Great Zhou Wensheng

Chapter 23: Dao Heart Collapse
County College.

Inside the blue brick courtyard, more than a thousand examination sheds are densely packed together.

The night sky was pitch black, with lightning flashing and thunder roaring—but all that could be heard was thunder, and no rain fell.

"The Confucian temple bell tolls three times! Could this be...?"

"The legendary 'leaving the county'?"

The remaining hundred or so young scholars in blue robes were dumbfounded, as if they had been frozen in place, their minds blank.

Some people clutched the exam papers until their knuckles turned white, while others stared blankly at their papers, on the verge of tears.

Those who had finished the exam and those who hadn't all stopped writing abruptly.

I'm so tired of losing!
"The sacred bell tolls three times in succession?"

In a corner of the courtyard, in a T-shaped examination room, an elderly scholar in a crimson robe suddenly had tears welling up in his eyes. He prostrated himself on the ground, his forehead slamming heavily against the cold stone slab. "Zhang, after fifty years of taking the imperial examinations, to actually witness my classmate's miraculous achievement in the examination hall is enough for my entire life!"

"The Confucian temple bell tolls three times. Is this the birthplace of an essay that will be published beyond the county?!"

Li Yunxiao heard the sound of bells ringing out one after another.

From ecstasy to terror.

If it were just a single ring, he might suspect that it was his carefully crafted poem "Clouds and Sky" that had accidentally triggered the bell at the county Confucian temple.

Even after the second chime, he was still able to feign composure.

By the time the third chime of the bell had passed, his face had turned deathly pale.

Although Li Yunxiao was arrogant, he was self-aware. He knew that his article could only reach the level of "hearing about the village" at most, not even "visiting the town", let alone "leaving the county"!
With three consecutive bangs, it was absolutely impossible for him to enjoy such a grand treatment.

Cool!

He was the top student in the imperial examination!

That's all!

"The three bangs at the Confucian Temple... I hate it!"
Such a stunning piece of writing, why wasn't it written by me, Li Yunxiao? What's wrong with my "Boat Falls into the Mirror's Sky"?

At this moment, Li Yunxiao was overcome with grief, biting his teeth until he tasted blood, feeling his Dao heart completely collapse.

Li Yunxiao was not the only one whose Dao heart collapsed.

Examination Room No. 6, Class A

The expression of absolute confidence and aloofness on Han Yugui's face froze completely the moment he heard the bell.

In the last moments of sunset.

The three chimes of the Confucian temple bell shattered all his fantasies of passing the county examination and achieving the highest honors.

"Blanching!"

A metallic taste rose in Han Yugui's throat, he spat it out, and closed his eyes in despair.

Last night he boasted to his grandfather that he would ask the Han family to prepare a celebratory banquet for the top scholar in the imperial examination. He has really embarrassed himself!

Examination Room No. 3, Class A.

"It's over!"

Cao An slammed his fist on the table in frustration, his hair, which had been tied up with a blue silk ribbon, became disheveled, a bitter taste rose to his tongue, and he sighed deeply.

I've become nothing more than a foil to the top-ranked student in the imperial examination!
Jiang Xingzhou, it must be him!

He deliberately waited until the very last moment before the deadline to strike, wiping out every last one of us, the remaining members of the Jiazi Rank 80, causing a complete rout!

At this moment, the yamen runners, having calmed down, lit lamps and torches throughout the county academy, illuminating the school brightly.

The educational commissioner, Cai Chao, had already realized what was happening.

Ignoring the pale-faced and staggering magistrate Li Mo, he pointed excitedly at examination room number seven.

"Three sounds from the Confucian Temple indicate that the journey will take place outside the county!"
Who wrote the article about "leaving the county"?
Instructor Zheng Shuqian, hurry! Quickly present that exam paper!
No need to seal the bags with the names on them!

Let me see who wrote this poem!

He knew perfectly well who number seven in the Jia class was, but he asked that question on purpose.

This was deliberately said to Magistrate Li Mo—this "leaving the county" decision was made by the Confucian Temple, not by him!
The four deputy examiners—Shen Yanqing, the chief clerk; Zhou Wenyuan, the county magistrate; Cui Mingyuan, the clerk; and Zhao Tieshan, the county lieutenant—all looked excited.

"Yes!"

Instructor Zheng Shuqian hurriedly went to examination room number 7 in the Jiazi building to retrieve Jiang Xingzhou's answer sheet.

Meanwhile, other instructors and yamen runners were also collecting the exam papers of other students.

The county-level examinations of the Great Zhou Dynasty had a fixed procedure.

Five examiners, chief and deputy, each set three sets of exam questions. The deputy examiners graded the papers and checked for any overlooked geniuses. The five examiners then conducted a three-stage evaluation, ultimately determining the top three candidates, the top five students, and the thirty best students.

If you can get the [First Class] in two of the matches, you will be the top student in the preliminary examination.

If there are disagreements or disputes among the examiners, the chief examiner has the right to make the final decision.

However, there is one exception—the divine judgment of the Confucian Temple in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The Confucian Temple usually doesn't make any moves and doesn't interfere with the county examinations.

However, once a divine judgment is made, it must be because of poems or articles that have been written at the county level or above.

The three chimes of the Confucian temple bell signify that the Confucian temple has made a divine decision, appointing a top student as the best candidate in the imperial examinations! Everything is done in accordance with the divine decision.

The chief and deputy examiners would then lose the right to grade the papers.

No matter how well other students did in the exams, or how many of them got top marks, none of them could compare to this essay that was submitted to the county.

Poems and articles of "extra-county" quality are to be engraved on bronze bells and tripods in the Confucian Temple to enhance the county's literary atmosphere, and may even be given a separate page in the "Jiangyin County Annals".

There's no need to annotate the exam paper with your name for the examiner to grade!

Speaking of poems written outside the county, the Great Zhou Dynasty actually produced dozens of poems written outside the county every year, which is quite a lot.

But the problem is,

The Great Zhou Dynasty had ten prefectures, three hundred and sixty counties, and one thousand five hundred counties.

On average, each county produces only one poem or article every ten to thirty years.

Even in a county like Jiangyin, a major center for imperial examinations with a flourishing literary atmosphere, it would take more than ten years for a single piece of literature to emerge.

For the local county government, this is an even greater achievement.

"One article published every ten years, even outside the county!"
We are so fortunate to have witnessed this article being written in the county examination hall!

Congratulations, Mr. Cai, on achieving such remarkable results so soon after taking office!

Chief Clerk Shen Yanqing offered his congratulations, his eyes filled with envy.

It can only be said that the previous education commissioner was extremely unlucky, having just stepped down from his post, only to be given such a great opportunity by the new education commissioner, Cai Chao.

The county education commissioner is responsible for local education and the transmission of culture and morality!
Tsai Chao deserves at least half of this achievement.

Officials are evaluated on their performance every year, and this report written outside the county is enough to make the educational commissioner Cai Chao rank among the best in the prefecture.

"Congratulations, congratulations~!"

The academic official, Cai Chao, felt guilty, but his face couldn't help but show an embarrassed smile.

At the ten-step green steps.

The old scholar Pei Jingyi stood with his hands behind his back, glanced back at the embarrassed-looking educational administrator Cai Chao, and said with a faint smile:
"Lord Cai, the peacock patch on your official robe is spreading its feathers, full of ambition."

Little did they know that deep within the clouds, a fledgling phoenix had already cried out, and soared into the sky!

"What Lord Pei says is true! I am ashamed! I was truly blind and failed to recognize the young phoenix earlier."

After Instructor Zheng brings the exam papers,

"I, along with Lord Pei and my colleagues, would like to appreciate this poem about leaving the county!"

Cai Chao cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, his face full of awkward smiles.

He meticulously crafted the three exam questions for the county examination; how could such a scheme escape the discerning eye of the Hanlin Academician, Master Pei?!
However, as the chief examiner of Jiangyin County, he was in charge of the local county college.

Master Pei was too lazy to expose his petty tricks.

Cai Su felt a little flustered.

In order for Li Sanlang to pass the imperial examination with top honors, he went to great lengths, even risking execution by leaking the exam questions.

Who would have thought that Jiang Xingzhou's essay "Leaving the County" would overshadow all the scions of prominent families?

This was "appointed" by the Confucian Temple!
Even if he wanted to use his position as the chief examiner to favor and praise Li Yunxiao's poems and essays, he was powerless to do so.

At this moment, he was filled with deep regret.

Had he known Jiang Xingzhou could write an essay for the county, he would never have accepted Magistrate Li Mo's inkstone and writing treasure last night, instead sending the three words of exam questions to Li Yunxiao, only to be tainted by the stain of cheating in the imperial examinations, without accomplishing anything.

The only benefit is that

Although he failed to help Li Sanlang (Li Yunxiao) win the top spot in the preliminary examination, he unexpectedly gained an article that was published outside the county.

This can be considered a case of losing one thing but gaining another.

(End of this chapter)