In the long river of China's glorious history, the literati and ink stars are dotted among them, shining with brilliance, these scholars, constitute a wave scene of thousands of sails, in this long river they appear one by one, but compared to the long river, their performance is still very short, there is only one system, can run through the long river of cultural history, that is, the imperial examination that has lasted for thousands of years.

Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng has a poem: "There are thousands of Zhongsu in the book; The book has its own golden house; There is Yan Ruyu in the book; There are many cars and horses in the book. "Since the establishment of the Sui imperial examination, to the Song Dynasty to worship literature and lowly martial arts, this is the first time that the emperor has clearly written a poem to announce the world, explaining the importance of reading the imperial examination, Zhao Guanjia told the students of the world, reading to gain fame is the best way out of life.

As soon as these words came out, it was really 'three thousand miles of road are recited, and the sound of reading in the land of China', since then, the examination that has been circulated in China for thousands of years has become popular, and the only way for scholars to come out has been established. Ten years of hardship, wealth and danger, in order to be able to soar, in order to be able to get ahead, in order to become a master, Xin Xin students are hard, in order to one day, to be able to ascend to the throne, white clothes and smile princes

On the second day of February in the ninth year of Kaibao, after a winter of scientific examination screening, the annual imperial examination finally entered the last link, the palace examination.

Chongzheng Hall is 100 zhang wide, 26 feet high, round hall pillar, at least three people can hug together, the pillar is carved with dragon painting gold, the momentum is magnificent.

At this time, the Chongzheng Hall was unusually quiet, and only the sound of the brush writing quickly on the paper could be heard, and I saw that both sides of the Chongzheng Hall were already full of slightly anxious civil and military officials, and they poked their heads to see how the candidates in the middle of the hall were writing.

The snow outside the hall began to fall again, but it was very warm inside the main hall, and from time to time the palace maids added charcoal stones to the gilded and silver-lacquered braziers.

On the main hall of the Chongzheng Palace, a person wearing a golden dragon cloud climbing costume and a crown sat high on the dragon chair, quietly looking at the last thirty palace examination candidates in the audience. Seventy-two Beihai Danzhu covered his face, making him a little more mysterious, one hand lying on the dragon case, and a few taps from time to time, it could be seen that this emperor was also a little impatient.

This person is another legendary figure in later generations, Song Taizu who created the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty for 300 years: Zhao Kuangyin, because he ranked second in the family, he was called Zhao Lao Er by the good deeds of later generations.

Lao Zhao's legend does not need to be repeated too much, benevolent and generous, throughout the ages, can only be the same suffering, not with the example of peace and happiness abounds, there are ancient Yue Wang Goujian, the birds are exhausted, the good bow is hidden; traced back to Liu Bang, killed Han Xin and Zhu Yingbu; Later, there was Zhu Yuanzhang, who slaughtered the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military forces.

Lao Zhao is the only one who has not solved all this through bloodshed, a glass of wine to release military power, passed down through the ages, everyone only sees Lao Zhao's selfishness, but few people can see his benevolence, an emperor who can stabilize the world without killing and framing, this alone, Zhao Kuangyin is worthy of praise from future generations

"Gonggong Cai, how many hours is there until the end of the palace test?" Lao Zhao leaned on the dragon chair and asked lazily to an elderly father-in-law next to him.

"Back to Your Majesty, there is still a third of the hour left for the pillar of incense." The father-in-law also replied respectfully.

"Hmm" Lao Zhao felt that he had plenty of time, so he simply closed his eyes and pretended to sleep

"Your Majesty, the student has finished answering the strategy, and I would like to ask Your Majesty to take a look."

Before Lao Zhao's eyes opened, he heard the voice of another student in the main hall, "Your Majesty, the student has also finished answering the strategy, please take a look." ”

When he opened his eyes, Lao Zhao looked down at the hall, and saw two scholars standing up on the left and the right next to the case in front of the hall, both holding manuscripts in their hands, standing there respectfully.

"It's funny." The corners of Lao Zhao's mouth curled up with a hint of a smile, and he turned his head to the left and right and asked, "Can you see which one stood up first?" ”

The eunuch waiting next to him hurriedly lowered his head and said crampedly: "Back to Your Majesty, these two got up almost at the same time, and the servants couldn't tell which one stood up first." ”

Lao Zhao looked around, and saw that the students around him were still writing hard, and then waved his hand, "Present the two of them to the Jinshi strategy." ”

"Whoa."

Wang Sizong slowly raised his head, cautiously looked at His Majesty the Emperor sitting on the high platform of the main hall, at this moment, His Majesty the Emperor was holding his strategy to read, Wang Sizong wanted to see His Majesty's expression, but the hanging beads of the dragon crown covered His Majesty's face, which made Wang Sizong's heart go up and down, very nervous.

Wang Sizong was studious and self-motivated. He was determined to make a great achievement when he was young, and now he has reached the age of standing, and finally, he was fortunate to be able to stand out from tens of thousands of students and participate in the palace examination presided over by His Majesty himself.

Wang Sizong knew that this was the biggest opportunity in his life, the sun and the moon were gone, and the years were not with me, this time, he had to firmly seize this opportunity

Lao Zhao flipped through the two policy theories, nodded in approval from time to time, and looked at the time when there was half a pillar of incense, before putting down the scroll in his hand, frowning and saying: "I have already read the strategies of these two people, and they are very much in line with my heart, but for a while, I don't know who should be judged better." Lao Zhao paused for a moment before waving his hand and said: "Take these two strategies down, let the ministers of the court and the central government also take a look, I want to listen to your Aiqing's advice." ”

"Whoa." The eunuch who was waiting on the side hurriedly took down the two policies and circulated them to the civil officials.

The civil servants have long been full of curiosity about this palace examination, and as soon as the two test papers were sent down, they were immediately robbed, and several officials gathered together to review one of the test papers.

Half an hour later, the test papers of the remaining twenty-eight people were also answered, Zhao Kuangyin finished reading them one by one, and after the hundred officials finished reading the two papers that were handed in first, Lao Zhao cleared his throat and asked: "Zhong Aiqing thinks that which of the two strategies is better?" ”

Some said that Wang Sizong had unique opinions, some said that Chen Zhiqi's writing was clear, some said that Wang Sizong was rich and five cars, and some said that Chen Zhiqi was eight buckets high, in short, it was an endless end.

Since ancient times, there is no first, and there is no second. This is the case, cultural people's affairs, each has its own preferences, naturally read the same article, have different understandings, therefore, this champion can not be decided.

"Don't make any noise!" Listening to the buzz in the court, Comrade Lao Zhao felt very anxious, the temper of the martial artist in the early years came up, and he only heard him shout to His Royal Highness: "The champion can't be judged for a long time, I have decided, the two of you will fight, whoever is the winner is the champion!" ”

This voice made everyone stare wide-eyed, what kind of truth is this, there has never been such a champion since ancient times! A few old ministers just wanted to stand up and oppose it, but Wang Sizong was quick to go up, and when he went up, he slapped Chen Shiqi's hat off the ground, and then knelt down on the high platform, and said with five bodies: "The minister wins." ”

This made Lao Zhao Longyan happy, and shook his robe, "Okay, good!" Thou art the champion! Then Wang Sizong was the champion, Chen Shiqi was the example, and the Manchu Dynasty and the civil and military forces were all on the ground to celebrate

From the direction of Bianjing City, there were bursts of distant bells, and on a high mountain not far from Bianjing City, a Taoist boy was collecting medicine with the master, only to see him standing on the cliff and listening to the bell in a daze.

"Master, master! Why did the capital suddenly ring the bell! Xiao Daotong seemed to be confused.

I saw his master, an old Taoist priest with a gray beard, shook the snow on his body, and said slowly: "This is the champion Zhong Ye, the imperial examination has been half a month, after this palace examination, the champion has returned to the position, but I don't know who this year's new champion will be."

When the little Taoist priest heard this, he also became extremely happy, and clapped his hands and said: "Master, master, senior brother, they said that those who won the top prize in the examination are all Wenqu stars in the sky, you say, is this true?" ”

The old Taoist priest twisted his beard and snorted: "Wenqu Xing descends to earth, how can it be compared with the champion of a district, poor Dao used the Bagua Kun Migration Map to calculate the strange stones falling from the sky a while ago, and the stars are moving, and the strange stars are descending to the earth, I am afraid that there is a great magic power to turn the world!" ”