A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television

After arranging his family affairs, Lu Cheng rushed to Bianjing with only his follower Lai Fu.

It was three or four hundred miles from Yuncheng County to Bianjing, which was not too far. Two people and two horses walked along the official road for a few days and arrived at Bianjing City.

It must be said that although the Song Dynasty was much inferior in military power, its economy and culture were indeed prosperous. The prosperity of Bianjing City was definitely better than Yanjing City in the Ming Dynasty in the world of "Embroidered Spring Knife".

"Lotus leaf cake, freshly baked lotus leaf cake with jujube."

"Shrimp meat buns, hot shrimp meat buns."

"Jujube cake, candied fruit, almond pastry..."

"Freshly braised lamb..."

Listening to the various hawking sounds on the street and feeling the prosperity of the surrounding market, Lai Fu beside Lu Cheng couldn't help looking around, like a countryman entering the city.

"Master, we have been traveling for several days in a row, why don't we go eat something first?"

"Let's go, let's try the food of Bianjing."

Coming to a bustling restaurant, Lu Cheng ordered a few signature dishes and tasted them. It was indeed much better than the restaurants in Yuncheng County.

In this era, stir-frying had just become popular not long ago, and the variety of dishes was not rich enough, but the chefs of some large restaurants were still quite good.

After dinner, Lu Cheng went straight to the Imperial College to register, submitted the documents for the state school and the evaluation of Lu Cheng's character and learning, and after completing a series of formalities, Lu Cheng successfully became a student of the Imperial College.

Of course, at this time, Lu Cheng was just an external student of the Imperial College.

Since the abolition of the imperial examination in Chongning, the Song Dynasty has adopted the method of selecting talents by the academy. Students first go from the county school to the state school, and then from the state school to the Imperial College. After arriving at the Imperial College, the "three-house method" is used to select talents.

The so-called three-house method, to be precise, should be called the Imperial College Three-house Method, which can be traced back to the "four-door school" proposed by Fan Zhongyan during the Renzong period. Later, in the first year of Jiayou, Ouyang Xiu proposed to use "three-house health students". Later, when Wang Anshi carried out reforms, he also proposed to reform the imperial examination and select talents from schools.

During the reign of Song Shenzong, the three-house method began to be implemented in the Imperial College. In the third year of Chongning of Song Huizong, the three-house method officially replaced the imperial examination.

The three-house system divides the students of the Imperial College into three categories: outer-house students, inner-house students, and upper-house students. Among them, the number of upper-house students is set at 100, the number of inner-house students is set at 200, and the number of outer-house students is unlimited.

Through recommendation or examination, the academies of each state send candidates to the Imperial College to become outer-house students of the Imperial College.

Every year, the Imperial College organizes an examination, which is presided over by officials specially appointed by the court. All outer-house students are assessed. Outer-house students who pass the examination and have excellent grades and good conduct can become inner-house students.

Every other year, the Imperial College will hold an assessment for inner-house students to become upper-house students, and select students with qualified grades and excellent comprehensive grades to become upper-house students.

A monthly examination is held every month within the Imperial College to record students' grades and conduct.

After becoming an upper-house student, all upper-house students will be divided into three categories based on their accumulated grades and performance in various aspects. The list of upper-house students will be reported to the court, and the court will directly assign corresponding official positions. Students of average quality can directly participate in the palace examination and be interviewed by the emperor. Students of lower quality can directly participate in the "Jinshi Examination" or choose to stay in school to teach.

Moreover, the entire college also adopts the elimination method. If a student fails in three monthly examinations, he will be demoted. Students of upper dormitory will be demoted to inner dormitory students, and inner dormitory students will be demoted to outer dormitory students. Outer dormitory students will be directly eliminated.

This talent selection scheme greatly avoids the drawback of the imperial examination that one test determines the winner. It not only looks at the final test results, but also looks at the usual monthly exams and behavior performance, which can give the college a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of the students.

Moreover, this talent selection method also attaches great importance to the comprehensive ability of students and their actual political ability, and the selected talents are more useful.

Of course, any system has its pros and cons.

The three-dormitory system is used to select talents. The students' daily performance is controlled by the teachers, which breeds corruption within the Imperial College. In order to get a better evaluation, students will do everything they can to please the teachers. The teachers will naturally favor the students they like, and all kinds of favoritism and fraud emerge in an endless stream.

Before Lu Cheng registered for school, he asked someone to inquire about the situation inside the Imperial College in advance and learned some of the unspoken rules here, such as how much money to give to the person in charge when reporting to arrange a good dormitory, how to get along with the person in charge, and how to get along with the person in charge.

Build good relationships with teachers, etc.

Although all students of the Imperial College are provided with food and accommodation by the college, the dormitories they stay in are good or bad, depending on how the person in charge arranges them.

Of course, before Lu Cheng came, he had someone buy a small courtyard in Bianjing in advance to live in.

Later, Shi Jin also brought people from the escort company to send the people who usually served Lu Cheng to the capital.

Even if he came to school, Lu Cheng came to enjoy himself, not to be a miserable student.

After completing all the formalities, it was already evening. Lu Cheng took Lai Fu to wander around in Bianjing City. When he walked to the gate of a large courtyard, he heard the sound of gongs and drums and the singing of yiyiyaya, as well as the occasional cheers from inside. Lu Cheng immediately became interested and walked in with Lai Fu.

This place is called Liangyuan, which is a brothel.

Brothels and theaters are also special entertainment venues in cities in the Song Dynasty. Washe generally refers to a large-scale comprehensive entertainment venue, which has various entertainment performances, places to eat, and some shops.

Goulan, generally refers to a venue for artistic performances. Artistic performances can be opera, acrobatics, instrumental music, singing and dancing, or storytelling novels, dance and wrestling, etc.

Some people in the Song Dynasty who have the conditions will come to the goulanwashe in their spare time to listen to music and watch performances.

Lu Cheng bought a seat near the front and sat down. He also asked for tea and snacks. He was enjoying the opera performance on the stage when he heard someone next to him calling: "Master Lin, how come you have time to come to this Goulanyuan today?"

"I came out to burn incense with my wife. I happened to pass by here, so I came in to sit and rest."

"Please sit down."

Lu Cheng turned his head to look at the person who came, and saw a strong man with a height of eight feet, a leopard head, round eyes, a swallow chin and a tiger beard, came to the front of the stage and sat down.

Judging from the aura emanating from the other person and the pace of his walk, this person is obviously a martial artist, and his aura is somewhat similar to that of Wang Jin, the instructor of the Imperial Guards that he met at the beginning.

Lu Cheng smiled and greeted a man sitting next to him: "Brother, I just heard someone call that person "Instructor Lin". Could he be the famous "Leopard Head" Lin Chong, the spear and stick instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards?"

"Yes, that is Instructor Lin. This little brother looks a little unfamiliar. Is he from another place?"

"Yes, I just arrived in Bianjing today and entered the Imperial College to study."

"So you are a student of the Imperial College. I am sorry for your disrespect."

After chatting with the man for a few words, Lu Cheng turned his head and looked at Lin Chong again. Lin Chong seemed to have noticed something and turned his head to look at Lu Cheng. Seeing that Lu Cheng was a little unfamiliar, he nodded.

"Good! Good singing!" A burst of applause interrupted Lu Cheng's thoughts. Lu Cheng looked up at the stage and saw a martial artist on the stage somersaulting into the stage.

After watching the performance for a while, a cute little girl ran in, hurriedly found Lin Chong, whispered a few words in his ear, and Lin Chong quickly got up and walked out.

Although Lu Cheng was several seats away from the other party, he relied on his hearing that was far superior to that of ordinary people to hear what the little maid said: "Someone is teasing the lady under the Wuyue Tower..."

Lu Cheng didn't expect that he would encounter Gao Yanei teasing Lady Lin as soon as he arrived in the capital. He didn't want to watch the show immediately, and just wanted to go and see the excitement...