Emperor Renzong of the Great Song Dynasty

After the Dragon Boat Festival, it is the hottest time of the year.

Tsingbei University is about to usher in its first graduation ceremony.

Zhao Yiyi got to know the situation with Yan Shu in advance, and learned that there are only a little over 2 Qingbei University graduates this year.

2 people...

This number actually satisfied him quite a bit.

He calculated silently in his heart.

In the first year of enrollment at Qingbei University, the number of students enrolled was about 5.Among the [-] people, most of them are Budi students who came from all over the country to learn from Yan Shu. The purpose of coming to Qingbei University is to study and prepare for the imperial examination.

The imperial examinations are only held once every three years, and the number of Jinshi in each session is only a few hundred.Most of these students who hold the dream of being named on the gold list have not yet realized their dream.

If you can't pass the Jinshi exam, you naturally have to continue to study, and you can't just graduate after graduation.

People study hard in cold windows for ten years, so where is it?

The students graduating this year are basically the children of Bianliang citizens. They don't go to school to take the imperial examination, but to learn some arithmetic and writing skills so that they can find a job when they come out.Naturally, these people don't have the intention of spending a fortune. Once the courses in the school are completed, they plan to graduate immediately.

According to their own or their parents' plan, after graduating from school, they either go to Boss Jiang's factory to find a decent job, or work as a shopkeeper in a shop in the city.After working for a few years and saving some money to marry a wife, life couldn't be more fulfilling.

However, just a few days ago, there was a message from Taige that they never expected.

The bloody incident at the Dragon Boat Festival on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival has spread throughout the city.Even if the government comes forward to clean up the atmosphere, there are still gossips circulating secretly.

It is said that the officials were furious when they learned the truth, and scolded the little official for disregarding human relations and being insane, and asked the officials, how can such things that are not as good as animals help officials and shepherd the people?Is it true that I am a knife and pen official?Then several old cases were involved, all of which were petty officials who exercised power and harmed the people.

How the emperor showed his power and cursed at the Chongzheng Hall had nothing to do with these students who were about to graduate, and they didn't care much.

Instead of caring about this, it is better to care about how you will make a living in the future.

Even if the emperor exempted several prime ministers and ministers, what has it to do with them?Could it be that they can become prime ministers?

But the following news is closely related to them.

The emperor planned to add an official examination under the imperial examination, once a year, mainly to examine subjects such as arithmetic and law, and as long as he passed the examination, he could enter the government to eat imperial food.

This is how they are not excited!

In the eyes of those high-spirited scholars who can read the Four Books and Five Classics, "officials" are by no means as good as "officials".But in the eyes of those who have only read a few books roughly, can count, and understand laws and regulations, this is a wonderful thing from heaven.

In the past, if you wanted to find an errand in the government, you either had a strong relationship, your family had connections in the government, and you had to ask your grandpa to sue your grandma before you could get in.Or it is to spend money to buy a position, and first give up your flesh and blood in exchange for an admission ticket to smash the bones and marrow of the common people.

These two paths are out of reach for ordinary people.

And this new official examination, as long as you can pass the exam, you can enter the government.And it is not as demanding as the imperial examination, which is progressive, and the entire process cannot be passed in the past ten years.

The subjects of the official examination happened to be what they had studied in college in the past few years.

It's like an exam tailor-made for them by God!

Most of the graduating students are gearing up, ready to show their talents in the official examination.But there are also a small number of people who hesitate to wait and see, not knowing whether this matter is true or not.Even if it is true, is it worth considering.

At this time, it was almost noon, and a platform with a height of ten feet was set up in front of the central square of Qingbei University, where the graduation ceremony would be held later.Tens of thousands of people gathered under the stage, some of them are graduate students, some of them are their family members.

Before the ceremony started, the students in the audience gathered together in twos and threes, discussing what to do after graduation.

Of course, at this particular time, discussing the way out is basically equivalent to discussing the official election that will be held next month.

"My friend, excuse me, my companion is in front."

A young man in a dark robe and hood parted the crowd to find his companions who had taken their place at the front.

His companion wears the same robes as he does, and is also hooded.

They are all students who are about to graduate, and the robes they wear are uniform.

In this square, as far as the eye can see, they are all the same dark robes.

His companion was talking to a tall young man who was holding a small child by the hand.Seeing him coming, he first smiled at the young man and said, "Brother Zhen, this is the brother Wu Mengxiong I told you about. He just went to change clothes, and he just came back now."

The young man turned around and glanced at him, said with a smile, "So it's Brother Wu, it's a pleasure to meet you."

At noon, the sky was bright, Wu Mengxiong narrowed his eyes, and bowed to him: "May I ask your Excellency..."

The young man was holding the child by the hand, there are so many people here, it is not easy to let go and salute, so he just nodded slightly to him: "My surname is Zhen, my name is Zhao."

Wu Mengxiong's companion said to Zhen Zhao: "My surname is Feng, and my name is Yuanheng. Brother Zhen knows that."

It seems that while Wu Mengxiong was changing clothes, he had already exchanged names with this young man surnamed Zhen.

Zhen Zhao smiled slightly. According to Wu Mengxiong, the smile was a little strange: "Brother Feng, what a good name."

Wu Mengxiong saw that he was not wearing the robes issued uniformly, but he was not a student graduating this year.It was even more novel to see him holding a child in his hand.After exchanging pleasantries with each other for a while, I couldn't help asking him: "Is Brother Zhen a student of the last two classes? Is this Brother Zhen's daughter?"

Zhen Zhao looked down at the child he was holding in his hand, leaned over and picked her up with some difficulty, and said with a smile, "This is my daughter. She is four years old and very smart. But I am not from your school. student."

The little girl was picked up, and looked at the same level as the adults, not afraid of strangers, and said hello to Wu Mengxiong and Feng Yuanheng solemnly.

Zhen Zhaodao: "I heard the people next to me talking about the official election, what is it. I don't know. Can the two of you explain it to me?"

Feng Yuanheng said: "Brother Zhen, no wonder you said that you sit at home all day and don't hear anything outside the window. You don't even know about such a big matter."

A hint of doubt appeared on Zhen Zhao's face at the right time: "Why, is this important?"

Feng Yuanheng smiled and said: "Of course it's important. In the past, the imperial examinations were all for those scholars—"

He tilted his head slightly, signaling Zhen Zhao to look towards the east side of the square.Across the sea of ​​people, looking as far as the eye can see, there is a bell tower on the east side of the square.Behind the bell tower, there is a deep and quiet path.People who often come to Qingbei University know that the path leads to the Jingsiyuan, which is the courtyard of Qingbei University students who are determined to take the imperial examination.

"But today's official examination is different. It doesn't test those things of the Four Books and Five Classics, but only counts and laws. It doesn't need any government examinations. It only takes one test, and you can enter the government as an official. .In the future, all the policemen of the government will be admitted."

He pointed to Wu Mengxiong and himself: "I, brother Wu, are going to take the first official examination this year. He wants to take the Judicial Taiwan, and I plan to take the Household Department."

The official examination is different from the imperial examination. During the imperial examination, aspirations are not asked. After passing the examination, we will talk about what official to be awarded.From the very beginning of the official examination, candidates must decide which yamen they plan to go to, and different yamen have different topics.

Wu Mengxiong also nodded in agreement.

The two of them are considered to be the best among this year's students. Originally, after graduation, the family had already arranged to make a living, but this official event turned out to make the two young people gear up and eager to try.

Zhen Zhao said: "So that's the case, I understand. Then I wish you two success."

Feng Yuanheng smiled and said, "Where is it?"

Zhen Zhao asked him again: "The two brothers are both students of Qingbei University. May I ask what kind of students this Qingbei University accepts? I have children in my family and I want to send them to the university."

Feng Yuanheng said: "Then you should ask the right person. Brother Wu knows this best."

Zhen Zhao looked at Wu Mengxiong full of curiosity.

Wu Mengxiong coughed lightly: "I just sorted out some admission files for Mr. Zhen. Don't worry, Brother Zhen, as long as you are a person with a sound mind and no criminal record, the school will accept you. After admission, first There must be an exam. According to the results of the exam, we will be assigned to different colleges. Ashamed, Brother Feng and I both belonged to Hongyi College."

"Hongyi Academy?"

Feng Yuanheng said: "There are twelve courtyards in total, Hongyi Academy ranks No. 11."

Zhen Zhao smiled and said, "There is a long way to go."

Feng Yuanheng smiled: "Now we have benefited."

He pointed to the words embroidered on the chest of his robe: "Look, the Court of Renyong."

Among the twelve courtyards, Renyongyuan ranked second, second only to Jingsiyuan.

"It's not as good as those who are going to take the imperial examination, but it's still passable."

Feng Yuanheng said: "I wonder how old are the children in Brother Zhen's family? If they are younger, they might as well stay at home for two years before sending them to school."

He was looking at Zhen Zhao's young age, and his younger brother Xiang must be even younger, perhaps not yet ten years old, not the age to go to college.

Zhen Zhao smiled and weighed the little girl in his arms: "To be honest, this is it. Parents always think far and wide for their children. When she is older, when she is fifteen or sixteen years old, it will not be too late to send her over."

Feng Yuanheng was speechless: "Brother Zhen, this..."

Not to mention that the child is only less than four years old, the father started to worry about sending her to college.Just say she is a girl, how could she come out to go to school?

Xu Shi could see the puzzlement in the eyes of the two of them. Just as Zhen Zhao was about to say something, he heard the deep and distant bell from the bell tower in the distance.

The graduation ceremony is about to begin.