"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Seeing Zhao Chen come out, the hundreds of Confucian scholars shouted together.

Many of them had never seen Zhao Chen, but they could recognize Zhao Chen's identity when they saw Zhao Chen's clothes.

Hundreds of Confucian students looked at Zhao Chen, and many of them lay on the ground and cried.

"Everyone, get up quickly!" Zhao Chen said.

"Your Majesty, are you finally willing to summon us?"

"Your Majesty, there are villains in the court who bewitch you and ask you to change your ancestral system, which is going to harm the world! Your Majesty, you must not listen to them! ”

"Your Majesty, Confucianism is the foundation of the country! Can't change it! ”

The Confucian scholars shouted one after another.

"Come on, go and help these old people up, let's go to the palace to talk." Zhao Chen said.

At that moment, the guards in the palace stepped forward one after another, and they helped those Confucian scholars up one by one, and this time the Confucian scholars did not resist again. However, they had been kneeling for too long, and because of their old age, they were about to fall when they got up, but fortunately someone helped them.

Zhao Chen entered the palace, and these Confucian scholars also entered the palace one after another.

After that, Zhao Chen entered a palace, and the Confucian scholars also entered here, and Zhao Chen ordered people to arrange seats for the Confucian scholars and prepare meals.

"Your Majesty, I am waiting to see you, for the sake of the imperial examination, Your Majesty will give a banquet, we really dare not do it." A Confucian scholar in his seventies knelt down again and said.

"Hurry up! You have been kneeling outside for a day and a night, cold and hungry, and you must first drink some hot tea and eat some hot food. I thought that after you knelt for a while, I would not be able to stand it and leave, but I didn't know that you had been waiting outside. Zhao Chen said with a smile.

Hearing this, the Confucian scholars below couldn't help but laugh.

"Your Majesty, regarding the imperial examination, you must not be fooled by the villains in the court!" A Confucian scholar said again.

"Regarding the imperial examination, I and the imperial court have their own plans, Li Gang and Li Ruoshui have both persuaded me, but I don't agree, so don't persuade me! This matter is not the intention of some officials in the DPRK and China, but the intention of me. Zhao Chen said.

"Your Majesty, Confucianism is the foundation of the country! Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, the imperial examination of scholars, as long as you can become a showman, it is enough to glorify the ancestors, if you become a lifter, a jinshi, you can serve the country, such a system is no better, why do you want to change, Your Majesty? "This Confucian Tao.

"In the past, it took several years to go from a child to become a talent, raise people, and then become a jinshi! Everyone says that the ten-year cold window is too short, and many people are only lifted until they are forty or fifty years old! Now there is only one imperial examination, as long as you pass it, you can enter the officialdom, serve the imperial court, and serve the people of the world, isn't it good? Zhao Chen said.

"This ...... Your Majesty, in the past, he was an official immediately after the imperial examination, but now he is only a subordinate official or an official, which is far inferior to before. "A Confucian Taoist.

"If you do well in the appointment of subordinate officials and officials, you will still be on the official side in the near future! The country has just gone through war, and there is a shortage of officials in many places! Zhao Chen said.

"Your Majesty, joining Shixue is the foundation of the country! Practical learning is all strange and ingenious, and it is not enough to govern the place! "This Confucian Tao.

"I think it's useful! Isn't it good that the local people are nothing more than farming, doing business, and working, and if they know how to learn from practice, they can understand what the people are doing, and can guide the people. Zhao Chen said.

These Confucian scholars kept asking questions one by one, Zhao Chen kept answering, and the faces of these Confucian scholars became worse and worse.

"Your Majesty, we don't believe that you want to change the imperial examination, there must be a villain who bewitches you! Name the villain, and we'll tear him apart! "The food has come up, and there is not a single chopstick, they are still shouting loudly.

"Eat first! After I've eaten, I'll debate with you! Zhao Chen said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, why can't we and other elderly people be allowed to take the imperial examination?" And humane.

"Let's eat first! Although you can't take the imperial examination, you can open some libraries and schools in Yanjing to teach students and spread knowledge as a great Confucian, which is not bad! You're all young, so why fight with young people? Zhao Chen said.

He had already started to eat with chopsticks, and those Confucian scholars had to eat first with disappointed expressions on their faces.

After a whole afternoon, Zhao Chen was accompanying these Confucian students, and he promised these Confucian students to spend money to build a school hall for them, but these Confucian students were still unwilling.

As night fell, they came out of the palace, all with dejected expressions.

Because of the snow, the ground was very slippery, Zhao Chen specially sent guards to see them off, these Confucian scholars sighed, they all knew that it was difficult to convince Zhao Chen.

"If the imperial examination becomes like this, what will become of the country? Your Majesty, we are all for the Great Song Dynasty, why don't you listen to us? "A Confucian Taoist.

"When we read the books of the saints, we understand the truth of righteousness best! There is no one in the world who is more loyal to Your Majesty than us scholars! But now that Your Majesty has reformed the imperial examination and joined the practical study, from now on, people in the world will pay attention to strange skills and ingenuity, how many people are loyal to Your Majesty? Isn't the nation about to perish? "There is another Confucian Tao.

"The status of the study of saints is getting lower and lower, and I have no face to meet the saints of Confucius and Mencius after I go underground!"

As they spoke, they walked forward, and everyone's hearts were like ashes, they felt that the Great Song was over!

In fact, at such a moment, the entire Yanjing City, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and the Great Song Dynasty all know that the reform of the imperial examination is imperative, and no one can stop the arrival of the new imperial examination!

******

On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, only five days before Chinese New Year's Eve, the imperial examinations in various places officially began.

Because it was the first imperial examination, there were too many officials needed in the world, so most of the positions given by the imperial court this time were subordinate officials.

The world has been at war for many years, and the number of scholars is also very small, so the number of people participating in the imperial examination is also limited.

In the past, the imperial examination, whether it was a talent or a person, the examination procedure was the same, the imperial examination was divided into four sessions, the first examination was five ways of righteousness, the second was three of the Analects and Mencius, the third was a one-song examination, and the fourth examination was a three-way strategy, and the imperial examination needed to last for several days! As for the Jinshi exam, you have to stay in a closed room for two days and two nights, and you are not allowed to leave during this period! The selection rate of the imperial examination was extremely low, and when Song Taizu opened the imperial examination for the first time, only more than 20 jinshi were selected!

This time, however, the imperial examination lasted only one day, divided into two sessions, each of which lasted for an hour and a half, that is, three hours, and the selection rate of the imperial examination was far higher than in the past.

In the morning, the exam was Confucianism, which was much simpler than the previous imperial examinations. The Confucian examination has no poetry and songs, no Confucian and Mencian righteousness, and is just a Confucian article that focuses on historical materials. The test questions are for candidates to explain whether they know this period of history and how to understand the policies of the imperial court at that time.

Many Confucian students have been preparing for a long time, but they are overwhelmed by such questions and do not know how to answer them.

In the examination room in Yanjing City, after the exam in the morning, more than a dozen Confucian students had painful expressions on their faces.

"This time we're done! This exam question is completely different from the previous imperial examinations, and we won't do it at all! ”

"Yes, this time it's not Kao Kong Meng's righteousness, how to do it?"

"That's it, we failed the imperial examination, and the afternoon is a practical study, so we don't have to take the exam at all!"

Several candidates even stood up to leave, but when they reached the entrance of the examination room, the examiner stopped them.

The examiner asked why, and they said it.

"Nowadays, the number of people who read books is very small, as long as they can read, there is a possibility of winning the lift! Now the world needs officials, as long as they have a little knowledge and understand world affairs, they can serve the imperial court! Do the questions well in the afternoon, and you can still pass the imperial examination! The examiner said.

"Really?" The examinees said with a look of surprise on their faces.

"This is the first new-style imperial examination, whether it is Confucianism or practical learning, as long as you can show your ability, the imperial court will hire you! If you can be promoted, you can also glorify your ancestors, and you must not give up now! The examiner said.

"Thank you, sir!" These candidates all showed a look of gratitude on their faces and saluted one after another.

Someone outside sent lunch, this is the meal provided by the imperial court to the candidates, it is very simple, but the candidates are in the mood to care about this now, they are reading some practical books at noon.

In the afternoon, the practical examination begins.

In practice, arithmetic accounts for half of it. In addition to arithmetic, agronomy also accounts for a quarter. Both arithmetic and agronomy are very simple, and at the end of agronomy, there is a question asking candidates what suggestions they have for agricultural planting. In addition, engineering and business accounted for a quarter, and the last question of engineering and business was the issue of business tax, how much tax should be paid for a truckload of goods transported from Jiangnan to Yanjing City, what precautions need to be paid, etc.

At the end of the exam, some candidates had a smile on their faces, and some people kept sighing.

In any case, the first imperial examination in the Xuanwu period of the Great Song Dynasty has finally officially ended! This time, there are still many problems with the imperial examination, which is very crude in terms of form and content, but it still has epoch-making significance. From now on, the Han civilization of the Great Song Dynasty will gradually change the style of Confucianism and empty talk, and the status of practical learning will become more and more important.