Idle courtiers

Chapter 62 Suspicious ghost ([-])

The last time the imperial court inspected the New Year's Examination, and Wang Ruoxu, the head of the Ministry of Officials, came to Huai'an Mansion to evaluate the pilot project of changing agriculture into mulberry in Andong County.Therefore, this year's boy test was postponed until this month.

There are three tests for boys, the first is the county test of the county.

After passing the county test, the candidates will go to Huai'an Prefecture to take the government test.

If you pass the government examination, you will take the hospital examination one month later.

So far, the boy's trial is over.In the end, the Chinese-style person gets the fame of a scholar, can be exempted from corvee, will not kneel when seeing an official, and will be exempted from taxes of two stones per year/
It seems that there are not many actual economic benefits, but political privileges are obtained.At this point, you have broken away from the scope of ordinary people, entered the class of gentry, and have a certain amount of soft power.

The political benefits that this kind of soft power brings to you locally cannot be measured with money.

Because of this, the rich and powerful local families will use all the resources at hand to support their children to study.

Every year when registering for the county examination, the county office is full of people.

On the street, the boys holding scrolls in their hands, shaking their heads and making the sound of reading aloud have become a beautiful landscape, and I don't know where they got out of.

Huai'an is quite rich, and there are many scholars. Not to mention the college examinations that are related to scholars and fame, even the competition in the county examination, the first pass of the imperial examination, is very fierce.

According to the information obtained by Zhou Nan, there were 430 candidates who signed up for the county examination in Andong County this year, but only 50 were finally admitted and qualified to take the government examination.Taking one out of ten is not a small difficulty.

It is also said that there are now an astonishing two hundred scholars in Andong County who are well-known scholars.Every autumn in the township examination, it is impossible for so many people to enter the examination room in the provincial capital.Otherwise, with so many talents coming out every year, if everyone had to take the exam for decades, the exam room would not be overcrowded by anyone.

In this way, every year of the big competition, the county will organize scholars to take an additional test, and those who are admitted can go to the provincial capital to take the rural test.

It can be seen from this that it is difficult to become an official through the imperial examination when one was born in Nanzhili.

Fortunately, the Huai'an Mansion is under the jurisdiction of Nanzhili. If it is directly under the management of Nanjing like in the early Ming Dynasty, the scholars in the mansion will have to compete with those big celebrities, talents, and examination machines in Nanjing and Suzhou for the number of candidates, and they will simply die.

Sometimes, Zhou Nan unconsciously slandered the education system of the Ming Dynasty: "Huai'an Prefecture is obviously the north, and Huai'an, Xuzhou, and Fengyang should be combined into a single province. Now it's all right, let the candidates be divided into three provinces. In Nanzhili, taking the imperial examinations in Nanbang was a hell mode for them. No wonder Huai'an's economy is so developed, but there are no figures in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

Speaking of which, Zhou Nan admired the former Zhou Xiucai a little bit.That guy was selected as a scholar at the age of 16 and became a county school student. In the future, he might even win a job in Nanzhili, where there are many strong opponents. He is indeed a talented man.

Of course, now Zhou Nan has given up the idea of ​​becoming an official through the imperial examination, and all kinds of things in the past were not what he cared about.

He just saw the jealousy of the clerks in the clerk's office who had been full of food in the yamen in the past few days.

"Hey, Mr. Ben has lost at least ten taels of silver in the past few days." Lying on the cool chair in the yard, looking at the locust tree full of purple flowers above his head, Zhou Nan couldn't help sighing.

Ten taels of silver was his income for more than two months.I have hated the magistrate, and I can only watch my colleagues get rich. It is really sad and inexplicable.

"Sister, it doesn't matter if you earn more or less, the key is the safety of your family, and safety is a blessing." Yun Niang, who was sitting next to her, gently shook her fan and sent a gentle breeze over her: "I don't know anything about the outside world. However, I heard from the aunt next door that the county examination is just the first pass of the imperial examination, and it is nothing. Anyone who wants to take the examination can just apply for a name. I don’t understand why those big families want to pass the money , isn’t that a waste of money?”

Listening to Yunniang's question, Zhou Nan came to talk about sex, and roughly talked about the Ming Dynasty's imperial examination system with his wife.Finally, he said: "That's right, the county test really doesn't matter, the test is not confusing, and the questions are simple. Whoever is selected is not selected, but it depends on the county magistrate's will. If he passes his joints, he can be taken on the spot."

"Big households entered the yamen for activities, spent money, and pleased the county magistrate, so they naturally let their children pass the customs. Of course, the county magistrate will take a big part of the money sent over. But the book office in the ceremony room also has to share some profit. After the exam, the master of the ceremony room can get 20 taels, and the book office can easily get [-] taels, which is the biggest income of the ceremony room every year."

"Oh, that's how it is." Yunniang finally understood, and couldn't help but said: "This county test actually costs money to buy, how can a poor family get ahead?"

Zhou Nan: "Miss, you don't understand. The county magistrate also needs face. If the candidates admitted are the children of rich families, once the poor students make trouble, their reputation will be ruined, and they will be punished by the court. Therefore, generally It is said that every year, children from wealthy families will only get [-]% of the quota, and the other [-]% will be given to children from poor families. The remaining [-]% depends on how well the article is done." In this way, it can be regarded as taking care of all parties and classes.

After finishing speaking, Zhou Nan said with a smile: "This can be regarded as an unspoken rule in the officialdom and the examination room. No matter what I do in the Ming Dynasty, I always pay attention to a balance, and the same is true for the imperial examination."

"There's another saying." Yunniang said with a smile, "I heard from Mr. Xiang just now that when you go to the college and township exams, you have to be confused, and you have to rely on your essays to get a scholar. If the papers made by the rich children are messed up in the exam room, wouldn't it be Shame on the magistrates and magistrates who took them? Besides, if all those who pass the exam are from poor families, wouldn’t the money of the rich families be wasted?”

Officials naturally have their own methods to accept who is selected in the hospital examination and the township examination, but those methods are very clever and subtle, and they can't be explained clearly at the moment.

In addition, who said that the children of rich families are idiots?Reading has always been a very expensive thing, or what kind of books do the abject poor people who are struggling to read?

Candidates who can enter the examination room are at least small farmers.

"It won't be in vain." Zhou Nan felt restless when he thought of his current situation.With a wry smile, he said, "Miss, don't talk about the county examination, let's talk about having fun."

Happy, sorry, it seems that there really isn't one recently.

At this moment, there was a knock at the courtyard door, and I saw my niece Xiaolan coming in with disheveled hair.As soon as he saw Yunniang, he burst into tears and threw himself into her arms: "Auntie, Auntie, I was insulted by the villain, so I quickly asked my uncle to take someone to arrest me, woo woo woo... I don't have the face to face anyone, I don't want to live anymore !"

Being molested by a prodigal son...a strong woman...Impossible, are you really blind as a pervert?
Xiaolan was black and thin, like a bamboo pole, and there was hardly a trace of femininity on her body.After entering the city and living with Zhou Nan and his wife, they finally know how to take a bath every day and change into clean clothes, but because they don't know how to match makeup and clothes, they often wear red and green, gaudy.Such a girl would be upset even if she looked at it even more. Is it worth it to sentence her to a few years in prison?
However, she is my master Zhou's niece after all, so if I touch her, it's for me.Zhou Nan's face was livid, and he shouted: "Who, who is it?"

Before Zhou Nan could finish asking, Yunniang hurriedly stopped him: "Xiaolan, let's go inside, if you have anything to say, tell aunt first."

After all, this matter is related to the reputation of a young girl, how can it be said.

Xiaolan didn't realize this, she cried so much that the tears on her face flushed out a few traces of makeup, which looked very funny: "I heard that she belongs to Shi's family, the governor of Yandao, a fat woman, woo, uncle, You have to decide for your niece! I won't live anymore, I won't live anymore..."

The fat woman, from the Shi family, is she Shi Qianshi's niece?Lesbian, lesbian, unexpectedly, unexpectedly, Sanya with thick eyebrows, big eyes and majestic appearance also has such elegant hobbies!

Xiaolan: "Uncle, auntie, just now Xiaolan went out to sell vegetables. As soon as she arrived at the vegetable market, a fat girl brought two servants over to ask me if I belonged to the Zhou family, and humiliated my niece in every possible way. What do you say, look thin I'm a stick, and I don't know what people like about you. Your surname is Yang, Zhou Nan's lady? I'm also because you are a fairy-like figure, and Master Zhou can't even look down on this girl because of you...Look at you , Do you have breasts, do you have a butt, can you have a son..."

Speaking of this, Xiaolan's face turned into a liver color due to shame and anger, and her eyes were filled with tears and anger.

"Ah!" Zhou Nan was dumbfounded.

He already understood somewhat that Shi Qianshi's niece Sanya had taken a fancy to him.However, given the current relationship between him and Governor Shi, the marriage fell through.

Sanya is not convinced, which daughter does not have spring, ugly girls also have spring, is it wrong to covet someone's beauty?

Hearing that Zhou Nan already had a wife, Sanya hated Yunniang even with her, and probably sent someone to inquire about it.This time Xiaolan went out to buy vegetables, but she mistook her for Yunniang, so she stepped forward and humiliated her.

"That woman is a woman whose husband is outside?" Yun Niang suddenly felt ashamed: "It's all the concubine's fault. I haven't been able to serve my husband well, and I haven't been able to give birth to a son and a half for the Zhou family. If the husband wants to Take a concubine, just say it, why hide it. If it gets out, others will say that Yunniang is a narrow-minded person who can't hold anything."

"Ah!" Zhou Nan continued to be dumbfounded.

He originally thought that once Yunniang misunderstood that he had a woman outside, she would be furious like a modern woman, crying, making trouble and hanging herself.I couldn't bear the trouble so much, I wrote a letter of guarantee to guarantee that I would never cheat again, and handed in all my salary before I was willing to forgive in front of me.

However, Yunniang not only did not blame Zhou Nan, but instead made a deep self-criticism.

This woman is so kind, the feudal ethics are really anti-human.

Yunniang: "If my husband wants to accept that girl, he can choose an auspicious day, and I will go to tidy up the house and come out. I can't make people feel wronged, and make people laugh at our Zhou family's wives and concubines who are at odds."

"I'm not, I don't!" Zhou Nan quickly defended.

(End of this chapter)