Chapter 392: Chapter 388: Martial Arts Examination _1
With the passing of the first lunar month, Third Master Jiang took the children to the county seat for the examination.

The candidates first went to Wucheng Temple to worship the statue of the Grand Duke and then took the tests on essay composition and discussion, followed by target shooting, riding and shooting, marching and shooting, high leap, and weightlifting. Finally, there was a review of their height, appearance, speech, and deportity.

If the score for each item reached five, it was considered excellent.

The examination was held in two age groups: twelve to sixteen and sixteen to twenty.

Jiang Wu was young and obviously could not compete with those older in terms of height, which put him at a disadvantage somewhat.

However, he was very brave and stronger than the other children. His riding and shooting was impeccable, and he quickly won first place in the competition.

Huzi and Xiaoyao were not far behind, winning second and third place in their age group, respectively.

Zhang Min and Wei Zhan also took the lead in the age group of sixteen to twenty.

What they did not know was that the chief examiner for the military examination in Qinchuan County was Xu Kun, who was the good brother of their martial arts instructor, Zhang Meng, and they had not seen him for several years.

He touched his chin with satisfaction and ticked beside the names of these children.

This time, the new Emperor specially sent him to Qinchuan County to recruit martial arts students to cultivate a group of trustworthy people.

At the beginning of the new dynasty, the Imperial Court lacked talented people, especially those who needed to defend the Imperial City and the Zhechong Prefectures. They had to be the personal confidants of the new emperor.

If a new dynasty did not have a powerful military deterrent, the noble families of generations would inevitably stir up trouble. Therefore, the new emperor attached great importance to this military examination and had specially granted twenty martial arts student places to Qinchuan County, ten more than other counties.

Xu Kun knew very well what the new emperor meant, so he directly sent a recruitment announcement to the entrance of Dongchen Village.

As a result, those children came and performed well.

A few days later, when the military examination was over, Third Master Jiang and the children stayed in the county seat for several days, waiting for the results.

Yingbao also followed her dad to the county seat. While her brothers went to take the examination, she went to check on the shop.

Her sister-in-law and elder cousin were busy in the shop, and they had hired two female servants to take care of the children.

Her aunt still lived here and set up a stall to sell breakfast every morning.

Now Hong Xiao was fourteen and had grown into a very beautiful girl. She no longer went to school and helped her mother set up a stall to sell food every day.

Yingbao stood by and observed their business. She noticed that they still had so many customers. They could make three to four hundred coins a day and about ten coins a month.

Actually, it was not a small amount for her aunt to earn that much, but she also had to support her son’s studies and prepare the dowry for Yuying’s marriage. The daily expenses of the family also cost a bit, so the money she earned seemed a bit insufficient.

Her cousin Yuying was seventeen this year and was currently helping her elder cousin deliver goods. Occasionally, he looked after the shop. Her elder cousin paid him fifteen taels a month, temporarily employing him to prevent him from running around and learning bad habits from others.

Yingbao went back to the shop and said to her elder cousin, “I think the place on our right is good. Why don’t we buy it and build several shops?”

Jiang Cheng was surprised, “Where is there any space on the right?” In recent years, buildings had been constructed on both sides of their shop. Some people built houses to live in, while others opened small shops. In any case, there was no vacant land left.

“It’s the pond next to our shop. I’m thinking of buying it, filling it in and building houses on top of it.” On the right side of the specialty shop was a pond. The water was shallow, and some people had dumped trash into it, making it messy. In summer, it even gave off a foul smell. Yingbao had long wanted to fill it in, but she was afraid that others would benefit from her efforts.

Jiang Cheng: “That pond? That might work.”

Reminded by his younger cousin, Jiang Cheng was enlightened.

The pond was not small. If it was filled and a house was built, it could hold two large courtyards.

“You go to the Teeth Row right now and ask about it. If the pond is unowned, just buy it.” Yingbao is not short of money now, but once her brother becomes an official in the future, there were a lot of places to spend money. The little she had was a drop in the bucket.

Not to talk about buying a house and a field in Jiankang, even the occasional gifts to her colleagues in the officialdom will cost a lot.

If someone gave you a gift, you had to reciprocate with gifts of equal value. This was called reciprocal courtesy.

Moreover, after becoming an official, the official family assigned a certain number of servants and maids, whom you had to use your own money to support.

Alas, they are all burdens.

“Okay, I’ll go check it out now.” Jiang Cheng told his wife and left.

Two hours later, Jiang Cheng brought the Teeth Row back to measure the size of the pond.

Finally, he bought a large piece of land with only one hundred and eighty taels of silver.

Jiang Cheng registered the land in the name of his third uncle and then gave it to his younger cousin for safekeeping.

Yingbao took over the deed and asked her elder cousin to hire some people to bring in the soil to fill the whole pond and compact it.

This was a major project which could not be completed overnight. Yingbao didn’t bother to pay attention to it for the time being. It was good enough for her elder cousin to handle it on his own.

Anyway, she had handed over the sales of her Golden Ears and Snow Ears to her elder cousin, and the profit would be enough to build eight or ten houses.

A few days later, when the military examination results were finally announced, Jiang Wu ranked first in both the written and the physical examination in his age group.

Huzi came in second, and Xiaoyao third.

Zhang Min and Wei Zhan ranked second and third, respectively, in their group.

The first place went to a very strong young man whose physique was on par with a bear.

Everyone was thrilled, especially Wei Zhan, who came to the exam with a try-it-out attitude and actually succeeded.

Different from the civil service examination, once you pass the military examination, you can directly go to the Imperial City. The Emperor will personally select and train you before conferring you a post.

Yingbao was happy for her brother, but also worried. Because once he became a military officer, he would inevitably have to go to war.

Would the Emperor make them attack the Little Zhou Dynasty by then?

When Third Master Jiang returned to the village with the children, the whole Dongchen Village was stirred up.

A lot of families who didn’t let their children take the examination regretted it.

Hearing Third Master Jiang say that these children would go to the Imperial City to meet the Emperor in a few days and be officially appointed by the Emperor himself, several people regretted so much that they wanted to punch the wall.

Once they became officials, they would officially be members of the official families. It was estimated that they would be awarded at least the ninth-rank official post like that of a County Magistrate.

The most regretful one was the second daughter-in-law of the Chen Family’s clan leader.

“It’s all your fault! You said the military examination was just to recruit soldiers, and now those bastards have passed it. Don’t they just want to get on top of us and defecate?”

Seated on the bed, Han Miaoniang gave her husband Chen Jiazhen a few punches in frustration and said, “You should have let our son Bokang take part in the examination too. He just turned sixteen this year, and he has also taken lessons from Zhang Meng. He would have passed no matter what. But you insisted on your own sayings and kept him from registering.”

Chen Jiazhen dodged his wife and fumbled to say, “If we didn’t catch up this time, we can do it next year. What’s the big deal?”

“You make it sound so easy. What if more people take the exam next year? Our Bokang…” Before Han Miaoniang could finish her words, she saw Bokang rushing out of the house and running out at a great speed.

“Bokang! Come back…” Seeing her son storm out, Han Miaoniang quickly chased after him. However, her son vanished before she knew it.

Standing at the door for a while, Han Miaoniang turned around and began to scold her husband, “You old fool! Why aren’t you going to find Bokang back? What if he does something foolish?”

Hearing this, Chen Jiazhen was also panicked and hurriedly went out to find his son.