The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 793 The Imperial Examination Arrives
After the provincial examination admission list is released, the palace examination will be held. The palace examination is the real ranking of the imperial examination. Those candidates who are admitted due to regional preferential treatment will definitely be ranked last, and they will be called "given the title of Jinshi".

Therefore, the ranking of the autumn examination in each province is very important. No matter how difficult the exam is, the ranking is very clear. For example, if there are twenty places in Jiangnan Province, and you rank first in the autumn examination, then you have a better chance of passing the imperial examination.

We can't say for sure that you'll pass the exam because previous candidates will also be considered, which is a variable.

There are approximately ten slots available for the capital region, and Chu Suiliang ranked seventh, a ranking that is indeed somewhat precarious.

If we take into account the factors of previous candidates, Chu Suiliang's actual ranking might have been ninth or tenth, which was right on the edge and very dangerous.

Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Your son can take the specialized exam. His calligraphy is outstanding, so it will be much easier for him to take the calligraphy and painting exam."

Chu Liang bowed and said, "Your Majesty, my son does indeed have this plan."

. . . . . . . .

At this time, scholars could be seen everywhere in Luoyang City, coming to participate in the imperial examinations.

This year marks the first year of the imperial examination reform, attracting widespread attention from scholars across the country.

According to the new imperial examination system promulgated by the imperial court, the imperial examination was divided into three types: the palace examination, the provincial examination, and the township examination.

The provincial examination was further divided into the preliminary examination, the prefectural examination, and the county examination.

Passing the county examination earned one the title of "Tongsheng," which elevated one's social status. One was no longer required to bow to officials. However, Tongsheng was also the easiest qualification to obtain. If one graduated from a regular official school, one was automatically recognized as a Tongsheng without taking the exam.

If you graduated from a private school, you would need to take the county examination, but it wasn't difficult.

Those who passed the county examination were called Xiucai. Besides not having to bow to officials, Xiucai had another advantage: they could obtain a seventh-rank official position, be entitled to live in a three-acre house, be allowed to take a concubine, and be appointed as a second- or third-rank official in the county government.

Merchants also wanted to live in a three-acre house and take concubines, so they had to make social contributions by donating money and grain to build roads and schools.

After accumulating donations of one thousand strings of cash, one can enjoy the privileges of a scholar.

After passing the county-level examination, one must participate in a unified examination held by each prefecture. The examination is usually held in August or September, so it is generally called the Autumn Examination, but its official name is the Provincial Examination.

Of course, scholars did not need to travel too far; they could take the exam within their own prefecture. The entire circuit used the same exam paper, and all prefectures started the exam at the same time. After the exam, the papers were sealed and sent to the provincial education commissioner's office for unified grading.

The trial hadn't existed before; it only appeared last year. The background was that Xiao Xia was preparing to raise his authority to the Dao level.

There are two qualifications for the examination. If you perform well, you can obtain the qualification of Gongshi and go to the capital to participate in the imperial examination.

The threshold for becoming a Gongshi (贡士) was relatively low; most Xiucai (秀才) could pass the exam. In short, as long as one did not obtain Xiucai status through cheating, anyone who participated in the preliminary examination could become a Gongshi.

There was no official announcement; you could simply go to the county government office before the end of the year to collect your Gongshi certificate.

The truly valuable candidates in the provincial examination were the top one hundred. These were the successful candidates who passed the provincial examination and were paraded through the county streets with gongs and drums and flowers.

A successful candidate in the provincial examination also needed the approval of an imperial censor sent by the court, making it far more important than that of a scholar who had passed the county-level examination or a student who had passed the county-level examination.

Besides the advantages of being a student or a scholar, the most important benefit of obtaining the title of Juren was that it allowed one to enter the government as a first-class official and receive a salary from the imperial court.

If one serves as a first-class clerk for ten years and receives a good performance evaluation, there is an opportunity to be promoted to an official position.

This was a local reform of the imperial examination system, but when it came to the capital, the provincial examination reforms were different again.

This year, the college entrance examination was officially introduced. The college entrance examination is also called the specialization examination. It consists of six subjects: calligraphy and painting, mathematics, law, agriculture, engineering and medicine. First, they need to take the imperial examination and pass it. In short, as long as their grades are not too bad, they can pass.

More importantly, applying for the three specialized fields of agriculture, industry, and medicine did not even require the qualification of a tribute student, meaning that one could apply directly even without having taken the local imperial examinations.

This feature has captivated many families with a long history of specialized education.

After the imperial examinations, there were specialized examinations, which only tested one's professional skills. Of course, the most common subject was calligraphy and painting. Many people thought they were good at calligraphy, so they applied for the specialized calligraphy and painting subject.

For example, if you come from a shipbuilding family and are very knowledgeable about ships, you can apply for engineering majors, specifying shipbuilding, and officials from the shipbuilding bureau will set the exam. After passing the exam, you can study at a school for a few years and then be appointed as a professional official.

If someone passes both the imperial examination and the specialized examination, they will be directly appointed to an official position and will not need to study at the Imperial Academy.

Although the imperial examinations admitted students based on quotas for each province, rather than solely on academic performance, it may seem unfair.

However, another kind of fairness still exists. For example, this year, Jiangnan Province admitted twenty scholars, and you ranked twenty-first, just failing the exam. But your score was better than the first place in the capital province.

In this situation, you can choose to study at the government-run Imperial Academy. The admission criteria for the Imperial Academy are that you are a high-achieving student who failed the imperial examination.

Therefore, this year's imperial examination introduced the concept of "excellent" for the first time. All papers that entered the third round of grading could be considered excellent.

Those who excelled were directly admitted to the Imperial Academy, which comprised six schools: the National Academy, the Mathematics Academy, the Law Academy, the Agriculture Academy, the Engineering Academy, and the Medicine Academy. The program lasted four years, and those who graduated were directly appointed as officials of the ninth rank.

Therefore, there were two types of students who entered the Imperial Academy: those admitted through specialized courses and outstanding students.

As evening fell, the Songshan Restaurant in Renfengfang, Luoyang, was filled with scholars who had participated in the imperial examinations. They had all gathered together to drink after registering for the exams that day. Chu Suiliang and his friends Wei Li and Wang Guanhe were also having a drink in the main hall on the second floor.

The three of them were all the same age, except that Chu Suiliang was a few months older.

Wei Li raised his wine glass and laughed, "I heard that the line of people applying for the calligraphy exam today stretched for miles. Brother Chu, are you under a lot of pressure?"

Chu Suiliang smiled slightly and said, "Of course I feel pressure, but what about you two? You've also applied to vocational colleges, how are you feeling?"

Wei Li was born out of wedlock to the Wei family of Jingzhao. His father was the head manager of the Wei family's shipyard. Wei Li grew up in the shipyard and was very familiar with the structure of large ships and the various processes of shipbuilding, so he also applied for shipbuilding in the engineering department.

As for Wang Guanhe, he is the grandson of the imperial physician Wang Xiaofu, whose father was also an imperial physician. He learned pulse diagnosis from a young age and began treating patients at the age of twelve. This time, he also applied for medical school.

Wei Li smiled and said, "My father said that this reform of the imperial examination system was tailor-made for me. I passed the preliminary examination last year, but I didn't pass the county-level examination. In principle, I am not qualified to participate in the imperial examination. Now I can directly apply for the engineering examination. It's really a pleasant surprise!"

Wang Guanhe also laughed and said, "My situation is the same as yours. I also failed the imperial examination and now I've enrolled in medical school. It's really tailor-made for us, knowing that we are both passionate about various professions."

Chu Suiliang nodded, “This shows that there is a severe shortage of talent in all kinds, which is why we have relaxed the requirements. After the specialized schools in each prefecture are established, the number of people participating in the provincial examination will increase, the competition will be fiercer, and admission will be more difficult. Now is the best time, and we have indeed caught up with it.”

As the three were talking, a loud "BOOM!" suddenly rang out outside. The sound was deafening, and everyone in the restaurant was startled, so they all craned their necks to look out the window.

In the distance, a courtyard was shrouded in white smoke, and it appeared that a house had collapsed.

"What was that sound just now?" Everyone was talking about it, but no one knew where the sound came from.

At this moment, a squad of over a hundred Imperial Guard soldiers rushed over and surrounded the family.

(End of this chapter)