On the evening of March 3, the Wenhua Palace was brightly lit, and the examinee handed over the 300 examination papers to the seal official, who stamped the seal and sent it to the official in charge of the paper.

Due to the rush of time, the ink paper of the palace examination did not need to be transcribed into a red scroll, but was sent directly to the Wenhua Palace Reader to wait for the morning of March 4 to be read.

On March 4, 17 examinees entered the Wenhua Palace to begin the examination papers.

The examinee will often pick out the top 10 test papers of the examination first, and submit them to the Wenhua Palace Pavilion Elder in advance.

If nothing else, the top three in the first class are often produced in these ten test papers, and the other seven will also occupy the top few in the second grade.

As the elder of the Wenhua Palace, Qu Taichang had to pre-select a total of ten test papers to be used for reading tomorrow, and decide the order of the test papers to be read in front of the emperor.

"Post-Disaster Strategy...... The point of view is clear, the pen and ink are natural, and there are no branches, but after all, there are some mistakes on paper. ”

"On the Precious Sushu"...... Successive succession, step by step, clear and sincere, strong ambition to achieve business, but unfortunately too much emphasis on agriculture and business. ”

"Feudalism" ......"

Qu Taichang looked carefully and carefully, but he didn't comment for a long time, and it took a while before he put down the test paper.

He touched his beard and commented: "The focus is prominent, the structure is rigorous, the organization is clear, and the sentences are mostly used, the language is concise, the tone is clear, and it can be ......."

Speaking of this, Qu Taichang stopped his movements and thought to himself: This article is too sensitive, if it is known by those vassal kings and marquises, it will be another bloody storm.

Thinking of this, he looked at the people in Wenhua Palace with a sharp gaze, and said in a serious tone: "Everything about "Feudalism" should not be passed on to the outside world, if I hear a little wind and grass outside, none of our people in Wenhua Palace can run away." ”

The rest of the people glanced at each other, and naturally understood what Qu Taichang meant, so they hurriedly said in unison: "Your subordinates receive orders, please rest assured that Lord Qu is relieved." ”

It stands to reason that he should reject this article, but he is extremely reluctant, after all, this article is excellent from any point of view.

Thinking of this, Qu Taichang sighed and randomly sandwiched this article in the middle.

For the rest, leave it to fate!

There are 300 candidates, 300 test papers, and the remaining 290 test papers will be graded and classified by other readers.

The examiner will draw an "O" or "X" on the paper, and the more O's there are, the higher the final ranking.

But with the top scores already decided, the order in which the remaining papers are ranked is less important, and they are only skimmed roughly.

Therefore, the examiner divides the graded papers into first class and second class, and after the division is done, the elders of the Wenhua Palace will collect the first-class test paper and judge it as the second class, and the second class will be judged as the third class.

On the fifth day of March, the emperor came to Wenhua Palace, and knelt down in front of the emperor to read the scroll.

After the reading is completed, the chief of the palace receives the paper and puts it on the imperial case, and then the next examiner reads the next test paper.

According to the order, the first three test papers to read were the test papers that were pre-judged as first-class by the elders of the Wenhua Palace.

Emperor Fenghe inevitably had some expectations, the last time he saw the "Feudalism" written by Xiao Musheng, it was particularly to his liking, but unfortunately he couldn't read the whole article.

However, even if he thought about it like this, Emperor Fenghe looked indifferent, seemingly unfathomable, and people couldn't guess the slightest.

After reading the three test papers, Emperor Fenghe did not speak, but fortunately, Qu Taichang had been with Emperor Fenghe for many years, so he motioned to the examiner to continue reading.

After the examiner had read the five test papers, he finally arrived at "On Feudalism".

At the top of the list, Emperor Fenghe frowned slightly, and when the reader finished reading the content of "On Feudalism", he couldn't help asking: "Qu Qing, this article is obviously excellent, why is it not placed in the top three?" ”

Qu Taichang hurriedly got up and replied: "Back to the emperor, this article is indeed excellent, but the ministers are worried that its arguments are too sensitive, so they put it back." ”

Thinking of the emperor's behavior, it is like deliberately waiting for this article.

Thinking of the previous palace examination, it was rare for the emperor to stand for a quarter of an hour behind a certain candidate, is it ......

For a while, Qu Taichang only felt a cold sweat on his back, but fortunately, he regretted that the article was buried and did not reject it.

After handing over the "Treatise on Feudalism" to the head of the palace and putting it on the imperial case, the officials withdrew from the Wenhua Palace and waited for the emperor to appoint the first first, first, second, and third first.

Outside the Wenhua Palace, Wei Tai Changqing walked behind Qu Taichang, saw him frowning, and couldn't help asking, "My lord, is there something troubled?" ”

Qu Taichang glanced at Wei Taichangqing, and said with a smile: "Master Wei is very good at perceiving people's hearts recently, and even I can see that I am distressed. ”

Wei Tai Changqing hurriedly lowered his head, knowing that he had asked what he shouldn't have asked, so he saluted and said: "The subordinate knows his mistake, please don't mind, the subordinate is just worried about the adult!" ”

He has been by Qu Taichang's side all the year round, and he knows his character well, usually at this time, he just admits his mistakes.

Sure enough, seeing him like this, Qu Taichang looked around and found that many people's eyes were cast, so he had to say, "I just played a joke with you...... Stand up and let others see what it looks like. ”

Wei Tai Changqing didn't shirk either, and only after standing up did he say, "Master Xie." ”

Qu Taichang shook his head, feeling something: these two are like monkey spirits......

After about half an hour, I heard the chief of the palace shouting: "Xuan Qu is too often, and Lord Qu will meet in the palace." ”

Qu Taichang manages the Wenhua Palace, and is also known as Qu Ge Lao, focusing on the palace classics, scientific research affairs, and temples.

Walked into Wenhua Palace again, and after bowing to the head, he listened to Emperor Fenghe say: "Qu Qing is flat, sit." ”

Seeing Qu Taichang sitting in the lower place, Emperor Fenghe couldn't help but say: "Calling Qu Qing into the palace, I have a matter that I am entangled in, I have read these three articles, "On Feudalism", "Post-disaster Policy", "On Guisu Shu", all have outstanding points, as for the ranking...... What does Qu Qing propose? Let's put it bluntly. ”

Qu Taichang's expression was entangled, it wasn't that he didn't have his own ideas, but as a courtier, he would always subconsciously guess the emperor's preferences.

"The subordinates think that this "On the Noble Su Shu" is inherited from behind the past, strong ambitions, and brilliant writing, except for some overemphasis on agriculture and business, everything else is good."

As he spoke, he raised his head slightly, glanced at Emperor Fenghe's expression, and saw that his brows were stretched, so he continued with confidence: ""Post-disaster Strategy" is of great reference value, but there are a few of them, and there is no lack of suspicion of talking on paper. ”

In the end, Qu Taichang hesitated for a while before saying: "As for the "Feudalism", the subordinates did not praise the judgment. ”

Emperor Fenghe smiled and said, "Qu Qing is right, I already know. ”

As he spoke, Emperor Fenghe wrote down the planned rankings on the cloth in turn.

After he stopped writing, the chief manager of the palace stepped forward, took the cloth with both hands, and brought it to Qu Taichang.

Qu Taichang opened the cloth with curiosity, but after seeing the result, he was a little incredulous and said, "Your Majesty, this ......"