Qiu Yinming and Dongfang Yan didn't go out much for a few days, and they arrived at the courtyard of the Ministry of Rites early in the morning of February 281. Master Hu, the www.biquge.info of the pen and the pavilion, met with one hundred and fifty-three new Gongshi with a glorious face. Hu Shangshu appeared to be a mild-mannered old man, in his seventies, and spoke very slowly. There are very few children of high-ranking officials and nobles among the tributes this year, all of them have decent faces, and finally selected a group of good talents for the imperial court under the shadow of the former science and technology case, and this veteran of the Five Dynasties is in a good mood. The officials of the Department of Ceremonies spent half a day carefully explaining the procedures, etiquette, and costumes of entering the palace to the tributes, and even missed lunch. Back in the inn, Qiu Yinming sat at the tea table, turned the teacup in his hand and said to Dongfang Yan: "Yu Jing, I know that I am a person from the mountains, those etiquettes just now, what if I do something wrong tomorrow?" ”

Dongfang Yan smiled: "You also have troubles, right?" Tomorrow you will not be alone, just do it. ”

Qiu Yinming said: "As the man said just now, you must act neatly, and you must not pitch up and down, and look sideways left and right. I think so, you know more than me, how about studying with me a few more times? ”

Dongfang Yan smiled and posed as a pedant, paced a few square steps, and said to Qiu Yinming: "Chengxian, at the beginning of the ceremony, that is, walking, sitting, lying, each has its own way. You see, first of all, walk like this, elegantly and generously........"

Qiu Yinming followed Yan to fiddle with the lights, and Yan was satisfied: "Now there is a taste of Confucian etiquette." Qiu Yinming smiled helplessly, and paced to the door again, only to hear Yan laughing in the back: "To be honest, I look very awkward about you like this, so let's appear again tomorrow." ”

Early in the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, in front of the Chengtian Gate outside the Forbidden City, all the tributes were lined up in two columns according to the ranking on the list, standing solemnly outside the gate and waiting to enter the palace, and there were officials of the Ministry of Etiquette before and after. Qiu Yinming stood in the sixth position on the right, slowly looking at the front of the imperial city. Chengtianmen is tall and magnificent, the red city wall is dazzling in the morning sun, and the city tower can only be seen by looking up at the height, but he can't move, he can only watch the rows of forbidden troops in iron armor guarding there like wax men by the city gate. Standing in front was a small man, who grabbed his sleeve from time to time and pinched it a few times before letting go. A man behind him was two paces away from him, but he could already be heard taking many deep breaths. Not long after, the vermilion lacquer gate full of copper nails "creaked" open, and a few officials from the inner court came out, but they didn't hear anyone talking, and everyone began to walk slowly inward. The long and wide road was full of royal forest troops, and the black tasseled spears were polished brightly, and the spirit was mighty. Qiu Yin followed the people in front of him slowly through the Duanmen, the Noon Gate, the Huangji Gate, passed through the Wuying and Wenhua Second Palaces, and passed by the Huangji Palace. The Imperial Palace stands high on the white marble steps, the Chinese pillars stand in a forest, under the golden glazed tiles, the vermilion painting is gorgeous and extraordinary, the royal momentum is overwhelming, and the sky above the head seems to be much narrower. The group entered the Jianji Hall. The hall has already set up a low table, a futon, and a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. More than 100 tributes stood at the table in turn. Some of the accompanying officials withdrew from the door, and only Hu Ying, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was still standing in front. Although the door of the Jianji Hall is open, it is not bright, and a wide red silk ebony chair on the steps in front of it is the throne, with cyan curtains on both sides reaching the ground, and green smoke rising from the copper carved furnace. All the tributes did not dare to come out, and stood with their hands down.

After standing for about half an hour, I only heard the sound of boots behind me, two rows of guards in red clothes and white boots, and colorful embroidered knives on their waists walked into the hall from behind, and they were arranged on both sides of the main hall, which was about the brocade guards. At the same time, a group of green-clothed eunuchs walked in from the back of the hall one after another, and behind them walked a celebrant eunuch holding a dust, and said in a sharp voice: "Kneel to welcome the holy car-"

The people knelt down and put their hands on the ground. Qiu Yinming looked at the floor tiles with a face, and listened carefully to the sounds around him. After a while, Fang heard the sound of silk robes rubbing against each other from far and near from the back of the hall, and the eunuch of the celebrant said in a loud voice: "The Holy Lord has arrived-" Everyone could not raise their heads. I only heard Hu Shangshu say: "Your Majesty, a total of 153 tributes will be taken in the undergraduate examination, and I am now waiting for Your Majesty to give you the question." The emperor said: "Hu Aiqing is flat and gives a seat." ”

Emperor Jingtai was not yet thirty years old, and his voice was relatively thin, which sounded quite like a lack of qi. Qiu Yinming knelt and couldn't see anything, but after a moment of silence in the hall, someone walked down the jade steps, and Hu Shangshu got up and took something, which must have been written by the emperor himself. Sure enough, I heard Hu Shangshu say loudly: "Jingtai five-year palace test, the royal pen personally gave the test questions, saying: Yu Qing is a craftsman and the house is bad, and Fan is poor and the bow is broken." Truth-seekers, ancient and modern. Ming ruled the country, borrowed the essence of the ancients, and weighed everything in the world. Why is it flexible? If you do it for function, try to use one or two current events to discuss it. The title of the essay is self-proposed, and the number of words shall not exceed 500, and the limit shall be two hours. ”

After hearing this, Qiu Yinming couldn't help but look at the current emperor differently in his heart. Listen to the emperor said: "The exam is open." All the Tributes shouted long live and got up and took their seats. The moment he raised his head, Qiu Yinming's gaze quickly crossed the dragon chair, and his face was white and slightly sad.

There was silence in the hall, no one dared to cough, so quiet that they could hear the sound of an hourglass next to the throne. When he listened to the question, Qiu Yinming already had a rough idea of the article, but he was afraid that there was an omission in the pen that offended the court, so he carefully speculated for a while before writing the book, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the person next to him was holding a pen and trembling slightly, so he put his mind at ease, and the words were fine, and gradually forgot that he was in the court. After more than an hour, people kept getting up and handing in the papers. Qiu Yinming's article was about to be completed, but there was no ink, so he glanced around when he was grinding ink, and saw that most of the people had gone. I was really surprised when I looked up again, and the clothes behind the back of the guy sitting in front were soaked. Everyone knows that no one will fail in the palace exam, so what's the use of being so nervous? Maybe this year's question is a bit unexpected. He ignored it, added a few strokes of ink to write, and after reading through the article, he got up and came forward to accept the book of the Ministry of Rites, and bowed to the emperor three times and exited the door. Seeing that although he lowered his head, he did not have the appearance of Vino being restrained, and he couldn't help but look at him a few more times.

Qiu Yinming walked out of the palace gate quickly, and saw Dongfang Yan standing outside the door and smiling at him. Dongfang Yan said: "I really didn't expect that there would be such a question." Qiu Yinming said: "It seems that you are very sure?" ”

"Pretty much. What about you? "Yan looks relaxed.

Qiu Yinming nodded and said, "It's not a big problem. ”

Both of them knew that the other knew something, so they laughed and moved on to other things. I walked to Chang'an Avenue and found a teahouse in an excellent location, and sat down until the evening before returning to the inn.

Early the next morning, Mo Zhu went to the street to buy breakfast, and Dongfang Yan slept for a while before rinsing his mouth. Mo Zhu entered the house, and before he had time to put it away, he talked about the rumors he had heard in the market about yesterday's palace exam. It turned out that it was rumored that the topic of this year's palace examination was suggested to the emperor by Yu Qian, the current military secretary of the crown prince Shaobao, to the emperor, and he was deliberately ingenious. The results were interesting, nearly half of them were struggling, but there was no shortage of smugness. The people who participated in the temple examination asked each other, and it seemed that they could add some confidence to themselves. In just half a day, different people gave five or six interpretations of the test questions, and they were arguing endlessly, which is really unheard of. Sure enough, not long after breakfast, the Henan brothers in the same guest house came to visit and inquire about the situation of the palace test of the two. Dongfang Yan is always outspoken on weekdays, and he must answer any questions, but he doesn't talk about it at this time, so Qiu Yinming prevaricates for a while before sending the two away.

It's also strange to say, according to the convention, the ranking of the three tripod armor after the palace examination was notified by the Ministry of Rites before the roll call, but this year it seems that there is none. At noon on the third day after the palace examination, the Jinshi who entered the list knelt outside the Jianji Hall to greet the holy car in the uniform dress provided by the Ministry of Rites. Qiu Yinming was wearing an extremely wide cyan robe, kneeling on the third on the right, in front of him was a weak young man, Dongfang Yan was still kneeling first. If you don't guess wrong, this is the order of the first and third jinshi. Thinking of this, I can't help but feel a lot of flavor in my heart.

The sun was dazzling on the white stone floor, and everyone's backs were hot, and many of them were already sweating on their foreheads. Watching the figure reflected on the ground gradually become shorter, suddenly the music sounded. The music is played by the sixty-four eunuchs in front of the Jianji Palace, standing in the direction of the Da Lu music rhythm, playing in an ensemble of qin, flute, gonghou and so on. The ritual music before each "Chuan Yu Ceremony" is the same, and the sound of music resounded throughout the temple, and people's hearts were encircled. After a while, the music gradually stopped, and before the aftermath fell, there was a priest in front of the hall who suddenly said in a loud voice: "The Holy Lord has arrived-" The sound of fine music rose again, which was different from the rhythm of Fang Cai. Only listen to the Ministry of Rites Shangshu, who presided over the ceremony, will test Wang Wen, together with three or four officials of the Ministry of Rites, take the lead in shouting: "Long live!" All the jinshi buckled their heads together and said in unison: "Long live, long live, long live!" ”

The pale emperor on the throne smiled and said, "Wang Wen." ”

"The minister is here."

"You come and read the first class roster."

The great eunuch behind the emperor immediately took out a red-faced gold book, and the scholar Wang took it with both hands, Xie En got up, walked out of the hall, and opened the gold book. The hearts of all His Highness were in their throats. Lord Wang took a deep breath and read aloud: "Jingtai Five-Year Hall Examination First Class Jinshi, Dongfang Yan." ”

This is expected by many.

"The second Jinshi in the first class, Chu Jun."

The young man kneeling in front of Qiu Yinming shook in vain. Qiu Yinming took a deep breath, and sure enough, he guessed correctly, then the next one is......

"The third Jinshi in the first class, Qiu Yinming."

His whole body tightened, and when he heard his name being read out like this in front of the palace hall, he suddenly felt like he was in a dream.

"The first class of the jinshi out of the class to welcome the list-" In the long tone of the chief eunuch, the champion, the list, and Tanhua got up and went out of the class, and stepped up the steps to the hall under the guidance of the praise officer. The sound of music lingers in the ears, and the surroundings are golden and beautiful. Qiu Yinming walked at the end, feeling as if he was being led into the main hall by a rope. It was only a few months since he came out of Yazhou, and he became a real tanhua. His mind was in turmoil at this time, and he bowed deeply three times to the smiling Holy Lord Heavenly Son with Dongfang Yan and Chu Jun together. Dongfang Yan took over the golden Xinke Jinshi Emperor List, and the three of them withdrew from the Jianji Hall under the sound of music and the gazes of eunuchs and officials with different expressions. Hu and Wang, the two court officials who presided over the ceremony, personally sent the three out of the noon gate, and the remaining 150 jinshi followed. Ying Tianfu Yin was greeted outside the noon gate, and the group walked out of the end gate in a majestic manner. Ying Tianfu officials held red ribbons and gold flowers, and the three tripod armors were dressed in new clothes and came out of the gate of Chengtianmen. From a distance, you can see that the downtown on the other side of Jinshui Bridge is crowded, and the common people stretch their necks to watch, and the boiling voices float to Chengtianmen. Ying Tianfu Yin has sent someone to post the imperial list Pegasus received by Dongfang Yan to Chang'an Avenue and post it in the city.

An official led three high-headed horses and waited for three first-class jinshi to get on the horse. At this moment, Chu Jun, who stepped on the horse's pedal, suddenly shook left and right, and fell to the ground with a "bang" and did not move. The official was busy. Seeing this, Qiu Yinming dropped his horse, stepped forward to help up the unconscious leader, and pressed his pulse, it was clear that he was weak and hot, mostly because he knelt in front of the hall, his physical strength was exhausted, and he was overjoyed, and he collapsed as soon as he got on the horse.

Ying Tianfu Yin stepped forward and said urgently: "What's the matter?" Dongfang Yan also got off his horse and stepped forward to visit.

Qiu Yinming replied: "Don't worry, I have a way." ”

Standing behind Hu, the two ministers glanced at each other, did not speak, and looked at this new science explorer very curiously. I saw him pressing Chu Jun's middle man with one hand, and caressing his chest and abdomen with the other for a moment, and sure enough, Bangyan slowly opened his eyes and coughed twice. Qiu Yinming helped him up, and Chu Jun said softly: "Thank you, brother." He bowed to several ministers and said, "What a faux pas." ”

Ying Tianfu Yin saw that his complexion was still very weak, but his actions were no longer in trouble, so he breathed a sigh of relief and said to the left and right: "Play music." ”

So the sound of blowing sounded, and the three Jinshi got on their horses one by one, and followed the people and horses who opened the gong and shouted in Yingtianfu, and walked towards Chang'an Street in a beautiful manner.

Wang Wenli was under the Chengtian Gate and said to Hu Ying: "If I'm not mistaken, that Tanhuaqiu Yinming is from Yazhou?" Master Hu nodded and said, "I felt that he was a little different from each other in the palace test that day. ”