Of course, the emperor wouldn't say to Li Kui openly, you go to the exam, right? As long as you write according to my thoughts, you will be guaranteed to be the champion.

No matter how inexperienced Zhao Xu is, this kind of thing will be said.

But the Emperor once said, "I will take care of you." ”

That's enough.

Fan Chong and Li Kui are both smart people, even if they couldn't react at the time, but after leaving the palace, they realized the deep meaning of this sentence. The emperor had only one reason to follow them, to do what the emperor wanted. If he really disagrees with the emperor, no matter how good Zhao Xu's impression of Li Kui is, he can't allow Li Kui to lose the face of the heavenly family.

Then there is only one result, the emperor wants to implement the change, Li Kui or Fan Chong, one of the two must be desperate to tout the benefits of the change, and by the way, it is best to even praise Emperor Shenzong, in order to meet the emperor's wishes.

Fan Chong can't do this, because father and son always can't get around the hurdle.

Li Kui can't do it either, first, because he doesn't want to do it, and secondly, because of his master. Breaking with the master, although the consequences are not as serious as breaking with the family, will also stink on the street.

Su Guo had fewer choices than them, so he could only follow Su Zhe all the way to the dark.

After thinking about it, Li Kui felt that instead of letting others get this benefit, it was better to give it to someone close to him. At this time, Ma Yu was sent to the door.

Speaking of which, it is not easy to win the top spot.

Don't say anything stupid like the champion must look thoughtful and dignified. Before the provincial exam, the appearance will not be included in the test results at all. The grading papers are all transcribed papers, the same pavilion style, who knows what the scholars who write the exam papers look like and whether they are handsome? Only in the final level of the palace test, appearance will become an additional score to determine the ownership of the champion.

But not all Jinshi had the opportunity to be received by the emperor.

Generally speaking, the chief examiner and the ministers draw up the ranking of the palace examination, as little as a dozen, as much as thirty or fifty, and if the emperor is more diligent, it is possible to reach hundreds. But almost no emperor had the heart to read and grade all the palace examination papers. After all, after the palace exam, the results will be available in three or five days at the latest. The emperor also has to eat and sleep to make his sister's busy man, how can he stumble with hundreds of volumes?

Normally, if there were thirty copies of the scroll selected by the ministers, the emperor would meet with more than half of the scholars in order to be cautious.

At this time, the good looks really reflect the advantages.

It stands to reason that the imperial examination system of the Great Song Dynasty is already very perfect, but even so, there will still be moths.

The imperial examination of the Great Song Dynasty inherited the imperial examination system of the Tang Dynasty, and the imperial examination pattern of county examination, solution examination, and provincial examination was added. And the original use of the pseudonymous transcription system, which greatly eliminates the possibility of scientific research fraud. After the completion of the palace examination system, the imperial examination system of the Great Song Dynasty laid the foundation for the imperial examination system in China for the next thousand years. The formation of the solution test, the provincial test and the palace test, the three-tier selection system. It greatly upheld the system of fair selection of the imperial examination.

But in the champion stage of the palace examination, there will still be mistakes.

For example, Taizu is a straightforward person, and once made a rule: If the results of the palace examination are similar, the champion will be determined according to the speed of submission.

But there are exceptions, once, Jinshi Wang Sizong and Chen Shi submitted the papers at the same time, and the papers were equal. So Taizu sat on the dragon chair and patted his head and said, "Fight a game, win the champion." ”

Wen Zhuangyuan has become Wu Zhuangyuan.

When Kou Zhun presided over the palace examination, he created a precedent for the black region of the Great Song Dynasty palace examination, and also said something like this: "The people of the south should not be crowned with a toast." ”

Another time, Zhenzong liked to choose good-looking champions.

During the Shenzong period, the emperor was obsessed with Huang Shang's literary talents, and the emperor was the fan brother of the new science and technology jinshi, and Huang Shang was determined to be the champion before participating in the palace examination.

Another example: the clan should not be the champion.

The young and the old are orderly......

Anyway, there are a lot of black spots in the palace test of the Great Song Dynasty. Who knows, when the emperor's brain twitched and he made a faint move?

Now, the emperor wants the new scholars to tout his father, which is not out of line. After all, compared to his ancestors, Zhao Xu is not too out of line.

As for Li Kui, can he win the top prize?

Absolutely.

The champion is the courtier's selection of some scrolls, usually no more than thirty copies, and then let the emperor decide which one to choose as the champion. It can be said that the only person who decides the ownership of the champion is the emperor, if he thinks that Li Kui is okay, Li Kui is the champion. This has nothing to do with his dark complexion, tall stature, and fierce face. Anyway, the emperor does not respond, and the courtiers will not have an opinion.

But Li Kui can't do this, what he does is to deceive the teacher and destroy the ancestors, and break off with Sumen.

Such an unrighteous act, Li Kui is so likely to ruin his reputation?

As for Ma Yu?

As long as the Wen family doesn't care, he has no position to speak of. Champion hey, I didn't dare to think about it before, but now that someone has sent it to the door, if he still squirms and pretends to be high, what if Li Kui doesn't tell him the secret of the champion?

The rest of his life is destined to be spent in remorse.

Ma Yu immediately stood up, bowed down and saluted Li Kui and Fan Chong in turn, he wanted to make a big salute, for the sake of the champion, such a flashy thing as face, should be thrown away, or must be thrown away. Feeling that the rules of the act were too small, he simply bowed and knelt on the ground.

"Renjie, Yuan Chang, the parents of the one who gave birth to me, the two who favored me, the younger brother hereby swears that Ma Yu will never betray, if there are two hearts, the heavens and the earth will be destroyed!" Ma Yu said solemnly, what he said was affectionate, but the taste was a little wrong.

Scholars who can be undignified for the sake of wealth and nobility are all traitors.

It seemed that this was said by the ancestor, and Li Kui suddenly popped up such a sentence in his head, which really surprised him. But recently, he often seems to have inexplicably been kneeling down for him and swearing to say something of allegiance. It was Gao Yu before, and he said the same thing, but now he has become Gongshi Ma Yu, and this guy may be the champion in the future.

Li Kui pondered that he didn't seem to want to be a traitor, and he had already walked on the road of no return to a traitor.

Fan Chong hurriedly helped Ma Yu up: "Brother Boren, you and I have been classmates for many years, why bother?" ”

Can Ma Yu not show it?

But Fan Chong couldn't pull Ma Yu at all, and Ma Yu also knew that among the two people in front of him, Fan Chong was just an attendant, just like he was kidnapped by Li Kui and sent to the Luguo Mansion. The protagonist should be Bi Yan, who is nothing more than a subsequent giveaway. The reason why he achieved something beautiful in the end was mainly because Bi Yan's heart was too big, and Gong Wen saw the clue and gave up decisively.

Otherwise, such a good thing as marrying the Luguo Mansion would not be his turn.

The same is true for Fan Chong, if this is really appreciated by the emperor, Fan Zuyu will not be degraded to a sinister place like Lingnan.

Ma Yu knew that it was not Fan Chong who he wanted to take refuge in, but Li Kui. As for whether Li Kui will accept it, he is not sure. In his opinion, Li Kui is as mysterious as a mandrill in the night, and he can't see the true depth of the real person at all.

Fan Chong couldn't pull Ma Yu, but Li Kui reached out and fished it on the ground, Ma Yu was like a person made of paper, and was brought up by Li Kui, and Li Kui was not polite.

Kneel down to someone and you can get a champion.

It's not a loss.

This is also because he can't fight for this champion, otherwise there would be nothing to do with Ma Yu.

That's it...... So...... So......

Li Kui said directly in Ma Yu's ear for a while, Ma Yu was surprised and inexplicable, and said in shock: "It's that simple? ”

"It's as simple as that. You should understand, Brother Fan and I can't compete for this champion, right? Li Kui smashed his mouth a few times, and sighed with emotion: "Don't tell me, you can't even write about the merits of the first emperor?" ”

"It's impossible."

When it comes to writing articles, Ma Yu, a new Gongshi born in Taixue, naturally has no pressure. If he can't even do this, how can he pass the provincial examination and successfully pull out the tribute, and his results are also extremely good among the tributes?

However, Li Kui was quite authentic, and then told Ma Yu: "But Brother Ma, you have to think clearly, although this matter is simple, it may not necessarily end well." Do you still remember that there is a senior Zhou Bangyan in Taixue? ”

"This senior is a legend in Taixue." Speaking of Zhou Bangyan, Ma Yu couldn't help but be fascinated. When he came to the capital the following year, he wrote a few articles touting the emperor's fu in a few months, and he was valued by Emperor Shenzong and directly gave him the Jinshi background. After that, the promotion was fast, and it was rare in the officialdom of the Great Song Dynasty for half a year. It's just that this senior is not doing well now, mainly because conservatives regard him as a thorn in their side, and the reformers don't treat him as their own.

But being an official, how dare you pack a ticket that is destined to be smooth sailing?

Li Kui helped him, it was a kindness. It's my duty not to help him.

Even if Li Kui doesn't help, Ma Yu has to thank Li Kui. If Li Kui hadn't tied him up and sent him to the Wen family on the day of the provincial test list, would he have been able to get such a good marriage? A wealthy lord like the Wen family is not an existence that a scholar like him can reach. As long as he marries the little lady of the Wen family, he will be regarded as a member of the top family circle of the Great Song Dynasty in the future. In the past, a noble son like Fan Chong did not want to see him, but in the future, he will be commensurate with his brother.

This is the power of a good marriage to change a person.

But the road to the official career still needs to be walked by Ma Yu himself, not to mention that Zhou Bangyan has no family support. But Ma Yu is not for nothing. Not before, but now after marrying the Luguo Mansion, he has it. Even if Zhou Bangyan is not going well now, he is also a person who has been in the limelight. He is just a scholar from a petty official family in Enyin, and he still dares to pick and choose?

Ma Yu said decisively: "Seize the day, don't look at the past." ”

"Okay, Li likes to associate with refreshing friends like Brother Ma. But Brother Ma, you have to be careful, don't let the news go. Your Majesty is young, and he is most reluctant to lose face, and we as courtiers can only maintain it everywhere, and we can't make trouble for him. Li Kui reminded.

Ma Yu was also a decisive person, and immediately said: "Brother Li, just in case, the younger brother immediately went to discuss with the officials of the pavilion and changed the house number. He then asked: "The younger brother sees that Brother Li still has a vacant shop here, I wonder if Brother Li will dislike it?" ”

"I don't like it, but if I snore, it might affect your performance. It's not as good as this, the chief's building also has a vacant shop, you squeeze it with him, polish the article by the way, and be sure to get the champion. Li Kui suggested.

Fan Chong also has no opinion.

The days before the exam passed quickly.

In the past few days, Li Kui even has the illusion that Ma Yu has shown excessive enthusiasm, and will even repeatedly express his desire to let Li Kui help guide him in the articles he wrote.

Can Li Kui point out a yarn?

The level of his writing articles, at least rhetoric and the like, Ma Yu can throw Li Kui off eight streets. After all, this is also an outstanding elite scholar in the provincial examination. And Li Kui was able to get the twentieth place in the provincial examination, more because of the help of master Bo Huang Tingjian.

Early March.

The temple examination was held as scheduled.

Li Kui stood abruptly among the students who were about to enter the palace to participate in the palace examination, a man who was more than eight feet tall, and in a group of scholars who were generally about seven feet around, he felt a little out of the crowd.

"Gongshi enters the palace!"

He began to stand outside the Xuande Gate in the middle of the night, and waited for more than an hour before he was allowed to enter the palace. The scholars had been hungry for a long time, but they all seemed to have forgotten their hunger, and slowly walked into the Xuande Gate with solemn solemnity. Passing through the second palace gate, a magnificent hall appeared in front of you, in the morning light, the green colored tiles in the sunlight, like a layer of precious light.

This is the Daqing Palace.

The only hall that the Great Song Dynasty court can take a shot.

Except for a very small number of children of the family who had seen the majesty of the grand celebration, most of the tributes who participated in the palace examination couldn't help but gasp when they saw such a magnificent building with their own eyes, and deepened their understanding of the royal majesty in their hearts.

The solemn scholars restrained their inner tension, and it seemed that everyone had been given a sacred mission.

In the upper Wende Hall on the side of the main hall, the chief examiner Li Qingchen bowed into the hall with both hands on the exam questions.

"Minister, Li Qingchen, the squire of the door, the chief examiner of the palace examination in the first year of Zhishaosheng, please play the questions of the palace examination, please read it to Your Majesty."

The eunuch Hao Sui took the piece in Li Qingchen's hand and handed it to Emperor Zhao Xu: "Your Majesty! ”

"Aiqing is flat!"

After all, Zhao Xu presided over the palace examination for the first time, and the excitement in his heart made him can't wait to unfold the exam questions from Li Qingchen, and the seven questions about politics are all the same. There are two questions in the policy theory, and Zhao Xu's eyes stayed on the policy theory question B for a long time, and then wrote a big - accurate with a cinnabar pen.

Zhao Xu, who was emotional, nodded and said: "This question is very meaningful, and with this as the title, it will open an era for Shaosheng!" ”