Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 594
Then the two exchanged greetings such as the weather, and An Shengliang's expression and demeanor showed enthusiasm.

But Kou Zhun suppressed his impatience and settled down to deal with Song Zhun. At this time, several bells rang from the palace, and the palace gate finally opened.

The door envoy on duty came out.

He didn't need to say much, the candidates immediately lined up according to their rankings.The ceremonial officer of the Taichang Liyuan the day before yesterday had already taught the 380 tribute students the etiquette changed when entering the palace, and no one dared to make a mistake.

An Shengliang hurried back, he ranked fourth in the Ministry of Rites Examination, much higher than Kou Zhun, who was more than 90.Kou Zhun looked at his back indifferently, stood still in his place, and stopped thinking about this annoying fly.

Entering the palace through the left gate, the examinees were led by the gate envoys to the Jiying Hall.Surrounded by soldiers from the Imperial Army guarding and monitoring.The censor was watching beside him, and no one dared to do any disrespectful behavior, nor did they dare to look up.Each looked at the road under their feet, stared at the heels of the person in front, and walked forward quickly.

All the way to the hall, court Shao Yue echoes from the Jiying Hall.The emperor has not yet arrived, but the examiners of this subject are already waiting in the hall.

It was Kou Zhun's first visit to the palace.Although he was always worried about the teacher Ye Chen who was going through the gate of hell, it didn't affect him to look at the surrounding layout from the corner of his eyes.

Although not bad, compared to the status of the royal family, it is nothing more than ordinary.

The utensils displayed in the temple, the decorative curtains, the paint and colorful paintings on the beams and columns are all old.It is simply not comparable to the main halls of large temples such as Daxiangguo Temple and Kaibao Temple, which have donations from countless devotees.

It is only the scale, which is barely enough to make people not underestimate the dignity of the royal family.Although the Jiying Hall is only the largest hall among the halls, its width of more than 20 feet and its depth of more than ten feet still shocked every Gongsheng.

Kou Zhun recalled that his teacher said that today's life is frugal, and he is extremely disgusted with luxurious paving. Of course, this is also due to the fact that since the founding of the Song Dynasty, there have been many foreign troops, and there have been many major and minor disasters, and the court's funds have always been very tight.

There are several people in two rows embracing thick and thin beams and pillars, separating the east and west compartments in the main hall.The hatchback is full of desks.The tables and cases are all old, similar to the Guozijian.And the table and case are not high, only more than one foot, less than two feet.The candidates are prepared to kneel and sit on futons.

Under the supervision and guidance of the examiners, 380 two tribute students formed a square formation in the center of the Jiying Hall, and the first three were the top three in the Ministry of Rites examination.

After a few clean whips, the music stopped.Under the order of the ceremonial officer, all the examiners and candidates, without exception, knelt down and waited quietly for the arrival of the emperor.

In the silent hall, Kou Zhun lowered his head, studying the paving bricks on the floor of the hall.Although the bricks are fired, they have a dark metallic luster. No wonder there are rumors that gold bricks are used to pave the ground in the palace.

If it was the Han Dynasty, the hall was covered with floors, and slippers were required to enter the hall.But after the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the etiquette of the week began to change.Up to now, it is already possible to walk on the hall in boots.

A series of footsteps finally came from the front.

It's not noisy, it's neat, it starts quietly, and it ends quietly.

Then the ceremony officer gave orders with his throat hanging, half-chanting and half-singing.

Kneel three times and knock nine times.

I bow down to the current Emperor of the Song Dynasty, the emperor who governs hundreds of millions of people.

During the worship together, you can look at the characters in the hall.But it was a little far away, and the light was very dim. I couldn't see what Zhao Kuangyin, who was invited to sit on the imperial couch, looked like.

Just standing on the lower side on both sides of the emperor, there are three people in the row.Not surprisingly, it should be the prime minister Xue Juzheng and the two political advisers Lu Duoxun and Lu Yuqing.

After a series of etiquettes that had been taught by the etiquette officer in advance, the candidates could finally take their seats.Under the guidance of the servants, each cup of tea is already in place.

Then the questions for this exam came out.

"The ancient king of Ming Dynasty listened to the virtuous, and made him choose the good.The law is not enough to act, just change it; people are not enough to know, just do it... If you keep your position, you will be safe; if you manage money, you will be rich; From now on, the barbarians will be ruled, the above-mentioned rule will make the sun, moon and stars get their order, and the following rule will make the birds, beasts and vegetation get their nature...Zi and Dafu each take what they have heard and say it for me... do not hide what they have seen. '

Sure enough, despite the eloquence of hundreds of words in the exam questions written by the emperor himself, it is essentially a sentence: you can speak out boldly about the lack of local administration.

Regarding the lack of local administration, Ye Chen has assigned Kou Zhun the most important homework in the past two years. Kou Zhun has thought and studied a lot in the past two years, and even went to prefectures and counties to prevent private investigations , collect some data according to the method Ye Chen taught, and conduct specific analysis.

Therefore, Kou Zhun can be said to be confident about the exam questions in front of him.What Kou Zhun has to do is to silently write down the things that already exist in his mind and modify them slightly.

Kou Zhun wrote quickly with a confident pen, and lines of small ink-stained characters appeared on the draft paper in a blink of an eye.

It is really rare to see such a smooth writing.It's the reason why he already knew it well.Naturally, there will be no hindrance in writing.But even so smoothly, Kou Zhun has no idea of ​​competing for the top few.

There are countless smart people in the world, among the more than 300 people in the Jiying Temple who can be killed out of millions of scholars, there are also many with long-term vision.In Kou Zhun's mind, not only did he think about the lack of local administration, at least one tenth of the 380 people had thought about this problem beforehand.

But Kou Zhun is very relieved, as long as he is careful not to bring out the names of the emperors of the Song Dynasty, there will be no danger of failure.Jinshi has already arrived in his hands, just a mere ranking, why should he pursue it diligently.

Zhao Kuangyin walked slowly in the hall, Xue Juzheng, Lu Yuqing and Lu Duoxun followed behind.

Seeing the emperor coming, when the Gong students in the exam wanted to stand up and salute, they would be stopped by Zhao Kuangyin.He came to see the candidates taking the exam, not to disturb the exam.

Zhao Kuangyin's eyes flicked over each paper, as long as there was a statement that caught his eye, Zhao Kuangyin would stop for a while and write down the candidate's name.

From front to back, and from back to front, the emperor and the prime minister paced silently in the gap between the front and back of the examination table.

For Kou Zhun's image, Zhao Kuangyin naturally noticed it early on, looking at this disciple of Ye Chen, he was focusing on writing without distraction.

Zhao Kuangyin also heard about Kou Zhun's procrastination in the tribute courtyard until the end before handing in the papers.I understand that Kou Zhun is not a genius who writes poems in seven steps and writes like a river, but a steady personality who likes to think carefully.Now the writing is so smooth, when the inspiration comes or I have thought about the lack of local administration in normal times.

Zhao Kuangyin didn't want to disturb Kou Zhun's writing, so he just wanted to take a second look and planned to leave.But when his eyes fell on the test paper, he couldn't move his feet.I stood there for a long time, looked at the finished part twice from beginning to end, then nodded slowly again, turned around and whispered to Xue Juzheng, Lu Yuqing, and Lu Duoxun: "I have not disappointed you. "

Xue Juzheng hurriedly agreed and said yes, Lu Yuqing hesitated to speak, remembering the stupid things Tao Gu did during the examination in the Ministry of Rites, he finally didn't say "The words still need to be considered." ' and the like.

The submission speed of the Palace Examination was a little faster than that of the Ministry of Rites Examination. No matter what, no one dared to let the emperor wait until after the third watch.

Palace exams start early and end early.

By noon, the emperor had returned to the apse to rest, and the last candidate finally handed in his test paper.

Next, it is the work of correction.

The group of examiners headed by Lu Duoxun, Tao Gu, and Xu Xuan did not appear in the palace examination. Instead, Zhao Kuangyin appointed another group of officials to serve as examiners—detailing officials, arrangers, and Mifeng officials. official.

The review system of the Palace Examination is almost the same as that of the Ministry of Rites Examination, with only slight differences.

After the examinee submits the paper, it will be handed over to the editor first, and the name and place of origin at the beginning of the paper will be removed, and the order will be arranged by font size and number.Then give it to Mi Fengguan, and command the scribes of the third library to copy and compare.Next, give it to the examiner to wait, and after sealing it again, send it to the examiner to wait again.Before and after the determination is completed, it is finally handed over to the detailed determination official to unseal and compare the similarities and differences between the examiner and the re-examination judge.The detailed official finally determined the ranking, returned the transcript of the test paper to the editor, revealed the name of the place of origin, corresponded to the font size in this volume, and submitted the determined ranking to the emperor.

At this point, it is basically a replica of the Ministry of Rites Examination, much the same with minor differences.But then it will be different, because the judged results will be handed over to the emperor for review.This matter will change the final ranking of Jinshi.

When it was almost nightfall, Zhao Kuangyin gave wine and food to the examinees who were waiting for the results in the hall.Hearing the voice of thanks from the front hall, the list of Jinshi rankings in this subject, together with the original test papers of the candidates, was presented in front of Zhao Kuangyin.

Liu Yin, An Shouliang, Wang Sizong.

These three were the top three selected by the examiners.

Zhao Kuangyin found the test papers of the three of them. The writing was definitely outstanding, but the content was too ordinary, or nothing new, and they were all commonplace questions.

Especially when Zhao Kuangyin looked at the list at the back, he saw more than 100 people all the time, and he didn't see the names of the two Juren he had just paid attention to.I deliberately found Xia Kou Zhun, but was placed in the 250th place, which belongs to the fourth class, almost the last.

Such a result was naturally not what Zhao Kuangyin wanted to see, so looking at the rankings, he frowned.There was a little more unhappiness and anger in my heart.

However, before he got angry, the examinees who were enjoying the wine and food rewarded by him in the front hall exclaimed, and then a waiter came to report that a candidate drank the royal wine rewarded by His Majesty, vomited a mouthful of black blood, and passed out past.

The second big update was delivered, Jiu Kong kept his word, and the eighth day began to resume more than two updates a day.Begging for support, asking for the support of monthly tickets and red tickets—————

(End of this chapter)