Daming heir

Chapter 251 I Know This Question!

In the 25th year of Hongwu, September [-]rd, the autumnal equinox.

Dong Zhongshu said in "Chunqiu Fanlu Yin and Yang in and out": At the autumnal equinox, yin and yang are half and half, so day and night are equal and cold and heat are even.

In the autumn season, Jiangnan also loses a lot of attractions and scenery, and the days are getting shorter and shorter.

Before dawn, scattered raindrops began to fall in Yingtian City, thin and hazy, not very big, but always in harmony with the solar terms.

"When the autumnal equinox is sunny, there will be a long drought." Zhu Yunxi was standing on the city wall behind the East Garden on the southwest side of Dongshuiguan Wharf, looking at everything on the bank of the Qinhuai River in the city ahead.

Neihuan Yutian was very flattering and put a large umbrella that could cover two people, and put the whole thing on top of Taisun, and echoed in a low voice: "This year, it will rain at the autumnal equinox. I think next year we will have a bumper harvest in Ming Dynasty." year."

Zhu Yunxi smiled silently. In the Ming Dynasty, which was in the Little Ice Age, if the historical development followed the past, a good harvest would become a long-lost word.

In the distance, Tian Mai, the dark guard on the city wall, and Sun Cheng, deputy Qianhu of Jinyiwei, came side by side.

Sun Cheng was holding a food box in his hand.

Tian Mai was holding a chair with both hands while carrying the case.

Behind the two, there is a team of eunuchs carrying several wooden platforms.

After a while, a group of people came in a hurry, set up a high platform beside Zhu Yunxi, put chairs and tables, so that the grandson could sit on the city wall and look at the Gongyuan not far in front.

It was just getting brighter now.

In front of the Gongyuan on the north side of Gongyuan Street, countless candidates for the exam have gathered.

Oil-paper umbrellas cover the wise head of a person who is interested in official career.

"Irrigate the viscera with autumn soup, wash the liver and intestines, and the whole family will be safe and healthy."

Sun Cheng said the current auspicious words in a joyful tone, and handed a bowl full of autumn soup made of wild vegetables and fish slices to the grandson who was already sitting on the chair with both hands.

Zhu Yunxi took the bowl and took a shallow sip.

The wild vegetables were picked from outside the city, and the fish was a black fish fillet weighing four to five catties that I caught last outside the city yesterday.

The fishbone was shaved clean by the cooks, it was smooth and refreshing, and it could be eaten without chewing.

After a while, after eating a bowl of autumn soup, Zhu Yunxi opened his mouth slightly and exhaled a stream of white smoke.

Sun Cheng sent a handkerchief from the side, and also the latest news from the city: "There are 320 candidates registered for reference in this case. People from the Ministry of Rites, the Imperial Academy, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate entered the Gongyuan last night. The Jinyiwei Yamen was present during the whole process."

Zhu Yunxi nodded, and raised his eyes to look at the Yingtian Gongyuan in the distance.

The Gongyuan, located next to the Confucius Temple in Yingtian City and the Jiangning County School, can be regarded as the largest imperial examination room in the entire Central Plains now and in the future.

The entire area north of Gongyuan Street, south of Qiwang Street, and in the middle of Gongyuan East and West Streets is within the scope of Gongyuan.

The towering courtyard walls and watchtowers enclose rows of narrow dormitories.

At this moment, Liu Sanwu, the chief examiner of Enke Qiuwei this year, and a doctor from the Ministry of Rites as an assistant examiner, walked out of the Confucius Temple not far from the Gongyuan.

Behind the two are eighteen officials in total, and these people are the legendary Eighteen House System.The chief and deputy examiners are called the president. In the marking stage after nine days, the [-]-room system will read the test papers for the reference exams, and take part of the answer sheets, which will be selected and identified by the president.

And the president also has the right to review the answer sheets that have been suppressed by the [-]-room system.

At present, a total of 7000 officials who control the future of more than [-] candidates in Jinke left the Confucius Temple from the crowded Gongyuan Street, and entered the Gongyuan under the escort of Yingtianfu's guards.

After a while, a servant came out of the tribute courtyard, holding a gong in his hand.

The guard looked at the crowds of people on Gongyuan Street, and he was not timid. He held his head high and chested out in a haughty posture, and rang the gong heavily.

The gong beat loudly.

The already noisy crowd on Gongyuan Street, after a moment of silence, broke out into more commotion.

As the door of the tribute courtyard opened, everyone rushed into the tribute courtyard one after another.

Everyone wanted to be the first to enter the dormitory to get the test papers and start answering the questions.

Seeing this crowd of people, Zhu Yunxi smiled helplessly.

This kind of rush-in scene will be staged in every imperial examination. In the past few years, there have been cases where an examinee had already rushed into the Gongyuan, but was squeezed out by the people who came behind and flooded in the pool on the right side behind the gate of the Gongyuan. Dead things come.

It was not until a long, long time later that Lin Zexu, who was in the smoke of gunpowder, laid down detailed regulations, and finally changed the scene of rushing to the imperial examination.It also left behind the good story of "visiting the spine three times in person, vigorously and resolutely abolishing bad governance".

Zhu Yunxi was looking forward to it, wondering if any unlucky guy would fall into the pool of the Gongyuan this year, offering sacrifices to the heavens for other students.

Only half a minute later, when more than 7000 reference candidates outside the palace had verified their identities and entered the Gongyuan, there was no news of anyone falling into the water.

Zhu Yunxi leaned back on the chair a little bored.

At this time, Yu Tian whispered beside him: "Your Highness, Bachelor Xie is here."

Zhu Yunxi turned his head immediately and saw that Jin was walking over from the city wall not far away, wearing a normal suit and holding an umbrella.

When I came to the front, after saluting.

Xie Jin said softly: "Your Highness is taking the exam in the rain, and this subject will definitely be full of flowers."

Zhu Yunxi glanced at Jin Jin lightly, and looked calmly at the rows of houses in the Gongyuan: "Whether there are flowers or not, it still depends on nine days later."

There will be nine days of the test, one session in three days, during which the candidates are not allowed to leave the tribute courtyard, these are the rules.

In the first three days, the Four Books and Five Classics are tested, which is the stereotyped essay in the traditional sense.Three articles of four books and four articles of five scriptures.This is the most important basis for examiners to choose admission or admission.

In the middle three days, there will be an examination of "discussion", "imperial imperial edict" and "judgment".As for argumentative essays, the questions are drawn from the Four Books and Five Classics, and the answers are answered according to the questions.The edict table is written as an official document, and it is to refer to the edict table written by the candidates to imitate the superior.For example, in the sixth year of Hongzhi, the students were asked to imitate Zhang Jiuling, the prime minister of the former Tang Dynasty, and to use Zhang Jiuling as the imperial edict of Zhongshu in the Tang Dynasty. In the 18th year, He Xiaozong, an official of the Song Dynasty, made a chart of respecting heaven.The verdict is to refer to the official documents submitted by the candidates for the subordinates in the officialdom to make comments.

Zhu Yunxi took this very seriously, and felt that this was the key to the court's selection of materials, which was more important than the examinations in the first three days.

As for the last three days, there are policy questions. The examiner chooses current events as the questions, and you can answer them yourself by referring to the examples.This is also an important test that can reveal the candidates' political ideas, but it is often only used as a supplementary question, and the examiners only require the candidates to be able to answer fluently.

And the most famous thing is that the reason why Tang Bohu, who was famous all over the south of the Yangtze River, was deposed from the imperial examination results and even banned from the imperial examinations for life was because his policy questions and answers were too perfect.

As for that subject, the chief examiner was Cheng Minzheng, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and only Tang Bohu and Xu Jing, who was referred by the same subject, could answer the strategic question perfectly.As a result, it was used by people with high intentions in the court to impeach and attack Cheng Minzheng.

The end of the matter was naturally that Cheng Minzheng, the official minister at the time, was dismissed from office and imprisoned, and Tang Bohu, a talented scholar who was well-known in the south of the Yangtze River, lost his official career.

The reason for all this was simply because Cheng Minzheng, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials at that time, had been selected by Emperor Hongzhi as the next candidate to enter Wenyuan Pavilion.

Damn court battle!
Thinking of these, Zhu Yunxi couldn't help but curse secretly.

Xie Jin took a deep look at the Gongyuan in front of him, then leaned closer and whispered: "Your Highness, do you know what lessons Liu Sheren taught in the Imperial College a few days ago?"

Zhu Yunxi tilted his head and said calmly: "Aren't you talking about the Four Books and Five Classics?"

Xie Jin hummed, and then said, "But does Your Highness know what Liu Sheren said?"

Zhu Yunxi snorted, and gave Xie Jin a puzzled look.

Xie Jin immediately said in a low voice: "Liu Sheren talked about the Four Books and Five Classics, but only once in the three books of Pianliji, Shijing, and Shangshu."

After finishing speaking, Xie Jin folded his hands and stepped back, standing silently with his head bowed.

Zhu Yunxi's eyelids trembled violently.

Disclosure!

The word flashed across Zhu Yunxi's mind, and then he stared deeply at Xie Jin who was standing beside him with his head bowed.

As mentioned above, the answer sheets of the first three days of the examination are the most important admission reference, three articles and four books, four articles and five classics.It is impossible for candidates to know the scope of the test questions in advance, let alone know what the specific questions are.

However, now that Liu Sanwu is giving lectures in the Imperial College, the Book of Rites, The Book of Songs, and Shangshu only give lectures once.

The Book of Filial Piety and the Analects of Confucius are mandatory questions, and the Book of Rites and Zuozhuan must choose at least one question, and the rest are multi-choice questions.

But Liu Sanwu's move was extremely ingenious.

No need to think about it anymore, Zhu Yunxi knew that the four books and five classics in this year's exam must be the seven questions of Xiaojing, Analects, Left Turn, Book of Rites, Book of Songs, and Shangshu.

Tian Mai, who came with Sun Cheng, silently glanced at the Gong Yuan.This is another crime for Liu Sanwu.

But Xie Jin hesitated and said: "But even so, it can't be confirmed... After all, most of the judges know about it."

Xie Jin wanted to say that when everyone knows what exams may be taken this year, it can be understood that everyone does not know.Even if you know it, everyone is on the same starting line.

However, Zhu Yunxi shook his head: "People are different."

After saying something lightly, he lost the interest to continue reading.

Standing up, she glared at Yutian who was holding an umbrella for herself, and she was drenched in the rain. Zhu Yunxi took an umbrella from the man Sun Cheng and Tian Mai brought, and walked along the city wall with the umbrella alone. Go in the direction of Dongcheng.

Xie Jin looked back blankly at the emperor's grandson who was holding an umbrella and walking into the rain and fog alone. The Gongyuan accommodated more than 7000 candidates.

"That's right! That's right!"

"Right bet!"

"All right!"

"We must be a Jinshi this year, and at worst we have to be from the same Jinshi!"

In the Gongyuan, there is a certain place in the seemingly endless number of houses.

A young Juren rushed into the Gong Yuan first, found his dormitory, and took the test questions, test papers, and paper. He looked at the seven test questions on the paper with joy on his face.

However, the person who sighed this way was not alone, one after another subtle exclamation sounded one after another in the continuous number of houses.

Also in a certain dormitory, Gao Yangzhi stared at the exam questions in front of him with flickering eyes, and not only let out a long sigh.Then I silently reviewed and solved the questions, and finally started to draft on paper.

Three days is a long time for candidates in the Tribute Academy, but this experience will last for another six days.

On the third day, from the morning onwards, some candidates would show their heads in the dormitory, and then there would be clerks and officials to confirm whether the candidates had handed in the test papers. In the public house of the official, the test papers were folded to cover their names and seals.

Afterwards, they will be sent to the family record officer to copy the test paper.Candidates’ test papers should be sent to the warehouse to be sealed, and the transcripts should be sent to the examiners in Shibafang for review.

The methods and methods to prevent cheating are extremely strict.

However, in any matter where people participate, there must be loopholes that can be exploited.

It took Gao Yangzhi two and a half days, and at noon on the third day, he ate a piece of meat pie he brought in and drank a few sips of water.

After confirming that the test paper was correct again, he stuck his head out of the hall.

Then, two small officials came over.

One of the clerks glanced at Gao Yangzhi indifferently, subconsciously glanced to the left and right, and then asked, "Are you sure you're done?"

Gao Yangzhi replied, "I'm sure it's done."

"Such a young person will take away Xianggong's test paper."

"Take it away." Gao Yangzhi waved his hands, then folded his arms and leaned back. He was really tired, and the rest of the time was until tomorrow, and he needed a good rest.

The two junior officials took away Gao Yangzhi's scroll, and when they arrived at Mi Feng's place, the junior officials kept staring at Gao Yangzhi's scroll until the scroll was sealed and sealed, and Gao Yangzhi's scroll was sealed again. The paper was placed on the top, and a pile of test papers was sent to the court officer.

There are several court officials, this is to ensure the speed of transcription.

The little official handed the sealed test paper to the little official at the official recorder's office, patted the top with his palm, and nodded silently to the convenience.

Afterwards, the test paper belonging to Gao Yangzhi was handed over to the court officer to transcribe.It became the bottom of a pile of test papers.

When the number is enough, the petty official here will carry the pile of test papers and send them to the examiner in Shibafangtong.

In the process of going, Gao Yangzhi's test paper, which was originally at the bottom, was quietly placed on the top.

Go to the same examiners, and the test papers are handed over to the examiners who help the fellow examiners to mark the test papers.

The little official who delivered the roll still patted the top with his palm lightly.The petty official who received the test paper withheld the top one, and several petty officials divided the test papers and distributed them to a famous examiner.

The clerk holding Gao Yangzhi's test paper in his hand handed the test paper to an examiner in the farthest corner.

"My lord, the test paper is here."

The examiner looked up at the little official, and saw that the little official was clasping a fist at him, but the fingers on the outside of his palm were pointing downwards.

Then silently opened the test paper that was placed on the top.

After flipping through it for a few seconds, the examiner raised his head back and said softly, "I don't distinguish between mediocrity and mediocrity, I can't understand my words, and my pen and ink are excellent. How can I raise people?"

After finishing speaking, he threw the copy of Gao Yangzhi's examination paper into the bamboo basket beside him.

Then, he took another test paper and flipped through it, and saw that there were nail marks on the folded corners of the name, so he said happily: "The article is self-contained, the sage has a heart, and the pen and ink are powerful, which can be taught."

So, the little official waiting by his side carefully took the test paper and sent it to the same examiner.

The same examiner also read it over, word by word, and saw no mistakes or omissions, so he raised a green pen and made a comment of more than 20 characters.

This is the hit.

This feeling and scene can be seen everywhere in the Gongyuan at this moment.

Everything is in silence.

…………

Ask for a monthly ticket~~~
(End of this chapter)