Although the world is in chaos in the north, it is not affected much compared to a safe Guangdong. In addition to the increase in refugees, it is still running and dancing.

In November last year, Zhu Hongsan, the governor of Guangdong, issued an edict. On the first day of the second year of Hongguang, the provincial examination was officially held in Guangzhou. Scholars in Guangdong were all excited after hearing the news.

The world is in chaos. The provincial examinations in Guangzhou have been suspended for six years since the 14th year of Chongzhen. Now I heard that since the provincial examinations were held, scholars from all over the countryside gathered in Guangzhou before the New Year to wait for the provincial examinations to begin.

The tribute courtyard in Guangzhou is located in the northwest corner of Guangzhou City, which is near Wenming Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou in later generations. The tribute courtyard is one of the four major tribute courtyards in China. The tribute courtyard was first built in the Southern Song Dynasty and was burned down by war after the Mongols and Yuan dynasties entered the Central Plains. In the 25th year of Hongwu, the tribute courtyard was rebuilt on the basis of the tribute courtyard in the Southern Song Dynasty. After the renovation of the Jiajing and Wanli dynasties, there are now more than 5,000 digits.

Tong Yangjia stayed at home after the budget meeting of the 16th day of the first lunar month to prepare for the provincial examination ceremony on the first day of the second lunar month. This provincial examination is different from usual. The selected juren basically have to be an official. Although Tong Yangjia is now a third-rank official, as a literati, it is a great regret in life that he has not won the imperial examination.

Tong Yangjia has been deceiving guests in the past two days and has adjusted his mindset to prepare for the exam. Tong Yangjia is fifty-three this year. After leaving Liaodong, he has been in exile for nearly twenty years. He didn't expect that he will have the opportunity to take the Juren exam today. It's really a blessing to be a good person.

Just as Tong Yangjia was feeling emotion, someone came in outside the courtyard and said softly outside the door: "Master, the Yin hour is here, it's time to set off!"

This is the voice of Tong Fu, the butler of Tong's mansion. Tong Yangjia's home is next to the temporary Chu King's Mansion. It was also a house of a sugar merchant before. Zhu Hongsan gave Tong Yangjia. Tong Yangjia's home is in the north city, which is a distance from the Gongyuan, so he had to get up early to rush.

Tong Yangjia changed into a new linen long gown and a square scarf, indicating that he was a scholar, brought the certificate issued by Dongguan County and opened the door and came out.

Seeing the butler Tong Fu standing at the door, Tong Yangjia asked, "Are you ready?"

"Yes, Master! The sedan chair is at the door, please get into the sedan chair!"

Tong Yangjia came to the gate, and the whole family was there. Xuxian Dong and his concubine Xu stood at the gate, and his two sons also got up. Seeing Tong Yangjia come out, all the family said together: "I wish you success and a victory!"

Tong Yangjia smiled, reported to Xu's youngest son and kissed him, and said, "Everyone is waiting for my good news!" After that, he went out to get into a sedan chair and rushed to the tribute courtyard.

Tong Yangjia is now a Hanlin bachelor, a member of the cabinet, and a third-rank official. He is extremely majestic when going out. However, Zhu Hongsan told him that if you want to take the imperial examination, you should rely on your own ability and not do any evil ways. Therefore, Tong Yangjia didn't need any other things. He only brought two family members and sat in a sedan carrying two people to the tribute court.

It was Mao time that the Gongyuan was released. When Tong Yangjia came, the square in front of the Gongyuan gate was already full of people. Tong Yangjia got out of the sedan chair in the distance and said to Tong Fu: "You go back, pick me up in three days!"

"Yes, Master, this is a food box and a quilt prepared. The lady said that it is still very cold in February, so let Master pay attention to his health!"

Tong Yangjia nodded, took the package and food box, and Tong Fu took people back home.

Tong Yangjia stood in the square and looked around, found the license plate of Guangzhou Prefecture, and stood behind. At this time, there were more than 500 people in the Guangzhou Prefecture team. Tong Yangjia was over 50 years old this year, but he was not the oldest among the crowd. There was also a person who looked like he was seventy years old. It seemed that the temptation of the imperial examination was still very great. Thinking about it, as long as he passed the Juren, he would immediately become the ruling class, so there was a saying that the Jin Juren and the Yin Jinshi were in the countryside.

After waiting for a while, the sky turned white, the gate of the Gongyuan opened, and a group of soldiers came out. These were the officers and soldiers who maintained order today, and they were all borrowed from the Guangzhou garrison.

The first one to enter in order was Guangzhou Prefecture, the second one was Chaozhou Prefecture, and the third one was Zhaoqing Prefecture. The official at the door shouted: "Captain from Guangzhou Prefecture, come here and search for me!"

Tong Yangjia followed the crowd and searched his body one by one and entered the tribute courtyard.

At this time, the small official said: "Dear students, this year, His Highness the King of Chu, the Supervisor, has held a provincial examination. Everyone should take the exam based on their real skills. The Supervisor has strict orders. Those who cheat will be disqualified from the qualification of scholars and will not be allowed to take the exam again in their lives. Listen to you, now I will give you the last chance to throw away all the cheating tools and books you have prepared. Don't blame me for being rude if you find it out later!"

After the little official finished speaking, several people from the crowd came out of the team and came to the side to discard the cheating tools he brought with him.

Tong Yangjia sneered in his heart when he saw this. These guys really don’t know how to write the word “death”. However, Tong Yangjia doesn’t have to worry about cheating or not, because he was prepared. Feng Ziyong, who is in charge of the Ministry of Rites, has a good relationship with Tong Yangjia, and he has already finished calling the call. He must be fine this time.

Tong Yangjia followed the team confidently and came to the front, and it was his turn to search the next one.

The little official at the door saw Tong Yangjia coming, and sneered, stepped forward and said, "I'll search for this!"

Tong Yangjia looked up and was shocked. He was about to be unlucky. The little official in front of him was Ma Jiyuan's second son Ma Shaoji.

After Ma Shaoji and Zhu Hongsan came to Guangdong, they worked with his father. Because he was also a scholar-in-law. A few years ago, Zhu Hongsan had insufficient talents under him, so Ma Shaoji was taken to Zhaoqing to be a county magistrate to manage military farming work. Unexpectedly, when he returned to Guangdong, Tong Yangjia secretly complained that it was bad, and it would be unlucky to fall into his hands.

It turned out that Ma Mingyuan knew that Tong Yangjia was going to take the imperial examination. He originally wanted to make this a mess through Feng Ziyong, but he didn't expect that Feng Ziyong and Tong Yangjia are now in honeymoon period, so he did not agree. Ma Mingyuan used his rights to transfer his nephew who was a county magistrate back and arranged it to the Guangdong Xuezong Yamen to be a sixth rank. At the same time, he told him to deal with Tong Yangjia well.

Ma Shaoji smiled and asked without a smile, "Isn't this Mr. Tong? Why are you not a Jinshi?"

Ma Shaoji's words made Tong Yangjia's face flushed. Tong Yangjia said: "The State of Resident has restored my identity as a scholar. I am here to take the imperial examination. Why does Lord Ma have any questions about the State of Resident's edict?"

"I don't dare, but since Lord Tong has participated in the provincial examination, he has to follow the normal rules and take off his clothes!"

"Why take off your clothes!"

"I want to search my body to prevent you from sucking it!"

Tong Yangjia pointed to the few picks beside him and asked, "Why don't they need to search?"

"That's because I trust them, but you, Lord Tong, are not a good person at first glance. I want to search your body! Do you want to take the exam? If you don't want to search, you can't take the exam!"

Tong Yangjia had no choice but to listen to him when it fell into someone's hands. Tong Yangjia took off his long gown and signaled that it was OK.

Ma Shaoqi shook his head, "No, take off again, take off all of them!"

Tong Yangjia had no choice but to continue taking off, and in the end he only had a pair of underwear left.

Ma Shaoji looked at Tong Yangjia's skinny rib chest and smiled and said, "I didn't expect that Mr. Tong is good-looking! Haha!"

"Hurry up, what's the point!"

"No, I have to take off my underwear. I suspect there is something hidden in your underwear."

Tong Yangjia was so helpless that he whispered: "Ma Shaoji, don't force people too much!"

"Sir Tong, these are all normal procedures. If you want to get in, just take it off!"

Tong Yangjia thought for a while and said, "Ma Shaoji, I can't take the exam at a big age, but I am still a cabinet master. Be careful not to fall into my hands in the future, so that you can't live or die!"

After all, Ma Shaoji is young and has little political experience. He is the old and sloppy opponent of Tong Yangjia. Seeing Tong Yangjia get angry, he is also very scared, afraid that Tong Yangjia will take the opportunity to take revenge in the future. He forgot that the Ma family has become more powerful than Tong Yangjia. No matter what Ma Shaoji does now, Tong Yangjia will definitely not spare him in the future if the Ma family is unlucky.

Ma Shaoji was afraid that Tong Yangjia would take revenge, so he did not insist on letting him take off his body. He waved his hand and signaled that Tong Yangjia could go in.

Tong Yangjia glared at Ma Shaoji, put on his clothes and walked into the tribute courtyard.

After entering the Gongyuan, there is a stone road. On both sides of the road are number rooms, each row of twenty numbers, and they are arranged in a thousand-character text. Guangzhou Prefecture is divided into 800 numbers from Tianzi to Frost. Tong Yangjia came in early and found a good seat to sit in. This number room is in the middle, and it is not a manure number or on both sides. The wind cannot blow the rain and cannot come in. The number room is only one meter and two deep, and there are two boards. The first board can be lifted up as a table, and you can put it down to sleep at night.

Tong Yangjia looked pretty good. Guangdong’s climate was warm, which was much better than taking the scholar in Liaodong back then. However, it only took one day to take the scholar, but it took three days to take the provincial exam.

Tong Yangjia was injured when he was wandering around the world. He was beaten by Zhu Hongsan in Huguang that year. In recent years, when the weather was cold, his legs began to hurt. He took out the wolf-skin mattress his wife brought, half of it was covered with half on his legs, which was very warm.

At this time, the sun had already come out, and Tong Yangjia's account was just up the sun, and the sunlight entered the account and was very warm. Examinations were coming in one after another. There were many candidates who came to take the exam this year, with about 5,000 people, and the account rooms were gradually full. A few unlucky ones were assigned to the feces account. Not to mention the exam, they couldn't breathe. It seemed that they were going to take the exam again this year.

As noon approached, the Guangdong Xuezhengyamen prepared lunch for the first time, with two steamed buns and a plate of pickles for each person. However, Tong Yangjia could eat these. He opened the food box and took out the cold food prepared at home, which were all made of beef, white-cut chicken and other food, and the steamed buns were also unique. The soldier at the door of the door was very depressed when he saw the old man taking out four or five dishes to eat. He was here to take the exam or have a picnic.
Chapter completed!