On the twenty-ninth day of the first month of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Su Tiancheng arrived at Beijing, the capital of the Ming Empire.

He didn't expect that he would go for such a long time, starting on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, thinking that it would arrive in ten days at most, but who knew that this was not the case at all.

When he arrived in Taiyuan Fucheng, Su Tianhao had already gone to the capital, and Guozijian was going to start classes on the sixteenth day of the first month.

It took two days to meet with the University of Science and Politics and go to the Rite Department of the Yamen of the Political Envoy to go through the relevant procedures, and it was useless to be in a hurry.

After that, stay at home for a day.

On the twenty-second day of the first month, he set off from Taiyuan Mansion and hurried to Beijing.

When I went to Beijing this time, Su Tiancheng was followed by Su Ertong, Su Jun, Wang Dazhi, and Luo Chang.

Beijing is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, prosperity is needless to say, Su Tiancheng, who is accustomed to seeing high-rise buildings, after arriving in Beijing, he saw the bustling crowd, the buildings are lined up, and he is also full of emotion, this prosperity and the prosperity after a few hundred years, is a completely different taste, it seems more humanistic, if he chooses, he would rather want to be lively now, and it is better than the high-rise buildings and cold interpersonal relationships after a few hundred years.

The consumption level of Beijing is completely different from that of Pingyang Fucheng.

Let's just say that this guest house, Pingyang Mansion City a penny of silver, you can live in the upper room, but in Beijing, ordinary rooms are difficult to find, during the examination and the palace test, many innkeepers, are appropriate discounts, plus the person is already the identity of the master.

Su Jun knew the habits of his young master, and found an inn with good conditions, called Gaosheng Inn.

Gaosheng Inn, an upper room costs five dollars of silver per day, an ordinary room costs three dollars of silver, three rooms, and the daily accommodation fee is more than one or two pieces of silver.

As for eating, it is even more exaggerated, if you want to pursue the grade, a meal can cost more than ten taels of silver.

Su Tiancheng didn't want to be too extravagant, so he set his meal at the Gaosheng Inn, and it was not far from the time to try, and he still had a lot of things to do.

Su Tiancheng is a Shanxi Township test Xie Yuan, but when he arrives in Beijing, it is nothing.

He didn't have many acquaintances, and when he came to Beijing, he had to visit Xu Eryi and Weng Tongzhang, both of whom were his mentors. The identities of the two are not very prominent, and there will be no big problems in visiting.

In addition, you have to go to the Ministry of Rites to go through the relevant procedures, which is equivalent to registration.

There are a total of 1,015 lifters from all over the country who came to Beijing to participate in the examination, and the admission quota for the examination is 375, that is to say, two-thirds of the lifters will be eliminated.

As for the people who can participate in the palace examination after the examination, in principle, they are the tribute students who will pass the examination, and the re-examination before the palace examination is to see if there is any abuse of the number, so as not to make a fool of themselves during the palace examination.

On the day Su Tiancheng arrived in the capital, he met Su Tianhao.

Su Tianhao brought some news, there are two examiners for the examination, namely Prince Shaobao, Wu Yingdian University Scholar, Cabinet First Assistant Zhou Yanru, Prince Taibao, Dongge University Scholar, and Cabinet Second Assistant Wen Tiren.

There are 18 examiners in the same examiner, who are bachelors of the Hanlin Academy, bachelors of lectures, scholars, lecturers, and revisions, including the doctors of the Five Classics of Guozijian.

This specification is not ordinary, and the examiner is the first and second assistant of the cabinet.

It is said that everyone should be very happy to know such news, but Su Tiancheng's understanding is completely different.

He is familiar with history, Chongzhen has been in the past five years, and it is also the time when the game between Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren is the most powerful, of course, this is not an open game, but Wen Tiren launched a series of attacks in order to be the first assistant of the cabinet.

Faintly, he remembered that it seemed that in the middle of this meeting examination and the palace examination, Wen Tiren impeached Zhou Yanru.

Of course, at this time, Zhou Yanru's position was still very consolidated, and it was not until June of the sixth year of Chongzhen, because of the accumulation of many problems, that Zhou Yanru resigned.

Historically, the official history's evaluation of Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren was not good.

But Su Tiancheng, who has crossed over, will never believe in textbooks, he has to look at the two of them with his own understanding.

But one thing is true, that is, there are many contradictions between Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren.

The contradiction between the first assistant and the second assistant of the cabinet cannot be underestimated, this has seriously affected the operation of the government, and what a courtier thinks of every day is to stand in line, that is, to choose the target of refuge, how can he be at peace with the government.

Between officials, in order to compete for power and profit, there are many contradictions, which is not a big deal, especially in the era of feudal dynasties, the emperor also knows about these things, and even instigates such things to happen.

There are specific historical reasons for this.

When the emperor takes the throne to maintain his rule, he must find a way to control the ministers below, and the best way to control it is to stand in the position of the magistrate and control the struggle of the ministers, so as to control their fate.

Su Tiancheng, who is familiar with politics, knows that Emperor Lu Dao is not omnipotent.

Yes, the emperor has supreme power, and what he says is the law, and it is very simple to depose officials and take people's lives. But where this power comes from, it is impossible to fall from the sky.

The emperor needs ministers, and he needs loyal ministers to protect his country, and only a group of obedient, shrewd and capable ministers can maintain the emperor's authority, help the emperor, and protect the country.

It's a pity that there aren't many such emperors and ministers.

To put it mildly, Su Tiancheng had just arrived in the capital, and although he had not yet taken the exam, he was faced with a crucial choice.

Step into officialdom. There is no relationship, there is no reliance, thinking that with one's own strength, you can change everything, and you can do whatever you want, that is obscenity, officialdom has its own rules, and it has been the same for thousands of years.

Participate in the palace exam, become a jinshi, face the official award, you need to face a lot of relationships, you can also choose, do not join any faction, clean yourself, the final result, may be depressed, a lifetime of inaction.

Su Tiancheng has his own way, of course, he is still a little apprehensive in his heart.

The next day, Su Tiancheng prepared and went to the Ministry of Rites to inspect his identity.

The examination was presided over by the Ministry of Rites and held in the Gongyuan in the southeast of Beijing's inner city.

All those who participated in the examination should have the corresponding certificates in hand and report directly to the Ministry of Rites.

The Ministry of Rites has a document on file that is relevant to the identification of each person.

The materials handed in by the lifter are matched with the materials kept by the Ministry of Rites, so that the identity of the lifter can be clarified.

The six departments are all working in the Forbidden City, but they are not something that ordinary people can give into.

Enter the Forbidden City from the noon gate, enter from the Huiji Gate on the right, the Wenhua Hall is here, and the cabinet and the six ministries are all working in it.

Of course, if you go to the Ministry of Rites to check your identity, you must not be able to enter directly from the noon gate, but only through the Donghua Gate on the right. This means that Juren is not yet qualified to enter the Forbidden City through the noon gate.

After the Jinshui Bridge, the noon gate has three gates on the left, the middle and the right, the gate in the middle, only the emperor can walk, during the great dynasty, the civil officials enter the Forbidden City from the left gate, and the military attache enters the Forbidden City from the right gate. In normal times, civil and military officials above the third rank enter the Forbidden City from here. Officials below the third rank entered the Forbidden City from the Donghua Gate and the Xihua Gate to work.

The office houses in the Forbidden City are all civil structures, the doors and windows are very large, and when passing through each door, there are high thresholds, which need to be paid attention to, otherwise you will trip over, which is very inconvenient.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites, with Su Tiancheng, went directly to the Department of Etiquette and Officials of the Ministry of Rites to go through the relevant procedures.

Su Tiancheng paid attention to it, and the window of the small wooden lattice was still pasted with thin paper.

The weather in the first month of the year is still very cold.

Su Tiancheng followed the clerk very carefully.

To say that he arrived in the capital a little late, most of the candidates have already registered, this registration is a big deal, and the candidates who came to the Ministry of Rites to register at the end of the first month are also rare.

The clerk stopped at the front of a house, and there were two officials wearing black gauze hats, regimental collar shirts, and belts around their waists, their clothes were cyan, and if you looked closely, the complement on their chests was an emu, which indicated that both of them were officials of the seventh grade.

The official reported that someone had come to inspect his identity.

Neither of them stood up, but their expressions were a little strange, they looked at Su Tiancheng, and one of them spoke.

"It's really strange, why did you come at this time, come in."

Su Tiancheng hurriedly bent over and hugged his fists to salute the two, probably because he was too young, and there was still a trace of immaturity on his face, and the two officials didn't even return the salute.

"In Xia Su Tiancheng, a native of Pingyang Mansion in Shanxi, I came to go through the formalities today."

One official took the material and looked at it carefully, and the other official flipped through a document from the desk.

"Well, you are Shanxi Township Trial Xie Yuan, nineteen years old this year, it's not easy."

The two officials quickly read the materials, and a slight smile appeared on their faces.

They stood up, walked to Su Tiancheng's side, and returned the salute with fists.

Su Tiancheng's attitude is very low-key, and he has been like this since he entered Donghua Gate. You must know that this is the Forbidden City, the highest authority of the Ming Dynasty.

The change in the attitude of the two officials, getting up is also very simple, the township test Xie Yuan, the person who is really capable, there will be no problem in the test, maybe when the palace test, enter the head armor, that is a hot character.

After the official reviewed the materials, he found that there was no problem, so he put away all the materials, and then issued a certificate to the candidate, saying clearly the relevant time, when to go to the Ministry of Rites to get the number plate, when to go to the Tribute Institute to take the exam, when the number plate was issued, the Ministry of Rites certified that the materials did not recognize the person.

The rules of the examination are very strict, and the name of the closed-book examination is pasted, and the examiner cannot see it, which is similar to the situation of the township examination. But if you think that you will be completely innocent in the test, then you are very wrong, and there is something strange in this.

After reading the materials, one of the officials directly opened the certificate, and when he handed it to Su Tiancheng, his mouth spoke.

"Most of the candidates have already registered, and the official will handle it for you."