More and more students wearing scholar's robes and carrying book boxes walked in slowly.
The square of the College of Arts was extremely wide. A few students walked steadily, but most of them walked in a disorderly manner, slowly walking towards where Fang Yun and the others were.
The county examination is the first hurdle for scholars. It is full of hope, but also extremely cruel.
This year, the number of students admitted to Jing State has more than doubled compared to last year, but only about 200 students are selected from 30,000 to 40,000 people, which is no less than a huge army trying to cross a single-plank bridge.
They are a little timid, a little worried, a little nervous, but they are unstoppable.
Fang Yun stood in the middle of the officials and said slowly: "Although the steps are disordered, the ambition is not lost! This is the student of my human race, good!"
Shen Ming smiled and said, "These children are like the rising sun. They are the hope of our Jing country and the hope of our human race."
"I really hope that Ning'an County will produce a great talent like County Magistrate Fang, and it would be best if he is also a four-time Jinshi!" Tao Dingnian said with a smile.
"That's impossible. A talent like Fang Xusheng can't be produced just by thinking of it. Speaking of the four fellow Jinshi, Lord Fang, have the official titles been prepared?" Yu Bachi asked.
Fang Yun said: "The Ministry of Rites said that I am a virtual saint, and the official title plaque cannot be an ordinary wooden plaque. It needs to be specially made. It should be delivered in a few days."
If officials officially take to the streets, not only will a gong be sounded in front of the team, but there will also be people holding iron chains, wooden sticks, golden pumpkins, etc., and they must also hold up signs saying "Silence" and "Avoid", and then there will be signs saying their official titles.
The original official title plates only wrote the official titles conferred by the Ming court. For example, Fang Yun’s official title plate read “County Magistrate”, “Duke of the State” and “Cabinet Counselor”, but later on, official title plates of civil service status were gradually added.
The top scorer in the case, the most talented student, the first place in the provincial examination, the first place in the imperial examination, the top scorer and the capital of the country can all be given official title badges, but they are generally called literary title badges. In addition, official title badges can be added to the ranks from Shengqian Tongsheng to Shengqian Jinshi, and from Quanjia Tongsheng to Quanjia Jinshi.
After that, there are positions or titles recognized by the Holy Academy, such as Poet Madman, Blood-soaked Scholar, Son of the Heavenly Tree, and Fang Yun's Poet Ancestor and Void Saint. They can all be given official title plates, and the latter two are large official title plates.
Because Fang Yun made Ning'an County a pilot for the Criminal Court, Engineering Court and Medical Court, he also became a "walking officer" in each of the three courts and also had an official title badge.
For ordinary people, getting one or two extra official title cards is rare. Even for the level of the four great talents, there are only seven or eight extra official title cards. But Fang Yun is different. He already has more than ten official title cards.
Ordinary official title plates are easy to make, but the process of making the two official title plates for Shizu and Xusheng is very complicated. The best craftsmen in Jingguo are needed, not only carpenters and lacquer craftsmen, but also jewelers and goldsmiths are needed to help, and the Minister of Literature needs to write "Shizu" and "Xusheng" personally.
The Ministry of Rites spent more than two months just preparing and selecting the materials. If nothing goes wrong, those official title plaques will be delivered to Fang Yun in a few days.
Fang Yun planned to put the official title cards directly into the Yinjiangbei after receiving them. There was no need to use them. Although official title cards were one of the criteria for measuring a person's status, Fang Yun no longer needed this method to set off himself. After all, it was too exaggerated to throw more than 20 official title cards on the street, which was more eye-catching than the monarch's guard of honor.
At this time, many candidates have approached, and most of them are excited and nervous. However, it is not because of the imperial examination, but because of Fang Yun.
In the eyes of scholars, Fang Yun's status is higher than that of a monarch! He is more famous than a great scholar!
The candidates present may have shortcomings of one kind or another, or may not have read the books of a certain great scholar, or may not know the character of a certain monarch, but no one has not read Fang Yun's poems and essays. Many people have even memorized Fang Yun's poems and essays.
In terms of poetry and writing, Fang Yun has become their spiritual mentor and is irreplaceable!
Since this is an examination room and the occasion is rather special, it is not convenient for these candidates to perform grand formalities. After approaching, they just bow quickly to express their respect for the other party.
Fang Yun nodded slightly as a return gesture.
Suddenly, Shen Ming said in a sarcastic tone, "County Magistrate Fang is a rare genius, but why didn't he guide the students of Ning'an County before the Tongsheng Examination? Does he look down on us Ning'an people?"
Everyone was stunned. Shen Ming didn't say it earlier or later, but just said it before the worship of all the saints and after the candidates approached. It was obvious that he had planned it for a long time.
Theoretically, the imperial examination had not officially started at that time, so Shen Ming's remarks were not against etiquette and there was no way to catch him.
Some officials laughed secretly. If Fang Yun was caught by Shen Ming in the imperial examination, his notoriety would be extremely bad.
Fang Yun smiled and said, "I asked Wen Yuanjun for the list of this year's candidates the other day, but he has not given it to me yet. How can I guide the candidates without the list?"
Everyone looked at Ning'an County Lord Wen Gu who was beside Fang Yun.
“Uh…” Wen Gu was stunned when he saw so many people looking at him.
Fang Yun had requested a list of all scholars in Ning'an County long ago, but Wen Gu, as a member of the Left Prime Minister's party, naturally did not want Fang Yun to get this list, so he kept delaying it on the pretext that the copying was slow. He never expected that Fang Yun would suddenly use this excuse to counterattack Shen Ming and attack him.
If it were an ordinary occasion, Wen Gu could refute Fang Yun in various ways. After all, he, Wen Gu, was the Lord of the Court. But now that the county examination was about to be held, he could not speak carelessly, as Fang Yun could easily take the opportunity to punish him severely, or even remove him from the position of Lord of the Court.
Wen Gu could only say: "There are a lot of scholars in the county, and tens of thousands of copies have been copied so far. It will take some time."
Yu Ba Chi immediately asked, "If that's the case, should Shen Zhubu reprimand Wen Yuanjun?"
Shen Ming coughed lightly and said, "Lord Wen is in charge of the education of an entire county. If he said it would take time, then it would take time. However, one of the ten subjects in the palace examination is 'education'. It is a bit unreasonable for County Magistrate Fang to not take care of the candidates of an entire county at all."
Some candidates looked at Shen Ming with disgust. Shen Ming was notorious in Ning'an County and was obviously using this to attack Fang Yun. However, some candidates were puzzled because Shen Ming said that Fang Yun really didn't seem to care about the candidates in Ning'an County.
Fang Yun smiled slightly, looking at the endless stream of examinees coming in, and asked with a swift tongue: "Examinees, have you ever been to Fang's Library?"
The candidates were stunned for a moment, and then more than half of them shouted, "I've been there!"
When it comes to new things like libraries, scholars have always been unwilling to lag behind.
Fang Yun asked again: "Have you ever read my Three Character Classic?"
"I have read it!" This time the candidates did not remain stunned, but answered loudly directly, with nearly 30,000 people shouting at the same time.
"Have you read the Fox Rhymes I just published?"
"I've read it!" This time even the candidates who were undergoing physical examination outside shouted, accounting for more than 90% of the candidates.
Fox's Rhymes is a simple basic reading material on rhyme. Those who have passed the imperial examination or have a higher literary rank do not need to read it, but it is a must-learn book for children and students.
As soon as "Fox Rhymes" was introduced by Rainbow, it was designated as a textbook by the Holy Academy, and any academy could force students to study it. For this book that claims to increase the chance of poetry "going out of the county" by 30%, all the readers naturally did not let it go, especially those who participated in the county examination, who had already bought it as soon as possible.
Fang Yun smiled and said nothing.
If these are not considered to educate the candidates, then no one in the world is qualified to be a teacher.
Shen Ming stood there, being stared at with mockery by many examinees, his face burning. (To be continued...)
ps: Oh, I forgot to mention the last two chapters.
The Qidian server failed last night, and many authors were unable to update, including me. So I went to bed early, and the first two chapters were updated during the day today.