Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

March 24th, Beijing.

Zhang Shikang has been a bit busy lately.

The Spring Examination was approaching, and even though he had handed over most of the work to Song Yingxing and others, there were still some things he had to decide himself.

This is not a military matter, he could just leave it to Sun Weifan, Huang Degong and others to handle. After all, military affairs are not that complicated.

Science, engineering and agriculture were completely new reforms at that time. Not only did the imperial court have no experience, but Song Yingxing and others were only good at setting questions.

All systems, processes, rules, etc. must be as perfect as possible.

After all, this concerns the expectations and future of hundreds of thousands of craftsmen in the world. Just like the college entrance examination in later generations, people work so hard just for this exam.

Zhang Shikang could be lazy about other things, but he dared not disappoint the expectations of the people of the world.

"Oh! Really, Your Majesty, can't you just let me sit idle? I don't even understand the basics, but you insist on letting me be the chief examiner."

Zhang Shikang threw the brush in his hand onto the table, collapsed on the chair tiredly and complained.

"Your Majesty has made the best use of people's talents. I'm afraid only the Duke can handle this matter. Xiao San, go and make a pot of good tea for the Duke." Song Yingxing comforted from the side.

Song Yingxing's nice words did not make Zhang Shikang happy, so Bi Maokang took over the conversation and said:

"Master, tomorrow is the Spring Examination. Remember to rest early tonight and conserve your energy!"

These words seemed to be expressing concern for Zhang Shikang, but in fact they were a careful reminder.

The reason was that although Zhang Shikang came to deal with the matters of the Spring Examination every day, he always came around noon.

This made Bi Maokang always suspect that Zhang Shikang was just here to have lunch at the Manufacturing Bureau.

But tomorrow is the Spring Examination. If I come so late again, and if something goes wrong during the Examination and there is no one in charge, it would be a bit ridiculous.

"Or...how about I not leave today and just stay here?" Zhang Shikang joked.

"Okay, I will arrange accommodation for you right away." Bi Maokang said straightforwardly.

Zhang Shikang looked helpless.

"Don't worry, I won't be late tomorrow morning. The examination hall is in the capital. If I live here, I will have to get up before dawn tomorrow morning. It's better for me to live in the capital for comfort."

The examination venue for the Jinshi degree was in the Gongyuan of the Ministry of Rites, while the examination venues for science, engineering, and agriculture were temporarily arranged in the Imperial College.

In the spring examination this year, there were a total of more than 196,000 candidates for the Jinshi degree, but since it was the first time for science and engineering subjects, there were only more than 5,000 candidates.

There are even fewer people in agricultural science, with only more than 400 people.

There are three examinations for the Jinshi degree, each lasting three days, for a total of nine days.

The format of the science and engineering and agricultural subjects was similar to that of the Jinshi examination, which also involved three examinations, but the time allocation was different.

For example, the first test of the Jinshi examination is on the interpretation of classics, and one needs to write three essays from the Four Books and four essays from the Five Classics. One has three days to do so, and the papers can be handed in early, but must be completed before the start of the second test.

The first exam for science, engineering and agriculture was about theory. After more than a month of hard work by Song Yingxing and others, 80 relevant exam questions were produced for each subject.

Zhang Shikang mainly referred to the examination contents of later generations. There were 80 examination questions in various subjects, 50 of which were in the form of short answers, 20 were in the form of reading comprehension, and 10 were policy questions.

The so-called policy questions seem to have the same meaning as the policy questions in the Jinshi examination, but there are many requirements for writing in the Jinshi examination. It requires writing in classical Chinese and in the eight-part format, etc.

Science, engineering and agricultural sciences are much simpler and more crude, somewhat similar to the application questions in later exams. The core of the exam is to solve problems rather than show off your writing.

Compared with the Jinshi exam, the first exam for science and engineering and agriculture lasts only one day.

In fact, this is already a compromise for the ancients. If it were according to later generations, eighty questions would take at most two hours.

The second exam for science and engineering took up most of the entire spring examination, a full seven days.

This is mainly because the second test is about practical operation, and the conditions at that time were very backward, such as asking carpenters to build chariots and equipment, asking blacksmiths to forge weapons, and asking firearms craftsmen to rub firearms parts by hand, etc.

The questions for the entire exam were prepared by the General Administration of Manufacturing. According to regulations, even candidates who were craftsmen were not allowed to bring any of their own tools when entering the second exam.

All the equipment used in the examination was provided by the General Manufacturing Bureau, such as hammers, furnaces and pig iron for forging weapons.

For smelting-related exam questions, the General Administration of Manufacturing provides the corresponding ores.

Seven days, same conditions, same equipment, it all depends on the performance of the candidates.

The last exam was more abstract because all the questions were made by Zhang Shikang himself. The exam lasted one day and the format was the same as the policy questions, but the main test direction was different.

For example, the first round of questions tests common problems in this subject, and the questions are all set by veteran craftsmen from the manufacturing bureau of this subject.

As for the last exam, Zhang Shikang had no idea about the specific knowledge points of each subject, and the test focused on general issues.

The entire Spring Examination starts on March 25th and ends on April 3rd. Ten days later, that is, on April 13th, the list of candidates begins to be filled in and the list is announced on April 15th.

Although the time seems to be ample, there are nearly 200,000 candidates taking the Jinshi examination, and the examiners only have ten days to mark the papers.

During these ten days, all candidates' test papers must be copied first to prevent examiners from cheating based on handwriting.

The test paper after transcription is called a "three-no" test paper, that is, no names, no marks, and no omissions. The original paper is sealed and the examiner gets the "three-no" handwritten version to mark the paper.

But it is different for science and engineering. The written test questions for science and engineering are generally the same, but practical operation is the key. For this purpose, the people of the General Administration of Manufacturing have put in a lot of effort.

Of course, during the entire nine-day examination, all candidates are not allowed to leave the small examination room. Even going to the toilet must be reported, and someone must follow them to prevent cheating.

On March 25th, the Spring Examination began as scheduled.

Zhang Shikang did arrive on time, but he seemed to be just a visitor to the crew and left all the main matters to Song Yingxing and Bi Maokang.

The chief examiner is usually called the president in the examination room, and Zhang Shikang likes this title very much.

The first exam was unremarkable, but the second one was quite interesting. Zhang Shikang patrolled the examination rooms in a serious manner and even squatted beside a blacksmith candidate to watch him forging iron.

Especially for the candidates taking the metallurgy subject, with all the black smoke and burning fire, it looked like they were playing with fire rather than taking an exam, and many candidates were in a panic.

The most important thing in smelting is temperature. If the temperature is not reached, the impurities in the ore cannot be removed at all.

The General Manufacturing Bureau provides scaled-down versions of common smelting furnaces and corresponding ores.

While the other candidates were carefully studying and pondering the stove, only one candidate was playing with mud.

The candidate used mud and bricks to make an empty shell that was like a pot cover and was two meters square. He stuffed the shell with firewood and lit it.

There are ventilation holes on the top of the empty shell. When the firewood starts to burn, the candidate will cover the ventilation holes on the top of the empty shell with mud, leaving only the two holes at the bottom for air to vent.

Zhang Shikang felt strange, so he walked over and asked:

"What are you doing? Burning charcoal?"

……