Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 85 Palace Examination (Part [-])
After Wang Daoqiu and the other newly promoted Gongsheng students had finished removing their hands, they lined up again.Officials from the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple took them to the location of the examination, a large palace with a plaque with the name of the palace hanging high on it.The name is a bit funny, it's called Taisu Palace.

Too plain!What does this mean?Could it be that Emperor Jiajing ate here one time and disliked the fact that there was no meat in the dish, so he used the topic as an excuse?

Wang Daoqiu thought so naughtily that he once again lined up in six rows with a group of tribute students in the open space of the palace, standing there to wait for the holy edict.

Not long after, a very well-dressed eunuch came to the steps of Taisu Hall with a scroll of imperial edict in his hand.The eunuch stood on the high platform, facing a group of newly promoted Gongsheng students, he shouted loudly: "Dingmo Ke Gongshi in the 26th year of Jiajing, kneel down to listen to the holy edict."

"I respectfully listen to the holy teachings. Long live my emperor, long live, long live."

Following the eunuch's opening remarks before announcing the edict, Wang Daoqiu and other newly promoted tribute officials, as well as all the officials present, knelt down and waited to hear the eunuch announce the edict.

Emperor Jiajing's decree had no real substance, it was all pretentious talk and empty talk.Wang Daoqiu and other tributes listened to this nonsense, then got up and followed a group of officials and eunuchs into the Taisu Palace to meet Emperor Jiajing.

Entering the main hall, the middle-aged Emperor Jiajing was sitting majestically on the dragon throne.Different from the Emperor Jiajing whom Wang Daoqiu saw the last few times, today's Emperor Jiajing is not dressed like a Taoist priest, but is wearing a dragon robe and a golden winged crown, which makes him look a bit human-like.

Seeing Emperor Jiajing, everyone followed the etiquette and bowed five times and kowtowed three times to Emperor Jiajing.After the tributes were finished, Emperor Jiajing roared angrily: "Everyone loves you."

This sound, this is the voice of the supreme ruler of the empire, the Ninth Five-Year Supreme, the voice of the leading brother who can determine the future fate of all the tributes.The sound was very lethal to these Gongsheng students who had just turned into officials from ordinary people. Many people even knelt there in fright, and their bodies began to tremble unconsciously, killing the people around them. Help to stand up.

After all the tributes got up from the ground, Emperor Jiajing said another scene speech. To sum up, it means that you must give full play to your abilities and don't let me down.

After Emperor Jiajing finished speaking, he winked at Lu Fang, who was standing next to him.Then Lu Fang walked down the hall holding an apricot-yellow silk question paper in both hands.

And when Lu Fang came down from the hall holding the apricot-yellow silk inscription, drums and music blared in the hall, and firecrackers blared outside the hall, creating a festive atmosphere all of a sudden.

Amidst the sound of drums and firecrackers, Lu Fang walked down the hall, respectfully raised the question paper above his head, and handed it to the official of the palace examination, the Minister of Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty.

The minister of Honglu Temple took the apricot silk inscription from Lu Fang, the chief minister of etiquette.He immediately faced Emperor Jiajing and respectfully raised the question paper high above his head to show his respect for Emperor Jiajing.

After the Minister of Honglu Temple paid tribute to Emperor Jiajing, he held the examination paper and placed it on the east side of the imperial case in front of several cabinet bachelors. Several cabinet bachelors jointly opened the examination paper.Then Yan Song, the chief minister of the cabinet, loudly read out the title of the imperial examination to all the tributes.

The Imperial Examination in the Ming Dynasty was very simple. There was no test on the Four Books, Five Classics or Eight-Part Essay, but only one or two national policy questions.There was only one imperial examination question that Yan Song read out, which was the Annan question that Emperor Jiajing had hinted at Wang Daoqiu half a month ago.

Now the powerful ministers from Annan have usurped the throne, and the original king and the so-called loyal ministers have been driven out of power.Now their new king, who has successfully usurped the throne, hopes that the suzerain country of Ming Dynasty can officially canonize him and recognize his legal status.The original king of Annan and the so-called loyal ministers hoped that the Ming Dynasty would not recognize the new regime established by the rebellious ministers and traitors, but would always firmly adhere to its principles, provide them with assistance, and help them put down the rebellion.

With Annan's current situation, what Ming Dynasty should do next as the suzerain country is a difficult problem.Therefore, the question of this palace examination became how to solve the Annan problem.

Faced with the country of Annan, the ignorant people of a certain big country basically gritted their teeth. However, as a person with the ability to think independently, Wang Daoqiu had no ill feelings towards the country of Annan, and he did not regard the hostility of the Annan people towards a certain big country. understand.

After all, it was a certain big country that bullied Annan for thousands of years. Faced with this ironclad fact, let alone those who deceive themselves and others, I am doing it for your own good, am I helping you?From ancient times to the present, every decent invader has always said this. Even Xiao Dongyang, didn’t the banner he used back then be very noble?
As for ingratitude, what kind of kindness do you have to him? It's just that everyone has his own agenda.He needs your help to maintain his kingship.You need his bloody battle to drive the beautiful army away from your door.Moreover, in [-], the beautiful Chinese Lao Ni came to visit as a guest, and the two parties signed a cooperation agreement.It was only in [-] years that Annan drove out the beautiful army and completed the reunification of the country.If you carefully taste these two points in time, smart people should be able to understand the taste.

Precisely because of this understanding of the Annan people in his heart, Wang Daoqiu still respects the Annan people.So in the past half month, he had thought up a plan that would be beneficial to the ordinary people of Annan.That is, the Ming Dynasty sent troops to disarm the two parties vying for power, and then turned Annan into a highly autonomous province of the Ming Dynasty. Except for the final jurisdiction of national defense, diplomacy, and justice, which were under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty central government, everything else was left to the locals to manage themselves. .At the same time, in order to gain the support of the Annan people, we will effectively protect the interests of the bottom class of Annan society.Wang Daoqiu advocated that those Annan dignitaries who only care about their own power and profit, regardless of the country and the life and death of the people should be punished and all their land and property should be given to the local ordinary people.

Wang Daoqiu felt that it would be more appropriate to discuss these specific strategies with Emperor Jiajing in private.Therefore, in this palace examination paper, Wang Daoqiu only mentioned a general idea and did not go into details in line with the principle of sticking to the point.

The idea was clear, and the sentences were carefully considered. Wang Daoqiu first made a draft. After several revisions and polishes, he copied the final draft on rice paper.

There is only one question, and the time of this palace examination cannot be nine days and seven nights.Besides, Emperor Jiajing had been maintaining a majestic posture on the dragon chair, so he couldn't hold on for too long.

So this national policy question was only given half an hour to answer.After Wang Daoqiu neatly copied his final draft on rice paper, it was almost time for the exam.After finishing writing the questions, I pretended to meditate in my seat for a while, and it was time to end the palace exam.

After being taken away by the little eunuchs, Wang Daoqiu and the other tribute students bowed to Emperor Jiajing three times and nine times, and then were led out of Xiyuan by Xiao Huangmen.

In Xiyuan, everyone was concerned about the solemnity there and did not dare to whisper to each other. Now when they leave Xiyuan, they feel like JF.People who were familiar with each other immediately began to gather together in twos and threes. Those who talked about the exam questions could speak loudly, but those who gossiped about Emperor Jiajing had to keep their voices down.

Yuan Hongyu, Zhang Juzheng and Yin Zhengmao were just like the other Gongsheng students.As soon as they left Xiyuan and no longer had their shackles on their bodies, they hurriedly ran up to find Wang Daoqiu.Since Wang Daoqiu was the first in the team, he could only stop there and wait for his three good brothers.

Because they were queuing up based on their examination results, Zhang Juzheng and Yuan Hongyu reached Wang Daoqiu's side in a few steps. Yin Zhengmao ran from the back of the queue, so when he reached Wang Daoqiu's side, he was already out of breath.

As soon as Wang Daoqiu and the others approached, Yin Zhengmao panted heavily and asked nervously: "Dear brothers, how is this scene going?"

"All the questions have been answered."

"Oh my sorrow, I have never heard about the incident in Annan. It was only just now, when I listened to the Chief Assistant's narration to us, that I knew that there was chaos in Annan. Oh my sorrow, in this urgent moment, I Is there any good countermeasure? My palace examination this time seems to be mysterious."

When Yin Zhengmao asked about the exam, Zhang Juzheng was calm and calm. There was only one question. He pretended to say something, but he had already done all the questions.Mudd!It’s just one question, how come you’ve already finished all the questions?

Zhang Juzheng was calm and relaxed, and he could still joke after taking the exam. It was clear from a glance that he did well in the exam and was very confident about his exam results.Zhang Juzheng did well in the exam, but Yuan Hongyu was in trouble. He had never heard of Annan's affairs at all. He went to the exam room today, and it was the first time he heard about it when Yan Song explained the exam questions there.

How is it possible to come up with a complete solution to such a big matter within an hour without understanding the situation at all?Therefore, Yuan Hongyu was very worried now. He had a premonition that his ranking in the imperial examination would definitely be much lower than his ranking in the general examination.

Seeing the frustration on Yuan Hongyu's face, Yin Zhengmao consoled him with sympathy: "Brother Yizhi, like you, I didn't know what happened in Annan until I went to the examination room. It's also a credit to the imperial examination that I didn't swipe people, otherwise My brother is bound to fail this time. My dear brother, don’t think too much. The test questions this time are really too biased. I think you and I are not the only ones who failed the exam this time. Besides, my dear brother, you It is the Jieyuan of our Southern Zhili, the place where the literary style of our Southern Zhili flourishes. In terms of scientific examination results, our Southern Zhili has always been the well-deserved first among the provinces of our dynasty. Since the founding of our dynasty, under normal circumstances, our Southern Zhili Jieyuan of Zhili has never failed to be selected as a Shujishi. Regarding this point, my wise brother Yizhi must have confidence."

After speaking, Yin Zhengmao looked at Yuan Hongyu firmly, expressing his confidence in Yuan Hongyu.Yuan Hongyu listened to Yin Zhengmao's words and saw Yin Zhengmao's current expression.To be honest, if we weren't friends, we would know that Yin Zhengmao had no ill intentions towards him.Otherwise, Yuan Hongyu would definitely think that Yin Zhengmao was talking dirty and ridiculing him.He will definitely go up now, give Yin Zhengmao a slap in the face, and tell Yin Zhengmao that a scholar can be killed and cannot be humiliated.

Made!Yin Zhengmao, are you talking in human language?Also talking about Shujishi, saying that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, under normal circumstances, our Southern Zhili Jieyuan has never failed to be elected as a Shujishi.Mu De, during the Labor Examination, there were only over fifty candidates, and the results in the Imperial Examination...Ma De, among all the concubines of the Ming Dynasty, have any of them been selected after reaching the top twenty?
Yin Zhengmao was really good at comforting people. Yuan Hongyu was more concerned about the fact that they were friends and restrained himself from doing anything. However, his face was livid with anger at this time.Wang Daoqiu and Zhang Juzheng also realized at this time that what Yin Zhengmao had just said was inappropriate.So the two of them hurriedly chatted, one with Yuan Hongyu and the other with Yin Zhengmao, and moved the topic to other places.

To be honest, now facing Yin Zhengmao and Yuan Hongyu who looked sad because they did not do well in the exam, Wang Daoqiu felt a deep sense of guilt in his heart.After all, he knew the questions for today's palace exam half a month ago.

(End of this chapter)