As the sun sets, the cool breeze blows, Du Zhongxiao and Su Song walk on the avenue by the Bianhe River in front of the Daxiangguo Temple, leisurely and lazy.

The wine lees in the Eight Great Palaces were almost steamed, and Du Zhongxiao didn't want to stay in the capital any longer, so he was hurrying to improve his wine-making booklet and asked Su Song to help review it. One of the main purposes of the study tour is to communicate with scholars, talk about knowledge with the same readers, and then increase knowledge. But Du Zhongxiao's luck is too good, with the recommendation of high-ranking officials like Li Dui, most of the people who come and go are outstanding people in the pavilion. They read poetry and books to the fullest, and most of them have a warm heart that worries about the country and the people, and they talk about the world, but Du Zhongxiao needs the most important experience in the imperial examination. These are still too far away from Du Zhongxiao, and it is not too interesting to mix with these people again, so it is better to return to their hometown to prepare for the imperial examination with peace of mind.

Su Song was interested in technology, but he talked to Du Zhongxiao. Both of them are going to participate in this imperial examination, and they are much more practical than the pavilion officials. How to be able to enter the examiner's eyes is much more practical than inheriting the mantle of the sage.

Looking at the sky, Du Zhongxiao said: "It's still early in the sky, let's go to the place behind Xiangguo Temple to sell books." I'm going back to Xuzhou in a few days, and if I have suitable books, I'll take some with me. ”

Su Song naturally agreed, and together with Du Zhongxiao, they walked through the lively waiting road and headed north.

After walking a short distance, he saw a big monk and two scholars in green shirts coming to him, and he bowed his hands from afar: "Little Brother Du, where is this going?" ”

Du Zhongxiao returned the salute: "There is nothing to do left and right, go to the stall selling books behind to take a look." Where did the three brothers come from? ”

A scholar said: "I went to the yamen for some miscellaneous things, but I only got it done." If the brothers are all right, drink together at night. ”

Du Zhongxiao agreed and said goodbye to the three of them.

Watching the three of them leave, Su Song asked, "Who are these three?" Listening to their accents, it seems to be from the Northwest. ”

"It's from the northwest. The two scholars in green shirts are Yongxing Army Jinshi, one is named Yang Shu and the other is Lu Kai. Since the Northwest War, they have consciously learned some talents in their chests, and they have written to the imperial court, hoping to fight for a half-official position and serve the country. The great monk Fa Daoxin, with good skills, is a good hand immediately, and he also came to the capital to fight for the future. Like me, I live here in Daxiangguoji Temple, meet by chance, and drink and talk together in our spare time. Listening to the meaning of their words, things are a little eyebrow-raising. ”

The officials of this era are different from later generations, and many low-level officials do not have much authority, but just work to support their families, and they use people more casually. Especially because of the war in the northwest, it is the time to employ people, as long as you have a skill, you can recommend yourself. Yang Zhu and Lu Kai were both Xianggong Jinshi of the Yongxing Army, and they felt that there was little hope of being admitted to the Zhengbang Jinshi in the imperial examination, so they came to the capital to seek officials. Daoxin is a monk, Kong Wu is powerful, and he came to the capital to try martial arts. These things are handled by a special yamen, and it only depends on one's own luck.

Daxiangguo Temple is mixed with fish and dragons, and it is very lively. Du Zhongxiao is well-informed here, there are many shops that sell books, he lives here, and he goes to the bookstore in his spare time, and he finds a lot of good books these days. From the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, the excellent poems of the imperial examination scholars for more than 200 years are about to be collected. If you talk about the collection of real questions for the imperial examination, Du Zhongxiao is one of the top figures of this era. At this time, the proposition of the imperial examination, often used the questions that were tested in the Tang Dynasty, but the Tang people tested the poems, and changed the endowment at this time, and so on, the real questions have their unique value. It's just some classic books that readers value, but he has very few here. Du Zhongxiao is studying now just to be admitted to the Jinshi, which has nothing to do with it, so he is not much interested.

When I arrived at the bookstore, I looked around casually, and Du Zhongxiao said to the shopkeeper: "Master, what good imperial examination books are there recently?" ”

Shopkeeper Cheng smiled and arched his hand: "The books I have here, all the books that the little officials have taken a fancy to have been bought, but there are not many new books." A few days ago, I got a set of proposed questions for today's provincial examination, although it is not very good, it is still passable, do you want to take a look at it? ”

"If there is, let's take it." For Du Zhongxiao, the more such books the better, and the price is not expensive anyway.

Shopkeeper Cheng took a wooden box from the cabinet, opened it and handed it to Du Zhongxiao: "This is a scholar from the south of the Yangtze River, who has no entanglement on his body, and sells it to me." said that it was made by the elders of the family, and the title was extremely effective, so I had no choice but to take it out and sell it. ”

Du Zhongxiao took out the book and saw that it was a manuscript, which was very neat and not printed. Looking at the content, it is according to the provincial examination and the palace examination, and he drafted the topic by himself, and it seems that it is really a teaching material for his children at home. At this time, the culture was the most developed, in addition to Tokyo Kaifeng Mansion, Xijing Henan Mansion and Nanjing Yingtian Mansion, Jiangnan West Road and Fujian Road were the most developed. Especially in the imperial examination, there are many families there, which have been inherited from the Tang Dynasty and have a particularly rich experience, which is incomparable to other places. This kind of proposed topic is one of the contents, and it is not something that the imperial examination family cannot do. The children of these families have been doing this kind of topic since they were young, learning this kind of article, and their background in the imperial examination is far from being comparable to that of a small family like Du Zhongxiao.

casually flipped through it, but the articles in it were ordinary, and they were not much better than Du Zhongxiao himself.

Su Song also picked up the other volumes, flipped through them slightly, and said: "This plan is too mediocre, I'm afraid that some country talent has come to teach his own children." In Jiangnan and Fujian, this article can't even pass the solution test, so what's the use of learning. ”

Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "The liberation test in Fujian and Jiangnan is said to be more difficult than the provincial test, of course you don't see it." But in our Central Plains Prefecture Army, it is enough to send this kind of article to the capital. ”

Putting the book down, Du Zhongxiao said: "This book seems to have been written in the past one or two years. And Shunde's Chang theory, and the last palace test, it seems that the person who did this proposed work is a person with a heart. The host's house, how much, wrapped up with me. ”

Su Song shook his head: "The articles in this book are really mediocre, Brother Du doesn't need to spend this unjust money." ”

"Brother Su can't say that. Just by looking at the exam questions in this one, you can see that it takes a lot of thought, and the article is mediocre. ”

There are also guessing questions in the imperial examination, and the articles in it may not necessarily be learned, so if you carefully figure out the ideas of other people's questions, you will not lose money if you buy books. And no matter how mediocre the article is, there will be some flashes in the mind, which can broaden the mind. Du Zhongxiao's thoughts are different from Su Song's, Su Song's basic skills are solid, and whatever topic he comes up with, as long as it is not too weird, it will not affect his performance. And Du Zhongxiao hopes to broaden his horizons, it is best to have a general framework in his mind as soon as he sees the question, and then fill in some shining sentences into it, and he will be sure of nine out of ten in an exam.

Su Song couldn't read this book, but Du Zhongxiao felt that it was worth buying, because most of the topics in it were new. Du Zhongxiao has no big family to rely on, and he has had many such books since he was a child.

After paying the money, Du Zhongxiao walked out of the bookstore with the wooden box and said to Su Song: "It's okay to go home left and right, Brother Su will stay for a while and drink two cups together?" It's also good to listen to those people from the northwest talk about the border war. Tomorrow, we will finish the fan that boils water, and a few important things will be done. Brother Su saw that there was nothing wrong with the booklet of steamed wine, so I presented it to the court and prepared to return to my hometown. ”

Su Song nodded yes. These days, the two of them have been tinkering with the primitive steam engine in their spare time, and they have been able to work preliminarily. Su Song is both talented and interested in these things, and is very fascinated by this thing. Du Zhongxiao just wanted to make a prototype to demonstrate the principle, and he was not as enthusiastic as Su Song.