Li Guolou's family was a master of Beijing, and because he had an official position, he did not live in the tribute courtyard like other jinshi, but rushed to Xihuamen alone, waiting to enter the Forbidden City with 279 jinshi to be an important examination paper in his life.

The sky is not yet transparent, Li Guolou took out his pocket watch and looked at the time, it was not five o'clock, standing here on the open terrain, the morning breeze came from the north of the sea, cool and wet cold, blowing a shiver on the body, originally nervous and nervous, dissipated invisibly, not late, other Jinshi did not arrive, a person stood alone in front of the wall to look at the palace gate, the light corridors inside were criss-crossed, the palace buildings were like a paper-cut pasted above the white sky, along the north and south walls of the yellow palace wall are also high hanging palace lights, and there is a military academy standing below, one by one does not move, quite like the mausoleum tomb road on both sides of the standing Weng Zhong, the west is an open square, the open space is hazy, the distant residential houses are too far away to see clearly, but the northwest direction of the water color is connected into a line, the water color is sparkling and fluctuating, the swaying waves are full of willow shadows, graceful swinging willow branches, the posture is full of seductiveness.

Further north is a peach orchard, which is invisible, but it is when the peach blossoms are in full bloom, the rich floral fragrance is swept over with the wind, the cool and sweet fragrance is very pleasant, Li Guolou took a deep breath, the refreshing fragrance makes people feel refreshed, originally groggy and dull, suddenly sober and calm, he couldn't help but squint his eyes slightly, wanting to see through a trace of haze in the morning light.

The eight good battalion military academy opened the huge lock of the palace gate, slowly opened the palace gate, and the pleasing movements made Li Guolou not pay attention to the neat arrangement of the brigade jinshi from far to near, the red light of the morning sun printed Li Guolou's tall figure, a rectangular face, and a golden glow between his eyebrows, that Fu Ruo smiled like a smile, and he had already thought of the military academy's fancy and beautiful actions, but the army was vulnerable, which made people sigh.

"Li Guolou, line up at the back of the line." Teacher Mao Changxi shouted loudly, he had never seen such a determined person, but he actually watched the military academy doing exercises at the palace gate, and he was fascinated.

"It's the teacher." Li Guolou's heart froze, how could he be distracted at this time, and hurriedly ran to the back of the two columns.

Standing in front of the line, the chief examiner Li Hongzao brushed his beard, with a smile on his face, Li Guolou is a different person, maverick, he came to Xihuamen by himself, and the best image stood behind the team, he also believed that Emperor Tongzhi could notice Li Guolou.

As an imperial teacher, in addition to teaching the children of the emperor Tongzhi Emperor and other imperial relatives to read, Li Hongzao as an imperial teacher is a lecture in the Hanlin Academy, and being the chief examiner of the scientific examination is a grace and a fat shortage.

As 280 Jinshi disciples, they all have to come to the door to apprentice, thank their teacher Li Hongzao for winning them, and send a ceremony to worship the teacher, the so-called overnight rich, Jinshi is so, the chief examiner Li Hongzao is the same, this subject of 280 Jinshi, is Li Hongzao's life capital, these students are promoted, New Year's Eve, and even passing by Li Hongzao's hometown, they have to visit teachers and teachers, so those students in the Hanlin Academy, their lifelong dream is to be the chief examiner of the scientific examination or retreat, and the master is enough.

Li Hongzao is the chief examiner of the scientific examination, and it is also the Tongzhi Emperor who wants to use him, so that he can make enough political capital, and there are a group of disciples who obey his words, which is a symbol of Li Hongzao's entry into the court, and it is also the beginning of the Tongzhi Emperor to take power alone.

There is a big advantage after walking the team, no one will pay attention, Li Guolou is not like the people in front of him, he bowed his head one by one, looked at the floor tiles and walked, and even did not dare to breathe, but looked left and right, raised his eyes to look at the scenery in the palace, and stared at him angrily for the eunuchs and palace maids standing on the side of the road, Li Guolou did not care, and treated his subordinates with a kind of official demeanor, nodding slightly, so that those eunuchs and palace maids could see that he was an official.

Visiting the emperor's etiquette, more than 200 Jinshi have studied in the Gongyuan, come to the Qianqing Palace, arrange in order, Li Guolou is still in the back, the front is all black pressure on people's heads, write articles and cases, has not yet been put out, there is only a dragon chair in the empty hall.

There is a curtain hanging on the right side of the dragon chair, the curtain of the queen mother of the two palaces has not been removed, symbolizing that the empress dowager Ci'an of the East Palace and the Empress Dowager Cixi of the West Palace are not at ease with the crown ceremony of the Tongzhi Emperor Zaichun, and the emperor is good at the back of the pass, a group of high-ranking officials wearing court clothes are arranged in turn, standing on both sides of the hall respectively, the weather is solemn and silent.

The chime rang, melodious, and sounded for the third time, and the male duck's voice rang: "The East Palace Niangniang has arrived, the West Palace Niangniang has arrived, the emperor has arrived, and the secretaries are kneeling to greet them!" ”

The face is childish, wearing a dragon robe embroidered with nine golden dragons, twelve eastern pearls hanging around his neck, and wearing a satin crown on his head Emperor Tongzhi Zaichun, first deacons to invite the queen mother of the two palaces to sit down, and then sit on the dragon chair.

After three bows and nine bows, Zaichun said to the more than 200 Jinshi who were still kneeling on the ground: "Zhong Aiqing is the talent of the pillars of the country, and the country's opening of the department is to select you, today you come to the Qianqing Palace, don't be flustered, you should be like when you were studying in the Gongyuan, write the article calmly, and take out the real level, I place great hopes on your two hundred and eighty Jinshi, the future of the Great Qing Kingdom will be on you, I think you have worked hard for more than ten years, and you are a little nervous when you come to the Forbidden City for the first time, don't be afraid, take the test to the real level." ······”

From beginning to end, Li Guolou didn't have a chance to look up to see what the Tongzhi Emperor looked like, and after thanking him, Li Hongzao said another word of encouragement, and then a group of eunuchs put on two hundred and eighty tables, Li Guolou was led by a eunuch from the back row to the left side of the front row to stand next to the seat, and the others were also disrupted, no longer arranged according to their height, there was a bamboo curtain on the front high steps, and the queen mother of the two palaces sat behind the curtain.

Behind the curtain, the Empress Dowager Cixi looked at Li Guolou with her eyes and nose, and couldn't help but smile slightly, it was really like her close little eunuch Xiao Dezhang, when she thought of Li Lianying telling her that Li Guolou and Xiao Dezhang had met for the first time, Cixi immediately raised her hand and said in a low voice: "Sister, look at that person, it doesn't look like Xiao Dezhang, that is the grandson of Li Zhongtang, who is from Li Zhongtang's grandfather's lineage, named Li Guolou!" ”

Empress Dowager Ci'an looked at Li Guolou, and then glanced at Xiao Dezhang standing next to Empress Dowager Cixi, couldn't help but be happy, nodded and said: "It's really similar, but the skeleton is a little bigger, and Li Guolou ranks a lot!" ”

Standing behind the Empress Dowager Cixi, Xiao Dezhang's expression did not change, and his heart had already knocked over the five-flavor bottle, knowing that their hands and feet were not in vain, Li Guolou was commented on by the two Empress Dowagers, and his worth rose immediately, and the difference between the flowers and the difference of eight thousand taels of silver was about to arrive.

Before this palace test, in fact, more than 200 Jinshi already had a third-class ranking, which had almost been set, depending on whether the Tongzhi Emperor had any objections, and the general emperor had to change a few rankings slightly, and some people changed their fate because of their names or appearances.

Enter the first three jinshi to wait for a while is the Forbidden City roll call, the hairpin in the imperial garden is inserted on the official hat, the Qionglin banquet is drunk, the hundred officials celebrate, by dozens of guards, eunuchs from the Qianqing Palace outside the gate began to shout the name of the first class together, one by one sentry and then shouted down, until the Chang'an Street, the crowd of spectators when the official parade street, the glory of the past and present, is at this moment, the glory of the civil official competition and the military attache is the "first class" in the examination.

Cixi said: "Little Lizi, bring Li Guolou's exam papers to us!" ”

Cixi has a strong eight-strand literary foundation, can write the national language, in the past in the name of the Tongzhi Emperor promulgated the holy decree, many are from the hands of the Empress Dowager Cixi, now the son Zaichun has grown up, Cixi no longer writes the national language, but habitually in power, for the country to take the distinction of the people, to the appearance of the person, but also to this person to hold the position, Cixi first to look at Li Guolou article, and Li Hongzao Li Guolou arranged which one, in the end, how many.

"Pierce." Li Lianying bowed and retreated, and from Li Hongzao, took Li Guolou's exam papers and other top two candidates' exam papers, these thirty-three candidates' exam papers, the two queen mothers have to read them, as for the top three candidates' exam papers, the two queen mothers will only draw the papers.

Similarly, Tongzhi Emperor Zaichun also sat on the dragon chair to read the candidates' examination papers, and the Jinshi in the hall wrote an eight-strand essay of three or four hundred words, and the candidates wrote slowly, and they would always be written in one morning.

The Empress Dowager Cixi first took a look at the roster, Li Guolou ranked, was taken by Li Hongzao to the twenty-ninth place, and looked at Li Guolou writing articles, the font belongs to the Juanxiu type, it is passable, she is not interested in filling in the blanks in front of her, the eight-strand essay is the only standard for her to see, Li Guolou's eight-strand essay is the chief examiner Li Hongzao's proud work, and suddenly entered the eyes of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and nodded slightly with approval.

"Sister, take a look." The Empress Dowager Cixi handed Li Guolou's exam paper to the Empress Dowager Ci'an.

At this time, the Empress Dowager Cixi was by no means arbitrary as later generations said, she had a good relationship with the Empress Dowager Ci'an, the two palaces coexisted peacefully, and then the Empress Dowager Ci'an did not like the political power of the court, nor did she have political ambitions, and the decision-making of the court was subject to the Empress Dowager Cixi's ideas, and the Empress Dowager Cixi did not establish absolute authority.

Cixi hopes that her son Zaichun can be dictatorial and handle the government on her own as soon as possible, she does not have the ambition of Wu Zetian, nor does she have ruthless methods, she used beauty to seduce Prince Gong Yixun, seize power from the hands of the eight kings, and did not start killing, she only wants the Qing Dynasty for thousands of generations, and she can help her son Zaichun complete the revival of the Qing Dynasty, so she has a high interest in the country, discovers talents, promotes talents, and the importance of the country is self-evident, when the Empress Dowager Cixi saw Li Guolou's article, she couldn't help but be full of joy.

The Empress Dowager Ci'an did not have the literary brilliance of the Empress Dowager Cixi, but the quality of the Bagu essay could also be seen, and after reading it, she said: "Well, sister, that Li Guolou writes well, he has this level at a young age, I heard that he has stayed abroad, it's rare!" ”

Empress Dowager Cixi frowned slightly, and said: "Oh, why doesn't the palace know, little Lizi, bring the Li Guolou file to the palace to see!" ”

The Empress Dowager Ci'an had no intention of continuing to read other Jinshi articles, the focus was on Li Hongzao's recommendation of the first three people to take the exam, among which was Lu Runzhen's exam paper.

Li Lianying is a smart person, he just told the Empress Dowager Cixi about Li Guolou and Xiaodezhang as a joke, how dare he tell Li Guolou's resume, just click on it, as for the Empress Dowager Ci'an knows about Li Guolou, it is the eunuch Zhang Satisfaction of the East Palace who is doing tricks, so as not to show the mountain dew, and not let the two queen dowagers find out how stupid they are, and they have become a tool for the eunuchs around them.

Other Jinshi only thought of buying the examiner, being admitted to the Jinshi, using their brains to go to the Qianqing Palace, wanting to squeeze into the top three of the first class, calculating the emperor and the queen mother of the two palaces, there is only one Li Guolou in the world.

After reading Li Guolou's resume, the Empress Dowager Cixi already had an idea in her heart, but her face was silent, and she put Li Guolou's exam papers aside, and did not put them back to the original second-class 29th place.

A group of eunuchs who don't look good have already cultivated their ability to be happy, angry, sad and happy like a play, and they are secretly excited, what kind of person is the master, will they still know if they are slaves, and they are waiting for them to divide up,