Xun Mou hesitated for a moment, and then suddenly came to his heart, "Yes or no, as long as you catch Lu Zuo when the time comes, you will know as soon as you ask." ”

The prince nodded and smiled, "That's right! Hongu is very interested in this book! ”

Since the beginning of the spring, the king of Wei has been very busy, the end of the first test, then began the marking work, when the candidate finished answering the question, the test paper will be handed over to the examiner, which will be stamped again, and then sent to the sealing office, the sealing officer will fold the test paper, seal it, paste the name, number, and then hand it over to the transcription office, after transcribing it by a special person Zhu Pen, it will also be handed over to the reading office to read, and then handed over to the palm office for collection, and finally handed over to the main examination and the same examination paper.

In addition, the emperor's dragon body is not safe this time, so he ordered that the current branch of the palace examination does not need to be tested by the emperor himself, and is directly selected by the Ministry of Rites to be selected for the examination, and the top three are selected by several scholars in cooperation with King Wei, and the test papers of the top three are read by the Emperor of Han himself, and then the ranking is determined, which makes King Wei surprised and delighted.

Due to the large number of references and the huge workload this year, the release date has been postponed. It was even February 25 that the list was finally completed.

Today is the time to submit the list of candidates to the Holy Lord, which was originally scheduled to be unveiled on the 25th, but the emperor has already recovered from his illness, so he has to personally review the list in the early court, and finally announce the list after the final ranking.

The night before this day, Liu Xu, the king of Wei, was inevitably tossed and turned all night, and the excitement in his heart was difficult to suppress. When he arrived in the early dynasty, he was even more energetic, and suddenly felt that the eyes of all the ministers looking at him revealed respect and flattery.

The Xuanzheng Hall was full of civil and military officials early on, because everyone knew that today should be one of the most important days, selecting talents for the imperial court, but it is one of the major events of a prosperous country. Everyone is also concerned about whether their relatives or nephews can be on the list. Although it is not yet possible to fully know the full list today, but in the old practice of previous years, the emperor should have made the top three of the first class of the civil and military department public.

All the lists, as well as the top three candidates in the first class, Liu Xu, the king of Wei, have been handed over to the Han Emperor yesterday, just waiting for the Han Emperor to be announced to the public in advance today.

But the emperor was a long later than usual this morning, and the ministers waited left and right, but there was no one to see, and the hall slowly began to talk to each other one by one, and then the group began to discuss. Xun Mou and the prince looked at each other and smiled, they knew that there was a good show to be staged next, and they had already arranged it since last night, how the henchmen and officials present should speak, how to answer, and how to echo them.

Today, Emperor Han's unnatural behavior made Liu Xu, the king of Wei, gradually begin to panic, and vaguely felt that something was wrong, with his father's temperament, it was definitely impossible to sleep late, was there anything urgent? But what could be more important than today? Is he sick again? But wasn't he already cured yesterday? And if you are sick, the deacon and eunuch should notify the scattered dynasty in advance? King Wei thought about it, but he didn't understand what was wrong with his father.

Some people in the temple couldn't wait, and they asked the inner supervisor in front of the temple, "How is the saint?" The inner eunuch just tilted his head with a deep face, and did not pay attention to the inquiries of the other ministers.

After a while, a sharp voice came, "The emperor has arrived, and the hundred officials are quietly listed." ”

At this time, the Han Emperor came to the palace slowly from the apse, everyone looked up, only to see that the Han Emperor's face was solemn, without saying a word, under the support of the eunuch, he sat on the dragon chair with difficulty, and everyone thought that the emperor should be sick again.

The civil and military officials knelt down to make a big salute, and after the mountain shouted long live, they saw that the saint didn't speak for a long time, and he didn't mean to let everyone stand up, so they all looked left and right with the corner of their eyes at the bottom, and they all mistakenly thought that they didn't hear the emperor's words, but everyone knelt? The mood of the Holy One doesn't seem right today?

There were bold ministers who couldn't help but look up at the saint, but saw that the Han Emperor on the dragon chair had a pale face, red eyes, and a few strands of white hair seemed to have been added to his sideburns. Emperor Han held a folded book in his right hand, and his left hand tightly held the armrest of the dragon head on the left side of the dragon chair, leaning forward slightly.

Emperor Han looked at His Royal Highness's hundred officials, then coughed, and asked in a sharp voice, "Where is Liu Xu?" ”

At this time, Liu Xuzheng was strange in his heart, and when he heard his father calling his name, he hurriedly knelt down and went out of work, and replied with a trembling voice: "The son is here!" ”

Emperor Han then threw his right hand to His Royal Highness, hitting Liu Xu's crown, "Take a look at it yourself!" ”

The moment Liu Xu smashed his fold into himself, his whole body trembled like a lightning strike. Liu Xu was in a panic, and picked up the fold calmly. He recognized this book at a glance, this is the list he presented to his father for the examination yesterday.

Liu Xu opened the list tremblingly and looked at it again, there is nothing wrong with the long list? It's all a list drawn up by myself, fellow examiners, and university scholars! The top three in the first class are also the names recommended by several university scholars.

Liu Xu looked at it and said excitedly: "Father, this is the list drawn up by the sons and scholars, and the sons can't see anything wrong?" ”

"There's nothing wrong with that!" Emperor Han patted the armrest with his left hand, "Look at the names and origins of the three in front of you yourself." ”

"The top three in Wuke, Liu Bozhao, and the people of Kuozhou. Wang Yan, a native of Xinzhou. Gao Yun, a native of Puzhou. The top three in the martial arts, Lu Zuo, Shanzhou people's clan. Lu Renxiang, a native of Shanzhou. Gao Han, a native of Puzhou. Liu Xulang read.

Everyone waited for Lu Zuo to finish reading, and some people in the hall who knew the reason shook their heads again and again, their faces solemn.

Emperor Han shook his head and said angrily: "I believe in you so much, but I didn't expect you to ignore the old system of etiquette and law, and blindly bend the law for personal gain." ”

Liu Xu saw that his father suddenly condemned himself, and he buckled his head again and again, and said with tears in his eyes: "My son really doesn't know what is wrong?" Please also ask the emperor to take a look! ”

"See for yourself, according to the ancestral law, the selected candidates for the scientific examination must be divided according to the geographical quota, you see who are the top three people in the Jinshi department?"

Liu Xu looked at it again, only to find that there were two people from Shanzhou and one from Puzhou. Sure enough, this time I was in a monstrous disaster. Liu Xu kowtowed like pounding garlic, "Father is clear, the child doesn't know the reason, and these lists were also handed over to the son by several other scholars, and the child doesn't know." ”

Only then did Emperor Han calm down the anger in his heart a little, and then said: "Okay! Then announce that several university scholars who participated in the marking of the papers this time will go to the hall. ”

Soon, four old men wearing gauze hats and gray temples entered the temple. After the four of them finished their salutes, they saw that the officials were kneeling one after another, so they also knelt and didn't dare to raise their heads.

Emperor Han pointed to a few of them and asked, "Tell me a few of you, why are there candidates from the same north in the top three of the first class of the Jinshi department." King Wei doesn't know, don't you know? ”

The middle-aged elder explained calmly: "The Holy Lord, please Rong Bing, it is true that the ministers and others are preparing candidates, but it is the King of Wei who determines the list, and the ministers have reminded the King of Wei for this situation, according to the talent selection system of our dynasty, the selected list must balance the inter-provincial quota, and the number of tribute students must be in accordance with the North and South 64, and the top three, the North and South must be divided into one or two. The list of the top three selected this time, the ministers and others had already prepared candidates, and there was no such situation, but when King Wei made the changes, the ministers really don't know. ”

The old minister said, and several people "knock knock" and kowtow a few times.