Wan An saw that Zhao Yan's face was different, and knew that Zhao Yan was thinking too much, so he smiled and said with a smile at this time: "Although the foolish brother has known Youzhi for a short time, he knows his personality and upright temperament, what do you say, Brother Zhao Xian should not go to his heart." ”

Liu Jue also said: "Yes, I have a similar temperament with Brother You, and we hit it off at first sight, but we are straightforward, and sometimes a few words inexplicably offend others, Brother Zhao Xian, don't care." ”

Liu Ji also came back to his senses at this time, and said embarrassedly: "Brother Xian, the foolish brother said the wrong thing, forgive me, forgive me." ”

Zhao Yan was naturally not so stingy, and revealed the matter in a few words, and then chatted with everyone for a few words, and Yin Min asked on the side: "Brother Zhao Xian is the same age as Brother Zhao Xian, I don't know if Brother Zhao Xian has a table?" ”

Zhao Yan's face darkened, he was most annoyed by others asking about his words, but it was not good, so he had to smile and said: "The little brother is beautiful, and the words are given by Han Fuzun of Zhending Mansion, but the little brother forgot to say it." ”

Scholars all want to save face, and naturally they will not speak as straightforwardly as the crops who are shaving in the field, and only after drinking half of the second pot of tea did Zhao Yan figure out why several future important ministers of the country got together.

In fact, it is very simple, the four of them lived in the same inn, and Wan An and Liu Ji both love to make friends, come and go, under the series of each other, the four of them can be regarded as friends, after the exam, several people felt that it was boring to nest in the inn, so they went out to wander together, and happened to meet Zhao Yan and the two.

Compared with Wan An, who has rich experience and a lively mind, Liu Ji and Liu Jue at this time are much younger, and the two are the same as most of the young students at the moment, they have the world in their hearts, they are determined to be lofty, they are very confident in their talents, and they have some inexplicable arrogance in their words and deeds, but they will not make people feel disgusted, but sometimes they give people a feeling of childishness.

As for Yin Min, Zhao Yan doesn't know much about him, and now that he looks at it, he just thinks that this person is a little wooden, doesn't talk much, and seems to be more stable, but as for his temperament, he doesn't know what his heart is.

For officials who take the main examination, the same examination, the promotion, and the invigilator, after the test papers are collected, a small half of the entire examination is completed, and the remaining half is the judgment papers, the final papers, and the lists.

Cao Nai's word Wan Zhong, is a native of Ningjin in the north of the Zhili, Xuande of the Ming Dynasty Xuande eight years of the champion of the ugly department, the first grant of revision, tired officials to the Ministry of Zuo Shilang and Hanlin bachelor, orthodox five years by the university scholar Yang Rong, Yang Shiqi recommended, into the Wenyuan Pavilion, participate in the pre-aircraft service, orthodox eleven years in July for the cabinet first assistant so far, its people are just inside and outside, accessible to the political system, for the government is honest, since Yang Rong, Yang Shiqi, Yang Pu passed away in turn, the entire cabinet now only he and Gao Gu two cabinet ministers, if you meet Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youzhi like the Ming Jun reign, The two of them can naturally show their ambitions by taking advantage of no one on the left and right to restrain them, but Zhu Qizhen is not Zhu Youji, and there is a powerful eunuch Wang Zhen by Zhu Qizhen's side.

There is an emperor who endorses himself, Wang Zhen is becoming more and more abused in power, it can be said that "the prince Tianxian, all out of his mouth, life and death, let himself love and hate", exclude dissidents, frame loyalty, and suppress hundreds of officials, which are all trivial, and he even deducted the salary of the border guards, causing the border defense to become increasingly empty, otherwise the northern Wara will not become bigger and bigger, and then rampant.

Although the emperor is mediocre, trusts the traitor, and is unable to support himself, he can only watch the government and be powerless, but Cao Nai also has his own insistence.

Cao Nai's view of the imperial examination is very clear, the reason why the imperial examination makes many scholars rush to it, there are two reasons, one of which can be summarized as 'the court is Tian Shelang, and the evening is the Tianzi Hall', 'learn literature and martial arts, Goods and the emperor's two sentences, the second is because of fairness and justice, the people do not suffer from widowhood and unevenness, the era of the family lord monopolizing the government and government no longer exists, the imperial examination system is indispensable, it is precisely because the imperial examination gives the children of the poor family more opportunities, the power in the hands of the family lord is taken out little by little, and then feed back to the imperial court, strengthen the centralization, there is now a relatively relaxed social environment, if Wang Zhen in the imperial examination again, Cao Nai felt ashamed of the sages of the past dynasties, so this time he will try to recommend himself, and secretly discuss with Gao Gu, so people recommend Zhang Yi, the old Cheng serious bachelor of waiting, as the deputy chief examiner, and the rest of the same examiners are mostly officials favored by Cao Nai and Zhang Yi.

In the Gongyuan, the examination papers after being named, transcribed and proofread are being read and pre-selected by 16 fellow examiners, and the pre-selected examination papers are sent to the chief examiner to review and draw up the rankings, which are written as a "draft list". After the draft list is drafted, it will be presided over by the chief examiner and the official of the Ministry of Rites, and the "Zhu Juan" and the candidate's "this volume" will be "numbered".

Cao Nai and Zhang Yi are inspecting each room separately to supervise the examiners to mark the papers. Zhang Yizi Shiqian, No. Xuanan, should be Tianfu Jiangning people, seven years older than Cao Nai, Yongle thirteen years of Jinshi, by Shu Jishi awarded the middle scholar, changed the Dali commentary, revised the "Xuanzong Record", the book was completed, the revision was written, his people were erudite and strong, poetry and writing were immediately accomplished, and Sanyang (Yang Rong, Yang Shiqi, Yang Pu) attached great importance to it, and then entered the bachelor's degree, according to the convention, if nothing else, he would enter the cabinet and Cao Nai's companion after trying, which is also one of Cao Nai's secret recommendations for Zhang Yi as the deputy chief examiner, After all, a good man and three gangs, his words are not rough, and if he wants to set things right, it is difficult for him to succeed alone.

"Zhang Shi read, and look at this article." Yao Kui's eyes were bloodshot, and he stopped Zhang Yi, who was patrolling, and handed him a stack of test papers in his hand.

Zhang Yi and Yao Kui knew each other, but it was not appropriate to be too intimate verbally at this time, he took the test paper when he heard this, and did not look at the test paper first, but said with a smile: "Yao gives things, you can't learn less than me, what is the difference in this paper that makes you unable to decide?" ”

Yao Kui is a native of Tonglu, Yanzhou Mansion, upright and talented, is the first orthodox seven-year jinshi, and then moved to the department to give things, Chen Shizheng eight things, deeply praised by Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, more adopted, at this time is only in his thirties, but because of the 'Kedi has learned' and served as the same examiner for the examination, he listened to Zhang Yi's question, stretched out his hand and hammered the back of the hammer, and said while stretching his muscles and bones: "This article is clear but not thin, new but not sharp, novel ideas, can be expected to Yu Xin's back." ”

"Oh?" Zhang Yi was slightly surprised, Yu Xin naturally knew who it was, that was the poetry of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty once evaluated Yu Xin's poems with 'fresh and old', Yao Kui commented on this article, Zhang Yi couldn't help but be curious.

The people are rich from below, and the king is rich from above. The wealth of the king is hidden from the people; If the people are rich, how can you be poor alone? If it is said that the monarch and the people are one, it is necessary to mourn the public......

The title of this article is 'The People's Foot, the Gentleman and the Insufficiency', Zhang Yi is familiar with this, and after he finished reading this article, he was silent for a moment before he said: "This article is far-reaching, thought-provoking, and it is a rare good article, but this word...... can only be regarded as the middle and lower, if you look at it from the old man's point of view, you can be among the top 20 in this examination, but I don't know who is the person who did this article. ”

At this time, the test paper has been named, and no one knows the name of the candidate, Yao Kui smiled when he heard this: "Xiaguan has already speculated about this, this person has a sense of hard work, but he has a solid pen, quite old, not like a young man's handwriting, Xiaguan speculated that this person should be between thirty and forty years old." ”

Zhang Yi shook his head and quite agreed with Yao Kui's speculation, but then he raised his eyebrows and said: "You can come up with such a method if you are lazy and slippery, and it is not easy for Yao to do things." ”

Yao Kui chuckled, he is now in charge of grading, he can only rest for three hours a day, and he is already tired after reading the papers for more than half a day today, and he happened to see a good article, and he shouted to Zhang Yi as soon as he had an idea, and stretched a few lazy waists with the help of speaking, relieving some fatigue.

On 17 February, Cao Nai sat in the middle of the lobby with Hu Hu, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Zhang Yi, the deputy chief examiner, the same examiners and many auxiliary officials, and the final ranking of today's examination will be determined, and then a copy will be sent to the cabinet, and the list will be released on the second day.

Cao Nai and Hu Hu looked at the 'grass list' pre-selected by the sixteen fellow examiners in order, and after looking at it for a long time, they didn't see any problems, so they said, "That's right." ”

After the draft list is drafted, the chief examiner and the official of the Ministry of Rites will preside over the "Zhu Juan" and the candidate's "This Volume" for "matching", and those with the wrong number will be discarded and not taken.

Hu Hui is a veteran of the Four Dynasties, if you count Emperor Jianwen, then it is the elder of the Five Dynasties, at this time he is already over seventy years old, he has been in the sea for a long time, his status is respected, the original position of the Ministry of Rites is a pension position for him, even if the final test to the Ministry of Rites to witness, it is completely possible to let the following waiters come, but Cao Nai is afraid that this test will be disturbed by the ministers of Wang Zhen's line, and he invited Hu Hu to sit in the town after many requests, because he knows that Hu Hu is not afraid of Wang Zhen, and he is honest by nature, will not be in the same stream as Wang Zhen.

The examiners quickly compared the 'Zhu Scroll' with the candidates' 'This Volume' one by one, and finally opened the seal, copied the names of the candidates in the examination, and finally presented them to Cao Nai and Hu Hu for reading.

The old god Hu Hui was sitting there, squinting his eyes and dozing off, Cao Nai didn't care, and discussed with Zhang Yi and many fellow examiners for a moment before deciding the final ranking.

"Huh?"

Finally came to the last step, Cao Nai breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to order someone to copy the information of the candidates for the high school entrance examination on the list, when he heard Zhang Yi's voice, his heart jumped, and he hurriedly asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Zhang Yi stretched out his finger and pointed to a name on the list, and said with a wry smile: "Cao Gong, I didn't expect that there would be a demon in this test, and at the age of eighteen, he was on the apricot list alongside many people. ”

Cao Nai looked at the list again when he heard this, and then he saw that the eighteenth place was written, Zhao Yan, a native of Shenzhou, Zhending Prefecture, Zhili, and a native of Xuande, who was born in the fifth year...... It's thirteen years of orthodoxy now, but it's eighteen years old!