Chapter 50: The Journey

"These are some travel provisions I've prepared for you to eat on the way. There is also a newly made set of clothes; wear them when you take your exam," Zhao Yu said in a soft, gentle voice, giving careful instructions.

"Alright." Chen Mo nodded in agreement, taking the parcel she handed over, along with four clay jars wrapped in straw paper.

Chen Mo was not the only one going to take the exam for the Xiucai degree this time; everyone had one day of leave before departing to inform their friends and family of the news.

Upon learning this, Zhao Yu hurriedly prepared some travel provisions for him.

So-called travel provisions are meant for eating while on the road; each dish is heavy on oil and salt, which allows them to be stored for a longer period.

Although Chen Mo would have inns to rest at along the way, the food provided in those inns was mostly only enough to fill one's stomach.

With these travel provisions, he could improve his meals a few times on the road.

"I'll be gone for at least half a month, so don't worry about anything else and just continue running the business steadily. If you encounter any difficulties, go to the military camp and look for Ma Cai in my name; he will bring men to help," Chen Mo said, giving his instructions before parting.

"Mm, be careful on the road," Zhao Yu said as a final exhortation, watching Chen Mo's receding figure and sighing softly.

Riding his horse back to the military camp, the time was already approaching curfew; after resting steadily for the night, Chen Mo rose early the next day to prepare.

He did not have many things to bring, and he was not going alone this time.

Besides him, the adopted son, there were also General Sun's distant nephew and his own nephew.

Furthermore, General Sun himself would accompany them.

Although Chen Mo and the others were participating in the exam, according to the rules, he should avoid suspicion.

But avoiding suspicion is one thing; he simply could not be an examiner.

His accompanying Chen Mo and the others was also a way of showing an attitude.

It let those officials acting as examiners know that these people were his, and that he valued them, which was why he had come along.

Thus, in some more subjective evaluations, such as sword dancing or the Policy Essay, the grades Chen Mo and the others received would be relatively better.

After all, since General Sun had come in person, the officials responsible for the evaluation, as long as they did not want to offend him, would all exercise discretion and write the grades for Chen Mo and the others to look better.

Of course, there is no first in literature, and no second in martial arts.

The military exam is not the civil exam; if you can't do it, you can't do it. Even with General Sun's help, Chen Mo and the others could at most gain an advantage in one or two evaluations; to truly obtain the degree, they had to have solid strength themselves.

"Brother Mo." Xu Dabao was sitting in the carriage and waved to Chen Mo when he saw him coming.

"When do we set off?" Chen Mo carried his things onto the carriage, found a comfortable spot, sat down, and asked.

Xu Dabao was General Sun's own nephew, and he was going with him to take the military exam this time.

"I don't know, let's wait for my uncle to come," Xu Dabao shook his head. He was a year younger than Chen Mo, but he had the Family Blade Technique and had started practicing martial arts since he was a child.

The probability of him passing the military exam this time was very high.

Before long, Sun Shouren walked over, also boarded the carriage, and chatted with them.

Xingyuan Prefecture was over five hundred miles away from the military camp; while riding a horse was faster, arriving there would inevitably lead to exhaustion from the journey and a poor state of mind.

Since Chen Mo and the others were going to take an exam, they naturally had to rest as well as possible beforehand and avoid fatigue.

It was not just them; the horses they usually rode also had to go along at this time.

Although horses were provided during the military exam, compared to temporarily provided horses, the ones they rode daily naturally had better coordination.

Therefore, their group was quite large, with four carriages alone, and three tall horses following along.

After traveling leisurely for a day, they found an inn to rest, and Chen Mo took out the travel provisions Zhao Yu had let him bring to share with the others.

The food was heavy on oil and salt, and since they were all martial artists and had been on the road for a day, it naturally tasted quite good.

They continued their journey the next day, and five days later, at the hour of the snake, Chen Mo's group finally caught sight of the prefectural city.

Xingyuan City, the capital of Xingyuan Prefecture, had a population of nearly three hundred thousand and was the most prosperous place in the entire prefecture.

Merchants came and went in great numbers, selling goods from far away in other prefectures or even other provinces here, and then purchasing local specialties of Xingyuan Prefecture to sell elsewhere, earning huge profits.

The city walls of the prefectural city were finally no longer as decayed and damaged as those of other county towns.

Although the ancient walls, which had weathered hundreds of years of Wind and rain, bore countless mottled marks, looking at them at a glance, they were still quite sturdy overall.

The main gate of Xingyuan City was built to be incredibly wide, likely six or seven zhang across, so even with countless carriages and horses passing through, it did not feel crowded.

The roads inside the city were all paved with bluestone slabs, and every slab was quite level, without a single pit or crack.

From this, it could be seen that the Prefect of this Xingyuan Prefecture was likely a relatively incorrupt official.

At the very least, even if he had embezzled the funds used for road repairs, he probably had not embezzled too much.

"I have a residence in this city; let's go there to stay first," Sun Shouren instructed his adopted son, nephew, and the others.

Although he did not usually live here, and even his family did not reside here.

Yet, this house in the city, along with the maids and servants used within it, as well as the manors, fields, and tenant farmers outside the city, had long been gifted to him by others.

When the Imperial Court's Command Order announced his transfer to Xingyuan Prefecture to serve as the garrison commander, people were already racking their brains for ways to visit and give him gifts.

Before he had even taken office, gifts and congratulations from all sides had been sent one after another, each person fearing that they would be slower than the others.

He dared not say he could remember everyone who gave him gifts, but if someone did not give him one, he would certainly remember that very clearly.

The coachman drove the horses to a rather imposing mansion; this mansion had five courtyards and occupied an area of two or three mu.

There were not many servants in the mansion, only a few dozen, and Sun Shouren immediately ordered people to tidy up the rooms and prepare a meal.

As for him, he did not stay here long; from the moment his carriage entered the city gate, people had sent invitations for him to attend banquets.

Since the Xingyuan Prefect had invited him personally, he could not refuse to give him this face, especially since he was the chief examiner for the military exam in the prefecture this session.

Chen Mo and the others each found a clean side room to stay in temporarily, and servants brought over various vegetables and dishes.

"Brother Mo, shall we spar?" After eating, Xu Dabao became interested and picked up his weapon.

"Forget it. If I don't use my full strength, I'm not your match; if I use my full strength, it won't be good if you get hurt."

Chen Mo shook his head gently and refused; it was clearly impossible for them to use their full strength in their sparring.

In terms of relying only on technique, Chen Mo was far inferior to Xu Dabao; he had practiced the spear for too short a time, only half a year.

And Xu Dabao had already practiced the blade for a full twelve years; even if Chen Mo had some talent, he could not compare to his twelve years of practicing in the bitter cold of winter and the sweltering heat of summer.

And if Chen Mo used his full strength, with his power, one strike of his spear would make Xu Dabao unable to even hold his weapon steady, leaving him with no power to fight back at all.

Technique is certainly important, but in a situation where speed and strength are both far superior by more than a notch, no matter how exquisite the technique is, it has no room to be put to use.

"That makes sense." Xu Dabao pondered briefly and nodded in agreement.

He knew that Chen Mo had 1,200 jin of strength, which was more than enough to take the imperial examination for the provincial graduate degree.

And he himself only had 700 jin; compared to him, there was indeed a certain gap.

This was not a gap of a hundred or so jin, but a difference of nearly double.

This was truly too large, so large that it was far from what technique could compensate for.

"Let me spar with you." A distant nephew of Sun Jiangjun spoke up; the two of them did not have much difference in strength.

Over the next few days, Chen Mo and the others rested in this residence, until three days later, when the day for the current year's military examination finally arrived.

Chapter 5152 has already been released; if you still cannot see it after turning the page, please refresh and try again.

Due to certain reasons, there is a temporary issue with reading Chapter 5152; everyone can read Chapter 53 first, thank you.

(End of this chapter)