Good son-in-law of the Ming Dynasty

"Okay, I can't wait a long time ago." The other two deputy chief examiners all looked happy, and immediately put down the chopsticks in their hands and walked to Yang Tinghe.

These two deputy examiners are both Jinshi backgrounds, and they are the seeds of serious reading.

Since I am a scholar, it is inevitable that I have the taste of a scholar. Meeting a good article is like meeting a girlfriend of first love.It's a pity that because of their status, these papers have to be passed by the same examiners first.

After staying here for six days, the two of them read all the books on the case, and they were bored.Now that there is finally work to do, I am full of anticipation.

Several yamen servants moved lightly, and swiftly removed the table and bowls and chopsticks.

I also exchanged a cup of strong tea for each of the four adults, and put a stick of sandalwood in the incense burner.

The lobby suddenly became elegant and quiet.

Yang Tinghe: "Both of you, let's divide these papers into three parts and review them separately. There are 150 papers, and you two get [-] each. If you are lazy, you can get [-] copies. How about turning tables after reading them?"

"Bachelor Yang is taking advantage of us!"

"Okay, just as Master Yang said."

Both of them smiled, nodded, and stretched out their hands at the same time, and divided the [-] papers into three stacks out of order.

The so-called table-turning means that after the previous examiner has judged the papers, they will be handed over to the next person for review, so as not to miss good papers or take candidates who should not be taken, so as to ensure the fairness of the imperial examination to the greatest extent.

After getting the test paper, the three examiners sat back on their long desk at the same time and looked down.When you see something exciting, give a low hello as usual.When encountering something inappropriately written, he sighed: "It's a pity."

While watching, he raised a pen dipped in cinnabar and circled it.

One examination paper, seven articles, or five or six thousand words.Ten lines at a glance is the housekeeping ability of a scholar, who can read it in a moment, and then write a sentence on it with a pen, whether it is used or not, it is very clear.

In fact, even for modern people, it takes only a few minutes to read an article of four to five thousand words, especially a novel with a strong storyline.Of course, when encountering articles on other subjects, the writing speed has to be slow, but one article in 10 minutes should be enough.

The problem is that stereotyped essays are as interesting as novels to the ancients, especially for the three chief and deputy examiners who have been hungry and thirsty for six days.

In this way, it takes only ten minutes to finish reading and judging a paper.

But there are too many exam papers, even if the speed is so fast, it only takes three or four hours to go through all the more than 100 papers at hand.

Reading along this road is a whole night, and the sky is dimly opened.

I don't know how many times the dozen or so candles lit in the lobby have been changed.

Looking at the three examiners again, they were still looking bright, especially Yang Tinghe, whose face was flushed, and he couldn't see the haggardness of staying up all night at all.

The yamen servant standing outside the hall secretly gasped: These three elders must have more energy, right?

In fact, as soon as Yang Tinghe got the papers, he kept his eyes open and wanted to pick out Su Mu's papers from the sea of ​​literature, so he read them a little slower than the other two examiners. The reason for one hundred papers.

But after reading it all night, it's not like he hasn't come across a good paper, especially the one that is written very brilliantly, which makes him feel suspicious.But after scrutinizing the grammar of the words and sentences, I found that this is not Su Mu's style.

After reading the hundred papers, I still didn't find any suspicious articles.

Yang Tinghe thought for a while, and thought, "Su Mu's test paper is probably in the hands of the other two, but it didn't fall to the old man. Well, let them watch first, with Su Mu's talents, he will definitely not be able to escape their eyes. Of course, I still can’t relax later.”

But to be on the safe side, Yang Tinghe still intentionally or unintentionally eliminated the kind of articles that showed a little bit of agility between the lines, and only took the old-fashioned academic papers.

This is also his privilege as a master examiner.

The main examiners of each rural examination have their own tastes, and some people like beautiful words and sentences, some like thick and old-fashioned, and it is difficult for others to say anything.

Thinking of this, he picked out the fifty papers that needed to be finished and threw them aside for later use.

In fact, most of the articles sent to the chief and deputy chief examiners after passing the test of the same examiner are old-fashioned and mellow, and they all look very good, and it is not easy to pick out shortcomings.

As the chief examiner, he felt that it would be a pity to eliminate any paper.

However, due to the responsibility and the limited number of admissions, as an examiner, many times, he can only harden his heart and agree to give up. This is also a very helpless thing.

Looking at the fifty papers that had been written down, Yang Tinghe felt doubtful: just because of my one mistake, it is heaven and earth for them, it is too cruel.Although there is still the possibility of being picked up as an alternative, this chance is extremely slim for all candidates.

"finish watching."

"Finally finished!" The two examiners let out a sigh of relief one after the other, their faces full of satisfaction: "Enjoyed, really enjoyable, this time it is finally a feast."

After the two finished speaking, they started at the same time. They each put the [-] papers that had been eliminated to one side, and they both smiled and said that the chief examiner Yang said that it took a whole night to rank. Judging from the current speed, it is obviously impossible. .

Yang Tinghe said: "In any case, I have to finish it within today. Anyway, the next papers are half gone, so it should be soon. Go to eat now, and then turn tables later, so I won't sleep."

"Okay, I can't sleep anyway, so I'll finish it all at once." An examiner stroked his beard and said yes repeatedly.

At this time, the voices of the examiners reading the questions sounded from the examination booths outside, which was very clear in the quiet Gongyuan at dawn.

The last round of the township examination officially started, but the three main examiners didn't care.Compared with the seven-part essay in the first round, the second and third exams are irrelevant, and they are just for reference.

During the meal, Yang Tinghe frowned while drinking, and at the same time intentionally or unintentionally brought up the topic of the paper they had just judged, asking if he had seen a very good paper.

It’s okay if he didn’t say anything, but as soon as he asked, an examiner patted his forehead and said, “It’s okay if Chief Yang doesn’t ask questions. This question reminds me of a paper. This candidate is really good. The article is full of flowers and colorful, with long meaning and rhyme, it is like a poem, the official has never thought that there are people who can write Shiwen so beautifully!"

The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was interested. Yang Tinghe's heart suddenly moved, and he immediately suspected that what the deputy chief examiner was talking about was Su Mu's paper.As an examiner, he had looked through the resumes of the scholars in this subject in the Ministry of Rites.To be honest, there are really not many talented scholars in this subject in Beizhili, and even a few of them are quite famous.Among them, Su Mu's article should be the best one.

However, as an examiner, it is inconvenient for him to express his preferences.

Moreover, when the tables were turned, this man's papers could not be transferred to his own hands.

He could only smile lightly, but didn't answer.

On the other hand, the other deputy examiner became interested and kept asking questions.

The deputy examiner read the passages in the two passages of the examination paper, and then he probably felt a little tired, and said with a smile: "Brother Daohua, the paper will be in your hands later, just read it yourself, don't rush it for a while!"

"But, eat, eat."

However, the few passages he read just now were indeed very well written, and they were quite in the style of Su Mu. Yang Tinghe thumped in his heart, and put down the chopsticks to no longer use them.

"Big examiner, it's not a good thing to be troubled by few things." Then ask Daohua's deputy examiner to joke.

Yang Tinghe suddenly put on a straight face and did not speak.

Another person said: "Master Yang is called cherishing blessings, don't overeat."

The chief examiner put down the chopsticks first, and as the deputy, he was naturally embarrassed to eat again, and they all got up at the same time, but they didn't know that Mr. Yang was thinking and was unwilling to eat.

The so-called table turning is actually a review.The previous examiner had already made a verdict, and after the people behind received it, they just checked to see if there were any flaws.If there is, pick it out.If not, that's it.

In this way, a lot of trouble is also reduced.

In addition, Yang Tinghe was just waiting to read Su Mu's paper, and he didn't read it clearly, and he didn't find fault in the hundred papers.

I don't know how long it took, the examiner named Daohua suddenly patted his hand on the case: "Wonderful, wonderful!"

I guess I happened to see that paper.

The previous examiner asked triumphantly, "How about Dao Hua, is what Wan Sheng said true?"

"It's naturally good to have a paper that can catch Brother Gu's eyes." The examiner named Daohua said hello again, and said, "It's rare, it's rare. Other candidates, when they are in good condition, can write a good essay It is not difficult. What is rare for this candidate is that every article is full of words and chapters, and the chapters are extremely good. It is really good, which shows that this person is really talented. From the point of view of the officials, this subject Jie Yuan should have no problem, if his papers in the next two games are also so good."

Another examiner said with a smile: "As Brother Daohua said, the most rare thing about this man is that his essays are so well written and kept at the same level. Do you think his last two papers will be wrong? Presumably he will." Was recommended by the same examiner. You don't have to worry about this, Daohua."

The man named Daohua said: "However, in this first round, he can be designated as Cao Yuan first. If the subsequent papers are not done properly, he will be downgraded."

The so-called grass yuan is to preliminarily set a ranking for the recommended papers after the end of the first exam, and grass yuan is the temporary first place.

This is mainly because the first round of the township examination is a seven-part eight-legged essay examination question, which weighs heavily, and the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty are based on current essays.And the next two games are just for reference, and the examiner will not look at it seriously, as long as there are no major problems, it will be considered a pass.

Therefore, as long as the first game is selected, there will basically be no changes in the future.

As long as one is named Cao Yuan, one is considered the top of the subject, which is a great honor, not to mention world-famous, at least it is a well-known name in the whole of Hebei.

Hearing what he said, another examiner coughed.

The assistant examiner named Daohua suddenly came to his senses, shut his mouth in embarrassment, and lowered his head again.

After all, there is still a final turn of the table until the final decision, and the final decision has to be made by Yang Ting and the great master.

Yang Ting pretended not to hear it, but sneered in his heart: Su Mu, Su Mu, the provincial examination is so important, you really took all the means to make every article perfect, this time you are not hiding your clumsiness , It's a pity that the more you are like this, the more despicable your character will be.

He was preconceived, and the more he listened, the more he grew up with Su Mu in his heart.