Manchu traitor, how can you let me be the emperor of the ages

Chapter 252 The Palace Examination Ends, The Official Conferment Ceremony

The day before the palace examination, the candidates for the new pilot examination were summoned to the Ministry of Rites, and the Ritual System Department selected several officials to teach them the etiquette and related matters of the palace examination.

After all, this is an exam held in the palace, and His Majesty the Emperor will personally invigilate the exam.

In addition, the prime minister and the minister went together.

If some stunned youths don't understand the rules and do something out of the ordinary in the palace examination, it's not good for them, and it's not good for the court.

The officials of the Department of Ceremonies threatened and intimidated the examinees. If the emperor behaved in front of him, he would be doomed. Then he painted a big cake to describe the social animals after the palace examination... no, the life of a high-ranking Jinshi.

I have never seen that the sinister officials in the officialdom can bear that kind of method, so after entering the palace today, these people are all trembling and walking on thin ice.

Stepping with the left foot first is afraid of violating the unknown prohibition in the palace, stepping with the right foot first is afraid of disrupting the orderly formation of entering the palace, panting heavily and worrying about polluting the noble atmosphere in the palace...

As for behaviors such as farting, belching and blowing their noses, they have long been excluded from the minds of the candidates.

It is worth mentioning that they are generally not allowed to go to the toilet during the palace test.

So since a few days ago, the candidates have been eating and drinking less, and yesterday they had almost no water or rice, and only ate a little.

Although I was dizzy from hunger today and my mouth was dry, but still the same sentence, the palace test should focus on stability.

As long as nothing goes wrong.

Candidates who entered the palace at dawn had to be searched outside the palace gate first. This time the exam was only for one day, so they didn't need to bring any bedding.

The pen, ink, paper and inkstone for the exam, and the meals for lunch are all provided by the court, and they don't need to bring anything.

Hubenwei's body search was to prevent these people from bringing in any murder weapons. Although everyone who participated in the test had a clean family background, it was hard to guarantee that no one would be confused.

In order to avoid unnecessary accidents, and to protect the precious bodies of His Majesty the Emperor and the adults from harm, this process must be followed.

After the body search, the examinees continued to move forward and received a roll call outside the Qianyang Palace Baohe Hall, and only after confirming that there were no omissions in the personnel would they be released...

At the same time, Li Qian also got up very early today.

In name, the imperial examination is administered by the emperor himself, but after so many years of system development, the symbolic significance of the emperor has long been greater than the actual role.

Li Gan seems to be going to the palace to invigilate the exam, but in his own eyes, he is more like a mascot...

After packing up his clothes under the service of the court lady, Li Gan is now familiar with this corrupt life of being served by others.

After hastily finished his breakfast, Li Gan arrived at the Baohe Hall of Qianyang Palace in a sedan chair, and entered the rear of the hall through the north gate.

Seeing that His Majesty the Emperor had arrived, the official of the Ministry of Rites who was in charge of coordinating immediately ran to the front, and the candidates could enter the hall at this time.

After entering the hall, they can't sit down right away, they have to follow the process step by step.

Li Qian was getting impatient waiting in the back of the hall, and had refilled several cups of tea, and finally another official came to ask for instructions.

Your Majesty, all the examinees in front have gone in. When will we go to the hall?
"Let's go!"

Li Qian put down the teacup, waved his sleeves and walked forward.

The design of the Palace of Preserving Harmony is similar to that of most standard palaces in the palace, so although Li Qian has never been to this palace, he can be regarded as familiar with walking in it.

After walking around a few corners, he came to the main hall.

Walk a few more steps quickly, climb the seven steps, and sit on the emperor's throne.

While walking, Li Gan looked down.

Different from the picture imagined by Li Gan, the situation here is more complicated.

For some unknown reason, these candidate candidates were a little cautious, and they all stood behind the table with their heads bowed, and none of them made a sound.

And it wasn't until now that Li Gan realized that there were more of these people than he had imagined.

800 people took the exam together, and the people in round-neck black silk robes were black and connected. If nothing else, today would be the last time they wore this shirt.

By tomorrow, they will no longer be juren.

He was promoted to Jinshi.

Although there are many candidates for the palace examination, fortunately the Ministry of Rites has sufficient experience. The positions of these candidates are arranged like a chessboard, with a large enough gap between them. At first glance, it looks dark, but when you look closely, it is clean and tidy, which makes people feel comfortable. .

This arrangement is also to prevent cheating, so that no one can read the words written at the next table.

But there is also a disadvantage of sitting like this, that is, the Hall of Preserving Harmony can't hold a full [-] candidates for the pilot test.

The long queue lined up on the square outside the temple.

The seat arrangement of the palace examination is also based on the ranking, that is to say, those who rank high in the examination can sit in the palace examination.

As for the lower half of the people, they can only sit outside the hall and take the test in the open air.

In case of any wind and rain... Hehe, then you can ask for blessings, as long as you don't dirty the exam papers.

There are only vague names in the palace examination, but there are no procedures such as transcription, which means that the papers that the examiners read are the original ones you are writing now.

If you really turn the paper into a big black face, you must suffer in the end.

Li Gan looked away from the outermost candidates in the distance, and then looked at the few candidates in the front.

Zheng Guan and Yan Zhenqing stood in front, lowered their heads like all the candidates, and did not look up.

Apart from His Majesty the Emperor Li Gan, Qin Hui, Cai Jing, and several ministers were at the top, all of whom were extremely powerful.

Even if some candidates moved their eyes slightly upwards occasionally, after catching a glimpse of the corners of the scarlet robes of several adults, they all retracted their eyes like an electric shock.

Li Qian looked back at the candidates, and when he looked forward again, he found that many ministers had their eyes on Zhuge Liang who was at the front.

"Your Majesty, shall we begin now?"

Qin Hui was the first to notice His Majesty's gaze, and turned his head to ask for instructions.

"Ah."

Li Gan nodded slightly.

Immediately, the officials below continued to follow the procedure, directing the candidates to start the complicated "praise" etiquette.

This is also to express respect to His Majesty the Emperor, thank you for giving me the test paper.

After the praise, the officials began to "scatter the papers" and "issue questions."

From top to bottom, almost everyone had to participate, even Qin Hui, ministers of the prime minister, could not be exempted, and had to distribute a few papers symbolically.

The emperor has personally come to invigilate the exam, no matter how noble you are, you have to do something, right?
After all the papers were handed out, the examinees saluted again under the guidance of officials from the Ministry of Rites, and thanked His Majesty the Emperor and all the adults again.

After all these were done, the candidates could finally sit back in their seats and start answering the questions.

At first, Li Qian looked at them with interest, wanting to see how these top students do the questions.

But after just watching for a while, he got bored.

These people are all writing at their desks, and they don't even have their heads up. What's the point of that?
Li Qian turned his head and glanced at Qin Hui and the others, and found that these people were worse than himself. He still had a place to sit, but these people didn't even have a place, so they could only stand in this hall.

But this is normal, according to the configuration of the imperial court, Li Qian is the "invigilator" of today's palace examination, and they are all "deputy invigilators".

The invigilator is here, how could I still let you sit?Eight hundred people, can you sit in front and see it?

Of course, this article is not aimed at the emperor.

Li Gan just sat bored like this, watching the ministers go down and walk around from time to time to observe the situation of the candidates.

Li Qian knew that they must not be dedicated to their duties, and took the initiative to monitor the candidates not to cheat.

Because basically no one cheats in the imperial examination. First of all, cheating is extremely difficult. When everyone is busy doing the questions, if you just raise your head a little, you will immediately attract the attention of the patrolling censor.

In addition, the cost of cheating is also very high. The imperial examination is proctored by the emperor himself. If you are caught cheating, it is a crime of deceiving the emperor. Wait for death...

Moreover, the palace exam is about strategy questions, not those rigid questions about the Four Books and Five Classics, so there is no way to bring cheat sheets and other things.

Considering the difficulty and cost of cheating, it is basically impossible for anyone to cheat here.

A little puzzled flashed in Li Gan's eyes. Since no one came to cheat, why did these ministers go shopping?

Pretentious?Posing?Can't save face, can't stand still?Or just simply numb feet after standing for a long time?
Or are none of these cases, what special purpose do they have?
With this in mind, Li Qian also left his seat and walked down.

The ministers all noticed His Majesty's movements, and after glancing at him, they turned their eyes away as if nothing had happened.

The examinees were quiet as usual, with their heads down, working on the questions.

But anyone who has taken the exam knows that when the invigilator walks by, he will always be attracted to the teacher and look at him from the corner of his eye.

Li Qian walked between the two rows of candidates, looking at each candidate, frowning hard, or typing the first draft on the draft paper with a pen...

When he walked by, many candidates subconsciously looked sideways with peripheral vision.

It wasn't the cyan censor's gown, nor the crimson gown of those high officials, but a red-yellow gown with one corner...

The person in the yellow robe here...you can tell who it is just thinking about it.

Many candidates froze, and their hands holding the pens tightened a little.

what happened?The officials of the Ministry of Rites didn't say that His Majesty the Emperor would come to see it?And by coincidence, he came directly to this neighborhood?

The examinees who were passed did not have the joy of winning the grand prize, but were extremely anxious.

Now how to do?Should I put down my pen and kowtow to His Majesty?
Would it be considered disrespectful to be rude? ?
Just when the heaven and man were at war in the hearts of the candidates, Li Qian had already gone far.

This made them feel lost, but at the same time, they inevitably felt a sense of worrying about gains and losses...

Of course, Li Gan didn't know that there were so many dramas in the hearts of these candidates. He walked along the way and basically saw the scenes of the students doing the questions seriously.

It seems that there is nothing tricky.

Li Qian pondered for a while but couldn't figure out why, so he stopped thinking about it, but turned around here again, and went back to his seat.

The ministers thought it was over, but when Li Gan walked to the front row, he suddenly stopped.

The examinee on his left is the Huiyuan this time, Zhuge Liang.

This was not an act of Li Qian's whim, but something that had been carefully considered long ago.

He stopped by Zhuge Liang's table, looked down at him writing like a snake on paper.

And Zhuge Liang didn't respond to His Majesty the Emperor beside him, as if he didn't exist, and wrote his own.

Li Gan seemed to be attracted by the content above, and stood still, fascinated by it.

Many ministers noticed this scene, and everyone's expressions moved slightly, but they only looked at it for a moment before looking away.

There was constant friction of paper and pen in the examination room, and the sun gradually climbed to the center of the sky.

For the candidates, especially those who ranked lower, today is a very lucky day. It is neither windy nor rainy, and it is a sunny and sunny day.

By noon, the stomachs of the examinees who hadn't eaten normally for a few days were already empty. From time to time there was a cooing sound in the examination room. Those who didn't know it thought that there was a brood of quails and females in the palace.

In fact, this is just the sound of the candidates' stomachs.

Seeing that the time was up, officials from the Ministry of Rites began to lead people from Guanglu Temple into the arena to distribute food to the candidates.

The meal they ate at noon was also very particular, and it was called Hong Ling Cake.

In the past, this was the food specially given by the emperor to the Jinshi of the new department, but now there is nothing wrong with giving it to them. After the exam, these people will be the Jinshi.

But don't think that this red silk cake is a good thing.

The products produced by Guanglu Temple cannot be said to be high-quality products, but they can only be said to be barely edible.

Hongling pancakes are originally an exquisite delicacy, but what they make are big pancakes wrapped in red cloth, which are dry, hard and cold.

And they also euphemistically said that this is done for the consideration of the examinees, how important the palace examination is!If you get some stuffed snacks and soil the exam papers, you will lose your Jinshi status for nothing, and you will regret it for the rest of your life!
We made the pancakes so dry and hard, so that you can eat them crisply and neatly. Even if there are crumbs falling on the test paper, you just need to blow them away in one breath, and it will not hurt at all.

It has to be said that although their excuses are reasonable, the complaints in the hearts of Jinshi are indispensable.

Guanglu Temple also used this to set a record, becoming one of the most unpopular yamen...

After lunch, some candidates gradually finished their questions, transcribed them, and began to hand in their papers to the examiner.

At this time, they finally don't have to worry about being misjudged by the examiners for plagiarism and cheating, and they can look up a little bit presumptuously.

Before leaving, many people wanted to take another look at those examiners who run the world, and take a sneak peek at the legendary Longyan.

But to their disappointment, the position above was already vacant.

It seems that those big guys haven't come back since the meal...

That's right, the examinees ate dry pancakes, but Guanglu Temple never dared to let the emperor and ministers eat dry pancakes.

They naturally have better meals.

However, in order to avoid the smell of the food from disturbing the examinees, or irritating them, Li Gan and the others naturally did not eat in the examination room.

It's fine if you don't let it eat, but it's too much not to let it smell.

But the advantage of the people above is that they don't have to care about the feelings of the people below, and there are more than 100 officials proctoring the exam in the examination room, so it doesn't hurt to leave less than ten of them.

This palace exam lasted from dawn to dusk, and it was not over until all the candidates left the hall when the moon was rising.

Then there will be a short three-day marking time, and a grand awarding ceremony.

(End of this chapter)