Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 151 0146 [The last one is also the first]

After sorting things out and checking for omissions, Zhu Ming went downstairs with a lantern.

Shi Biao still stayed in the inn to look after his luggage, while Bai Sheng went to the stable to lead the horse.

Scholars came out one after another, and there were dozens of candidates for the exam living in this inn alone.

"Hey, isn't Brother Hui going to take the Maoke exam?" Zhu Ming noticed that Qin Hui had also gone downstairs.

Qin Hui explained with a smile: "Mao Ke is too difficult, it's not too late to take the exam next time."

For major subjects like Maoke, people are afraid to take the exam directly, new subjects are not allowed to take the exam again, and the main competitors are all previous Jinshi.

Historically, Qin Hui was thrown away to be the principal, and he was aggrieved and did not move for many years.So he bit the bullet and went to take the Maoke exam, and he became the only one admitted in that class. At this time, it turned around and quickly jumped to Taixue Xuezheng.

Min Zishun had already booked two carriages, and all the Yangzhou scholars got in, and Qin Hui had the audacity to hitch a ride.

Li Hanzhang and Zhu Ming rode their own horses and entered the city together.

Bai Sheng and other followers, carrying lanterns, walked behind the carriage.

The speed can't be raised, there are too many people.

The gates of the city were opened for examination candidates as an exception, and no inspection was done, and they could come in and out at will.

Before arriving at the Gongyuan, the street was blocked, because the number of candidates was about [-], and their entourage may exceed [-].

Dense, crowded.

Soon, some officials came and shouted along the street: "Leave the idlers, leave the idlers, don't block the streets!"

Bai Sheng and the others belonged to idlers, and after handing things over to Zhu Ming, they silently walked away from the Gongyuan.

Zhu Ming didn't run to squeeze inside, but waited slowly to enter the arena.After waiting for two hours, I finally approached a little bit, and took out the answer sheet and the test ticket with the seat number written on it from the bamboo tube.

The inspection procedure is stricter than that of the state test, but it is still not stripped off.

The examination room of the Gongyuan is very large and can accommodate more than 1 people.

The surrounding test sheds are in poor conditions. They were used three years ago, and there are spider webs and moss growing on them, and candidates have to clean them up by themselves.

The test sheds on the inner side are much cleaner, because the Guozijian and Tai students will borrow the Gongyuan during the annual examination, and candidates clean it up once a year.

Including Ju Ming, the candidates from Yangzhou were all seated in the front.They didn't know that this was the arrangement of the two examiners, and they thought they were lucky.

Each test shed has an area of ​​about 1.3 square meters.

The first thing to do when finding a seat is to clean your test booth. The table must be wiped before placing paper on it to prevent the table from polluting the test papers.The second thing is to nail oiled paper on the top of the test shed to prevent rain from falling into disrepair.

Then, wait until dawn.

The content of the test questions in the classics and meanings is the same as that in the state test.But the difficulty has increased, and the number of words in each composition has increased to more than 350 words.

"Dang Dang Dang Dang!"

The sky was slightly bright, and the gong sounded, indicating that the exam questions were about to be announced.

In order to prevent leakage of the questions, it is impossible to print the test papers, let alone copy [-] copies temporarily.

A guard came out holding a wooden sign, and a piece of paper was pasted on the wooden sign, which stated the content of the first test question.The guards shouted as they walked: "The first question is that a gentleman is suitable for the world, and there is nothing wrong with it. Righteousness is compared... A gentleman is suitable for the world, and there is nothing wrong. Righteousness is compared... "

Candidates quickly copied the questions and waited for the announcement of the second question.

Not long after the guards passed by Ju Ming, another guard came over holding a sign: "Second question, people can promote the Tao, but non-Tao can promote people...People can promote the Tao, not Tao can promote people..."

After all the ten questions have been announced, candidates can start answering the questions.

If someone has not finished memorizing the exam questions, they can also ask the nearby guards, but they are not allowed to leave their own exam shed.

Zhu Ming answered the questions completely according to the stereotyped essay pattern, thought for a while, and wrote down the breaking point of the first question: In the world, a gentleman does not rely on things first, but adapts to the situation according to the situation, and there must be righteousness in everything.

Then he thought about the title and wrote: A gentleman is in the affairs of the world, and he only obeys righteousness.Why was there some bias in the beginning?
Ju Ming's eight-legged essay level has improved a lot compared to last year, and he is no longer a rookie who is taking the exam for the first time.

The only thing to pay attention to is to avoid miscellaneous crimes.

That is to say, you can't violate the name of the royal family in the article.

In the examinations of the Huizong Dynasty, the exclusive remarks of Luo Xue and Shu Xue should also be avoided.

This is easy to avoid. Taking Yangzhou Academy as an example, Min Wenwei specifically listed the relevant content, repeatedly emphasizing that those things cannot be taken for the exam.Moreover, there is not much content. 99% of the explanations of the classics and meanings of Xinxue, Luoxue, and Shuxue are common, leaving only the key 1% to distinguish.

Of course, without the guidance of famous teachers or academies, it is easy for poor scholars to make mistakes, and it is taboo to make mistakes if they are not careful.

After writing until noon, after completing four questions, I was already very hungry.

There was a smell of charcoal in the examination room, and someone was cooking with their own stove.Zhu Ming was too lazy to start a fire, took out a piece of pancake and drank water, then went to the toilet, and continued to answer questions after solving his physical needs.

When it got dark, the examiner ordered the paper to be handed in, and Zhu Ming had already slept on the table for a while.

There are too many candidates for the provincial test, and it is impossible to check in once a day.It's really like that, don't want to sleep for three days in a row.Because there are exams during the day, and you come to line up at [-] or [-] o'clock in the evening, how can there be any rest time?
Eating, drinking, and lassing are all in the examination room.

In a closed cabin of 1.3 square meters, you can only sleep on the table.

At night, Zhu Ming was still at the entrance of the test shed, lit the stove and cooked a pot of porridge, and ate it with pickles and dried meat.

I went to sleep after eating, wrote ten articles during the day, and repeatedly revised and transcribed them. I was as tired as a day of physical work.

On the second day, take the test of ten concurrent scripture questions.

On the third day, one test theory, five classics, history and current affairs policy.

The topic of the test is for candidates to evaluate Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty.

This question must have been written by Wang Fu, and the intention is very obvious, so that candidates can praise Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty by the way.

Zhu Ming has already guessed the mind of the author of the question, but he does not praise Song Huizong, but only objectively evaluates Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty.If you break the can and smash it, you will fail the ranking at worst, and then go back to Daming Village.

The two classics, history and policy questions are quite satisfactory.

There are three current affairs policy questions, one is about the Northwest War, and the other two are about financial issues.

Ju Ming wrote all the articles truthfully. Although he did not explicitly criticize Cai Jing and Tong Guan, he emphasized the problem of corrupt government.

As far as he wrote, it was difficult for the six questions on the third day to be approved by the marking officer.

In this era, even the imperial examinations have to flatter!
Take Cai Xie, the chief examiner of the previous session, as the No. [-] scholar in Chongning for five years.

This No. [-] scholar has a lot of moisture, and he got it entirely by slapstick.

At that time, Cai Jing was impeached by the officials, and Song Huizong was forced to make concessions by the officials.

During the palace examination, Cai Jue crazily spoke good words for Cai Jing and attacked his political opponents wantonly.

Song Huizong and Cai Jing were overjoyed to read it, so they selected Cai Yu as the number one scholar, and issued his article on the number one scholar to the world. Within nine months, he was promoted to the fourth rank.

Then, Cai Jue checked the genealogy and recognized Cai Jing as his uncle.

On one visit, Cai Jing asked his three sons to welcome him.Cai Jue immediately changed his words, saying that the genealogy was right or wrong before, Cai Jing was actually his uncle, and Cai Jing's son was his uncle.

Then, Song Huizong couldn't bear the pressure and planned to pardon some Yuanyou party members.In order to please Cai Jing, Cai Jue actually disobeyed the emperor's order and did not write the edict according to the imperial edict.For such a serious crime of deceiving the emperor, he was only demoted to Zhizhou, and was soon recalled to serve in the court.

In less than ten years, Cai Jue has grown from a commoner to the chief examiner of the national examination!

After three exams, Zhu Ming handed in the papers and left, taking his own stove with him.

Candidates walked out of the tribute courtyard one after another, all sleepy and tired, and had no energy to talk at all, let alone check questions with their friends.

"elder brother!"

Bai Sheng held the lantern and stood on the side of the street with his horse waiting for a long time.

There were too many candidates, and it was difficult for Ju Ming to find friends, so he simply rode back to the inn alone.

After eating a whole meal, he didn't even bother to take a bath, so he lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

……

The four chief examiners are still locked in the Gongyuan because they are still the examiners.

While copying the Zhu Juan, the copyist sent it to the reviewers.

More than a dozen officials from the third library also came to help mark the papers.After they checked the papers for the first time, some of the poorly written ones were eliminated, and then handed over to four examiners for review.

The four examiners judged the grades of the test papers and cross-checked the papers.

The evaluation of Ju Ming's two volumes of classics and meanings is not bad.

For example, in the volume of "The Analects of Confucius", Zhai Ruwen's comments are: the analysis is detailed, the diction is comfortable, there is no shortage, it is a good work.

Although the name is blurred, each answer sheet is numbered, and several answer sheets of candidates are put together.

The number of admissions is uncertain, about 700 people, can be more or less.

Because Murong Yanfeng and Zhai Ruwen judged the papers very strictly, they eliminated too many people, resulting in only 671 people admitted this year.

There were 713 Jinshi in the last session!
The arbitrariness of the imperial examinations in the Song Dynasty was fully reflected in the number of admissions.Greatly influenced by the chief examiner, for example, the next Jinshi, the examination papers were not so strict, and a total of 783 people were admitted.

After confirming the test papers on the list, the four examiners gathered together to rank them.

As the chief examiner, Wang Fu can make a final decision.

Murong Yanfeng was so angry that he slapped the table, pointed to the No.1 test paper and said: "This person's theory is extremely flattering and flattering, and the article is written without much merit. Why can he be judged as the first?"

Wang Fu asked back: "Is it wrong for this son to compare the official family to Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty?"

Murong Yanfeng couldn't answer, and forcibly suppressed his anger.

Zhai Ruwen took out an answer sheet: "This person's answer sheet has detailed analysis of the classics and meanings, and his policy theory can be ranked in the top three. Not only is he proficient in the classics and righteousness, but he also knows the current affairs of the world. His discussion of finance and military politics can already be used as an important minister. Ruthless words. Why is it judged as the last place?"

Wang Fu said: "This son satirizes the courtiers, saying that the officials of the Great Song Dynasty are corrupt. Today's sages are in court, the world is peaceful, rich and prosperous, Yuda, and hundreds of officials are clean. How can the officials be corrupt? If the two of you insisted on recording him, I would definitely To let this person fail the ranking! To judge him as the last one is already extraordinarily merciful."

Murong Yanfeng was furious: "Hundred officials are clean and honest, do you believe this?"

"Isn't it? When a sage comes to court, there can still be greedy people as officials?" Wang Fu asked.

Murong Yanfeng was furious, but there was nothing he could do.

The imperial examinations in the late Northern Song Dynasty focused on policy theory. Ju Ming's policy theory articles ranked in the top three without any problem.

But under Wang Fu's leadership, Shengsheng was judged to be the last one.

The bottom one is also the first, and it is more convenient for Ju Ming to look at the list.

(End of this chapter)