On the tenth day after the release of the provincial examination, the palace examination that decided the ranking of the jinshi finally arrived as scheduled.

When the spring flowers are in full bloom, the day of the palace test has arrived. Wu Zhi and Pan Wei got up early, ate the pastries they had prepared last night, and hurried to the direction of the imperial city. The two of them sat in a carriage, driven by Wang Er, and slowly marched along the royal street. In order to cope with the problem of transportation, Wu Zhi and the others spent fifteen yuan a few days ago to buy a carriage as a means of transportation.

At this time, the sky is not completely bright, the lights on the royal street are sparse and dim, the shadows on both sides of the royal street are sparse, the passers-by are sparse, only the officials and new science and technology scholars who enter the palace or ride a sedan chair or ride a horse or take a car or walk, in a hurry to the direction of the palace.

Half an hour later, the two of them finally arrived in front of the right gate of the palace by car. From a distance, I saw that there was already a long line in front of the right door, and the same was true in front of the left door. After getting out of the car, he instructed Wang Er to go back first and wait until the evening to pick them up. The two of them lined up behind the line, waiting to enter the palace.

As the left and right doors slowly opened, the officials of the Ministry of Rites began to train the new scholars in etiquette, so as not to lose their manners in front of the officials; Then the guards of the Imperial City Division guarding the palace gate searched their bodies one by one. After the inspection was completed, the two columns were each led by an attendant, and began to enter the palace from the left and right doors in order, and the body was searched when entering the palace, and it was strictly forbidden to carry weapons in the palace. During the march, everyone walked on the imperial road of the imperial city, all trembling and not daring to make a noise.

It was the first time for Wu Zhi to enter the palace, his heart was full of curiosity, and his courage was not so small, unlike others who walked with their heads down. He was looking east and west, the left and right front were full of gold, the ridges and cornices, the palaces were lined up, a solemn royal atmosphere, when he saw the palace guards on duty in red robes at five steps and one sentry, he smiled and nodded, and Pan Wei, who was following him closely, was frightened, and cold sweat flowed.

Finally, everyone walked to a magnificent tall hall in turn, the red wall and green tiles, the eaves and ridges, very magnificent, this is the Jiying Palace, the place where the palace test is held. And on the left side of the Jiying Palace, in the middle of the Xuande Gate, there is also a tallest and largest palace: Daqing Palace! Looking at the towering hall in front of them, except for a few royal nobles who had seen the palace, most of the Jinshi were a little more awe-inspiring in their hearts, and they had a deeper understanding and understanding of the royal majesty.

Walk into the Jiying Hall in order, only to see the carved beams and paintings in the hall, the palace is vast, can accommodate thousands of people, there are several side halls next to it, a solemn and solemn momentum is coming, and everyone has a little more fear and humility in their hearts. Wu Zhi followed behind the team, and from a distance, he saw a thin young man in his twenties sitting on the Luan seat above the Jiying Palace, wearing a crowned dragon robe, it was the emperor Zhao Xu! On the right side of the head of the Luan seat stood a middle-aged servant, this was the great eunuch Hao Sui, who was known to the province of the inner servant at the time.

At the lower end of the stone steps of Luantai, there are more than 30 officials of all sizes standing on the left and right sides, with different costumes, most of them wearing purple clothes and purple robes, and a few wearing red clothes and green robes, all wearing crowns and hats, holding wat in both hands, standing solemnly and quietly. Among them, the dozens of ministers in purple robes in the front line are particularly eye-catching.

Standing on the left hand side of the front is the prime minister wearing a sable crown (Shangshu's left servant and his subordinate servant) Zhang Chun, and standing to the right are the Privy Council envoy An Tao wearing a sable crown, Shangshu's right servant and Zhongshu waiter Li Qingchen, Zeng Bu, the Privy Councillor who wears a six-beam Jinxian crown, Shangshu Zuocheng Cai Bian and Shangshu Youcheng Huang Lu who wears a five-beam Jinxian crown, all six of them are in power, and they should stand in the first row; After a little interval, further to the right are the official department secretary and the military department secretary Xu Jiang, the household department secretary Cai Jing, the imperial history of Cheng Anton, the Ministry of Rites Lin Xi, the criminal department of the criminal department of the criminal department of criminal Shu, the Ministry of work Zhang Shangying and other six people, lined up in turn. These are the 12 most powerful ministers in the DPRK and China, and they are all examiners.

The officials at the level of the squire stood in the second row in order, and Chen Xian, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, was also present, he was also one of the examiners, and Wu Juhou, the waiter of the household department, Guo Zhizhang of Honglu Temple, and others, were all members of the thirteen preliminary evaluation examiners.

The other eleven officials of the Ministry of Rites, dressed in vermilion robes or green robes, stood in the third row in order, and they were all staff members of the palace examination.

The two brothers, Cai Jing and Cai Bian, look very similar, and Wu Zhi recognized them at a glance. These two people will be the targets of his special attack and suppression in the future, especially Cai Jing, who is his first target. These brothers are actually quite good-looking, they are talented, they can't see the appearance of treacherous villains, and they seem to be quite hidden. One of these two people is the head of the household department, and the other is the head of the book Zuo Cheng, both of whom are high-powered ministers, and Wu Zhi feels a lot of pressure.

In the distance, everyone knelt and bowed in turn, and Wu Zhi also followed the crowd to kneel and bow, following the mountain and shouting, "Your Majesty is auspicious!" ”

In the Song Dynasty at that time, except for the first meeting or major occasions such as the grand court meeting and the palace test, it was necessary to kneel and worship the emperor, and there was no need to kneel when seeing the emperor, just bow down and make a salute.

"All the ministers are flat!" A voice of lack of qi came out of the emperor's mouth, it seems that the health of this official Zhao Xu is indeed not very good. Wu Zhi thought secretly in his heart, and took advantage of the situation to stand up with everyone.

Wu Zhi stood in the crowd, raised his head and quietly observed Zhao Xu, only to see him, although he was dressed in a high-sounding manner, his face was sallow, his eyes were black, his body was thin, and he was obviously frail and sickly but overindulged.

After Zhao Xu said a word of encouragement and admonition, the fourth year of Shao Sheng's Ding Chou Ke Temple Examination officially began. The palace examination was presided over by Emperor Zhao Xu himself.

The Jiying Hall was large enough, and five hundred and seventy tables and chairs had been set up, and the new scholars sat down at the tables under the guidance of the officials of the Ministry of Rites and prepared for the exam.

The palace examination is a strategic examination, and the emperor personally makes the question: about the policy question of profit and loss should be made from time to time, the question is expressed as follows:

The king of the ancient Ming Dynasty was an official with the Tao and a virtuous official. People can make the best use of their talents, the law is enough to carry out their will, the small and the big are divided, and the common people are the same. Because of it, it is supplemented by ambition, and there is no doubt about it, and it is persuaded by hard work, and there is no heart at the bottom. In order to repair the politics of the land, the province of mountains and wood, the river and the water. In the era of the sky, the sun and the stars will follow their path, and the years will be in their order. As for the courtesy, it was a success. Whooping, how can you do this?

I won the Fengzong Temple, afraid of not sensitive, without the Hugh of the first emperor of Zhang, so since the pro-government, Jia and the Qingshi doctor Xiu Ming Xu, Shen Yu Zhi, years in the Z. And to push the original purpose, or not to do everything, people are righteous, and they will not be investigated. Why?

The book is not cloudy: "The destiny of heaven is only a few times." "The business of the present, the profit and loss, should be created at the right time, there must be its order, for it is not there, and it is not expected, there must be a few, and the child should know it. From Tang Yu to Zhou, there were six or seven saints, and then his law was prepared. Now its books are there, and it can be examined. But who is the one who is not in agreement, and who can be pushed? It is written in detail, and I will see it for myself.

The gist of this topic is: the first emperors appointed all talents, governing the country and the people are all meritocracy, the results of governing the country are also good, and the monarchs and ministers are also very harmonious; He also adheres to the will of the first emperor, makes great efforts, and appoints virtuous ministers, but why does the monarch and the minister always not get along? What is the best solution to this problem?

"Why can't the monarch and the minister get along? Isn't it because you are eager for quick success, personal vendetta in the communiqué, and Zhang Chun, Li Qingchen, Zeng Bu and others are crazy to suppress and retaliate against Yuan You's old party? Is this embarrassing to ask? Wu Zhi slandered with contempt in his heart, but he could never say these words!

In the fifteen years that Zhao Xu became emperor, the most important thing that the entire court has done is party struggle! Striking at Western Xia and recovering some lost territory was just incidental.

At the beginning, it was Sima Guang, Han Zhongyan and others, with the support of the old woman Empress Dowager Gao, who completely overthrew the new law advocated by Wang Anshi, and all those who were involved in the new law were all defeated and degraded, and even the emperor was not taken seriously.

After Empress Dowager Gao returned to heaven and Zhao Xu came to power, the so-called New Party such as Zhang Chun, Li Qingchen, Zeng Bu, and Cai Jing gained power at one time, and under the pretext of promoting the new law, they in turn dragged Sima Guang and other Yuanyou old party members from heaven to hell, and even more crazy retaliation, almost all Yuanyou old party members were relegated to the desert Lingnan to wait for death. Su Shi was even more degraded by them, until he was degraded to Danzhou, Hainan, thousands of miles away!

Regardless of the new party or the old party, the two groups of people are not good people, they don't do their business, and they only know how to eat dog on weekdays. In Wu Zhi's heart, except for the respect for the late Wang Anshi, Fan Zhongyan, Bao Zheng, Shen Kuo and others, he did not have the slightest good impression of these people, including the Empress Dowager Xiang and Zhao Ji. The Northern Song Dynasty was slowly tossed away by these people! He despised them in his heart.

But Wu Zhi has nothing to do with them now, and he even has to rely on them to push him now!

According to Wu Zhi's historical cognition, he knew that the champion of this palace examination was He Changyan, the list eye was Fang Tianruo, the Tanhua was Hu Anguo, Zhang Chun's son Zhang Zhi was also a jinshi, the champion He Changyan and the list eye Fang Tianruo were both speculative, they all wantonly belittled the old party of Yuan You and praised the new party in their policies. And Hu Anguo is really talented, because he didn't say bad things about the old party and slap the new party's sycophants in the policy, he was suppressed by Zhang Chun and others, fortunately, Zhao Xu knew the goods and gave him a tanhua.

Therefore, what Wu Zhi has to do is to draw the gourd in the same way, just concoct it in the same way! Even if he is unhappy, he has to say good things about the emperor and the new party as much as possible in his policy theory, and belittle the old party as much as possible. The current Wu Zhi has to come up with a style of not giving up and unscrupulous means until the goal is achieved, so as to achieve his set goals. In fact, before the palace examination, Wu Zhi also reminded Pan Wei and told him to try to favor the new law and the new party as much as possible during the palace examination, and say more good things for the emperor and the new party, so I don't know if Pan Wei can listen to it and do it.

I don't go to hell, who does.

After thinking of countermeasures, Wu Zhi put his mind at ease and slowly conceived it. Wu Zhi himself was not completely disgusted with the new law, and some of the new law measures such as the Conscription Law, the Fangtian Tax Law, and the Shiyi Law were also felt that it was necessary to implement them, although they were not implemented well and failed to solve the problem fundamentally. He reverses people, those mad dogs who disregard the interests of the country and the people for their own interests! His strength is weak now, so he can only cater to them first, and then come to transform and clean them up when he has enough strength in the future, which is called saving the country by curves.

Wu Zhi first drew up an outline of what he was going to write, and then slowly considered how to start the topic, how to unfold it, how to wrap it up, how to combine the words that derogated Yuanyou's old party and praised the new law and the new party, how to express his own views, and so on. After thinking about it, he picked up the pen and wrote quickly with a line of grass: "The husband is a master, and the king is also respected!" Just like Guan Zhong Leyi, they are all models for our generation. ……”

Borrowing the past to metaphor the present, writing about the courage and wisdom of the first emperor Shenzong, the advantages and disadvantages of Dao Xining's change of law, praising the current emperor's deep insight and wisdom, praising the benefits of the new law, praising the hard work and good intentions of the ministers of the new party in the imperial court, scolding Yuan You for the decay of the old party, and the great rebellion, plus some of the chicken soup for the soul of being a man first and being oneself first, crossing others first, respecting and giving each other, and the big husband doing something and not doing something, sprinkled more than a thousand words on the paper, and in less than two hours, Wu Zhi wrote the policy theory. After checking that there were no errors, he slowly transcribed them word by word, and it took more than half an hour to complete the transcription.

After writing and checking again, he put down his pen and sat quietly in his seat, or closed his eyes to recuperate, or watched others answer the questions.

At noon, rest and eat. For lunch, there are mutton buns, cooking cakes, mutton soup, etc. Wu Zhi and the little eunuch who delivered the meal took two mutton buns and a mutton soup, sat down in their seats easily, and enjoyed them slowly, the food in the palace tasted quite good. After eating two mutton buns, he still felt unsatisfied, so he greeted the little eunuch again, asked for a cooking cake, and slowly ate it with mutton soup.

Seeing Wu Zhi's leisurely tossing, he hated the surrounding Jinshi masters and gritted their teeth, if their eyes could kill, they would have killed him thousands of times. They are still racking their brains for the strategy, this Wu Zhi is good, and he is enjoying the food slowly in the main hall, can he not be angry?

It is said that Wu Zhi was spending time leisurely after writing the policy theory, Pan Wei was not calm in his heart, and he was still worrying about the position of the policy theory. Is it to glorify the merits of the new party and belittle the old party? Or is it impartial and wise? Thinking about it, he saw that Wu Zhi who was sitting in front of him was leisurely closing his eyes and recuperating, and remembering what Wu Zhi said to him before the exam, he bit his heart with his teeth: "Die, die!" Then he began to add words praising the new law and the new party and derogating the old party in the text without leaving a trace, and Pan Wei took out the ability to flatter, but he also wrote it in a high-sounding way that made people blush and heartbeat, anyway, he even felt embarrassed to read it himself, and it was exaggerated.

Time was passing quietly, and all afternoon, Wu Zhi waited in meditation. Zhang Chun, Zeng Bu, Cai Jing and other dozens of ministers also sat quietly on the embroidery stool with expressionless faces, facing everyone, silently watching everyone answer questions, and from time to time they would look at Wu Zhi.

During this period, many officials were very unhappy when they saw Wu Zhibai's boring appearance, and some even walked to him curiously, and after seeing that he had indeed written a policy, they couldn't help but shake their heads and leave, with a depressed face: "Who is this?" Write so fast! What a monster! ”

Zhao Xu, who was sitting on the Luan seat, was also full of surprise when he saw Wu Zhi, the youngest new science and technology jinshi, who had nothing to do all afternoon, and couldn't help but send Hao Sui over to take a look. After Hao Sui turned around and told him that this new science and technology scholar named Wu Zhi had already written the answer sheet, he stretched his tense face and smiled knowingly: "This Wu Zhi, I remember!" ”

At dusk, the palace examination finally ended. After the officials of the Ministry of Rites who received the papers, sealed them, and held the papers, Wu Zhi got up, bowed to Zhao Xu, the official who had insisted on staying on the scene to invigilate, and then left the Jiying Hall with everyone, and together with Pan Wei, slowly walked outside the palace under the contemptuous eyes of everyone.

Walking out of the palace, it was already dark, the royal street was brightly lit, people came and went, and the prosperous nightlife of the Great Song Dynasty was about to start again.

Wang Er had already been waiting in front of the Zuoye Gate in the carriage for a long time, and the two of them got into the carriage and returned home in a chatting and laughing atmosphere. Xiao'e had already prepared meals at home, and they didn't bother to go out to eat, and Xiao'e's cooking skills were not bad, and they could enjoy food at home.