On March 15, the legendary palace test day, Emperor Jiajing personally drove to the Huangji Palace, hundreds of officials dressed in public service stood on both sides, and there was no difference from usual, and then firecrackers rang out, some people held the question into it, as for the case of the examination, and then the hundred officials withdrew, leaving only the deacon.

Then 400 tributes entered, and the tributes bowed five times and bowed three times, and the apse test officially began.

The palace examination is different from the township examination and the general examination, and there is only one policy topic, and several hundred words are sprinkled with enthusiasm, all of which talk about the war in the southeast, and finally fall on how to reform the military system and enhance combat effectiveness.

Tang Shen sat upright, read the question several times, and kept thinking about it in his heart.

He visited Xu Ge Lao before the exam, and Xu Jie showed unusual enthusiasm, as if he was making up for the previous misunderstanding, and talked to Tang Shen about the palace exam.

Xu Jie specially instructed Tang Shen that due to the short time of the palace examination, and the examiners were temporarily seconded, most of them were important ministers of the imperial court, so they had no energy to read the articles carefully, so the palace examination was the first to focus on calligraphy, and to write the most beautiful pavilion style, which Tang Shen was very good at.

The second is that the article should conform to the rules, be even, and not find any faults, only in this way can we strive for the top ranking. Elder Xu Ge, who had always been quiet, solemnly told Tang Shen that he had swept Yan Song's face, and he must not leave a handle to save him from incurring revenge......

Tang Shen remembered Xu Jie's words, but just last night, Tang Yi personally came to his father's study, holding three strategies in his hand and spreading them on the table.

The first is the rule of officials, the second is finance, and the third is the military system!

At present, the problems of the Ming Dynasty are nothing more than these three points, the central problem is the corruption of officials, and the huge financial gap, while the southern and northern captives are the bottom of the army's combat effectiveness. Tang Shen glanced at it. I also have to admire my son's vision, most of the questions in the palace exam are one of the three.

Tang Yi's face was grim, and he said: "Dad, you are different from others, they are admitted to the Jinshi and still have a few years of study. Integrate into the officialdom little by little, and climb up step by step. As for you, Your Majesty has already decided to reuse it, so in this policy, you must let Your Majesty see your talent, and you can't be like other people, not seeking merit but seeking no fault. The proposed strategy must be practical, with the least amount of hassle and the most efficient, and only then will it be. In order to make His Majesty really value you. ”

Okay, and Xu Ge Lao are completely two arguments, Tang Shen looked bitter and puzzled: "Yi'er, the clearer this thing is written, the easier it is to attract criticism, once it is ......."

"Not once!" Tang Yi said categorically: "Dad, you remember that controversy itself is value. The top priority for the two of us is to brush up on existence, and to let Your Majesty remember you. The Yan Party and the Xu Party are pouring into each other, and there is no paradise above the court. Even if he is the sixth ministry and nine secretaries, as long as he belongs to the two factions, he is at risk of becoming cannon fodder. If you want to get rid of the fate of being manipulated, you can only hug the thickest thigh of the Ming Dynasty. Even if you are a low-grade official, with the addition of holy relatives, you are King Kong and not bad......"

For the whole night, Tang Yi was instilling his concept of hugging his thighs to his father, and Tang Shen did a lot of things. I also saw that Tang Yi had done a lot of things, successfully digested and understood Tang Yi's things, and was completely prepared.

But in the real face of the exam questions, Tang Shen hesitated again, did he really want to listen to his son's suggestion and bring up the set of abolishing the military household system, establishing a professional army, and building warships?

That's destroying the ancestral system! It will inevitably attract overwhelming opposition, and there is controversy, but the value may not come out!

Tang Shen fell into the battle between heaven and man, while the other scholars thought for a while and began to write hard. How many of them know the military system? It is nothing more than the clichés of selecting good generals, training elite soldiers, and rewarding meritorious service.

……

Li Ben, the second assistant of the cabinet, is an important member of Yan Song's party and is also the examiner of this palace examination. Before the exam, Yan Shifan found him, and the big lama said: "Lao Li, let's make it clear, I don't like that guy Tang Shen, and I dethroned him." ”

He said it lightly, but Li Ben seemed to hear a thunderbolt.

"My little pavilion elder, you can't harm me!" Li Ben said with a sad face: "Tang Shen was personally given words by His Majesty, and it has always been the teacher who gives words to students, His Majesty's actions could not be clearer, he became a protégé of Tang Shen a long time ago." If Tang Shen is deposed, not only will it not be in accordance with the rules, but it will also attract the anger of His Majesty, and the subordinates will have small arms and legs, but they can't afford it! ”

Looking at Li Benwo's virtue, Yan Shifan became more and more resentful in his heart, and he was respectful to himself, so a little Bai Ding dared to shout at himself, this world is really evil!

"Hmph, even if you can't be dethroned, you can't get his ranking behind and let him be a top three jinshi."

Li Ben nodded with a bitter face, "Xiaguan do his best." ”

He agreed, but he was full of bitterness, and he lowered the ranking of the people His Majesty valued, so he couldn't lose points with Jiajing, but he didn't know that he didn't have many things.

With a feeling of anxiety, Li Ben glanced at Tang Shen's scroll, only to see that it was clean and clean, and he didn't write a word, and Li Ben suddenly felt ecstatic in his heart.

"So he's a straw bale, so it's no wonder I'm not guilty!"

Li Ben was thinking about it, suddenly Tang Shen's brows stretched, he lifted the brush, and without thinking, the beautiful black pavilion body flowed out from his fingers, and after a glance, Li Ben gasped. couldn't help but secretly say: "With this calligraphy alone, the qualifications to enter the Hanlin Academy are enough." ”

Thinking of this, Li Ben was scared again, in case he was really a great talent, but he was favored by the emperor again, Yan Shifan also forced himself to lower his ranking, isn't this pushing himself to the fire pit?

Li Ben complained bitterly, kept walking through the science field, and his real mind was all on Tang Shen alone, trying to scrutinize every sentence, trying to find a little loophole in it, and take the middle in the name of low and low......

At dusk, the gong sounded.

The deacon shouted angrily: "Don't write a word more, or you will all be dethroned!" ”

Several candidates who hadn't finished writing were scared, and squeezed out a few sad tears, it seems that the second class is hopeless, being a third-class jinshi, mixing a county order in the future, and the wife and children are hot on the kang, which is not bad, so I can only comfort myself like this.

Li Ben personally collected the volume, and when he walked in front of Tang Shen, he saw the dense font, and suddenly his eyes lit up, revealing a happy smile, it was really an endless road, he had a way!

……

After the end of the palace examination, the intense marking work began, the chief reading officer is today's first auxiliary scholar, the special entry Guanglu doctor Zhu Guo Shao Marshal Prince Taishi Ministry Shangshu Hua Gaidian University Scholar Yan Song, followed by the Shaobao Prince Taibao Rite Department Shangshu Dongge University Scholar Xu Jie, Li Ben, the household department Shangshu Fang Chun, the criminal department Shangshu He Ao, the Ministry of Engineering Shangshu Ouyang Bijin, the left capital Yushi Tu Qiao...... Just looking at this dazzling list shows the importance of the temple examination.

After three days of intense grading, Li Ben went to Yuxi Palace with the best ten copies of the papers, asking to see Jiajing.

Although the Jinshi are all considered protégés of the Son of Heaven, except for Zhu Yuanzhang, the subsequent emperors only look at the top ten papers in order to hide from Qingjing, and the later ones are completely handed over to the readers to evaluate and rank. Otherwise, why would the students regard the main examination of the examination as a teacher, and they should not be the emperor's students if they are never responsible.

Jiajing leaned on the Bagua Cloud Bed, and there was a fat and simple Taoist priest kneeling in front of him, Jiajing smiled slightly, "Lan Daoxing, you said there would be a happy event today?" ”

"Well, the will of the gods will not be wrong!"

"Phew, play me like a three-year-old?" Jiajing scolded with a smile: "Who doesn't know the list of people who are going to be sent to the palace test today, the imperial court picks up talents, and says that this is a happy event, what kind of blue fairy are you?" ”

If it were someone else, Jiajing would wilt as soon as he scolded him, but Lan Daoxing didn't know if he had understood the magic skills taught by Tang Yi and Tang Shunzhi, or if he was born not afraid of life and death. He actually tilted his neck and retorted: "Your Majesty, the minister is the will of the gods, I don't believe you wait and see, if the minister tells a lie, he will cut off the minister's head." ”

"Okay, you can't see blood on a good day, get out of the way!"

Lan Daoxing hurriedly retreated, Jiajing was silent for a while, and said slowly: "Let Li Ben come in." ”

After a while, Li Ben held the test paper and knelt in front of Jiajing. The old eunuch Mai Fu took the roll and sent it to Jiajing.

"Emperor, please take a look."

"Hmm." Jiajing nodded, picked up the first volume, looked at it for a while, put it aside, and then picked up the second copy, this time the time was shorter, and when it came to the last two, it was simply swept aside.

"Li Ben, are there only these excellent papers in this subject?"

Li Ben's sweat came down, "Your Majesty, there may be a pearl in the sea, the time for reading the paper is limited, the minister, the minister will inevitably be careless!" ”

"Hmph." Jiajing's face was angry, and he said gloomily: "Someone shouldn't be deliberately suppressing talents, right?" ”

"Wechen don't dare, Wechen never dare!" Li Ben hurriedly kowtowed and said, "If Your Majesty doubts Weichen, you might as well take all the test papers for inspection." ”

Mai Fu, who was waiting on the side, sneered, "Master Li, you are confused, there are more than 400 volumes, the master is a god in the sky, how can you have time to take care of these mundane affairs, and you don't bring the most critical one!" ”

Li Ben nodded hurriedly, and ran outside with a rolling belt, only to hear Jiajing's voice coming, "If you take it wrong, don't come!" ”

After half an hour, Li Ben finally rushed to the fine house with Tang Shen's test paper in his hand, and hurriedly sent it to Jiajing.

"Your Majesty, it's not that Weichen intends to suppress it, it's just that this test paper is really out of order?"

"Oh?" Jiajing asked loudly, "Where is the irregularity?" ”

"This ...... There are too many words. Li Ben said in a low voice.

"Too many words? Is this also a problem? Jiajing casually flipped through the test paper, only to read two lines, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he shouted in a low voice: "McFu, open the curtain." ”

McFuk nodded hurriedly, Li Ben peeked at Jiajing's focused look, and suddenly felt cold in his heart, from March Day, directly back to Sanjiu!

"Damn, it's over now, Xiao Ge Lao, Xiao Ge Lao, you killed me!" (To be continued.) )