With the conclusion of the first assessment, Liu Hong, Chen Fan, Hu Guang, and others began discussing arrangements for the scions of those prominent families.
After final discussions, Liu Hong and several court officials all focused their attention on the southern provinces of Jing, Yang, and Jiao.
I am relieved that in the southern states, the local power dynamics are complex and intertwined, making it difficult for ordinary officials and students to achieve anything significant.
These scions of prominent families, backed by their own clans, would receive some respect from the local gentry in the south. This made it much easier for the court to make arrangements for them once they had established themselves.
Soon, appointment edicts were issued to the candidates who had passed the examinations.
Except for a few who remained in the capital, all the rest were appointed as county magistrates in the south.
All the students excitedly packed their bags and embarked on their journey south.
Those who were eliminated were directly assigned to one of the three colleges for further study.
Two days later, the second assessment officially began, and the examination venue was set up in the square outside the Nangong Palace.
As soon as dawn broke, Mao Jie and several friends dressed neatly and headed towards the examination hall, chatting and laughing.
Before long, the group arrived near the examination hall. Nearly five thousand Imperial Guards and Tiger Guards stood like javelins around the square, prohibiting anyone from approaching except for the officials invigilating the examination and the examinees.
A total of ten entrances were opened around the square, with hundreds of soldiers standing in front of each entrance, searching the students entering the examination hall.
Upon seeing Mao Jie and his group approaching, an officer led several soldiers forward.
Are you the candidates for this assessment?
Mao Jie nodded: "Exactly!!"
The officer said, "Alright, according to the examination regulations, to prevent cheating, bringing anything into the examination room is prohibited. Therefore, we need to conduct a body search before we can let you through!"
"Of course!!"
Mao Jie and several students nodded, and did not raise any objections to the weight loss.
"I'm sorry!!"
As they were speaking, the officer waved his hand, and several soldiers stepped forward to begin a thorough search of Mao Jie and his companions.
The soldiers checked everything very carefully, from hair and sleeves to shoe soles—leaving no place unchecked where there was a possibility of smuggling.
"No problem, proceed!"
The search was quickly completed, and the officer waved his hand, allowing Mao Jie and the others to enter the examination room.
"Brother Xiaoxian, I never expected there would be so many people?"
Looking at the densely packed desks in the examination hall, a student next to Mao Jie couldn't help but feel an invisible pressure.
"A fish leaping over the dragon gate is naturally one in ten thousand, and only in this way can one be qualified to assist His Majesty, isn't that right?"
Mao Jie smiled and looked at his friend beside him with a confident expression.
"Brother Xiaoxian is right. What we fear is not difficulties, but opportunities. Now that the opportunity is right in front of us, we should naturally seize it..."
"Gentlemen, there's still some time before the assessment, so we need to prepare well!"
"Absolutely!!"
Immediately, each of them chose a seat, closed their eyes and pondered, combining what they had heard about the assessment with what they had learned in the three academies over the past few days.
Meanwhile, Mao Jie kept recalling the scene of the emperor at the Temple of Loyal Martyrs, and he had a clear direction in his mind.
About half an hour later, the square was filled with nearly 20,000 candidates who had come to participate in the assessment.
Most of these candidates were from poor families or were illegitimate children. As for the sons of scholars, they were currently weeping bitterly in the prison.
Unlike the scions of noble families who received recommendation slots, these individuals had to undergo a major examination. Only after obtaining a formal assessment slot could they participate in the second palace examination. Only those who passed the examination would be finally hired.
It can be said to be truly one in a million.
"The time has come, the assessment begins!!"
With a loud shout, hundreds of soldiers, each holding a stack of exam papers, began distributing them.
A student took the exam paper and immediately noticed the two large characters "Strong Nation" on the topic.
Upon seeing the exam question, the student paused for a moment, then looked down and saw that the three sub-questions were the same ones that had been rumored before.
"It's actually true!!"
Upon seeing the exam questions, the student from a poor family was overjoyed and immediately began to write without hesitation.
Like this person, many students from impoverished backgrounds who received the exam papers only paused for a moment before excitedly writing furiously.
Because they had rehearsed these questions countless times in private, they naturally mastered them with ease.
Just as the candidates were writing furiously, thousands of tables and desks were set up in the open space in front of Deyang Hall, and they were filled with people.
Not only high-ranking officials and scholars of Confucian classics, but also many students of the Imperial Academy and doctoral students and students from the three academies gathered here.
These people were all gathered by Liu Hong to help review the exam papers.
Liu Hong did this because there were too many candidates and he needed to select them as soon as possible.
Secondly, it is to prevent favoritism and corruption.
Although candidates are now required to use a standardized font and seal their names, if there are only a few dozen examiners, it is inevitable that they will find people with similar content styles among a large number of exam papers.
With thousands of examiners now on, the probability of this happening has naturally decreased significantly.
Liu Hong also summoned Chen Fan, Hu Guang, Yuan Feng, Li Ying, Xun Shuang and others into the hall to discuss matters related to the upcoming assessment.
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