Chapter 232: Martial Arts Examination Begins

The museum selection has political requirements, so it is natural to combine it with reality.

At present, the most eye-catching events in the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty are the military examination and the war in Lingzhou.

The selection process lasts for a month, so it is impossible to travel all the way to Lingzhou. Therefore, the only goal of observing politics can be the military examination.

And the timing is just right, as the military examination will begin in a few days.

Therefore, the emperor on the dragon throne nodded in agreement:
"Can!"

Down towards the back.

Officials began to triage.

The official on duty today went to the yamen.

Officials who were not on duty could go home directly like Sheng Hong, while those who did not have a residence in Bianjing City could only return to their official residences.

But Yang Wenyuan, Changbai and others are different.

Just like a poor office worker, after the morning meeting, he still has to continue working and studying.

Inside the Hanlin Academy.

Although there are scholars coming to give lectures in the school every day, the scholars, readers and lecturers of the Hanlin Academy often have multiple positions. In addition to the identity of lecturers in the Hanlin Academy, they actually hold important official positions such as Vice Minister of Rites and Doctor. Naturally, it is impossible for them to keep an eye on Yang Wenyuan and others every day.

Therefore, the classes usually only last for one hour each day, and students are allowed to study on their own for the rest of the time.

Just like in later generations, after entering university, teachers let students learn on their own. How much you can learn and whether you want to study on your own is entirely up to you.

noon.

In the side room of the Hanlin Academy's library.

Yang Wenyuan and Changbai got together to have lunch, with Yang Rujin and Minglan sitting next to them.

Although there is no explicit regulation, according to the customary rules, new scholars like Yang Wenyuan who are still being selected in the academy are not allowed to have their family members bring them meals. They can only prepare lunch early in the morning and bring it over themselves (the official meals of the palace are not prepared for them). This is the treatment only for formal officials of the Hanlin Academy or the Shujishi.

But Yang Wenyuan is naturally not an outsider.

Although he doesn't want to seek exceptions, he is not so pedantic as to mistreat himself.

So this "unspoken rule" naturally does not apply to him, and he can eat hot meals delivered from home every day at noon.

His brother-in-law Changbai happened to be there too, and Yang Wenyuan did not ignore him.

Changbai insisted at first that it was "against the rules", but after two days of eating coarse food, he decided that it was delicious.

Hua Lan spared no effort in treating her husband and her own younger brother, and prepared lunch carefully every time.

But sometimes I am too busy.

After all, as the eldest lady of the Yang family, she should actively integrate into the circle of noble ladies and need to frequently participate in team-building activities for officials' wives. Moreover, she has been getting along very well with the queen recently and often goes to the harem to talk with Princess Pingning.

Therefore, gradually, the task of delivering meals fell on the shoulders of the younger ones.

Among them, Minglan's cooking skills are the best, so in addition to the dishes prepared at home, she occasionally cooks a good dish for her brother and brother-in-law.

As for Yang Rujin, she, like Rulan, was there purely to watch the fun.

It was not convenient for outsiders to stay in the Hanlin Academy for long, so after putting down the food boxes, Minglan and Yang Ruijin got up and left. Yang Wenyuan and Changbai finished their meals and took the food boxes back home.

Lunch time is a rare opportunity for leisure.

Yang Wenyuan also started chatting with Changbai.

"correct."

After Yang Wenyuan finished eating, he rinsed his mouth and asked Changbai:

"What has Gu Tingye been doing recently? Didn't he have his eyes on the eldest daughter of the Yu family? Why hasn't he made any move yet?"

One is friendship, the other is gay love.

Yang Wenyuan didn't know the news about Gu Tingye, but if he asked Changbai, he would definitely get some information.

After Changbai rinsed his mouth, he packed up the lunch box and replied:
"I heard from Zhong Huai that he will go to the Yu family to propose marriage after preparing for the military exam."

Yang Wenyuan shrugged.

What are you waiting for? You have no courage at all.

You're so hesitant that you can't even eat hot shit.

However, thinking of Hua Lan chatting with him about interesting things in the circle of noble ladies during the intermission last night, Yang Wenyuan still reminded him:

"I heard from your sister that Madam Qin of Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion has been asking for information about girls of marriageable age these days. The Gu family only has Gu Tingye and his brother Gu Tingwei. Considering that Zhong Huai just failed the exam, I'm afraid she is probably looking for someone for him."

Xiao Qinshi definitely doesn't want Gu Tingye to be well, so naturally she won't sincerely help him find a good in-law family.

It just so happened that Gu Tingye failed the exam at this time. Considering Gu Tingye's reputation, it seemed that they wanted to find a useless relative for him, so that even Gu Yankai could justify it.

Changbai exclaimed, "Ah!" He also knew that this matter was important.

Parents to enrich people.

If Xiao Qinshi is really quick and arranges the marriage first, then Gu Tingye's vision for Yu Yanran may not work. Even if Yu Yanran is acceptable, the elders of both sides will firmly reject it.

"I'll go and tell him as soon as I get off work!" Changbai nodded quickly.

She looked so anxious, just like a virtuous lady who was considering taking a concubine for her husband.

And if Yang Wenyuan remembered correctly, Gu Tingye had made a scene at home not long ago and had a huge argument with his family, so he simply ran away to live. He didn't check carefully and didn't know where he lived.

But looking at Changbai's expression, does he already know?

It’s worthy of you, Bolan!

After the friendly reminder, Yang Wenyuan didn't pay much attention to Gu Tingye's future plans, but focused on the content of the upcoming observation - military science!
Speaking of the military science department, we have to mention Wang Ye, the second grandson of Wang Ruofu's second uncle.

With the help of Yang Wenyuan, he was registered in the Wucheng Bingmasi, and later he took a good horse from the Yang family stable. Now he has made it to the palace examination for military service.

Of course, although it is called the palace examination, it is obvious that a hastily held military examination would not be one in which the emperor himself would serve as the chief examiner to watch a group of soldiers wielding swords and guns.

Not to mention that there is nothing to test, just talking about safety alone, it is worth considering.

What if one of the candidates suddenly got crazy and shot an arrow at the emperor during the archery competition? Not to mention whether he would hit the target, let alone whether the arrow was shot or not.

As long as there is a sign of drawing a bow and shooting an arrow, things will get serious.

Therefore, based on the consideration of everyone's benefit, the military palace examination was not supervised by the emperor himself. Instead, the examination venue was set up in the Forbidden Army Training Ground surrounded by high walls, and was jointly administered by the Ministry of War and the Privy Council.

The chief examiners were the Director of the Privy Council and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.

The exam content is divided into physical fitness and literature.

Physical fitness is divided into physical skills (lifting stone pillars) and archery (mounted shooting and foot shooting).

As for why there is no weapons competition, it is naturally because it is not needed.

Now the troops on the battlefield are divided into two categories: cavalry and infantry, those with melee weapons and those with ranged weapons.

With this classification method, the physical fitness and archery skills mentioned above have already completed the test.

As for the competition of melee weapons, it is really unnecessary.

Even if he passed the military examination, he would only be a low-level military officer. If he did not have superb archery skills, he would still have to fight among the soldiers on the front line. As for whether he had mastered superb spear or sword skills, it did not matter.

As long as you can carry it and have some strength, it'll be fine.

No matter how superb your marksmanship or swordsmanship is, it will be of little use in cold weapon and large-scale group combat, so there is no need to specifically test it.

The skills you learn from surviving on the battlefield a few times are the most useful.

Literature is a test of policy questions. Military theory is tested, and the questions are selected from the textbook "Seven Military Classics".

There are naturally some considerations behind putting physical fitness first and literature second.

This is a military examination, not an imperial examination, so literary scores are not overly important. If your physical fitness scores are really outstanding, you can get some extra points for your literary scores.

Three days later, the military examination was held.

In the parade ground, on the central stand, there was a chair facing north and south, which represented the emperor’s personal presence (he was not there in person, but his gesture was there).

In the imperial examination, one pays homage to the Great Sage and Teacher; in the military examination, one pays homage to the emperor.

The examination officially began after the two chief examiners led the invigilating officials and martial arts candidates present to pay their respects to the "emperor".

The first item is to carry a stone pillar.

At the edge of the training ground, there was a row of stone pillars, each with a weight of 60 jin, 70 jin, 80 jin, and so on.

It looked very much like the scenes of conscription at the city gate that Yang Wenyuan had seen in TV dramas before.

If we consider the content of this military exam, Yang Wenyuan exerted some influence on Yang Yuqing...

And what about Yang Wenyuan?

He was sitting at a wooden table at this time, and began to call out names from the account book in his hand:

"Zhang San!"

"John Doe!"

"Wang Wu!"

"..."

As Yang Wenyuan shouted, a group of thin men soon came to him and lined up. Then, led by Yang Wenyuan, they went to carry the stone pillars nearby.

After Yang Wenyuan finished shouting, Changbai also stood up and shouted:
"Zhang Si!"

"Li San!"

"..."

Then another group of people came over.

In front of the stone-lifting examination room, Yang Wenyuan directed the examinees one by one to start lifting the stone-lifting, and then recorded everyone's score in the account book:
"C up!"

"Secondary B!"

"Under Armor!"

"..."

Yang Wenyuan was recording with a frown on his face, feeling annoyed:
"We are here to observe politics, but shouldn't we be here to be invigilators? Shouldn't we be walking around the examination room, humming here and coughing there, to prevent people from cheating in the exam?"

How come you have become a miserable registrar now?'

Yang Wenyuan seriously suspected that some cabinet minister or scholar from the Hanlin Academy was jealous of him because he was so young and outstanding, so he did such a "unscrupulous" thing just to embarrass him and have fun.

Yang Wenyuan felt even more unhappy when he thought about having to go to the archery department to look at the targets after finishing the stone-carrying test.

'Temporary workers have no human rights!'

It is said that contract workers and outsourced workers in public institutions who are not on the payroll are the most miserable. The situation of the new scholars participating in the selection of scholars at this time is not much different.

After passing the palace examination, he was not granted any official title, nor did he have the title of Shujishi. It is not an exaggeration to say that he was a person with "three nothings".

So close to the "Prime Minister", yet so far away!

Soon, this team finished the exam, and Yang Wenyuan recorded everyone's results one by one, and then went back to the original place to lead another team over.

The military examination was newly opened this time, and the admission line for the previous provincial examination was very loose, so there were many people participating in the palace examination. And because of someone's bad taste, only Yang Wenyuan and other people who participated in the museum selection were allowed to take the test, which resulted in Yang Wenyuan having to lead more than one team of people.

After calling for someone to come out, Yang Wenyuan caught a glimpse of a group of people still standing in the distance, and his eyes went dark.

"Who on earth is this unlucky guy who is so wicked!"

"Ah sneeze~!"

At this moment, in the Privy Council, Yang, who looked tired and slightly pale, suddenly sneezed.

"How strange! I am strong and healthy, but why do I suddenly feel cold? Wait... could it be that it happened last night..."

Thinking of this, Yang Yuqing rubbed his nose and drank the wolfberry tea in his hand.

Yang Yuqing smacked his lips and rubbed his waist, his expression still unsatisfied:

"The taste is a little bland, I'll try grabbing a handful next time."

Soon, after a busy morning, all the candidates had finished taking the exams.

After a quick lunch, we continued with the archery test.

The archery competition was held in a courtyard vacated by the imperial guards. In the sandy courtyard, a target was erected near the wall. The candidates stood fifty steps away (about thirty meters) and shot a total of five arrows.

Drawing a bow and shooting an arrow not only tests the examinee's archery skills, but also tests his physical strength and endurance.

Those who hit four or more arrows are called A, those who hit two or three arrows are called B, those who hit only one arrow are called C, and those who miss even one arrow are eliminated directly.

Many people who were carrying stone pillars in the morning packed up their bedding and went home.

I don’t know how some people passed the provincial exam. They have thick arms and thin legs and can’t even lift the smallest stone pier.

Since it is archery, in addition to recording the results, there must be someone standing next to the target to report the target at any time.

This requires a combination of two.

Yang Wenyuan naturally partners with Changbai.

Considering that Changbai had never practiced martial arts, Yang Wenyuan, as his brother-in-law, took the lead and decided to nominate two targets himself and one target by Changbai, and they would take turns.

My brother-in-law’s life is also a life!

Just now, Yang Wenyuan saw several guys holding bows and stroking them with curiosity.

This scene made Yang Wenyuan want to curse in his heart.

You're here to participate in a martial arts exam, not a treasure appraisal conference. Why are you so curious about bows?

Don't tell me you haven't touched a bow before!
This is actually okay.

After all, they might not even be able to shoot arrows, let alone worry about hitting someone.

Yang Wenyuan is afraid of those half-baked people.

For example, several of the people around him now drew their bows and arrows and began to aim at the targets, but when Yang Wenyuan saw their slightly trembling arms, his heart sank again.

"You are in a good position to shoot, but if your hands and feet tremble when you shoot, the shot may go astray..."

All I can say is that the world is just a makeshift team.

Especially in a country like the Great Zhou that values ​​culture over military, the military examination is of utmost importance.

Seeing this, Yang Wenyuan could only comfort himself:

"It's okay. It's good to be able to participate. "

However, senior officials are not completely unaware of this consideration.

For example, the two sets of plate armor placed on the table next to it are to prevent people from shooting randomly.

(End of this chapter)