The father and son had dinner at the wine shop, Chu Suiliang hurriedly went to find a few alumni to party, Chu Liang carried a bamboo cage food box, the food box contained excess meals, Chu Liang was very thrifty, spent three hangs of money to eat a meal, and of course the rest of the food had to be packed and taken away.

He slowly walked to the south city gate, and saw dozens of wooden cages on a wooden pole on the left side of the south city gate, and there were human heads in the wooden cages, men, women and children, and there were large notices on the wall, the notices were not new, and it was about ten days, and the content was the same as what the guy said, leaving the Shijun Luo family, privately casting official money, and making good copies of the inferior, according to the law of the Great Sui, he beheaded the whole family of fifty-two people, so as to set an example for the world.

Chu Liang nodded, soft to help the poor and weak, help the lonely elderly, strict and resolute, kill a hundred examples, sure enough, it is the combination of rigidity and softness, this is the way to long-term peace and stability, blindly forgiving, will only make the people impetuous, the official has no majesty; Blindly being strict will make the people's grievances boil, and the government and the people will be antagonistic, and the Northern Sui court has done a good job in this regard.

At this time, Chu Liang found that there was a big black iron box on the right side of the city gate, and there were two soldiers standing next to it, he was a little curious, so he walked over quickly, and when he walked to the iron box, he found that it was a large mailbox, and the opening of the opening could be used to submit books, and the front of the box said "Yu Shi Tai Kuang" He was a little incomprehensible, and wanted to ask the two soldiers, but the two soldiers were like clay sculptures, and ignored him at all.

A hearty laugh suddenly came from behind him, "This is the box for the Yushitai to collect people's feelings, and it is actually the box for suing officials." ”

As soon as Chu Liang turned around, he found a young official about twenty years old standing behind him, and his fish card was only about eight grades. It is estimated that he is the official in charge of this 'Imperial History Taikuang'.

Chu Liang put down the food box, arched his hand and asked with a smile: "Excuse me.... Is this a place where people can redress their grievances? ”

The official showed a meaningful smile and said implicitly: "In fact, it is not only the people who seek justice against the officials, but also the officials can sue each other........

Chu Liang suddenly realized that the people can sue the officials, and the officials can also sue the officials, but in fact, the people can sue the officials. The scary thing is that the official sue the official, which is generally conclusive and detailed. One is accurate, and it won't tear the skin, this is a ruthless way to govern officials. As for whether or not to impeach, it's another matter.

"I see, thank you!"

Chu Liang nodded, turned around and walked towards the Sui Pavilion, he walked up the steps, and an official greeted him, looked him up and down and asked with a smile: "This gentleman is an old official of the Sui Dynasty?" ”

Chu Liang smiled bitterly and said: "I have been an official of the Chen Dynasty, an official of the Sui Dynasty, and an official of the Western Qin, and now I want to be an official of the Northern Sui Dynasty again." I wonder if you need a veteran of the Four Dynasties like me? ”

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The much-anticipated Northern Sui imperial examination finally ended in the cheers of the scholars, and in the next few days, the scholars were touring the mountains and rivers near Taiyuan City, or drinking and partying to talk about world affairs, or meeting friends in writing. Writing poems and fighting sourness, young or old scholars are enjoying the imperial examination festival that is rare in this life, and in the closed marking hall of Guozixue, more than 100 doctors transferred from Pei Xue, Wang Xue, and Guozixue are nervously reviewing the mountains of examination papers.

The chief examiner was Li Gang, although the old man who was nearly seventy years old still stubbornly refused to serve as the official of the Northern Sui, he did not refuse Yang Yuanqing's suggestion to ask him to be the chief examiner. He is happy to select talents and educate the next generation.

The examiner's duty is not to participate in the marking, but to ensure the fairness of the marking, and to finalize the qualifications of the 200 admitted, and not to allow the occurrence of confusion and favoritism.

More than 20,000 examination papers are divided into three levels of screening, the first is to focus on the examination of the strategy, the policy theory can enter the next round, the next round is poetry, look at the format, rhyme, poetic realm, the three are good can enter the third round, through the paste of the final selection of 3,000 preliminary passers, and then from the 3,000 people to select the best 170 people.

Only one hundred and seventy people were admitted fairly through the examination, and there were still thirty places that needed to be decided by Yang Yuanqing, and he allocated these thirty places to the major famous families as needed.

There is no absolute fairness in the world, although the scholars played the slogan of 'don't want the door valve, want fairness', and even many children of famous families also participated in this kind of parade demanding fairness, but Yang Yuanqing still couldn't be fair in the real sense.

In the future, the prosperous world may be able to achieve real fairness, but he can't do it in the troubled times, he needs to draw the major famous families in Hebei to his side through the imperial examination, which is of great significance for the rapid stabilization of the political situation after the occupation of Hebei in the future, and even when he launches the Hebei campaign, it will play a prominent role.

Li Gang also understood Yang Yuanqing's distress, he silently accepted this arrangement, in fact, he knew in his heart that Yang Yuanqing only took half of the quota, which was already a huge concession to them.

"Master Li, the name slip of this test paper has fallen off."

A doctor who marked the paper stood up, held up a test paper high, and asked Li Gang, "What to do with this test paper?" ”

The so-called "pasted name" is to fill in the name, place of origin and test number before the exam, you must use a long piece of paper to paste the name, place of origin and test number, can not be seen, if deliberately crooked or not pasted, the test paper will be invalid on the spot, this is a very strict rule, but there will also be unexpected situations, such as in front of the eye, the name slip actually fell.

"Show me!"

The doctor hurriedly handed a test paper to Li Gang, Li Gang quickly glanced at the name, Wang Ji, a native of Taiyuan, and he glanced at the poem he wrote: Donggao is looking forward to the twilight, and he is dependent on his desires. The trees are all autumn colors, and the mountains are only sunset.

The poem is very well written, the scriptures are all right, and the policy is rated as the top, if according to such a score, this Wang Ji should be in the top ten, but why did his vague name break away, but he is a member of the Taiyuan Wang clan.

If in strict accordance with the regulations, the name slip falls off for no reason, and it is a related candidate, then this test paper will be invalidated, Li Gang pondered for a long time, he used a note to re-cover the name and place of origin, and picked up the pen to personally review the test paper.

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The three-day marking time passed quickly. On this morning, Li Gang came to Ziwei Pavilion with a sealed leather bag and walked into the meeting hall, where Yang Yuanqing and the five Xiangguo had been waiting for him for a long time.

"Sorry! It's a little late. Li Gang walked into the room and apologized to everyone.

"Mr. Li has worked hard these days."

Yang Yuanqing smiled and said: "We have been looking forward to it for a long time, I don't know who will be the leader?" ”

According to the regulations of Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, scholars participating in the provincial examination must go to the Ministry of Rites to submit their petitions. Therefore, the first place is called the champion or champion, although Yang Yuanqing got thirty places, everyone unanimously demanded. These thirty people cannot enter the first class, but can only enter the second class.

The first class is the top twenty, which is called Jinshi. And the second class is the last one hundred and seventy, called Congjinshi.

Li Gang opened the leather bag, and inside the leather bag was a thick roster, and below it was a stack of test papers, which were the top ten test papers, and the official ranking of the top ten needed to be decided by the ministers of Ziwei Pavilion.

Pei Ju saw at a glance that the person in second place was Pei Qingsong, the son of the Pei family, and his heart jumped suddenly, the third place was Wang Ji, this person he knew was Wang Xu's brother. is quite famous in Hedong, and the first place is a figure he has never heard of, Chu Suiliang, surnamed Chu, this should be Yangzhai people. He knew that there was a Chu Liang, a great scribe of the Southern Dynasty who was as famous as Yu Shinan.

Li Gang explained to everyone: "This Chu Sui's good strategy, poetry and posting scriptures are all excellent, especially his calligraphy is excellent, quite a lot of style, I am ashamed of myself, all the doctors unanimously recommended him as the first name." ”

Everyone took his test paper and looked at it carefully. The writing is really good, bright and beautiful, but it is calm and flying, although it is still a little lacking in the heat, it may be related to his age, and over time, it must be a generation of calligraphers.

Yang Yuanqing carefully looked at the admission list, and the thirty people he arranged were among them, and Shen Zhan, the son of Shen Bai, was ranked thirty-four, so he smiled at everyone and asked, "How about it, will the list be issued according to this list?" ”

Wang Xu bit his lip, he was a little dissatisfied with Pei Qingsong above his brother Wang Ji, but he couldn't say anything because of Pei Ju's face, Wang Ji's strategy was wrong with a word, and Pei Qingsong was all right, but he had a sentence altered in the scriptures, which was also not perfect.

Pei Ju understood his intentions, so he smiled at everyone: "Otherwise, transfer Pei Qingsong to the third place!" After all, Wang Ji is a great scribe who is famous in Jinzhong, and he is even more convincing in front. ”

Wang Xu didn't say anything, he actually acquiesced to Pei Ju's suggestion, Yang Yuanqing thought about it, and asked Li Gang again, "What does Mr. think?" ”

Li Gang smiled: "The two of them are about the same, I have no opinion." ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "Then adjust it a little, Wang Ji is second, and Pei Qingsong is third." ”

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At noon, more than 20,000 scholars rushed to the school yard next to Beicheng from all directions, and surrounded the school yard so much that they could only see dense human heads.

Although there would be special officials going to various inns to report the good news to the scholars, it was at least an hour later than the release of the list, so the scholars rushed to the school to watch the list.

The gold list has been posted, on thirty large wooden plaques, with soldiers protecting it below, and in addition to the two hundred scholars who have passed the examination, there is also a list of two thousand who have been admitted to Guozixue.

This gives many people a comfort, although they can't get into the Jinshi, but at least they can enter the country to study, and they will have the opportunity to enter the career in the future.

An official was shouting: "Gentlemen, please go back, there will be officials who come to the door to report the good news, the list will be kept for ten days, and you can come back to see the list tomorrow and the day after tomorrow!" ”

He shouted hoarsely, but no one listened to his advice, and the list was crowded with countless heads looking at the list, and from time to time there were shouts of surprise.

Perhaps because of the first imperial examination, the officials who issued the list also did not think about it, the scholars would not look at it once and leave, they could not find their names once, and they would look for the second, third or even fourth time, so that the people behind could not see the list and were so anxious that they shouted.

Chu Suiliang was a step late, there were already thousands of people crowded in front, and no one left for a long time, he was in a hurry, it depends on when he will go?

At this moment, he suddenly heard someone shouting his name, Yu Hang Chu Suiliang, he hurriedly raised his hand and shouted: "I'm here!" ”

The school field was quiet all of a sudden, and thousands of pairs of eyes in front of him looked at him together, seeing that his heart was empty, and he didn't know what was going on?

"What's going on?" He asked the people around him with a dry laugh.

A scholar stared at him and said slowly, word by word: "Yuhang Chu Suiliang is the champion of this imperial examination!" ”