Chapter 51: Martial Examination Assessment

On the Drill Ground paved with bluestone, various stone wheels, bows, arrows, and weapons were neatly arranged, and a high platform had long been erected behind these implements.

The Prefect of Xingyuan Prefecture sat in the center wearing a red official robe, while the Assistant Prefect, Director of Studies, Inspector, and other subordinate officials of the prefectural office were seated one by one on the left and right sides.

The materials and even the embroidery patterns of the official robes for each rank of official were vastly different, so one could understand their specific rank just by looking at what they were wearing.

These official robes were all sewn by Imperial Court embroiderers; any commoner tailor who dared to privately craft official clothing would be executed immediately.

"It seems there are more Martial Students who have come today than in previous years!" the Xingyuan Prefect, Xia Wuqi, said with a smile while stroking his beard.

Martial Students do not have a quota limit like Cultivated Talents; as long as they meet the standards and have someone to vouch for them, all Martial Students from the various counties within the prefecture, along with those in Xingyuan City, can come to take the examination for Martial Cultivated Talent.

"The number of people in this year's martial examination is indeed quite a bit higher than the last two years," the Assistant Prefect at his side chimed in.

Below the high platform, over three hundred Martial Students were gathered in small groups; some did not utter a word, while others whispered to one another.

"Pass the order to begin the examination; let the candidates enter the field to lift stones and test their strength." Xia Wuqi waved his hand to give the order, and immediately, the bailiffs received the command and struck the Gong and Drum.

"The examination begins!" The bailiffs who had been staying near the candidates also moved quickly.

The prefectural examination lasts for three days in total, consisting of six subjects of assessment.

Only those whose comprehensive evaluation reaches the top thirty among the many candidates can obtain the status of Cultivated Talent; the rest must wait until next year to take the exam again.

Chen Mo looked at the wooden plaque he had just received, which had "Yi-73" carved on it.

This indicated that there were still over one hundred and seventy people ahead of him, and he would have to wait quite a while before it was his turn.

The subjects assessed today are stone lifting, Riding, and archery; tomorrow they will test weapon performance and combat skills, and only on the final day will they test the Policy Essay.

Row after row of Martial Students walked onto the Drill Ground to lift stones and test their strength, beginning the assessment.

"Brother Mo, Brother Sun, I'll go ahead first." Xu Dabao was Jia-73, so he had to enter the field one step ahead of Chen Mo and the others.

After greeting the two, he did not linger and hurried into the Drill Ground.

Round after round of candidates entered and exited; after a long while, it was finally Chen Mo's turn.

He walked into the Drill Ground along with several other candidates to perform the stone lifting strength test.

There were various stone wheels placed inside the Drill Ground, the lightest of which were four hundred catties; this was one of the standards for obtaining the status of Martial Student, as one must be able to lift a four-hundred-catty stone wheel to be qualified to come for the examination.

Relying on innate strength, it is indeed difficult to lift a four-hundred-catty stone wheel, but in this world with Martial Dao, the vast majority of martial artists can reach this standard in their prime after several years of painstaking practice.

Chen Mo shifted his gaze directly to the heaviest stone wheel in the field; that was the heaviest one-thousand-catty stone wheel, and no one had ever lifted it since the assessments began.

Even the eight-hundred-catty stone wheels could only be barely lifted by two or three people.

Chen Mo turned his gaze and looked directly at that heaviest stone wheel on the Drill Ground.

Up until now in this assessment, no one had been able to lift it.

Previously, those among the hundreds of people who could lift the eight-hundred-catty stone wheel were few and far between, and the best result was merely nine hundred catties.

However, Chen Mo knew clearly that the one-thousand-catty stone wheel was the limit of this assessment, but it was far from the limit of his own strength.

He walked up to the one-thousand-catty stone wheel, adjusted his breathing, and rooted his feet, drawing power from the ground.

With a sudden grab, he lifted the one-thousand-catty stone wheel without any effort.

Seeing this scene, the originally noisy Drill Ground fell into a silence as if deafening.

From the Martial Students taking the exam to the officials responsible for invigilation, everyone was stunned, staring blankly at this scene.

It was not that there were no people in Xingyuan Prefecture who could lift a one-thousand-catty stone wheel; there were even those who could lift two thousand or three thousand catties.

But such people were all Martial Artists who had achieved success in their cultivation and had long held official titles, being either Recommended Scholars or Presented Scholars.

They were able to lift the one-thousand-catty stone wheel only after obtaining their Cultivated Talent titles and undergoing many years of hard training, achieving success in the Martial Dao.

But for someone of Chen Mo's age to be able to directly lift a one-thousand-catty stone wheel was truly rare.

After holding the one-thousand-catty stone wheel aloft with both arms for fifteen breaths, Chen Mo finally set it down with ease and let out a long, turbid breath.

The silence on the Drill Ground, which had been like a flat lake, was thus broken.

"Who is this person? Which county's candidate is he?" Xia Wuqi asked the people around him in a startled voice.

"Reporting to the Prefect, he is the foster son of Sun Jiangjun." Someone at his side handed over the roster, which recorded Chen Mo's information, height, and general appearance in detail.

"Hmm. I have heard Sun Jiangjun speak of this person before; seeing him now, he is indeed impressive." Xia Wuqi nodded lightly and closed the roster, but said nothing more.

"I remember that the last person in our prefecture who could lift a one-thousand-catty stone wheel during the prefectural exam was also Sun Jiangjun. If nothing unexpected happens, I believe that even if this Chen Mo is not the top of this year's class, he should at least be among the top three." The Instructor spoke up at the right moment.

"Let's see his performance in the following events; Sun Jiangjun's foster son should not be bad," Xia Wuqi said with a smile.

The other officials, understanding the implication, chimed in one after another.

There had been several candidates earlier who performed well, but the Prefect had never mentioned them individually; now that he specifically mentioned Chen Mo, the meaning could not be clearer.

Imperial Examination fraud is indeed a grave crime, but for it to be a crime, it must first be uncovered.

Moreover, Chen Mo's performance was already quite good, so they were naturally happy to do a favor and give Sun Jiangjun some face.

"Yi-73 Chen Mo, lifted one thousand catties of stone, rated Jia-Superior!" The examiner responsible for the stone-lifting event gave the result, which was then loudly announced by a bailiff at his side.

After testing strength, the next event was Riding.

Chen Mo's Riding was not particularly good, but fortunately, he was using the horse he often rode, so he was quite familiar with the coordination.

In the end, he received an evaluation of Yi-Medium.

According to his own estimation, this was mostly out of consideration for his foster father; otherwise, with only a few months of practice in Riding, it would have been very difficult for him to get this rating.

After the Riding test came archery, which, in addition to shooting at targets, also involved observing the posture of drawing the bow and how many stones of tension the bow had.

Chen Mo's foot archery was passable and his mounted archery was slightly inferior, but as the only person among the many candidates who could pull a Ten-Stone Strong Bow,

he still obtained an evaluation of Jia-Inferior.

With three consecutive assessments finished, it was already evening, and Chen Mo took a carriage back to the residence to rest.

"You're back." Sun Shouren smiled and waved at Chen Mo.

"Foster father." Chen Mo walked forward, cupped his hands, and bowed in greeting.

"I already know your assessment results for today; with your scores, the top three is not difficult. To take the top spot, however, will have some difficulty." Sun Shouren spoke slowly.

Although the martial examination has the word 'martial' in it, it is not just about whether one can fight; Chen Mo has excellent strength and is definitely strong enough in actual combat, and he could take the top spot in both of these assessments.

However, the other few subjects were not particularly outstanding among the many examinees.

Obtaining a degree is not difficult; what is difficult is what rank one can achieve.

"Study the book on military strategy I gave you a few days ago well," Sun Shouren exhorted carefully.

"This child understands," Chen Mo said, cupping his hands in a salute.

He could also guess that, barring any accidents, the topic for this Policy Essay would be drawn from that book on military strategy.

It was just that which specific passage would be tested was not marked in detail, and there was no way to mark it in detail either.

When taking the Policy Essay exam, there would be dozens of completely different questions for examinees to draw at random; whichever one was drawn would be the one tested.

Admittedly, even so, there was still plenty of room for cheating.

But generally, no one would do this, because the risk of being caught doing so was too great.

Conversely, leaking the general topics carried a much smaller risk, because such matters were very difficult to investigate clearly.

After resting for one day at the residence, the examinations continued the next day.

(End of this chapter)