"Zhou Yi" has clouds: look at astronomy to observe time changes; Look at the humanities, in order to become the world.

In this era, not only the solar eclipse and other celestial phenomena were highly valued by the imperial court, but also the rise and fall of humanities.

Like Lin Haoran was born with the posture of Lianzhong Liuyuan back then, why even Jiajing was so excited that his bladder bulged, it is the "auspicious elephant" behind Lin Haoran, a talent that has not been encountered in a century.

In addition, it is also a very important criterion for the Ministry of Officials and the Supervisory Yuan to determine whether there are outstanding talents in the local area during their administration.

It is precisely because of this that the imperial court attaches great importance to the township examination of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and the relevant officials of the Shuntian township examination also attach great importance to the township examination held today.

On the third watch, the sky was still dark. A drum sounded from the Shuntian Tribute Courtyard, and the sergeants and the officials of the Shuntian Mansion were in place one after another, surrounding the entire Tribute Courtyard.

All the officials gathered in front of the gate of the Tribute Courtyard, and it was a set of fixed township test ceremonies, where a group of Taoist priests danced the great gods to drive away evil spirits.

In addition to the chief examiner, deputy chief examiner and fellow examiner, there are also one promotion officer, two invigilators, one supply officer, two examination paper collectors, one sealing officer, one transcription officer, four reading officials, two examination officers, four patrol and inspection officers, and other officials, as well as clerks, trumpet soldiers and brocade guards.

The chief examiner of this Shuntianxiang test is from the sixth grade right praise and Hanlin Academy to review Yin Shidan, facing such an important moment, he seemed to be in a surging mood and said: "Everyone, this is about the imperial court's talent ceremony, we should work together!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the other examiners were about to echo him.

Deputy Chief Examiner Wang Xilie took the lead and said, "Lord Yin, this is inappropriate!" Although we want to work together, we have different hearts, and the merits of the test papers must remain controversial, so that others will not doubt our joints! ”

When the examiners heard these somewhat reasonable words, they couldn't help but stammer, and turned their heads to look at the middle-aged official wearing a seven-grade official uniform next to them.

Wang Xilie is a 32-year jinshi in Jiajing, a native of Nanchang County, Jiangxi, who was originally a Shujishi and is now a reviewer of the Hanlin Academy. Although his qualifications are not as good as Yin Shidan, his teacher is the current first assistant Xu Jie.

Xu Jie's protégés are not many, from his position as the inspector of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, to the position of Guozijian and Hanlin Academy, he has formed a teacher-student relationship with many people, but the most orthodox protégé is still the 32nd year of Jiajing.

Wang Xilie was one of the most famous officials in the 32nd year of Jiajing, and he was highly valued by Xu Jie. Although he is still only a review of the Hanlin Academy, because of the factor of Xu Jie, his future is already above the vast majority of Hanlin officials.

The officials present couldn't help but secretly exchange glances, this has not yet started the exam, and there is a blatant contradiction between the chief and deputy examiners, I am afraid that this township exam is not peaceful.

Yin Shidan ate a soft nail, his heart was quite unhappy, and his face turned to look at Wang Xilie with a gloomy face.

He naturally understood that Wang Xilie relied on Xu Jie, the head of the dynasty, and his biggest reliance was on Teacher Yuwang, but he was only able to enter Yuwang's Mansion to lecture in Jiajing for 41 years, and he did not have too strong confidence in essence.

Like this time, he was able to serve as the chief examiner of the Shuntianxiang exam, but it was thanks to Lin Haoran's favor.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Fortunately, this time has come at an auspicious time. Three salutes suddenly exploded, and the gate of the Tribute Courtyard slowly opened, which was diverted to the attention of everyone present.

"Let's go in!"

Yin Shidan didn't say much anymore, but said lightly to the officials.

The gate of the Gongyuan, which had been sealed for more than two years, slowly opened, and the inner curtain officer and the brocade guard entered first, and then the outer curtain officer and the trumpet army, and finally it was the turn of more than 3,000 candidates to participate in the township examination.

The layout of the Tianxia Gongyuan is very similar. The middle position of the Yongdao is a Mingyuan Building, on both sides of the Yongdao is a row of examination houses, the end of the Yongdao is the public hall, and then behind is the Jukui Hall where the curtain officials live and work.

Yin Shidan led the examiners directly to Jukui Hall, conducted another ritual to Sage Kong, and then dismantled the questions of the first township test.

When the news of locking the courtyard door came outside, they passed through the stone bridge and sent the exam questions to the outer curtain officer waiting at the other end of the bridge through a trumpet army that was watching the bridge guard.

Once the test papers are delivered to the Outer Curtain Officer, a complete process is about to be put into operation, and the questions will soon be printed on the test papers, which will then be distributed to the candidates waiting for the exam.

The main work of the township examination examiner headed by Yin Shidan is: announcing the examination questions, marking the examination papers, and formulating the rankings.

Therefore, after sending the questions out, they mainly stayed in Jukuitang for the first three days to rest, and only after the test papers of the first township examination were sent over, they would carry out the work of marking the test papers.

Watching the test papers sent out, the examiners present were also secretly relieved that there were no mistakes for the time being.

Yin Shidan was born into a family of eunuchs, and his great-grandfather Yin Heng taught in the Mingde palace and moved to Jinan with King Dezhuang, and his grandfather and father were quite famous in the local area.

Because of his wealthy background, he has had a small cleanliness habit since he was a child, and he is very particular about where he lives.

When he came to his own small room, he first checked it, but suddenly went out and found two fellow examiners as helpers. Even if it's just for a while, he's going to clean up the room himself.

The two fellow examiners are real people, and they also rolled up their sleeves and planned to help clean up together.

Yin Shidan looked at the collapsed bed and hadn't moved for a long time, and found that there were a lot of messy things piled up under the bed, so he asked the two fellow examiners to move the bed together to clean it.

Wang Xilie lived next door, and when he came over, he said: "The location and direction of this bed are said in feng shui, and it can't be moved at all, which is related to the blessing and misfortune of the person who collapsed the bed." It is this bed that is placed exquisitely, and the main exams of the previous Shuntianxiang examinations have never had accidents, so it is more blessings and fewer disasters. Not to mention, Wu Shangshu and Dong Shilang have both served as the main examiners of the Shuntianxiang Examination, and now they have a smooth career. Lord Yin, are you really going to break this excellent feng shui? ”

When the two examiners who were about to move the bed collapsed heard this statement, they couldn't help but turn their heads to look at Yin Shidan.

Yin Shidan frowned at first, and then snorted coldly: "You are a fallacy to confuse the public, this official doesn't believe in any feng shui, how can you have a bed and be able to control the good and bad of the people?" You two listen to me, move this collapsed bed, I'm going to clean up the mess underneath, and you see what is dirty under this bed. ”

Hearing that the examiner insisted on this, the two fellow examiners glanced at each other, but neither of them moved, and the two of them obviously had the intention of retreating.

Yin Shidan's mind has been decided, so he said in a deep voice: "Feng Shui says, if you believe it, you will have it, and if you don't believe it, you will not!" The bottom of this bed is so dirty, how can there be no reason not to move and clean, I am the main examiner of this township examination, even if something happens, it has nothing to do with you! ”

When the two same examiners heard it, it was really this reason, even if it was a big disaster, it was Yin Shidan, a tall man, who listened to Yin Shidan's words and planned to move the bed and clean up the debris under the bed.

Wang Xilie looked at Yin Shidan, who couldn't persuade him, so he turned around and walked out of the courtyard and said loudly: "The public has not crossed the river, but the public has crossed the river!" Crossing the river and dying, what is his help! ”

"Talking nonsense, its heart can be punished!" Yin Shidan listened to these mocking words, but he was secretly annoyed.

The two same examiners pretended not to hear, and after moving the bed together, they took the initiative to help take care of the hygiene under the bed.

Seeing this, the leader of the Jinyi Guards also brought two Jinyi Guards over to take the initiative to help clean up the debris on the bed, but a mouse and two spiders ran out.

The bottom of this bed is indeed very dirty, in addition to the garbage accumulated over the years, there are still a few steamed buns of some years, and even a few Yongle Tongbao.

Wang Xilie's feng shui theory seems to be really nonsense, and the township test is going very smoothly.

The content of the first exam is the righteousness and three ways of the "Four Books"; The Five Classics are righteous and have four paths.

The content of the second exam is "Theory"; Five "judgments": edicts, edicts, tables, and internal medicine can be selected, and this one mainly tests whether the candidates have the basic conditions for being an official.

The content of the third exam is to test the scriptures, history, and current affairs.

Although some entrained personnel were found in each of these games, there were no major mistakes, at least there was no leakage of test questions in this Shuntianxiang test.

The most important thing in the township examination is the first test paper, and the examiners of the previous years mainly focused on the topics of the four books and the five classics.

Yin Shidan and Wang Xilie are both young and strong officials, and Lin Haoran chose them because they were intended to be more conscientious and responsible than the old examiners, so they also worked overtime to review every test paper.

According to the previous process, the examiners in each room selected the test papers they wanted, which were first reviewed by the deputy examiner Wang Xilie, and finally handed over to the examiner Yin Shiyun for judgment.

Although the third session of the township exam has ended, they are even busier and need to complete all the exams in the month after the exam.

"This exam paper is very good!"

A fellow examiner sent in a batch of promising test papers and recommended one of them.

Wang Xilie knew that the vision of these fellow examiners would not be too bad, and when he watched the fellow examiners leave, he opened the exam paper as soon as he finished his work.

He looked at the four book questions in front of him and found that the answers were very neat, showing this candidate's strong literary skills, but he couldn't help frowning when he turned to the Five Classics questions.

I don't know when, a small mouse feces stuck on this test paper, I endured nausea and looked at it, and found that the content behind it was bland, but the test paper was directly degraded.

It is said that this test paper can still be taken, but this rat made him faintly spy on a trace of providence.

He actually believed in the gods very much, and before he took the imperial examination, he would definitely go to the Guan Gong Temple in his hometown every time to make a wish, and let him pass all the way from the county examination to the township examination.

It's just that in the year of high school, he didn't return to his hometown to make a wish at Guan Gong Temple, but hurriedly followed his friends to the capital to participate in the next examination.

It was that year that he suffered the biggest blow in his life, and he thought that the title of the gold list was not a problem, but he fell off the list. However, he soon regrouped, and the first thing he did when he returned to his hometown was to make a vow at the Guan Gong Temple.

Two years later, before going to Beijing for the exam, he went to the Guangong Temple for a grand prayer event. Sure enough, he went to the capital to participate in the examination and won the title of the gold list, and he also worshiped under the door of Xu Jie, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites at the time, and was able to enter the Hanlin Academy.

"This exam paper is very good!"

A fellow examiner sent in a batch of promising test papers and recommended one of them.

Wang Xilie had long been accustomed to this model, and after finishing the work at hand, he wanted to see what good test papers the same examiner had recommended. Just as he stretched out his hand, he suddenly fixed his eyes, and a small crab appeared out of thin air on the test paper and was dancing its teeth and claws at him.

Yes......

Wang Xilie was taken aback and shouted on the spot.

"What?"

Yin Shidan asked with a displeased face, and several fellow examiners also looked over, not understanding why Wang Xilie suddenly made a fuss.

"It's fine!"

Wang Xilie faced Yin Shidan, but he was shocked.

Yin Shidan saw the crab on the test paper, and probably guessed such a thing, as a bold Shandong person, he naturally did not put the little crab in his eyes, so he devoted himself to work.

A few days later, a batch of papers was determined to be raised, and then it was to determine who was the chief examiner of the township examination.

"You have worked hard these days, but I don't know which test paper you think can be used as the solution to this township test?" Yin Shiwei asked the examiners democratically.

This is undoubtedly a polite remark, and it has always been the chief examiner who personally approved the solution to the yuan volume, but Wang Xilie recommended it loudly: "The lower officials think that this time the solution is none other than this volume!" ”

In his hands was the crab roll of that day.

Even now, he clearly remembered the crab that appeared out of thin air that day with teeth and claws, which was undoubtedly a strange omen, and this crab carried a faint threat.

Naturally, he could easily slap this crab to death, but the implication behind it was likely to make him fall into a state of no return.

Although Wang Xilie knew that although this test paper was not bad, it was still a little hot from Xie Yuan, but the gap in the article has always been that human words have always accounted for a certain proportion, but he decided to recommend this crab roll high school Xie Yuan.

After all, all this has already been doomed.

The Fang master of the crab roll and another fellow examiner who had a friendship with Wang Xilie immediately echoed and vigorously touted this kind of test paper, resulting in this paper being designated as a Xie Yuan paper.

"I've read this volume, but it's not enough to solve the yuan, and I can barely pass it!" Yin Shidan was quite unhappy in his heart, and he even wanted to put another test paper as Xie Yuan, but he directly refused.

Wang Xilie said preparedly: "This time there is a strategy: Shun has five ministers and the world is governed!" The rest of the volumes are all said to be the sages of the five people, but only this volume is the first great sage such as Shun, the original foot to rule the world, the five ministers are the icing on the cake, this son is the most loyal! ”

There are a total of five theories this time, but he only singled out one of them, and he also came up with an irrefutable reason, which is no wonder the common people often say: the official word has two mouths.

Yin Shidan was quite unhappy in his heart, but he understood what kind of temperament the saint was today, and behind this person was Xu Jie, but he glanced at Wang Xilie deeply.

Although the township test has gone through bumps and bumps, it was officially announced in mid-September, and the list of township exams was announced in the Shuncheon Gongyuan, and this year's Xie Yuanlang is a scholar named Zhang Li.

Just like the top student in the college entrance examination in the past, now Xie Yuanlang is even more than that, and the inn is even more proud of it, and many businessmen have also given gifts to Zhangli.