Sorting out the items and checking for omissions, Zhu Ming carried the lantern downstairs.

Shi Biao still stayed in the inn to look at the luggage, and Bai Sheng had gone to the stable to lead the horse.

The scholars came out one after another, and there were dozens of exam-takers living in this inn alone.

"Hey, isn't the brother of the club going to take the Maoke exam?" Zhu Ming found that Qin Hui had also gone downstairs.

Qin Hui explained with a smile: "Maoke is too difficult, and it's not too late to take the test next time." ”

Mao Ke is a big subject, people don't dare to take the exam directly, and the new Jinshi is not allowed to take the exam again, and the main competitors are the previous Jinshi.

Historically, Qin Hui was thrown to the local principal to be the principal, and he was aggrieved for many years and did not move his nest. So he went to Kaomaoke hard, and became the only admitter of that class, and he came to work at this time, and quickly jumped to Taixue Xuezheng.

Min Zishun had already ordered two carriages, and all the Yangzhou scholars got into it, and Qin Hui was also cheeky to hitchhike.

Li Hanzhang and Zhu Ming, each riding a horse, entered the city together.

Bai Sheng and the rest of his entourage, carrying lanterns, followed the carriage on foot.

The speed can't be raised, there are too many people.

The city gate was opened by the examinees without any inspection, and they could enter and exit at will.

Before they arrived at the Gongyuan, the streets were blocked, because the number of candidates was about 10,000, and their retinue might break 20,000.

Dense and crowded.

Soon, an official messenger came and shouted along the street: "Idlers leave, idlers leave, don't block the streets!" ”

Bai Sheng and the others belonged to idlers, handed over the things to Zhu Ming, and silently stayed away from the tribute courtyard.

Zhu Ming didn't run to squeeze inside, and slowly waited to enter the venue. After waiting for two hours, I finally got closer and took out the answer sheet and the test ticket with the seat number written on it from the bamboo tube.

The search procedure is stricter than the state test, but there is still no stripping for inspection.

The examination room of the Gongyuan is very large and can accommodate more than 10,000 people.

The conditions of the outer examination booth are bad, and after using it three years ago, it has grown cobwebs and moss, and the candidates have to clean it up by themselves.

The examination shed in the inner room is much cleaner, because Guozijian and Tai students will borrow the Gongyuan during the annual examination, and candidates will clean it once a year.

Including Zhu Ming, the candidates from Yangzhou actually sat in the front. They didn't know that it was the arrangement of the two examiners, and they both thought they were lucky.

Each test booth has an area of about 1.3 square meters.

The first thing to do when you find a seat is to clean your exam booth, and wipe the paper on the table to prevent the table from contaminating the test papers. The second thing is to nail oil paper on the top of the examination booth to prevent rain leakage in disrepair.

Then, wait until dawn.

The content of the scriptures and texts is the same as that of the state exam, which is ten major scriptures and ten concurrent scriptures. However, the difficulty has increased, and the number of words in each essay has increased to more than 350 words.

"Dangdang, dang!"

The sky is slightly bright, the gong sounds, and the exam questions are about to be announced.

In order to prevent leakage, it was impossible to print the test papers, let alone copy 10,000 copies temporarily.

An errand officer came out holding a wooden card, and a piece of paper was attached to it, indicating the content of the first exam question. The errand officer shouted as he walked: "The first question, the gentleman is also in the world, there is no suitability, there is no Mo, and righteousness is compared...... A gentleman is also in the world, there is no suitability, there is no Mo, and righteousness is ......"

The candidates hurriedly copied down the questions and waited for the second question to be announced.

Not long after the messenger walked past Zhu Ming, another messenger came over holding a sign: "The second question, people can promote the Tao, but not the Tao...... People can promote the Tao, but non-Taoists can promote ......"

After all ten questions are announced, candidates will start to answer them.

If someone has not memorized the test questions, they can also ask the nearby officer, but they are not allowed to leave their examination booth.

Zhu Ming answered the question completely in accordance with the eight-strand text model, thought for a while, and wrote down the first question: A gentleman is also in the world, not to rely on things first, but to do things according to the appropriate, and to cover things must be righteous.

Then he pondered the topic and wrote: A gentleman deals with the affairs of the world, but righteousness is suitable. How did you get biased in the beginning?

Zhu Ming's eight-strand essay level has improved a lot compared with last year, and it is no longer the first time he has taken the exam.

The only thing to be aware of is to avoid miscellaneous offenses.

That is, you can't commit the name of the royal family in the article.

In the examination of the Huizong Dynasty, it is also necessary to avoid the exclusive remarks of Luo Xue and Shu Xue.

This is easy to avoid, take Yangzhou Academy as an example, Min Wenwei specially listed the relevant content, repeatedly emphasizing that those things cannot be taken to the exam. And there is not much content, 99% of the expositions of Xinxue, Luoxue, and Shuxue on the meaning of the scriptures are common, and only the key 1% is left to distinguish.

Of course, without the guidance of famous teachers or academies, poor scholars are easy to make mistakes, and if they are not careful, they will make taboos.

By noon, after completing the four questions, my stomach was already very hungry.

The smell of charcoal came from the examination room, and someone was cooking on their own stoves. Zhu Ming was too lazy to make a fire, took out a piece of cake and drank water, then went to the toilet, and continued to answer the question after solving his physiological needs.

Until dark, the examiner ordered the paper to be handed in, and Zhu Ming had fallen asleep on the table for a while.

There are too many candidates for the provincial examination, and it is impossible to enter the venue once a day for inspection. It's really funny, don't think about sleeping for three days in a row. Because I have to take exams during the day, I come to line up at eleven or twelve o'clock in the evening, so how can I have any time to rest?

Eating, drinking, and Lazar are all in the examination room.

The 1.3-square-meter closed cabin can only sleep on the table.

At night, Zhu Ming was still at the door of the examination shed, lit the stove and cooked a pot of porridge, and ate it with pickles and dried meat.

I slept after eating, wrote ten articles during the day, and repeatedly revised and transcribed, which was as tiring as doing a day's physical work.

On the second day, 10 questions will be examined.

On the third day, a test and a five-way history strategy will be examined.

The test question is for candidates to evaluate Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty.

This question must have come from Wang Huang's hand, and the intention was very obvious, so that the candidates could praise Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty and praise Huizong of the Song Dynasty by the way.

Zhu Ming had already guessed the mind of the questioner, but he did not praise Song Huizong, but only objectively evaluated Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty. Broken jars are broken, it's a big deal to fall off the list, and then go back to Daming Village.

The two questions on the history of the scriptures are quite decent.

There are three current policy questions, one on the war in the northwest and two on financial issues.

Zhu Ming wrote all the articles according to the truth, although he did not explicitly criticize Cai Jing and Tong Guan, but emphasized the problem of corruption in the governance of officials.

As he wrote, it was difficult for the six questions on the third day to be approved by the marking officer.

In this era, even the imperial examination has to be a sycophant!

Take the last examiner Cai Xue as an example, this person is the five-year champion of Chongning.

This champion has a lot of water, and he is completely dependent on whiskers and horses.

At that time, Cai Jing was impeached by the officials, and Song Huizong was also forced to make concessions by the ministers.

In the palace trial strategy, Cai Xue frantically said good things for Cai Jing and attacked his political opponents.

Song Huizong and Cai Jing were overjoyed to read it, so they named Cai Xue as the champion, and issued his champion article to the world, and he was promoted to the fourth grade within nine months.

Then, Cai Xue checked the family tree again and recognized Cai Jing as his uncle.

Once on a visit, Cai Jing asked his three sons to greet him. Cai Xue immediately changed his words, saying that the previous genealogy was right and wrong, Cai Jing was actually his uncle, and Cai Jing's son was his uncle.

Then, Song Huizong couldn't resist the pressure and planned to pardon some of the Yuanyou party. In order to curry favor with Cai Jing, Cai Xue actually disobeyed the emperor's order and did not write an edict according to the central decree. Such a big crime of bullying the monarch was actually just demoted to the governor of the state, and he was soon recalled to the court to serve.

In less than ten years, Cai Xue has gone from a cloth cloth to the chief examiner of the national examination!

After the three exams, Zhu Ming handed in the papers and left, bringing his stove with him.

The candidates walked out of the Tribute Academy one after another, but they were all sleepy and tired, and they didn't have the energy to talk at all, let alone go to the questions with their friends.

"Brother!"

Bai Sheng carried a lantern and led a horse to stand on the side of the street and waited for a long time.

There were too many candidates, and it was difficult for Zhu Ming to find friends, so he simply rode back to the inn alone.

I ate a meal, didn't even bother to take a shower, and fell asleep on the bed.

……

The four examiners are still locked in the Gongyuan because they are still marking officers.

The scribe copied the scroll and sent it to the graders.

In addition, more than a dozen officials from the third museum also came to help with the reading of the papers. After they mark the paper for the first time, they eliminate some of the ones that are too badly written and give them to four examiners for review.

The four examiners judge the results of the test papers, and they also have to cross-mark the papers.

Zhu Ming's two scriptures and righteous scrolls have good evaluations.

For example, in the volume of "Analects", Zhai Ruwen's criticism is: The analysis is clear, the rhetoric is comfortable, and there is no shortage of words, which can be a masterpiece.

Although the name is obscure, each answer sheet is numbered, and several answer sheets of the candidates are put together.

The number of admissions varies, but it is about 700 people, which can be more or less.

Due to the extremely strict judgment of Murong Yanfeng and Zhai Ruwen, the two of them eliminated too many people, resulting in only 671 admissions this year.

In the last Jinshi, there were 713 people!

The arbitrariness of the imperial examination in the Song Dynasty is vividly reflected in the amount of admission. Greatly influenced by the examiner, for example, the next Jinshi was not so strict in grading, and 783 people were admitted.

After the final papers were determined, the four examiners got together to rank second.

As the chief examiner, Wang Hao can make a final decision.

Murong Yan slapped the table angrily, pointed to the first place test paper and said: "This person's strategy is extremely flattering, and the article is written without much merit, why can it be judged first?" ”

Wang Hao asked rhetorically: "Is it wrong for this son to compare the official family to Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty?" ”

Murong Yanfeng couldn't answer, so he forcibly held back his anger.

Zhai Ruwen took out an answer sheet: "This person's answer sheet has a detailed analysis of the scriptures and questions, and the policy can rank in the top three." Not only through the scriptures, but also aware of the world's current affairs, its discussion of finance, military and political affairs, has been used as the words of important ministers. Why was it the last place? ”

Wang Hao said: "This son insinuated at the courtiers, saying that my Great Song Dynasty officials were corrupt. Today's saints are in the court, the sea is peaceful, Fengheng is great, and the officials are honest, where are the officials corrupt? If it weren't for the two of them insisting on recording him, I would have let this person fall off the list! It was a great deal to be the last to be the last one. ”

Murong Yanfeng was furious: "Hundreds of officials are honest, do you believe this?" ”

"Isn't it? When a saint is in court, can there still be greedy beetles as officials? Wang Hao asked.

Murong Yan was furious, but there was nothing he could do.

The imperial examination in the late Northern Song Dynasty focused on policy theory, and with Zhu Ming's policy articles, it was no problem to rank in the top three.

But under the leadership of Wang Huang, Shengsheng was judged to be the first from the bottom.

The penultimate is also the first, and it is more convenient for Zhu Ming to see the list.

(End of chapter)