Wang Kui is also riding a tiger now.
In order to win the first prize, he not only asked wealthy businessmen to spend a lot of money on his behalf to build publicity, but also spread the news that he would win the first prize. He also agreed to the imperial examination questions that the eunuch of the Imperial Medicine Academy had obtained in advance.
Gambling stalls of all sizes in Beijing were betting on who would win the first place in the Jinshi this time. These wealthy businessmen thought they had a plan, so they put a lot of money, and even most of their wealth, on Wang Kui. In order to win the support of those people, Wang Kui put all the chips on himself and agreed everywhere.
Wang Kui has done so much just to get the No. 1 prize. If he fails to get the No. 1 prize, he will suffer backlash.
Besides, even though they are all Jinshi, there will be a huge difference between the higher class and the lower class in the future.
When it comes to the first place, it's even different. The number one pick and the second pick are both in the top three, but first place is a different level, and the top pick is another level compared to the second pick.
Therefore, Wang Kui stabilized his marriage with the rich family. As long as the news spread, it would be beneficial to him to become the number one scholar. Therefore, the marriage with the rich family could not be let go. Once it was let go, everything would be gone.
Wang Kui had previously thought about whether he could talk to the wealthy family and ask them to accept Guiying if he won the top prize, but now he didn't dare to think about it.
Zhang Yue had spread the story about his cheating before, but now it is known to everyone in the market, and it has become another wave of trouble. It is said that someone was jealous of Wang Kui's talent and wanted to prevent Wang Kui from getting the top prize, so he deliberately fabricated it. .
Therefore, for a while, Zhang Yue was also splashed with dirty water.
Wang Kui was relieved to learn about this. The news was mixed, which made it easier for him to fish in troubled waters. It can be seen from this that those who complain behind the back will not get good results.
This is called retribution!
Facing the astonished Gui Ying, Wang Kui did not dare to tell the truth, but just said: "I will tell you again, if it doesn't work, I will give up my official position, and then we will live together on earth, and we will not be separated in this life." "
Guiying was sad and moved at the same time.
Wang Kui comforted Guiying for a while again, and then she coaxed Guiying to sleep. Guiying had been tired for several days and was really tired. Wang Kui took advantage of this to pack all his luggage, and then took most of the money he had on him and put it next to Guiying's pillow, and then left the residence with his luggage on his back.
The palace examination will be held in detail.
All papers for the first, second, and third, fourth and fifth grades of the palace examination have been sent to the preliminary examination center.
Four well-educated scholars, Shen Yu, Sima Guang, Pei Yu, and Lu Jing, had to write down the rank and ranking of each candidate based on the examination instructions given by the previous examiner on the 187th volume.
The fifth-grade evaluation corresponds to the fifth-grade grade. For example, the reviewer's evaluation said, "It is capable of learning, thorough in literature and science, and can be regarded as high among the crowd." This is like a crazy hint that this is a second-class paper.
If the comment says, "Slightly inferior in arts and proficient in arts and sciences," then it is equivalent to telling the first-time examiner that this is the fourth level.
As for the fourth class, they are also divided into pros and cons.
After the preliminary examiner reviews the paper, he or she will write down the grade and ranking of the paper after the examiner's comments.
After the preliminary examiners finish writing the grades and rankings of the papers, their comments will be sealed.
The papers will then be submitted to the examination center.
There were four ministers, Zu Wuze, Zheng Xie, Li Yao and Wang Guan, who served as examiners for Jinshi examinations in the examination office.
They will also grade and rank each paper again based on the opinions of the examiner.
The papers after the preliminary examination and re-examination will be sent to the detailed examination center.
The detailed examiner will give the final opinion based on the ranking given by the primary examiner and the review examiner.
The three people who served as detailed officials in the detailed investigation office were Yang Tian, He Tan and Wang Anshi.
The job of Wang Anshi and the others is to make detailed decisions.
The task of the detailed examiner is to compare the grades set by the first examiner and the second examiner. If the first examiner and the second examiner agree, then the grade set by the first examiner is submitted to the emperor.
Otherwise, you can choose one of the two determined by the preliminary examination or the re-examination, and do not wait immediately.
For example, for a paper, both the preliminary examiner and the reviewer rated it second-class. If the detailed examiner does not decide on his own, he should report this directly to the emperor.
If the initial examiner assigns a second class and the repeat examiner assigns a third class, then the detailed examiner will select a class for the candidate from the second class to the third class based on his or her own judgment of the paper and report it to the emperor.
You cannot make your own decisions and assign candidates a fourth or first class.
In addition to the ranking, it is the ranking among the equals. The most important thing in the ranking is the top five in the top tier and the top spot in each tier.
The first person in the same ranking is called the first person.
The first place in Yijia is naturally the number one scholar, also known as the top scholar. The first name of Erjia is called Jiatou.
As for the top five, the top five are more important. The first in the top rankings will receive a treatment, the second and third in the top rankings will receive a treatment, and the fourth and fifth in the top rankings will receive another treatment.
So there was a dispute over the top five.
Starting from March 6, the papers after the preliminary and re-examinations have been entered into the detailed examination office.
As the chief detailed official, Yang Tian was named Ledao. His great-uncle was the famous Yang Ye, Yang Laolinggong, and the famous Western Army general Yang Wenguang were his uncles.
At the same time, he is the same year as Ouyang Xiu, and the two have always had a good relationship. In March last year, Yang Tian was sentenced to Liu Nei Quan in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. At that time, Su Shi's younger brother Su Che ranked fifth in the imperial examination. At the same time, Ding You returned home and was not awarded an official position. After returning to Beijing, he had to go to Liu Nei Quan to guard the election.
Yang Tian saw that Su Che was a talented person and thought it would be a pity for him to become a local official, so he recommended Su Shi and Su Che should take the imperial examination.
Now Yang Tian, as a direct bachelor of Longtuge and an attendant, is the chief detailed officer.
Yang Tian and Wang Anshi had a good personal relationship. They wrote poems to each other after they became official officials.
Wang Anshi wrote a poem to Yang Tian.
The materials in the palaces and pavilions are different, but today I am good at literature and art. Yang Xiong is unrivaled in literacy, and He Xun has a distinguished family in poetry. The old virtue intoxicates the heart like fine wine, and the new virtue clears the eyes and is better than real tea. Drinking wine, chanting and enjoying the music, the legend is worthy of praise in the future.
After Yang Wei and Wang Anshi took up the post of detailed official, they thought it was a very good life experience.
But Yang Tian later realized that he was very wrong. The two often had different opinions on the evaluation of the grade and ranking of the examiner's paper.
It should be noted that Yang Tian is a direct bachelor of Longtuge, and the official who can be awarded this position has a transcendent status. For example, Bao Gong has always been respected as Bao Longtu.
But Wang Anshi is very stubborn, very stubborn.
On March 7, the emperor once again visited the detailed residence in person to visit the examiners.
At the same time, each examiner was given two bottles of Cold Food Festival wine and a box of fruits.
In the evening, eunuchs were sent to give wine, fruits and cold food to the examiners.
The emperor visited the examination center in person several times. The examiners were very moved, but the marking process was extremely slow. By this day, only the rankings of one hundred Jinshi had been arranged, and the rankings of eighty-seven examination papers had not yet been agreed upon.
The day after tomorrow is the deadline for submitting the rankings and papers to the emperor for inspection.
On the last day, discussions continued at the detailed appointment office.
The order of the palace examination is from the end to the front.
After agreeing on the ranking of a paper, the sealing officer would remove the seal on the paper, and then fill in the names of the candidates on the paper on the list for the emperor to see.
The fifth- and fourth-class volumes were all discussed yesterday, and now there are still some third-class volumes, second-class volumes, and first-class volumes.
The three detailed officials discussed it for most of the day, and finally arrived at the first-class roll.
There are twenty first-class volumes in total, but we start with the discussion of the first name.
It turns out that the first-term examiners Shen Tuan, Sima Guang, Pei Yu, Lu Jing and others agreed that the paper with the font size "笾" should be ranked first.
However, the examiners Zu Wuze, Zheng Xie, Li Yao, and Wang Guan ranked the paper with the font size "Jing" as the first place.
The initial examiner and the repeat examiner had different opinions.
Yang Tianyi, the chief detailed officer, followed the system. When the preliminary examiner and the examiner had different opinions, he chose one volume in the font size of "笾" or "菹" as the first-ranked paper.
But Wang Anshi came out to object. Since the first examiner and the examiner had different opinions, he should wait for another time. He recommended the "圁" character scroll as the number one scholar.
Yang Tian and Wang Anshi couldn't argue. At this time, Zhu Congdao, the young minister of Taichang Temple who was appointed as the official official, suggested: "Since these three volumes are like this, we might as well separate the names and make a decision."
This was also the last resort. Yang Tian and Wang Anshi both agreed. As for the third detailed official, He Tan, he watched the two arguing and chose to sit on the sidelines.
Finally, the name was removed and everyone looked at it.
The scrolls with the character 第 are Zhang Yue, the scrolls with the font name Jing are Jiang Yan, and the scrolls with the character 灁 are Wang Kui.
Seeing this scene, all the officials laughed. He Tan smiled and said: "Of course, the first three exams of the provincial examination are all here. Congratulations, congratulations."
Zhao Huan, Sima Guang, Shen Yu, Wang Anshi and Zu Wuze all laughed.
As an examiner of the palace examination, I am under great pressure. It is not that the examiner has made mistakes and promoted a candidate with little talent to the sky, and in the end he was laughed at.
These three candidates are vying for the top spot, and it sounds like they deserve it, but if you look carefully at the rankings given by the examiners, you can see that this is the point of the dispute.
First of all, for these three volumes, the reviewer gave first-class reviews, which is not controversial.
However, there is a huge difference in the rankings given by the first examiner and the repeat examiner.
Zhang Yue's paper was ranked first by the preliminary examiner and eighth by the reviewer.
Jiang Yan's paper was awarded to 19th place by the preliminary examiner and first place by the reviewer.
Wang Junmin's paper was ranked sixth by the first examiner and second by the second examiner.
According to Yang Tian's method, it is a bit complicated. For example, Zhang Yue could not get the first place, but could only get the eighth place in the end.
Jiang Yan couldn't get the first place, so he could only get the 19th place.
Therefore, Wang Anshi weighed it up and recommended Wang Junmin as the first name, and he has his own reasons.
After the name was removed, Yang Tian still insisted. He believed that the previously established legal system must be adhered to and cannot be changed.
The examiner Zu Wuze replied: "Wang Kui and Jiang Yan are both better than Zhang Yue in terms of literary talent. Although Zhang Yue is better at reasoning, his poetry is indeed inferior to the two."
Shen Yuan said: "Brother Ze, I think Zhang Yue's diction is not bad. The most important thing is that the sentences are well-connected and the writing is thoughtful. Especially this poem, when I and several examiners suddenly read it, they were so excited. What it’s like to read Pingbian Policy.”
Pingbian Ce was a policy theory presented to Chai Rong by Wang Pu, a famous minister of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Later, Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Pu adopted the policy of "first south and then north, first easy and then difficult" in the Pingbian policy, which finally became the national policy of Taizu and Taizong to calm the world.
Shen Tao compared Zhang Yue's article to Ping Bian Ce, which was a bit understated and unstoppable.
Zu Wuze shook his head and said: "It's too much, it's too much."
Wang Anshi also spoke up: "I heard that Zhang Duzhi is only seventeen years old. How many years has he been an official? How many places has he been an official? How many places have he been in charge of? How many temples have he heard of?"
"It is true that this work has its own merits, but I am not convinced by Wen Tong's comparison with Ping Bian Ce."
Ps: The deeds of Wang Kui in this book are based on the drama Wang Kui's biography. The historical prototype of Wang Kui is Wang Junmin, named Kanghou, who was the number one scholar in the sixth year of Jiayou's reign. Wang Junmin in history books is a good official with integrity. Therefore, the story in this book is still called Wang Kui like the Western version, so as not to offend.
