The imperial examination and the provincial examination are in line with each other, and there are naturally too many similarities.

For example, the exam time is three days and nights, and the number of test questions is also huge, including three, four, five classics, one for each of them, two questions, and two questions arithmetics, which is enough to make all candidates work hard during these three days and do their best.

When Li Ling took the thick stack of test papers from the soldiers who were patrolling the field, his heart became tight again. The next three days were long and short, and it depends on whether he could deal with this difficult problem like mountains and seas in the fullest state.

Because of his experience in the provincial examination, this time he will not make mistakes in the easy and difficult questions, but put the best state on the most easy questions. At present, he will start to study the first two most important topics of the Four Books and Five Classics.

When the exam is in the imperial examination, the examiner naturally dares to take out the things that are not allowed to be put into the table, making it difficult for the candidates. The several exam questions are all upright questions, and they can directly find the original sentences in the scriptures, and they are even the most familiar words. As long as the candidates who have read these classics are never unfamiliar.

But the more simple and unpretentious the topic is, the higher the requirements for every candidate. Because too many people have written such essays with this topic, it is more difficult to write articles that can be praised and stand out from the crowd. This is naturally a big test for Li Ling. He immediately closed his eyes and thought hard. After thinking for more than half an hour, he picked up his pen and started writing the first sentence.

But I didn't write two paragraphs and was not very satisfied with the content of the opening article, so I could only apply it again. Fortunately, this is a draft written on other papers, so I can still apply it and change it.

He just made a lot of changes and made a long test from time to time. It took more than two hours before Li Ling wrote the first four-book title. Because this time he had higher requirements for his article than ever before, and he had to deliberately stuff a lot of allusions into it, making the writing of the whole article far less calm and coherent than before.

When he finished writing, he was shocked to find that the sky had become dark and it was dusk. In other words, he spent half a day, but only wrote one article, which made Li Ling's heart shrink suddenly, and he felt that time was tighter.

Fortunately, the logistics supply provided in the examination room was pretty good afterwards. Not only were the food and other things warm, but the candles used at night were also one more than during the provincial examination, and each one looked thicker, which allowed him to continue working hard at night.

After the first article was opened, the ideas for the following four-book titles were opened. Following similar thoughts, Li Ling did not add any more words to the writing at this night, and wrote quickly. When the candle was about to end in the second day, he had already finished writing all the three-book titles, and finally made up for the time wasted before.

Li Ling felt tired after long-term hard thinking and was too lazy to wash up. He just put away the test papers, pens and ink, and then fell on the test seat, pulled the quilt next to him and slept.

Although the weather is still cold now, and it is far colder than the provincial examination that day, Li Ling now has a mattress underneath and a quilt above, so he doesn't feel cold. This sleep is particularly sweet. He was not awakened until dawn when the sound of a clatter sounded.

After finding out that he was in the exam room, Li Ling did not dare to be negligent, so he quickly got up, ran outside and scooped some cold water from the jar, then mixed it with a small basin of hot water he had burned, and then washed it. After chewing a piece of dried meat bun with warm water, he once again became a fight against the four and five classics.

The other candidates in the examination room were like Li Ling, who devoted themselves to the battlefield of fighting boring test questions in this early spring February day. The others in the examination room were actually not relaxed. For example, those examiners, although they were not busy yet, still did not sit idle, but gathered together to study those test questions.

After all, they just learned which questions they were. They still need to further discuss them and grasp the true meaning of them. Only in this way can they be objective and fair when marking and correcting the papers, and there will be no mistakes.

If the candidates and examiners are trapped in the whole place and work hard for the test questions, the others in the examination room are flowing. In the relatively open corridor in front of the test room, a team of soldiers holding swords and guns walked by from time to time. Although they tried their best to prevent the sound, their eyes were as sharp as swords, constantly sweeping through the test rooms to pay attention to the movements of each candidate. If they found that someone might cheat, they would go forward without hesitation to check.

Even outside these rows of examination rooms, in the yard connected to the gantry, there were several men wearing big red military officer uniforms standing on the ground like javelins, listening to the reports of the soldiers on the field from time to time, and then giving instructions one by one.

They are officials responsible for the safety and discipline of the entire examination room. Once there is a fraud in the examination room, these people will have to take action. However, since the situation in the past two days, the examination room of this meeting is quite calm, and no one who is blind has dared to challenge the majesty of the court.

The examination room is ready, and outside the dragon gate, the situation is quite large at this moment. Since all the candidates entered the venue and the dragon gate was closed again, several streets in the Gongyuan area have been blocked by officers and soldiers, and idlers are completely unable to get close to this place.

Especially the imperial road opposite the Longmen, there were more than 300 elite soldiers of the Beijing Guard, each wearing swords and crossbows, full of murderous aura. Not to mention ordinary people, even those officials who came here would be trembling, for fear of being misunderstood.

The examination room was blocked from anyone close to the past three days, but the eyes of more than one million people in the capital were still constantly betting on it. Not only did the people talk about this exam in their spare time, but they guessed that those lucky people could leaps over the dragon gate this time and become disciples of the emperor, even the officials in the yamen couldn't help but talk about some related issues in private.

Even when I was a student, while reviewing the memorials, I would ask about the situation on the examination room: "Today is the third day of the examination, there is nothing wrong with it?"

"Don't worry, the exam room is good. This time, with Admiral Ye personally taking charge, and Fan Shangshu, who has always been fair and cautious, will definitely not happen."

"The two of them are indeed worthy of my trust, but..." The emperor said, gently tapping the imperial case in front of him, and said for a while, "I am still worried about the remains of the pearls. In this way, tomorrow morning, you will take my order to enter the tribute court, so that Fan Meisheng will be more careful when reviewing the papers. Even if there are any articles that have been demoted, you must read them again."

This statement is so strange and harsh. Nearly 2,000 candidates, each with more than ten questions, has more than 20,000 articles together, but the examiners who have reviewed the papers are less than twenty. All they can do is try to be fair, but it is too difficult to make any mistakes. And reading articles is a very subjective thing after all.

But the old eunuch in front of him guessed the master's thoughts and immediately agreed: "I will definitely not miss it if I obey the order." After following the emperor for half his life, he knew very well who the words were referring to...

Seeing this, Sun Yong smiled with satisfaction, and then he took another memorial and read it. But slowly, the smile on his face disappeared again, and his eyebrows began to gather: "It's true..."

...

It was the third day of the exam. Even though he didn't catch a cold at night and he slept well, Li Ling still felt tired and his mind was a little numb.

But when he opened the last question, he still tried his best to cheer up, and at the same time he prayed in his heart that it was a familiar content. You should know that the previous question took him a night, and he was too unfamiliar with the matter of river control, so he could only say something fake.

When he saw the test questions, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. This strategy was quite long, and he was able to solve the problem of collecting taxes and food in a small county that was not rich in the autumn. Although the question seemed very difficult, for Li Ling, this was just right. After all, making a fuss about finance and taxation is the strength of his betting program.

What we need to do next is to express some of the techniques of later generations in a way that more agrees with the current laws. Naturally, this is no longer difficult for Li Ling, who wrote too many similar articles. In this way, before noon, the last question was finished.

As for the two arithmetic questions he put in the last, he opened them and glanced at them, and then laughed: "After all, it's a binary quadratic equation!" Perhaps such questions will be stumped by more than 80% of the candidates who only know how to study the Four Books and Five Classics, but for him, it's too pediatrics.

Without thinking too much, Li Ling had already calculated the correct answers to the two questions in his mind, and then expressed the solution process in words that echo the current rules. The two arithmetic questions that can be called the BOSS are successfully completed.

After reading all the written articles carefully and confirming that there were no faults and no taboos on them, Li Ling finally let out a long sigh.

On the road to the imperial examination, the most difficult step was finally completed. He could not say whether he succeeded or failed. Anyway, he felt that he had done his best to follow this road to the imperial examination. Even if he failed, there would be no regrets.

So when he heard the clappers that signaled the candidates to hand in the papers early, Li Ling began to pack up the things in front of him. After finishing it, he stepped out of the small test room where he had been staying for three days, handed the thick stack of papers to the soldiers who were slightly surprised outside, and then strode away without looking back.

Whether there will be a palace examination next is only God’s will!
Chapter completed!