Lao Zhu asked Ma Du to be the deputy chief examiner, and the chief examiner could only be more awesome, except for his good nephew who was both civil and military, there was no better candidate.

The imperial examination is much more interesting than the college entrance examination in later generations, and the candidates enter the venue at dawn, not only with pen, ink, paper and inkstone, but also with bedding, charcoal, pots and pans, dry food and raw rice, because they have to live here for three days.

This is still short, and later changed to the eight shares of the test to become a custom test of three days each, regardless of the heat and winter, you have to stay up for nine days and six nights in prison, because of the cold and starvation of the disease in the examination room more people, it can be seen that the glory of this cross-horse street is not so easy to get.

The examiner has to accompany the examiner when he is imprisoned in the pigeon cage, but with Li Wenzhong, a shrewd and capable person, Ma Du is naturally happy to be the shopkeeper.

No one cheated, no one died suddenly, and there was no water, everything went very smoothly, and Ma Du, who had eaten and slept for three days, was dragged down from the bed by Li Wenzhong to mark the test papers.

Ma Du's brain will only change the test papers for 3,000 people, not to mention that most of them are white papers, and he will only appear when those markers have finished reviewing the test papers, and he will only appear when he encounters two situations where the scriptures and righteous policies are comparable, and it doesn't take much effort.

The results came out a little surprisingly, six of the top ten are from the academy, and the other four are from the Guozijian, although the lifters from other places are on the list, most of them are ranked low, and there is an obvious level gap in the level of the article.

Such a result is actually reasonable, well-fed and warmly clothed, no need to draw porridge and study hard; A bunch of famous teachers and Confucians are around, and they can answer questions at any time; There is no need to borrow books and copy books in the library; Whether it is in the Guozijian or the academy, there are people with whips or wooden sticks to force you to study.

The key is that you can also go to the yamen from time to time to practice, and the vision literacy is by no means compared with those ordinary students from other provinces, which is also one of the important reasons why Lao Zhu concentrated all the scholars in Yingtian, and now it seems that the effect is quite good.

Ma Du thought that the examination was over like this, and the palace examination was Lao Zhu's business, but as soon as the results of the examination were posted, there was a problem, and the provincial examiners thought that the examiner was unfair and cheated in tandem with the academy and the Guozijian.

The two sentences of complaining were originally nothing, but this group of people who didn't know whether they were alive or dead actually played a demonstration, crying and crying from the Gongyuan to the Confucian Temple to find Kong Lao Er and cry, isn't this a slap in the face of Lao Zhu, thinking that he is one of those monarchs of the Song Dynasty who cherish their reputation.

Li Wenzhong was shocked when he heard this, he didn't know his own uncle, and it was best to save face, I was afraid that Jinyiwei would kill Confucius Temple soon, and once there was bloodshed, it would be a great blow to the people's hearts. He asked Ma Du to go to the palace to persuade Lao Zhu, and he went to the Confucian Temple to disperse those students.

Lao Zhu is so easy to persuade, Li Wenzhong has found himself a light job, Ma Du entered the palace hard, and when he arrived at the Jinshen Palace, he heard Yuansheng say that Lao Zhu had just laid down in the afternoon and rested, and according to his usual habits, he had to sleep for about half an hour.

Ma Du let out a long breath at this time, hoping that when Lao Zhu woke up, Li Wenzhong had already cleaned up those out-of-town moves.

"Father-in-law Yuansheng, is the emperor's temper okay lately?"

Yuan Sheng's eyes rolled, "It's okay, I learned to ride a bicycle with my mother on a whim yesterday, and I don't have to worry about hitting the wall." ”

Ma Du was outside and whispered to Yuansheng, and he didn't see Jinyiwei or other officials asking to see him, so he knew that Li Wenzhong was in control of the situation, but this kind of thing couldn't be hidden, so he had to advise Lao Zhu a few words so as not to settle accounts after the autumn.

In less than half an hour, I heard Lao Zhu shouting in the hall: "Yuansheng, who are you talking to outside, hurry up and pour me a cup of tea." ”

Yuan Sheng hurriedly pushed the door in, Ma Du followed, only to see Lao Zhu getting up from the bed to get dressed, Yuan Sheng hurriedly went over to serve, and a little eunuch had already brought up the hot tea that was ready at any time.

Ma Du snatched the tea tray and brought it to Lao Zhu, "Your Majesty, please use tea." ”

Lao Zhu smiled playfully, took the tea bowl and sat on the chair, "Today's fart is like this, isn't there some kind of mess in the imperial court, I remember that today is the day of the list." ”

"Your Majesty is wise, it is true that there is a mess, but Siben has already dealt with it, and there should be no major incident."

"It shouldn't be that the examiner is biased in favor of the academy and the country, and he is dissatisfied."

Ma Du was surprised, "Your Majesty already knows?" ”

"When I saw the list last night, I knew that I would get a basket today, and that would be the result that anyone would think was boring. It's just that I didn't expect them to dare to make trouble at the feet of the Son of Heaven and tell me what tricks they played. ”

didn't expect Lao Zhu to be so reasonable, Ma Du said bluntly: "These people from other provinces went to the Confucian Temple to cry. ”

Lao Zhu's face turned dark when he heard this, and he gritted his teeth and said: "This group of bastards has no ability by themselves, and they still have the face to cry in the Confucian Temple, and Kong Lao Er is panicking for them." ”

"Uh...... Weichen also thinks so, there is no need for His Majesty to worry about a group of incompetent and sour Confucians, it is better to get rid of their reputation and go home. ”

"Nonsense, who will make me an official after rejecting their reputation, and there are still vacancies in officials everywhere."

Hearing Lao Zhu say this, Ma Du's heart was put into his stomach, and those troublemakers escaped the catastrophe.

While the two were talking, Li Wenzhong walked in quickly, and when he arrived at Lao Zhu, he was about to kowtow, Lao Zhu flicked his hand and asked directly: "How is the matter handled?" ”

"The students have all dispersed, and they have gone back to the inn."

"Hmph, it's rare that you can persuade this group of sour and smelly readers, and they can be regarded as acquaintances."

Li Wenzhong smiled bitterly, "It wasn't Weichen who persuaded him to leave, it was a student named Xie Jin in the academy." ”

"Xie Jin?" Ma Du couldn't help frowning, "He still has such a great ability?" ”

Xie Jin is worthy of being a prodigy, he only stayed in elementary school for one year before graduating, his pride was not as destroyed as Ma Du expected, and his arrogance was especially better than before after being admitted to the academy with the best grades.

Xie Jin's study is not considered hard, but his competitive spirit is very strong. There are many students in the academy who have better grades than him, but he is also older, but he does not care about the conditions and has to compete with others, and he has studied very hard in the past two years, which can be described as rapid progress, and he knows that the imperial court has to sign up for this year's big exam despite the dissuasion of gentlemen. is not only on the list, but also squeezed into the top ten, and I don't know if Lao Zhu will let a thirteen-year-old baby be a jinshi.

"The group of people from other provinces went to the Confucian Temple to cry, even if the others disdained it, no one paid attention, only the young student named Xie Jin stepped forward to scold, and even competed in the face of the outnumbered people, and later other students from the academy and Guozijian also joined the battle group, and the result can be imagined."

"So those sour Confucians hid their faces and fled, they finally had some cheekiness, this academy student named Xie Jin really dared to act, if he did well in the palace exam, I would appoint him to be the champion of the new department."

Ma Du and Li Wenzhong couldn't help but look at each other and laugh when they heard this.

Lao Zhu glanced at the two of them, "Is there any problem?" ”

Ma Du arched his hand and smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, he doesn't dare to act, he is doing nonsense." Xie Jin is only thirteen years old this year, he is quite conceited and arrogant, and his heart is undecided and impulsive. ”

"Only thirteen?! This is a child prodigy! Lao Zhu twisted his beard and said with a smile: "It is really a joke to order a hairy baby for the first time in the exam, if he is a proud little baby, if he is a jinshi, won't the tail go to heaven, I will depose him during the palace examination, and then put it around me after a few years to train, Xuanzhong, you must remember to remind me, lest I forget." ”

Lao Zhu and the fate of Jinjin are destined, history has changed beyond recognition, and the two of them can still get on the line and continue the "father-son willingness".

"Wechen wrote it down, if there is nothing to do, Wechen will go home!"

"What's the hurry! I have something important to tell you! Lao Zhu reached out and nodded to the side of the bed, "Yuan Sheng took the scroll and showed it to the two of them." ”

Yuan Sheng took the scroll and held it in front of Ma Du and Li Wenzhong, Li Wenzhong stretched out his hand to take it but did not open it, because he knew very well the content inside, this was the list he had just sent to Lao Zhu yesterday, "Your Majesty, is there any problem with this list?" ”

"It's a shame that you're the main examiner.,There's a big problem with this list.,I only found out this morning.,If you found the problem last night, I wouldn't let you post it.。

"Please also make it clear to Your Majesty!"

"I couldn't understand that there is not a single northerner on this list, all of them are southerners."

Li Wenzhong replied: "This is not surprising, since the beginning of the fifth dynasty, the land of Yanyun fell into the hands of the Khitans, and later the Jin State occupied the entire Central Plains, and then the Mongols went south, and the north was ravaged by the Hu people for three or four hundred years, Wenhua has long withered, and it will take decades to recover before it can be effective." ”

"Confused, what I want is not Wenhua but Jiangshan! The imperial court opened a branch to take scholars, all southerners, what do you make northerners think in their hearts, they still think that they are raised by their stepmothers, how stable people's hearts are not attached to the country. This year's imperial examination was targeted because of the academy and Guozijian, but next year, the year after next, wouldn't it be that northerners were not recruited for decades! ”

"This, this ......" Li Wenzhong was speechless for a while, not knowing how to answer.

"I'm asking you to figure out a way, don't squeak and just say something directly."

"Weichen thinks it's better to move some scholars from the south to the north, and at the same time let the household department allocate more silver taels to set up more Mongolian schools in the north, or the literary style in the north will flourish in less than 20 years."

Lao Zhu nodded and said, "I want to go with me, and ask the ministers for advice tomorrow morning." What are you laughing at? Do you think my idea doesn't work? ”

Ma Du nodded hurriedly, "Your Majesty's idea is naturally doable, but it's just a little stupid." ”

"Hmph, you're not stupid to listen to it."

"It's as simple as it gets, the emperor just needs to move his mouth to let the imperial examination be divided into the north and south lists and admit officers!"

To put it bluntly, the north-south list is the zoning line of the college entrance examination in later generations, of course, this is by no means a fair examination system, but Lao Zhu has to use such a means if he wants to win the hearts of the northerners and suppress the southern Confucianism.

In history, in order to appease the grievances of the northern scholars, Lao Zhu personally concocted the "North and South List Case", and the chief examiner Liu Sanwu sat on the side of the crime, of course, this Liu Bachelor was wronged, but in Lao Zhu's eyes, the country is the most important, and the courtiers can be betrayed at any time.

Lao Zhu held Ma Du's head and looked left and right as before, "Your head is different from ours, and the seemingly thorny problem is a matter of one sentence when it comes to you." I don't have to discuss with the officials, I'll do it next year. ”

Ma Du broke free from Lao Zhu's clutches, "If it's okay, Weichen will go home." ”

"What's the hurry, I can't learn how to ride a bicycle recently, you taught me to go back, Yuansheng hurriedly brought the car!"

It's not strange that Lao Zhu can't learn a bicycle, this is a bicycle and not a horse, the two thighs and buttocks are constantly rising and falling, and it's strange to be able to maintain balance. In the square in front of the Fengtian Palace, Lao Zhu staggered on his pedals, and urged Ma Du from time to time, "Xuanzhong, you push faster!" ”

This scene is very familiar, and Ma Du always feels like the eunuch who pushed Pu Yi's cart in the movie......