In the selection of officials in the Great Jin, the special examination is similar to the recommendation system of the previous dynasty, where local recommendations were mostly for the descendants of major families, otherwise for influential people, with only a very small portion being those with great fame and virtue.
Zhou Lichong clearly wasn't such a person.
Then he could only go through the regular examination.
The examinations for jinshi, xiucai, and Ming Classic in the regular exam are quite difficult; even the easiest Ming Classic, Liu Huan, who studied for more than ten years, barely passed with much effort.
The remaining Ming Book and Ming Law, the calligraphy is too difficult; there is no need to ask how many years Zhou Lichong studied, just from that dog-scratching handwriting, the examiners probably wouldn't even want to look at the paper.
