On March 20, the 23rd year of Hongwu of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Xie An ushered in his last round of examination assessment and questioning.

At the first glance of those exam papers, Xie An was slightly dumbfounded, because there were seven or eight exam papers this time, even if the exam papers from the first two sessions were combined, I am afraid that there would not be as many as today.

To put it simply, today's exam paper is divided into two parts, the first part is "Chen Luo", as the name suggests, it is for candidates to state good suggestions and good governing strategies to the imperial court.

According to the requirements described in the title, students can write an essay on the pros and cons of domestic phenomena in various fields, such as the rule of officials, the rule of the people, the rule of the military, and the rule of water.

This is mandatory.

As for the second part, it is much more complicated, roughly divided into five application questions in different fields, namely "Case Judgment", "Construction", "People's Livelihood", "Duzhi", "Yuefu", each exam paper has three cases, together with fifteen questions, and yesterday's five scriptures, only require candidates to answer one or two of these five exam questions.

Among them, "Case Judgment" refers to the judgment of the case, from the case written on the test questions to find out all kinds of information, evidence, deduce the criminal, and punish the crime according to the law, in order to test the candidate's ability to judge the case, is the most basic requirement as the local county order.

Among them, the outstanding ones can even be recommended to serve in the Criminal Department, after all, the Criminal Department is a court agency specializing in managing this aspect.

"Construction" refers to the construction of large-scale civil engineering, just like saying that the test question says that the Son of Heaven ordered the construction of a circle, and the candidate needs to roughly calculate how many dates it will take to complete the garden, how many conscripts and civil servants will be needed, how much silver will be spent, and so on.

Candidates who excel in this examination paper will have the opportunity to work in the Ministry of Imperial Works.

"People's Livelihood", this is a relatively complex examination question, which contains all kinds of problems encountered by local cities, counties and county magistrates, how to control the people's hearts, how to channel the dissatisfaction in the hearts of the people, and even, when natural disasters occur, as a local parent official, how to do.

This examination paper, in fact, there is no so-called real answer, just like a county magistrate in the drought privately opened the granary of the county seat, distributed the rice grain to the hungry people, and took in the people who fled from other places, etc., from the moral point of view, this county magistrate undoubtedly loves the people like a good official, but from the law of the imperial court, without the approval of the imperial court, it is also a dereliction of duty to open a warehouse and release grain without the approval of the imperial court.

The benevolent and the wise see the wise, depending on what kind of person the examiner who marks the exam paper belongs to, but in any case, this test paper is also a test question that must be filled in by candidates who have become candidates for the local county order.

"Du Zhi", which is a piece belonging to the household department, simply put, is the purchase and sale of goods, the amount of profit, the test of students' ability in business, financial management, after all, the imperial court also has the so-called officials and businessmen under the name.

Compared with the above, the final "Yuefu" is relatively simple, just to test the student's talent in music, after passing the exam, but also to the Taichang Temple under the workshop for another test, excellent, you can go to the court to serve as a court musician in the music workshop, belongs to the Ministry of Rites.

Some are like professional assessments, except for the Ministry of War, most of the other six departments of the imperial court will look for suitable talents among the candidates who participate in the examination to supplement the various administrative agencies under their divisions, for example, those who are outstanding in the examination paper of "Case Judgment" have the opportunity to be favored by the Criminal Department and asked to serve in the executive agency under the Criminal Department, which may be the Weiwei Bureau, may be the Great Prison Temple, and of course, it may also be directly promoted to the local county order.

The same is true for others.

Xie An didn't know that the second half of this question was almost equivalent to the vocational qualification exam in later generations, and now he was excited because he had finally found the test question he knew.

He would never have thought that Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, who had no hope for him, would write the answer sheet for him in the side hall of Taichang Temple just like he had done two days ago.

Because of the experience of the first two exams, Ruan Shaozhou can be regarded as having seen it, in his opinion, that Xie An is almost a straw bag who does not learn and has no skills, and has no ink on his chest, he really doesn't understand what the eldest granddaughter under the knee of his mentor Yingong, the resourceful eldest grandson Xiangyu, likes that guy.

But then again, since the eldest grandson Xiangyu has known him, he can only do it, otherwise, the entire Ministry of Rites may suffer.

With a sigh, Ruan Shaozhou pondered for a moment, and then picked up his pen, focusing on the current situation of the imperial court, and wrote an article stating that various local officials had set up names and added taxes.

Just when Ruan Shaozhou's thoughts were surging and he was swaying his pen, he suddenly caught a glimpse of someone coming in out of the corner of his eye, and he was shocked, he hurriedly put down his pen and sandwiched the half-written exam paper in the book on the desk.

He had obviously ordered his subordinates to come and disturb him, so why did anyone come?

When he was wondering in his heart, Ruan Shaozhou looked up at the person who came, and then his face was shocked, he hurriedly stood up, and bowed his hand, "Master, how did you get here?" ”

It turned out that the person who walked into the side hall turned out to be the prime minister of the dynasty, his teacher Ruan Shaozhou, Yin Gong.

"Hehe, these days are the time of the examination, the court is peaceful, the old man can't be idle, so I came to see how the trial went," as he spoke, Yin Gong turned his head to look at the twelve or thirteen-year-old boy beside him, and said with a smile, "Sheng'er, don't come forward to greet your Uncle Ruan!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the little boy with a chubby face stepped forward and bowed to Ruan Shaozhou, "The kid has seen Uncle Ruan!" ”

"Don't dare, don't dare, the young boy is more polite!" Ruan Shaozhou chuckled and returned the salute, how did he not know the identity of this little boy, who was the eldest grandson of his mentor.

In terms of generation, he Ruan Shaozhou is a protégé of Duke Yin, and the son of Duke Yin, the head of the military department, Sun Jing, is of the same generation, even if it is the eldest grandson Xiangyu, he has to call him uncle, of course, it is one thing for the eldest grandson Xiangyu to call him or not, and it is another thing for him Ruan Shaozhou to dare to respond.

"Shaozhou, as the chief examiner of this examination, why don't you go to the venue to inspect?" Yin Gong asked curiously.

Ruan Shaozhou sighed in his heart when he heard this, thought about it, and said with a smile, "This is not a test question that has just been sent to all candidates, so the students want to be a little lazy......"

"Lazy? You? Yin Gong laughed when he heard this, he knew that his proud protégé had always been careful, how could he be lazy, and he didn't care when he heard that this was a joke.

Ruan Shaozhou instructed his subordinates to bring tea, and after a few words of greeting, Yin Gong suddenly said, "Shaozhou, in this examination, is there a student named Xie An?" ”

Ruan Shaozhou was slightly shocked when he heard this, and after thinking about it for a while, he arched his hand and said, "Qiqi Master's seat, it seems that there is a ......."

Yin Gong nodded, and then said, "The exam papers of the first two exams of all the candidates must have [Zhu Juan], right?" Tell someone to bring the [ink scroll] from the first two scenes of Xie An! ”

[Ink scroll] refers to the answer sheet written by the examinee with pen and ink, while [Zhu Juan] refers to the answer sheet made by the officials of the Ministry of Rites who copy the [ink scroll] with a vermilion pen and then copy a copy of the answer sheet, without writing the name, only the number, in order to make it difficult for the officials who read the examination paper to be recognizable from the handwriting, so as to reduce the possibility of fraud.

I have to say that when he heard Yin Gong's words, Ruan Shaozhou was stunned.

The reason why he dared to answer the question for Xie An was because the imperial court had a system of [Zhu Scroll] and [Ink Scroll] when reviewing the candidates' answer sheets, so as long as he personally copied Xie An's [Ink Scroll], no one would notice that it was wrong, but he never expected that his mentor Yin Gong would come to the venue in person and indicate that he wanted to see Xie An's [Ink Scroll].

Oops......

He shouted in his heart that it was not good, but Ruan Shaozhou didn't dare to show it on his face, so he could only call his subordinate officials according to his teacher's instructions and ask him to bring Xie An's ink scroll.

Not long after, an official came with two ink scrolls, and Yin Gong took a look at it and said softly.

How could he not recognize the handwriting of his protégé?

"......" glanced at Ruan Shaozhou, who was covered in cold sweat and bowed his head silently, Yin Gong read a cursory article, then nodded and praised, "Okay!" Good! -- The person who wrote this answer sheet is really a champion talent! ――Shaozhou, what do you think? ”

Ruan Shaozhou heard that the cold sweat on his forehead was even worse, how could he not know that his mentor was secretly satirizing him, satirizing him for being the top student in the high school list, ignoring his identity in the imperial court, and actually answering a question to a student.

With a bitter smile in his heart, Ruan Shaozhou said in a low voice, "The teacher is laughing, the student looks at that article is very ordinary......"

"Hehe," Yin Gong smiled noncommittally, put the two ink rolls aside, got up and said, "Take the old man to see that Xie An!" ”

The teacher has a life, how dare he disobey as a student, he smiled bitterly in his heart, and Ruan Shaozhou had no choice but to take Yin Gong to the examination room.

On the way, perhaps noticing the anxious look of his proud protégé, Yin Gong chuckled and said with relief, "Shaozhou, the old man knows a thing or two about this matter, it's none of your business, don't care about it......

Ruan Shaozhou was stunned when he heard this, and asked in surprise, "Does the master know?" ”

Yin Gong raised his hand and stroked his white beard, and said with a wry smile, "Two days ago, when the old man looked through the roster of candidates for the exam, he vaguely felt a little wrong, and after asking the people who cleaned the study, I learned that the girl actually took advantage of the old man's absence in the study, pretending to be the old man's handwriting, and added this person's name to the roster......

"That ......"

"Shaozhou wants to ask, since the old man already knows, why didn't he say it?"

"Yes......"

"Hehe," Yin Gong chuckled when he heard this, and then sighed and said, "The old man wants to know who can enter that girl's vision, and help him even if he does so...... Therefore, the old man deliberately delayed for two days, he wanted to see what Xie An was capable of, but he didn't want to ......" Speaking of this, he glanced at Ruan Shaozhou.

Ruan Shaozhou's face was flushed, and he looked submissive.

"Shaozhou, in your opinion, what about Xie An?"

Ruan Shaozhou thought for a while when he heard this, and since the teacher knew about it, he no longer hid it, shook his head and frowned, and said, "According to the student, it is really useless!" ”

"Huh!" Yin Gong was stunned, then laughed, and said, "That girl is pretentious, why would she take such care of a straw bag?" - In this way, the old man wants to meet this person even more! ”

While speaking, the two grandfathers and grandsons of Yin Gong, accompanied by Ruan Shaozhou, had come to Xie An's No. 250 examination house.

To be honest, Ruan Shaozhou had previously guessed whether Xie An had done the same two days before, and he started to eat and drink after a few perfunctory moments, but to his surprise, when he and his mentor came, Xie An was still waving his pen and thanking him.

After looking Xie An up and down, Yin Gong raised his feet and walked in.

Perhaps noticing that someone had walked into the room, Xie An, who was answering the question, subconsciously raised his head, but saw Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites who he had seen two days ago, accompanied a strange old man with gray hair and walked in, and he was very puzzled.

"I've seen two adults...... Since he hadn't seen Yingong and didn't know Yingong's identity, Xie An stood up and called vaguely.

"Hehe, sit down, don't get up, the old man is just routinely inspecting the examination room, don't care, continue to answer the questions!" Yin Gong smiled and waved his hand, asking Xie An to sit down and continue to answer the question.

Xie An glanced at Ruan Shaozhou suspiciously, and seeing this, the latter coughed and said, "Xie Xuexue, continue to answer the question!" ”

"Yes......"

A moment before and after, Yin Gong had been standing behind Xie An, watching him answer the test questions of "Construction", and gradually, his eyes showed a little surprise.

Because he found that Xie An's speed of answering questions was inevitably too fast, and he often just drew a sketch on the manuscript paper, plus some strange symbols that he had never seen before, and came up with the answer.

Regardless of whether the answer is accurate or not, at least at this rate......

Thinking of this, Yin Gong couldn't help but ask, "Xie Xuexue seems to be quite proficient in mental arithmetic!" ”

Xie An, who was swiping his pen to solve the problem, was stunned when he heard this, nodded inexplicably, and said, "I have a little experience......

"Hehe," Yin Gong smiled, glanced sideways at the test paper in Xie An's hand, and suddenly asked, "A conscription pays 100,000 yuan a day, 20,000 laborers, and three years' wages, how can you calculate it so fast?" Could it be nonsense? ”

"Nonsense?" Xie An glanced at Yin Gong strangely, a little unhappy in his heart, but because he didn't know the identity of this old man, he didn't dare to be presumptuous, but said, "Isn't this question very simple?" One person has 100 wen a day, and 20,000 people are 2 million wen, a total of 2,000 kan, that is, two hundred taels of silver, and three years, calculated according to three hundred and sixty days a year, a total of one thousand and eighty days, multiplied by two hundred taels per day, that is, two hundred and sixteen thousand taels of silver! - Isn't that right? ”

"......" Yin Gong was shocked when he heard this, even as the prime minister of the dynasty, he could not calculate such a large amount of expenses during this time, but seeing that Xie An said the Tao, he did not doubt the authenticity of these words in his heart.

It should be said that compared to his proud protégé's opinion of this Xie An, Yin Cheng is inclined to another guess.

That is the Xie An in front of him, a wizard who is not bound by common sense, and only in this way can he explain why his pretentious eldest granddaughter would look at this Xie An differently.

"Good, good!" Yin Gong nodded noncommittally, and suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of an exam paper on the table.

This is the volume of "The Case......

Slightly stunned, Yin Gong raised his hand to take the paper in his hand, took a closer look, and then a little surprise appeared in his eyes, because he found that Xie An had already deduced the prisoner from the three test questions on this test paper.

How could it be......

You must know these cases, which are the case files collected by the Criminal Department over the years, in order to provide the officials of the Criminal Department with learning experience, although I dare not say that each case is a difficult case, but at least the topics selected for this meeting are all strange cases that are enough to be amazing, even local officials with rich experience in judging cases in various parts of the Great Zhou may not be able to solve the case, but this Xie An, in such a short period of time, these three cases have been answered?

Glancing at Xie An, who was continuing to answer, Yin Gong looked at the first case.

In the winter of one year, the night was dark, a wealthy merchant in a certain county went out with a bag of silver, passed by a barren mountain, and when he was resting on the side of the road, he was accidentally robbed of the silver by a masked man, and the rich merchant hurriedly called for the guard, chased the thief away, chased for more than ten miles, and saw the thief fleeing into an inn on the side of the road from a distance.

After half a pillar of incense, the rich merchant and his guards finally arrived at the inn, but found that in addition to the innkeeper, there were three people, A, B, and C, all of whom had just entered the inn, A was drinking, B was chatting with the shopkeeper, and C was drinking a bowl of steaming chop soup.

The rich merchant asked the shopkeeper, but he had seen someone enter the inn and leave, but the shopkeeper said no, so the rich merchant arrested A, B and C and all three of them to the government's mansion.

Q: Which of them was a prisoner who robbed a wealthy businessman?

Yin Gong glanced at Xie An's answer.

[C!] ]

"Xie Xuexue, why is this [C] a thief who robbed the rich businessman's silver?" Yin Gong couldn't help but ask.

Xie An stopped his pen when he heard this, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Didn't you say that you chased for more than ten miles?" It is certain that the thief was sweating all over, and in order to hide his sweating in winter, he ordered a bowl of hot soup at the inn, which could be excused by saying that it was sweating from drinking soup......"

"Incisive!" Yin Gong nodded in approval, and then asked, "How long have you thought about it to get this answer?" ”

"How long have you been thinking about it?" Xie An glanced at Yin Gong inexplicably, and said inexplicably, "Isn't the answer on the riddle?" At a glance, you can understand ......"

"......" Yin Gong was secretly shocked in his heart, in fact, he had seen this case, and he also knew that the magistrate who decided the case at the beginning finally used the same explanation as Xie An to convict C and recover the rich merchant's silver.

But the problem is that the local county magistrate thought about it for two days, and finally found the key to solving the case with a flash of inspiration, and afterwards felt that this case was very interesting, so it was submitted to the Criminal Department, but this Xie An actually said that he could solve the case with just a glance?

What a quick wit!

Thinking of this, Yin Gong continued to look down, and he had also heard of the second case, so he could conclude that Xie An's answer was correct.

However, the third case made Yin Gong smile slightly.

Because he found that Xie An's answer to the third question was somewhat unexpected.

Although in order to test, this question deliberately added many suspects who may be criminals, but Yin Gong remembers that the prototype of this case is a poisoned murder case in Yangzhou thirty years ago, the deceased is a fisherman named He San, who makes a living from fishing on weekdays, he has a wife Han, who is quite beautiful, but his family is poor, and he has no choice but to marry He San, and there is a hidden dissatisfaction in his heart, and sometimes there is a rich son named Li Yan nearby, who is quite in love with Han, and the neighbors nearby say that these two people have dealings behind their backs.

One day, He San was fishing in the lake, and his wife Han brought him food, but he didn't want He San to die immediately soon after finishing his meal.

After receiving the murder, the local magistrate arrested Han and Li Yan and returned them to the palace, and the two denied it until they were tortured, and the two confessed, and then beheaded them a month later.

Therefore, the answer to this question lies in Han's [B], who conspired with Li Yan [C] to kill He San [A], but Xie An wrote that [died in an accident].

Shaking his head, Yin Gong smiled and asked, "Xie Xuexue, what does this last question mean [died in an accident]?" ”

"That is, it is not suicide, it is not homicide......"

"This old man naturally knows, what the old man doesn't understand is why Xie Xuexue would write like this, instead of B and C conspiring to harm A......"

Xie An turned his head when he heard this, pointed to the exam paper in Yingong's hand, and said, "Didn't it say above, A's wife B, has a bowl of fish soup in the vegetable rice she sent to her husband, and his husband A bought a pound of fresh dates in the market earlier, ate some for himself, and prepared to bring the rest to his wife...... No poison could be found, because the wife had not been poisoned at all, and her husband had died of food poisoning, not two others conspiring to poison him......"

Yin Gong's beard trembled slightly when he heard this, and he couldn't help asking, "You mean, fish and fresh dates are eaten together......

"Poisonous!" Xie An Zhengse said.

Yin Gong opened his mouth slightly when he heard this, although his expression had not changed much, but his heart was like a stormy wave.

Fish and fresh dates are practical together, but they are highly poisonous?

If this matter is true, then this case, which was rumored in Yangzhou back then, is a completely unjust case......