Early the next morning, Xiao Chen changed into court clothes, entered the palace, and came to the East Pavilion of the Wenhua Palace, which was the place to read the papers.

"Marquis Xiao, it's good for you to come to the town, I'm worried about the province, after all, this is the first time to do this errand, I'm afraid that there will be a mistake." Liu Qiheng, Jiang Tiansheng, and a kind of paper reader have already arrived, and when they see him coming, they are happy to welcome him.

"Isn't this the first time for me? Yesterday, the emperor suddenly appointed, which caught me off guard, and I haven't figured out the procedural matters yet, so I just came a little earlier and wanted to ask you for advice first. Xiao Chen said.

"Actually, the program can't be wrong." Jiang Tiansheng said, "It's not easy to choose a first-class ranking, since ancient times, there is no first, when I first read the papers, I thought that the articles were good, but I could only select three hundred people from them, which almost exhausted our spirit, and now we have to choose one, two, and three first, second, and third, it is really not easy." ”

"In short, the big guys just handle it impartially." Xiao Chen said, "The emperor sent us to do this errand, that is a trust in us, the big guys need to be cautious, and they must not live up to the emperor's grace." ”

After a while, Gong Shouli came with the test paper in his hand surrounded by a group of people, and under the watchful eye of everyone, he opened the sealed test paper and distributed it to the thirty paper readers.

There are a total of 300 articles, each reader reviews ten articles, and each selects the best one to hand over to the chief reader, and then several chief readers select three articles from them as a first class to present to the emperor, and the emperor decides whether to take the middle, and then personally ranks the top one.

Of the 2,000-word articles, each of the 10 articles read by the examiners was actually very fast, and they each selected one in the morning, and then reviewed it again after eating, and then they were all summarized and handed in, and the rest of the time was to divide the second and third grades.

Several chief readers read ten papers, and each selected the three that they thought were the best, and then the big guys held a public discussion.

"Master Hou, a few adults, although the idea of this volume is good, it is just too agitated and unstable, right?" Feng Shi, a college student at Hanlin Academy, picked up a scroll selected by Liu Qiheng and questioned it, "The words are also very ordinary, and there are many biased words, it seems that it is not suitable to reach the heavens." ”

"The questions of the Emperor's Palace exam are mainly about strategy, and the text is still secondary." Liu Qiheng said.

"Scholar Feng said that the idea was good, but the lower officials felt that the idea was too big." Zhang Wuzheng, the secretary of Honglu Temple, said, "In addition, most of the meanings discussed in this volume have exceeded the limits of the exam questions, and there are a lot of acupuncture words on current affairs, and it is indeed inconvenient to submit them to the emperor." ”

"Strategy, policy, and theory are naturally to give play to the discussion independently, and it is better to say more than to be limited." Liu Qiheng said, "If it is too restrained, it will go against our emperor's way of taking scholars, what do you think, Marquis Xiao?" ”

"Oh...... I think what Liu Qiheng said is reasonable. Xiao Chen took the test paper and looked at it, "This paper is really different, every word is full of atmosphere, although the words are a little agitated and bold, but the truth is correct, if you don't take it, it will be a pity...... If you look at me, you should put it at the bottom. ”

Xiao Chen and Liu Qiheng both said so, and Zhang Zhengwu and Feng Shi were speechless.

There is basically no controversy about the other two, the big guys here are all in the Jinshi, have done Hanlin, and the vision of reading the article is quite old and spicy, which is better and which is inferior, and you can basically know it at a glance.

Seeing that the time was almost up, he immediately agreed on three articles, and brought the remaining seven unsuccessful ones with him, and went straight to Wenhua Palace.

Emperor Li Wanjiang has been waiting here for a long time.

Xiao Chen, Liu Qiheng, and Feng Shi read three copies of the papers aloud, and then handed the papers to Gong Shouli, the chief eunuch of the master of ceremonies, and Gong Shouli then sent the test papers to the emperor's imperial case for the emperor to see in person.

"This article can be Dingjia!" Li Wanjiang picked up the first test paper and glanced at it twice, and then he was long-faced and happy, "It's good to listen, it's better to look at it, the champion of our Da Zhou should be the best place!" ”

"Your Majesty, don't be busy, there are two more articles, I'll talk about it after reading it." Xiao Chen said with a smile.

"Hehe, I've already heard it, but I don't even need to watch it." Li Wanjiang picked up the second copy with a smile, "This one is also quite good, if there is no champion Jin Yu in front, it will really make it difficult for me to choose, so I will be the leader." ”

Li Wanjiang said this, although he praised the two articles for being well written, but it also showed his trust in the extremely book-reading officials, otherwise it would be impossible to directly determine the ranking, because as usual, he still has to read the remaining seven articles before making a decision, and now he doesn't read it, which shows that he is very sure of the eyesight of several Aiqing.

The big guys are also happy in their hearts, they have been busy for so long, and they can finally breathe a sigh of relief when it finally ends successfully.

"This one...... Well? Li Wanjiang glanced at the scroll, and his face suddenly changed.

The hearts of the following Aiqing sat on the ground and chuckled, and their faces also changed.

Feng Shi and Zhang Zhengwu said that they stabbed Lou Zi, right? I'll tell you that this article should not be read by the emperor, your Hou Ye and Lord Liu just don't listen, you have to be stubborn! Now it's okay, the emperor is obviously not happy...... I read it fast just now, and the emperor may not have heard some words and sentences clearly, but now that he understands it, it's time for us to be unlucky, especially the last one, it's still messed up!

"This Li Xilu is from Jingzhou?" Li Wanjiang finished reading the article intently, touched his chin and groaned for a long time before suddenly asking.

"Back to the emperor, it's Jingzhou's son." Liu Qiheng said busily.

"How old?" Li Wanjiang didn't ask so much about the champions.

"Seventeen." Liu Qiheng said.

"Li Xilu, a native of Jingzhou, seventeen years old? Hahaha, can you write such a sharp article at such a young age? Li Wanjiang suddenly raised his head and laughed, "And this tone is too arrogant!" ”

Feng Shi read the volume just now, Feng Shi is over sixty years old, and he has the old problem of asthma, and he still has a thick country accent, and he has to read it with a pause, so the speed of speech is intermittent, the tone is high and low, and the words are vague, so when he read the volume just now, Li Wanjiang really didn't hear it clearly, and he saw it clearly just now.

But Feng Shi is also an old minister, and he is a celebrity today, although Li Wanjiang didn't listen to it really, he didn't say anything.

"The ministers are guilty!" Xiao Chen and the others didn't know if Li Wanjiang was really happy, or if he laughed angrily, no matter what was thirty-seven twenty-one, it was most reliable to bow his head and confess his guilt first.

"What are your sins?" Li Wanjiang laughed to himself, "Although the words of this article are a little too agitated and bold, the truth is still correct, and it is also full of atmosphere, and it is not easy for young people to have such insight...... But I can't give him this tanhua. ”

"Your Majesty, why is this?" Xiao Chen asked, "Since the article is Chinese, you should take him!" ”

"Hmph, this is Xiao Chen, your kid took it, right?" Although Li Wanjiang's tone was not very good, the smile on his face was also extremely bright.