In a blink of an eye, it was already the ninth day of the eighth month. On this day, students who participated in the provincial examination were about to enter the examination room to welcome the first exam.

The provincial examination is a very important first-level examination in the ancient imperial examination. Because it was held in autumn, it is generally called the autumn examination. The Ming Dynasty had special regulations that the provincial examination was held every three years. According to the lunar calendar, every year of Zi, Mao, Wu, and You is the year of autumn examination. The candidates who are qualified to participate in the provincial examination are scholars, including those students who study in the prefecture and county schools, students who study in the Imperial College (that is, the previous Taixue), and students who study from the national highest institution of learning, also select tribute students who have excellent grades to enter the Imperial College. Of course, tribute students are not only those with excellent grades, but also students can study by paying money. This type of student is called tribute and also called tribute.

As for the time and content of the examination, the "Da Ming Huidian" clearly states: "On the first day of the ninth day of the eighth month, the four books are tested, each with three paths of more than 200 characters. The four scriptures are written, each with more than 300 characters. If you fail, you will be allowed to reduce one path. The four scriptures are written, the four scriptures are written, the classics are written, the scriptures are written, the scriptures are written, the scriptures are written, the scriptures are written, and the ancient commentary is written, the poems are written, the song "Zhu Zi" is written, and the ancient commentary is written, the poem "Zhu Zi" is written, the spring and autumn masters are written, the song "Zhu Qiong", the song "Zhu Qiong", the song "Zhu Qiong", the song "Zhu Qiong", the song "Zhu Qiong", the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written, and the song "Zhu" is written

Because it is customized, even reference books have been listed. Over the years, these reference materials have been reprinted one after another, and almost no scholars who participated in the provincial examination did not prepare these things.

However, the admission rate is still very low. This is not only because of the format of the eight-legged essay, nor is it just because of the subsequent writing of official application documents such as judgments and edicts, especially the classics, history and current affairs in the third session. In fact, because the number of papers in the Ming Dynasty was large, there were only six papers in total. This led to their workload, and gradually formed a situation where they only focused on the first paper, especially the meaning of the Four Books. They hardly read the test papers in the next few games. As long as the first paper was well written, they could generally be admitted.

So under this situation, the first volume became more and more refined, more important, and the competition naturally became bigger and bigger.

However, Ma Mingfeng didn't care at all, because he knew that the first test questions were unified and would not change due to changes in the examiner. He had known the questions for a long time and had already memorized the test paper of the exact same question for a talented man in the provincial examination in a certain place during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. As long as the examiner had no prejudice against him, there was absolutely no problem with admission.

In the middle of the night on the exam, Ma Mingfeng got up. He was waiting outside the tribute court to be named before entering the exam room. It was not enough because Yang Wenchao greeted him in advance. Ma Mingfeng entered the tribute court in a very high order, only ranked third, so he walked in almost as soon as the door was opened. After making sufficient preparations, the first day of the exam began.

The first exam mainly consists of the meaning of the Four Books and the Sutra, which is the simplest and most important question. As mentioned earlier, the reason why it is important is not that these papers can represent the highest level, but because these papers form the first impression of the busy marking officers. They mainly determine whether to admit it according to this impression in the future. Of course, this game is simple and not simple, because although it is easy to write, it is not easy to write well. Although it is a test of your understanding of the Four Books and Five Classics, it cannot be used at will. As the saying goes, you must write in the tone of a saint. You must write in a fixed format, not make all kinds of mistakes, but also write well, and be able to stand out from hundreds or thousands of test papers, making the marking officers look at and are willing to admit it.

According to regulations, if the exam cannot be completed before dark, you can get three candles to continue writing. If the three candles are lit and not finished, you will be forced to hand over the paper.

The exam process is quite smooth, the only thing that makes people feel a little unbearable is that the "exam room" environment of the exam is very poor, similar to the "exam room" where prisoners are detained. Or this place is originally called the number room. Generally, they are kept in the room for a whole day, and they cannot leave food, drink, defecation and urination. Of course, the actions inside are almost free. As long as you don't cheat, no one will care about you.

You should know that it is approaching Mid-Autumn Festival at this time. The weather in Guiyang is still relatively warm during the day, and the mosquitoes are hit harder. At night, the temperature drops and the cold wind blows. Many candidates are trembling in the cold wind, and there are even many who are frostbite due to it.

However, Ma Mingfeng didn't care about this at all. When he was in high school, he often studied under street lights. In order to avoid being discovered by the dormitory manager, he hid in a toilet filled with mosquitoes and flies. As for the cold environment, he had suffered a cold test of more than ten degrees below zero at the Beijing University. How could he be afraid of the low temperature above zero at night in Guiyang?

What's more, Ma Mingfeng had no chance to feel the low temperature at night, because he had finished writing the paper in the afternoon, so he easily left the "No. Room" and then returned to the residence with Yang Wencong and Xiao Sichunwang.

The cook who cooked did not expect Ma Mingfeng to come out so quickly. He started cooking for him in panic. After a while, the sumptuous meal was ready. Ma Mingfeng was already so hungry that he was dizzy. He had a big meal without hesitation, and then calmed down to continue preparing for the next exam. This made Yang Wencong and others stare at him. They had never seen such a calm candidate, let alone saw him, or even even heard of him.

At dawn on August 12, Ma Mingfeng came to the tribute school again, waiting for the second exam.

The second exam should be the easiest. Some official application articles have fixed formats. As long as you are serious and do not make mistakes, there will be no problems. A theory of more than 300 words is not difficult. After all, this is also based on the content of the Four Books and Five Classics as the subject. This is not a problem for Ma Mingfeng, so it is easy to write.

By August 15th, the third exam was the day. Generally speaking, this exam was almost no longer important, because few judges could patiently review the last exam papers carefully. In this case, many of the papers were even admitted because they were "simple and bad, as for those who had no allusions and did not know the level of the matter" because they were well prepared in the first exam.

Therefore, many candidates participated in this exam with a relaxed and joyful attitude, but Ma Mingfeng was very serious about facing a great enemy, because Ma Mingfeng knew that the third exam must be the chief examiner Huang Daozhou personally set the questions. Huang Daozhou would definitely attach great importance to the questions he had personally set, and then serve as an important basis for admission.

Sure enough, the questions in this exam are all about current affairs. The titles of the five articles are "Theory of the theory of "Theory of the internal affairs that must be settled first when fighting foreign countries", "The debate between China and the barbarians", "The distinction between Taoist instruments", "Theory of integrity", "Theory of loyalty and obedience to the king"...
Chapter completed!