At the time of the fourth watch, the sky is still dark and swarthy, the scholars of Chang'an get up early, today is the fourth day of the ninth month, it is the first examination after the new emperor ascended the throne, the examination was originally scheduled for August 25, because the Khitan and Shatuo people who moved inward hope to participate in this examination, so the imperial court decided to postpone the examination for ten days, and the official examination originally scheduled for the end of August was also postponed for ten days.

The system examination is different from the regular subject, the test questions do not have a fixed style, or poetry, or strategy, depending on the question, generally by the emperor to make the question, and this examination also has many new changes, the original three to two, and the first time to use the name system, to know the candidate's name after the end of the admission.

This new change is a kind of reform in the form, admission can also be immediately conferred officials, or by the imperial history of the examination of virtue, there are unfilial piety, disrespect, prostitution, gambling and other lack of virtue are all brushed down, by the latecomers to make up, even if the substitute is found after being discovered, the same will be disqualified from being an official, these rules have been made clear as early as when the scholars received the examination, so although the Pingkangfang Qinglou industry is prosperous, but the business is extremely depressed during the examination.

This time will admit 200 jinshi, is the most in the history of the jinshi, although the jinshi can not be directly an official, but this year there are some details of the changes but make the scholars happy, first of all, the examination of the subject three days after the Tang Dynasty official examination, this is also the first time that the new situation, it is said that after the official examination will lay off a large number of incompetent officials, will make room for the recruitment of the examination, if this is just a rumor, then another thing is quite telling.

Generally speaking, the imperial examination is the first examination of the Ministry of Rites, and those who pass the examination are awarded qualifications such as Jinshi or Ming Jing, and then the official examination, which can only be officially awarded after passing the official examination, but this examination is not presided over by the Ministry of Rites, but directly presided over by the Ministry of Officials. In other words, there will be no second official examination after passing the exam.

Although this change is subtle, it is enough to make the scholars boil, and the three new changes of vague names, canceling the official examination, and supervising the imperial history platform mean that the poor children also have an equal opportunity to compete with the eunuchs and the children of the family.

Zhengzhou candidate Bai Juyi lives in the Shunfeng Fifth Inn in Chongrenfang, which has fifteen branches in Chang'an and is known for being cheap, clean and convenient. Only triple rooms are available, no single rooms are available. Things such as eating and washing are taken care of by the candidates, and the one who lives with Bai Juyi is Liu Zongyuan, a scholar from Chang'an. Liu Zongyuan's background is completely different from Bai Juyi, he is a high-ranking family, the Liu family has been a Hedong Wang family since ancient times, his father Liu Zhen served as Dr. Taichang during the Tianbao period, and retired due to illness the year before last. Although Liu Zongyuan has a mansion in Chang'an, he and Bai Juyi are very speculative. So he simply moved to the inn to live with him.

There is another scholar in the same house, it is very coincidental, it is Guo Mu, a scholar from Hedong who has been admitted to the Jinshi and retook the exam, Guo Mu is thirty years old this year, compared with the young Bai and Liu, he is the big brother, but that's it, Guo Mu still can't afford to put the big brother shelf, he was surprised to find that Bai Juyi and Liu Zongyuan are outstanding, he is far behind.

Guo Mu has been a little nervous these days. I didn't go to bed until late last night when I reviewed. So much so that he still couldn't wake up after Bai Liu and the others got up, and finally he was awakened by the sound of hurried footsteps in the corridor. opened his red eyes slightly, and instinctively glanced out the window, the sky was already numb, like a needle poking at his body, Guo Mu's thin body bounced up from the bed, and exclaimed: "Brother Bai, Brother Liu, hurry up, today is the day of the exam." ”

"Don't worry, it's still early!" Bai Juyi walked in from outside the door with a smile, he was wearing a cyan robe, his head was steaming, his spirit was flying, he must have just returned from running around outside, he picked up a pair of dishes and chopsticks and said with a smile: "I want to eat first, the store provides breakfast for free today, it's late, and the good dishes are gone." ”

"Where's Brother Liu?" Guo Mu put on his clothes embarrassedly, and saw that Liu Zongyuan's bed was also empty, the futon was neatly folded, and his old face was slightly red.

"He was at home, and he came home early in the morning and set off from home." Bai Juyi smiled and walked out of the door quickly.

Chang'an's September has entered the Mid-Autumn Festival, the sky is not yet bright, but the air is full of fog, with a hint of early autumn chill, breakfast has been eaten, more than 100 scholars of the Shunfeng Inn have packed up the examination salute Li, are crowded in front of the gate waiting for the carriage to enter the Academy, the exam is about to begin, the candidates whispered, the front of the inn was noisy, most of them were discussing today's exam questions, but soon, with the arrival of the first carriage in Suzhou, the time for the scholars to break up came.

The carriage for the scholars of the state to prepare for the examination hall has always been the tradition of the state in Beijing, and this examination is no exception, although the system of the subject is different from the regular department, but this is the first imperial examination specially held after the new emperor ascended the throne, and the academy attaches great importance to it, and tries to snatch out a few carriages from the hands of the officials who have been stationed in the state to arrange the travel of the scholars of the state.

An orange lantern appeared at the door of the inn, several large state carriages have come, took away a large number of Benzhou scholars, this time the examination is a large number of people, so it is mainly held in four places, one is the Hanlin Academy of Chongrenfang, one is the Taichang Temple of the Imperial City, the other is the Xuanzheng Hall of the Daming Palace, and the other is the Mingde Hall of the East Palace, and the current emperor in order to show his grace, the candidates of the Central Plains, Hedong and Chang'an are arranged in the Xuanzheng Hall of the Daming Palace.

In this way, Zhengzhou scholar Bai Juyi went to Daming Palace and walked inconveniently, so he had to take a carriage, but he waited left and right, the carriage of Zhengzhou Jinjuan Academy still did not come, and there were only more than 20 people left in front of the inn.

"It's a carriage from Fenzhou!" A few soldiers who rushed up retreated in frustration, but Guo Mu happily picked up his luggage and greeted him, he suddenly seemed to think of something, so he turned back to Bai Juyi and smiled: "Anyway, it's all an examination room, Brother Bai might as well go with me!" ”

Bai Juyi shook his head and smiled: "Thank you Brother Guo for your kindness, I'll wait." ^^ Premiere ^UC eBook ^^^"

"Are you a candidate from the Central Plains?" The official of the Fenzhou Jinju Academy was a white and fat middle-aged man, and when he saw that Bai Juyi was alone, he smiled kindly: "The carriages of several states in the Central Plains have been full in Pingkangfang, and if you don't come here, if it is the same test center, you might as well take a ride." ”

"Yes! Brother Bai, I will check my name later. If you go late, it will affect the exam, so you should get in the car! Guo Mu invited again.

Bai Juyi thought about it, and then thanked him: "Then it is better to be respectful." ”

He got into the carriage, the carriage started slowly, and soon got on the road, driving quickly in the direction of Daming Palace.

Today and tomorrow are the national examinations, and at the same time, it is also necessary to give officials time to prepare for the official examinations. Therefore, the imperial court has a special holiday in the past two days, and the Daming Palace is deserted. Only a few officials who arranged for duty appeared in the Daming Palace, and the side door of Daming slowly opened. A carriage full of scholars drove into the Daming Palace under the guidance of a hundred cavalry cavalry of the Flying Cavalry Battalion, and the magnificent Daming Palace palace group suddenly aroused an exclamation from the scholars, this is where the highest authority of the Tang Empire is located, and the Hanyuan Hall a few miles away from the distance is even more fascinated by countless scholars, and Bai Juyi also silently looked at this large-scale palace. His heart was filled with endless yearning.

Nearly 10,000 scholars lined up in five lines on the square in front of the Xuanzheng Palace, and the black pressure was overwhelming. There were soldiers maintaining order, and Bai Juyi and Guo Mu came a little later and lined up behind.

"Ju Yi, Brother Guo!" Someone was calling them in a low voice, and the two looked for a sound, only to see Liu Zongyuan running over from the front of the team, and said with an excited smile: "I've been waiting for you, why did you come." ”

Seeing that there was no one on the left and right, he lowered his voice and said, "I heard a news that the main examination of the system this time is actually Hubu Shangshuhan. The deputy chief examiner is Hu Yong, the servant of the ministry. The list of examiners was announced only three days ago, and all the examiners were immediately not allowed to go home. ”

Liu Zongyuan is a son of a family. His news is naturally reliable, and without waiting for Bai and Guo to speak, Liu Zongyuan said again: "There is another news, this time the subject will not be tested for sticking to the scriptures." ”

Don't take the scriptures? Bai Juyi and Guo Mu glanced at each other, when they signed up, everyone learned that they were going to take the poetry and poetry review, of course, the Tang Dynasty readers had to rely on making poems, but the poetry review was the first time to open the exam, everyone was talking about the emperor today's question is really ingenious, but today I got the news again, will not take the test to paste the scriptures, Guo Mu's face was suddenly extremely depressed, he has been filial piety for his mother for three years, many scriptures have been forgotten, in the past two months, he desperately made up the scriptures in order to see the subject exam, but he didn't take the test.

"Poetry reviews should account for forty percent of the score, and the best way to see the real level of poetry reviews is the best. =^UC e-book^Debut=="Liu Zongyuan was extremely excited, this was what he was good at, he suddenly saw Guo Mu's haggard expression, his eyes were still bloodshot, and he couldn't help complaining: "Knowing that today is the exam, why did Brother Guo stay up late last night, aren't you afraid that the exam will affect your performance?" ”

Guo Mu smiled bitterly and said: "I have been focusing on the scriptures and meanings before, and I didn't pay attention to poetry, but fortunately, now I not only have to test poetry, but also poetry criticism, I think the emperor now attaches great importance to the people's livelihood, so he pressed the treasure on the poems of the Du Gong Department, and made up for it last night." ”

Bai Juyi listened to his lack of confidence, and asked: "If you unfortunately fail to reach high school, can Brother Guo return to his hometown?" ”

Guo Mu's expression was gloomy, he shook his head and said: "In order to make up for the travel expenses, a few acres of thin land at home have been sold, if I can't win, I plan to go to Anxi to join the army and make contributions in the frontier, Brother Bai, what about you?" ”

Bai Juyi smiled slightly and said: "If I don't win, I will also go to Anxi with Brother Guo to join the army, do you think it's good?" ”

"Brother Bai is talented, how could he not be hit?"

Guo Mu smiled, took off his two shoes and threw them into the sky, snap! With both shoes facing up, he stroked his palms and laughed, "Okay! This time it's a good fortune. Bai Juyi and Liu Zongyuan couldn't help laughing when they saw that he was interesting.

"Shh A person next to him stopped in a low voice: "Don't argue, it's already started." ”

The three of them were in good spirits, and the probe saw that there was indeed movement in front, the gate of the Xuanzheng Hall had been opened, and more than a dozen guiding boys were standing in the door with orange and red lanterns in their hands, and there were some faint black letters on the lanterns, which were estimated to be the examination room number, and seventeen or eight officials came out and began to issue examination citations one by one.

"Zhengzhou Bai Juyi! Zhengzhou Bai Juyi! ”

Bai Juyi hurriedly raised his hand and responded, "Here." ”

The two officials who came over checked his examination and looked at him carefully, he was seven feet tall, had a Chinese face, and had a scar on his left hand. After confirming that it was correct, he gave him the admission card, Bai Juyi took it, and when he saw that it was No. 3218 in District A, he hurriedly asked the other two, "Where are you?" ”

"I'm in Zone B." Guo Mu looked at his entrance certificate.

"Where's Brother Zongyuan?"

"I'm in Zone B too."

Get your admission pass. Several teams began to slowly walk up the steps, Bai Juyi grabbed Liu Zongyuan and said with a smile: "We are not in the same examination room, we may not be able to meet after the exam for a while, Brother Zongyuan can go back to the inn by himself." ”

"Good! I wish Brother Juyi to play at a high level. Liu Zongyuan arched his hand and strode away, and everyone walked up to the door of the main hall, and the sergeant searched and inspected the entrance and admission passes. Everyone went to the examination room with the guide boy.

Xuanzheng Hall is the main hall of Daming Palace, second only to Hanyuan Palace, which is divided into the main hall and the left and right side halls. ^^ first release ^ UC e-book ^ ^^ main hall can accommodate 10,000 people to take the exam at the same time, and the two side halls can also accommodate thousands of people. In the main hall, 7,000 examination seats have been separated by simple wooden boards, and a table has been placed in each examination seat, and there are already paper, pens and other necessary items for the examination on the table, and the candidates have to hand in all the paper and pen they bring.

It took a lot of tea for Bai Juyi to find his exam position. He sat down, his heart pounding. The front is the aisle, the candidates behind and on both sides have been informed that Suo is sitting, no one dares to speak, the admission card is clearly written, after entering the entrance to the ear is regarded as cheating, if there is an internal urgency can be led out by the invigilator, the first day of the exam is poetry and poetry commentary, a total of four hours, the end of the afternoon, of which the water and lunch will be provided by the examination room.

"Everyone. I am the chief examiner of the examination room in District A of the Xuanzheng Hall today. Under the surname Hu, he is also an official of the Ministry of Officials. Now I announce the rules of the examination room, first, no head to ear

The examiner's voice echoed in the empty hall, and all the candidates were listening intently, when several people came pushing a cart full of exam papers, and one of them handed him a copy of the exam papers, and whispered: "Write first." ”

Bai Juyi had no intention of listening to the rules of the examination room anymore, he wrote his name and quotation marks on the side of the exam paper, and carefully pasted the name with the paste note prepared on the table, and then unfolded the paper, the exam question has two parts, the first part is a poem, and the proposition is a scene in Chang'an, which must be made with reference to the "Anthology", which is not difficult, Tang people can write poems as long as they read, but the level is just high.

The difficulty is the second part: poetry criticism. Those with a low level can only discuss poetry on poetry; The historical background of the poem can be derived; Those with a high level can even comment on the author's political views and the root causes of political clarity or social unrest at the time.

Bai Juyi's heart is banging! Bang! Jumping around, I don't know what the topic is today, my eyes are closed, I suddenly opened the exam paper, for a while, he opened a slit slightly, and took a closer look, but he was stunned, the topic is the three officials and three farewells that Guo Mu debated with him last night, Du Fu's famous poem, in fact, it is to write about the root cause of the Anshi Rebellion and the suffering of the people.

Bai Juyi was excited, but he also admired Guo Mu's vision, and he really hit the question, it seems that the emperor is really concerned about the people's livelihood, and time does not allow him to think about it.

The room was full of rustling pens, occasionally there was a dry cough, the examiner was blushing, holding an iron ring ruler, and patrolling around the examination room with his hands behind his back, his eyes were sharp, and anyone with a little movement could not escape his eyes.

More than two hours have passed, Bai Juyi has finished writing a poetry review in one go, sprinkled nearly 10,000 words, he turned back to the exam paper, ready to make a poem, the title of the poem is the scenery of Chang'an, these days, he and Liu Zongyuan have traveled all over the major beauties of Chang'an, especially for Qujiang, he suddenly thought of the bright and gorgeous sunset scenery on Qujiang at dusk last night, and his heart was inspired, so he wrote the title of "Twilight River Yin".

"Why didn't you write "Farewell to the Ancient Grass"?" A low voice suddenly came from beside him, Bai Juyi was startled, only to find that there was a person standing next to him at some point, Bai Juyi was confused for a while, his "Farewell to the Ancient Grass" had never been shown to anyone, how did he know? And who is he? Bai Juyi suddenly remembered that his poems were read by a Taoist priest when he was in the restaurant, what does this person have to do with that Taoist priest? Bai Juyi looked up and saw that he was in his thirties, with three strands of clear beard floating on his chest, his eyes were clear and soft, he was wearing an extremely ordinary cyan robe, wearing a gauze hat, and he couldn't see any official rank.

At this time, Bai Juyi suddenly saw the examiner glaring at him from behind, and motioned for him to stand up and answer. He looked extremely nervous, but he also announced that he was not allowed to speak in the examination room!

Despite his surprise, Bai Juyi decided to stand up and answer, but before he could get up, the man grabbed his shoulder and smiled gently: "Don't get up, continue to compose poetry." ”

Let's talk about it. He smiled at him and went to inspect elsewhere with his hands behind his back. Bai Juyi couldn't think of his identity after thinking about it for a long time, and his thoughts slowly returned to poetry. He pondered for a moment, then took up the pen and wrote:

A remnant sun spreads in the water, half of the river is sorrowful and half of the river is red.

Pity the third night of the first month of September, the dew is like a real pearl and the moon is like a bow

After lunch, people began to hand in the papers one after another. Either with a relaxed expression, or with a gloomy face. After Bai Juyi finished writing the last word, his heart was relieved, he lay down, and after the ink dried slightly, he read it from the beginning again, and felt quite satisfied, so he handed in the paper and walked away.

There was no carriage, Bai Juyi walked all the way and leisurely walked back to the inn. I did well today. He went to buy some food and drinks, and he was ten steps away from the room. I heard the sound of reading clearly: "However, Qin is a small place, to the power of ten thousand times, recruiting eight states and the same dynasty, more than 100 years; Then take Liuhe as the home, Cuihan as the palace, a husband is difficult and the seven temples fall, the body is dead, and the world laughs, why not? Benevolence and righteousness are not applied, and the offensive and defensive trends are different. The sound is pleasant, indicating that the reader is in a good mood.

Bai Juyi was relieved, pushed the door and laughed: "Brother Guo has won the question today, do you want to write the Qin Treatise tomorrow?" ”

There was only Guo Mu in the room, he was standing in front of the window reading aloud "The Theory of Passing Qin", hearing the laughter of Bai Juyi behind him, Guo Mu put down the book, and also looked back and smiled: "I guessed the question by luck today, and I won't have such good luck tomorrow, so I read the wonderful texts of the ancients to find a sense of language." ”

Bai Juyi smiled, put the box of wine and food on the table, and asked, "What about Brother Zongyuan?" Hasn't he come yet? ”

Guo Mu was also a little surprised, "Didn't Brother Liu come back with you?" ”

"I'm in here!" Liu Zongyuan's laughter suddenly came from behind him, and the two turned around quickly, only to see Liu Zongyuan at the door, and behind him stood an old Taoist.

Bai Juyi immediately recognized that the old man behind him was the one he met in the restaurant, he hurriedly greeted him, and hurriedly asked Liu Zongyuan: "How is it, how did you do in the exam?" ”

Liu Zongyuan first arched his hand to Guo Mu and said with a smile: "You discussed the three officials and three farewells until midnight last night, I hate it to death, but it's too late to thank you now!" ”

Bai Juyi stroked his palms and laughed, "I think so too, thanks to Brother Guo." ”

"It seems that all three of them did well in the exam, congratulations to the old man." Li Mi smiled slightly.

Bai Juyi suddenly remembered the strange person in the examination room, and immediately pulled Li Mi in, saluted him and asked, "Did you give it to someone else after reading my poem last time in the restaurant?" ”

"Such a wonderful poem, Poor Dao was naturally introduced to many people." Li Mi asked with a smile: "What, Brother Bai is in some trouble." ”

"No wonder, but who could he be?" Bai Juyi muttered to himself.

"What's going on?" Liu Zongyuan and Guo Mu saw his solemn expression and asked in unison.

Bai Juyi shook his head, "This thing is weird, let's talk while eating!" ”

As he spoke, he invited the three of them to sit down and poured a glass of wine for each of them, and then he remembered that he didn't know the name of this old way, so he hurriedly asked: "Ask the Taoist chief number, where is Baoshan to practice?" ”

Li Mi picked up the wine glass and smiled slightly: "The common name is Li, the law is Shuixin, and the four seas are home." ”

Liu Zongyuan was anxious, he didn't take Li Yu to heart, and hurriedly asked: "Shicai Juyi said that he encountered a strange thing, what happened?" ”

"I met one person during an exam

Bai Juyi told him about the strange things he encountered in the examination room, and finally said: "I thought he was an official, but the officials I saw all wore official uniforms, but this person was dressed in green clothes and hats, and he was very leisurely, which was really puzzling." Liu Zongdi's expression suddenly became solemn, and he suddenly asked, "How old is that person, and what does he look like?" ”

"He is about thirty years old, and his bearing is elegant, which is admirable."

Bang! With a bang, Liu Zongyuan slapped the table heavily, and the dishes jumped wildly, startling several people, "Brother Liu, why is this?" ”

"I know who it is." Liu Zongyuan lowered his voice and said to the three people: "The main examiner of District A Zheng is Zheng Duo in the Ministry of Officials, and he has always been arrogant, so that the officials who have always been bullish can only be officials above the Shangshu level, but the youngest official above the Shangshu level is also fifty-year-old Han, and he wears an official uniform in the morning, so this thirty-year-old does not wear an official uniform, and he can talk to the candidates in the examination room at will, and the person who makes Zheng Langzhong respectful can only be one person. ”

"Who?" Bai Juyi and Guo Mu asked in unison, but Li Yu smiled and said nothing.

Liu Zongyuan finally couldn't resist the urge to tell the secret, and said word by word: "Today's saint." ”

"Your Majesty!" Bai and Guo were stunned at the same time, and Guo Mu suddenly said to Bai Juyi sourly: "Brother Bai Xian meets a noble person in the examination room, and the future is immeasurable!" In the future, I will take my brother with me. ”

Bai Juyi's mind was at a loss, in fact, he also thought of the possibility of the emperor's land, but he always felt incredible, and now it was said by Liu Zongyuan, the son of the official eunuch, he couldn't believe it, but how could the emperor know his poems? He suddenly glanced at Li Yu vigilantly, and said coldly, "Who are you?" ”

Li Mi tilted his neck and drank a glass of wine, and said with a faint smile: "There will never be a high-ranking official wearing a Taoist uniform for a private visit!" ”

Liu Zongyuan stared at him tightly, thinking about his name, his common surname is Li, and his Taoist name is Shuixin, Li Shuixin.

He suddenly realized, pointed at Li Mi and stood up, "You are Li Mi." ”

Cloth clothes Xiangguo Li Mi. Bai Juyi and Guo Mu shrugged together, they had already heard of this person's name, but they didn't expect that this legendary dragon saw the head and tail Taoist priest in front of them, Bai Juyi and Guo Mu hurriedly stood up and saluted, "I'm rude, please forgive Daoist Li." ”

Li Mi hurriedly waved his hand and said with a smile: "You don't have to be polite, I'm just a poor Taoist priest, it's fate to be able to get to know everyone, everyone is so angry, it's obvious that they want to drive me away." ”

The three of them saw that he was funny and had no shelf, so they also sat down, Guo Mu was still thinking about Bai Juyi's noble encounter, so he asked Li Yudao: "Daochang Li, Brother Bai Xian met the emperor by chance this time, is it for him."

Before he finished speaking, Li Mi waved his hand and interrupted him, "There is no way, Brother Bai must first stand out among the 200,000 candidates and be admitted, so that he can hope to be favored by the emperor again, otherwise, the emperor will not have the right to hire him by leapfrogging." ”

At this time, Liu Zongyuan next to him asked: "I heard that this examination is held by the Ministry of Officials, and the official examination is in charge of the Ministry of Rites, which seems to be reversed, I wonder if this is because of the bad relationship between Han Shangshu and Lu Shangshu?" ”

Li Mi glanced at him and said coldly: "What are you doing when you are young and asking about these officialdom things?" Let's think about tomorrow's exams! ”

Liu Zongyuan's face turned red, and he didn't dare to ask anything more, Li Mi took another sip of wine, and said to the three of them seriously: "Because the emperor attaches great importance to the system, he sent the strict and righteous Han Shangshu to be the main exam, this is your opportunity, take advantage of this opportunity!" ”

The three of them nodded silently together, today they all did well in the exam, and tomorrow will be the moment to decide their future and fate.

(Lao Gao is in urgent need of military, political and social information on black clothes and food, if you have this information, please leave a message in the book review area, thank you!) ）