it away.

Before the child could ask in surprise, the shop inspector who received Lu Ci's instructions frowned, made him silent, and flattered him to wrap the scarf wrapped in crushed ice around his neck .

Although this thing is simple, its effectiveness can be described as immediate.

The summer heat that had been troubling him to the deepest part of his body suddenly subsided.

After being dazed for a while, the child quickly guessed the person who gave the instructions to the inspector, and he was so excited that he couldn't contain himself, wishing to thank Lu Ci behind the curtain on the spot.

But behind the curtain, Lu Ci still smiled lightly and did not express his opinion. The inspector also left quickly. Even though he was full of gratitude, he did not dare to act rashly.

Not wanting to waste this care, he suddenly refreshed himself and forced himself to concentrate again to deal with the repeatedly interrupted test questions.

At the end of the day, according to Lu Ci's observation, although most of the people in the test field near him were sweating profusely because it was midsummer and the weather was too hot, there were only a few of them who were seriously affected like this fat guy. .

The situation reflected by the other examiners is similar.

Lu Ci thought, this is only the first day.

Then there are two whole days, and due to factors such as nervousness and inadaptability to environmental changes, most candidates will encounter problems such as lack of sleep and poor spirits, and it is even more difficult to withstand the torment of the high temperature.

But in the examination room, the most important thing is to pay attention to concealment and prevent cheating. It is impossible to ventilate the room everywhere just to keep the candidates cool.

And the ice cubes are expensive and the quantity is scarce, so it is impossible to be extravagant enough to have a few in each test room——Lu Ci used his own share for that move today.

Lu Ci sighed.

Within the scope of his authority, the only way to make decisions is to have the kitchen stocked with some summer-relieving drinks, and if a similar situation arises, the shop inspector will deliver them to others.

Just as Lu Ci expected, due to the hot weather, Rao prepared a drink to relieve the summer heat in advance, and sent out more than a dozen copies, but there were still two weaker candidates who were found by the inspector. Before he had symptoms of heat stroke, he fell limply.

Before causing a commotion, they were carried out of the examination room in a coma and sent to a doctor for diagnosis and treatment.

Lu Ci knew that even if they were fine, it meant that this round of tribute would be completely missed.

That sadness cannot be cured by a simple dose of medicine.

It can be seen that when he invited his friends to prepare for the exam, the healthy schedule and walking time specially arranged were extremely necessary.

——If you don't have a healthy body and a strong enough mental quality, even if you are lucky enough to be promoted, it will be difficult to achieve success after becoming an official.

Excluding the impact of the climate, Lu Ci focused on observing the performance of each person when answering the questions, from which he could somewhat see the level of the person.

If you don’t write for a long time, or there are a lot of waste manuscripts, and there are still a lot of blanks when you hand in the paper, you are obviously an out-and-out scumbag; your brows are furrowed, and you hesitate to write, but the more you write, the smoother it gets, and you get stuck at the moment of handing in the paper Those who have finished writing are at a normal level; the very few who are calm and composed, if they write with concentration, do not stop, and occasionally have time to check their writing at the end, they are obviously academic masters.

When Lu Ci saw that the candidates whose seats unfortunately fell near the 'Xueba' were extremely affected by the speed of their answers, he couldn't help but look at their backs, and his own performance was also a problem, so he couldn't help but sigh with pity.

This school bully has done a lot of harm to people, it's really hateful.

Lu Ci smiled and thought, if he was the one who suffered this, he would definitely have to push him to the ground and beat him up once the tribute ceremony was over.

The author has something to say: Notes:

一般卯时（早上5-7点）入试，酉时（晚5-7点）纳卷而出。（《中国科举制度通史-宋代卷上》绪论p7）