We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

Chapter 908: Talent Recruitment Hall

After nearly two months of trekking through mountains and rivers, Zhang Qian finally arrived at the foot of the imperial capital.

The towering and continuous walls of the imperial capital came into view, and Zhang Qian felt his heart surge, his blood rushing, and his breathing was suffocated.

He stood beside the official road, watching the endless stream of carriages and people flowing into the city gate, and listening to the faint noise of the market coming from within the city.

I suddenly felt like a frog in a well, jumping out of the deep well for the first time and seeing the vast and boundless sky.

This is the imperial capital, the heart of Daqing, and even the center of the entire world.

My dream will take off here, or it will sink completely...

As people passed through the city gate, the scene inside the city dazzled him even more.

What comes into view is a wide and flat street that extends to the end of the field of vision.

After Li Che entered the capital, he paved some of the main roads in the imperial capital with Fengguo cement pavement and widened the streets.

Although the streets of the imperial capital were not narrow before, their planning was inconvenient and many vendors occupied the streets to do business, which posed a safety hazard.

Nowadays, the main roads of the imperial capital are only open to traffic and no stalls are allowed. Small vendors have been diverted to various auxiliary roads and commercial streets, which looks much cleaner.

Along the main street, there are rows of shops, of various types but arranged in order.

Pedestrians wearing various clothes and speaking different accents shuttled between the shops, and occasionally you could see blond-haired and blue-eyed foreigners and Hu people with braids.

Soldiers in distinctive armor patrolled the streets from time to time. The people were not afraid of these soldiers at all, and even took the initiative to come forward to greet them and chat with them.

All of this was completely different from the countryside Zhang Qian was familiar with, and even from the capital cities he passed through.

The air was filled with vigorous vitality, unlike the silence in the countryside. Even the expressions on the faces of passers-by were much more lively.

The dazzling array of goods opened Zhang Qian's eyes. Everything he saw was new, and the woman from the Hu ethnic group dancing to attract customers made him blush.

Zhang Qian touched the few copper coins left in his arms and immediately became much more sober. He did not dare to stop in front of any shop.

This is what a prosperous city is like. All kinds of temptations are everywhere, constantly fostering people's desires and ambitions, and it is also a driving force for moving forward.

Along the way, Zhang Qian had already heard a lot of information.

In preparation for this imperial examination, His Majesty has built several official dormitories in the imperial capital, specifically for poor students like him who are short of money.

Of course, there are also various inns and restaurants in the imperial capital with better living conditions, but they are far beyond his reach.

After asking around for a while, Zhang Qian arrived at a dormitory in the east of the city that was converted from an old government office.

Looking up, the three big characters "Zhaoxian Hall" came into view. There was a crowd of people and a long queue in front of the building.

A school official in a long robe sat at the table with a serious expression.

Behind the schoolmaster, there were more than ten soldiers wearing leather armor and holding spears to maintain order.

The students outside the library were talking and greeting each other.

Zhang Qian felt inferior due to his background and did not dare to join them. He just quietly came to the end of the team.

In the queue next to him, there were four students wearing white shirts and scholar's scarves. Seeing Zhang Qian's dusty appearance, they looked at him with contempt.

"Your Majesty is really something. Anyone can take part in the imperial examination." One person whispered to his companion.

His companion scoffed, "Brother Qian, why bother with them? They're just peasants desperately trying to climb up the social ladder. They'll be exposed after a little testing."

"I don't know what this special exam will test. If it's policy essays or classics, then people like us with deep family backgrounds in this field will easily master it."

"It's just that the prices in the imperial capital are so high, and I'm afraid we won't be able to make it until the results are announced." One person looked worried.

"What are you afraid of? We are a family of scholars and scholars. How can we starve to death? There will always be a way."

Zhang Qian didn't hear what the others said, and he was very nervous at the moment.

He had experienced this kind of scene countless times. Every time, he would arrive at the door of a high-ranking official with full of hope, but often he would not even see the real person and would be ruthlessly driven away by the doorman.

I don't know if I will repeat the same mistake today in this 'Zhaoxian Hall'.

After all, this is the threshold of the emperor.

According to the new court regulations, academic officials need to conduct simple inquiries on every student who applies for admission.

The team moved forward little by little, and after a full quarter of an hour, it was finally Zhang Qian's turn.

"Name and place of origin?" The academic official asked without even raising his head.

"I am Zhang Qian, a student from Zhangzhou in the north." Zhang Qian answered respectfully, his heart beating faster involuntarily.

The school official looked up and saw that Zhang Qian was wearing coarse cloth clothes that were washed white, and his face was dark red. He was obviously a farmer's boy.

But he didn't say anything, just formally speaking: "Your Majesty has ordered that in order to prevent unqualified people from filling the positions and taking up the resources of the Xian Hall, students' basic knowledge must be tested."

"You should recite the 'Learning' and 'Governance' chapters from the Analects."

Zhang Qian was stunned at first. He was prepared to be kicked out, but he didn't expect the test to come so soon.

Although he had never had a teacher, he was still able to recite the Analects of Confucius.

So, I took a deep breath, calmed my mind, and began to recite: "The Master said: 'To learn with constant practice, is it not a pleasure? To have friends coming from afar, is it not a delight...'"

At first, it was smooth, but as many eyes were cast on him one after another, and the eyes of the academic officer in front of him were full of scrutiny, Zhang Qian couldn't help but become nervous.

When he came to the chapter on 'Governing', his tone was already hesitant: "The Master said: Governing with virtue is like the North Star, which stays in its place while the other stars...the other stars..."

He was trying hard to recall the next sentence when he suddenly heard a few sneers from the side.

There were a few scholars standing beside the team, and one of them said in a loud and sarcastic voice:

"Huh, all the stars are on this! You can even get stuck on this? I saw you even vaguely recited 'A gentleman is not an instrument' earlier. You're so clueless about the basics, and you dare to take the test?"

Another person immediately chimed in, "Exactly. I don't think he's even touched a genuine copy of the Analects. I wonder if he's heard some twisted interpretations from a country schoolmaster, and yet he dares to come to the imperial capital and embarrass himself."

The voices of these people were quite loud, which immediately attracted the attention of many students around them.

Zhang Qian was humiliated in public by them. His face instantly turned red as if blood was dripping out, and his mind went blank.

The familiar sentence that followed was suddenly stuck in my throat. I couldn't utter a single word. I just stood there frozen, with cold sweat oozing from my forehead.

When the school official saw this, he showed an impatient look on his face.

He shook his head, picked up a pen and was about to cross out Zhang Qian's name on the roster, saying in a deep voice, "Even if you can't recite well, it shows that your foundation is not solid. The resources of the Talent Recruitment Hall are limited. You should..."

"Wait a minute."

A clear and calm voice interrupted the academic officer.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw several gentle young men in white shirts walking towards them.

The leader, with a handsome face and clear eyes, bowed to the academic officer and said, "Sir, please calm down. This gentleman may be tired from the long journey, and this is his first time meeting an official, so he is nervous."

"Yes, my dear brother, there are no mistakes in what you recited. Moreover, the key to studying the words of the sages is to understand their meaning, not to be obsessed with a momentary slip of the tongue."

"Student Lin Qingyuan is willing to act as a guarantor for this Brother Zhang."

His words were calm and his demeanor was extraordinary, which immediately made the scholar stop writing.

The school official took a look at Lin Qingyuan and the others, and saw that they were all dressed in white clothes that were whiter than snow. There was a sense of elegance in their words and deeds. They did not seem like ordinary students. It was possible that they were the disciples of some wise man who had left the country. So his tone softened a little:

"Oh? You're willing to be his guarantor? Do you know that if you guarantee him and the person can't recite the whole passage, you will also be disqualified?"

Lin Qingyuan bowed and said, "Let the master know that my master once said, be calm when you gain, be calm when you lose, fight for what is inevitable, and let nature take its course."

"If this man is truly academically unskillful, then it's only right that he be disqualified, as a student."

The academic officer glanced at him approvingly, then turned to Zhang Qian and said, "Then continue reciting, starting from the previous paragraph."

Seeing Zhang Qian looking bewildered, Lin Qingyuan smiled slightly and gently reminded him, "Brother Zhang, governing with virtue is like the North Star, which stays in its place while all the other stars revolve around it."

Being looked at by Lin Qingyuan's gentle gaze, Zhang Qian miraculously calmed down.

He quickly replied, "Yes, yes... Confucius said: The three hundred poems can be summed up in one word..."

He recited the next part fluently.

Although there are occasional pauses, there are no more mistakes or omissions.

Before those arrogant students wanted to say anything, a young man in white clothes behind Lin Qingyuan had already walked up to them and gently pressed a point under their ribs with his fingers.

The man suddenly felt a pain in his chest, his breathing became unstable, and he couldn't utter a word.

The young man in white grinned, turned around and disappeared into the crowd.

Seeing that Zhang Qian could indeed recite it, and that a student of Lin Qingyuan's magnanimity could vouch for him, the school official no longer made things difficult for him.

He wrote down Zhang Qian's name on the roster and handed him a number plate: "Go in, Room C, Room 7."

Zhang Qian took the number plate as if he had received a life-saving straw, and bowed deeply to the academic officer.

The student nodded slightly and said, "You still need to study the words of the sages more. Memorizing them is far from enough."

"Yes, I will remember this." Zhang Qian's eyes were filled with tears.

This is the first time that I have officially stepped into a high-ranking family.

Moreover, it is not the threshold of a noble family to become a staff official, but the recruitment hall of the emperor!

It was also the first time that he was advised by an official and recognized by a group of students as a scholar.

The sage said: If you hear the truth in the morning, you can die in the evening.

This is roughly how Zhang Qian felt at the moment.

He came back to his senses, turned around and bowed deeply to Lin Qingyuan and the others, his voice choked with sobs: "Thank you...thank you, Brother Lin! Thank you, brothers! If it weren't for you, Zhang would have..."

Lin Qingyuan held him up with his hand and said gently, "Brother Zhang, there's no need to be so polite. We're both taking the exam, so we should support each other."

"I think Brother Zhang is a sincere scholar. Don't worry about minor setbacks. We are staying in Jiaziyuan. If Brother Zhang has free time, you can come and discuss academic matters with us."

Zhang Qian said quickly, "I'll definitely come and bother you when I'm settled down."

Lin Qingyuan nodded and smiled, "Good."