I

  Chapter 812 809 [Crying at the door and knocking on the que]

   "Scholars Picking Up Fun" magazine.

   This magazine was originally a quarterly magazine. Because of its outrageous remarks, it often alludes to imperial policies and is quite popular among traditional literati. Therefore, it was quickly changed to a bimonthly, and then to a monthly.

  In terms of sales volume, it is actually not as good as the tabloids listed in the well. Common people don’t like this kind of thing. But the advantage is that the readership is fixed, the sales volume has been rising steadily, and the magazine has a particularly large number of diehard fans. After this newspaper debate, the sales of "Schools of Scholars" even exceeded the 5,000 mark, and even people in surrounding provinces subscribed.

  A single issue can sell 5,000 copies, which is already a best-selling publication!

  Zhang Tianzhi came over happily with a manuscript: "Go play brother, yesterday a Confucian scholar took the initiative to contribute, I finished the novel overnight, it was really soul-stirring!"

   "We don't accept novels." Zhai Wenben reminded.

Zhang Tianzhi said: "This novel is different. It's about a prominent family in a certain place in Henan. They passed on poems and rites to their families for generations. , recruiting soldiers to defend the city and serve the country, all the children of the clan were loyal and brave. When the Tartars entered the customs, they scattered all their wealth to fight against the Houjin. Many sons of the clan died in battle, and many female relatives of the clan died. The remaining clansmen finally fled to the south. Followed the Datong army back to Henan, and was sent away from the clan field afterward..."

"Wait a moment!"

  Zhai Wenben quickly stopped: "Are you crazy? Dare to accept this kind of novel!"

  Zhang Tianzhi didn't take it seriously: "Don't worry, Fentian was written very implicitly, and he didn't openly oppose the government. If you don't believe me, read it yourself. Fentian doesn't have much ink, and you won't be convicted for it."

   "Really not much ink? Show me first." Zhai Wenben didn't dare to be careless.

  Zhang Tianzhi specifically turned to the part of subdividing the fields. Zhai Wenben read it carefully and found that there was not much ink on it. The thick and colorful description is about an old squire whose son died for the country and his daughter-in-law. Since he could not recruit servants and tenants, he could only chop firewood and cook by himself, and he had to plow the fields by himself when he was over half a century old. In the end, because of being humiliated by former domestic slaves, and his only remaining son passed the age of imperial examination, the old squire threw himself into the river in despair.

Zhai Wenben frowned: "Some dialogues need to be revised, and we can't hold resentment against the new dynasty. Local officials must also be written as good people. The bad ones are those domestic slaves who share the master's property and still tease and insult the master. This son , and shouldn’t be resentful towards the imperial court, and the ending was changed to teaching in a county school. It’s not appropriate for an old squire to throw himself into the river, and he is easy to be targeted by the government. Instead, he fell ill and was cured to death by quack doctors.”

  Zhang Tianzhi was a little unhappy: "It won't be exciting after such a change."

Zhai Wenben sighed and said, "Oh, brother, if you don't change it, you will cause trouble. Last year, how many people died because of disrupting the land administration in the provinces? We oppose the women's imperial examination. No matter how fierce the disturbance is, the imperial court will not take care of it. But once If Tian Zheng is involved, this newspaper will definitely not be able to survive!"

  Zhang Tianzhi did not refute, but did not agree either. His family was given away the land, and he himself was too old to take the imperial examination, and he couldn't bear the fact that the former house slave didn't take him seriously. In this novel, he has a sense of substitution, and he really doesn't want to change a single word.

Zhai Wenben persuaded: "Brother, my family has also been divided. Can't I understand your feelings? The novel must be changed. If you don't want to do it, I will write it. And even if it is changed, you can understand it." Readers can still understand and empathize."

   "Okay, it's up to you to change." Zhang Tianzhi chose to compromise.

   Before Zhang Tianzhi started writing, his partner Li Xun pushed the door open and entered.

  Li Xun said happily: "Good news, there is not a single female tribute in this exam, and all the girls have failed."

   "Great kindness!"

Zhang Tianzhi clapped his hands in praise, and said: "We should take advantage of the victory and write a few more articles, discussing the whole process of this test, and discussing that women are not suitable for imperial examinations to be officials! Let's write one each, and then ask friends to write a few more, and choose the best one." Two articles will be published in the next issue.”

  The three of them were very happy, the sales of newspapers increased, and there was hope for victory in the debate.

  Li Xun laughed and said: "Tonight I will be the host, and I will go to Xuanwu Lake for a boat trip. I will invite famous prostitutes to join in the fun, and you and my brothers will play pots and sing songs. This happy event will be a big white!"

   "It should be a banquet to celebrate. I haven't been so happy in the past few years." Zhang Tianzhi said.

  There was a sudden noise outside the house, and more than a dozen young people rushed in soon.

  The person at the head cupped his hands and said, "My next Zhang Xiliang, I have met you gentlemen."

  Zhang Tianzhi quickly returned the gift, confused and asked: "Everyone, this is..."

Zhang Xiliang explained: "We are all scholars who have failed in the current department. We intend to knock on the door to ask for life, but there are too few people to decline. I heard that the three gentlemen value morality and righteousness, so I am here to ask for help. Please contact more scholars who have failed the examination. , Knock on the que together and ask His Majesty to increase the number of imperial examinations."

A student next to him who failed the exam immediately helped to explain: "Brother Zhang used to be the first in the Hubei provincial examination (the graduation examination for college students in Hubei), but this time because he ate bad food, had diarrhea and fever, he missed the exam, and he didn't even pass the final exam. "

  Zhang Xiliang said: "I am not alone in Kou Que. There are countless scholars in the world, and they will always fail in the exam due to various things. And the imperial court only allows each person to take the exam once, which is really unreasonable!"

Another student who failed the exam said: "I am from Guangxi. The Guangxi provincial examination is presided over by Kong Yingtao, the president of Guilin University, and jointly invigilated by Sun Mao, a member of the Ministry of Rites, Liu Junen, the censor of the Inspectorate, and Bian Tao, the chief judge of Guangxi. , the exam questions were leaked before the exam. There were wealthy people who bribed the invigilators, so that even the uneducated people also got the graduation certificate of Guilin University and were eligible to come to Nanjing to take the exam. However, those who were diligent and eager to learn were rejected by the imperial examination. Fraudsters have taken places."

   "Is there really any fraud in the imperial examination?" Zhai Wenben's eyes lit up when he heard that.

   "It's absolutely true!" The Guangxi underachiever said with certainty.

  Li Xun said: "Tonight I will be drinking in Dongbai, and everyone will go to Xuanwu Lake to have a drink together. I will talk about what is going on in the boat."

  …

  Zhai Wenben and Zhang Tianzhi were conceited and talented, but they could not take the imperial examination because they were too old. Now that running a magazine has sparked public opinion, they can't help but feel a little smug, and even call themselves "white censors" in private.

  White clothes are common people, and they want to serve as censors among the people!

   At the beginning of March, the palace examination was officially held.

  On the same day, "Scholars Picking Up Interests" was published. Two of the articles unilaterally declared victory in the pen battle, using "facts" to prove that women are not suitable for the imperial examination to be officials.

   These two articles are nothing.

   There is another article, reporting Zhang Xiliang, Xieyuan, Hubei two years ago, discussing whether it is reasonable to only give scholars the qualifications for the general examination because a bad stomach affects his performance in the general examination.

  Another article questioned last year's Guangxi "rural examination" fraud, and the son of a wealthy businessman got the content of the test paper in advance.

  At this moment, the students who failed the examination have not yet left Nanjing, waiting for the Ministry of Officials to assign them the positions of low-ranking miscellaneous officials. As soon as the report came out, it immediately caused a sensation among the students who had failed the exam, and those who were interested took the opportunity to join forces to ask for their lives.

   Just when the new scholars were calling their names at Donghuamen, more than 200 failed students and former Ming scholars rushed to Donghuamen.

  In fact, even without this, Jinshi would still be confused.

  Because the No. 1 Scholar was decided in advance, he didn't even take part in the palace examination, and he didn't participate in the activities of passing on a group of people. I heard that he had already gone to the Changlu Salt Field to handle errands.

   It was quite embarrassing for the No. 2 and Tanhua. From Fengtian Temple to Donghuamen, the No. 1 seats in front of them were always vacant.

   After finally going out from Donghuamen, there was a dense mass of darkness in front of them. More than two hundred knocking scholars knelt there and begged for orders, and blocked the exit of Donghuamen.

  Inside and outside the city gate, the Shinke Scholars and the failed students looked at each other.

   "Your Majesty, please thoroughly investigate the Guangxi imperial examination fraud case!"

   "Your Majesty, please increase the number of imperial examinations and leave a way out for the scholars of the world!"

   Petitions came and went, and even won the sympathy of some Jinshi. They also felt that the examination should not be allowed only once, and that fraud in the imperial examination must be strictly investigated.

   This battle was very noisy. The nearby onlookers originally came to see Jinshi riding through the street, but they didn't expect such a big melon to be killed halfway.

  The governor of Jinling Prefecture is at the scene at the moment, leading an empty horse belonging to the number one scholar. He felt that he could not suppress it by force, so he quickly asked the guards of the imperial city to report it, and asked His Majesty the Emperor to make a decision in person.

  Yan Yuandian took the first place in the second-class exam. He was very puzzled and said: "It is necessary to thoroughly investigate the fraud in the imperial examination, but why do these failed scholars come to ask for an increase in the number of exams? Your Majesty has already been extraordinarily merciful!"

  Zhao Han has been adjusting, this time the trial will be more favorable than last time.

   During the first examination, the Jinshi can only be released as an eighth-rank official. Among the students who failed the rankings, public-funded college students can be released to the ninth-rank official, and self-financed college students can only go to the provincial government official examination.

  This time belongs to the second session of the general examination, the adjustment is as follows: the highest Jinshi can be released from the seventh rank. Unsuccessful students do not distinguish between public and self-funded students. As long as they get a university diploma, they can be released as ninth-rank officials. College dropouts, instead of being able to take the provincial government official examination, are given priority in being admitted as provincial government officials.

  Since the students who fail the exam can become ninth-rank officials, why make a fuss about taking the exam again?

  If multiple exams are allowed, you have to wait three years for one exam and six years for two exams. If you fail the exam three times in a row, nine years are gone. With those nine years spent on exams, it's better to be a ninth-rank official directly, maybe you will be promoted to seventh-rank by then.

  Yan Yuan thought this way, but the students who failed the exam thought differently.

  They still retain the concept of imperial examinations from the Ming Dynasty, thinking that only Jinshi and officials have a future. Although Jinshi at the bottom of the list, he is only an eighth-rank official, which is no different from the ninth-rank official who failed the list. But a Jinshi is a Jinshi, and a failure is a failure. In the future, there will definitely be circles, and there will definitely be academic discrimination in the officialdom. They would rather take the exam for a few more years, but also have a Jinshi status.

   "Your Majesty is in charge of us! Woooooooooooooooooo..."

   Some students who failed the exam were already crying, and soon there was a lot of wailing. This kind of behavior is called "crying and knocking on the door".

   Among them, there are also former Ming scholars who lost their qualifications for the imperial examination because they were too old, and they are also following the bitter cold: "Your Majesty, please resume the rural examination and cancel the age limit!"

  The first imperial examination allowed former Ming scholars under the age of 30 to participate in the provincial examination.

  The second imperial examination was directly cancelled, because there are almost no former Ming scholars under the age of 30. The first level of the township examination, all college students take part!

   These scholars from the former dynasty came to fish in troubled waters. What if the emperor changed his mind?

  (end of this chapter)