In the Fengtian Hall, Emperor Yonglong was sitting high on his throne, looking down at the front, "Qing Shen, gentlemen, have you finished reading the scroll?"
"Reporting to your Majesty, the papers for the Chunwei Palace Examination of Dingweike in the fifth year of Yonglong Year have been completed, and the preliminary agreed results have been released. Please ask His Majesty to judge." Shen Yiguan came out and bowed his hands in salute.
"Well, bring it up. I also want to see how talented this scholar is." Emperor Yonglong smiled, his eyes lingering on the faces of His Highness's examiners, "I hope you won't disappoint me too much."
Shen Yiguan's heart tightened. Before he even read the papers, could he have already predicted that the papers in this subject would be difficult to meet the holy will?
A chamberlain had already presented the twelve volumes that he had prepared, and Emperor Yonglong began to read them ten lines at a time.
All the readers in the palace looked at each other in confusion, aware of the hidden meaning in the emperor's words, but they didn't know what it meant.
Emperor Yonglong first read the first three volumes, which were the first three volumes recommended by the cabinet. Generally speaking, Sandingjia is these three volumes.
After the thirty-second year of Yuanxi, there was no change, including the spring of the second year of Yonglong in Shangke.
However, before the 32nd year of Yuanxi, there was a precedent for the emperor to change the rankings and ask for more examination papers and select Sandingjia from them.
All in all, everything is decided by the emperor, but generally speaking, the changes will not be too big. It is impossible that all candidates for the Three Tripods recommended by the cabinet will not be selected. Those cabinet elders really have no choice but to kneel down and beg for your Majesty's resignation. .
Emperor Yonglong briefly read the three volumes. It should be said that they are all excellent works, and there are also quite new ideas in them. After all, these are the top talents selected by more than a thousand elite students in the Great Week. If they are not of a certain standard, they will naturally not be placed on the list. Come before yourself.
Nodding slightly, Emperor Yonglong still had an unexplainable meaning in his heart, and then continued to read the next nine volumes. This is the spare volume. There are also remarkable works in it, but overall, it is not as good as the previous three volumes.
It took half an hour to read them one by one. Each paper had a small number of words and was limited to less than a thousand words. This was also a test of the students' writing skills and strived to be concise and incisive. Emperor Yonglong would naturally not be like the paper readers when marking papers. In this way, he considers every word and evaluates every sentence. He looks more at whether what he says is meaningful and to the point.
After reading the twelve volumes, Emperor Yonglong was still unfinished, "Shen Qing, let me take a look at the next twelve volumes."
Shen Yiguan was slightly startled. This kind of situation was rare, but he had already prepared for it. He slightly raised his hand and motioned to the person next to him to bring over the twelve volumes he had prepared.
Emperor Yonglong read these twelve volumes much faster. They were almost the same and not as good as the previous twelve volumes. This also made Emperor Yonglong a little disappointed.
These papers were all anonymous, and even the emperor could not open them and read them. So after a slight hesitation, Emperor Yonglong said: "I am in good spirits today, so I will read twelve more volumes and send them over."
Shen Yiguan felt a shiver in his heart. This was because the emperor was not satisfied with the grading of this subject.
Reading thirty-six volumes, I dare not say that it has never happened before, but in the Great Zhou Dynasty, I am afraid that only Emperor Taihe, the most diligent Taizu at that time, had ever read the highest number of seventy-two volumes, but that was also at the beginning of the founding of the country. That's how you use your talents.
Since Emperor Taihe, only a handful of emperors have read twenty-four volumes, and Emperor Yuanxi has never read more than twelve volumes.
After taking a deep breath, His Majesty the Emperor still wanted to read twelve volumes. Shen Yiguan had no choice but to signal to the people below to take out the top twelve volumes immediately and present them to him.
This time, the situation was slightly different. When he read the next few volumes, Emperor Yonglong obviously read at full speed. He read two consecutive volumes repeatedly before finally touching them and thinking in silence.
All the ministers of His Highness looked at each other in astonishment. They didn't know what the emperor meant by this, but they didn't dare to disturb him. They could only calmly hold their breath and wait for the emperor's decision.
"Well, Shen Qing, if I think this volume should be ranked as one of the three tripods, what do you think?" Emperor Yonglong raised a volume in his hand and said with a smile: "I was listed as the thirty-third one by all the ministers, but I I feel that, apart from being a bit inferior in diction, his words are very thoughtful and thought-provoking. I wonder why the ministers are so stingy about letting him enter the top twelve?"
A slightly cold gaze passed over the faces of all the important ministers, but Shen Yiguan remained expressionless and just replied calmly: "Your Majesty, I will review them one by one based on their diction. This is also An explanation to the scholars all over the world, we must strive to select a volume that will convince millions of scholars all over the world.”
Shen Guanyi became particularly tough at this time. He wanted to defend his dignity and rights as the chief minister and the head of civil servants!
In the past two or three years, he has become accustomed to keeping a low profile and biding his time, but now that he knows that he has no choice but to retreat, he has made up his mind to resign and become an official as soon as this spring is over. The current emperor also has this intention, so why should he stay in love? go?
Thinking of this, Shen Yiguan became particularly relaxed. His old eyes, which were originally a little cloudy, became gleaming. He slightly cupped his hands and looked straight ahead.
Being resisted by Shen Yiguan's toughness was extremely uncomfortable. At this time, Emperor Yonglong did not expect that the chief assistant, who had always been accustomed to being friendly, suddenly seemed to be a different person. After suffocating slightly, his expression remained unchanged, but He took a deep breath and nodded: "Shen Qing's intention is also reasonable, but it seems that my intention is too impatient. Anyway, this volume can be included in the top twelve, well, one, three, and so on. See!”
After saying this, Emperor Yonglong took the ink pen and wrote on the three volumes, and then dropped the ink pen, "I am tired. If nothing happens, please retreat!"
Before any of the shocked ministers could react, Emperor Yonglong got off the throne and walked away, followed by a group of internal servants who hurriedly followed.
Shen's face was always calm and remained the same, "Best farewell to Your Majesty!"
When the emperor's figure disappeared, Shen Yiguan smiled calmly and said, "Well, this Spring Festival event has come to an end. You still have to work hard all night in the Ministry of Rites today, and tomorrow you have to go to the Huagai Hall to write the results. If you spread the seal and use it, everyone will be liberated."
Ye Xianggao, Fang Congzhe, Zhang Jingqiu, Qi Yongtai, Qiao Yingjia and others were all dissatisfied and slanderous towards Shen Yiguan. At this time, they could not help but feel excited and gave a big gift to show their respect and support. Only Xiao Daheng and Gu Bingqian could not help but express their respect and support. He hesitated, but when he saw that all the officials were like this, he could only bow his head and hand it over.
If Shen Guanguan did not dare to uphold the emperor's previous actions, then the prestige of the cabinet and the cabinet would be gone. I may not be the chief minister, but the rights and responsibilities of the chief minister and the cabinet cannot be usurped! This is the responsibility of the chief civil servant.
What Shen Yiguan did today is actually equivalent to setting the most standard demonstration to his colleagues, that is, those who may step into the position of chief minister in the future. Scholars and civil servants should do this!
*******
When Feng Ziying and others were once again introduced to wait outside Fengtian Hall, they knew that the fateful moment had finally come.
Everyone was holding their breath in fear, but their ears were perked up, waiting for the final roll call from the deacon.
When the deacon placed the list in the Danchi Royal Road, all the Jinshis knelt down.
A group of people held their breath, waiting for the last moment.
"Dingwei of the fifth year of Yonglong, March 15th, we will test the tributes from all over the world. The first one will be awarded the title of Jinshi, the second grade will be awarded the Jinshi background, and the third grade will be awarded the same Jinshi background."
The deacon's voice was particularly loud, and the entire Danchi Royal Road was silent. Only his voice echoed in the empty square.
"The first-class and first-place Gongshi in Yongcheng, Henan Province practice state affairs!"
When practicing national affairs, my heart was so full that even my eyes were so wet that I couldn't see clearly around me. I could only hold back the ecstasy, excitement and excitement in my heart, and walked out of the queue tremblingly. Someone had already taught them the relevant etiquette knowledge, and they knew that they needed to leave the class. Kneel down and kowtow to thank God.
Feng Ziying and other Qingtan students couldn't help but secretly shout, "No. 1 Scholar," and he is the No. 1 Scholar in Hui Yuan, winning two prizes in a row!
This is enough for Lian Guoshi to write a special note in the history of imperial examinations in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
"The first and second place is Huang Zunsu, a tribute scholar from Yuyao, Zhejiang!"
…
"The first and third place is Yang Sichang, a tribute from Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture!"
Feng Ziying saw from the corner of her eye that Yang Wenruo was also stumbling out of the queue. He was obviously overly excited and knelt down on the ground to thank him.
…
"The second and first place is Xu Xie, a tribute scholar from Tong'an, Fujian!"
Unexpectedly, Xu Xie was so tall, which surprised Feng Ziying. She didn't need to go out of work, she just had to kneel down and thank her.
"The second and second place is Wang Qiaonian, a tribute scholar from Yanzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang!"
I don't know this Feng Ziying. He should be from the academy in Jiangnan, the same as Huang Zunsu who came in second place.
…
"Second and eighth place, Gongshi Hou Xun from Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture!"
I didn't expect that Hou Xun could get such a high score in the exam. He was worthy of being one of the most influential figures in Chongzheng Academy.
"Second and ninth place, Feng Keng, a tribute from Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture!"
Feng Ziying's blood surged in her head? Really yourself? That’s right, it’s yourself!
How could it be possible that the birthplace and name are the same?
But is this the ninth place in the top two? Is it too high? It's completely beyond imagination. All kinds of thoughts and questions flooded into Feng Ziying's mind like a tide, but at this time, they turned into mechanical kneeling movements to thank her.
What follows is a long wait for roll call. After you have finished singing, you still have to wait for others to finish singing one by one.
Of course Feng Ziying didn't care much about other people, but of course he paid attention to the classmates he was familiar with. Suppressing the chaotic thoughts in his heart, Feng Ziying listened carefully to the rankings of other students.
Not surprisingly, Song Tongyin and Luo Shangzhong both ranked in the second place, ranked 38th and 55th respectively, and Fang Zhenru ranked 109th in the second place.
Fan Jingwen was undoubtedly the most surprised, with ninety-seven in the second grade. There was also another surprise for He Fengsheng, with one hundred and eighteen in the second grade.
The rest of the students can only be ranked in the top three. For example, Zheng Chongjian is ranked top 268, and Fang Youdu is ranked 335. Both are greatly improved compared to the previous rankings in the examination.
This roll call continues until the last person kneels down.
The official of Honglu Temple, Yi Dan, knelt down and delivered a speech: "God has opened up the destiny of literature, and the virtuous and handsome have ascended to the mediocre. It is appropriate to celebrate!"
Hundreds of civil and military officials and a group of Jinshi scholars bowed five times and kowtowed three times before leaving.
