The table and chairs of the palace examination are a little uncomfortable to sit on, because the examination table at this time is a few seats made by the Tang Dynasty, the table is a small table two feet high, and it is a square stool.

Then on each small table there is the name of the examinee, and there is a pen, ink, paper and inkstone given by the emperor, which are all good tributes. After the candidates finish the exam, these things can be taken away by themselves, which can be regarded as a reward from the official family and as a memorial of their lives. In addition, there is also a knife used to correct typos, because the test paper is a special rice paper white fold, much thicker than ordinary rice paper, if you write a wrong word, you can use a knife to scrape it off and write again, otherwise it is a "dirty paper", and it will be admitted.

After everyone was seated, an official of the Ministry of Rites announced the start of the palace examination. Then I saw a eunuch holding a sign out, on which were pasted the questions of this exam, and the eunuch was divided into several lots, holding the sign and walking three times from front to back, so that everyone could see it clearly, before leaving.

There are three questions in the palace examination, one poem, one endowment and one strategy, with the titles of "Luan Dao Poem", "Minjian Fu" and "Chongxun Deuteronomy". Li Hao was confident when he saw this question, because this is the question of the palace examination in history, and it has not changed. You must know that this imperial examination has left a strong mark in history, so many articles that have been handed down to future generations have been carefully studied.

Because the examination time of the palace examination is a whole day, even if the lunch time is deducted, that time is very sufficient, and Li Hao is not in a hurry to start answering the questions. I first slowed my mind, started to write and filled in the personal resume information such as name, age, appearance, and place of origin as required, and then closed my eyes to recuperate, and the rough outline was set in the draft.

In fact, if you want to say that the words of "Luan Dao Poem" have not been recorded in detail in later generations, but the proportion of poetry in the palace examination is not high, as long as it is not off-topic, it is good not to commit taboos, if it can be in line with the emperor's wishes, it is a plus.

As for "Minjian Fu", its original intention is to promote the people-oriented thought: those who win the hearts of the people win the world! This can refer to what Zhang Heng did, you must know that in history, Zhao Zhen read Zhang Heng's fu, and his evaluation was: "Although this fu is not relevant, the scale is very great, and it should be the champion." With this clear orientation, combined with what I have learned and the reference of future generations, I will naturally be able to write this fu well. As long as you pay attention not to be as iron-headed as Lin Xi, there is a "Heavenly Prison is not far away, and the people's will can be known" at the beginning, so as to warn the emperor, the result made Zhao Zhen very unhappy, and let a "don't try the first" fell to the top four.

As for the final treatise, Su Shi's [Imperial Test Heavy Xun Deuteronomy] has been preserved in full text, and it has been highly evaluated by later generations, and it can also be used as a reference to answer the topic.

Li Hao thought in his heart, he bet on all the questions in advance, and there were reference answers, so it would be unreasonable if he didn't get a good ranking.

By the time Li Hao had all figured out how to answer, the surrounding candidates had basically started writing for a while.

Li Hao typed the manuscript and picked up the pen again, and began the road of answering the question according to the outline drawn up in his heart.

Just when Li Hao was writing wholeheartedly, he didn't notice that Zhao Zhen, who was sitting at the top, walked to his side. Zhao Zhen looked at the test that Li Hao was writing and the fu he was writing, he felt that this writing was very much in line with his heart, and the more he looked at it, the happier he became.

Wait for a while before continuing to the other candidates. After walking roughly around, Zhao Zhen left with his personal eunuch first, and then in addition to the officials of the Rite Academy and the eunuch who were in charge of invigilating the examination, other officials also followed.

And in the examination room here, after writing for a while, Li Hao felt that his wrist was sore, so he stopped writing and rested first. At this time, it was almost noon, and an official of the Rite Institute informed the candidates that the lunch for the palace examination was about to be delivered, and asked all the candidates to put away the papers and not to stain them, so as not to affect the results.

The other Li Hao didn't pay attention to it, but when he heard that the imperial meal was going to be delivered at noon, he suddenly came to his senses, thinking that the emperor's banquet had not been eaten yet, and the imperial kitchen produced it must be a high-quality product, so he hurriedly put the rolls away.

After waiting for a while, I saw many palace people coming over with food, one for each person. Waiting for the palace people to put the food on Li Hao's table, there are meat and vegetables with staple food and wine, but the amount is not much. Li Hao tasted it with anticipation, and found that the taste was not as good as he imagined, and it was not as amazing as Fanlou's food in comparison. But after all, it's a royal meal, and it still feels different when you eat it. At noon, Li Hao didn't dare to eat too much, and stopped after eating eight points full, otherwise it would be even worse to answer the next questions.

After everyone has basically eaten, some palace people will come out and take away the meal. Everyone began to answer the questions in the afternoon, and when it was almost time, there were candidates who had already answered and handed in the papers to the examiner for sealing.

After handing in the answer sheet, the scholar then sat down quietly, waiting for the candidates to finish all the answers, and the examiner could leave the venue after receiving all the answer sheets.

But at this moment, Zhao Zhen suddenly returned to the Chongzheng Palace, with a group of officials behind him. At this time, the candidates at the bottom did not react when they saw it, but the officials of the Ministry of Rites looked very strange, because in the past, the emperor did not go to the palace examination and returned, and would only wait for the next day of the palace examination to see the candidates' answer sheets. And this time not only came back, but also a group of officials from the Academy and the Academy followed.

After Zhao Zhen came, he first read the answer sheets that had been received one by one, and after reading them roughly, he handed them over to the officials behind him to browse. Then he instructed the officials of the Rite House to send all the answers received to him for inspection and then seal.

This move made all the officials present puzzled, but they only thought that it was the uproar in this imperial examination that made Zhao Zhen pay so much attention, and he didn't think that there might be other purposes.

But when all the answers to the examination were completed, the officials of the Rite Institute were about to ask Zhao Zhen to let the candidates leave the palace, but they were stopped by Zhao Zhen. said: "Let the candidates wait for a while, and then leave the palace after reading all the answer sheets." ”

As soon as these words came out, the officials present were completely confused, and they didn't know what Zhao Zhen wanted to do, but they could guess that something big would happen later.

After the same matter was conveyed to the candidates present, it also caused a commotion among the candidates, because this matter had never happened before, and suddenly the voices of the candidates whispering came from below, and Li Hao was also asking Zeng Gong if he had heard of this kind of thing before.

"Be quiet, don't make any noise, sit down." Hearing the noisy sound below, an official of the Rite House came out to scold everyone, and the candidates who were reprimanded sat up neatly again, although they had doubts in their hearts, they didn't dare to make any more noise, and suddenly the audience was quiet.

After waiting for a long time, the sky gradually darkened, and some palace people began to light the lights. The temperature in March was not high, and the candidates below did not expect to stay in the palace so late, and some candidates were already shivering from the cold.

At this time, Zhao Zhen finally took a cursory look at all the examination papers, and then brought all the officials to the candidates and said: "This time, Bachelor Ouyang presided over the examination for the national selection of materials, which is controversial. I had some doubts, but today I have read your articles and found that all of them are truly talented and learned, and there are many excellent people. Therefore, I decided that today's palace examination will not be dethroned, and only the ranking order will be determined by the merits of your and other articles. ”

After saying this, the audience was silent, of course, the candidates in the audience were surprised, and they were speechless for a while. Because if it is confirmed that there are no candidates to be dethroned, it means that from this time on, all of them can be admitted to the Jinshi and enter the officialdom.

As for the words of the officials present, they all have their own thoughts. However, no matter what everyone thinks, one thing is already certain, that is, the change of the imperial examination presided over by Ouyang Xiu this time has been decided by the emperor, and he chose to firmly support Ouyang Xiu.