The daily routine of the ancient imperial examination

In the middle of the night, Lu Xiuyuan was soundly asleep, but was suddenly awakened by the shaking of Tian Siqiang's powerful arms.

"Lu Xiucai! Wake up Lu Xiucai! Something is wrong!"

He opened his eyes sleepily, and his consciousness gradually returned. Under the reflection of the surrounding fire, Lu Xiuyuan saw the anxious expression of the other party, and instantly woke up: "What's wrong? What happened?!"

Seeing that Lu Xiuyuan woke up, Tian Si quickly pulled him up and sat up, "The floodwater has covered the steps of the ruined temple, we have to evacuate quickly!"

"what?!"

Hearing this, Lu Xiuyuan was taken aback for a moment, and the next second he quickly got up on his hands and ran towards the door.

Under the light of the fire in the temple, he could clearly see the dark water waves slightly rippling on the steps, and there was a faint rising trend!

The scene in front of him instantly made Lu Xiuyuan's heart ache. Could it be that the river on the other side of the Wei River burst its embankment? !

Tian Si followed behind him and explained: "When I was on duty just now, I heard the horses under the steps screaming all the time. I felt a little strange, so I came out to have a look, and found that the water had already flooded to the bottom step!"

Looking at the current water level, Lu Xiuyuan has already flooded one-third of the steps, calculated the time, and hurriedly greeted the people behind him: "Quick! Let's dismantle the carriage first, and divide the boards!"

Seeing the guards rushing down the carriage that covered half of the wheels without hesitation, and splitting it cleanly, he gained a new understanding of the force of these people.

"Be careful not to damage the wood panels on the sides, and the roof above!"

After dismembering the carriage, two planks about two meters long and one meter wide were obtained, as well as a top cover of this size.

At this time, the flood had submerged half of the steps, and Lu Xiuyuan hurriedly found dry food and some ginseng lozenges to distribute to everyone.

"The situation is urgent now. We are very likely to be washed away by the flood. Everyone should take the food separately. If you have finished eating and haven't come ashore, ginseng can keep you going for a while! There is still a little gold sore medicine in it, I don't bring too much , let’s make do with it, everyone.”

The guards looked at the food and medicine in their hands with mixed emotions. Several people looked at each other, and everyone's eyes were uncontrollably moist.

The brothers didn't expect that under such circumstances, Lu Xiucai would consider this for them, and even shared the most precious thing in the disaster with them!

This made them so moved that they were speechless.

Lu Xiuyuan saw that the guards didn't respond when they separated the things, so they quickly patted each of them on the shoulder.

"Why are you so dazed at this time! You haven't put your things away properly!"

It was only then that the others reacted and wrapped the medicine in oiled paper and put it on their chest, then explained the food in a wrap, and fixed it behind the neck through the arm.

After finishing it, Tian Si took the lead and asked, "Lu Xiucai, what shall we do next? Just wait here for the water to come up, and then hold the board and resign ourselves to fate?"

"No, no, no." Lu Xiuyuan shook his head quickly, he walked down the steps a few steps, knelt down and stirred the water tentatively, feeling extremely cold to the touch.

"The temperature is low at night, and the water here is so sick. If we soak in the water directly, the heat will dissipate faster, and accidents will easily occur..."

The guards felt a little embarrassed when they heard this. Lu Xiucai is a scholar, and his body would not be able to last long in this kind of water temperature.

Thinking of this, Tian Si quickly assured: "Don't worry about Lu Xiucai, if it gets flooded later, the four of us brothers can carry you and walk together, and we won't let you stay in the water forever."

Hearing their proposal, Lu Xiuyuan almost laughed out loud. Although he looks thin, after half a year of training, his physique has also improved a lot.

But now there is not much time left for them to joke, and they must act quickly.

"Let's not talk about this first, we have to find a way to send these wooden boards to the top of the temple, and then we will go up. Brother Tian, ​​do you think there is a way?"

"That's easy!" Tian Si nodded, and the brothers sent the board up first, and then sent Lu Xiuyuan up with the human body.

By the time the four of them had climbed up, the steps had been submerged to three quarters.

Lu Xiuyuan looked at the flood below, then turned his head and asked, "Do all of you brothers know how to swim?"

Tian Si Tian Wu Tian Liu nodded: "I have practiced before, and I have a little water skills."

Only Tian Qi who was next to him shook his head silently, not daring to speak with a guilty conscience.

The others also came to their senses, looking at their youngest brother, they felt a little resentful for a while: "What's going on?! Didn't you have to practice water skills before! How come you still can't do it now!"

Tian Qi was reprimanded, feeling remorse and despair in his heart, he was afraid of water, so he couldn't help being lazy in this aspect of training, who would have thought that he would encounter such a situation now!

Looking at the worried faces of his elder brothers, he pretended to be calm and said: "It's okay, the worst thing is that I'll be drowned, it's nothing, anyway, I'll be a good man again after 18 years..."

"Hey!" Tian Sichang sighed, and didn't know what to say for a while, so he patted Tian Qi's shoulder and confessed: "I will give you a piece of wood alone later, and you will hug it tightly when the time comes." Don't let go, it should last for a while."

"Don't be so troublesome." Lu Xiuyuan planned Tian Si's words out loud.

"Like the big wooden board next to the carriage, it is most likely to cause problems when one person holds it. It is safest to hold it with two people, so that the two ends maintain a dynamic balance, so as not to overturn into the water due to the strong force on one side. inside."

After finishing speaking, Lu Xiuyuan took out his self-defense dagger, walked to the side where the carriage roof was placed, and carved a circle slightly larger than the bucket in the middle, and greeted behind him.

"Trouble you guys to chisel a hole of this size with a knife."

Although Tian Si and the others didn't quite understand the purpose of chiseling off the life-saving wooden roof, they still obeyed the order and chopped it off with two strokes of the knife.

Lu Xiuyuan pulled the roof cover over, visually inspected the size, it seemed to be quite suitable, and then drilled a few gaps beside the big hole where fingers could fit in.

After finishing, pick up this thing and hand it to Tian Qi.

"How about a try."

The other party took it in a daze: "How do you try this?"

Seeing that he didn't understand, Lu Xiuyuan took the roof cover back and put it on the ground.

"Stand inside, then lift it up and try to see if it gets stuck in your chest."

Tian Qi did as he said, lifting the roof cover to his chest.

At this moment, everyone suddenly understood what Lu Xiuyuan did, and they didn't expect it to be this intention!

Lu Xiuyuan looked at Tian Qi's surprised and moved expression, and couldn't help but bend his lips: "Don't worry now, right?"

This is based on the modern life buoy, and he changed it to an ancient version for help. In this way, even if Tian Qi falls asleep, the wooden circle can still carry the other party to continue drifting.

When Tian Qi heard this, he put down the roof cover in his hand and knelt down to him.

"Lu Xiucai's kindness to Tian Qi, Tian Qi will never forget it!"

Lu Xiuyuan was startled when he saw this posture, and hurried over to help him.

But before Tian Qi got up, several other people also knelt down.

"Lu Xiucai's great righteousness, we brothers will never forget, from now on, we will do our best and let you order us!"

Seeing the scene in front of him, Lu Xiuyuan hurried to drag the others: "Everyone get up first and then talk!"

In a word, he pulled up other people, and then he asked Tian Si and the others to drill a few holes on the edges of the two boards, which would make it easier to grasp.

When all the arrangements were in place, the flood below had already overflowed the uppermost steps and poured into the temple. The fire that was still burning on the ground was extinguished by the raging water, and the surroundings of the ruined temple fell into darkness again.

Seeing that the momentum of the flood seemed to be continuing, Lu Xiuyuan sighed inaudibly.

Tian Si next to him also saw the scene where the fire was extinguished, and couldn't help asking: "Lu Xiucai, shall we wait here?"

Lu Xiuyuan nodded: "Let's wait for a while, if it stops at half the price, we can wait until dawn and then find a way to get out..."

However, their expectation was not fulfilled. By the time of Yinshi, the water had already covered the roof.

At this time, the sky was slightly bright, and they looked around in the faint light.

There are brown floods everywhere, like a vast ocean with no end in sight.

It seems that this ruined temple is the highest place nearby, so it has persisted for so long, but it will soon be submerged.

Lu Xiuyuan and the others grabbed the plank and prepared to go into the water for aimless rafting.

Just before entering the water, he suddenly said to Tian Si's guards: "The direction of the canal that broke the embankment this time is northwest to north. If we are lucky, we will be sent directly to the vicinity of the provincial capital. If we accidentally disperse during the period, we will still be in the provincial capital." Assemble, do you have any questions?"

"No, I listen to Lu Xiucai!"

Seeing that no one objected, Lu Xiuyuan and Tian Si each hugged one end, shared a wooden plank and walked down the temple roof.

When I was on the top, I saw that the surface of the flood was quite calm, but the moment I entered the water, I felt a particularly strong suction inside, trying to pull people down, and my body was completely out of my control.

Fortunately, the wooden board of the carriage was big enough to bear the weight of the two of them, floating tenaciously on the water.

Lu Xiuyuan turned his head and looked around. After seeing everyone floating on the water, he breathed a sigh of relief, and the next thing will be left to fate.