Mingguang Palace is in the northeast of Chang'an City, and the size of Weiyang Palace is comparable.

Twenty-five years ago, Emperor Xiaowu built the Mingguang Palace in order to seek immortals, and selected 2,000 beauties from the land of Yanzhao to fill it.

Now, the beauty of the year is no longer there, and Emperor Xiaowu has been sleeping in Maoling.

The peerless style of Mingguang Palace is gone, leaving only the increasingly dilapidated palace and the palace people wandering under the palace walls.

Like Weiyang Palace, Mingguang Palace was also built on a high platform.

Under the steps of the main hall, there is an open space, which can accommodate more than 1,000 people, which is more than enough.

This vacant land was originally used for Emperor Xiaowu to salute and ask for immortals, but now it is used as a temporary examination institute, and it is suitable for Lang officials who participated in the imperial examination to take the examination here.

……

Today, in order to make the first imperial examination of the Han Dynasty more powerful, Liu He has to personally invigilate the examination, not only that, but he also issued an edict to let the three princes, nine kings and all the doctors come to Mingguang Palace to witness this grand event of the Han Dynasty and the literary world.

The grand event of the Han literary world - this is a word set by Liu He himself, and Zhang Anshi and Bingji think that this statement is quite appropriate.

Although Liu He was very concerned about this imperial examination, Huo Guang actually didn't care very much.

During the ten days of preparing for the imperial examination, the small court meeting was held several times in a row, and during these small court meetings, Liu He did not speak much and remained silent very restrained.

All matters were reported by Zhang Anshi and Bingji at the court meeting.

Liu He thought that Huo Guang would intervene more or less, but he didn't expect the latter's unexpected cooperation and silence.

Except for the official instructions to think through all the details, there is not much interference.

Every time the small court is discussed, the time to stay to discuss the imperial examination is only a quarter or two of hours.

The rest of the time was still spent discussing "major matters" such as military affairs, persuading agriculture and mulberry, collecting taxes, dispatching money and grain, and transporting goods.

At first, Liu He thought that Huo Guang was leading but not triggering, and wanted to secretly Chen Cang to do something.

But Huo Guang's attitude has always been relatively indifferent.

This made Liu He understand that Huo Guang couldn't look down on these miscellaneous doctors who were vacated.

So I don't care much about it.

In this way, it also made Liu He feel at ease.

As long as the imperial examination is successfully carried out this time, then he can take advantage of the situation to spread it among all subjects in the examination system.

When the time comes, Huo Guang can't stop it if he wants to.

……

The Son of Heaven drove from the Yang Palace before noon, and it took about half an hour to arrive at the Mingguang Palace.

At this time, it was almost mid-August, and the weather was no longer as hot as before, so the official start time of the imperial examination was set at noon.

When Liu He left the palace, he was deliberately slow, so when he came to Mingguang Palace, the three princes and nine kings and all the doctors and officials had already arrived in advance.

Letting subordinates wait with their hearts is a small means of controlling people's hearts.

Under the hug, Liu He came to the steps of the main hall of Mingguang Palace, and the three princes and nine kings and several doctoral officials were already lined up on both sides according to their ranks.

Standing here, the open space under the steps two or three feet high can be seen at a glance, and at this time it has been neatly filled with couches and several cases, but the officials have not been put in, so there is no one.

The open space was enclosed into a huge courtyard, and no idlers were allowed to be placed until the examination began—all the officials who were waiting for the examination were waiting outside the courtyard wall.

Looking over from where Liu He was, he could only see a dense crowd of human heads—his faces couldn't be seen clearly at all.

There are so many people, Liu He only knows a few people who were promoted by him to study with him before - because of his busy government affairs, there are not many opportunities to meet them.

As for the others, they don't know any.

If there is no exam, relying on artificial recommendations alone, I don't know how many Maxima are buried, let alone how many inferior horses are mixed in.

……

After the monarch and ministers met each other, Liu He calmly sat on the imperial couch, and the rest of the people also sat down one after another.

"Middle Father, looking at the scene here, is it still a grand occasion?"

"This matter is a method that His Majesty came up with, so naturally it will not be bad." Huo Guang praised without hesitation, but he was a little disdainful in his heart.

The Son of Heaven seems to be a little too naïve, can he take a imperial examination to select talents?

However, since the Son of Heaven wants to do it, then let's do it, the miscellaneous doctor is not an important official position, not to mention that in the end, let yourself decide on the candidate.

Let's look at it first, if it is useful, it can naturally be promoted; If it's useless, it doesn't hurt.

In short, Huo Guang himself will not be damaged.

"Father Zhong, the time for the exam is coming, can you let Zhang Anshi and Bingji decide?"

Liu He already has some prestige in the court, if Huo Guang disappears in place, then Liu He will naturally say the same, but now no matter how big or small, Liu He still has to give his middle father a little more face.

"Your Majesty can decide, the old man doesn't know much about this imperial examination, so he won't say much."

Liu He couldn't ask for it, and every time he gave orders in front of the courtiers, it was an opportunity for Liu He to accumulate prestige.

Habit becomes natural, when the courtiers listen to Liu He's orders too much, they will naturally start to think about who is the real master of the Han Dynasty.

"Zhang Anshi, Bingji!"

"Wechen is here!" The two of them immediately got up from the couch and walked to the front of the people.

"The time has come, don't worry about me and my middle father, you can just make your own decisions."

"No!"

After answering, the two saluted again, and went about their duties step by step.

……

A quarter of an hour before noon, the four drums on the high platform beat three ways.

Bingji came to the stairs of the high platform and shouted: "Open the door, Lang Guan enter!" ”

One by one, the surrounding confessors passed on Bingji's order.

After a short time, several courtyard doors on the south courtyard wall opened, and those anxious Lang officials couldn't wait to pour into the examination courtyard.

Because it was the first time that so many Lang officials had gathered together, and the courtyard gate was not open enough and not wide enough, there was a little chaos all of a sudden—many Lang officials were pushed down by the more anxious people behind, and even more people were held back.

When Liu He was worried about whether there would be a stampede, the pavilion guards who had been arranged around in advance rushed over, pulled up those Lang officials who had fallen to the ground, and began to maintain order.

After a while, everything was finally smooth again, and the officials began to enter and sit down in an orderly manner.

"Zhang Qing, how many people will take the imperial examination this time?"

This imperial examination is not mandatory, so Liu He does not know the specific number yet.

"There are one thousand and three people in total, accounting for more than ninety percent of Lang officials."

"After I saw that after entering the venue, Lang Guan was able to shine on his seat, how did you do this?"

(End of chapter)