After a series of cumbersome procedures such as roll call, praise, and salute, 300 tributes entered the temple. There is no test today, so there are no seats, and they stand in rows, with a total of ten rows, five on the left and right.

There was a surge of people, but everyone lowered their heads and looked solemn, not daring to make a sound.

The etiquette of the court is extremely strict, and any mistake may lead to death. This is the rule that has been emphasized and implemented by the thousand-year-old feudal rule, which has long been deeply rooted in the bone marrow of the people of the world and cannot be separated. In the long river of history, the change of dynasties, the death of the people, and many rituals have undergone a lot of changes in form, but the rule of "respect and inferiority" has been passed down from generation to generation and has never been moved.

Chen Sanlang felt extremely depressed, as if there was a mountain pressing on his back, heavy and uncomfortable. In the world of mind, the golden dragon qi that trapped the "Haoran Silk Book" also became excited and active, constantly washing the ancient book, wanting to completely corrode and melt it......

Cold sweat flashed on his forehead.

However, this situation is also shared among other people in the temple, and there are quite a few of them, and it is not an exaggeration for some of them to say, "trembling and sweating like pulp."

They were all literati and geniuses, but the noble and frivolous character of the scholar completely lost the soil for expression in the here and now.

The world is big, and the rules are the greatest, not the truth. Because the truth often doesn't make sense.

Between heaven and earth, the place where the rules are gathered is the place where the rules are gathered, and the person who makes the rules is the emperor who represents the dignity of the Ninety-Five.

The silent and oppressive wait, but a little more than a quarter of an hour, was incomparably long.

Clang!

A bell rang, and a deacon and eunuch announced loudly: "The emperor has arrived, and the tribute is saluted." ”

The three hundred tributes saluted in unison, motionless.

"Flatten. ”

The voice was surprisingly gentle, like a breeze, and there was not much majesty in it.

The tributes stood up, but they still kept their heads down, not daring to look.

There was a sound of "rattling" flipping through the paper, which was the emperor flipping through the examination papers.

Yesterday's palace exam, last night's examiner cross-approved, overnight screening and division into three levels, the workload is huge, they all stayed up late to complete it. Looking back at the past palace examinations, the rules were different, at least there was more time to review the papers.

But the rules will always change, and the imperial examination has undergone hundreds of revisions and changes over the past thousand years before it finally became what it is now. At the beginning, there was no such thing as a "palace test", it was all changed by successive dynasties, and then it emerged.

The examiner marks the papers and divides them into three echelons, of which the best ten papers are selected as the first-class jinshi candidates, and the last three-class candidates are pointed out by the emperor's imperial pen. After completing the temple examination and facing the saint, the three hundred tributes can be called "the protégé of the Son of Heaven".

After about two quarters of an hour, the deacon and eunuch were heard shouting: "Wu Qi, Song Jing, Zhou Guang......"

called several names in one breath, and the tenth one was "Ye Lotus Tong".

When Ye Rongtong heard this, he couldn't help but erupt with joy in his heart, he understood the meaning of the ten names behind them, and they were clearly the top ten candidates. Hurry out of the line and step forward with the others.

"Raise your head!"

The eunuch shouted again.

Ye Rongtong slowly raised his head, but he didn't dare to look directly, and his eyelids drooped slightly. However, the line of sight can also clearly see the emperor sitting on the dragon chair.

"This is the emperor......"

There was a trace of complicated emotions in his heart, but he didn't dare to think about it, for fear of revealing an inappropriate demeanor.

The emperor is already in the age of sixties, he is not tall in life, with three long beards, wrinkles on his face, and a pair of eyes squinted, which has a bit of "old eyes and faint" taste. If he takes off his crown, takes off his dragon robe, and walks down from the dragon chair, then he is an ordinary old man.

The years are not forgiving, he is old in the end. There have long been rumors in the market that the emperor's dragon body is not safe and his body is not as good as before, so he ordered the seventh prince to return from Liangzhou, which probably has the intention of setting the prince.

Of course, it doesn't mean that the seventh prince will be decided, and there will be some selection.

The emperor's gaze slowly swept over the faces of the ten people, his expression was indifferent, and he couldn't see any emotion. After a moment, he looked down again and went through the papers, one by one, very slowly.

This is almost the royal pen circle, and there are already eunuchs next to him who have sharpened the ink and put the pen to serve.

The ten people below felt that their hearts were beating so fast that they could hardly bear it.

At the circle of the pen, the fame is shining. Although the three hundred tributes in the palace will basically not be defeated, there is still a big difference between the "top three and the same jinshi" and "the second class jinshi", and the gap between the second and third class and the "first class jinshi and the first" is even greater.

Differences in origin can determine a lifetime, and the same is true for differences in fame.

The emperor suddenly sighed, put down the scroll, and said indifferently: "Present the second-class scroll." ”

The chief examiners on the side were shocked when they heard this, and an old minister knelt on the ground: "Your Majesty." ”

The emperor looked at him: "Yang Qing's family, you are waiting for the papers, and I have been disappointed a little." ”

As soon as these words came out, the rest of the examiners immediately stopped on the ground.

This is the rule, the emperor's words, even if they don't show much reproach, but the courtiers who perform the affairs below have to be guilty.

The emperor coughed: "Yang Qing's family, who came up with the questions for the palace exam?"

Yang Qingjia replied: "It was written by the emperor himself." ”

"What is the sorrow of those who are in the world? Do you think that I live in the deep palace and do not know the troubles of the world?"

Yang Qing's family didn't even dare to say it.

The emperor picked up the file on the desk and shook it gently: "These ten articles are very well written, very good. But, that's all. ”

Speaking of which, if the ministers still don't understand, the head is really white on the neck.

Yang Qingjia sighed for a while, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, the way to govern the country lies in the mean. ”

The emperor smiled: "I remember very clearly, in an early dynasty, Yang Qing's family once said, 'If you are in trouble, you should use fierce medicine'. ”

Yang Qing's family fell to the ground and was silent.

"Are you afraid?"

The Emperor's voice was tinged with indescribable sarcasm.

Yang Qing's family is still silent: he is not afraid of death, but in recent years, he has experienced so many things and seen so much blood, and some slightly sharp edges and corners have long converged.

The examination of the temple is not so much about reading the article as it is about speculating on the holy will. What the emperor likes and approves, he has to submit it, so as not to offend the scales. However, the companion is like a tiger, especially in today's saints, many government decrees have changed day and night over the years, which is very unstable.

Divine will is unpredictable.

Therefore, the ten papers submitted for this temple examination are all selected as decent works, expounding on the worries and analyzing clearly, but they are by no means radical.

But he couldn't figure out what the emperor wanted to do today, and sometimes, deep down, he felt that the emperor was like a child, and he would mess around without paying attention. To a certain extent, a large part of today's situation is caused by the emperor.

Of course, these words must not be spoken. In the past, there were Zheng Zheng ministers who wrote to them, but they ended up miserable.

So, time has passed, can it be said that the emperor suddenly woke up, realized that the situation was difficult, and wanted to use heavy rules to govern the country and turn the tide?

This is not impossible, when the emperor ascended the throne, the first ten years of benevolent government, so that the country is rich and the people are strong, thriving, can be called a "prosperous era".

Those who open up the prosperous world should be Mingjun. Since the prodigal son can turn back, why can't Mingjun regain his strength?

It's just that......

Yang Qing's family felt relieved, but they had another worry. It is certainly good to re-rule the country and treat the sick with fierce medicine, but what about when the edifice is about to collapse and the serious illness is riddled with serious diseases?

The emperor was high above him, and his voice was gentle: "Yang Qingjia, you can choose three more volumes of articles and hand them in." ”

"Obey the Divine Decree. ”

Yang Qingjia left with all the examiners, went to the side hall, and selected from the second- and third-class papers.

A minister lowered his voice and asked quietly, "Lord Yang, what's wrong with the emperor?"

He was puzzled.

In the past science and palace examination, there has been almost no such change.

Lord Yang's expression was complicated, and he smiled bitterly for a moment: "As a courtier, just follow the will and do it." ”

"It's just in a hurry, how do you choose three volumes?"

Three hundred tributes, three hundred articles, is by no means a small number. What's more, I don't know what the emperor's intentions are at the moment, and what kind of articles he wants to read.

Lord Yang groaned slightly, stroked his beard, and showed a resolute look: "I'll choose." ”

Reach into the volume placed in the top three, and pull out the volume that was originally pressed at the end.

When the minister next to him saw it, he felt a pang in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Lord Yang, no!"

Lord Yang said: "Lord Wu, Lord Liu, are you opposed?"

Then Lord Wu hurriedly said: "The arguments of this volume of articles are radical and biased, how can they be submitted to the emperor for reading?"

Lord Yang looked at him, and inexplicably thought of the emperor's tone just now: "Are you afraid?"

Lord Wu said angrily: "In case this volume of articles is circled by the emperor and spread, the world will be in chaos." We can't be afraid of the devastation of life. ”

Lord Yang's hand slowly lowered and began to groan.

Lord Liu persuaded: "Lord Yang, it is a matter of social safety, don't be hasty." ”

Lord Yang thought about it, and finally gave up: "Okay, then choose three other volumes." ”

At that moment, several people discussed in a low voice, and they selected three copies of the second-class file and brought them to the palace, and the eunuch presented them to the emperor.

The emperor began to flip through the pages, the speed of browsing was not slow, and it didn't take long to finish reading, he raised his head suddenly, and his voice became stern in vain: "Yang Qingjia, you are the answer to your reply to me?"

Speaking, he stood up abruptly and threw the Chinese chapter in his hand to His Highness: "The world is so big, there are so many scholars, can't you find a person who can share the worries for you?"

The meaning of this sentence is heavy, and it involves the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!"

Lord Yang and the others immediately knelt down and kowtowed to ask for sin, and they were very frightened.

The emperor coughed violently, and the eunuch on the side hurriedly took a brocade box and opened it, and there was a vermilion pill inside, with the fragrance of medicine.

After taking the medicine, the blush on the emperor's face gradually faded, and he leaned back on the dragon chair, like a piece of wood that was about to decay.

After such an accident, the three hundred tributes were surprised in their hearts, but they didn't dare to show it, they lowered their heads, and they didn't even dare to breathe. For the first time in their lives, they have a face-to-face understanding of "accompanying the king as accompanying the tiger".

How unfathomable is the will of God, but unfathomable!r1152

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