In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

The next day.

The gongs and drums sounded again in the morning.

Today is the exam on the meaning of the classics.

After the test paper was handed out, it contained the contents of the pasted classics and the meaning of the "Book of Filial Piety".

That's why there are separate examination rooms. You can choose one of the seven classics for the Juren exam, but you have to memorize all seven classics for the Jinshi exam. Therefore, the exam papers can be unified only for the Jinshi exam, and the Juren exam can only be taken separately.

Zhao Jun glanced at the questions. This one should be the easiest one. Everyone around him didn't hesitate. If you can't memorize the "Book of Filial Piety", then don't take the imperial examination.

Not long after, in just over two hours, most of the candidates had finished answering, but Zhao Jun was stuck.

He suddenly forgot how to write a certain word.

Although it's outrageous, it's true. He was able to finish writing the policy essay before, so he had something to copy directly. Now when he started to recite the real ancient text, he was a little embarrassed.

After all, before crossing over, even when he was in college, he didn't write with a pen many times. Many students and even teachers often use mobile phones or computers.

Moreover, some characters in ancient times were different from those in later times. Even after more than a month of intensive training, there were still big problems.

In other words.

The most difficult things for others were the easiest for him, and the easiest things for others were the most difficult for him.

It was very uncomfortable.

But Zhao Jun had no choice. He wrote on the straw paper for a long time but couldn't get it done, so he had to continue to write other scriptures from memory.

After stumbling, he finally finished writing the ten scriptures and ten ink meanings.

Unfortunately, there were six typos in it. According to the scoring rules at that time, it was estimated that six typos would be scored, and only a medium-low level would be scored. If it was scored nine times, it would be a failure.

After handing in the test paper, Zhao Jun was too lazy to think so much. If he didn't do well, he didn't do well. Anyway, he didn't need to rely on the imperial examination to enter the officialdom now.

The only problem was that it was okay for the first two days. The closer it got to the third day, the worse the smell in the examination room became.

The scholars ate, drank, defecated and urinated in it. After a long time, the wooden house was inevitably stinking, and the smell was everywhere, which was disgusting.

Fortunately, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, and Taichang Temple had planted a lot of osmanthus. The temple was filled with the rich fragrance of osmanthus, which neutralized the smell.

A large number of scholars spent the next day in this physical and mental torture, and finally arrived at the last exam on the third day.

In the early morning, the deadly sound of gongs and drums resounded throughout the Taichang Temple.

All kinds of noisy sounds suddenly rang out.

There are rules in the examination room. It is not allowed to leave the wooden house to communicate with others, but if you whisper to yourself, generally no one cares, so the rustling sound is endless.

Zhao Jun got up early in the morning to grind. Today is a cloudy day, and it may rain during the day. Looking at the time, it is already seven o'clock in the morning. The sky is not completely bright, but it is gray, the autumn wind is bleak, and the temperature has dropped a lot.

"Calculating the time, it should be almost time."

"Although many of the borers in the Imperial City Division have been exposed these days, many people are afraid of my power and dare not take any action. If these people continue to stay in the Imperial City Division, they will be hidden dangers."

"So I must root them out and deal with them all according to the regulations. After that, I will recruit a new batch of reliable personnel to formally expand the scale of the Imperial City Division."

"Now that I have left the Imperial City Division and disappeared for two days, the people below will surely be unable to hold back and take action."

"This trick of luring the snake out of the hole and then seeking to take the initiative, I hope it will work."

Zhao Jun was thinking while grinding.

He has seen and understood a lot of things recently. Under Fan Zhongyan's advice, he has grown a lot.

Since he wants to sit in the Imperial City Division and make achievements, recklessness will definitely not work. Once the other party sets a trap and lets them catch the wrong person and handle the wrong case, it will immediately lead to a crazy siege from the court and the public.

By then, the other party will be at the highest moral point. If they can arouse the anger of the people and officials, Zhao Zhen may not be able to resist, and Zhao Jun can only run away and become a bandit and rebel himself.

So we must think of clever ways to do things. This time, we should start from the inside and then from the outside. It was Fan Zhongyan who helped to come up with the idea. After all, this guy has been working in Kaifeng Prefecture for so long, and he still has certain achievements and mastered many things.

It's just that he doesn't have that much power to bring down the people behind the scenes, so he gave all the things he investigated to Zhao Jun, hoping that Zhao Jun would do it.

With Fan Zhongyan's help, it's much easier.

While thinking, the test paper has been issued. Today is a test of poetry, lyrics, and songs. Generally speaking, it is a test of one poem and one song. However, Yan Shu guessed that this test will test lyrics, so Zhao Jun lowered his head to look at the test questions.

"Start with a flat tone and rhyme, and write a five-character quatrain."

When Zhao Jun saw this question, he scratched his head, thinking that he was tricked by Old Man Yan. He thought it was a test of ci these two days, and he kept recalling the ci he had learned in his heart, but it turned out to be a test of poetry.

Fortunately, it was a five-character quatrain, with only four sentences, as long as there was no problem with the rhythm and rhyme, it would be fine. If it was a five-character regulated verse, it would be more troublesome.

Zhao Jun didn't really understand rhythm and rhyme before. He only knew that poetry and ci needed to rhyme, but in fact, there was no fixed rhythm from the style of poetry formed in the Wei and Jin Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty. Many Tang poems did not follow the twenty-eight rhythms at all, and even the rhyme was not rhymed well.

The reason for this is that the rhythm was not unified before, and there is a difference between the ancient and modern rhymes. For example, the word "shang" is pronounced as the fourth tone in modern times, which belongs to the flat tone according to the rhythm, but the ancient pronunciation is the second tone, and the rhythm is flat.

After the Song Dynasty, the rhythm gradually became unified. For example, Liu Yuan of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote "Pingshuiyun", which perfected all the rhythm and rhyme patterns.

These days, with the careful teaching of several top academic masters such as Lü Yijian, Wang Zeng, Wang Sui, Cai Qi, Song Shou, Sheng Du, and Yan Shu, Zhao Jun has figured out the rhythm and rhyme, and also knows how to write poetry.

For example, Pingyun is the first two tones of the tone, and Zeyun is the last two tones of the tone.

And this question, according to the rhythm and rhythm, is Zezezepingping, Pingpingzezeping. Pingpingpingzeze, Zezezepingping.

But the poem written by Zhao Jun is probably no different from doggerel, so he still has to copy it.

He looked at the rules of the question, thought about it, and wrote "The evening color stirs the border thoughts, and I didn't return last year. The people in the garrison tower are cold, and their eyes are fixed on the battle clothes."

This poem will be written by Fan Zhongyan after he returns from the battle with Xixia in the northwest in the future. It has not been written yet, and it just fits the rhythm.

Unfortunately, his poem "Fisherman on the River" was written by Lao Fan in Yingtian in his early years, and this guy was not good enough at that time, and a few words were not in the right rhythm, otherwise he would definitely copy his most famous poem.

As for the poems.

Zhao Jun thought about it and asked him to copy the "Ode to the Red Cliff". Although he could barely recite the "Ode to the Red Cliff", it had many words and involved a lot of time, places, and characters. He was afraid that it would not match, so he did not copy it.

Fortunately, these things are taught in junior high and high school Chinese classes. Zhao Jun is a liberal arts student, and he is also a history student. He can copy poems and poems, but he can become a great writer.

However, poems are minor, and he didn't have the idea of ​​copying them everywhere to become famous. The things at hand are more important.

After writing the poems, he quietly waited for the closing.

The school will open in the afternoon.

Time passed slowly, and when it was noon, with the sound of gongs and drums, there was wailing all around.

It was easy for Zhao Jun to do these things because he was on the scene, but they couldn't do it, and had to think about it temporarily.

A poem with a fixed pattern, not only wants to complete the perfect form, rhythm and rhyme, but also has artistic conception and content, which is as difficult as making a temple in a snail shell, which is quite difficult.

So most candidates had a hard time doing it, either not meeting the standards or the content was not good enough.

Even many Jinshi poems were written very mediocrely, such as when Ouyang Xiu passed the Jinshi exam, he flattered the chief examiner in his poems.

There were also talents who sold misery, such as one year when the Jinshi exam was an exam poem, and a candidate wrote "Qingyu Case·Nailed Shoes Trampled Xiangfu Road", which described himself and other candidates as quite miserable.

As for those who can write excellent poems, there are very few.

Zhao Jun handed in the paper calmly, then rolled up the bedding and began to pack his bags.

When he walked out of the wooden house, Zhou Xin had already come over and whispered to him: "Chief Zhi, something happened."

"What happened?"

"A clan girl was abducted from a clan family outside Xuande Gate. There is news that the clan girl is in Potai Temple. Commander Liu has already taken people there."

"How was she abducted?"

"The clan member lives at the east end of the street outside Xuande Gate. His daughter is called Zhenshu. There is a relative of his at the west end of the street. He sent a servant to invite the girl to play. Zhenshu's mother agreed, so the servant went back to find a sedan chair. Not long after, a sedan chair stopped at the door and carried the girl away. A moment later, another sedan chair came to pick up the girl. The family realized that their daughter had been deceived."

"It is obvious that this method must have an insider to work, otherwise how could a sedan chair come so promptly? Has anyone reported who did it?"

"Yes, usually it was done by Guifanlou. Those people like to send people to various wealthy mansions to serve as slaves to gather information. When they know that the wealthy family is going to travel or visit relatives, they kidnap them and either ask for ransom or sell them. But they basically don't attack high-ranking officials and royal family members."

"Has the servant been caught?"

"No."

"Yes."

Zhao Jun nodded and said, "I guessed what happened. The princess should be fine. You can ask the people below to prepare to attack Li Dewen."

The people behind Guifanlou are the people in Kaifeng Mansion. Because Li Dewen is stingy, he is only willing to buy one piece of information. The spies who came later were either rejected by him or he was so annoyed that he even sent people to beat them out. As a result, some spies held a grudge and collected evidence of his crimes and handed them over.

In fact, Fan Zhongyan had already given him the evidence of Li Dewen's crime. He was hesitant to take action just to let the spies under him reveal their true colors. Now it was almost time, and the case of the abduction of the clan daughter had occurred, so Zhao Jun had decided to take action against Li Dewen first.

Under the protection of everyone, he left the backyard of the Taichang Temple. At this moment, many candidates had gathered in the front yard, and the test papers had been collected. The door could not be opened until all the test papers were sent to the Ministry of Rites.

About half an hour later, the door was finally opened, and countless scholars rushed out. At this moment, the relatives outside the temple had been waiting eagerly, and there was a sea of ​​people for a while.

Zhao Jun ignored the various situations in the field. After following the flow of people out, he was about to send the things back first, and then go to deal with the affairs of the Imperial City Department.

As a result, Di Qing and others who were waiting outside just came over and heard someone shouting: "Brother Hanlong, Brother Hanlong!"

Zhao Jun turned his head and saw Song Cai and several other scholars just coming out of the Taichang Temple.

Song Cai saw Zhao Jun stop and thought he was waiting for him. Although Zhao Jun didn't seem to care about the imperial examination, he was of noble status and it was a good thing to be able to get close to him, so he hurried over to greet him and said, "Brother Hanlong, what are your plans after the exam?"

Zhao Jun smiled and said, "I'm going to Lao Ya Lane."

"Lao Ya Lane?"

Song Cai thought for a while and said, "The Qingfeng Tower over there is not bad. I eat coarse cakes every day in Taichang Temple and I'm almost sick of it. Why don't I hold a banquet and invite you to join us?"

"Okay."

Zhao Jun nodded, gave the bedding to Shi Yu and asked him to send it back, and then said, "Let's go together."

Then he went to the southwest of the city.

Potai Temple is on the side of Chenzhou Gate in the southeast of the outer city, but Zhao Jun didn't go there because he knew there was no so-called clan daughter there, and it would be useless to go there, so he might as well do something serious.

On the way, Song Cai and his companions were all talking about the imperial examination, some were excited and some were sad.

Because the poetry test had just been completed today, Song Cai asked Zhao Jun: "The difficulty of this year's poetry test is about the same as in previous years. Unfortunately, I prepared a poem with a flat rhyme, but I didn't expect it to be a flat rhyme this year. I wonder how Brother Zhao performed this time?"

"It's okay."

Zhao Jun smiled and asked: "How did you do?"

Song Cai said proudly: "A group of geese at the foot of the mountain were driven into the river with a hissing sound. I jumped into the river and caught some to cure my hunger. What do you think, brother?"

"Awesome."

Zhao Jun raised a thumb speechlessly.

Although the content is a bit outrageous, it actually conforms to this year's fixed rhythm, and it can be regarded as a talent.

But he also knew that if there was no something to copy, if he took over, his work would probably not be much better than Song Cai, so there was nothing to despise.

If you really calculate according to the regular rules, at least half of the Tang and Song poems will not pass. It is difficult to have the best of both worlds if you want to do it well and complete it within the specified time.

The group came to Qingfeng Tower with laughter.

Ordered a table of dishes.

As they were talking, there were already dense footsteps coming from downstairs.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw rows of Imperial City Guards rushing downstairs, fully armed, and even carrying Imperial Army crossbows.

"What's going on?"

"What is the Imperial City Guard going to do? They just guarded the examination room."

"Could it be that someone is cheating for personal gain and committing a big crime?"

Several people were surprised.

Since the imperial examination, there have been endless cases of cheating. Now that the Imperial City Guard has arrested people just after the imperial examination, it may be related to the cheating case.

But what they didn't expect was that the people from the Imperial City Guard didn't go to catch the candidates who had just finished the exam on the street, but came all the way to the residence of Li Dewen, the judicial officer of Kaifeng Prefecture.

Qingfeng Tower is east of Laoya Lane, and Li Dewen's residence is near the west lane entrance, far away, so everyone turned their heads to look.

A large number of soldiers from the Imperial City Division used ladders to charge into Li Dewen's mansion, and then the gate opened, countless soldiers rushed in, and then all kinds of screams were heard.

There were countless people from Bianliang watching below, and many people applauded, just because Li Dewen was arrogant and domineering, always oppressing the good, and the people on the whole street had a bad impression of him, so it was really applauded to raid this man's house.

A moment later, a large number of Kaifeng government servants ran over. Then the commander of the Imperial City Division who led the team ordered to raise the crossbows and shouted: "Li Dewen's corruption and abuse of power has been exposed. He is arrested by the order of the government and the Ministry of Personnel. If he disobeys, it is no different from treason and will be killed without mercy!"

Many Kaifeng government servants looked at each other, and someone shouted: "The Imperial City Division took a chicken feather as a command arrow. This is not an order from the government at all. Kill and save the soldier!"

"Kill!"

There were a few idiots who were fooled and rushed forward.

In an instant, bows and crossbows were fired, killing several people.

Only then did everyone realize that the Imperial City Bureau was serious, and they quickly scattered.

For a time, the capital was shaken, and the government and the people were in turmoil.