The county government office and county magistrate’s office are about to come to an end.

The newly appointed county magistrate Chen Zi'ang attached great importance to this county examination. He specially invited three Fangshan Academy teaching metaphors, and then selected three lecturers from each township school, plus four literary officials to form a ten-person review team to review the 129 answer sheets received in groups in two groups.

If the evaluations given by the same answer sheet are too different, they must be handed over to Chen Zi'ang for personal judgment. Finally, the top 12 places will be selected according to the rankings and reported to the county magistrate for review and released the results.

County Magistrate Chen personally sat in the official room to review the papers, trying to prevent all speculators who attempt to take the relationship.

Song Tongzhi and Liu Da were also fortunate to be invited to be members of the review team, and the two happened to draw lots to form a group.

However, to their regret, Zhu Xiu's answer was not assigned to them, but instead received Tao Sheng's answer.

Twelve top-rated rolls were stacked on Chen Zi'ang's desk, and the other ten reviewers sat down on both sides of their heads, drinking tea and waiting for Chen County Magistrate to make the final ranking.

If there are any controversies, you can also discuss it together.

Chen Zi'ang buried his head and looked at it carefully, and reviewed the twelve rolls one by one.

Although it was just a county exam with a relatively low difficulty, and all the answers were basic memory contents, Chen Zi'ang still took it seriously, and even several pieces of paper had not found any mistakes and omissions.

Suddenly, Chen Zi'ang slapped the table and raised his head to laugh, "Good poems! Good poems! Such a masterpiece that made a brighter look in front of him has not appeared for a long time! Haha~ Good~ Good~ There are indeed many well-educated people in the countryside."

Everyone looked at each other, and it was rare to hear Chen County Magistrate so praise. I couldn't help but wonder what poem it was that could actually make Chen County Magistrate, who was a prestigious Jinshi and a first-class person, sigh and admire.

"Everyone, please listen to this official's remarks."

Chen Zi'ang held up the rolled paper with both hands, cleared his throat and said loudly: "'The lights are on the third day and the chicken is on the fifth day. It is when a man is studying. He doesn't know how to study early, but he regrets studying late after he is old."

From another perspective, everyone present was considered losers on the journey of the imperial examination, but after all, they have been involved in literature and history for many years and have read poetry and books, and still have a certain appreciation ability.

The person responsible for reviewing this answer was a county magistrate's literary officer and a lecturer in the village school. The old guru who was over 50 years old, sighed with his long beard and said, "Although this seven-character poem is not gorgeous, it is simple and wise, and it is a masterpiece of reasoning! I am deeply impressed by this answer sheet. Whether it is calligraphy or answer content, it is perfect!"

A lecturer in the village school who was reviewing the answer sheet together also nodded and praised it. Both of them gave excellent comments on the answer sheet.

Song Tongzhi and Liu Da were surprised to see each other. This poem was written really well. It was rare to see such a masterpiece in the county examination. I didn’t expect that there were such a powerful figure among this class of candidates.

Chen Zi'ang smiled and said nothing. He carefully observed the font on the roll of paper. He loved this even, hard and thin calligraphy very much.

Another literary clerk in his forties coughed lightly and said with a smile: "The lower official remembers that there is also a well-written poem in the answer sheet I have reviewed, which is like this, "Teach children, you must study hard, and be lazy as a teacher. All sages have their own way, so why bother ask you to be peaceful."

Everyone savored it carefully and nodded and praised it, but it was obvious that the response was not as enthusiastic as the song "Seven-Symptoms" just now.

Chen Zi'ang smiled softly, took out two rolls of paper and spread them side by side, and looked at everyone and said, "I don't hide it from you. The next five-character poem was written by my disciple Chang Wuming. These two answer sheets also require high-quality evaluations. There is no mistake in the content of the scriptures and the meaning of the meaning of the meaning, and both get full marks. The only one who can distinguish between the superior and inferior is in the two poems."

Immediately, Chen Zi'ang sent two rolls of paper and asked the reviewers to circulate them.

After Song Tongzhi and Liu Da got the roll of paper, they saw the answerer of the seven-character poem, which was written by Zhu Xiu, Taozhu Village, Shuikou Township!

And both of them were impressed by Zhu Xiu's unique brushwork. This is obvious that he is Zhu Xiu's calligraphy, so there is no mistake!

The two looked at each other in surprise. Zhu Xiu not only steadily passed the county school with high scores, but also had hope to compete with the superior disciples of Chen County Wei!

After reading it, everyone actually had a judgment on the superiority and inferiority in their hearts, but because the comparison was the disciple of Chen County Wei, some words were not easy to say.

Chen Zi'ang smiled and said, "Whether in terms of intention, lyrics or connotation, the first seven-character poem is more than one step ahead. The official decided to take Zhu Xiu, Shuikou Township, as the leader of the county examination in this year, Chang Wuming ranked second, and Yang Wei, Changhe Township, the third..."

Chen Zi'ang announced the ranking of twelve counties and won the exam, and everyone was convinced and no one had any objections.

Tao Sheng was also ranked seventh and his grades were considered good.

Liu Da was excited. In this fierce competitive environment this year, Shuikou Township suddenly passed the exam and won the lead for the first time. He was the biggest winner in this county exam.

Liu Da couldn't wait to notify Ge Lide of the good news.

Song Tongzhi shook his head regretfully. In his opinion, such an excellent student should not enter the prefecture and county official schools at all, but should go to Fangshan Academy and be trained by famous teachers.

Moreover, Zhu Xiu actually surpassed Chen County Wei's disciple in poetry and prose, and the Chang family of Wen County who had a background in his studies, which made Song Tongzhi extremely upset that he was unable to bring Zhu Xiu to Fangshan Academy.

"No, how can such talents fall into the hands of the prefectures and county officials? I have to go back to the academy and report this to Zhao Laoyuanzheng..."

Song Tongzhi glanced at Chen Zi'ang and made up his mind.

Everyone dispersed, and Chen Zi'ang took twelve answer sheets and the final ranking to meet the county magistrate Ge Jiang.

After Liu Da and Song Tongzhi left, they hurried out to the county government office, but ran into Ge Lide, who was also in a hurry.

Ge Lide's white eyebrows were tightened, as if he had encountered some trouble.

"Old Ge, what happened?" Liu Da asked hurriedly.

Ge Lide looked around and whispered: "The Tao family has a rift, involving Zhu Xiu. Tao Chang brought the chief clerk Ba ​​Shuyan as his backer. Now the chief clerk Ba ​​and the Tao family are making trouble for the Zhu family."

Liu Da was stunned for a moment and said in surprise: "What's the important thing? He actually alarmed the chief clerk of Ba?"

Ge Lide shook his head, pondered for a moment, and said, "In theory, Zhu Xiu was from his Ge family's school. I am an elder in Shuikou Township. Tao Zhu's family had a dispute. I should have come forward to mediate. But Ba Shuyan suddenly interfered, which made me difficult to do..."

"By the way, can the county exam results be obtained?" Ge Lide asked again with concern.

Liu Da nodded quickly and his eyes were glaring with joy: "Just going to report to Mr. Ge, the county exam results have come out, and our Shuikou Township School is about to show his face this time! Zhu Xiuyong won the top spot, Chang Wuming's place, and even Tao Sheng ranked seventh! Mr. Ge, our school exam has passed two students this time!"

Ge Lide was stunned for a moment and said in disbelief: "Zhu Xiu... took the leader?"

Liu Da nodded vigorously, "The leader! County Magistrate Chen made the decision on the spot! Mr. Chang was slightly inferior to Zhu Xiu's poetry and could only rank second!"
Chapter completed!