In the Li-Tang Gongju exam, if the candidates did not finish their answers during the day, they could hold the candle test at night, with a limit of three candles. Therefore, there would often be a spectacle of thousands of lights in the Li-Tang exam hall.

Night examinations with candles can easily lead to fires, and it is relatively easy to cheat on the answer sheet at night. Therefore, in order to eliminate such disadvantages, the Song Dynasty did not allow night examinations. Even candles were not allowed to be brought into the examination room.

This is the case in all cases, and they are all conducted during the day, usually from Mao Shi to Shen Shi. Those who do not submit their papers within the specified time will be "helped" out of the examination room immediately.

At this time, in the Gongyuan of the Ministry of Rites, the disciples were scratching their heads and thinking hard in the corridor, or they were biting their brushes and looking up to the sky, as if answers would appear in the sky, or they were writing quickly like clouds and flowing water, or they were looking around.

, my heart was in a state of ups and downs.

While the candidates were racking their brains to answer the papers, the gatekeepers, shop inspectors and other officials led the servants, and the soldiers patrolled the corridors. They watched the candidates eagerly and led the examinations, and took strict precautions against the candidates.

It should be said that in order to prevent candidates from cheating, Song Dynasty took many and extremely strict preventive measures.

In the early Song Dynasty, before entering the examination hall, tribute examinations had to be undressed and checked to prevent cheating by carrying books or notes. During the reign of Zhenzong Dazhong Xiangfu in the later Song Dynasty, some ministers reported that this was against the etiquette of selecting scholars, so it has been implemented since then.

The inspection of undressing was cancelled. However, although the inspection of undressing was canceled after that, more officials, servants, and soldiers were added to each tribute examination. The precautions were extremely tight, and at the same time, the punishment for cheating was getting heavier and heavier day by day.

If a candidate cheats, he will not only be expelled from the examination room immediately, but also be punished for one or more tribute examinations. This means that he will not be allowed to participate in one or several tribute examinations. In serious cases, he will not be allowed to participate in the tribute examination for life.

In addition, after passing the examination and provincial examination, the handwriting on the answer sheet should be carefully compared with the family notes to prevent someone from writing for you.

The rest are the well-known locking, recording, sealing and special exams. In short, the imperial tribute examiners, soldiers, and chamberlains guard all the examiners like thieves. Once someone is found to be cheating, they will be taken down immediately.

, and was extremely happy.

If you catch a cheater, the reward from the court will be extremely generous.

But even so, even in such a strict examination room, some people still take risks, and the methods are all kinds and endless. This is inevitable. No matter how strict the precautions are, some people will always be found in the previous tributes.

There are no exceptions for opportunistic and cheating people.

As the saying goes, under heavy rewards, there must be brave men, and the opportunity to reach the sky in one step is right in front of you, so what's the harm in taking some risks for it? There are many people who think like this.

Three days before the provincial examination, more than 20 people were found and expelled from the examination room.

On the fourth day of the provincial examination, five questions on current policy had been hung up. Just as Li Sanjian was writing and preparing to answer, there was a sudden noise in the examination hall, and three more cheaters were caught.

One of these three people carved "The Analects", "Mencius" and their interpretations on some very small bamboo pieces. The bamboo pieces were glued together and were about the length of the index finger. They were used as hairpins and pinned in the bun.

, brought into the examination room.

The size of each character is not much different from that of a mosquito. One has to admire this person's eyesight. His eyes are like magnifying glasses.

It's just that the devil is one foot high and the Tao is one foot high. This name is as follows:

This exquisite disguise still could not escape the eyes of the invigilators. Many of them had been invigilating the exams for many years and had already developed a pair of sharp eyes. This person kept touching his head, which attracted the attention of the officials, and then he

Pull it out.

Another Juzi's cheating methods are even more clever, and it can be said that no one can match him.

This famous scholar carved words on half-cooked rice grains, put them in a food box and brought them to the examination room. When answering the exam, after arranging the rice grains in order, an article came out.

The most surprising thing is that the wooden cup used by this person also has words engraved on the inside. After it is covered with tea, it cannot be seen without paying attention. After this person picks up the tea cup and shakes it, he can clearly see the words inside.

This person was hidden from almost everyone except a very experienced shop inspector who saw the clues and exposed this person.

"I was wrong...please spare me, give me a chance." One of the cheaters who was found out begged: "I am a student of Qin Fenglu, and I finally came to the capital with great difficulty..."

The man of this name was poorly dressed, and it was obvious at a glance that he came from a poor family, and his appearance was very pitiful.

However, although the appearance of this famous scholar was extremely pitiful, the officials in the examination room were already used to it and took him out of the examination room regardless of his pleas.

Even if these officials felt pity for this person, they would not dare to show favoritism. It is not a joke for the court to blame him.

Li Sanjian shook his head when he saw this. After copying the topic on current affairs on paper, he leaned on the desk and silently thought about the question.

"I believe that Emperor Shenzong has the virtue of worshiping the gods and has the learning of Shun and Yu. I can tell based on a few hearings that in the past nineteen years, he has left many rituals, music and laws to benefit the world. I have thought about my ancestors and my martial arts.

Don't dare to forget. Today, Bo Yan's heroes are gathered in Guangdian to take charge of the affairs of the world. They hope to get advice and think they can make a difference... As for the number of officials and the lack of military equipment, I would like to recommend them to the invaders.

Why do you want to steal from Fan?"

This current affairs policy sharply pointed out the serious crisis in the political, economic, military and other aspects of the Song Dynasty. The phenomena of redundant officials, redundant expenses and redundant soldiers were very serious, and asked the officials to demonstrate the necessity of restoring the new law.

This policy title also implicitly praises Zhao Xu, Zhezong of the Song Dynasty, for introducing the new law during the Shaosheng reign.

After Li Sanjian read it carefully, he understood the meaning of this current affairs policy. As long as he had a clear-cut stand, spared no effort to praise Shenzong, Wang Anshi's reforms, and praised Zhao Xu and others, then the rest was about the level of articles and calligraphy.

From the bottom of his heart, Li Sanjian was in favor of the reform, but Li Sanjian saw and experienced many demoted court officials over the past few years, such as Su Shi, Qin Guan and others, and they were all obstructed by others.

Under the guise of the New Deal, he was exiled to the ends of the earth.

Reform is right, but many people use the guise of reform to practice unity within the party and oppose differences. This is something Li Sanjian did not like. The final result of party struggle was internal strife, which depleted the national power of the Song Dynasty.

"The Book of Changes says, if you are poor, you will change, if you change, you will be general, and if you are general, you will be long..." After thinking for a long time, Li Sanjian wrote to break the topic. Li Sanjian first explained his point of view, that is, he agreed with the reform, and then Li Sanjian did not think about it in detail.

So I wrote down my views on the party struggle.

Unknowingly, Li Sanjian had already made a mistake, but because of his young age, Li Sanjian himself

I just don’t understand it, or it could be that Li Sanjian lamented what happened to his teacher Su Shi and was so indignant that he wrote this article.

Or maybe it's because Li Sanjian didn't understand the political situation of the imperial court at all, and he didn't know who was currently in charge of the imperial court. Some of the previous rumors were just hearsay.

........

"In ancient times, Yu Ji in the Tang Dynasty only had a hundred officials, and in the Xia and Shang Dynasties, there were twice as many officials, and three hundred officials in the Zhou Dynasty. This is the king's official. In the past, Yu would meet in Tushan, holding jade and silk, and conquering all the countries, except for the nine uniforms. As for the barbarians and the vassals of the common people,

All are gathered together. However, the princes are each in their own country, and there are still ministers, accompanying ministers, Shi Xu, and disciples. Today, the size of the counties in the world is better than that of Yu and Xia. However, looking at the story of Qin and Han, Qin

There are forty-two counties in the list. There are hundreds of talents in the Han Dynasty. In addition to the guards, the long history is self-organized, and the assistants and divisions are sufficient. How can this be repeated? Please refer to the detailed description of Xili disease."

This policy question first briefly describes the official system of the past dynasties from Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou to the Qin and Han Dynasties, and then asks the candidates to answer in detail the pros and cons of the official system of the past dynasties. On the surface, the test is about classics and history, but in fact it is aimed at the current problem of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty.

This policy question is also extremely difficult to answer. It not only requires the candidates to be familiar with the official system of past dynasties and its advantages and disadvantages, but also requires the candidates to be familiar with the official system of the current dynasty and point out its advantages and disadvantages.

Not only are candidates required to be familiar with history, but they are also required to be familiar with the official system of the Song dynasties and its changes.

The coverage is extremely broad.

This strategy question immediately stumped Li Sanjian. Li Sanjian focused on reviewing "The New Meaning of the Three Classics" and "The Theory of Words", but almost all of the five strategy questions had nothing to do with the "New Meaning of the Three Classics"...

What Li Sanjian lacked was historical knowledge, which had a lot to do with the fact that Li Sanjian had only studied the knowledge of this era for three years since he studied under Su Shi.

When the book is used, I will regret it less. I don’t know the difficulties until I have experienced them!

Li Sanjian thought hard, and time kept passing by. However, Li Sanjian had been writing for a long time, but he didn't know how to start.

It wasn't until half an hour before the day's test ended that Li Sanjian took up his pen and reluctantly wrote down some of his own opinions.

Li Sanjian himself felt that he answered the other three policy questions well.

........

The four-day provincial examination passed quickly. After completing the examination, the candidates left the examination room one after another, or returned to the inn or residence, or called friends, played together, or ate and drank.

To relieve the extremely heavy pressure.

Li Sanjian rejected the invitation from Zeng Gongming and others, and returned to his residence alone without any interest.

"Sanlang, what's wrong with you?" After Li Sanjian returned to his residence, Fu Erniang saw that Li Sanjian's face was a little ugly, so she asked worriedly.

"It's nothing." Li Sanjian forced a smile and said, "My child just feels a little tired and wants to take a rest."

Li Sanjian then walked directly into the inner room, threw himself on the bed, and buried his head deeply into the quilt.

Fu Erniang gently took off Li Sanjian's clothes, lovingly covered Li Sanjian with a thin quilt, and gently pressed Li Sanjian's shoulders.

Under Fu Erniang's careful care, Li Sanjian fell asleep without knowing it.

Li Sanjian's sleep was sweeter than ever.
Chapter completed!