Inside the Chongzheng Hall.
The papers of the three candidates were presented in front of the five examiners.
On one side, there is a school of three Su whose reputation is famous all over the world, and on the other side, there is the number one scholar in Jiayu for six years.
Everyone read Su Shi's article first, and the five examiners all praised it.
Sima Guang first praised: "Before the examination, Su Zizhan spoke to the old man and said frankly that he had no grievances because of the current situation. From this point of view, he could be said to be correcting every sentence.
Cai Xiang said with a smile: "No wonder this son was favored by Zhang Letao (Zhang Fangping) as a national scholar. Mr. Ou once praised Su Zizhan to me, saying that in a few decades, no one will know about his articles."
Several examiners laughed, and they were all convinced by Su Shi's article.
Hu Su said: "You can enter the third level. But don't rush to make a conclusion. Let's read the plans of the other two before speaking."
Everyone unanimously praised: "This is a mature word."
Next, everyone looked at Su Che's paper.
Su Che's paper really made the examiners gasp. What is this?
"Twenty years have passed. The ancient saints were deeply worried when they had nothing to do, and were not afraid when something happened. If you have nothing to do but are deeply worried, you are not afraid when there is something going on. Now, Your Majesty, you are not worried when you have nothing to do, and are greatly afraid when something is going on. I think your Majesty is worried about losing his place."
Su Che's policy was met with a sentence, criticizing the emperor.
Hu Su shook his head and said, "This is not what a minister said."
Unexpectedly, after Hu Su had read half of it, Su Che had another sentence below.
"Your Majesty has neglected and despised ministers, and has secretly heard of you. Since your Majesty's recent years, there have been thousands of noble concubines in the palace, singing, dancing, drinking, and enjoying themselves without restraint. They sit in court without asking for advice, and they have no advisors in the palace."
Su Zhe actually said that his ministers heard from hearsay that the emperor kept thousands of beauties in his palace, singing, dancing and drinking all day long and ignoring the government affairs?
Hu Su was furious when he saw this.
The emperor is also a human being, why can't he have some normal hobbies? Even though there are so many beauties in the palace, they are still working hard for the country.
Su Che actually compared the emperor with six faint emperors including Shang Taikang, Shang Zujia, King Mu of Zhou, Emperor Cheng of Han, Muzong of Tang, and Gongzong of Tang.
The five examiners also had different evaluations of Su Che's paper.
Sima Guang believed that Su Che's paper should be ranked third class.
Sima Guang said: "Although Su Che's words are urgent, he is not a man who abides by the moderation of his country's wishes. He is honest and honest, but seems to be arrogant and disrespectful."
"What Mr. Wen said is wrong. It may not be that no one is pretending to be loyal and upright for the sake of his hometown." Fan Zhen said.
Fan Zhen and Cai Xiang agreed that Su Che's paper should be ranked fourth.
The examiner Hu Su was even more fierce. He believed that Su Che's words were disrespectful and urged his removal.
The examiners had different opinions and put it aside for the time being.
Finally, there is Zhang Yue’s paper.
After reading Zhang Yue's article, the five examiners immediately split into two groups.
Sima Guang said: "Although Zhang Zidu's article is profound, it is full of Legalist tactics. He talks less about morality and only talks about correcting the emperor. If he is high, he may be suspected of invading officials and disrupting the government. But his article is talented and insightful. You must praise me, I think fourth grade is enough."
Fan Zhen was silent for a while and said: "I also feel that he is suspected of invading the government, but I cannot demote him to a higher level based on this."
Sima Guang said: "It's not as good as Zizhan."
Yang Tian then said: "I have a different view from Wen Gong. Zhang Duzhi's article is more profound than Zizhan Ziyou."
Yang Tian looked at Cai Xiang, the third envoy of Quan Li, and asked, "Where is Mr. Cai's opinion?"
Zhang Yue's article believes that the prime minister's command of the branch is really intrusive to Cai Xiang, who is the prime minister.
However, Cai Xiang spoke up and said: "Everyone, please look at each other. Su Zizhan and Zhang Duzhi both mentioned relocating people to Huguang. What is the difference between their policies?"
"What do you think Mr. Cai has to say?"
Cai Xiang said: "Su Zizhan moved the people in order to reduce the narrowness and make it wider, and he answered the questions. But Zhang Duzhi first moved the people to the side where they were guilty, and then changed the native officials to the exiled officials. In his words, he changed "Tuguiliu". Relocating people and changing the soil and returning "liu" are the ways to strengthen cadres, and the article stays true to its main points. I think it can be said to be a coherent theory and a thorough investigation of the source."
After listening to Yang Tian's words, Sima Guang suddenly remembered Wang Anshi's comment on Su Shi and Su Che's entry that day.
It means just talking about one thing and one thing, without any important point in the whole article. It is just for commentators, so-called Warring States articles.
Zhang Yue's article is indeed coherent and clear, and he summarizes the whole article in one theory. This is the so-called principle of governing a country. Of course, Sima Guang opposed such a strong and powerful way of governing the country, but in terms of countermeasures, he was better than two Su.
Therefore, Sima Guang remained silent. He did not object to Zhang Yue being demoted to the fourth class, but he also did not support Zhang Yue being demoted to the third class.
Sima Guang said: "I think Su Ziyou's Theory of the Six Kingdoms is extremely wonderful and a magnificent article. Zhang Du's article is not as good as the Theory of the Six Kingdoms."
The five examiners discussed and came to a disagreement.
Should Su Zhe be dismissed?
Everyone debated who should be ranked third among Su Shi and Zhang Yue, but they still couldn't decide. In the end, they resorted to the old method of asking the Holy Judge.
As it was already dark now, Zhang Yue, Su Shi, and Su Che waited in the side hall of Chongzheng Hall for more than half an hour, but no one came forward to announce the order, which was strange in their hearts.
At this moment, Su Shi and Zhang Yue discussed strategies.
"Du Zhi, what is the topic of your entry?" Su Shi asked. Su Che glanced at his brother. Is this a casual question?
Zhang Yue smiled. He knew that Su Shi didn't have much scheming, so he said frankly: "The theme is to work hard."
Su Che secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked: "Is it to strengthen the trunk and weaken the branch?"
Su Shi said to Su Che: "Ziyou, this sentence comes from the Chronicle of the Han Dynasty, the Chronology of the Princes and Kings since the rise of the Han Dynasty. The Han County was eighty or ninety years old, and the shape was different among the princes. Strength, superiority and inferiority are clear, and everything is in its proper place. I forgot it when I memorized the Han Dynasty, but it was you who reminded me."
Su Che smiled and said, "Brother still remembers what happened so many years ago."
Su Che said to Zhang Yue: "I remember that the Han Dynasty reduced the power of princes and kings by extending favors and orders, which can be said to strengthen the trunk and weaken the branches. The purpose of Taizu Taizong to strengthen the trunk was to use culture to suppress military force and to eliminate vassal towns. , why do you want to save it? Is it possible to extend the grace order?"
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "The promotion of grace is a good law through the ages, but in the final analysis it lies in suppressing mergers."
After a pause, Zhang Yue continued: "Actually, I only talked about strong trunks and not weak branches. But what I really want to say is that strong trunks and weak branches should enrich the people."
Su Zhe said: "Although it is a good idea to save the country, it is difficult to enrich the people by strengthening its cadres. If you want to enrich the people, it is difficult to strengthen its cadres."
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "What Ziyou said is very true. This is the way of repetition, which means the combination of broadness and strength. For example, when planting a tree, the main trunk is the base. First prune the branches to make the main trunk more straight and strong. Later, the branches and leaves will become stronger. dense."
"It's not too much to think that the branches and leaves of that place at that time are not the branches and leaves of this one." Su Shi frowned and said.
Zhang Yue said: "Taizu once drank a glass of wine to release his military power, but he did not replace it."
Su Shi thought deeply and said: "If so, it seems feasible. But I'm afraid it's just a matter of course."
Zhang Yue smiled and said: "Government is different, governance is different, Confucianism alone is not enough to govern the world."
Zhang Yue knew that Su Shi and Su Che had both opposed political reforms in history.
However, at this moment, the tension between conservatism and reform has not yet reached the point of tension in the future. Zhang Yue had a candid conversation with Su Shi and Su Che, even though they had different opinions, it was as ordinary as talking about a delicacy.
It's like you are a sweet person and I am a salty person. We can fight over each other without hurting the friendship.
I wish I could be like this in the future. Even if everyone has different political views, they can sit down and chat calmly.
At this moment, I heard footsteps and it turned out that Han Qi had arrived.
The three people stood up quickly to greet them.
