Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 62: End Test
When leaving Yuan Shu's house, Yuan Shu offered Zhang Yu an olive branch, asking him to keep in touch with him, because Zhang Yu was fluent in answering questions and had archery skills. However, Zhang Yu did not rush to express his feelings, but just thanked him again and again.

After returning to the palace, out of curiosity about what happened during Zhang Yu's visit to Yuan Shu, Wang Chen specifically asked about it during dinner.

"How was your meeting with Yuan Shu today?" Wang Chen asked.

Zhang Yu took a sip of water and said with a smile, "Although Yuan Gonglu is an easy-going person, he likes fame. When I met him, he asked me a lot about Yuan Benchu."

After a pause, Zhang Yu commented: "It seems that in Yuan Shu's eyes, the only Han Chinese is Yuan Shao, while Yuan Shao has his heart set on the martial arts world and has no desire to compete with Yuan Shu."

"rational!"

Wang Chen agreed with this and said, "I met Yuan Shu in the past. Although he was courteous to scholars, he was arrogant and proud. Compared with Yuan Benchu, who was magnanimous, there was a huge difference between them. So I became close friends with Yuan Shao instead."

Yuan Shu was born into a prominent family, and as a direct descendant of the Yuan family, he was destined to enjoy top-level resources. Although Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were both from the Yuan family, his mother was the daughter of a maidservant. If he had not been outstanding in his own ability, it would have been difficult for him to enjoy the same resources as Yuan Shu.

The difference between the two after they grew up is also very obvious. Yuan Shu was trained as the heir of the Yuan family. He was selected as a filial and honest official at the beginning, and then he has been holding an official position in the central government. Therefore, he is now the Yin of Henan and is already a senior minister in the court.

Although Yuan Shao was not selected as a filial and honest official, as a descendant of the Yuan family, he was still appointed as the magistrate of Puyang. If things had gone according to normal circumstances, Yuan Shao would have been doomed to fall behind Yuan Shu in terms of promotion.

But when Yuan Shao was in mourning for his mother, he found a different way, that is, to use the Yuan family's reputation to protect those scholars who were excluded by the eunuchs and to build momentum for his own reputation by developing public opinion.

Therefore, during the period when Yuan Shao lived in seclusion in Luoyang, he treated wise men with respect and gathered a group of friends who worked hard for him. Zhang Miao, Xu You, and Feng Ji all worked hard for Yuan Shao, while He Yong was a fighter among the famous scholars. He often traveled between Yan and Yu, and thus indirectly helped Yuan Shao to enhance his reputation.

Under such circumstances, Yuan Shu suddenly discovered that although his official position was higher than Yuan Shao's, he lagged behind Yuan Shao in every aspect of reputation and fame. This made Yuan Shu unbearable, and he imitated Yuan Shao's actions.

However, Yuan Shao, as the first person to try something new, had already established a persona and recruited many famous people. Yuan Shu's imitation of others could not shake him. Therefore, Yuan Shu became more and more dissatisfied with Yuan Shao, and it was hard to understand why so many people came to serve Yuan Shao despite his noble birth.

After a pause, Wang Chen asked, "How does Yuan Shu treat Ji'an?"

Zhang Yu smiled after pondering for a moment, and said, "As you said, Yuan Shu is arrogant and proud of his reputation. I will follow his words and answer them. When we were leaving, Yuan Shu asked me to walk around more in Luoyang."

Wang Chen frowned and said, "Ji'an wants to gain a foothold in Luoyang, so he must not waver. If you don't have a close relationship with Yuan Shao, how can Yuan Shao help you? And you might even offend Yuan Shu."

Seeing that Zhang Yu seemed to be ready to sit on the fence, Wang Chen had to remind him. People with power sitting on the fence are not sitting on the fence but forming their own faction, while people without power sitting on the fence are just treacherous villains.

Zhang Yu stroked his smooth chin and said with a smile, "I am a humble man. There are many scholars under the two Yuans. One more or one less will not make much difference. Why should I rush to serve? Let me pass the annual examination first and enter the Shangshutai."

Zhang Yu had no idea whether to be friendly with Yuan Shu or Yuan Shao at the moment.

But if we consider the historical trend, it is actually more profitable to lean towards Yuan Shu. Although Yuan Shu's reputation is not as good as Yuan Shao's, he has rich political resources.

If Sun Jian did not have Yuan Shu's endorsement, how could he dare to kill the Governor of Jingzhou?

Thanks to Yuan Shu's support, Sun Jian was able to be appointed as the governor of Yuzhou. If Sun Jian had not died in Xiangyang, the struggle in the Central Plains would have been even more intense. Cao Cao wanted to annex Yuzhou easily, so he would have to fight with Sun Jian.

If Zhang Yu really wanted to dominate, then Yuan Shao would be his inevitable opponent, while Yuan Shu would be his natural ally.

Thinking about this, Zhang Yu immediately stopped fantasizing. He had to return to reality. It was urgent for him to pass the annual examination and enter the Secretariat to serve as a palace official.

"Jian!"

Zhang Yu looked over and saw Wang Gai, who looked very happy. He walked in from the outside and said, "According to the Shangshu Pushe, this year's meeting will use old questions from previous years, mixed with new questions. Ji'an can study hard these days to prepare for the Duanmen Annual Examination in October."

"Thank you, brother!"

Zhang Yu smiled with joy and bowed to Wang Gai.

With the "leak" of information from the insider Wang Gai, Zhang Yu was no longer so worried about the upcoming annual examination. After all, if the candidates from all over the country were really strictly examined, I'm afraid that more than half of them would be eliminated, and Zhang Yu probably had to ask the eunuchs to buy the questions.

In the next half month, Zhang Yu fell into a state of intensive study. Wang Gai would occasionally bring back some old questions from previous years and let Zhang Yu treat them as "real questions".

The types of questions in the civil service exam are generally divided into three types: posting scriptures, writing essays, and writing essays. Posting scriptures is similar to fill-in-the-blank questions, writing essays is similar to question-and-answer questions, and writing essays is similar to writing official documents. The civil service exam is not difficult, especially with real questions as an alternative.

In order to help his brother-in-law pass the annual examination, Wang Chen would study Confucian classics with Zhang Yu every day and explain the key points.

Fortunately, Zhang Yu had a good memory and he quickly memorized almost all the key points, and reviewed the contents of previous years' examinations several times.

Five days before the annual examination, Wang Chen did not intend to let Zhang Yu write the official documents himself. Instead, he used his outstanding literary talent to help Zhang Yu write three sets of official document templates, and taught Zhang Yu how to use the templates to write official documents, as well as format considerations.

During the period of more than half a month, Zhang Yu had the vague feeling that he had returned to his study career in his previous life more than once, and he lamented that the gene of Chinese people taking exams had been planted in the Eastern Han Dynasty about two thousand years ago.

And if his brother-in-law Wang Chen were in his previous life, he might have become a civil service teacher with his talent.

Soon, as the time came to October 15th, the annual ceremony was held as scheduled at Duanmen.

In the morning, the sky was clear and sunny with a slight cool breeze.

Led by Wang Chen, Zhang Yu came to the south gate of the palace, took out his identity certificate, and was allowed in after being checked by the guards. Knowing that these people had complicated backgrounds, the guards only briefly checked their belongings before letting them in.

The south gate of the imperial palace is actually Duanmen, which is spacious and close to Shangshutai, and is the venue for the annual examination. The annual examination at Duanmen is also called Duanshi.

After entering Duanmen, Zhang Yu discovered that about 200 filial and honest scholars from all over the country had gathered on the spacious South Gate Road.

At the same time, Zhang Yu met Zhong Yao, whom he had not seen for a long time, and Yuan Mi, a student of Runan County who he had saved. Zhong Yao seemed to know Yuan Mi and they were chatting in a remote corner.

Zhang Yu walked towards the two of them and bowed.

"Yuan Chang, Yong Ning!"

"Jian!"

"Ha ha!"

Zhong and Yuan were quite happy to see an acquaintance.

Zhong Yao smiled and said, "I was talking to Yongning about Ji'an, and Ji'an came at this time."

Secretary Yuan looked at Zhang Yu and said jokingly, "Can Zhang Yu, who is used to holding a bow and shooting arrows, get used to holding a pen and copying scriptures?"

Gongsun Zan might have been angry, but Zhang Yu was very calm and said self-deprecatingly: "If the Xiaolian was tested on horseback and archery, I would be open-minded. Now that the Xiaolian is holding a pen to report, I can't help but feel anxious."

Secretary Yuan smiled and said, "It's a pity that I'm not a civil servant, otherwise I would be able to help you!"

Out of concern for his friend, Zhong Yao asked, "Do you need any old questions from previous years?"

Zhang Yu pretended to be unsure and said, "I'm afraid it's too late!"

Hearing this, Zhong Yao suddenly became anxious and said dissatisfiedly: "How could Ji An not take it to heart when I told him so before we parted?"

After saying that, Zhong Yao glanced around and saw the eunuch at the opposite corner. He immediately said, "Ji'an, go find the eunuch and report the name of the county and state. Then pay the money in full. You will have no worries this year!"

Zhang Yu opened his mouth slightly and said in surprise, "How could he bribe the eunuchs, and the people in the Secretariat don't care?"

"I can't control it!"

Secretary Yuan interrupted and said, "There are many eunuchs and doormen in the Shangshu Office. If we pay the eunuchs now, we will have no worries."

Zhang Yu could not help but complain: "The examination is the basis for selecting filial and honest people, but now people can pass by bribing in public. It is treated as a joke. How can the government be clean and honest?"

Hearing Zhang Yu's words, Zhong Yao immediately reacted and laughed and scolded: "How could Ji An bully the two of us!"

"It's just a joke!" Zhang Yu raised his hand and begged for mercy with a smile.

The three of them got together, chatted and played for a while, and then quieted down in the sound of the bell.

Under guidance, the three men and more than 200 filial and honest people were divided into two categories: civil servants and Confucian scholars, and entered different greenhouses.

Zhang Yu found his desk based on the bamboo slips, straightened his clothes, knelt on the mat, and took out the pen and ink from the bag.

After a while, the second bell rang and everyone fell silent. Officials from the Secretariat distributed test papers made of scarves to the Xiaolian officials.

When Zhang Yu received the test paper, he discovered that one of the officials supervising him was Wang Gai.

Although I was surprised, I thought about it carefully and it made sense. As a minister, Wang Gai was an internal staff member, so it was not surprising that he was in charge of the exam. If it was during the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties when the imperial examination system was strict, Wang Gai would naturally need to avoid Zhang Yu.

After calming down, Zhang Yu took up his pen and wrote down his answers on a piece of paper, preparing to transfer the answers to the silk test paper later.

As Wang Gai said, most of the questions were from previous years, and some of the new questions were within the scope of Wang Chen's teaching. Zhang Yu answered them with confidence.

During the time when Zhang Yu was answering the questions, Wang Gai seemed to be worried that he would not be able to answer them, so he would walk to Zhang Yu from time to time and occasionally remind him with his hands. Especially for new questions, when Wang Gai saw that Zhang Yu did not answer the questions correctly, he would remind him in a low voice.

This made Zhang Yu smile bitterly. It seemed that Wang Gai didn't tell him too much, probably because he was worried that he would act recklessly because of his identity, so he let him follow Wang Chen to learn.

To be honest, Zhang Yu could have passed the exam without Wang Gai's help. Now that Wang Gai has lent a hand, Zhang Yu will probably pass with flying colors.

After finishing answering the questions on writing official documents, Zhang Yu briefly checked them and handed the examination paper to the official of the Secretariat, then left Duanmen at the same time as Zhong Yao.

Five days later, Zhang Yu received the news that he had passed the examination and was assigned to the Guest Department of the Shangshu Tai.

(End of this chapter)