Just in the Middle, You Told Me This is Journey to the West

The dark crowd outside the palace was roughly divided into two groups.

The first group is civil and military officials in court uniforms. These people are divided into two camps according to civil and military, and some of them are divided into several small camps.

The other group is new Jinshi like Chen Qi wearing brand-new Jinshi uniforms and black gauze hats with hairpin flowers.

There were even a few burly old guys gathered together, who were muttering to each other for some unknown reason, and looked at Chen Qi and the others from time to time, making all the Jinshi feel terrified.

"These veterans, could they be Cheng Yaojin and Yu Chigong?"

Chen Qi's scalp was a little numb, and he felt apprehensive towards these old guys from the bottom of his heart.

There is no way, the difference in physique between the two sides is not so big, it is strange that he can beat the three of them with one hand, and it is not strange.

Because it was still early and the gate of the palace had not yet opened, everyone waited and chatted outside, the excitement was beyond words.

When Chen Qi came to the gate of the palace, he joined the ranks of the thirty-six Jinshi along with a few new friends.

The hottest topic among the new jinshimen is the ownership of the number one scholar. As the saying goes, there is no first place in literature, and no second place in martial arts. Who doesn't want to be the number one and become the number one scholar.

Chen Qi also thought about it, but he also knew that, don't think about the champion or something.

Not to mention the number one pick, you can't even win the second place and third place.

Because the No. [-], No. [-], and Tanhua can only be selected from the first list, no matter how satisfied Li Shimin is with his theory of destroying Buddhism and getting rich, it is impossible to break this unspoken rule.

This is also an unwritten agreement between the great families of the Tang Dynasty and the emperor.

The emperor can hand-picked the champion, but the champion he hand-picked must be selected from the top ten candidates recommended by the officials.

This is also the case for the second place and the third place.

Except for the top three, no one cares about the subsequent rankings.

Anyway, they don't swipe people, the fourth place and the thirty-sixth place are about the same. If they can get any official position, then they have to fight for the backstage and connections.

At the fifth watch of the day, the bell rang, and the locked palace gate lifted its mysterious veil.

Civil and military officials, royal relatives and nobles lined up neatly and entered the palace first.

Chen Qi and other newly-promoted Jinshi entered the palace following the advice of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, followed by the civil and military officials.

The city wall more than [-] meters high is like a high mountain. Chen Qi stepped into the palace and was once again deeply moved by the city wall of the palace.

Good guy, the [-]-meter-high wall is much higher than the walls of the Forbidden City in later generations.

After entering the palace, the first thing you see is not row upon row of palaces.It's an open space, like someone's courtyard magnified hundreds of times.

The strong warriors lined up and stood in their respective positions, watching everyone who entered like eagle eyes.It seems that a little carelessness can attract knives and axes.

Soon, Chen Qi and other newly promoted Jinshi followed the Manchu civil and military officials to the Taiji Hall again, waiting for the start of the ceremony of passing on group of people.

After a while, Li Shimin came to the Tai Chi Hall, and the house music played continuously.

Chen Qi also only vaguely saw a majestic and tall figure, imagining the scene of Li Shimin rising to sit on the dragon chair in the main hall.

When the music stopped, the civil and military officials in front began to salute, so they followed suit.

Li Shimin first praised and warned the newly promoted Jinshi, and then asked the officials of Honglu Temple to read the imperial list.

Seeing this scene, the newly promoted Jinshi who stood behind the civil and military officials were very excited.

Officials from the Ministry of Rites in the main hall walked to the table and opened the golden list, and officials from Honglu Temple stood in front of the golden list and began to sing the list.

Starting from the first place in the first list, the list will be sung sequentially, that is, starting from the first place, and ending with the last Jinshi in the second list.

"In the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, Chen E ranked first in the Enke Palace Examination, the champion!"

"In the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, Lu Shao ranked second in the Enke Palace Examination, second place!"

"In the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, Cui Ming ranked third in the Enke Palace Examination Ranking List!"

.......

"In the [-]th year of Zhenguan, Chen Qi was the twenty-sixth Jinshi in the second list of the Enke Palace Examination!"

The sound of Honglu Temple officials singing the list broke the silence of the hall, and made Chen Qi look up in astonishment, looking at the figure on the dragon chair.

The twenty-sixth on the second list, the bottom one?

Are you kidding me?

As soon as he is majestic, all the traversers have taken out the big killer of the theory of destroying Buddha and getting rich, so you will give me the bottom one?

Who is this looking down on?

It's a pity that the official of Honglu Temple who sang the list didn't care what he thought. After the list was over, he returned to the original queue.

Then Wang De, the servant next to Li Shimin, took a step forward and announced loudly: "Your Majesty has a decree to declare the number one scholar Chen E, the second place Lu Shao, and Tanhua Cui Ming to come forward and have an audience."

Going forward to have an audience and accepting the sacred teachings of Emperor Zhenguan Li Shimin at close range, this is also the honor of the top three in the palace examination, to show the emperor's importance to the top three in the imperial examination.

But this had nothing to do with Chen Qi, he could only stand at the back of the Jinshi, thinking about what went wrong.

It's a pity that he thought he wanted to break his head, but he couldn't figure out what went wrong.

This should not be at all! .

Chapter 7

Li Shimin praised the top three champions, the second place in the list, and Tanhua, and then it was the highlight of the palace examination - Yujie boasting officials.

Yujie boasting officials, also known as parading officials in the streets.

The number one scholar rode a tall horse on the imperial street of the imperial city, enjoying the glory envied by all the people.

Of course, the second place and Tanhualang will do the same, but they have to fall behind the number one scholar and not steal the limelight from the number one scholar.

As for Jinshi like Chen Qi, if you want a bicycle, you can just walk.

The purpose of boasting officials in Yujie is to commend Jinshi such as the number one scholar, and to inspire the self-motivation of all the people in the world, especially the self-motivation of students.

Encourage them to learn from Zhuangyuan Lang, take them as an example, work hard, study hard, take the imperial examination, and serve the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

It's all formalism, formalism, we don't envy, we don't envy!

A traveler told himself sourly.

However, these eyes could not be moved away from the champion Lang Chen E.

Soon, under the arrangement of the Ministry of Rites and officials of Honglu Temple, Zhuangyuanlang, No. [-] and Tanhualang were led to the side hall.Because boasting officials in Yujie is a matter of face, you have to change the first and third people into festive and dazzling clothes.

Chen Qi and other Jinshi watched them leave with envious eyes, and then waited for them to come out in bright red robes.

The Jinshi around Chen Qi looked at the champion Lang Chen E enviously.

To be precise, he looked enviously at the crown uniform of the number one scholar Lang Chen E.

The champion's crown uniform demonstrates a sense of superiority that is different from other Jinshi. It is closer to the court uniform of civil and military officials.

Moreover, the gown of the number one scholar is scarlet color, which is different from the blue color of other Jinshi, and is more conspicuous and extravagant.The belt is the plain silver belt of the sixth grade official, and there is also a medicinal jade pendant with a pearl tassel.

Damn it, this treatment is not a little bit higher than that of ordinary Jinshi, it's not a level at all, okay?

The only pity is that such handsome clothes are not worn by himself.

This is probably the common thought in the minds of all Jinshi in the Tai Chi Hall.

However, this is the Tai Chi Hall, even if the Jinshi had thoughts in their hearts, they didn't dare to say them out, they could only look at Chen E with envious eyes, and they couldn't move them away no matter what.

Afterwards, the Royal Street Praise officially began.

Officials from the Ministry of Rites, Honglu Temple and other departments held the gold list and walked at the forefront.

The number one scholar, Chen E, led the No. [-] and Tanhua Lang in the middle, and Chen Qi and other Jinshi walked behind. They walked out of the palace together, and walked towards the platform outside the Chengtian Gate.

To put it bluntly, the royal street boasting officials is the process in which the number one scholar led the Jinshi outside the gate of the palace to watch the officials post the gold list, and then went home.

After leaving the palace, there will be more drums, music and battles, and the sound of gongs and drums will be played everywhere.

Under the guidance of the drums and the royal battle, everyone came to the temporary "dragon shed" built by the imperial court one by one, and watched the officials of the Ministry of Rites post the gold list.

After the gold list was pasted up, the Governor of Chang'an, who had been waiting for a long time, came forward with two officials, said congratulations, and then involuntarily draped a big red silk on the champion body. There is also a big red flower on the hat.

The other two officials also put big red silk and big red flowers on No. [-] and Tanhualang in the same way.

As for Chen Qi and the thirty-three Jinshi, that's fine, just be a green leaf honestly.

Then someone brought three tall horses with pure white coats, the saddles were dyed gold, and the whips were woven with gold silk.

The number one scholar, Chen Edang, stepped on the stool first, turned over and rode on the most handsome white horse, holding a golden whip, and walked in the forefront, followed by the second and Tanhua Lang on horseback, and the rest of the Jinshi followed on foot, all the way to Chang'an away from the street.

In front are the guards to clear the way, holding the number one scholar lantern, carrying red and yellow flags and plaques with the words "No.

Of course, the people in Chang'an City were more enthusiastic.

At this moment, all the people in Chang'an City roared onto the streets of Chang'an.

On the side of the road, in the store upstairs and so on, all places where people can stand are full of people. Everyone rushed to the street, stretched their necks on their toes, and looked at the street.

Even the ladies who usually don't leave the door and don't walk outside, ran out in their best clothes, wanting to see what the champion looks like.

The streets of Chang'an are crowded with people!

Thousands of people are empty, let's all look at the number one scholar!

The surging crowds in the streets and alleys can ignite the air with enthusiasm, and the wide Chang'an Avenue is packed tightly.

It can be said that after ten years of cold windows, no one asked, and he became famous all over the world in one fell swoop!

It's a pity that at this moment, most people's eyes are attracted by the number one scholar in the front, even the second place and Tan Hualang have become back versions, not to mention the Jinshi who followed on foot.

Especially some girls who are well-dressed, with pink faces and almond-like eyes, raised their slender handkerchiefs, hair flowers, etc., and threw them at Chen E vigorously. Time is like a rain of handkerchiefs and sachets.

Chen Qi followed behind the Jinshi team and was also treated like a handkerchief and sachet rain.

After all, there are a lot of unmarried girls in Chang'an City, and many girls also know that their qualifications are not enough for the number one scholar, so they set their sights on the Jinshi behind.

Facing the rain of handkerchiefs and sachets from the sky, Chen Qi could only bear it stiffly, not daring to stop it, nor did he dare to reach out to catch it.

If you stop, you may be misunderstood as arrogant and look down on others.

If you accept it, it means that the owner of the handkerchief sachet is interested, and maybe there will be an extra fiancée out of nowhere.

Therefore, Chen Qi could only bear it with a helpless face like other Jinshi.