"Second Young Master, good news!”
Zhang Dingguo knew that it was his butler, Uncle Li, the moment he heard the voice.
Uncle Li was different from ordinary servants. Strictly speaking, he was a retainer.
Uncle Li's father, Grandpa Li, was originally a subordinate of Zhang Dingguo's grandfather. Later, he retired from the army with his grandfather and came to Pengze County to settle down. Since Grandpa Li was literate, he had been the housekeeper of the family. Uncle Li had taken over his father's job after Grandpa Li's death.
In Zhang Dingguo's eyes, Uncle Li was a family member and an elder.
Therefore, after hearing Uncle Li's voice, Zhang Dingguo quickly put down the spear in his hand and led the guards who were also practicing martial arts to welcome Uncle Li.
"Uncle Li, what good news do you have? Could it be that Auntie is pregnant again?" Zhang Dingguo asked half-jokingly.
"Second Young Master, you're making fun of me again!
I just received news from the county that the emperor has issued an edict to hold a martial arts examination. He has called on all martial artists to participate in Luoyang, the capital of the gods. He intends to select warriors to be generals. With the Second Young Master's martial arts skills, he wouldn't dare to think too much about the top scorer, but at least he could get one of the Jinshi, right? In that case, wouldn't Old Master and Great Grandfather's dying wish for many years be realized?”Uncle Li said excitedly despite his age.
"What is it? Martial Arts Examination? Martial arts champion?" Zhang Dingguo was completely confused by this sudden news.
Although Zhang Dingguo knew that the first Martial Arts Examination was held under the leadership of Wu Zetian, it seemed to be something that happened in Wu Zetian's later years. How could it happen now? Could it be because he had transmigrated?
However, this was Detective Di Renjie's world after all. It was not true history, so some deviation was normal.
"Uncle Li, I'm not happy with your words. What do you mean by top scorer? I'll say it now. I'm definitely going to take the top scorer! Tell me when the exam is." Zhang Dingguo said confidently.
"It's good that Second Young Master is confident. The county will hold the martial arts examination in Luoyang on March 15th this year, which is two months later. There's still plenty of time.”
Uncle Li did not forcefully contradict Zhang Dingguo, saying that children should not aim too high and should be down-to-earth. He also did not provoke Zhang Dingguo to ask what would happen if he did not get the top scorer. After all, they were all family. Why did they have to find trouble?
"Two months? Then it's about time for us to set off.”
Although it would take at least a month to get from Pengze County (which was just beside the Yangtze River) to Fairy's Capital, no matter how slow it was. However, it was obvious that there would be many people attending the martial arts examination this time, and there would be even more people joining in the fun. Moreover, their family did not have any relatives in Luoyang, so they would probably not even be able to sleep in the stable if they went late.
Besides, his family was not short of money. He might as well go to Fairy's Capital a month earlier so that he could prepare in advance.
Therefore, with Uncle Li's help, Zhang Dingguo only needed three days to prepare his luggage and clothes. He was ready to set off at any time.
However, before he went to Luoyang, he still needed to meet the local magistrate and get some documents. The most important thing was the admission ticket for the martial arts examination.
Although Wu Zetian could not wait for all the warriors in the world to participate in this martial arts competition so that she could use a grand scene to prove her legitimacy. However, this was a martial arts competition organized by the Imperial Court after all. Not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry could participate.
Therefore, the martial artists who wanted to come for reference had to apply for an "admission ticket" in the place where they were registered to prove that they did not commit any crimes and were a good disciple.
Furthermore, in order to carry out the preliminary selection, the county magistrates needed to go through a preliminary test.
The content of the preliminary test was not complicated. There were only two questions.
The first was to lift a 50-pound stone lock with each hand and move it ten times in a row. A catty from the Tang Dynasty was slightly heavier than a catty from the modern era, but it was only a little more than a hundred catties in total. It was not much for martial artists.
This could only be considered as the preliminary screening. If they couldn't even do this, then it was better not to waste money and go to Luoyang to lose face.
The second requirement was to be literate. It did not require high talent, but only a certain level of reading and writing ability.
This request was not deliberately to make things difficult for martial artists. After all, this was to select generals for the country. If they did not even know how to read, then they should start as soldiers. Moreover, people who could practice martial arts in this era were relatively rich. They could at least afford to attend private schools, let alone hire a teacher. As long as they were not too stupid, they did not need to be serious. A few years of private school was enough.
Zhang Dingguo had no problem with these two requests.
Perhaps his predecessor's educational level was not high, but Zhang Dingguo was a university graduate and had read many military historical novels. Forget about reading and writing, he wasn't even afraid of relying on military tactics!
Of course, considering the problem of traditional Chinese characters and writing with a brush, Zhang Dingguo still needed to spend some time familiarizing himself with it.
However, this was nothing. The only thing that surprised him was that the local magistrate was actually Di Renjie? He hadn't expected to meet Old Grand Secretary Di so early, and with a legitimate reason!
The next afternoon, Zhang Dingguo came to visit Elder Di.
As he was here to apply for the admission ticket for the martial arts examination, he only waited for less than an hour before it was his turn to meet the county magistrate. (The first part of the preliminary test was completed and passed the moment he came to the county office. After all, if he couldn't even pass this part, there was no need to see the county magistrate.）
"I, Zhang Dingguo, pay my respects to the Ming Residence!”When Zhang Dingguo saw the county magistrate, he immediately recognized him as Fatty Di, the god-like judge. Therefore, he did not kneel down to greet him. He only bowed.
Of course, Elder Di didn't say anything. Instead, he quickly dismissed Zhang Dingguo and sat down.
Zhang Dingguo saw that Elder Di was indeed so easy to explain, so he did not try to be pretentious and sat down on the chair next to him.
"Dingguo, Anbang Dingguo, good name. Did Dingguo come from a military family?”Fatty Di's old habit was acting up again. He wanted to show off his reasoning ability whenever he had the chance.
"Milord, this commoner's grandfather served under Li Weigong during the years of Wude. He had some military merits during his twenty years of war and was promoted to a lieutenant of the Fruit realm (above seventh grade, a passable minor official). His father also relied on his grandfather's dark influence to become an imperial officer (from the eighth rank up, a small official). He could not be considered to be from a military family.”After all, this was the first time he had met Fatty Di. There was no need to tell him that his father and brother had died on the battlefield.
"Dingguo's words are wrong. They are all serving the country. How can they belittle themselves because their official positions are not high?”
Fatty Di did not look down on Zhang Dingguo just because no one in his family had ever been a general. Instead, he thought that even if he was only a lieutenant, he was still qualified to be called a military family.
"Thank you for your teachings. I understand.”
Of course, Zhang Dingguo would not say anything about this. Instead, he felt that Fatty Di was indeed a good official. Just the fact that he did not put on airs was enough to kill more than 90% of the officials in history!
Then, after exchanging a few more pleasantries, Fatty Di began to assess Zhang Dingguo's knowledge…
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。