After inspecting the Feishan camp and reviewing the artillery, the two went home, met the officials of the Ministry of Rites on the road, and said that the imperial examination was approaching in the following days, and the imperial court was preparing to open the imperial examination, and Zhao Dezhao heard that the imperial court had accepted nineteen people in the imperial examination.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination was still carried out in accordance with the imperial examination of the Tang Dynasty, and there was no such level of perfection as the imperial examination system in later generations.

In history, the Song Dynasty was a period of perfection of the imperial examination system, and it was not until the later period of Zhao Kuangyin that the perfection of the imperial examination system appeared.

During this period of time, after Zhao Dezhao went back, he also considered the imperial examination system of later generations to come out in advance, so after he returned to the palace during this period, he began to write down the imperial examination system of later generations in his notebook, and then summarized and sorted it out, plus the college entrance examination system of the later Celestial Dynasty, took its essence and removed its dross.

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The next day, the time has come to the beginning of the second lunar month, one day, Zhao Dezhao met the officials of the Ministry of Rites on the way back to the palace, and then heard that the provincial examination will be held in the capital in the near future (Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan called the provincial examination, in the Ming and Qing dynasties).

The provincial examination was part of the ancient imperial examination system, and Zhao Dezhao was very familiar with the imperial examination system.

In ancient China, the system of electing officials went through several twists and turns.

In the pre-Qin period, the election of officials was based on hereditary succession, and in the Han Dynasty, filial piety and honesty were promoted.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao wantonly selected low-level scholars, but Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty and became emperor, and used the nine-grade Zhongzheng system to include the world's talents, so that Cao Wei's country was stable.

After the Three Kingdoms to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the family clan controlled the power from the court to the local government, and in order to break the monopoly power of the family, all dynasties suppressed the power of the family, but it was useless.

Since the Sui Dynasty began to unify and divide the situation, it began to have the opening of the imperial examination, which further opened a door for the children of the Han family.

During the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examination system was more perfect, divided into two subjects: Ming Jing and Jinshi, which gave more space to those who were from poor families. During the period of time when Wu Zetian was the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he created the subject of martial arts, which provided convenience for those who practiced martial arts.

The imperial examination system founded by the Sui and Tang dynasties occupies a very important position in China's official history.

In terms of China's development, there is no doubt that the imperial examination system is still relatively important.

Zhao Dezhao accompanied the official of the Ministry of Rites to the Funing Palace.

In the Funing Palace, Zhao Kuangyin was reviewing the recital, and when he saw the officials of the Ministry of Rites and King Liang entering the hall, he immediately stopped the red pen in his hand.

And the official of the Ministry of Rites immediately bowed his hand and said: "Official, after a while, it is the second provincial test of my Great Song Dynasty, and the minister specially came to return to the official." This is a recital, please read it. The official of the Ministry of Rites handed the song to Zhao Kuangyin.

Zhao Kuangyin suddenly remembered that the provincial examination was about to be held in the near future, so he put the red pen on the shelf, and then took the music and looked at it, which was basically written about the process of the provincial examination of the Ministry of Rites.

"Hmm! This year is the second time that my Song Dynasty has opened a department, and I hope that the Ministry of Rites will do everything well and operate in accordance with last year's process. Zhao Kuangyin said to the Ministry of Rites.

"No, the minister resigns."

In the Funing Palace, after the Ministry of Rites left, only Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Dezhao father and son remained, and the father and son remained silent, and Zhao Dezhao planned to show Zhao Kuangyin the recital that he had written all night last night.

Zhao Dezhao saw that Zhao Kuangyin saw the performance of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, so he only said one sentence, and he also had something to say to Zhao Kuangyin in his heart, so he opened his mouth to break the silence: "Daddy, this is the child's recital about the imperial examination, please take a look." ”

Zhao Dezhao presented his recital, which contained some shining points about the imperial examination system in later generations.

Zhao Kuangyin took Zhao Dezhao's recital and looked at it, looking down word by word, at first he saw that he had no change in his heart, and then his breathing began to become unstable.

Zhao Kuangyin took a deep breath and said, "Zhao'er, this ...... Are all the above points in your mind, right? ”

Zhao Dezhao half-pushed, so he had to say: "This is actually the teacher's point of view, plus Zhao'er's own opinions, as well as the records of the ancients and the comments of the scholars and literati on the streets of Kaifeng. Moreover, the imperial examination system is constantly improving. ”

"What does Daddy think of this recital?" Zhao Dezhao tried to ask.

"Yes, this note has insights, and I just listened to what you said, which keeps pace with the times, pioneering and innovative, and makes Daddy even more impressed. This imperial examination is constantly developing, especially in the Tang Dynasty, it has been refined, and I just saw that the statement written on it is very novel. ”

Zhao Dezhao stood with his hands and said: "Daddy, last year, my Great Song Dynasty Imperial Court has admitted nineteen people, and now my Great Song Dynasty lacks talents, the imperial court should be ready to open a department to take scholars, and now the trial period is imminent, Daddy should discuss with the prime minister, in the second year of Jianlong, we are ready to open a branch to take scholars, we need these literati, it is beneficial to our Great Song Dynasty, and it is beneficial to the people." ”

Zhao Kuangyin is a very cautious person, he said: "Zhao'er, I will discuss this matter with Zai Zhi and them, and then make a decision!" ”

"Then there will be Daddy Lao, Zhao'er will be fine, so he will retire." Zhao Dezhao turned around and walked out of the Funing Palace.

Since Zhao Dezhao left, Zhao Kuangyin couldn't put it down, and he has been watching the content on the song.

And in Zhao Dezhao's recital, he put forward several different views, such as this palace test, which began in the Tang Dynasty.

The history began in February of the first year of the first year of the reign of Empress Wu (689), but after that there was no regular system, and now Zhao Dezhao put it forward again, requesting that the palace examination be added to the provincial examination, which was presided over by the emperor himself. Moreover, the implementation of the palace examination is also to weaken as much as possible the right of the family to grasp the imperial examination, and also to weaken the close relationship between the candidates and the chief examiner, which is conducive to preventing officials from engaging in fraud for personal gain.

Another example is Zhao Dezhao's request to abolish the election, according to the Tang system, the scholar and the second only obtained the qualification to serve as an official, and could not immediately become an official. For example, Han Yu, who was famous in the Tang Dynasty, failed to participate in the election three times, and was not allowed to be an official for ten years. The abolition of the selection can reflect the court's preferential treatment of scholars, relax the admission barrier, and stipulate that as long as the Jinshi and the first rank are immediately conferred officials, those who rank high can also be directly awarded high-ranking officials.

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In addition, Zhao Dezhao's recital mentions the "lock the courtyard" system, the "seal" system, the "transcription" system, the "seated according to the list", the ban on ghostwriting, the system of following candles, the strict prohibition of candidates to coerce books, the content of the imperial examination to replace "poetry" with "Jingyi", the increase in the number of admissions, the relaxation of the concept of the family, and so on.

In the afternoon of the same day, Zhao Kuangyin urgently convened several people to convene a meeting of the side hall to convene the chief executive to discuss the imperial examination.

At the court meeting the next day, the civil and military officials heard about the topic of the imperial examination raised in the recital, and they were also very interested in this recital, of course, the hundred officials also raised objections, but most of the officials still supported Zhao Dezhao's opinion on the imperial examination.

So in the midst of the approving voice, the imperial court began to add a palace test to the provincial test.

The time has reached the beginning of the second lunar month, and the imperial examination held by the court of the Great Song Dynasty is still held once a year according to the old system of five dynasties. It's just that this year's quota has begun to increase, and the difficulty will start to increase from the next one.

This year is the second year of the Great Song Dynasty court to hold the opening of the department, at this moment in the capital, the Ministry of Rites began to hold the provincial examination, and after the provincial examination, there was the palace examination.

The provincial examination is held in the capital, presided over by the Ministry of Rites of Shangshu Province, and is generally arranged to be held in February and March, so it is also called "spring examination" or "spring examination". Some of the places generated after the provincial examination were then assessed by the emperor himself on the palace.

The provincial examination and the new palace examination are a very important examination, and every time the provincial examination is carried out, the capital is inclined to it, and a solemn ceremony is held before the examination.

In the first year of Jianlong last year, the first imperial examination was held in the Song Dynasty, and nineteen people were admitted at that time.

Moreover, Zhao Dezhao also knew that the imperial examination system in the early Song Dynasty was inherited from the previous dynasty system, and there were some loopholes, and he hoped that there would be a perfect imperial examination system so that the Great Song Dynasty could have more talents, so he had already submitted the imperial examination reform brochure to Zhao Kuangyin before the provincial examination in the second year.

And at this moment, in the capital, the inns are already crowded with scholars who have entered Beijing to take the exam.

On the day of the examination of the Ministry of Rites, the incense case was set up in front of the steps, and the chief priest bowed to the people. A series of ceremonies are followed by an exam.

These days are the provincial examination, and after a few days of the provincial examination, it is the palace examination, and the emperor personally assesses the scholars.

After the palace examination, according to Zhao Dezhao's words, it is divided into three grades: the first and three Jinshi and the first, commonly known as the champion, the list eye, and the flower; The second class was born as a jinshi, and the first place is commonly known as Chuanlu; The top three are given the same Jinshi background.

On that day, Zhao Kuangyin, the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, also issued an order: "After the exam, it is not allowed to call the examiner a teacher or call himself a protégé." ”

Since then, all those who have passed the rank have become protégés of the Son of Heaven, and it has since been officially established as once every three years. Every autumn, the cantons conduct examinations, and the following spring, they are conducted by the Ministry of Rites. The provincial examination is held in the same year.

The palace examination became the highest level of the imperial examination system, and the three-level imperial examination of the state examination, the provincial examination and the palace examination was formalized. After the palace examination, there is no need to go through the examination of the Ministry of Officials, and the official is directly awarded.

Since then, the imperial examinations have been subject to the practice of obfuscation and transcription, and new methods have been established to prevent favoritism.

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