On March 17, Zhao Zhen went to the academy again.

Zheng Lang and Zhang Fangping tried their best to save redundant officials for him, but Zhao Zhen's heart was too soft.

According to the rules, a batch of scholars will be brushed out when the initial examiner evaluates, and another batch will be brushed off when the summer examiner re-evaluates, and a batch of scholars will be brushed off at the end when the detailed examiner verifies the ranking.

This process depends on how many jinshi the emperor needs in the end, for example, this time Zhao Zhen said, I only need two or three hundred jinshi, then the scholars will be miserable, and more than two-thirds of the scholars will be brushed off in turn in the three evaluations. If Zhao Zhen said, I haven't taken the exam for a few years, I just ascended the throne, the quota should be relaxed, and the scholars will come in spring.

Spring should come.

Before the provincial examination, Zhao Zhen said that he was slightly relaxed, so the Ministry of Rites Examination finally decided more than 700 Jinshi for the palace examination to further interpret.

When Zheng Lang and Zhang Fangping started, the preliminary evaluation and re-evaluation were carried out, and a total of five hundred and sixty-two were decided, including four or five ordered by Zhao Zhen himself, not everyone read it, and took a few copies of the paper and looked at it, yes, although it was only coarse, it was beautiful. God knows where the quality is! So he took out these papers, moved those who were at the bottom to the bottom, and moved those who were behind to move forward. Even if the emperor wants to take care of it, he can't do too much.

Since the quality is beautiful, it is not too much, and the examiner has no discussion.

But in the end, the detailed official verified this joint, and Zhao Zhen came in again and said: "This time, the scholar performed well, so I don't choose it, I choose it all." ”

The emperor's words may not be counted, and several examiners objected, so Zhao Zhen told Zheng Lang and Zhang Fangping about it, and said very emotionally: "The scholars are dedicated to me, running around and working hard, how can I bear to see them fall one by one?" ”

Several examiners locked the hospital, and they didn't understand the outside world, and after listening to it, they couldn't say anything. Among them, there are also those who were born in the poor family in the past, and they have only passed many scientific examinations, if there was such a measure at that time, then even if it is an account office, why should the wife and children suffer for decades?

An elderly official wiped his tears and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty." ”

Zhao Zhen smiled and didn't answer, although Liang Xiaofu raised Guo's matter again, which made him very annoyed, but Zheng Jiazi still made him feel very warm. Suddenly laughed, this little guy said that he was soft-hearted, but in fact he was soft-hearted than himself.

Xu Xu said: "Zhuqing, so I am very moved, I can't bear to see them interpret again, if it weren't for the two choices have been decided, I will be more relaxed." ”

"Your Majesty, this quota is very high." Another official said.

More than 700 people, even if no one fell in this examination, 562 jinshi were decided, and only about 200 people were dismissed, which is a very high admission ratio compared with previous years.

"Well, so be it."

Several examiners have no objections, the country uses talents, literary talents are the first, and virtue is the second, with the benevolence of the scholars, it doesn't hurt to choose dozens of people. Of course, if you don't choose one person, you still have to take a test. However, Zhao Zhen is very concerned about someone's test papers.

This test paper also made the examiners pay attention, the rhetoric is not very gorgeous, but there is a kind of mild atmosphere, jumping on the paper, and the article is written like a cloud of peers. When I arrived at the temple examination, I could hardly see any garbage, and most of the test papers were very eye-catching, but this paper was even more eye-catching.

Zhang Dexiang made a mistake, and dozens of palace examination examiners would not make his mistake again, thinking that Zheng Lang would be some kind of radical, and after reading his provincial examination papers, he actually knew it in his heart. Approximately. Where the initial examiner is in the first place, where the summer examiner is still in the first.

After Zhao Zhen saw it, he floated by lightly, saving officials from gossiping about something. If you don't mention it yourself, it's the first thing that the examiners have agreed on, what else do you have to say? However, there were some minor changes here at the Detailed Judge, and it was left in third.

I may not have guessed correctly, but several examiners knew it in their hearts, and it was probably it. I did it for the sake of secrecy.

Zhao Zhen is trying to find an excuse, before hanging the real volume, the ranking will be decided, and the controversy will be smaller. Two days later, he came here, only to find that the paper had run to the first place. I wanted to ask, but I was afraid of the traces and didn't dare to ask. I knew about the reason, and after I said it, several examiners were moved in their hearts, and finally chose Tak Ying between avoidance and virtue. But these examiners have no bottom in their hearts, and everything can only be known when the palace examination list comes out.

came over and took a look, this time the paper was turned over in the bright light, and the rankings decided by several examiners should be fairer, but that paper continued to stay high in the first position.

Returning to the palace, he reviewed the notes for a while, and said to Yan Wenying: "If the Zheng family is really a high school champion, do I need to avoid it?" ”

is a normal psychological reaction, if several examiners really knock down this paper and put it in the third or fourth, he is unwilling. But he has been staying in the first position, and he hesitates in his heart.

Yan Wenying didn't react for a while, and said, "Your Majesty, why did you change your mind?" ”

"Fan's sarcastic advice is not useless, and now Zheng Jiazi is in the limelight."

"Your Majesty, sell jade and smash it, cut it with handsome faces, and pollute it with high morality, right? Your Majesty, now you are benevolent and benevolent for the government, your subordinates are conscientious, rewards and punishments are orderly, and the courtiers are willing to serve Your Majesty loyally. Yan Wenying said loudly.

The examiner said that the lord is wise and virtuous, but it is not false.

Many bad things happened in the court, but that generation didn't happen? In general, now the "righteous wind" in the court has overpowered the "crooked wind", and the officials all pay attention to moral cultivation, and even Lu Yijian did what he did before he was heavily attacked by Fan Zhongyan, in addition to the matter after the abolition, he was also deliberately using gentle means.

The atmosphere is better.

Under the influence of this great atmosphere, this Tailin committed evil and began to learn from those direct ministers, "emphasizing" the cultivation of inner moral cultivation, so he did what happened later...... At this time, he definitely didn't have any selfish intentions, so he answered very confidently and with a righteous face. He also said: "Such a courtier, Your Majesty wants to reuse it, but you want to pollute it, and you want to suppress it, Your Majesty, where do you want to take the country?" Besides, Your Majesty is not old, so you want to learn from Tang Minghuang? ”

"......" Zhao Zhen asked him to be speechless, and said after a long time: "You are also a good courtier, I know." But I think of one thing, there is a very small champion in history. ”

"The minister doesn't know," Yan Yingwen was a little confused, if Zheng Jiazi won the champion, he was not the youngest Jinshi, but it stands to reason that he should be the youngest champion.

"I have checked, Jia Zhi, a genius in the Tang Dynasty, also won the champion at the age of seventeen."

This mentality is also very strange, what is the difference between being the champion in the early year and the champion in the late year for teenagers? However, the Song Dynasty attached great importance to this, and there were probably no sports records to break, so it was also a matter of concern that the imperial examination records were broken.

Yan Wenying said: "Jia Zhi did not have three yuan in a row. ”

"How did the Tang Dynasty come to say the three elements?" Even at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, there were only two-level examinations, and the third-level examinations were later perfected.

"Can Jia Zhi compare with Zheng Xingyuan?"

"That's right." Zhao Zhen smiled, Jia Zhi is a talented man, and the rule of officials does not seem to be too bad, but it is far from the height that Zhao Zhen expects from Zheng Lang. At this moment, I really made up my mind, so I calmed down and dealt with the twists and turns.

…… In Zhao Zhen's eyes, he is just a champion, and several champions have been produced in his hands. If anything, this is the first champion after he came to power, and this champion is also a little different.

But this night was a difficult night for all the scholars.

After many years of hard study, it was time for the final battle. Can you jump into the dragon gate, tomorrow...... However, some people thought differently, Sima Guang and Wang Anshi lay on the bed and asked worriedly: "Shengyuan, can you win the champion tomorrow." ”

is not only the champion, but also the three yuan, the symbolism is stronger.

"Those who are in the middle cannot be happy, and those who are not in the middle cannot be worried, whether they are the champions or the jinshi, they all have to do things for the country."

"This is a little different, such as Lu Mengzheng......" Sima Guang said. Although the champion may not necessarily enter the two academies as a phase, but if he wins the champion, as long as he does something slightly, he will soar quickly in the officialdom, such as Lu Mengzheng, after winning the champion, in only six years, he was promoted to the governor of political affairs, and the speed of promotion made many officials red-eyed, and they also began to put down their bodies, study hard, and enter the examination room. Don't be an official or an official, first seek a real fame.

"Sima Saburo, when Lu Xianggong was the champion, was thirty-one years old, and six years later, he was thirty-seven years old, which was the best time in his life. How old am I now, and how old will I be in six years' time, that Your Majesty has graced me enough to make me the Vice-Chancellor of the State at the age of twenty-three? ”

Wang Anshi laughed, and after laughing, he said: "This time we brought trouble to Xingyuan, I didn't expect Li Di to come forward." ”

We're just targeting Fan sarcasm, if you're a big prime minister, what's going on?

"It's okay, anyway, I plan to go to Jiangnan to avoid it for a few years, even if he dislikes me, so what? After all, he is still a first-class direct minister, that is, Lu Xianggong, Fan Zhongyan, Kong Daofu, and after they went to the place, did Lu Xianggong chase and fight? Unless Ding is a phase, then we will avoid it as soon as possible. ”

Speaking of this, Zheng Lang frowned slightly, if Fan Zhongyan and the others came back, instead of continuing to chase and beat Lu Yijian, but adopting a cooperative attitude, what would be the result?

Infighting!

Li Yuanhao became like that, but these shrewd people became fools, and their IQ dropped below fifty, and they reminded him several times, but no one paid attention. But when it comes to infighting, the IQ immediately rises to more than 15, and in the end, the fight is fought for the sake of fighting, and even the life and death of the common people cannot be seen.

Wang Anshi and Sima Guang didn't know what Zheng Lang was thinking at the moment, and now they were also among the militants in the infighting. But after thinking about it, with Li Di's person, he probably wouldn't do the kind of thing that Ding Wei did.

The two sighed at the same time and said, "It's just that we can't go to see the list tomorrow." ”

"Waiting is also a beauty, as long as it doesn't take too long."

"Degree!" The two replied in unison.

"You are also naughty ghosts," Zheng Lang smiled, he was always small, he was always young, no matter how fierce and bullish they were in the future. Walking back, Xing'er and Si'er washed his feet, and Si'er asked, "I heard that Li Xianggong is a good person, why did he do this?" ”

"You don't understand," it is estimated that Si'er explained the reasoning, saying that she might not be able to understand it in the previous year, and then said: "After the list is released, if we can go down to Jiangnan smoothly, how about you warm my bed this winter?" ”

Later, when they grew up, Zheng Lang didn't let them warm their beds. In fact, many large families do this, children are afraid of freezing when they are young, after all, there is no air conditioning electric blanket, let the little maid warm the bed, and small, by the way, can take care of it. It turned out to be Liu'er, but when Zheng Lang came, Liu'er treated Zheng Lang very badly, thinking that he was a small [***]. In fact, Liu Er was still young at that time, and this status mostly means that she will be a concubine in the future, wouldn't it be natural for a petty official to rub some oil? For this reason, now Liu Er often thinks about it and regrets it, but luckily a few mothers found a good family for her. Seeing that she was unhappy, it was not strange that several mothers were kind-hearted. Fortunately, his son was "older" and gradually sensible, so he handed it over to Si'er.

Si'er warmed his bed for a long time, which was also a gesture. When I was a child, the bed warmer was a real bed warmer, and at this time the bed was warmed...... Si'er said in surprise: "Da Lang, really? ”

"But it's not okay to have a child, you're still young, I'm still young," Zheng Lang rubbed his nose, grandma's, I'm about to get married, is it an eighteen-year-old father? When I go back this time, do I want to ask Liu Niang and Qi Niang what good contraceptive methods they have. Thinking about it again, I'm afraid that there is a way, and Liu Niang and Qi Niang will not teach themselves.

Then I saw Jiang Xing'er looking at herself with a smile, in mid-March, the weather was warm, the spring shirt was thin, and Xing'er was wearing a white lady's dress with gold silk floral patterns, like a flower blooming beautifully.

waved with his hand and said, "Xing'er, Si'er, you come here." ”

The two girls approached, and Zheng Lang said, "It's done......"

understood, the two girls fell into his arms, stretched out their little fragrant tongues, kissed them, their faces were red, and they were reluctant to leave his arms. The soft fragrance is in his arms, and Zheng Lang is reluctant...... When he got up early the next morning, he did not call all the scholars into the temple, and one of them sang. There may be trouble, or meet a person like Fan Jin, and spread the word: Fan Jin, a scholar from a certain state, is the champion of high school.

Then Fan Jin sang all the way outside the hall, and said as he ran: "Wow! Good! I'm in! ”

What did that become?

Could it be that he used a plane to pick up his pig-killing father-in-law and bring a big-eared melon seed, otherwise it would be difficult to do, so how could the Son of Heaven receive him? Just imagine, Zhao Zhen happily wanted to take a look at the champion demeanor, the person pulled in, and he was still going crazy, dancing and saying, Oh, I'm hit, okay, I'm hit!

It's not that he's crazy, it's possible that Zhao Zhen will be mad with anger. Don't say no, at least similar situations happen from time to time, even Zheng Lang saw that he won the provincial yuan and lost a lot of energy, which is a normal person's psychological reaction.

First at the gate of Shangshu Province, the middle is introduced into the hall, there is this buffer process, the mood of the middle gradually calms down, and then the roll call, a series of ceremonies begin. That's it, under the agitation of high school people, it is the first time to see the Son of Heaven so closely, and the Son of Heaven talks to himself, and there are often gaffes. But in terms of the most glorious champion, it was still the Song Dynasty, which was too grand, and later the Ming and Qing dynasties were not as good.

The time of the list is a little later, and he has to wait for Zhao Zhen to enter the hall, come in with the list of detailed officials, hang the real scroll, Zhao Zhen roll call, official records, and sometimes make some changes to the rankings, especially the top ten rankings. Then verify the two test papers with the officials, and hand the list to Shangshu Province. It's a little slow, so although Zheng Lang got up early, it wasn't too early to go out to see the list.

After freshening up and getting ready, the sun had already come out, and the fog had dispersed, Zheng Lang took the two young girls, and then sat in the carriage and galloped towards Shangshu Province without hurrying.

Passing by the old man's bun shop, and seeing that there were many people queuing, Zheng Lang said to Song Bo, "Stop." ”

Zheng Lang said to Si'er: "Go, I will give him four words, attract him such a good business, and come over for me two big buns, I can't cheap him." ”

It's another cold joke, Jiang Xing'er covered her little mouth and had a lot of fun.

Si'er really went to ask for it, squeezed in front of the crowd and said, "Brother Bing, save two buns for our family." ”

The old man wiped the sweat on his forehead with a sweat towel, looked at Si'er, and then looked at the carriage parked not far away, ran over in surprise, knelt on the ground and said, "Thank you for saving yuan." ”

"Don't thank you, I asked you for two buns last time, and I went well in the exam, so I asked for two buns again for a good omen."

The old pawn knew this time that Zheng Lang was not asking him for buns, but promoting it for himself. Excited, I didn't know what to say, so I brought two buns and said loudly: "Shengyuan, you will definitely win the champion." ”

"Thank you for your good words." But Zheng Lang knew that he would win, and he wouldn't be able to win even a jinshi, and the difficulty of being the champion was still very high. Fortunately, there are not many "masters" in this session, otherwise it will be more difficult in the previous or next session.

The carriage began to move again.

Jiang Xing'er snuggled in his arms and said in a coquettish voice: "Zheng Lang, the slave knows how kind your heart is. ”

"If you are not kind, please don't harm others, and help more people in the case of self-preservation."

"The slave suddenly felt that it didn't matter if Zheng Langzhong didn't win the champion, as long as he kept snuggling up like this, the slave was happier than anything else."

"How? Da Lang must be the champion," Si'er said.

The good atmosphere was ruined by her, Zheng Lang looked at this little confusion, and couldn't help but be happy, about she thought that today was very important, deliberately dressed up, combed a double snail bun, the green silk in the middle was scattered on her shoulders, and she also wore a lake-green long skirt, and smeared some fat powder on her face, as the morning breeze blew into the carriage, the fragrance drifted into Zheng Lang's nose. Zheng Lang sniffed and asked, "Si'er, what kind of incense powder are you rubbing?" ”

"It's Sister Xing'er who took the slave to Panlou Zhong's shop to buy osmanthus resin."

"Good fat, fragrant but not strong, fine but not vulgar." In fact, Zheng Lang doesn't understand fat powder, he just thinks it's good if he doesn't prick people's noses.

After being praised by Zheng Lang, Si'er said happily: "Thank you, Sister Xing'er." ”

then shrunk into Zheng Lang's arms and made a good cat.

When I arrived in Shangshu Province, many scholars came, not only those who entered the Shike, but also the scholars of all disciplines, as well as the old scholars who played the famous system of Kaien Kekao. The latter were in the majority, and many of them were gray-haired and standing in the morning breeze with some anticipation and some worry on their faces.

Zheng Lang said in his heart that he couldn't let the little emperor see their expressions at this time, otherwise his efforts with Zhang Fangping some time ago might be in vain. Just thinking about it, Zhang Fangping walked over and said, "Congratulations to Xingyuan first." ”

"If it's the champion, I don't dare to accept it, if it's a jinshi, I should accept it."

The two laughed, and Zheng Lang said again: "I also congratulate Brother Zhang first." ”

"Alas, I don't even dare to take it." Zhang Fangping said worriedly. Zheng Lang knew in his heart that there would be no shortage of Jinshi admitted this year, and Zhang Fangping would definitely go to high school. But the scholars have no bottom in their hearts, in case they are like a few years ago, and only one third of them is recorded, they may not be able to get in. Therefore, even a free and easy person like Zhang Fangping is a little fascinated at the moment.

Two uncles also came over. The third uncle was proud of the spring breeze, holding a handsome little lady, but she was quite good-looking. The little girl gave a salute and said, "I've seen the provincial yuan." ”

"I've seen my sister-in-law." Zheng Lang said, what should I do? The little lady of the Wang family is one year younger than herself, but she can marry her uncle and call her sister-in-law obediently.

After talking for a while, the two of them hid aside and whispered. Wang De used to rob his son-in-law, which was only the beginning, and more people began to sharpen their knives on the road from Donghua Gate to Gongyuan, which is the real list of catching sons-in-law.

Then some scholars came to make a noise, and after talking for a while, some officials and officials arrived under the guard of the forbidden army.

First of all, the special name, the list gradually opened, and many elderly scholars cried with joy when they saw their names appear on it. But many more were disappointed. The number of people recorded is two-thirds less than in history, and only three hundred and twelve are taken, that's it, Zhang Fangping also sighed: "There are too many people." ”

If you are admitted, you will be used, and at least one official will be awarded. How much more money does the country have to waste a year to feed more than 300 officials? Zheng Lang didn't answer, it's actually very good, a total of 857 people have been hired in history, and that's called fear.

But then the joy was washed away, and when it came to Zhuke, the list was slowly revealed, and it turned out to be two hundred and eighty-two, which made Zhao Zhen think that this year's scholars were good, and the quota was loosened, and three hundred and sixteen people were admitted. But for most scholars, this was good news. The more people there are, the greater the chance of being admitted, and as for the country, can you manage it?

After the two lists were posted, the most important list was proposed, the Jinshi list!

Many scholars' eyes suddenly turned and stared at Zheng Lang.

Zheng Lang looked at countless eyes staring at him, and couldn't help touching his nose, this is the champion, is it really so good?

But Si'er was very happy, and he didn't know what to say, so he said, "Da Lang, the weather is good today." ”

The weather was good, cloudless and blue as a jewel......