As soon as the morning dawn and the morning light was faint, Yang Zhen, who always felt a little uneasy in his heart, woke up after a hasty sleep for more than two hours. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Since he couldn't sleep, he simply walked out of the hut where he was staying and walked around freely in the empty and quiet examination room.

The examination room of this tribute courtyard can be really compact, densely packed like a pigeon coop, only allowing one person to lie horizontally inside, slightly taller, with his head on the brick wall inside, but his feet have already stretched out to the aisle outside. It is precisely because the examination room is so small that it is said to be a number room, almost no different from the place where the prisoners in the prison stay.

And it is in such a cramped and simple environment, candidates from all over the world have to use the pen in their hands to write a flowery article, and at the same time have their own unique views on the scriptures, so that they can get into the eyes of the examiners who are rich and rich, and it is indeed difficult for them.

But it is precisely because many of them can do this that they can reflect the intention of the imperial court to open up science and recruit talents, because only such people are capable of serving the country.

In later generations, people would always comment on the imperial examination system in an extremely disdainful tone, as if this was an extremely backward manifestation of the entire history of the development of the Chinese nation, and the main culprit that imprisoned people's thoughts and talents. In fact, this is obviously not the case, if there is no imperial examination system, I am afraid that the division of social classes will be much more serious than it is, and it will be more difficult for the people to have a chance to get ahead.

Before the Sui and Tang dynasties, and even in the middle of the early and mid-Tang dynasties, the imperial court only paid attention to the family, as long as it was a person from a wealthy family, no matter what his ability and character were, he could go to the place, or even the center as an official. Moreover, their children and grandchildren will also inherit all this, thus forming a complete monopoly of officialdom, which is for the gatekeeper.

And those ordinary people from poor backgrounds want to go to officialdom, but it is too difficult. Only a few lucky people, with the favor of some big names, or their own fame is too great, can be among the officialdom. But even so, the status of these people in the court will be very low, and they can only do some dirty work with black pots on their backs, and it will be difficult to really turn over one day.

It is the imperial examination system that has brought the opportunity for the poor children of the world who are ambitious and capable. Although in terms of environment, they still can't compare with the children of the family who have been nurtured by the family since childhood, but some Tianzhong wizards can still rely on their own ability and efforts to surpass those family children and stand at the peak of this era, such as the current first assistant Zhang Juzheng is one of the representatives.

Later generations said that the imperial examination system was wrong in all ways, but obviously selectively ignored the current national examination system. In a sense, the national examination in later generations is even less than the imperial examination system to help the people at the bottom break through the barriers.

You must know that those civil servants who came out of the national examination, in the previous dynasty, were just low-level officials in the yamen. And the people who came out of the imperial examination, Jinshi, almost became officials. The gap between the status of officials and officials is almost a huge chasm.

As for the eight strands of literature mentioned by some people, and using stories such as "Fan Jinzhongju" to illustrate, they also underestimate the wisdom of the ancients. Those who complain are just limited in their own abilities, unable to master the key points of the Baguwen, and complain after failing the test for a long time.

How can a truly powerful person be stumped by a few essays? Among the many famous ministers of the Ming Dynasty - Wang Yangming, Yu Qian, Xu Jie and others, which one of them was not able to win the gold list at a young age, and then did a great career in his official career?

Compared with them, Wu Jingzi, who wrote "The Outer History of Confucianism", and Pu Songling, who wrote "Liao Zhai", are afraid that they are not even worthy of carrying shoes. This is the gap between talent and realm, how can it be summed up in one sentence and eight strands?

Of course, Yang Zhen didn't know these things and truths very clearly in his heart, but looking at the candidates who got up earlier than him and were already working the paved board, he also didn't think of his brother Yang Chen, a few years ago, his brother was also a jinshi who took the exam here.

Now that I think about it, this imperial examination does have its reasonable and progressive side, if it weren't for this upward road, with the Yang family's declining family background, my brother would not be able to have today, and even now he is still oppressed by the local tyrants and bullies so much that he can't raise his head.

Looking at the people around him who are either young or have a certain age, Yang Zhen couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and also felt that the burden on his shoulders was a little heavier, and he should try his best to ensure the fairness and justice of this exam, so as not to disappoint these candidates who have been cold for more than ten years.

Thinking of this, Yang Zhen felt a different kind of uneasiness in his heart, he faintly sensed that there must be another mystery in this Enke exam, but he couldn't think of what it was.

Just as he was thinking about it, he suddenly heard a rush of footsteps behind him, which made his brow frown. In this quiet environment, the sound of footsteps, which is usually not noticeable, is already a big disturbance.

When he turned around a little unhappily and wanted to scold a few words, he found that it was a subordinate of Jinyi Wei who he brought into the examination room, and this person looked a little strange: "My lord......"

"How?" Yang Zhen swallowed back the rebuke that came to his mouth for the time being, and asked in a low voice.

"That...... Xia Qianhu has come in, and is now waiting for you at Minglun Hall. The man hesitated, but then told the truth.

"Huh?" Yang Zhen was also stunned, and it took a while to come back to his senses: "Xia Kai?" How did he get in? What nonsense! Also, how did he get in? "Yang Zhen is clear about how tightly guarded this examination room has been in the past few days, and even so, Xia Kai has to venture in, which means that the matter is indeed a little urgent.

"I don't know. Your Excellency, please come and have a look. ”

"Hmm." Yang Zhen nodded, turned around and walked towards Minglun Hall. When he got there, after seeing Xia Kai, Yang Zhen solved the question of how the other party came in, only to see that Xia Kai was now dressed as a lowly servant, obviously mixed into the examination room.

"What the hell happened to make you risk sneaking in?" Yang Zhen asked his brother with a serious expression, and poured a cup of tea for the other party and handed it over.

Xia Kai took the tea ceremony and thanked him, and then told him about the fact that they had found out that someone was selling exam questions and took down several suspects. Then, he reached into his sleeve and took out the exam questions and handed them to Yang Zhen.

Yang Zhen's expression at this moment was several times more serious than just now, he really didn't expect such a thing to happen. Although he is not a scholar, he also understands what it means to leak the exam questions for such an important exam, and how many people will be implicated in it.

And this also confirms his long-standing fear, this time he asked himself to participate in the test is really unusual! I just don't know, who did this, and whether the leaked exam questions are real?

He only opened the paper and glanced at it a few times, but he didn't have a clue. Yang Zhen didn't have much interest in the imperial examination, let alone these scriptures, although he was also present when Zhang Siwei announced the exam questions before, he didn't really remember it.

"What should I do?" With just a blink of mind, Yang Zhen made a decision, this matter obviously couldn't be done by himself, and he could only deal with it after discussing it with Zhang Siwei, who was in the same boat. And after asking the other party, you can also know whether the exam question has really been leaked. Thinking of this, he didn't delay, and immediately asked Xia Kai to wait aside, and he took the exam questions and hurriedly walked to the room where Zhang Siwei was resting.

At this time, Zhang Siwei had just gotten up. Although he didn't sleep well last night because of his worries, he still forced himself to sleep a little more to nourish his spirits. Because he knew that later today, the first batch of papers might be delivered, and it would be time to correct them.

But unexpectedly, when he came together, he saw Yang Zhen walking in with a strange face, and he also withdrew the left and right people. This surprised him greatly: "Yang Yanshi, you are ......"

"Master Zhang, dare to ask what are the exam questions this time?" Yang Zhen didn't respond directly, but asked rhetorically.

"Huh? What does this do, you ask? Zhang Siwei was stunned, but still truthfully said a few questions. His mind has been on this for the past few days, and he naturally remembers the topic very deeply.

After hearing this, Yang Zhen's face became even more nervous, and while handing over the paper in his hand, he said, "My lord, please look, this is the exam question for this exam that has been circulated outside for a long time." ”

"What?" Zhang Siwei's entire body trembled violently, and he almost failed to catch the paper. After reading the above content clearly, his face suddenly turned pale: "Yang Yan, this matter is very important, you don't want to joke about this." ”

"Am I that ignorant?" Yang Zhen said with a smile: "This thing, someone secretly sold it to candidates a few days ago, and it sold a lot." My brother of Jinyiwei found clues two days ago, and he didn't get the exact evidence until yesterday, so he showed it to me just now. ”

"How...... How so? Zhang Siwei's heart was suddenly confused, and the whole person walked around the room like ants on a hot pot, but he completely forgot to ask Yang Zhen how his people passed the news in. In fact, this is no longer in his consideration, how to solve the current problem is the most critical.

But now Zhang Siwei obviously can't think of these things.

Once this matter is revealed, Zhang Siwei can't imagine what the result of this test will be. I'm afraid that my future, and even my career as an official, will be completely ended because of this, right? Rao is also a little experienced, and when he encountered such a terrible thing, he couldn't react for a while, so he could only worry there......