In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination was extremely strict.

The system has always been improving, and the imperial examination has changed from a vague name system, to a locked court system, and then to the last imperial examination.

Wei Yunzhen wrote a letter to impeach the first assistant Zhang Siwei, and the sons of the second assistant Shen Shixing were on the list respectively, and they were admitted to the Jinshi, thinking that the two first assistants had acted favoritism.

After Wei Yunzhen was reprimanded, he was heavily reprimanded by the Son of Heaven, and Li Sancai defended Wei Yunzhen, and was also heavily reprimanded, and as a result, both of them were demoted.

But last year, the Son of Heaven pardoned these two people again, and also promoted Wei Yunzhen to the right general government, which is second only to Lin Yanchao's promotion to a bachelor.

At the same time, the Son of Heaven also told the cabinet scholars present that you are not allowed to take care of your family when you are in the prime of life.

This is equivalent to an unwritten rule that when any minister is in power, their children, grandchildren and nephews are not allowed to be on the list.

The imperial examination system in the Ming Dynasty was very strict, and at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Hanmen disciples were selected from the people, and later some people counted that the admission rate of the Hanmen scholars (no one was an official in the three generations of their ancestors) and the children of the official eunuchs reached one to one in the examination, and even more Hanmen scholars.

But for some reason, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the rate of the children of official eunuchs on the list became higher and higher, and even reached the point of two to one in the later period.

It is becoming more and more difficult for the children of the poor to get ahead, and even if there are children from the poor family on the list, most of them are the companions of official eunuchs like Dong Qichang, or the protégés of any big man.

So all kinds of shady theories came out, so Wei Yunzhen and Li Sancai were sparse, and since then they have set a precedent that the children of ministers are not allowed to be admitted to the Jinshi.

When Lin Yanchao served as the chief examiner of the examination this time, he saw that in this heavily guarded examination room, there were actually people who were so handful and eye-catching that they handed him a note, and even said hello to his deputy chief examiner, so did any of the other room officials, other officials, and even Wang Xijue hand over the note?

Wang Xijue probably won't.

Wang Xijue knows his human nature, does not form a party, and does not show favoritism.

From this point of view, Wang Xijue is a rare clear stream among so many cabinet scholars in the Ming Dynasty.

Li Zhi and Jiang Dongzhi are all his protégés, and they have always wanted Wang Xijue to replace Shen Shixing as the first assistant. But Wang Xijue didn't want to refuse, not because he had a good relationship with Shen Shixing, but because he thought he could do whatever he wanted, and even his most proud protégé, Li Sancai, didn't take care of him.

There is also Wang Heng, the son of Wang Xijue. Wang Heng is very talented, and he belongs to the class of Jinshi who can be tested casually.

But when Wang Xijue was in the cabinet, Wang Hengkong had a talent, but he was always pressed by Wang Xijue and did not allow him to be a jinshi. With Wang Xijue leading by example, the unwritten rule that the prime minister's son cannot be a jinshi is really fixed.

It is precisely because of this that Wang Xijue is very respected by the Son of Heaven.

It was with this in mind that when Lin Yanchao got this article, he subconsciously didn't burn it, and first saw who handed it to him.

So the answer came out, the person who handed himself the note...... Hmph, it's Zhang Whale.

Lin Yanchao would not be so angry if he were someone else, but this person is Zhang Whale.

Who is Zhang Whale?

The eunuch and the commander of the East Factory, that is, the 'factory duke' who frightened the civil officials.

Now Lin Yanchao and Zhang Whale are still 'political allies', and it was Lin Yanchao who asked Zhang Whale to help in many things such as getting rid of the Zhao family in Guide.

Otherwise, the Zhao family's big crime of being a convict is not a sentence that can be sentenced.

Zhang Whale helped Lin Yanchao a lot at the beginning, and now it's time to return the favor. Of course, if he were Wang Xijue, Shen Li could righteously and sternly reject Zhang Whale, but he was not.

Lin Yanchao thought about it again, and remembered what Lin Yan said to him when he left Beijing, and couldn't help but hesitate.

He told Lin Yanchao, you are also from a poor family, and now that you have crossed this bridge, you should also help more people cross the bridge. However, he said that Lin Yan was originally an official, but because he heard that Lin Tingji was seriously ill, he resigned and returned to his hometown in Fujian.

There are a lot of people in the world who drill up, but there are also people like their own teachers who don't care about it.

Lin Yanchao pushed open the window and looked at the bright moon in the sky, and fell into deep thought.

The next day, the test will be held.

For Lin Yanchao, the examiner, he can sleep until the early morning of the second day. But for the candidates, they have to arrive at the examination room on the fourth watch of the day, and then they have to go through extremely strict searches.

Candidates are stripped of their clothes and all their belongings are carefully checked.

Therefore, it was possible to enter the examination early in the morning, but because it was necessary to prevent the candidates from cheating, five or six thousand candidates went to the examination room on the fourth watch, and after searching the dragon gate one by one, it was already good to be able to start the examination from time to time.

Of course, the purpose of the search is to be fair and fair, but there are some people who want to undermine the so-called fairness and justice for their own selfishness.

When Lin Yanchao walked to the public hall, Wang Xijue was already here.

There is a public seat on the public hall, facing the examination room, at this time, the days are short and the night is long, when Lin Yanchao arrived from the inner curtain to the public hall, it was not yet dawn, and the candidates were still outside preparing to enter.

So Lin Yanchao didn't come late, but Wang Xijue was wearing the big red python clothes of the cabinet ministers, and he was sitting on the public seat energetically, obviously he had been here for a long time.

Lin Yanchao said: "I didn't know that the middle hall was here, and the students were one step late. ”

Wang Xijue waved his hand and said, "It's okay, the servant is old, so he got up early." ”

After speaking, Wang Xijue looked Lin Yanchao up and down and asked, "Zong Hai doesn't seem to have slept well last night, but is there anything on his mind?" ”

Lin Yanchao's heart moved, the strip that Zhang Whale gave him, he kept it in his sleeve, if he handed over the strip to Wang Xijue here, then everything would be ......

"Student...... The student was thinking about today's big exam, and he was worried in his heart, for fear that there would be an accident in the examination room and betray His Majesty's trust, so he didn't have a good rest last night. ”

Wang Xijue nodded and said, "Zong Hai will inevitably have this worry for the first time, but as long as he has a clear conscience, there is no need to worry about it. ”

A sentence with a clear conscience, I don't know why there are some points in Lin Yanchao's thoughts.

Lin Yanchao bowed down and said, "Students, thank you for the reminder." ”

At that moment, Lin Yanchao was seated in the public seat.

To the public hall facing the entire examination room, Uva is the top of the white wall of the examination alley lined up in the distance.

Located in the middle of the examination room to the south of the public hall is a three-story small building, which is the Mingyuan Building.

There is a road connection between Mingyuan Building and Zhigongtang, and the meaning of Mingyuan Building is taken from a sentence of the university: 'Be cautious and chase far, and Mingde will return to Hou'.

In the three-story building, the bottom four sides are doors, and the second and third floors are surrounded by windows, and all the examination sheds are facing Mingyuan Building from north to south, so every move of any candidate standing on Mingyuan Tower can be seen in the bottom of the eye.

The invigilators, promotions, and inspection officials in the outer curtain officials inspect the Mingyuan Building after the exam, and they can also give orders to the candidates, raise flags during the day, and light lights at night.

And three days before the start of the exam, the Ministry of Rites will invite the monks to set up an altar on the Mingyuan Tower to fight Jiao for three days and nights, and there are officers and soldiers waving their flags and shouting, there is kindness to repay kindness, there is revenge.

This move is very metaphysical, and it also means to warn candidates to do good deeds and accumulate virtue on weekdays, otherwise there will be karma in the examination room.

Lin Yanchao looked at the examination room, and felt a lot of emotion in his heart, six years ago, he was also taking an exam in this thousands of examination booths.

At that time, some of the examination sheds were made of wooden shingles, but now they have been replaced with bricks and stones, so the examination shed where the mountain chief Lin Yin took the exam with himself has long been demolished today.

Thinking of this, Lin Yanchao felt melancholy.

As soon as the horn sounded, the candidates entered.

The supervision officials also climbed the Mingyuan Building one after another, and Wang Xijue and Lin Yanchao only need to sit, and the exam questions drawn up yesterday have already been printed, and they will be distributed after waiting for the candidates to enter.

In front of the gantry.

Sun Chengzong, Tao Wangling, Yuan Keli, Yang Daobin, Yuan Zongdao, Lin Xin, Chen Yinglong, Chen Yiyu, Lin Jiheng.

Tao Wangling, Yuan Keli and Hou Zhibow, he is Lin Yanchao's protégé in Guide, and he just passed the Henan Township Test this year.

There are other Lin protégés such as Yu Shilian, Zhou Rutong, Dong Maoce, Huang Hui, etc., some of them are Lin Yanchao's protégés, and some are Tao Wangling, Guo Zhengyu's fellow villagers.

Lin Yanchao is busy with official business, and it is impossible for him to teach apprentices in person, so many students are taught by Tao Wangling himself. Therefore, Tao Wangling's status in the Shigong School is equivalent to that of a professor, just like Wang Ji in Wang Xueli, and Qian Hongdede's status.

In addition to Tao Wangling, there is also Guo Zhengyu who is equivalent to Lin Xue, after Lin Yanchao went, the protégés who stayed in Beijing at the beginning of Lin Xuexue were all Guo Zhengyu as professors.

At present, they gathered in front of the dragon gate, their faces solemn, looking at the long column of candidates.

"Ten years of cold windows are here." One clenched his fists.

"Only go to the title of the gold list, glorify the ancestors!"

"Hard work pays off."

Some people also looked at Tao Wangling and said, "If only I had Brother Tao's talent!" ”

"Yes, this time he will try, he will be probing for things."

"He has been under the wall of Mr. for the longest time, and he is the most learned."

"Don't say that, don't be presumptuous."

"Exactly, there's a chance for everyone."

Tao Wangling looked at Tongyun in the sky, turned his head and hugged everyone's fists, and then said: "Tao wishes you all to be on the gold list as soon as possible, not only to live up to what you have learned, but also to weaken the name of our Lin Xue." ”

Everyone laughed in unison: "Exactly." ”

"I am willing to join Brother Tao in the Jinluan Palace!"

"Exactly."

The long line moved slowly.

And in the Chongwenmen Inn.

The shopkeeper said to Sun Chengzong: "I'm sorry Master Sun, the car is finished, I guess you want to go to the tribute courtyard by yourself?" ”

"What?" Sun Daqi was angry, why did other lifters have cars, but they didn't have cars.

The shopkeeper was also a little embarrassed, because it was originally a car for two candidates, but in the last car, the lifter was reluctant to ride with others, and temporarily gave the shopkeeper three times the money, and left by himself.

As a result, Sun Chengzong did not have a car to sit in.

Looking at the heavy examination box, could it be that Sun Chengzong was asked to walk from Chongwenmen to the Gongyuan with both hands?

Sun Chengzong wiped a trace of anger on his face, and just as he was waiting for a carriage to stop in front of the inn.

Sun Daqi almost cried with joy, and at this time there was a person walking down the carriage, and this person was none other than Zhanming of the Lin Mansion.

Zhanming got out of the carriage and bowed to Sun Chengzong: "Mr. Sun has kept you waiting for a long time!" ”

Sun Chengzong smiled when he heard this.

At the same time, in the Gongyuan, Lin Yanchao made a decision at this moment.