The two members of the Four Princes' faction argued with the examiner for a while, and finally lost the battle.

They also knew that it was impossible for Pan Yiting and Wang Shibin to let the candidates of their faction win the first place, and they fought hard to give an explanation to the people above. Now that the task is complete, they will no longer be silent, and plan to sit quietly and watch the two factions of the eldest prince and the second prince fight to the death.

Of course, if there is a chance to muddy the waters, so that the people of the two factions of the eldest prince and the second prince are in vain, and choose someone who is not from any faction to be Xie Yuan, they are still quite happy. This is also one of their goals. Anyway, if their master can't get good, then no one will get any benefit.

Since Pan Yiting made a gesture to ask for everyone's opinions, the fellow examiners of the Five Princes' faction and Xiao Yi of the royalist party naturally did not let go, and asked them: "Which test paper do you think is the best?" ”

The prince Zhao Chang does not have the illustrious maternal family of the eldest prince, the second prince and the fourth prince to help him, plus he is young, and he is far from the two elder brothers who have already grown up in power, so he has always been cautious and does not dare to show his ambition to covet the throne.

There is no shortage of examples in history of long-lived emperors who boiled their eldest and second sons to death, and finally the throne was cheapened by the younger son. In addition, because he has been the prince for too long and his power has developed too violently, he was suspicious of his father, so there are countless incidents of abolishing the prince or forcing the palace. So until the last moment, no one knows whose head the throne will fall. Their mother and son's plan is to save their lives first and live well. It is best for the eldest prince, the second prince, and the fourth prince to fight for the throne, and finally be profited by the five princes.

Therefore, the strategy of the five princes to seize the heir has always been not to collude with courtiers and develop power outside, but to strive to be a good son who is filial and sensible, talented and knowledgeable, and has no power ambitions.

Ji Shu, who came to be the same examiner this time, was the cousin of Zhao Chang's mother's concubine, and was naturally classified into the Five Princes faction because of his kinship.

His coming to Gui Province to serve as the same examiner this time was not something that the five princes tried to strive for, but the result of the balance after the struggle for the rights of the eldest prince, the second prince and the fourth prince. After all, those three factions have maintained a delicate balance in staffing, and if there is another royalist, the balance will inevitably be upset. It was just right to put Ji Shu in and fill a hole.

Pan Yiting, who supported Qi Siyu, believed that the five princes had been instructed by Qi Yuandao before, and they must be biased towards the Qi family. Put Ji Shu in, and they will at least add a bit of strength. There are some things that Pan Yiting, the chief examiner, is not easy to say, so Ji Shu put it forward, which is just right.

Wang Shibin, who supported Qi Muyuan, clearly knew from Qi Bokun what happened when Qi Yuandao was lecturing some time ago, and learned that the fifth prince had already defected to the child named Du Jinning, and he was no longer interested in Qi Yuandao. Their faction can use Ji Shu as a shadow and use Ji Shu to confuse Pan Yiting, so as to achieve their goals.

In short, these people put Ji Shu into the team of examiners in Gui Province, and they all have their own ghosts.

At this time, seeing that it was Ji Shu's turn to express his opinion, everyone stared at him with blazing eyes, wanting to know which test paper Ji Shu recommended.

Ji Shu is only in his early forties, with a white round face, and two small pear vortices on his face when he smiles, looking harmless to humans and animals.

When asked at this time, he said with a smile: "Since Lord Pan and Lord Wang both approve of this test paper, they naturally have no opinion. ”

Some time ago, Zhao Chang came to Gui Province, and Ji Shu, as his uncle, naturally knew more about the situation of Qi Siyu, Qi Muyuan, Du Jinning and others than the few people present. Before Ji Shu left Beijing, Zhao Chang repeatedly asked him that if he had the opportunity, he must push Du Jinning to Xie Yuan's position.

Zhao Chang's plan, even if he didn't say it himself, Ji Shu could guess something.

Du Jinning is not on the side, and she is very talented, Zhao Chang should want to pull her into his faction. Zhao Chang is almost an adult, and in another year or two, he will be able to open a house outside. When the time comes, Du Jinning will be admitted to the Jinshi and enter the court as an official, secretly assisting Zhao Chang, and Zhao Chang can also slowly cultivate his own team.

Based on this, Ji Shu saw everyone's expressions just now, and knew that the test paper that was now placed in the most eye-catching position was likely to be Du Jinning's, so he was naturally happy to push it forward.

Ji Shu showed a desireless attitude, and the royalist Xiao Yi naturally did not get involved in the struggle between the eldest prince, the second prince and the fourth prince. The royalists are said to be royalists, only loyal to the current emperor, but in fact, they are all wise and self-protective, not seeking merit, but seeking no fault.

Xiao Yi said: "It's the same as Master Ji, I don't have any opinions." ”

In this way, except for the two same examiners of the Four Princes' faction, the other four factions unanimously approved Du Jinning's test paper.

It's a strange phenomenon.

Pan Yiting and Wang Shibin were a little depressed in their hearts, but it was not good to take back what they had just said. Fortunately, the test paper in the first place is not from the other camp, and everyone is more or less comforted.

The first place was decided, and the three factions discussed it again and argued for the second place. After all, this is the first exam, and there are two more to follow, list the test papers suspected of Qi Siyu or Qi Muyuan as the second place, and then let him or him fight for the first place in the second and third exams, and finally rank second according to the results of the three exams, it is very likely that he or he will be listed as Xie Yuan.

In the end, it was the chief examiner Pan Yiting who overpowered the deputy examiner Wang Shibin, and ranked the test paper suspected of Qi Siyu in second, and the suspected Qi Muyuan ranked third.

As the inner curtain officer, they can only go so far. As for who these test papers belong to and whether there will be mistakes, that can only be left to fate.

handed over the test papers, and Pan Yiting and the others went to rest. Matters such as the release of the list are not something they can interfere in. They need to get a good night's sleep and recharge their energy to prepare for the second exam.

At this time, Du Jinning and the others were sitting in Yuyuzhai eating and chatting.

At this time, during the exam, all the performance of the candidates will be observed. Once the bad reputation is reported, it will inevitably affect the ranking of the township test.

So even though there was only Du Jinning who was underage during the banquet, everyone didn't ask for wine, not even osmanthus sweet brew, but just clinked glasses with tea instead of wine, and then listened to Guan Jiaze talk about his experience in Beijing while eating.

“…… The gentlemen in Taixue are all great Confucians, the most famous Mr. Wu Hongjiao, have you heard of it? He taught in Taixue. ”

Guan Jiaze bragged about the awesomeness of Taixue, and then said to Du Jinning: "Jinning, the top three in each provincial and township examination can enter Taixue." You've got to work hard. He pointed to Qi Muyuan and Liang Xiankuan, "They are bound to go to Taixue to study after they are admitted to the lifting of people, if you don't go with you then, won't you stay here alone?" Your brother-in-law has a family and a room, needless to say, you have to take advantage of the fact that you are not married, go to the capital to see the world. ”