On the day of the palace examination, everyone was waiting at the gate of the imperial city, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites had already arrived to arrange the palace examination of more than 100 candidates.

Everyone's nervousness is all written on their faces, and seeing the emperor is the pinnacle of the life of many people who have passed the Jinshi examination.

Why? Because most of the Jinshi may be able to see the emperor this time in this life, only this time, there is no second time. Seeing the face of heaven is the pinnacle of life.

The people who can really rank in the court are always a very small number of officials, and the so-called civil and military officials of the court will often see the emperor, and there are only these hundred officials, and there may be less than a hundred. In the reign of Renzong, a total of fifteen imperial examinations were held, and when the number of scholars was the most, there were more than three hundred, so Emperor Renzong took as many as three or four thousand jinshi in his life, which does not include those who were officials in favor of Yin, nor those old scholars in the period of Emperor Zhenzong.

Once the Jinshi were released to other places as officials, most of them could not be promoted to the central government for the rest of their lives, and they would wander around the state capitals for the rest of their lives, and they would never have the opportunity to see the emperor again in their lives.

It is a great honor to see the face of a lifetime.

Seeing the face of heaven and accepting the emperor's questioning, some of the people present were already trembling.

Xing Ganqi is the most relaxed person, the emperor he has met several times, the emperor is still his elder relative, the emperor is still waiting for him to become an official, who do you say to reason with?

Two days ago, he had met the emperor and played the right game with the emperor, so Gan Qi didn't have the slightest sense of nervousness.

The gate of the imperial city was opened, and under the guidance of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, many candidates arrived outside the vertical arch hall, which is usually the place where the emperor meets the court. The vertical arch is the meaning of the vertical arch and the rule.

Outside the main hall square, everyone stood in shifts, waiting for the summons.

The palace exam is really an exam most of the time, with a table and chair per person, and the emperor makes a question and answers the question on the spot.

Sometimes, it is the emperor who plays the interview correctly, the emperor asks questions, and he answers on the spot. For example, Su Shi and Su Zhe were finally carried out in this way.

However, for candidates, in the face of the emperor, they would rather sit down and write an article than let the emperor personally interview and play the right role. After all, everyone is nervous, and they are afraid of saying the wrong thing and being rude, and writing an article can avoid these things.

Unfortunately, Emperor Zhao Zhen is preparing for an interview this time, that is, a thesis defense.

After the officials of the Ministry of Rites were constantly busy, the emperor was already seated in the main hall, and some officials went in to ask for instructions, and after asking for instructions, they came out to beckon everyone to come in and pay respects.

The crowd dragged in with heavy, nervous steps.

Gan Qi was really relaxed, and he dared to speak on such an occasion, and said to Li Ding beside him: "Senior, don't be nervous, Your Majesty is the most kind, just answer well." ”

Li Ding turned his head to look at Gan Qi when he heard this, nodded his head, and cheered himself up, he was really not so nervous, and his steps became bigger.

Gan Qi suddenly became a little nervous at this time, not for himself, but for Cai Qu, Li Ding and others, always afraid that they would make a mistake.

Entering the main hall, the emperor has a high seat, this is also the first time Gan Qi has seen Emperor Renzong wearing a dragon robe, wearing a dragon hollow crown, and the Zhao Zhen he has seen in the past is a big red official robe, which is no different from what Han Qi and others are wearing at first glance.

Gan Qi thought that the emperor of the Song Dynasty did not have a dragon robe, but he didn't expect that there were still them, but he didn't wear them on ordinary occasions.

When everyone saw it, the audience was silent.

Zhao Zhen had already begun to look down at the exam papers, looked at it, and then spoke: "Which one is Senior Li Dingli, step forward to answer." ”

Li Ding trembled when he heard this, unlucky, the first one to play right, and went forward to worship, in the winter, his forehead was already full of beads of sweat.

Zhao Zhen has already asked: "How to implement the so-called budget and final account law?" ”

Li Ding hurriedly replied: "Back to Your Majesty, the students think that at the beginning of each year, the imperial court should let each yamen start to make their own budgets, and then hand them over to the imperial court for review and filing, according to the budget appropriation after the audit, at the end of the year, and then make the final accounts, with the budget as the standard, for auditing, especially the overspending part, it is necessary to focus on the audit, and the yamen at all levels in various places can handle it according to this, the budget at the beginning of the year, and the final accounts at the end of the year." In this way, the planning of the expenditure is ensured, and the reasonable arrangement of the imperial court funds is also ensured. ”

Zhao Zhen nodded: "Yes, the method is a good way, but it requires countless manpower and material resources to operate, and there must be an audit yamen to work full-time on this matter, but if it can really save a lot of money for the imperial court, it will be cost-effective to use it on this new yamen." Well, this matter is still being discussed, so you can step back. ”

That's it? Li Ding couldn't believe it, while retreating, he was still out of the atmosphere, is the palace test so simple?

Gan Qi also nodded again and again when he heard this, according to this rhythm, Gan Qi didn't have to worry too much, and then there were seven people such as Cai Qu, so it shouldn't be a big problem.

The emperor asked questions one by one, some people asked a few more words, and the person was sweating profusely, and some people asked a few fewer questions, and they answered in one sentence, which satisfied the emperor.

Gan Qi was bored, because it had never been his turn, and he had not heard anything refreshing in the court.

So Gan Qi was so bored, so bored that he even yawned, and looked everywhere with his eyes, looking at the plaque above Renzong's head, in gilded letters: Rende Dalong.

Look at the little eunuch next to Zhao Zhen, Li Xian, this guy will be a character in the future.

Looking at the candidates around, they also saw Cheng Yi, and they saw Cheng Yi also looking at him, with disdain on his face.

Gan Qi looked himself up and down, wanting to see what made Cheng Yi look disdainful.

Cheng Yi saw Gan Qi looking at him, so he tilted his head and muttered: "I don't know etiquette, I have no king and no father." ”

Why is Gan Qi fatherless again? That was naturally the reason why Gan Qi raised his eyes and looked around, not only looking directly at the emperor, but also looking up to see what was above the emperor, and even looking up to see the roof of the main hall. Where is there such an impolite person who reads? In front of the Son of Heaven, how can he behave like this?

One by one, Gan Qi became more and more bored, looking up at the roof, and the carved beams and paintings on the roof were really beautiful. The Chinese's architectural craftsmanship and painting art are all on it.

"Luoyang Cheng Yi Cheng Zheng, come forward to answer."

This voice brought back Gan Qi's appreciation of architecture and painting art, Cheng Yi was extraordinary, at least not the kind of nervous sweating appearance, a few steps out of the crowd, stepped forward to greet and ask.

Zhao Zhen began to ask: "You said that the crux of the matter is that the court is bloated, let's talk about it." ”

"Returning to Your Majesty, what the students said is that the powers and responsibilities of the yamen in various places are not clear, not only the rights and responsibilities are not clear to each other, but there are often overlapping places. For example, between the yamen of the state capital and the transfer yamen, the division of power and position is often not clear, resulting in the yamen competing with each other for good things and passing the buck to each other for bad things. For example, in the border towns, many state capitals have both the economic and strategic envoys and the prefect yamen, and the powers and positions are extremely overlapping. If the division of many functions and powers can be clearer, then the waste of manpower can be avoided, which can save a lot of money and solve some of the floating expenses. ”

I have to say that Cheng Yi's words have a little truth. Renzong also nodded again and again when he heard this, but asked rhetorically: "The Yamen is mostly a place with heavy troops, and it is also a place where there are many battles in border towns. This is not a clash of powers, it is a wartime expedient measure. If there is no transfer envoy yamen, a landlord is in the hands of the military array with money and grain, how to supervise it? ”

The Song Dynasty was so talented, on the one hand, the civil officials were dominant, whether in the court or in the locality, they were all civil officials, and the warriors were all followers. But what if something goes wrong with the civil officials? Therefore, it is necessary to divide the power of the civilian officials and manage the military formation, but the matter of money and grain dispatch is divided again. However, this naturally leads to bloated institutions.

So Cheng Yi only saw one of them, but didn't see the deep things.

Cheng Yi was a little embarrassed, but he said: "Back to Your Majesty, the yamen officials are also a heavy expense, clarify their powers, and they can also raise some fewer people, so they can also reduce the cost." ”

Zhao Zhen sighed, sometimes this kind of administrative method that no one can talk about counting, this is a means of precaution to rule the world with scholars, for Zhao Zhen, this is the means of the emperor's majesty, not to mention avoiding any chaos, but at least to avoid major bullying.

Zhao Zhen replied: "Yamen officials, how many more people and a few fewer people, how much money can be saved a year?" That's all, that's all, you can go down. To be able to think about this level is already good, beyond many people. ”

Cheng Yi was also a little surprised, he never thought that he had written such a reasonable and well-founded thing, and it was not taken seriously by the emperor.

Cheng Yi returned to his original position with disappointment. Even if he was praised by the emperor at the end, Cheng Yi was still disappointed, because Cheng Yi originally thought that he was going to shine today.

Cheng Yi also began to do nothing, but he didn't dare to look around like Gan Qi, and looked up at the roof. So he looked at Gan Qi from time to time, waiting for Gan Qi to come forward and see what Gan Qi could say.

One by one, Renzong seems to be deliberately controlling the speed and rhythm, never wasting a little time.

A simple meal was arranged at noon, and Renzong ate the same as these candidates, which moved many candidates.

After eating, he did not rest, and continued the temple examination.

In the middle of the afternoon, more than 100 people were almost interviewed.

Gan Qi waited from morning to night, he had been waiting for almost a day, and at this time he was still a little happy in his heart, could it be that the emperor deliberately left himself to the end?

The last one to appear is the finale. Thinking of this, Gan Qi also laughed.

It's just that I didn't expect that when so many people had been interviewed, the emperor suddenly got up and said: "Today's palace test, that's the end of it, please go back." ”

Finished?

Gan Qi was stunned, I haven't had an interview yet? Why did you forget me?

Several examiners approached the emperor and whispered for a moment. Then he turned back to the crowd and said, "Stand down." ”

Retreat, Gan Qi was stunned while retreating, I haven't had an interview yet? Don't you give you the opportunity to interview?

There is another person who is also stunned, that is, Cheng Yi, who has been paying attention to this Gan Qi, why didn't Gan Qi have an interview?

Is it that the emperor doesn't look down on Ganch? Or did the Emperor forget about Ganchi?

Cheng Yi slowly went out with questions. Is it so casual? Can you forget about the candidates?

Gan Qi kept thinking in his head, could it be that if he played it right in the study two days ago, it would be an interview?

It should be like this, two days ago, Gan Qi had already said everything that should be said, and he also said that the emperor was tempted. This interview is actually done?

"Forget it, let him go......" Gan Qi didn't bother to think about it, and strode towards the palace gate.

returned to the Northern Song Dynasty to be a big man

returned to the Northern Song Dynasty to be a big man