Not long after Jia Zheng set off with a group of juniors, Master Pardon received a letter.
The person who sent the letter was none other than Dai Quan, the eunuch who was close to the Saint of Longshou Palace.
He handed the letter to Jia She and handed it over with a smile: "The saint said that brother Cong has not embarrassed Prince Rong. After the palace examination, brother Cong needs to go to the imperial mausoleum. The saint will take him there personally."
After Jia She read the content of the letter, his face was full of pride and he invited him with a smile: "I will obey the imperial edict and will give him instructions when San'er comes back. I'd like to trouble Dai Gong to come in person. If you're not busy, please invite Dai Gong." Let me stay for a glass of wine..."
Dai Quan smiled and shook his head, then patted Jia She on the shoulder: "No, I will drink wine later. I have to go back and report to the saint quickly. Enhou, when Gongyuan sent the imperial list to the palace, the saint was very happy. , he said you did a good job and taught your son well..."
After sending Dai Quan away, Master Pardon carefully put away the saint's handwriting with red eyes, then walked out of the house with his granddaughter in his arms, and found the housekeeper to arrange the decoration inside and outside the house.
The stone lion was tied with red silk, and strings of firecrackers were hung on both sides of the road from the street entrance to the front door of the mansion. Even the cats in the mansion wore rings of red silk yarn around their necks.
When Mr. Zheng returned to the mansion, he was supported by Jia Lian and Baoyu and walked into the mansion. Before he went to Rongxi Hall to announce the good news to the old lady, he heard gongs ringing at the intersection of Ningrong Street.
Clang, clang, clang...
Then the firecrackers were lit, and strings of firecrackers exploded. The smell of sulfur was even stronger than during the Chinese New Year, and red firecracker confetti flew in all directions, covering the entire Ningrong Street.
Ningrong Street was already crowded with onlookers, focusing their attention on the two teams announcing the good news.
"Yongfeng Bo won?"
"of course!"
"But why are there two teams of reporters?"
"Hiss! Second Master Bao was also hit?"
The two teams of messengers jumped off their horses before they reached the gate of Rongguo Mansion fifty steps, and ran towards Rongguo Mansion with twelve halberds standing in front of the door. They bowed respectfully and devoutly towards the plaque that said "Rongguo Mansion was built by imperial decree". down, and then shouted.
"Good news, the master of Daxing County of Shuntian Prefecture, Jia Yicong, won the first place in the high school Renchen Examination and became the top saint of Fengtian Hall!"
boom!
The crowd of onlookers was instantly in an uproar, and started talking in shock amidst the sound of thousands of firecrackers hanging on the left side of the front door.
"It's five yuan, it's five yuan, I know that Uncle Yongfeng must be Wen Kuixing who descended to earth!"
"Wei Wenzhenggong said at that time that Uncle Yongfeng was born with wisdom and was not a god descending to the earth. How could he be a high school student at the age of eleven?"
"You must be so lucky, Mr. Pardon, because both of his sons are so good. People in the south say that Mr. Lian is a door god in their place and is posted on the door, and Mr. Cong is a deity who is capable of both culture and martial arts. You Look, it’s already five yuan, can six yuan be far behind?”
"What do you know? Duke She is more powerful than his son. Think about the four princes, eight princes, and twelve princes. Who else has a higher title than Duke She? Dragons and dragons give birth to phoenixes. Duke She is the only one who is powerful himself. It will be so good.”
"Shh, stop talking, stop talking, there is still a team of reporters..."
Before Jia Cong had time to take the golden book, he saw another team of newspapermen also holding up the golden book announcing the good news and shouting: "Good news, Mr. Jia Tajue of Daxing County, Shuntian Prefecture, ranked eleventh in the high school Renchen examination." Gongshi, the saint above Fengtian Temple!"
"What? Baoyu won the 11th test?"
Everyone looked towards the middle gate of Rongguo Mansion, and saw an old lady walking out of the gate of Rongguo Mansion surrounded by maids and women.
I saw the old man wearing a seven-Zhai crown, a gold-embroidered Yunxia Zhai pattern, and a gold-embroidered Zhai pattern on his chest and back. His hair was gray but he was still in good spirits.
"Greetings to Princess Rongjun!"
Everyone in front of the door bowed down one after another. After the old lady said no need to be polite, her hands trembled slightly, she pointed at the newspaper and asked again: "Who do you think my grandson won?"
The two newspapermen looked at each other and bowed together.
"Go back to the Imperial Concubine, the master of your mansion, Jia Yi Cong, is the first place in the high school Renchen Examination!"
"Jia Tajue, your master, is the eleventh tribute scholar in the high school Renchen Examination!"
"Two Jinshi in the same subject, the concubine taught her well, and the rich culture of Rongguo Mansion is really rare. I wish you congratulations to the concubine!"
Yuanyang took the two golden books. After opening them, the old lady only took one look at them and was very happy: "Reward! There is a reward for everything. There will be a banquet in the mansion today, and all the neighbors will come!"
Crackling, crackling...
Mixed with the congratulations of everyone, the firecrackers hanging on the right side of the door were also lit.
The old lady glared at the eldest son who was supporting her, and laughed and cursed: "You bastard, how dare you fool me..."
Master Pardon shrugged: "When did my son fool you? My son just told you that both of them were successful. No, the person who brought the good news even sent a golden book."
The old lady raised her hand and hit her eldest son on the arm: "Yes, yes, the 350th place was also won. Could it be the same as Huiyuan and the 11th place? If you dare to tease me, I will reward you today." You spent all the money on the banquet, so you should be punished by me."
Jia She directly took out a banknote and handed it to the mandarin duck on the side: "My son obeys his mother's order. This silver comes from my son!"
Yuanyang only took one look at the banknote in his hand and was stunned. One thousand taels! The great master is mighty, the great master is heroic!
Strings of firecrackers were hung up and lit as if for free, and the sound of explosions was endless.
The entire Ningrong Street was covered with a thick layer of red confetti, and the carriages coming to Rongguo Mansion to congratulate him came one after another, and they couldn't even squeeze through.
Mr. Pardon had a good drinking capacity, and he took his son from table to table, showing off his baby to the extreme, which made Mr. Niu from Zhenguo Mansion look at his children and grandchildren with increasingly dangerous eyes.
Mr. Zheng, on the other hand, still didn't come back to his senses even after three rounds of drinking.
His son passed the 11th Gongshi Examination, but he was still the same son who was tired of being in a pile of makeup and powder every day and failed to live up to expectations...
After the guests dispersed, Master Jing took Baoyu and Jia Cong to the ancestral hall to kowtow to the ancestors and announce the good news.
It was not until evening that the hustle and bustle dissipated and everyone from the two mansions gathered in Rongxi Hall.
Master Lin finally found out the reason why Baoyu got the eleventh place, and explained the whole story to everyone in a dumbfounded manner.
In fact, Baoyu deserves to be ranked eleventh in high school this time. Why?
There will be three exams. The first exam will be three essays with four texts, and four essays with five scriptures. This test is all about memory and understanding.
Although Baoyu didn't like to read the Four Books and Five Classics, he couldn't resist Master Zheng's criticism. In recent years, under the intimidation of Master Zheng's criticism, what he should memorize and memorize has long been engraved in his mind.
In terms of intelligence, Mr. Bao is one of the best in the entire capital. (Of course, most of the time he is not used for business.) This allowed Mr. Bao to come out on top in the first round, beating most of the candidates.
The second test was on "Lun", "Edict" and "Judgment".
"Lun" can simply be understood as an argumentative essay. Although the questions are also extracted from the Four Books and Five Classics, there is no requirement to use eight-legged essays to answer them, so you can use them freely.
"Chao Gaobiao" is the collective name of "Chao", "Gao" and "Biao". It can be simply understood as an official document, requiring scholars to imitate the words and deeds of the superiors and write corresponding edicts, imperial edicts and table.
"Judgment" is even simpler. It can be simply understood as a comment on a document submitted by a subordinate to test the scholar's familiarity with legal provisions such as the "Daxia Code".
These three things couldn't be simpler for Mr. Bao, who was born in the Duke's Mansion. The imperial edicts received by the government are almost filling the ancestral hall, which I have been familiar with since I was a child.
In the past two years, he was forced to memorize the entire "Law of Daxia" because of the rectification of the two houses because of his respect for the eldest master. It was really a mistake.
As for the last scene, it was even simpler. There were five essays. Bao Erye integrated Jia Cong's experience into his own essays. He scorned some national thieves with fierce words and won Hai Qingtian's favor all of a sudden. "Happiness".
"The article is full of character, and the words are meaningful. If it were not for the flaws in the handwriting, it would be a great success!"
If Baoyu hadn't been ill on the last day and had a slight flaw in his handwriting, Haigangfeng would have almost quarreled with Mr. Guo Ge and moved Baoyu up the ranking.
Compared with Baoyu's fierce words, Jia Cong's answer seemed as stable as an old cat.
Each of the well-written policy questions is full of useful information. If they had not known that it was an examination answer sheet, the examiners would have thought that this was a policy that some cabinet minister was planning to implement to govern.
When I called to seal it, I saw Jia Cong from Daxing County, Shuntian Prefecture...
Wait, isn't Jia Cong a student of Xu Qingteng? How could a disciple of a representative figure from the reform sect write such a straightforward policy?
The eleven-year-old boy wrote in the style of a forty-year-old official, which was beyond the imagination of the examiners who marked the papers.
However, what they wrote is meaningful, and each article can be taken as an example and directly used in governance in various places. The sixteen circles represent the approval of the sixteen principals and fellow examiners.
Huiyuan can only be Huiyuan!
In this way, Jia Cong topped the list with sixteen laps, and Jia Jue ranked eleventh with eleven laps.
Lin Ruhai looked at Baoyu who was playing with admiration, and finally laughed and apologized to him: "It's my uncle's fault. I underestimated you before, Baoyu, you are a genius!"
"ah?"
Baoyu didn't expect that he would be ranked eleventh, but he was a big-hearted man. After a brief moment of joy, he put the matter aside and was crowded in the circle of sisters to accept the congratulations and jokes from everyone.
Suddenly hearing his uncle apologize to him, he was so frightened that he shook his head and waved his hands: "Uncle, please don't say that, I just...just...I also heard those stories told to me by Brother Cong, and I just couldn't think of what to write at the time. , just write it down like a cat painting a tiger."
"Putting your knowledge into practice is a great good thing! The palace examination is scheduled for March 15th. There is only one strategic question. Take the test well and strive to have another second-level Jinshi from our family."
Lin Ruhai's encouragement was... well, of little use to Baoyu.
There is no mention of being dismissed in the palace examination. No matter how bad you are, you can still pass the top three and get a Jinshi. However, with the encouragement of his elders, Baoyu bowed politely and thanked his uncle.
Lin Ruhai didn't say anything else, smiled and turned his eyes to Jia Cong.
He was sure that his younger son-in-law, Liu Yuanlang, had not run away.
If he fails to win the Huiyuan title in the examination, his younger son-in-law will most likely take over from him and win the title of Tanhualang with first, third and third place.
But now it's five yuan, and there's no suspense at all for six yuan. During the Zhaowu period, Xu Jin, Xu Qingteng and the sixth rank brought great honor to the Supreme Emperor. The sage was still alive, and Wen Kui came down to earth.
Even the gods in the sky came down to earth to assist Emperor Zhaowu, how could he not be a holy king?
In the Zhaowu year, there was already a holy king who came down to earth to assist. If there is another such holy king in the Yuanyou year, the people will definitely think that the two generations of holy kings have divine help.
They will have unlimited hope for the future and be more loyal to the country and the royal family. For Daxia's national fortune, it has almost doubled.
Imperial examination? Even if the son-in-law only writes his name on a piece of paper, he will be the top pick. Even a tough guy like Haigangfeng would grit his teeth and help fill in the standard answers.
Forget it, there's nothing to tell you.
Lin Ruhai thought for a long time and didn't know what to say, and laughed dumbly.
"Okay, let's go play. Just take the exam on March 15th."
Jia Cong grinned, and with the old lady's permission, he and a group of brothers and sisters ran outside to set off fireworks.
…
There is still half a month left before the palace examination on March 15th. According to the usual practice, on the day after the examination results are released, the candidates will go to visit the host and room master. Over the past hundred years, the imperial examination has long formed a set of subtle rules.
The chairperson is the two chief and deputy examiners. The chief examiner is called the chief examiner, the deputy examiner is called the minor chief, and the room master is the fourteen fellow examiners.
This matter of visiting the host and meeting the examiner is a customary matter, and few people dare to violate this rule. Because the chief examiner and the examiner will usually be selected for the upcoming palace examination, no one will foolishly offend the examiner.
Jia Cong was actually not very happy to go, but he was kicked out by Lin Ruhai. Even if you want to be a lone minister, you cannot exclude yourself from the official circle. Lone ministers also need to create a circle.
With Lin Ruhai's advice, the old lady personally prepared gifts for brothers Jia Cong and Baoyu to pay homage to the host.
Prayer is not about gold, silver, jewels, clear handkerchiefs, books, and elegant and exquisite ink sticks. It does not show off and does not lose etiquette.
The two brothers took a car to pay a visit to the official hall. Naturally, they met many Xinke Gongshi on the way, including He Chong and others who were also on the list.
In the Renchen General Examination, He Gao Gao ranked second, Mo Shizhi ranked third, Mu Congying ranked seventh, Zhao Delin ranked 122nd, and Gao Jian, who is good at cooking, also ranked 136th...
Except for Wei Ruolan, who did not participate in the examination this time, the other five of the six young men who were called by Jia Cong to help in the household department were all on the list.
And their results are all very good, with Gao Jian, the lowest ranked, all ranking in the top 150.
In just twenty days of busy work in the household department, these five people became familiar with the operational procedures of the imperial court and the writing of official documents. They also gained a deeper understanding of the military, government and people's livelihood of the Great Xia Dynasty.
Who can’t memorize the Four Books and Five Classics? Who doesn’t understand the saint’s humble words and great righteousness?
But what does the imperial court's operational process look like? How is the military, government and people's livelihood in the country? Official administration, border guarding, administration and peace of the people... There is something to be said in the policy question. Where does this thing come from?
Although the five people were so tired that they could hardly stand up straight after more than twenty days of busy work in the household department, their gains were also beyond imagination.
After the five people got off the carriage, they all bowed to Jia Cong: "Thank you for your advice..."
There were quite a few Xinke tributes waiting in front of the official hall. Seeing this situation, they all started talking in low voices.
Jia Cong held his forehead, and he understood what these five people were thanking him for.
With a wry smile, Jia Cong jumped off the carriage and quickly stepped forward to help the five people up: "Brothers, please get up quickly. It is your ability to apply what you have learned. What do you want to thank me for? You are busy in the household department. After twenty days and nights, all the brothers have contributed to the great plan of Anbei. After the palace examination, if all the brothers join the court and become officials, Your Majesty will definitely give you a reward."
Monthly ticket recommendation ticket
Thanks to Naughty Naughty Rui for the reward.
I've been too busy lately, staying up late to type, so updates are a bit late, but I won't stop updating them.
I’ll stop here tonight and continue tomorrow. Good night... er, good morning!
(End of chapter)
