Chapter 401 (1/2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The first Civil Service Recruitment in the Republic of Northwest had attracted many people’s attention.

Although they did not understand what the so-called “civil servant” was, there were still many participants.

There were no fools. By careful thinking, they could infer that the “civil servant” should be the official who managed the daily affairs of the territory. According to the past tradition, officials were promoted by the Hill Lord. They were generally selected from the Hill Lord’s subordinates or relatives. It had been a rare case as the Republic of Northwest to directly select officials among the normal people.

It was just rare, but it did happen.

After all, the foundation of the Republic was weak; the number of its high-ranking officials was small, and so was the number of their relatives and subordinates. Thus, it was hard to promote enough officials after all.

That offered chances to everyone.

So in just three days, not to mention people with expertise in the four towns area had almost all signed up, many people even had managed to the Void City through the transportation portal to sign up.

Three days later, according to the final statistics, the number of registered people was over 10,000. Such a huge number made the statisticians stunned.

“Do we have so many positions to offer?” After receiving the statistics, Felix stopped for a moment and asked.

Mrs. Teague, the governor of the Void City, pondered for a while and shook her head.

“How many positions will be there?” Felix asked again.

“It has been counted. At present, our vacant positions…There are about three to four hundred in urgent need.”

“Make it more, five hundred. That means to choose one from at least twenty people…” Fred sighed, “I’m afraid there will be a mess.”

Although she had never experienced such a thing, she could understand it by simple imagination: 19 would be eliminated out of 20 talented people — If that was the case, things would be easier. But as the number expanded to over 10,000, it meant that more than 10,000 people would have been eliminated.

It definitely would cause a lot trouble, or she would swallow the statistic list!

It had proved that she was still too young and simple. There was still a lot for her to learn.

When Yan Xun got the report, he glanced at it carelessly, smiled and said, “The enrollment rate is five percent. It’s quite high.”

What? Quite high?! At what point?

Hearing that comment, Felix felt surprised and confused.

She couldn’t help asking why, and Yan Xun smiled and said, “It’s not too hard for twenty people to compete for a job. This is just a sign up, not even a written test.”

“Will the written test fail a lot of them?” Felix frowned and said, “There are too many people!”

“It might be. After all, it will be an examination.” Yan Xun said kind of irresponsibly, “If it’s still hard to choose, we can make the exam paper more difficult, or we can just choose the top few of them. There are always more solutions than problems.”

“An examination?” This was something different from a “written test” in her mind.

“Isn’t that something done at school?” She asked, “Doesn’t a written test mean to let the participants write something to prove that they are able to write and count?”

“How could it be!” Yan Xun opened his eyes wide. “If in that way, how can we judge the good and bad?”

Felix stopped again. She really hadn’t thought about that. In her opinion, the so-called written test was only a way to eliminate those who couldn’t read from the competition. Unexpectedly, Yan Xun wanted to set a high standard by imitating the school curriculum.

“If we want to recruit civil servants, we must take the exam first.” Yan Xun said, “Through the exam, screen out those who do not even have the basic level of education as well as those who have strange ideas and are not in tune with normal people; then eliminate those who are not competent and completely do not know how to do things well…After eliminating these worthless people, the rest is taken as effective registration.”

After thinking for quite a while, Felix realized what he meant, hesitated to ask, “But… Leave those illiterate people alone. How about those can read or count a little?”

“If they are not such qualified, how could they be civil servants?” Yan Xun laughed, “Being a civil servant, he has to write a report when something happens; write a note or sign when it’s his responsibility; at least he has to be able to understand the document by the superiors…I’m not asking them to write poems and operas or something like that, but they still need at least the ability to read, write and calculate.”

Felix frowned for a moment and then asked, “So, what is Your Majesty going to do with those who have been eliminated for their lack of education?”

“If they are interested in learning to read, they can apply for settlement and then go to literacy classes. The tuition fee is low and the course arrangement is loose. As long as they work hard, after half or a year, they will learn a lot of words. For those who have money or are willing to pay back money in the future can sign up for school. But now the school enrollment quota is very tight, they may not be able to get enrollment. As for those unwilling to learn, there is nothing I can do.” He laughed and said, “Can I force a man who doesn’t want to make a progress to learn?”

“…I was interested in doing that, but not for now. I have to manage more and more things now. I really don’t have enough energy.”

Felix quite understood Yan Xun. She kept silence for a moment and asked, “What should we do if those who are eliminated make trouble?”

Yan Xun sneered. “I’ll let Wor hold the written test then. I’d like to see who dare to be wild in front of the God of Knowledge!”

In fact, none.