On the eighth day of November, before dawn, there were already crowds of people in front of Gongyuan Square. Gongyuan is the first examination room, and there is also a sub-examination room, which is the Fuxue. A total of 30,000 candidates will participate in this year's Enkefa Examination in these two places.

There are actually only three test sites on Shaanxi Road. In addition to Jingzhao Prefecture, there are two test sites, Yan'an Prefecture and Hanzhong Prefecture. However, Jingzhao candidates account for 80% of the total candidates, and the other two test sites are only two or three thousand people refer to them.

There were more than a dozen long queues in Gongyuan Square. The candidates were searching and verifying their identities before entering the examination room. Hundreds of lanterns were lit in front of the gate, illuminating the inside and outside of the gate as daylight. More than a dozen invigilators were strictly enforcing the rules of the examination room and not carrying any items other than the papers. If someone was found carrying a note of books or caught a candidate, they would be punished with the punishment of canceling the examination qualification or even lifelong ban depending on the severity of the circumstances.

On the high building of the Paper Examination Court, the examiner Li Guangzheng stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back and stared at the team in the square silently. Li Guangnian was about fifty years old, with a thin figure and a long gray-white beard under his jaw, but his eyes were bright. He was a descendant of Li Guan, the king of Ruyang of the Tang Dynasty. As a descendant of the Li Tang royal family, he always had a special feeling for Jingzhao deep in his heart. At this moment, under his feet, it should be the old place of Tai Chi Palace. An inexplicable emotion made his eyes a little wet.

At this time, the deputy examiner Zhang Ling slowly walked forward and looked at the candidates in the square and said, "I wonder how many of them will pass the provincial examination next year?"

Li Guang hurriedly hid his emotions in his heart, his eyes returned to normal. He smiled faintly: "I have read the test papers of the top three in Shaanxi Road in recent years. I feel that they are still a little different from those of Shaoxing Prefecture's scholars in terms of classics and poetry. The key is that they are behind in enlightenment education. Moreover, the people of the three northwest roads have a much lower degree of recognition of reading than Jiangnan. There are 30,000 scholars participating in the test test in Shaoxing Prefecture, which is almost the same as Shaanxi Road."

Zhang Ling smiled and said, "In fact, because the Northwest War continues, the people always have a sense of anxiety about not being able to protect themselves, so they don't value studying so much. On the contrary, the martial arts trends of the three northwest routes are prevalent. The famous families of the Liu family, the Zhong family, the Yao family and the Yang family are all military generals, and there are not many civil officials."

Li Guang nodded, "I can understand, so all the top scholars in the martial arts exams in the past come from the northwest. This is how the land and water nourish the people."

At this time, an examiner stepped forward and whispered: "Mr., the time is up."

Li Guang turned around and said to the examiners: "The time has come, start unpacking the test papers!"

This year's trial is still the same as the previous session, with three subjects: classical meaning, policy theory and poetry writing. The questions were drawn up by the Ministry of Rites, but only for Shaanxi Road, so the examination rooms in Shaanxi Road were almost conducted simultaneously. The entrance to the examination room was closed at 3:00 and the examination papers were opened at the same time.

As the bell rang, the test began. It was not yet completely dawn. Candles were lit in each room, and dozens of alleys were very quiet. Only a rustling sound of writing was heard. The invigilator paced back and forth with his hands in his arms, monitoring the actions of the candidates in the call.

At this time, several examiners walked up with lanterns, followed by the chief examiner Li Guang and the strategic envoy Li Yanqing. Li Yanqing came to inspect the imperial examination. For the military and political commander, the imperial examination was one of the extremely important government affairs under his rule. As the highest government official, inspecting the imperial examination was a duty he had to perform.

......

The familiar scene in front of him made Li Yanqing feel like he was back to the moment when he participated in the imperial examination many years ago. The person sitting in the room seemed to be full of energy and thoughts, while there was a big fat man cheating in the exam next door. Li Yanqing couldn't help but smile. Fatman Zheng hasn't seen him for almost two years, and I don't know how he is now?

Li Yanqing did not say anything, and inspected the examination room for a while, and then came to the examination room with Li Guang. The examiners came forward to greet each other. Li Yanqing greeted everyone and smiled at the two deputy examiners and said, "Although Li Fujun is the examiner, he cannot delay government affairs because of this. He has to work harder."

"This is what you should do. Li Fujun is going to do government affairs and wait for the last day to check it out."

Li Guang smiled bitterly and said to Li Yanqing: "The Strategic Envoy should report to the court. It is really not necessary for the prefectural chief to be the chief examiner. It is actually the most appropriate to let Xuezheng be the chief examiner."

Li Guang was not appointed by Li Yanqing, but the latest regulations of the court. The highest government officials of various state government offices must serve as the chief examiner of the examination to demonstrate the court's attention to the imperial examination. However, this article has been generally dissatisfied by officials from all over the country. The examiner must be admitted to the examination court five days ahead of schedule and isolate from the outside world and can only come out after the election is issued. This must be isolated from the outside world for at least half a month, and it does have a great impact on government affairs.

However, no matter how much complaining, the local officials dare not go against the will of the court, and the Shaanxi Road is similar, but Li Yanqing has the ability to adapt. Li Guang only serves as the nominal chief examiner. He only stays in the examination court for one day at most, which does not affect government affairs. As for whether the court will be dissatisfied, Li Yanqing can't control so much. A wartime state can block the mouths of the guys from the Ministry of Rites.

After coming out of the Gongyuan, Li Guang sighed and said, "This time, the candidates from Yanqing Prefecture should also be moved to Jingzhao Prefecture."

"Li Fujun's words mean something!" Li Yanqing said with a faint smile.

"Actually, Jingrui should also be very clear in his heart. The Yellow River is about to be frozen, and the Yellow River will no longer become a natural danger. This time the Song army forced Xixia. Will Jingrui think that the Jin soldiers would remain indifferent?"

Li Yanqing pondered for a moment and said, "The Jin soldiers have captured Hebei and Hedong. The next target should be the Central Plains, Shandong and Shaanxi Routes. According to common sense, the Jin soldiers should launch an attack on Shaanxi Routes. However, according to the information I have obtained, the Jin soldiers did not assemble troops in Taiyuan. However, Daming Prefecture has already assembled a hundred thousand troops. The previous eight thousand Jin Han troops crossed Henan to invade Henan was actually a test. I think the Jin soldiers will not attack Guanzhong for the time being before the Central Plains region has made a breakthrough. However, as you said, Suizhou and Yan'an Prefecture may become the targets of the Jin soldiers' attack, and the purpose is to restrain us."

"Will the strategy send troops to support the Central Plains?"

"It depends on the situation! If the situation in the Central Plains is critical, it is inevitable to send troops."

At this time, Li Yanqing felt something. He suddenly looked up at the sky. Although it was early morning, the dark clouds had already drooped. White snowflakes were falling from the sky. "Ah! It's snowing." A hint of surprise flashed in Li Yanqing's eyes.

"Isn't it normal to snow in winter?" Li Guang asked in confusion. He has been in Jiangnan for a long time and does not know the climate of Jingzhao Prefecture.

Li Yanqing shook his head, "It was usually late November that there was the first snowfall. Today is the eighth day of the lunar month, and the snowfall is coming. I'm afraid the Yellow River will freeze in advance."

A trace of worry appeared in Li Yanqing's eyes. He looked up at the sky again, and saw the flakes of snow flakes getting denser and bigger. Scratches of snowballs fell like ticks, and the sky became darker. Gradually, the vision in the distance also became blurred. The wind began to roar. This was a blizzard.

......

On the east bank of the Yellow River in Daning, Shizhou, this is a typical terrain of the Loess Plateau, with gullies and broken surfaces. A turbid tributary is wrapped in a large amount of mud and sand, roaring towards the Yellow River all year round.

This tributary is called Xinshui. Among the many tributaries of the Yellow River, it can only be regarded as a small branch. However, when a blizzard swept across the banks of the Yellow River, the surrounding world turned into a vast white world. Xinshui suddenly became gentle, and the flow rate became extremely slow. After throwing a piece of wood, it was almost still in place for a few hours.

More than a dozen Jin soldiers stood on the shore and were testing the situation below the water with long ropes. When the big tree trunk they threw down could not reach the bottom, they finally came to the conclusion that there was a thin layer of floating ice on the surface, but the river water was still flowing. The key was that the underwater layer of the river seemed to have frozen.

The hydrological conditions of the Yellow River are relatively complicated. Often, the river surface is frozen first, but it is still flowing below. There is also the surface is frozen and the bottom is frozen, but the intermediate layer is still flowing slowly. Therefore, determining how deep the intermediate layer is is the key to detecting the freezing conditions of the river water. According to experience, there is no need to explore the Yellow River. As long as you explore the tributaries, you can also judge the situation of the Yellow River.

"Hand the spear to me!"

A Jin soldier shouted that although they were wearing Jin soldiers' hats, they spoke very fluent Chinese. Needless to say, these dozen Jin soldiers were Han soldiers again, and the Song soldiers who surrendered to the Jin Kingdom.

When the Jin soldiers and cavalry swept over Hebei and Hedong, a large number of Song Dynasty imperial guards surrendered to the Jin soldiers and became Jin soldiers and hawks. They not only undertake dirty and tiring tasks such as survey, transportation, and logistics, but also had to test the attack for the Jin soldiers, and ultimately could not escape the order of the entire army being wiped out.

The leader of the Jin soldiers slowly walked down the river bank with a spear, stood by the river, poked out the spear and stabbed it towards the river surface. The spear pierced through a thin layer of ice on the river surface and continued to penetrate deeper, but only half a foot of the puppet, the spear could not be stabbed. He changed several positions in a row, and the same was true.

The Jin soldiers shouted excitedly: "The bottom of the river has frozen. Tonight, the entire river surface will be frozen."
Chapter completed!