February 27, the day of the second watch, that is, after 9:36 p.m.

Zou Mu suddenly knocked on the door and shouted: "If you are empty, Boqi, go out and look at the list!" ”

Wang Yuan opened the door and was very speechless: "The list will be released tomorrow morning, do you want to go to stand outside the Gongyuan for the night?" ”

"I'm afraid I'm out of the list at this moment!" Zou Mu said excitedly.

Jin Wei suddenly came out of the next room and said to Zou Mu, "Let's go." ”

"Brother Boqi, you have always been calm and chic, why do you have to wait outside the Gongyuan for the night?" Wang Yuan was a little surprised.

Jin Wei said with an embarrassed expression: "The meeting test is different from the township test, and we should always pay attention to it." ”

Wang Yuan said with a smile: "You two go, I'll look at the list tomorrow morning." ”

Jin Wei and Zou Mu were not reluctant, and went to the Gongyuan together.

Due to the presence of rebels in Gyeonggi, it was forbidden to enter and leave for several days, for fear that the rebellious army would infiltrate the city and set fire to spread rumors.

But today was an exception, not only were the gates wide open, but the curfew in the city was lifted.

Countless scholars living in the south of the city poured in from the Chongwen Gate and came to the gate of the Gongyuan to wait in a pile.

Suddenly, the gate of the Gongyuan opened.

Several officials went out with good news, and they were about to go to the yamen of the Ministry of Rites to distribute their respective areas and numbers of people to report the good news. The two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou combined, you can go to an official errand to report; In a province like Jiangxi, which is a large province for imperial examinations, there must be three or four official messengers at the same time.

The scholars surrounded the official messenger who reported the good news, and even though they knew that the official messenger would not disclose the information, they couldn't help but ask all kinds of questions. For example, who is Huiyuan, who are the five classics, how many Jinshi are in their own province, and so on.

The official messenger protected the good news in his arms and squeezed into the street with difficulty.

An official who took the lead smiled and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, there are three hundred and fifty Jinshi this year, and I can only say so much." Please give way, give way, give way! ”

The scholars began to cheer as the odds of winning the test increased.

There were more than 3,800 candidates in the last session, and more than 3,500 candidates this year, but the number of jinshi is the same.

After the official left, the gate of the tribute courtyard was closed again.

After waiting for a while, some scholars were so anxious that they began to bang on the gate of the Tribute Courtyard, and some even threw stones at the courtyard, just to urge the Ministry of Rites to hurry up and put up a list.

Hurry your sister, you'll have to wait for hours.

But every year, there are always many scholars who are in a hurry, and they can't wait for the last night.

Take Yan Song's article as an example, when he served as the same examiner: "On the twenty-seventh day and night, the two drums, those who served the door for a long time were angry, and they threw tiles and stones. Compared with the comparison, the questioner was noisy and hugged the examiner's horse, and the road was blocked. Liu Sunchen was forced to fall into the deep trench during the incident. ”

Look, when the examiner came out of the Gongyuan with the examiner, he was actually squeezed into the ditch by the examinee and the horse.

"Come out, the examiner is out!"

As the gate of the Gongyuan opened again, all the scholars shouted.

Liu Zhong, the secretary of the ministry, and Jin Gui, the right attendant of the ministry, walked in the forefront. Seventeen people, including Wu Yipeng, the attendant of the Hanlin Academy, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, and Wang Wei, the secretary of the Imperial Order, followed out in turn, including Wang Yangming and Wen Renhe in the ritual room.

Generally speaking, these officials usually sit in sedan chairs, but the Gongyuan does not allow idle people to enter, so they all come out on horseback at the moment.

When you go out, you are blocked, and no one wants to leave.

The higher gentlemen are still very reserved, for fear of leaving a bad impression on the examiners. But the soldiers behind him couldn't stand the pushing, pushing one by one, squeezing forward layer by layer, and the examiners' horses were pushed backwards.

After a long day's effort, the nineteen examiners were finally relieved, and one by one they rode away without a trace.

Wang Yangming's father, Wang Hua, served as a Beijing official for 26 years, and the Wang family used to have a house in the capital. But after Wang Hua was thrown by Liu Jin to Nanjing as a secretary of the ministry, the Wang family's capital mansion was also sold, resulting in Wang Yangming having to live in the elders' house when he returned to Beijing this time.

This elder is called Li Dongyang, and he is now the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty.

"Bo'an is back?"

At this time, it was one o'clock in the morning, Li Dongyang didn't sleep, and was still playing with Song Ling'er.

Wang Yangming hurriedly greeted him: "Why hasn't Uncle Shi rested yet?" ”

"I had an attack of chronic illness and couldn't sleep," Li Dongyang said with a smile, "It just so happened that Ling'er couldn't sleep, so I threw a pot with her to pass the time." ”

Li Dongyang's anal fistula has become more and more serious in the past two years. It was difficult for him to support his sick body, and he was with Liu Jin all day long, and he was scolded by his colleagues for saving people everywhere, and finally eradicated Liu Jin.

Song Ling'er jumped to Wang Yangming's side and asked, "Sir, is Wang Yuan a jinshi?" ”

Wang Yangming asked with a smile: "How can you be sure that he will come to take the exam this year?" ”

Song Ling'er said proudly: "Sir, you have lived in the Gongyuan for more than half a month, and you don't know that Wang Yuan has already made a great name and has long been famous in the capital. It's a pity that I can't leave the city under martial law for the past few days, otherwise I will definitely look for him outside the city. ”

"Famous in the capital?" Wang Yangming was surprised, "What wonderful poems did he make?" ”

Li Dongyang laughed: "It's more difficult than poetry." ”

Wang Yangming became more and more puzzled and asked, "Uncle Shi also heard the news about him?" ”

"It's hard to listen to it," Li Dongyang said with emotion, "You, a disciple, chased and killed more than 300 horseback soldiers for dozens of miles. Dozens of them were killed, twelve were captured, and it was in the land of Gyeonggi, how could I not know if I lived in the capital? ”

"One person chased and killed more than 300 rebel troops, and it was a chaotic army on horseback. Did I hear me right? Wang Yangming said in a trance.

Song Ling'er was proud, and with honor, she smiled and said, "Mr. heard me right. Now everyone calls him 'Wang Erlang, the white-clothed flying general', and this nickname is passed down from Liangxiang County. ”

In the middle and early Ming Dynasty, the main color of the scholar's shirt was white, and Wang Yuan wore a white dress to kill the enemy that day. Liangxiang County was guarding the city at that time, and countless officials and people could see it clearly, and they didn't know who was the first to call him "Flying General in White", so that everyone in the capital now knows "Wang Erlang, the flying general in white".

Wang Yangming laughed when he heard it, and said approvingly: "This son has always liked to take risks, and he was born an outlaw. ”

If this assessment comes from the mouth of other officials, it must mean contempt. But Wang Yangming himself likes to take risks, and when he was more than ten years old, he rode out of Juyong Pass alone, chasing and killing the Mongols for several miles, and his approach was not fundamentally different from Wang Yuan.

Li Dongyang seemed to be very optimistic about Wang Yuan, and asked, "Did you take the test as a student?" ”

Wang Yangming replied: "Lijingkui, I will try the third place." ”

"Who are the leaders of the five?" Li Dongyang asked again.

Wang Yangming said: "Jiangxi scholar Zou Shouyi, this scripture is "Spring and Autumn". From the perspective of scripture and righteousness, he is well-deserved, and he has a faint Confucian style, and it is even more rare that this person is only nineteen years old. ”

Song Ling'er scratched her head and said, "The name Zou Shouyi is so familiar. ”

"It's the Jiangxi scholar who followed us all the way to Beijing." Wang Yangming said with a smile.

Song Ling'er suddenly recalled: "Oh, that nerd." ”

Li Dongyang was quite surprised: "Huiyuan is not Yang Yongxiu (Yang Shen)?" ”

Wang Yangming explained: "Yang Yongxiu is indeed talented, but in terms of scriptures, he is far inferior to Zou Shouyi. He was second this time. ”

The top three in the examination will come out: Zou Shouyi is the first, and the top five are the first; Yang Shen second, Yi Jingkui; Wang Yuan is the third, and the rites are clear.

Li Dongyang was pleased: "They are all young talents, and there are successors from my generation." Encourage them. ”

Li Dongyang especially likes to promote young people, which is related to his own unsuccessful career.

History records that he "sleeps with his appearance, is witty, and is not valued by Shi Zai", that is, he is relatively ugly, humorous, and difficult to please the first assistant of the cabinet at that time.

Li Dongyang's palace test ranking was the first in the second class, and he was left out in the cold when he entered the Hanlin Academy. His first two positions were promoted after serving a nine-year term, which was obviously deliberately suppressed. Otherwise, how could it take eighteen years for the first place in the second class to be promoted from the fifth grade?

This old gentleman stubbornly boiled through the three first assistants before finally winning the favor of the fourth first assistant.

Humor and love to joke are secondary, mainly because they are ugly. If you're ugly, you're ugly, why do you run out to tell jokes all day long, you look like a treacherous and vain person!

It is precisely because of this encounter that Li Dongyang has become very calm and sophisticated after middle age.

Liu Jian and others were forced to resign by Liu Jin, but Li Dongyang was the only one who stayed in the cabinet and did not leave, and he was ridiculed by his colleagues and ridiculed by students, but he didn't care at all. Moreover, while saving people, he was able to maintain a relationship with Liu Jin at the same time, and won Zhu Houzhao's trust, and finally cut off Liu Gonggong, the emperor, in one fell swoop!

After getting rid of Liu Jin, Li Dongyang was in poor health and didn't care much anymore, and his main focus was on promoting the backwards. For example, Wang Yangming, such as the young officials who have been rapidly promoted in the past six months, are all deliberately cultivated by Li Dongyang, hoping to leave more available talents for the imperial court.

It's a pity that after Li Dongyang became a minister, Yang Tinghe took over as the first assistant.

This Lord Yang prefers to seize power, and those young officials promoted by Li Dongyang will use promotion as an excuse to transfer out of Beijing as long as they do not take Yang Ting and Ma Shou as a pretext. Wang Yangming originally did a good job in the Ministry of Officials, but he was suddenly thrown to Nanjing by Yang Tinghe, and he couldn't find anything wrong, because he was promoting Wang Yangming.

The next day, early in the morning.

Song Linger came to the courtyard excitedly, she didn't use a ladder, she accelerated and sprinted to borrow strength, and easily climbed the wall.

Standing on the wall, Song Linger had no image of a lady, and shouted loudly: "Sister Huang, let's go to the Gongyuan to see the list together!" ”

A thirteen-year-old girl came out of the courtyard next door, it was Huang E, the daughter of Huang Ke, the right waiter of the household, and she looked up at Song Ling'er: "Sister Song, don't climb so high, you will fall down if you are not careful." ”

"It's okay, I'm so good that I can't fall down." Song Ling'er sat on the wall, her two calves shaking.

Huang E reminded: "The Gongyuan is full of men, I'm afraid it's inconvenient for us to go to see the list." ”

Song Ling'er grinned and said, "What's inconvenient? If a man can see it, our daughter's family can't see it? Let me tell you, there are still women acting for Tusi in Guizhou, and women can still lead soldiers to fight! Don't you like to read? It's just right to go and see those talents, and take them home to be husbands. ”

"The more Sister Song talks about it, the more outrageous it becomes." Huang E blushed.

Song Ling'er asked, "You just say whether to go or not." ”

Huang E was quite moved, and hesitated again and again: "That...... Then we'll just take a look from afar and come back. ”