Seeing that the gantry was about to open, the candidates who came from a distance shouted "wait a minute" and "please wait a moment, sir".
In front of Longmen, the gatekeepers and the candidates were quarreling endlessly. The candidates headed by Kaifeng Mansion shouted: "Sir, the emperor wants to recruit scholars to show off the cold and show off to the people. Now that we have encountered this unexpected wind and snow, everyone has a way out." Given the difference between near and far, can we allow time to be extended and rely on human flexibility to make up for the injustice of heaven?"
The gate officer looked at the candidate and said directly: "What's your name?"
The other party was speechless for a moment, and the prison officer sneered: "I don't even dare to report my name, someone will take it out!"
Seeing this scene, Zhang Yue knew that although what the examinee said was very reasonable, it was not enough to impress the prison officer.
Because it is the supervisor's duty to open the gantry in accordance with the regulations, otherwise the court will hold him responsible for his dereliction of duty, so what does he have to do with the candidate's delay?
Therefore, no matter how high and good the truth is, it is useless without power.
So Zhang Yue walked up and said to the prison officer: "I'm here to teach Zhang Yue, the head of Zhengzhai Zhai, an official who has something to do!"
The prison officer raised his eyebrows. Just now, the candidates did not dare to speak their names for fear of retaliation. But now one of them dares to come forward. Do they really know whether to live or die?
Before and after Zhang Yue came up, Huang Lu and other imperial examination candidates gathered behind him.
The prison officer was shocked when he saw this and thought, this person has some background.
The prison officer sneered: "You are such a reckless Cuo Da, do you know Chen Pengnian?"
Zhang Yue knew that Chen Pengnian was a famous minister. He promoted him to Jinshi because he was young and reckless and liked to slander officials. At that time, Song Bai knew about Gongju, hated his conduct, and deposed Chen Pengnian.
But later Chen Pengnian still won the Jinshi, and he has been committed to selecting scholars based on his articles and reducing the chance that examiners will select scholars based on their own likes and dislikes.
When Chen Pengnian was appointed as a Hanlin scholar, he reported it to Prime Minister Wang Dan. Wang Dan asked: 'What is this? "
Chen Pengnian said: "The examination room is consistent."
Wang Dan threw it to the ground and cursed: "How many days has Neihan been an official? How dare you separate (the examiner and) the world's Jinshi."
Zhang Yue heard the threat from the other party, and the implication was that you want to imitate Chen Pengnian? Do you know the consequences of offending the examiner?
Zhang Yueyan said: "My disciples don't dare to imitate Chen Gong. I just have something to report to him."
"What you say!"
Zhang Yue said: "We have just counted the number of people below the gate. There are still nineteen people missing from Piyong Sheng. Please let me know how to deal with it."
Zhang Yue played a trick here, including Yongsheng students and Guangwen Guan students, but he was able to mislead the other party.
The other party was stunned after hearing this and thought, Taixue is so close to Gongyuan, but there are so many candidates missing. By forcing the exam to start, he not only offended these nineteen people. Not to mention the candidates from Kaifeng Prefecture and other walks of life?
The prison officer immediately asked the Kaifeng Mansion student who had just argued with him: "How many people are you lacking in Kaifeng Mansion?"
The Kaifeng Mansion student shook his head with a confused look on his face.
The prison officer shouted: "Hurry up and count them!"
The prison officer was a little angry. He turned to look at Zhang Yue and said with a much gentler expression on his face: "What did you say your name was just now?"
Zhang Yue said: "I'm here to teach Zhang Yue, the head of Zhengzhai Zhai."
The prison officer raised his brows and said: "It turns out, Zhang Duzhi, I have read your poems and articles. You go back and continue counting people. I will send someone to report to the chief and then I will get back to you."
Zhang Yue said happily: "Thank you sir."
Everyone else was overjoyed, and a group of students from Kaifeng Mansion came forward and said, "Thank you so much, Brother Zhang."
Zhang Yue smiled, but he never showed kindness to others openly, so he said, "Anyway, I also have some classmates who were delayed due to snow, but I just report the truth."
After Zhang Yue answered, he glanced into the distance and saw that the snow had stopped in front of Gongyuan Gate.
There was a sea of people in front of Gongyuan Street. Candidates were coming from far away to go to Gongyuan. People on the left and right sides of Gongyuan Street spontaneously got up early to clear the snow on the street and clear a road for the candidates to drive directly to Gongyuan.
Even so, the horse-drawn carriage and donkey-cart were still blocked half a mile away from Gongyuan, unable to move a step.
Therefore, the candidates had to abandon their cars and rush to Gongyuan with their test boxes. The test boxes contained fat candles, water, charcoal, meals and utensils, etc. Now, each and every candidate is afraid of being delayed, so they either carry the examination box on their shoulders or carry the examination basket in their hands and rush to the Tribute Academy.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Yue couldn't help but said, Brother Guo, you should hurry up.
Candidates have been suspended from entering in front of the dragon gate. The officials sent by the gate supervisor immediately informed the chief examiner Wang Gui and the two deputy examiners Fan Zhen and Wang Chou of the situation.
In the past few days, Wang Gui and the two examiners wrote a lot of poems and songs to each other when they were locked in the courtyard, and the relationship between the three of them was really improved.
"The Imperial Academy alone is missing nineteen people. What about Kaifeng Mansion and other schools?" Wang Gui asked.
"It hasn't been counted yet."
"What about the off-site candidates?"
"They are all shouting in unison to plead for a leniency to the strict deadline."
Wang Gui asked: "Oh? There is such a big fuss in Ju, but someone is taking the lead?"
"The leader refuses to say his name, but I do know that there is a man named Zhang Yue in the Imperial Academy."
Wang Gui couldn't help but think a little when he heard Zhang Yue's name.
Of course he had known Zhang Yue for a long time. He had heard about Zhang Yue's articles and talents. The last time Zhang Yue came to his house to write papers, Wang Gui happened to be away, otherwise he would have been summoned to meet him.
Wang Gui not only knew Zhang Yue well, he also knew that Zhang Yue was Ouyang Xiu's nephew.
It should be noted that Wang Gui and Ouyang Xiu had a particularly close relationship. In the second year of Qingli, Wang Gui participated in the special examination. At that time, Ouyang Xiu and Zhang Fangping were Wang Gui's examiners.
In the second year of Jiayou's reign, Wang Gui went to the imperial examination for the imperial examination, and it was known that the imperial examination was Ouyang Xiu.
The two stayed together for more than fifty days, and when they were bored, they sang poems to each other.
A poem written by Wang Gui to Ouyang Xiu said that fifteen years ago when I went out, I was most honored to attend the East Hall today.
It means that I was your student fifteen years ago, and now we are both examiners. This is really an extremely honorable thing.
In addition to the relationship between Zhang Yue and Ouyang Xiu, Wang Gui also knew that Zhang Yue was engaged to the Wu Chong family through Ouyang Xiu's guarantee. This matter was not a secret among senior officials in Bianjing. Wang Gui had known about it for a long time.
Wang Gui didn't say anything. Fan Zhen said: "I heard that Zhang Duzhi is very powerful in Taixue. Lu Zhi said that he relied on it as his right and left hand. It seems that he is not the one who caused trouble."
Fan Zhen heard what Fan Zuyu said in his ears at that time.
The official on the side hurriedly explained: "The villain is not saying that he caused trouble, he just reported it truthfully and did not get involved with the clamor."
Wang Gui smiled slightly when he heard this and said: "I know, this Zhang Duzhi is a courageous person. What's more, if we didn't know that he counted the students, we wouldn't have known that even this imperial student would be missing so many people."
Wang Chou, the censor Zhongcheng on the side, asked: "Then what is the chief minister's plan?"
Wang Gui thought for a while and said, "I remembered what my grandfather told me about the Zhenzong Dynasty. At that time, the late emperor asked his ministers: 'How many tributes are there in the world?'
’ The minister replied, “More than thirteen thousand.”
'About the routine, how many names are there? '
'About one out of ten. '
'The late emperor sighed and said: "There are no less than ten thousand people who are about to fall. We must carefully choose who has the right to do it.'"
At this point, Wang Gui paused and said: "The late emperor cannot let go of the loss of thousands of people. He is careful about his fate and will not leave out a person with real talent and learning. The current delay due to wind and snow is unexpected. I How can you strip away the hard work of these scholars over the past ten years with just one sentence? What do you two think?"
Fan Zhen and Wang Chou both said: "Everything must be obeyed by the chief commander."
Wang Gui said: "That's fine. Tell the prison officer to wait for another quarter of an hour. If he doesn't come, I will do my best."
