In the third year of Hongzhi's Gengxu Science Examination, there were fourteen rooms in total, with fourteen examiners, including eight Hanlin officials, three from each of the Departments (Liu Ke and Liu Bu), including three rooms for "Book of Changes" and three rooms for "Shang Shu" Room, the fourth room of "The Book of Songs", the second room of "Spring and Autumn", and the second room of "Book of Rites".
Each peer examiner has several marking officers, most of whom are faculty members. The essays are first screened by the marking officers and then submitted to the peer examiners for review. The peer examination is the same as for the peer examination, and the senior examiner is responsible for the reference. This time, Li Dongyang, who was Zuo Chunfang's concubine and a lecturer at the time, served as a fellow examiner. He had considerable experience in studying "Shang Shu" when he was a child. When he was seven or eight years old, Emperor Jing of the Ming Dynasty summoned him twice to the palace to lecture on "Shang Shu". "main idea.
Li Jie's test paper happened to be assigned to Li Dongyang's examination room. After the first session of the joint examination, Li Dongyang and his subordinate marking officers began the intense marking work. There were about three hundred candidate answer sheets in each room that needed to be read. The total text of the three exams is about 5,000 words, and three hundred people are 1.5 million words.
From the end of the first round of marking to filling in the results, the marking time is only half a month. The examiner reads about 60,000 to 80,000 words every day. The papers that get to the examiner are all selected papers, so they need to be meticulous and word for word. As he read the paper, Li Dongyang's eyes were already bloodshot. Fortunately, there were not many answer sheets left.
Qiang braced himself and picked up the next answer sheet. This one was officially Li Jie's exam paper, and only the marking officer's comments were written.
"The situation is comprehensive, word for word, and extremely skillful."
Li Dongyang couldn't help but perked up when he saw the marking officer's comments. He carefully read the first seven chapters. The more he read, the more excited he became. He couldn't help praising each other and laughing loudly. The marking officers in the same room looked at each other in confusion. Zhang Zhen was the only one who laughed. He knew that the test paper he recommended must have been seen by the same examiner.
Li Dongyang explained: "It's rare to see such a beautiful article, and I felt a little embarrassed for a moment. This volume must be the most popular one in Sanfang."
All the reviewers also became interested and asked for a look. After reading, they all praised it.
"The title is like this, but the text is like that. It is separated but not from the origin. The so-called meaning and the title are complementary and not forced by the title. Only when I see this article today do I know the beauty of the word "Li"!"
"In terms of the importance and detail of the title, the characters and fonts are carefully pasted and integrated, and the classics and history are integrated, and the rapid expansion and contraction of the text responds to it. It is extremely changeable and natural!"
Li Dongyang was also extremely satisfied with everyone's praise. He took it all into his heart and wrote it on the test paper.
“Highly recommended”
"Sanfang Jingkui"
"Teaching smallpox with a pen, I have thousands of volumes in my mind, and I write them all in one go, and my poor work is extremely beautiful."
Li Dongyang continued to look at Li Jie's answer sheets for the next two games. The level of the second game's answer sheets was high enough but not as amazing as the seven questions in the first game. When he saw the policy questions about salt policy, Huang Huang and mutual markets, Li Dongyang looked shocked and was speechless. I thought that Juzi during the examination would have such an opinion.
"Unparalleled National Scholar!"
Li Dongyang became more and more curious about who could write such an article. He had such a ruthless vision in government affairs, and the solutions he wrote were clear and feasible. All of them were crucial. Fortunately, there were only a few days left before filling in the list. You’ll know the answer by then.
After all the twenty recommended papers have been selected, and ten backup papers have been selected, the marking of all candidates' answer papers in the third room has been completed. All that is left is to determine the rankings and pass the examination. When the thirty examination papers have been After they were sent away, everyone in the examination room breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was almost exhausted from the continuous high-intensity marking.
Deputy Chief Examiner Wang Xie, a native of Renhe County, Zhejiang Province, was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Tianshun. His father, Wang Cheng, served as a supervisory censor. He was a governor of Fujian during the Zhengtong period. He was sentenced to death due to the serious consequences of Deng Maoqi's rebellion. His younger brother Wang Chi was promoted to Chenghua in the eighth year. Jinshi. He is a three-level scholar and has a distinguished reputation.
Now the then Young Master of the James Mansion, Zhan Shi (fourth grade), serves as the lecturer of the Sutra Banquet, and is also a highly knowledgeable master. When he saw Li Jie's test paper, he was slightly surprised by the examiner's comments. After reading it, he pondered for a long time, He wrote.
"The sea is flowing across the sea, the ancient spirit is full of vitality, and the writing is truly in line with the past and the present!"
After Wang Xie finished writing, he continued to read the articles in the second and third sessions. After reading the policy questions, he secretly made up his mind to recommend this volume to Xu Shangshu, the chief examiner, for Huiyuan. If there were no special circumstances, the ranking in the imperial examination would be basically the same. This is also the ranking above.
Wang Xie is very fond of talents. This candidate is really the top talent, and he really can't bear to leave it behind. After reading the remaining answer sheets on the table, Wang Xie personally sent Li Jie's test paper to the examiner, who wanted to recommend him in person.
When Xu Pu saw Wang Xie coming in a hurry with a happy face, he couldn't help but said: "Bo Xie, is there any happy event that would make you come in person?"
Wang Xie presented Li Jie's answer sheet after the ceremony and said: "Mr. Xu Ge, please read this volume's policies and questions about salt administration, Yellow River control, and mutual trade. Each word is exquisite, pointing out the current shortcomings, and all of what is said is the best policy. , He is truly a talented person who knows the world!”
Xu Pu looked surprised when he heard this. He knew Wang Xie quite well and cherished his talent. He was planning to recommend Wang Xie to the emperor to be promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of Rites in the near future. Seeing him praising the answer sheet so much, he couldn't help but wonder what this candidate's article was. What kind of charm is it that makes this Shilin master admire it so much?
Xu Pu is now over sixty years old. The appointment of him as the chief examiner of the examination made him feel more and more exhausted. Therefore, most of the answer sheets for this examination were handed over to Wang Xie for evaluation. He only needed to decide the top ten. Just answer the question.
Xu Pu did not read the first seven questions as usual, but followed Wang Xie's suggestion and looked at Ce Wen. After four dynasties and being an official for nearly forty years, he had seen too many talented people. However, after looking at Li Jie's After Ce asked, he couldn't help but cheer secretly.
Among them, the policy questions on how to increase production in the Salt Policy can't help but make people admire it. This volume alone is worth thousands of gold.
What's more, the subsequent remarks about controlling the Yellow River made people suddenly realize that his hometown was often hit by disasters, and the world had been suffering from the Huang disaster for a long time. Controlling the Yellow River was a hurdle that no dynasty had been able to overcome since the Northern Song Dynasty, and it cost a huge amount of manpower and material resources. A few years later, we have to start over again. When Xiaozong appointed his minister Bai Ang to control the flood, he wrote a letter with suggestions to control the Yellow River. However, the crisis in water transportation made Xiaozong and the Manchu ministers turn a blind eye to his suggestions.
When he saw the policy question about mutual trading, Xu Pu couldn't hold it back any longer. He was overjoyed and said excitedly: "He is really a great scholar! Even if the nonsense he writes about the meaning of the classics is nonsense, I will still take it!"
Wang Xie smiled slightly and said: "Mr. Xu Ge, take a look at this candidate's questions on classics and meanings. It's like Han Changli came back to life. His writing is so great and profound that I can't help but sigh!"
"Oh? I want to see if I am worthy of your praise!"
After Xu Pu read the seven questions on the meaning of the scripture, he was silent for a long time and said: "It's like what you said, Bo Xie, just like Changli resurrected. This life is really a peerless genius!"
