In the twilight spring of the sixteenth year of Yong'an, the city of Chang'an is green and dark red, from this time, until the palace test after the roll call, the flow of people like weaving are rushing to the Gongyuan, and the string songs that move the ground are all a clear stream.

As soon as the sky was bright, the long street in front of the Gongyuan was crowded with people, some of them were anxious, and in front of the gate of the Gongyuan, they grabbed the fence with both hands, stretched their necks, and looked straight in;

Some are reserved and steady, neatly dressed, without even a single fold, and walk without hurrying with square steps, but the hands behind their backs are interlaced with their fingers and clenched tightly;

Some are in groups of three or five, hooking shoulders and backs without an image, and chatting loudly and warmly, which is used to hide the anxiety and tension in their hearts.

Whether these scholars were brocade clothes and embroidered jackets, or quail clothes, they all rushed to the gate of the tribute courtyard in unison.

Today is the day of the provincial test list, the saint has followed the old practice since he ascended the throne, the provincial test is once every three years, and for 16 years, this year is exactly the sixth provincial test, and the list will be released before the time.

The person on the list is the tribute, who is eligible to take the temple examination in a few days.

Those who fail to make the list can only wait three years before fighting again.

When the first emperor was in power, he participated in the palace test, and the name of the jinshi was not in the bag of the tributes.

Over time, whether the palace examination can be selected as a metaphysics has nothing to do with the height and appearance of the tributes, family background, conversation manners, penmanship and handwriting, and even rich and poor, but it has little to do with knowledge.

Lucky scholars, may be in the eyes of the looks, or the penmanship into the eyes, or there may be someone in the court, in short, a palace test can be taken as a jinshi and awarded the official;

And the unlucky scholar seemed to have walked into a dead end, Ling Yunzhiqi was repeatedly defeated and defeated, and the palace test was repeatedly defeated and disheartened, and finally turned his head and angrily went to Nanming, who was fighting against the Jing Dynasty at that time.

After all, all roads lead to official careers, and it is not only this one court that has officials to do, and which court cannot find an official to eat.

As a result, the talents cultivated by the Jing Dynasty with great difficulty finally became a knife and a pen for the Southern Ming Dynasty to attack the Jing Dynasty.

It's simply not very hurtful, and it's extremely insulting.

The first emperor took a few times of the book case, smashed a few times of paperweights, and finally learned from the pain, personally presided over the palace examination, and ordered the palace examination to no longer eliminate the tribute, all those who participated in the palace examination, whether poor or rich, beautiful or ugly, all took the jinshi and awarded the official.

Of course, the Son of Heaven still has to look at his face, otherwise the saint will face an ugly face all day long, and he will not even be able to eat, how can he be in the mood to deal with the major affairs of the DPRK and China.

So, that year, the ranks of Jinshi were unprecedentedly strong, and more than 500 tributes in the provincial examination were all taken as Jinshi, although more than 300 were Tongjinshi, and only 200 were real Jinshi, but it also greatly inspired the scholars to study and make progress.

There was once a craze for reading and scientific research in the north and south of the country, but anyone who had some signs of being able to read had to raise the strength of the whole family to support them, hoping that one person would be promoted and the whole family would become rich.

At this point, the palace test is only ranked according to the call, and no longer eliminate the tribute to become customized, but the ranking of the tribute has an extremely important impact on the future award and promotion, and the loss of honor in front of the palace and the hopeless career from now on is something that every scholar does not want to see.

Since the palace test no longer eliminated the tribute, the provincial test has become a single-plank bridge for thousands of troops, and every time the provincial test is released, there are those who cry with joy, and there are also those who go crazy on the spot.

At this time, the sun is getting higher, but the hour is still early, and the iron fence of the Gongyuan Gate is tightly closed, blocking the figure of countless long-awaited scholars, as well as many squires and businessmen who are ready to catch their sons-in-law.

There were bursts of gongs from time to time in Mingyuan Building, which meant that the selected yellow list had been well sealed, and it could be posted after the examiner made the final proofreading.

An iron fence stopped the bustling, chaotic, and crowd of people waiting to see the list, and also stopped the forbidden army with horizontal eyebrows and knives with a straight face.

There was silence in Mingyuan Building, and the yellow list with the seal had already been placed on the bookcase at the top, but Jiang Shen and the others were all standing anxiously, and they had no intention of posting the list at all.

Meng Sui stood with his arms crossed, looked coldly at this group of ants on the hot pot, pursed his lips, and said lightly: "Master Ge, the hour is coming, don't put up the list again, I'm afraid that the forbidden army outside will not be able to suppress it, causing a mutiny, but there will be a big mess." ”

In this sentence, Jiang Shen's face changed greatly, and he remembered how many people's futures were shattered by the sound of the drums during the first emperor's dynasty.

He hurriedly spoke: "Yes, yes, what about Lord Han, why hasn't Lord Han come yet?" ”

Meng Sui lifted his eyelids and said respectfully: "Lord Envoy has another errand, I'm afraid that I won't be able to arrive for a while, there is a forbidden army guarding outside, there will be no chaos, Lord Ge, I can't wait any longer, if I delay the time of Zhang Bang, something big will happen." ”

Jiang Shen made up his mind and ordered Wang Jingzong and Ruan Ping'an to go and get the yellow list.

Who knew that Mu Rongyan rushed to the bookcase with an arrow step, stopped the two of them, and said eagerly: "Lord Ge, wait a little longer, the envoy of the Internal Security Division is not here, in case something goes wrong, the saint will be held accountable, and we will not be spared." ”

Jiang Shen was stunned for a moment, his eyes suddenly turned cold, and he stared at Mu Rongyan deeply: "Sanlin, what do you mean by this, what will go wrong?" ”

Mu Rongjian was speechless for a while, stumbling for a while, and suddenly his heart moved: "Lord Ge, there are a lot of strange things in this provincial test, and there are dead people, and they have not yet been identified. ”

"You're talking nonsense!" With a snap, Jiang Shen slapped the book case heavily, and laughed angrily: "Sanlin, this yellow list was jointly approved by the four of you and me, and submitted to the sage for the imperial seal, who do you mean by the suspicion of fraud?" Is it the official? His face was solemn, his tone was cold, and he pressed step by step: "Do you mean to smell and dye?" Baowen? Still, sage!! ”

His words became more and more deafening, so frightened that Wang Jingzong and Ruan Ping'an fell to the ground abruptly, and begged in unison: "Lord Ge is cautious, cautious." ”

Mu Rongtong also let go, he has been planning for so long, how can he be willing to fall short, if he really lets the yellow list be posted, he will not be able to live immediately!

His eyes widened, his head was full of sweat, his cheeks were blue, and he said inwardly: "Lord Ge, the lower official didn't say that, the lower official, the lower official is for the sake of the court and the world's scholars!" If you choose someone who shouldn't be selected, it will make the world's readers chill! ”

"Good, good, good!" Jiang Shen picked up the yellow list, pointed to the name that was related to the future and fate of all the scholars, and smiled: "Okay, then you can talk about it, tell me carefully, here, which scholar should not be on the list!" ”

Mu Rongshu choked for a while, what did he say, he couldn't say that he shouldn't choose the northern scholars, he should only choose the southern scholars!

"What Lord Mu means is that you should only choose the southern scholars, not the northern scholars." Meng Sui leaned against the door, watched the play silently for a long time, looked at the hour, and said lightly.

was told that he was in his heart, Mu Rongyan was startled, and glared at Meng Suijian like a ghost.

Ruan Ping'an and Wang Jingzong also got up from the ground and looked at Mu Rongtong together.

Jiang Shen suddenly realized, stared at Mu Rongyan with gloomy eyes, beat his chest, and was heartbroken: "Sanlin, Sanlin, you, you, you are too disappointing to this pavilion!" ”

Mu Rongyan originally wanted to struggle again, but seeing that the general trend has gone, the yellow list is unchangeable, this time the plan has completely failed, if he can press this matter in the tribute courtyard and protect his career, it can be regarded as a blessing in misfortune.

He suddenly changed his strategy, fell to his knees with a puff, hugged Jiang Shen's legs, and cried: "Teacher, teacher, the lower officials are all for the sake of the southern scholars, the teacher is also born in the south of the Yangtze River, and knows how difficult it is for the southern scholars to be cold for ten years, in all fairness, they are all eight buckets high, and their amazing talents are far superior to the northern scholars. ”

He wept blood every word, and the people who said it couldn't bear it.

But who is Jiang Shen, he is an old fox who has been up and down several times and has been immersed in the sea for a long time, and at the moment when Meng Sui clicked that sentence, he understood what Mu Rongxi was doing and thinking.

Where is Mu Rongtong complaining about the grievances of the southern scholars, but paving the way for himself to enter the cabinet one day and cultivate his protégés.

If he really succeeds in his plan, a yellow list with the names of southern scholars written on it will be posted, and there will be only two results.

Either the northern scholars endured this matter, this provincial examination became his Jiang Shen's merits, he gave Shi Rong retirement, and recommended Mu Rongming to enter the cabinet, these southern scholars who were on the list naturally became Mu Rongming's protégé, and I don't know how many of them were linked to him before the provincial examination.

Either the northern scholars are dissatisfied with this matter, and go to Dengwen to sound the drums and complain, this provincial test has become a stain on his Jiang gentry, the sage is furious, and he will inevitably be dismissed and held accountable, Mu Rongshu will take advantage of the situation again, and propose to reopen a provincial test and elect northern scholars, so that these northern scholars must be grateful to Mu Rongyan and obey.

The more Jiang Shen thought about it, the more frightened he felt, and his gaze at Mu Rongyan became even more cold and ruthless, but he didn't show it, the most important thing now was not to take care of Mu Rongyan, but to post the yellow list in order to appease the restless hearts of those scholars outside.

He pursed his lips, did not continue to pursue Mu Rongxi, and calmly instructed Wang Jingzong and Ruan Ping'an: "Wen Ran, Baowen, you two go out and post the yellow list." ”

Wang Jingzong and Ruan Ping'an experienced such a big change, but they calmed down.

There are a lot of ghosts, and it is not surprising that Mu Rongyan is like this.

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