Great Zhou Wensheng

Chapter 24, a story spanning ten years, caused a sensation throughout the city!

"Boom~!"

"Boom~!"

"Boom~!"

The three tolling of the Confucian temple bell ripped through the sky, causing the bluestone slabs in every street and alley of Jiangyin County to tremble slightly.

The glazed tiles of the teahouses and taverns rustled, and the water splashed on the moat, startling the patrolling guards who drew their goose-feather sabers from their waists.

"When the Confucian Temple resounds three times, an article will surely emerge from the county!"

"Today is the county examination! Could it be that the county examination has produced a candidate for the highest imperial examination?"

Someone on the street corner suddenly exclaimed.

It should be noted that this is a poem that only comes out of Jiangyin once every ten years, and in the past, almost all of them were written by scholars and those who passed the imperial examinations.

During the county examination, Meng Sheng wrote an essay that was "out of the county," which was unprecedented in the history of Jiangyin County.

As the three bells of the Confucian Temple resounded, their melodious sound carried for hundreds of miles.

Talent surged within the county, and the concentration of talent within the county at least doubled.

However, the extraordinary phenomenon of bursting forth with talent will only occur on the day the bell of the Confucian Temple rings, and the next day will return to normal.

Within the city, strange phenomena erupted wherever the sound of the bells reached.

The stone plaques at the gates of all twenty-seven wards have the aura of "earthly grace" emanating from the cracks in the plaques.

A hundred-year-old withered willow by the river sprouts a string of pale yellow buds, and patches of lush green philodendrons emerge from the cracks in the blue bricks, the grasses growing luxuriantly.

"Pfft~!"

Under the eaves of the county government office, several guard birds emerged from between the roof tiles. These pure white birds, with their red tail feathers and red beaks carrying fragments of poems, chirped as they swept across the streets and alleys.

The rubbings of "Primer of Prosody" and "Thousand Character Classic" in various bookstores made a "rustling" sound on their own, even without wind.

Hidden deep within the dusty bookshelves of the South Street Bookstore, amidst mountains of elementary rubbings, a low-level "paper spirit" stretches out a page, greedily absorbing the sudden burst of talent in the air.

"My books have come to life!"

The old shopkeeper staggered in shock and grabbed the door frame for support.

"Look! It really is the academy's examination hall, with unusual glowing light!"

"There must be a divinely ordained scholar among them!"

In the teahouse, many tea drinkers stared in surprise at the direction of the county college, where a dazzling cloud of five-colored light rose.

South City.

Above the city gate,

A wave of talent, stirred by the tolling of the bell at the Confucian Temple, swept across the sky and echoed for hundreds of miles in the Jiangyin sky.

This surge of talent, like ripples on water, reverberated and crashed against the ancient, gray-blue city walls of Jiangyin.
The waves crashed against the shore, and the sound of the water shook the years of grime from between the stone crenellations.

The midnight drum at the city gate tower resounded with a muffled thud.

The garrison commander Wang Feng's expression changed.
But then, from the cracks in the blue bricks beneath their feet, a wealth of talent accumulated over a century seemed to gush forth.
"General, look at the banners!"

The guards exclaimed in surprise.

General Wang Feng was shocked to see that the flagpoles on the city wall suddenly moved with the energy waves, and in the aftershocks of the bell, the flagpoles bent into a full moon shape.

The moment the third bell of the Confucian Temple rang out, all the flags and spears turned around with a clang, their cold iron tips slicing through the twilight and pointing in unison towards the county school.

"The three resounding sounds at the Confucian Temple actually stirred up a tide of talent between heaven and earth?"

Wang Feng was amazed.

The soldiers below the watchtower were already in complete chaos.

"Brothers, close the city gates!"
Our Jiangyin County Academy has produced a prodigy, whose talent has skyrocketed! Tonight's a holiday, let's all go to the county academy and join in the fun!

Wang Feng roared.

"Let's go~!"

The hordes of armed and armored soldiers guarding the city cheered.

East gate.

Under the Vermilion Bird Bridge,

In the quiet blue stone bridge archway, a stone beast that has suppressed the Jiangyin River for three hundred years, upon hearing the tolling of the bell, exudes the talent accumulated over decades.

Ancient vines and ferns climbed all over the cracks in the bridge piers, growing rapidly in an instant. Each vine leaf absorbed the essence of heaven and earth, and absorbed the essence of the sun and moon, trying to cultivate into an ancient vine spirit as soon as possible.

West Market. Inside the blacksmith's shop.

"Dang~!"

When Zhang the blacksmith's meteor hammer struck the red-hot plowshare, the flying iron sparks suddenly condensed in mid-air into a "fire spirit" hammer shadow, as if aided by the god Zhurong.

"What happened?"

The blacksmith was shocked and immediately dropped his hammer, rushing out of the blacksmith's shop and into the street.

However, the entire West Market was already bustling with noise and chatter.

"Only one article published out of the county every ten years is a rare and joyous occasion in our Jiangyin County!"

"Let's go check out the county school!"

Butcher Zhang, who sells pork, and Xu Erniang, who runs a cloth shop, were all beaming with joy as they jostled and pushed each other toward the county college.

At this moment, even thirty or fifty miles north of Jiangyin County, on a desolate mound with grass three feet high, the sound of bells can still be heard.

A tomb raider is digging away underground with a Luoyang shovel at the tomb of a wealthy family, searching for the lost ancient book, the "Burial Diagram" from the "Treatise on Literature" in the Book of Han.

Holding the "soul-driving incense" recorded in the "Huainan Wanbishu", he rummaged through a pile of bones and opened the bronze burial box.

Suddenly, three loud noises were heard from the Confucian Temple, so loud that the walls of the ancient tomb almost cracked.

He was so frightened that his face turned ashen, and he collapsed onto the crushed terracotta pot.

"Damn! You scared the hell out of me!"

The thief cursed angrily, then calmed down.

"By the way, today is the county-level examination for candidates in the imperial examinations. The temple suddenly resounded three times; could it be that a candidate has passed the examinations and written an essay that will be accepted?"

He decisively dropped the shovel, crawled out of the ancient tomb, clutching half a stick of incense stick, and headed straight for the county town.

"Alright, no more digging tonight! Let's go to the county school exam hall to see what's going on and soak up some of that scholarly atmosphere!"

under night.

The entire city of Jiangyin seemed to have been thrown into a raging furnace of literary culture, with the surging talent spreading like a spring tide.

The Great Zhou Dynasty conferred sainthoods based on literature and morality.
The article's "leaving the county" is a top priority for the county.

Jiangyin County has thus gained another well-known poem, which can be incorporated into the literary tradition to continuously inspire talent and elevate the overall literary level of Jiangyin County.

Whether they are scholars, people from all walks of life, petty thieves, commoners, or even plant spirits that absorb talent, almost all living beings will benefit from it.

Within the city of Jiangyin, there were numerous powerful and influential families.

Han Fu, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

A celebratory banquet had already been prepared in the mansion to celebrate Han Yugui's achievement as the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Upon hearing the three sounds of the Confucian Temple, the old man Han Mingyuan, leaning on his cane, excitedly walked out of the mansion.

"The three resounding sounds at the Confucian Temple—this must be my grandson Yu Gui, possessing such extraordinary talent! No one else could possibly do it. Let's go fetch my grandson!"

The vermilion gates of the Han family mansion burst open with a bang, and more than twenty members of the Han family followed closely behind, carrying glass lanterns, illuminating half of the long alley as if it were daytime.

The Cao family mansion outside the three alleys presents a completely different scene.

The servants and maids were also preparing a banquet for the child prodigy.

"Three resounding jeers at the Confucian Temple, a divine judgment upon the young scholar! Haha~, my son Cao An, you truly deserve these three resounding jeers!"

Cao's father was taken aback when he heard this, then burst into laughter.

"Prepare the sedan chair, let's go to the county school!"

Dozens of servants from the Cao family filed out, carrying torches, and headed towards the county academy.

The area in front of the county school was already teeming with people.

Under the banners of teahouses in Jiangyin City, countless people carrying lanterns flocked to the streets to watch the excitement at the county college.

"I wonder which young master wrote this essay about leaving the county?!"

"It goes without saying, it must be Young Master Han Yugui. He composed the poem 'Ode to Bamboo' at the age of six, and his reputation as a child prodigy from Jiangyin has long been known throughout Jiangzhou Prefecture!"

"That's hard to say, it's quite possible that it's Young Master Cao An!"

Outside the vermilion-lacquered bronze gate, a large, noisy crowd had gathered, waiting for the results of the county examination for the young candidates to be announced.

However, the county academy remains closed, with dozens of yamen runners in black boots guarding the gates, wielding stern rods.

The five chief and deputy examiners were still busy grading the papers and had not yet finalized the list of thirty students to be admitted.

(End of this chapter)