Become a feudal king from today

"How are you preparing for the official exam?"

As soon as Liu Fu arrived in the study, Zhao Xu asked immediately. ReadМ

"The examination room is ready. We're just waiting for His Highness's papers." When it came to the official examination, Liu Fu's energy rose again.

"Here are the papers. You can take them and have them copied. The exam will start in three days." Zhao Xu pointed to the three papers on the desk. These were the exam questions he had written himself.

The government office had already notified the four counties about the official examination.

Scholars who want to take the official examination have been waiting in Yancheng.

"Yes, Your Highness." Liu Fu was overjoyed. He picked up the paper on the table, glanced at it, and was immediately dumbfounded.

"If you pass the official examination successfully and become a new official in Yanzhou, but the old officials in the government often make things difficult for you, exclude you, and think you are not doing things well, how should you deal with it?" Liu Fu read another sentence.

"People gather to cause chaos in a certain county. If you, as the local magistrate, would deal with it?"

"..."

Liu Fu read sentence after sentence, and in the end he felt more and more guilty.

Because he couldn't guarantee that he could answer the questions on the paper correctly.

"Your Highness, this paper?" Liu Fu swallowed.

Dasong has never held an examination to select officials, so of course they can't be wrong about this paper.

And the test papers produced by King Yan are indeed very sharp.

The questions on the paper are indeed problems that officials often encounter, and they really consider the officials' methods of doing things.

Putting down the first paper, the two looked at the second paper.

This paper lists math questions.

A gentleman has six arts: etiquette, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and numeracy.

Among them, the number is numeracy, which is what scholars must master. In their view, this is indeed a must-test.

When it came to the third paper, they were dumbfounded again.

There are only a few questions on it, leaving a large blank space.

The first question is: What should officials fear?

"If you stretch out your hand, you will be caught. Let's briefly talk about the management of commercial bribery." Liu Fu read this sentence and suddenly felt guilty. Why did this question seem to be aimed at commercial banks?

“Yanzhou is currently in dire straits waiting to be revitalized. How should we govern it to make Yanzhou prosperous?”

"..."

After reading all three papers, Liu Fu was stunned for a while.

Although these questions are weird, they can feel that these are indeed real questions for officials.

When it comes to poetry, historical records and classics are not as realistic as the questions on the paper.

"If you don't have any objections, just take it back. Be careful not to reveal the topic." Zhao Xu looked at Liu Fu with a half-smile.

Regardless of whether he objected or not, he just came up with this topic.

This was something he picked out from the vast number of questions in his mind. It was close to the modern official examination.

The first test examines the specific administrative abilities of officials, so the questions are based on situations that may arise after they take office.

The second job is numeracy. Officials are responsible for measuring acres of land, calculating taxes and other matters, and numeracy must also be reliable.

The third part tests the official's overall view.

In his opinion, if you can pass these three papers, you can basically become a qualified official.

"Yes, Your Highness." Liu Fu said yes, and at the same time, he held a moment of silence for the scholars taking part in the official examination.

…

"three days left."

In the East City of Yancheng, Liu Fu returned to the government office and posted the notice for the official examination in the East City. A large number of scholars were immediately attracted.

After the news of the official examination spread in Yanzhou, the scholars in Yanzhou were all excited and encouraged.

For them, this is an opportunity to change their destiny.

In the past, they could only join a wealthy family and become their disciples first.

Only by being ingratiating and being appreciated by the wealthy family can they get the opportunity to be recommended and serve in the yamen.

But even so, not everyone can be a retainer.

You even have to use money to buy the qualifications as a doorman.

But now, King Yan gave them a fair chance.

They no longer need to be coy or flatter anyone.

You can enter Yanzhou's officialdom just by relying on your own ability.

"After waiting for so long, I thought this was just a farce. I didn't expect that King Yan was really here." In front of the notice, a young scholar was in high spirits.

"The King of Yan always keeps his word, Brother Li. I hope that we can serve as officials under His Highness the King of Yan this time." A shorter scholar next to him had a flushed face, which was because he was excited.

"I have to say that we are really lucky. King Yan is not a great virtuous king. If we can serve under King Yan, we will definitely work hard and do our best." Another scholar sighed with emotion.

…

While the scholars were discussing excitedly, one of them sneered: "Huh, what an idiot. Just because you two are so humble, you still want to go to high school. How many books do you have in your home?"

This scholar was dressed in brocade robes, while the two just now were dressed in white, starched coarse cloth shirts, making them look very miserable.

Standing beside the scholar in brocade clothes were several well-dressed scholars.

Then he burst into laughter.

In their opinion, these poor scholars have not read a few books and cannot compete with them.

Naturally, I felt extremely contemptuous.

Most of the scholars gathered in front of the notice were simply dressed.

Hearing this, they all looked angrily at these scholars in brocade clothes.

Someone among them recognized Mr. Jin Yi and mocked: "Shen Xi, what are you proud of? Your father was also a poor man before, but he just worked as a dog for a wealthy family for a few years, and now he has become ruthless?"

"That is, do you still think that the Yuan family dominates the current Yanzhou? His Highness, King Yan, will not let you join the government as an official just because he sees you wearing brocade clothes."

"That's right, after he stayed in front of the palace for more than ten days, the people in Prince Yan's palace ignored him at all."

"..."

Everyone said something to each other, and Master Jinyi's face immediately lost its composure.

He rolled up his sleeves and yelled at the first scholar who mocked him, "You're looking for a beating!"

After saying that, he raised his fist and rushed over.

If it were in the past, these scholars who came from poor families would have to go around when they saw these scholars in fine clothes.

But now under the rule of King Yan, there is no one to protect them.

The poor scholar immediately refused. A group of winds rushed over to help fight, and there was a mess in front of the notice.

…

Three days later.

In front of a courtyard less than 300 meters away from the palace.

Scholars from poor families in Yanzhou formed a long queue.

Based on what the notice said, they prepared pen and ink.

In front of the courtyard gate, a group of royal soldiers stood guard on both sides.

The atmosphere of the official examination therefore became serious.

After all the scholars participating in the examination entered the courtyard, Zhao Xu and Liu Fu rode over.

"Gongyuan."

Zhao Xu read the plaque in front of the courtyard door.

He asked Liu Fu to hang these two words.

In contemporary ancient times, the word "Gongyuan" refers specifically to the place where imperial examinations are held, so he simply used it directly.

"Have all the people brought by Mi Guozhan entered the examination room?" Zhao Xu asked after entering the Gongyuan.

"They all came in. According to His Highness's wishes, they were not given special treatment and took the exam together with other scholars." Liu Fu said.

Zhao Xu nodded. He came to Gongyuan in person this time to show that he attached great importance to this official examination.

Because this broke the ancient system of selecting officials in the Central Plains dynasty in this world.

From now on, the children from poor families in Yanzhou will be able to change their own destiny through taking exams and achieve a class leap.

Instead of being like a pool of stagnant water like before.

This is just like the contemporary college entrance examination. This examination gives ordinary people the opportunity to leap over the dragon's gate.

Otherwise, how can the children of ordinary people compare with the children of wealthy families, the children of powerful families, and the children of wealthy businessmen?

At the same time, this is also poaching Yuan Li.

Since he enlisted the wealthy families to fight against him, he also enlisted the common people to fight against Yuan Li.

As the saying goes, you come and I go.

"Well, after this official examination, the lack of officials in Ping County and Liao County will probably be made up." Zhao Xu said.

According to Liu Fu, there were about 3,000 scholars participating in the official examination this time.

However, Yanzhou lacked more than a thousand officials.

The two of them talked all the way to the examination area.

After walking around the examination room, Zhao Xu came to the room where the examiners rested.

This exam will last a whole day, and the scholars are required to bring their own dry food and fill their stomachs if they are hungry at noon.

But before noon, some scholars handed in their papers and left.

"What kind of paper is this? Nothing in the classics and history collection is tested. Isn't this a mess?" Several scholars came out of the examination room and complained.

"That's right, there's no exam on poetry, lyrics or poetry. It's actually some questions that make people scratch their heads."

"That's all, that's all. It seems that King Yan didn't intend to select officials. He was playing tricks on us."

"..."

Complaining, the three scholars shook their heads and left with a sigh.

After noon, more scholars left. Most of them frowned, as if they were not very satisfied with the exam.

As evening falls, with three bells ringing, the official examination officially ends.

The examiners sent the test papers to the room where Zhao Xu stayed.

At this time, Zhao Xu took out the answers to the exam paper from his arms and said to the officials: "Stay in this room for the past few days. Don't go out. There will be people waiting for you to eat and drink. Mark all these papers."

Beidi is more powerful than before and is eyeing Yanzhou.

Only when the government system is established can the next step of construction of the land be facilitated.

Three days later...

The closed gate of Gongyuan was opened by the guarding soldiers.

The invigilator came out exhausted.

In the past few days, they have been correcting papers day and night.

Now this vast task is finally completed.

However, for them, participating in the official examination this time is not without benefits.

At least by correcting the papers, they checked the answers given to him by King Yan countless times.

This gave him a deep understanding of King Yan's governance philosophy.

It will be of great benefit to their career in the future.

Liu Fu had been waiting in front of the door for a long time.

King Yan only gave them three days to correct.

Taking the soldiers into the Gongyuan, he sent more than a thousand qualified papers directly to the palace.

"Your Highness, these papers are arranged from high to low." Liu Fu said while rubbing his hands.

Next, we only need to release the results, and these more than a thousand people can enter the officialdom of Yanzhou and serve the King of Yan.

Zhao Xu nodded and picked up the first paper.

The name on it made him startled. This name was somewhat familiar to him.

It seemed that he was a scholar brought by Mi Village, and he had given him advice at the last banquet.

His name is Zhu Tuo.

He scored very high on the administrative ability test on his paper. He was worthy of being a county magistrate. He was very experienced in various problems faced by officials, and his answers were pretty good.

He also scored very high in mathematics.

The 100% paper score was about 80%.

The last paper tests the officials' overall view.

On the question of how to make Yanzhou rich, Zhu Tuo's answer made his eyes shine.

On the examination paper, he proposed mercantilism and regarded industry and commerce as the foundation of Yanzhou.

It is said that the Central Plains Dynasty has been rich in food in the south and insufficient in the north since ancient times.

Especially in the northernmost part of the country like Yanzhou, people can only be self-sufficient through farming, but they cannot get rich.

He was very satisfied with Zhu Tuo's answer, and his answer was very close to the answer on the paper.

It is indeed rare for Zhu Tuo to have such thoughts in the feudal society of Dasong.

But this seems reasonable.

In fact, there are sober-minded people in every era who can see the current crisis facing their country and try to change it.

But their voices are unable to shake the stubborn conservative forces.

Gently putting down Zhu Tuo's paper, Zhao Xu said to Liu Fu: "This time the official examination was done so well. If we are just recommending officials as before, how can I see their different ideas through the paper?"

"What His Highness said is absolutely true. There are more than 3,000 people with 3,000 ideas, which can best reflect their talents. As soon as His Highness proposed the official examination at that time, the subordinates believed that this was the way to select talents, otherwise it would just be recommendation. , it is inevitable that there will be many people who seek fame.”

Zhao Xu nodded slightly and looked at the next paper.

This man's name was Du Wan, and he had never heard of it.

However, just because I have never heard of it, it means that this poor scholar is also a crouching tiger, hidden dragon.

Among the three papers, Du Wan's math skills were almost perfect.

However, although the administrative ability test questions are good, they are more scholarly. They are generally correct, but not as rigorous as Zhu Tuo's answers. He seems to be a scholar with no official experience.

In the third volume, he also put forward the idea that commerce was the most important and farming was secondary.

However, he also proposed that commerce and trade should be developed without affecting farming to ensure the abundance of grain and grass in Yanzhou.

"Not bad." Zhao Xu turned over again.

The next five people are Zhang Lang, Su Hai, Fang Yuanhao, Sima Dong, and Li Tai'an.

There are differences in the scores of these seven people, but they are basically not big.

"This Sima Dong is also one of the scholars brought by Mi Guozhan. The other three are all scholars from poor families in Yanzhou. It can be seen that Yanzhou still has talents." Liu Fu secretly sweated.

In his heart, he longed for some outstanding scholars to emerge from the poor families in Yanzhou.

In this way, this proves the necessity of the official examination.

Otherwise, most of the people on the list are people from the Miguo War, and the necessity of the official examination will be lacking, and the recommendation will be justified.

"Well, that's true, but you can't just focus on the papers. In this way, those at the top, like Zhu Tuo, who have experience as county magistrates, can be given the position of county guards, and those without official experience will first do two The county magistrate, as for the others, the government will arrange it by itself, and the list will be posted in the next few days to indicate his position," Zhao Xu said thoughtfully.

"Yes, Your Highness." Liu Fu responded.

After the official examination was over, the official gap that he had been having a headache for had finally been filled.

A few more days passed.

A wooden sign standing in the east city of Yancheng has a list of candidates for the official high school entrance examination posted on red paper.

Scholars who got the news came in large numbers.

"Who is this Zhu Tuo? He is actually number one on the list and is directly qualified to be the governor of Yan County."

In front of the notice, a group of scholars had their eyes red with jealousy.

At this time, Zhu Tuo was also in the crowd, and beside him were the scholars who had come to Yanjun this time.

Immediately, several scholars bowed their hands to him, "Congratulations to Brother Zhu for high school. From now on, it's time to call him Commander Zhu."

Zhu Tuo's eyes were slightly red, and the excitement of a wise minister meeting a wise master spread in his heart.

But what made him even more happy and wanted to cry was that this official examination was not a farce.

King Yan really chose officials based on his talents.

"Brother Du, you are the second on the list, the magistrate of Fengling County, Shanggu County."

Zhu Tuo was in a state of excitement when a scholar beside him suddenly shouted.

These were two scholars dressed simply, their clothes covered with patches.

The scholar known as Brother Du was already in tears.

After depleting his family's wealth and studying hard for more than ten years, he was so destitute that he could only make a living by copying books.

His relatives and neighbors all mocked him as a useless scholar.

And now he has turned from a poor scholar into the magistrate of a county overnight.

Holding his companion's hand tightly, Du Wan nodded fiercely, looked up to the sky and said, "Thank you, His Highness King Yan, for your kindness. I can only repay him with my own life in this life."

"I also won, ranked 78th, Luanxian County General Judge." At this time, Du Wan's companions cheered, "Brother Du, we can really serve as officials under King Yan together."

Du Wan looked around and found Lei Hang's name.

The two looked at each other and laughed.

As more and more scholars find their names.

Before the announcement, there was laughter mixed with crying, and crying mixed with laughter.

High school students cheered, while those who failed sighed.

But for them, one thing is certain.

In the fiefdom of King Yan, they can really pass the official examination and become royal officials.

This gives them hope.

The official exam is held every year. If they failed this time, they will work hard to pass it next time.

Some well-informed scholars also learned that King Yan had established three major schools: science and technology school, government affairs school, and military school.

These three major halls will recruit students, and King Yan will personally teach them something there.

But they also heard that the conditions for entering the academy were harsh.