Chapter 53 Admission
Yang Shen sat upright in the carriage. Even though there was a lot of hustle and bustle outside, it did not cause the slightest ripple in his heart.

At this moment, he is terribly strong!
As if sensing something, Yang Shen opened his eyes and looked out the window, sighing in his heart: What the sage said, 'All things return to their roots' makes sense.

Ok?
Suddenly, Yang Shen's eyes widened.

Ou Zanghua, Zou Shouyi and Wang Dao were seen walking side by side past his car, followed by their servants and family members.

The three of them had sharp eyebrows, elegant demeanor, and beautiful faces. With a large group of people following them, they suddenly became the most eye-catching people in the whole street.

But it’s so cold and windy, isn’t it uncomfortable to sit in the car?

Yang Shen said he couldn't understand it, but he respected it.

There were already many juren gathered outside the Imperial Examination Hall, but since they were all scholars, they were still able to maintain basic decency.

Ou Zanghua and the other two found a sheltered location, looked at the closed gate of the Imperial Examination Hall, and waited silently.

At the same time, the officials in charge of the examinations in the Imperial Examination Hall were also busy. They had to set up an incense table in the Zhigong Hall to pay homage to Confucius. Then they had to invite the Emperor of Qiqu Wenchang Zitong to come in to preside over the examination, and then invite Lord Kuixing to come in and shine.

After going through the whole process, the eight young and energetic examiners all felt a little tired.

Fortunately, the oldest and sick examiner Li Dongyang did not have to suffer this, otherwise he would probably have to go home and lie down again.

After the ceremony in the Imperial Examination Hall was over, the Minister of Rites Liang Chu brought the imperial edict of Emperor Zhengde, announcing the start of the Xinwei Imperial Examination in the sixth year of Zhengde.

As the drums sounded, the buglers slowly opened the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall.

The soldiers outside began to change their formation and make way for the tribute hall.

Seeing this, Ou Zanghua took the test blue and blanket from Xiang Danian and said to them gently, "It's cold outside, you should go back and rest early. Don't worry about me, I have experience."

"Son."

Qu Feiyan's eyes were filled with tears. She looked at Ou Zanghua reluctantly and said, "I wish you a successful start, a brilliant writing, and a place on the list of successful candidates!"

Ou Zanghua smiled, touched Qu Feiyan's head, and replied softly: "Okay, let's watch your young master soar to the sky."

"Brother, you are Da Nian's eternal role model!" He walked towards Da Nian and said excitedly, "You can do it, Brother."

"Da Nian, practice your sword skills well. I will check on you when I come back."

After saying that, Ou Zanghua turned and walked towards the Imperial Examination Hall.

After walking for a while, Qu Feiyan saw the soldiers in front blocking the family members who were sending their children to take the exam.

She stood there, watching her own son walk past the human wall of soldiers, pass under the memorial archway with the words "Heaven Brings Good Fortune to Literature" written on it, and disappear into the crowd.

"Fei Yan, go back!" Qu Yang walked up and patted his granddaughter on the shoulder, but his eyes were fixed on the Imperial Examination Hall.

"Yeah." Qu Feiyan responded and stood there without moving.

At this moment, Ou Zanghua met up with Zou Shouyi and Wang Dao. The three of them entered the gate together and walked inside through the gate. The next gate was the ceremonial gate.

After passing the ceremonial gate, there is a dragon gate, and between the ceremonial gate and the dragon gate is the inspection passage for candidates to enter the examination room.

At the ceremonial gate, officials strictly checked the candidates against the list, asking and checking their name, place of origin, age, appearance, etc. to prevent someone from taking the exam on behalf of others.

Ou Zanghua couldn't understand it. At the stage of the imperial examination, there were still idiots who would ask someone to take the exam for them?
The key is who do you invite?
We can't ask Huang Guan, Shang Lu, or Yang Shen, right?

Speaking of Yang Shen, Yang Shen is here.

This kid was actually standing in front of the three of them. When he saw the three idiots, Yang Shen held back his smile and nodded as a greeting.

After the admission ticket is verified, the routine inspection before the exam will begin. All clothes, carry-on luggage, and test tools are within the scope of inspection. The inspection here is much stricter than the college entrance examination that Ou Zanghua has experienced. For example, clothes including shoes, cushions, bedding, rolls, curtains, etc. must be single-layer. The inkstone cannot be more than one inch thick, the pen tube must be hollow, the water cup can only be ceramic, the charcoal cannot exceed two inches, and the candlestick must be hollow.

The most speechless thing is that the cakes and other foods have to be cut open to see
Ou Zanghua looked at the pastry made by Qu Feiyan being cut into four pieces and sighed inwardly. It seemed that the predecessors had done a lot of fancy things before.

After the foreign object check, the next step is the humiliating body search for the candidates.

At the command of the inspector, everyone stood in a row of ten against the wall, barefoot in their underwear, holding clothes and socks in their hands. Each candidate was searched by two inspectors, carefully searched from head to toe, and even the bun on the top of the head was pinched.

The officials kept a close eye on the situation to prevent any mistakes.

Ou Zanghua looked at Zou Shouyi and Wang Dao, who were somewhat dissatisfied, and suddenly praised: "Brother Qianzhi, Brother Chunfu, you two have monkey backs and wasp waists, strong and handsome, strong and powerful, you really have a good physique!"

Ok? !

Zou Shouyi and Wang Dao were stunned and turned their heads to look, only to see Ou Zanghua standing straight, with six-pack abs, strong muscles and bones, and full of energy. He also had a good figure and did not care at all about being stared at.

The two of them couldn't help but straighten their backs. Since they had such great figures, being timid would be unmannerly, so they might as well show them off for everyone to see.

When the other seven people heard this, they looked at each other and found that none of them were weak and unable to take care of themselves, so why wouldn't they cooperate?

The search troops checked behind their ears and in their hair and found that this group was the most cooperative. Perhaps they thought they were too open-minded, so they did not check their nostrils like the other groups did. They just confirmed that both nostrils were clear and let them pass.

While they were getting dressed, one of the next batch of candidates to be inspected tried to be clever. The bamboo strips he used to weave the imperial indigo were double-layered. When discovered by the search troops, he was dragged out of the team.

Not only will this person be shackled at the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall for three days, but the Ministry of Rites will also deprive him of his title of Juren and he will be banned from entering the examination hall again for the rest of his life.

It's a complete disgrace!

Such a detailed inspection of more than a thousand people naturally took a lot of time. By the time the inspection was completed, the sun had already set.

Candidates entered the examination hall in batches, and the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall slowly closed. In the next nine days, the gate was not allowed to be opened under any circumstances, without exception.

In the seventh year of Tianshun in the Ming Dynasty, a fire broke out in the Imperial Examination Hall in the capital. The censors did not open the door, resulting in the tragic death of more than 90 candidates and countless others being burned.

Even in the face of such a tragedy, no minister suggested opening the gate as an exception.

Because everyone knows that if there are exceptions, someone will take advantage of them.

After completing all the procedures, Ou Zanghua carried the examination blue and bedding and walked into the tribute hall.

A wide bluestone passage faces Mingyuan Tower, the tallest building in the entire Gongyuan.

This building is the center of the entire Imperial Examination Hall and is used for inspection and supervision of examinations.

During exams, the officials in charge of examination discipline would climb up this building and look down from a high vantage point, giving them a clear view of the entire examination hall.

There are two rows of examination halls in the east and west that are shaped like long scrolls and pig pens, and each row has seventy rooms.

Each row of examination rooms was numbered using the Thousand Character Classic, and the names of seventy examinees were posted on the white wall facing the street. Once the examinees found their names, they could go to their own "pigsty" according to their name numbers, and spend the next nine days in this small examination room.

Ou Zanghua said goodbye to Zou Shouyi and Wang Dao, and then found his own examination room through the pink wall.

I was lucky enough not to be assigned to the area around the cycle of grains.

No one has used this place for three years, and the examiners only gave it a quick clean a few days in advance, so it wasn't very clean overall.

After putting down his luggage, Ou Zanghua found the rag prepared by Qu Feiyan, cleaned the room carefully, and then laid out the bedding. In this way, a simple resting place was freed up.

Ou Zanghua sat inside, silently practicing the Hengshan internal energy. When the horn soldier struck the gong, he took out the rice cooker, poured some rice into it, and gave it to the horn soldier, asking him to help cook the rice.
(End of this chapter)