The early autumn breeze in early August has already made people feel a little cool.

At this time, on the square in front of the Shenwu Gate of the Great Zhou Imperial Court, there were more than 10,000 tables neatly placed, and the pen, ink, paper and inkstone on it were complete. Today is the first day of the imperial examination, and all the scholars gathered on Suzaku Street in front of the Shenwu Gate to wait for the examination.

In front of the Shenwu Gate, hundreds of examiners led by Sun Wuji, the head of the cabinet, stood solemnly. The eldest grandson Wuji glanced sharply at the scholars in front of him who could barely see the edge, and then stepped forward and said loudly:

"Today, this pavilion is blessed with the holy decree of the Great Zhou Emperor! Scheduled for August 23rd! Open the Bachelor's Office! Now, the cabinet will participate in the politics of Lord Xu to announce the regulations of the imperial examination! ”

Xu Jin took a step forward, solemnly opened the holy decree in his hand and said, "Holy parable! “

Whether it is the invigilator or the examiner and the people watching the excitement, they all knelt on the ground, their heads touched the ground and shouted,

"Respectfully Ann! Hooray, hooray, hooray! ”

"There is a decree in the saint, and Shenwu will open a science and take a scholar in three years...... The first one, the history of the scriptures! 6,000 winners, and the rest are eliminated! In the second session, the current politics test, 600 out of 6,000 people! The third exam is a test strategy! Out of the 600, seventy-two......

"There are three exams!"

"The examination time is three days!"

"During the examination, no personal belongings are allowed, and the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone used are provided by the imperial court. This official once again reiterates that anyone who colludes with fraud will be brought to the public for one month once it is verified, and will not be allowed to take the test again for life! ”

"These tens of thousands...... Only seventy-two?"

"This ......"

The Hanmen scholars who referred to each other looked at each other and felt incredulous, this is simply more difficult than crossing a single-plank bridge with thousands of troops! It is equal to only one out of hundreds of people who passed the test, but for them who are poor scholars, it is better than no chance, the big deal is that they fail the test this time, and the next time they take the test, there will always be a day when they can pass the test!

The faces of the children of the big family are not much better, they can't imagine that the exam is so strict, how difficult it is to choose one out of a thousand, and it is difficult to stand out.

After Xu Jin read out the holy decree, a gong sounded, making everyone present look at the stage quietly, and then the eldest grandson Wuji stepped forward three steps forward and said loudly:

"This pavilion now announces that the three-year examination of Shenwu will start now! Scholars enter in an orderly manner! ”

After hearing this, the students lined up in more than a dozen long lines according to the instructions of the guards on duty, and the guards checked whether there was any entrainment before entering.

After being busy for a long time, the scholars entered the examination room one after another, and the busy eldest grandson Wuji stopped to take a sip of the tea handed by the attendant, moistened his hoarse throat, and walked into the examination room. In this imperial examination, the invigilators were the eldest grandson Wuji and Kou Zhun, Chun Yuyan, and Xu Jin assisted from the side.

At this time, the examiners sat down one after another, and one by one the Qianniuwei sergeants distributed the exam papers to their desks, which were written in advance by Ma Jin and Changsun Wuji and other summoners, and Chun Yuyan and others did not know the content.

The scholars glanced at the test paper and answered the questions one after another.

The section on the history of the scriptures is extremely extensive, and the subset of the scriptures and histories is contained in it, and those who are not familiar with poetry and books will not be able to answer it at all. Those families are okay, they have a lot of books at home, and many questions can be answered although they are relatively remote. However, there are not many books that the children of the poor family can come into contact with, and many people have never heard of them. made many poor children so anxious that they scratched their ears and cheeks and didn't know where to start.

At this time, many scholars who took the exam had sweaty and sad faces on their heads, and the questions were too difficult!

Seeing the noise in the examination room, the examiner frowned and whispered:

"Quiet! If you dare to make a noise again, you will be expelled from the examination room and disqualified from the examination! Only then did he barely silence his voice.

……

Early in the morning of the second day, the list of the first exam had been posted, and all the scholars came to watch it. Seeing that they were not on the list, the scholars all showed disappointment and hung their heads. And the soldiers on the list shouted with ecstasy on their faces, "I've been hit...... I got ......" is enviable.

Soon the second examination also kicked off, and the current politics was examined.

Compared with the examination of current politics and economic history, it is simply not too simple, it is nothing more than telling about the advantages and disadvantages of some policies of the imperial court in recent years, as well as the trends of neighboring countries. Of course, the horses that should be photographed still have to be photographed, the criticism should not be too intense, and the advantages and disadvantages should be clearly written, which is the soul of the exam.

Ma Jin's preparation for this question is actually the same as the political exam, as long as it is reasonable, he can give points as appropriate.

……

Before I knew it, three days had passed.

The examiner announces the end of the exam, takes the public down one by one to collect the papers, seals the names, and then stores them in a sealed envelope. And in front of the Shenwu Gate, there was already a row of Qianniu guards wearing heavy armor and full of evil spirits, waiting to escort these examination papers all the way to the Wude Hall and give them to the adults in the cabinet for approval.

At dusk, in the several warm pavilions of the Wude Palace, the sound of paper turning is like the sound of a breeze blowing through the forest, rattling.

The examiners who read the papers are all cabinet members and officials of the Ministry of Rites, and at this time, they are all immersed in reviewing the papers, and are responsible for selecting some excellent papers, and then submitting them to the cabinet counselors for review and review.

Six hundred papers, more than ten people corrected, each of them had to look at it, and write down comments, divided into excellent, medium, and inferior.

In fact, the scholars who have been able to pass the examination so far are basically not to be underestimated, and each has its own merits, so we can only give the best and second papers according to the evaluation of all the examiners, and then hand over the best 100 papers to the adults of the cabinet, and they will finally decide to admit the seventy-two people.

"This volume is really brilliantly written, and it is a rare good article even in a place with a brilliant humanity such as the Song Kingdom, but it's a pity that the rhetoric is too extreme, and the means are too radical...... Just give it a medium ......," muttered a grader, and then took a pen and wrote a small Chinese character on the top of the paper, passing it to the next grader.

"I think his answer is still very good, reasonable, well-founded and responsible, not only brilliant writing, but also his opinions are still very in line with current politics, and he is very right, in extraordinary times, he should do extraordinary measures...... I give it to the best! ”

Passed it to the next grader, and after reading it for a while, he frowned, "What is this writing?" I take it for granted, I think being an official is a trick, it's bullshit! Inferior! ”

In a volume, 100 people have 100 people's opinions, and the angle from which they look at the problem is naturally different.

Every examiner who marks the paper has his own opinions and opinions, and those who have entered their eyes are naturally superior, and those who do not agree with them are inferior.

"These 100 exam papers are the best exam papers I've found tonight...... an examiner said with a smile as he stroked his beard and looked at the bookcase containing 100 exam papers on the bookcase.

"From now on, most of the people in this box will be our colleagues in the future, why didn't we catch up with the good times back then, imagine our old days...... Ay! It's hard to put into words! Who would have thought that now you can become an official just by taking exams? An examiner also sighed.

"You can't say that, if we really go to take the exam, we may not be able to pass the exam, you see that there are less than 100 people admitted out of 10,000 people, how difficult it is, luck, talent, and mind are indispensable......"

"Yes, yes, this is really a single-plank bridge crossed by thousands of troops, and those who can pass the test are not ordinary people. If you can't keep the favor of the saint one day, we can't compare......"

"Without further ado, since the correction is finished, let's hurry up and send the exam papers to Shoufu and a few political experts!"

"Good ......," the examiner sighed again, glancing at the box.

In the warm pavilion, the eldest grandson Wuji, Kou Zhun and other senior cabinet officials were reading the chapters, and at this time, several marking officials came in with red lacquered wooden boxes.

"It seems that the graders have finished reading all the papers," the eldest grandson Wuji put down his pen and stood up, looking at the graders and smiling.

When the cabinet participants heard this, they all put down their work at hand and came over to .......

…………

In the Heart Cultivation Palace, Ma has just finished dinner this year and is waiting for the cabinet to select the excellent rolls.

At this moment, I heard a report from the outside waiter, saying that the eldest grandson Wuji was coming.

Ma Jin asked the eldest grandson Wuji: "Is the selection of the volume finished?" ”

The eldest grandson Wuji replied: "Your Majesty, the examination papers have been selected. ”

"Have you found great talent?"

The eldest grandson Wuji paused for a moment and replied: "If you want to say that there are really a lot of great talents, Weichen is here to ask His Majesty for an order to select all the hundred people selected."

"Oh?" Ma Jin stared at the eldest grandson Wuji with interest to see what he said, and the people who can be favored by the eldest grandson Wuji are naturally not of a low standard.

"Your Majesty, the minister just flipped through the 100 test papers, and each of them has something to say, and they all have their own opinions on the current affairs of the imperial court. At this time, there is a lot of shortage in the imperial court, and I am not afraid of not having a position," the eldest grandson Wuji bowed and said.

Ma Jin thought about it, what the eldest grandson Wuji said was not unreasonable, so he nodded in approval:

"Then let's do it according to your wishes, Aiqing! Aiqing, how many of these 100 people are from a poor family? ”

"Your Majesty, the Hanmen only accounts for thirty percent of it......" I saw that the eldest grandson Wuji had some unnatural words.

Ma Jin couldn't help but be furious when he heard this, thinking that someone was blatantly cheating for personal gain and just wanted to speak, and he was stunned in his heart, because he took it for granted, how can the current poor family be compared with the big families, it is already very good to have three percent of them selected. After all, the gap is there.

Ma Jin thought for a while, calmed down and said:

"These three percent of people from poor families are of great use! Does Aiqing understand what I mean? Ma Jin stared at the eldest grandson Wuji and said word by word.

"Your Majesty understands, please rest assured! The minister must do it! The eldest grandson Wuji naturally understood what Ma Jin meant, and hurriedly packed the ticket and said.

After the two talked for a while, Ma Jin asked curiously:

"Aiqing, are there any top-notch people among these 100 people?"

"Your Majesty, I think that Chen Xingzhi of Wuhu County, Gaoyang, Youzhou, Huo Xiu, Yecheng, Tieyang County, Yuzhou, Ning Yude, Fangping, Guobei County, Liangzhou, and Yu Shichen, Jinling County, Jiangning, Yangzhou, are the most," said the eldest grandson Wuji.

Ma Jin couldn't help but pause, "Guobei County? ”

"Is there a Lanruo Temple in this Guobei County?"

The eldest grandson Wuji was stunned, not knowing what Ma Jin meant by asking, but he still hurriedly replied:

"Your Majesty, there is indeed a Lanruo Temple in this Guobei County, and it is quite famous, the incense is extremely prosperous, it is one of the nine temples of my Great Zhou Zen Dao, but more than ten years ago, there were many demon monks in Lanruo Temple, and the first emperor ordered the local government gods to kill the demons and burn the temple, and now it is a ruin."

Hearing the words of the eldest grandson Wuji, Ma Jin's mind was a little confused for a while, could it be that he traveled to the world of Liaozhai? That's not right, what kind of troubled times are you talking about, but look at the chaos of the current Great Zhou Dynasty? There are no demons out to make trouble, huh? Maybe it's just the same name......

In August of the third year of Shenwu, Ma Jin, the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, issued a decree to announce that the world would open a branch to take scholars, and a large number of scholars gathered in Shendu. Ma Jin Yubi personally approved the admission of 100 scholars, which was the first of its kind in the imperial examination, and caused a sensation in the world for a while.