Fortunate Young Gentleman

The palace examination was held in Yong'an Hall. Tang Ning had passed by here when he came to the palace last time.

Before the palace examination, a series of steps were taken, such as roll call and salute. Afterwards, candidates walked into the hall and took their seats one by one according to their ranking in the provincial examination.

Tang Ning was naturally the first to enter the hall.

His seat was at the front, followed by Gu Bai, and then Cui Lang and Shen Jian.

"The examiners are here!"

An official said sharply, and several figures walked out of the back hall.

Tang Ning's seat was at the front, and his vision was the clearest. He raised his head and his eyes stayed on a middle-aged man at the front.

The palace examination was hosted by the Ministry of Rites, and the one walking in the front was naturally the Minister of Rites, Tang Huai.

Tang Huai walked past him without looking in this direction. Tang Ning's face was calm and unperturbed.

Xiao Jue's seat was in a corner of the hall. He raised his head and saw that Tang Ning had no reaction, so he retracted his gaze.

An official walked up to Tang Huai and said, "Sir Tang, it's almost time."

Tang Huai nodded and said, "Let's start."

The official whispered to a eunuch, who took two steps forward and said loudly, "The palace examination begins!"

Soon someone handed out the test papers, all of which were sealed, and the policy questions were sealed inside.

In previous years, the policy questions in the palace examinations sometimes tested policy questions and sometimes tested the policy questions.

"Policy" refers to the actual policy of governing the country, just like the policy of flood control and epidemic prevention in the state examinations, which can be put into practice.

"Theory" generally refers to the view on a certain issue, such as the "governing a big country is like cooking a small fish" that he and Li Tianlan discussed, or directly taking a part from the classics and letting the candidates play freely.

If the "theory" is tested, more attention will be paid to the article. For Tang Ning, it is naturally more advantageous to test "policy questions".

He carefully unsealed the test paper and cast his eyes on it.

This year's palace examination only has two questions, which is the first information he saw.

The first question was very short, and it was the shortest one among all the policy essay questions Tang Ning had seen.

The content of the first question was: "Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish."

Tang Ning was a little stunned when he saw the question for the first time, because he had just done this question not long ago, and had in-depth discussions with Li Tianlan.

If this was not the palace examination, he would definitely think that it was asked by Li Tianlan.

After a little daze, he looked at the second question.

The stem of the second question was very long, about a hundred words, asking the candidates to express their views on the enemies on the northern grasslands and whether it was necessary to form an alliance with the State of Chu, and to state their views and reasons.

Both questions were "discussions", the first one was about governing a country, and the second one was about current affairs.

Tang Ning now had some doubts that today's policy essay question was really asked by Li Tianlan, or she had the ability to predict the future and secretly leaked the test questions to him without leaving any trace.

This thought flashed through his mind, and then he regretted it a little.

If he had known that it was these two test questions, he could actually give it a try. If he had given it a try, perhaps the big house would have become a big garden.

He was in a daze for a while before he started to pick up the pen and dip it in ink.

To answer these two questions, he didn't need too much thinking. He had already experienced the necessary thinking process in his communication with Miss Li.

He only needed to adjust the timeline back to those two periods to replay what they discussed at that time.

The first question was in Hongxiu Pavilion, when Tang Yaoyao came to the capital.

The second question was when the provincial examination list was posted, and Tang Yaoyao and Li Tianlan competed in martial arts.

On the day of their competition, Tang Yaojing and Li Tianlan stood together, and the action of sticking out their chests was too obvious.

Tang Ning compared them carefully several times, shook his head, and drove these pictures out of his mind, then picked up the pen. When he was about to write, his expression was stunned.

What was he going to do just now?

When he recalled the conversation with Li Tianlan for the second time, most people in the hall had already put pen to paper.

One day, two policy papers, time is still a bit rushed, not a minute can be wasted.

The first question, "Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish," came from Laozi. They were a little surprised that the essay did not test Confucian classics, but fortunately they were also very familiar with the Tao Te Ching. Those who could make it through the state and provincial exams were all outstanding people selected from thousands of miles away. This question was not difficult for them.

However, it was precisely because the question was not difficult that it became extremely difficult to stand out among more than 200 people. They must ensure that what they wrote was different from others and their judgments were more exciting than others to have a hope of standing out.

The same is true for the second question.

The Sushen people on the northern grasslands have always been a major concern for the State of Chu. The envoys of the State of Chu have been in the State of Chen to seek an alliance for half a year. Anyone who pays a little attention to national affairs knows about this.

What's more, in the 100 articles of this imperial examination, the relationship between the State of Chen and the grasslands and the relationship between the State of Chen and Chu were listed as the key points, and many of them have memorized them thoroughly.

But it is precisely because of this that it is not easy to write something new.

It was nothing more than that although the grassland was strong, the Chu State itself was not weak either, and the threat of the Sushen people to the Chen State was limited, so it was better to sit back and watch the two tigers fight each other... This should be the standard answer, and it just happened to be in line with the court's proposition.

If the court wanted to send troops to aid the Chu State, it would have agreed to an alliance long ago, so why wait until now?

While everyone was thinking in their hearts, their eyes couldn't help but look at the back of the person in front.

I heard that the leader of the provincial examination is very knowledgeable, but his articles are not very good. In this palace examination, both policy papers were tested on "theory", and the contents of the examination were all well-known things, and there was not much Change is what tests the writing style. With the same content, whoever can write an article in a colorful way will be among the best.

But this time, the person who came first in the provincial examination might not even be able to enter the second place in the palace examination.

If this is true, he is the biggest joke in this imperial examination. After all, the leaders in the provincial examinations over the years are definitely in the forefront of the second class even if they are not ranked first...

Many people mourned for him for a moment, looked away, and began to concentrate on answering questions...

At the top, several examiners were silent, their eyes scanning the candidates below one by one.

Tang Huai, the Minister of Rites, glanced around aimlessly and landed on one person.

At a certain moment, Tangning put down her pen, raised her head, and met the gaze above her.

Neither of them looked away, they just looked at each other calmly.

A person next to Tang Huai looked at him and asked doubtfully: "Master Tang, what's wrong?"

Tang Huai looked back, smiled, and said, "It's nothing. You guys must pay close attention to the palace examination, and there must be no fraud..."

"That's natural."

"Master Tang, don't worry."

…

On top of the state exam, you have to write three simple policy essays within one day. The questions in the provincial exam are slightly more difficult, but one article a day means you have plenty of time.

In comparison, the palace examination was moderately difficult. When the gong rang, indicating that there was only one hour left before the palace examination ended, most people had already finished answering the questions and transcribing them.

Tangning handed in her test papers and walked out of the hall. Xiao Jue and Gu Bai were already waiting outside.

"I didn't expect that the questions in this palace examination would be so simple." Xiao Jue was the first to speak.

"The easier it is, the harder it is." Shen Jian shook his head and said, "No matter what, the palace examination is over. From now on, we will leave it to fate."

The determination of the first grade has nothing to do with the examiners. They can only judge the top ten. The final result depends on His Majesty's preference.

The simpler the question, the closer the gap becomes. This is not a good thing for them.

"Yeah, you're here too!"

Tangning was about to leave when a voice suddenly came from behind her.

He turned his head and saw King Run striding over with a box in his arms.

Children who can appear in the palace are naturally not ordinary people. Everyone who walked out of the hall looked over.

Zhao Yuan picked up the box, looked at Tang Ning, and asked, "Do you want to eat the fried fish here? Last time I told my father what you said, "Ruling a big country is like frying small fish." I have praised you for a long time and asked me to learn more from you..."

"Ruling a big country is like frying small fish?" Xiao Jue looked at Tang Ning and asked, "What is frying small fish?"

Gu Bai and Cui Lang looked stunned and looked at Tang Ning in disbelief.

The candidates who heard this sentence also stopped in their tracks. They felt as if they were struck by lightning and looked at Tang Ning with stiff expressions.

"Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes..."

The questions they just took in the palace examination were actually... asked by someone who took the palace examination with them!

I’ve heard of people missing questions in the imperial examination, but I’ve never heard of candidates setting questions in the imperial examination!

Shady, this is naked shady!

Where is the justice, where is the fairness?