However, the imperial examination ultimately required approval from His Majesty the Emperor, and only twelve test papers could be submitted.
As a result, the officials started a fierce debate over the derogation of the three test papers.
But no matter how they argued, no one attacked Fang Xiaoyue's test paper.
Because in the eyes of all the officials, his policies were too harmless and were completely harmless to his own administration.
On the contrary, three test papers that seemed to serve the country and the people were demoted after some debate.
This is not surprising. What these officials need is not a good official who can serve the country and the people. What they need is a disciple who can help them.
In addition, it needs to be emphasized that the test papers in the palace examination will not be written, let alone copied.
Because all test papers will eventually be sent to the emperor's study room for preparation and archiving.
And if His Majesty the Emperor is not satisfied with the twelve test papers presented by the officials, he can also choose from the remaining test papers.
Therefore, at three o'clock in the afternoon, His Majesty the Emperor had just woken up from his nap, and Wang Defa, the personal eunuch, carefully stepped forward to report to His Majesty the Emperor while he was washing.
After hearing Wang Defa's report, His Majesty the Emperor wiped his hands and signaled the other party to hand over the test paper.
Soon, Wang Defa placed twelve test papers on the royal eucalyptus.
His Majesty the Emperor sat in front of the royal eucalyptus while drinking ginseng tea.
To say that the current emperor is definitely not a good emperor who works diligently and loves the people, he prefers to eat, drink, have fun, and lust after women.
But fortunately, the current chief minister and other officials are quite capable, so they have maintained the Daze Kingdom well. Even if there were occasional natural and man-made disasters, the Daze Kingdom did not completely collapse and become a disaster country with refugees wandering around.
It is precisely because of this that when His Majesty the Emperor saw the articles written on the examination papers, his face was not very good, because most of these articles were more extreme and they always thought about what they thought. If he were allowed to be an official, he would What will happen.
This is why the chief minister and other officials have to make a selection first.
After all, everyone is afraid that if some crazy student writes something treasonous and unethical in an article, then His Majesty the Emperor will become angry. Not to mention those candidates, even the officials in the palace examination, one by one, will probably die. .
Although there are some problems with the selected articles, they are already the best.
At least His Majesty the Emperor would not be furious on the spot.
But even if there were relatively few problems, His Majesty the Emperor felt very unhappy after seeing too much.
After all, the current Holy Emperor values face very much. If anyone says that there are problems in Daze Country now, that the officials are corrupt, and the people are not living well, it will inevitably trigger his thunderous wrath. After all, for him, how Daze Country develops is equivalent to what he was doing at that time. What is the emperor's ability?
To say that Dazeguo is not good is to slap him in the face, isn't it?
Therefore, after reading a few articles, His Majesty the Emperor's face became increasingly ugly.
Even the several eunuchs waiting next to him were feeling uneasy.
You know, there is precedent for this.
In the past, a flood broke out in a certain place, and local officials failed to handle it well, causing refugees to spread all over the place. In the end, riots broke out, and the refugees gathered in one place to attack the county seat.
At that time, His Majesty the Emperor was still young and even more arrogant. After reading the memorial of the patrolling envoy, he became furious and beat an eunuch to death on the spot who did not even notice!
But the great eunuch should also feel honored.
After all, in history, no eunuch has ever been beaten to death by the emperor himself.
Isn't it an honor to be number one?
However, His Majesty the Emperor is now old after all, and he no longer knows how to beat people himself. He only gives a signal every time, and someone will naturally drag him down and beat him hard.
But at this time, His Majesty the Emperor stopped flipping the test papers and looked at one test paper carefully.
After a long time, His Majesty the Emperor showed a pleasant smile on his face. He reached out and picked up the ink pen and drew three circles on the test paper. Then he drew two circles and one circle on the other two test papers that he was slightly optimistic about:
"This person has great literary talent and can be the number one candidate! The other two can still be ranked second and third. The rest of the rankings will be decided by the first assistant. Xiao Dengzi, please send the test paper to the first assistant."
After saying this, His Majesty the Emperor stood up and left the imperial study room located in Qiankun Palace.
After the eunuch who was called Little Dengzi by His Majesty the Emperor responded, he hurried forward, rolled up the twelve test papers, put them into bright yellow cloth covers with dragon patterns, and then placed them under the hands of several young eunuchs. Accompanied by him, we headed towards the Fuxi Palace.
At this time, in the Fuxi Palace, the Chief Assistant and other officials were still waiting.
They can't leave here until the results of the palace examination are known.
Therefore, no matter how late it is, they still have to wait.
Fortunately, within three hours of sending the test papers to Qiankun Palace, the great eunuch Deng Youzhong sent the test papers back and conveyed the emperor's oral instructions.
After receiving the order saying "long live long live long live long live long live", the chief assistant and others began to discuss.
The emperor has already decided on the top three rankings of No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. Needless to say, what they need to discuss is the ranking of the second and third tops.
Of course, with the abilities of the first assistant and others, it is very simple to rank second and third place, so there is no need to worry too much.
So it didn't take long for the ranking to be decided.
"My lords, there are ten people in the top two, and the rest are in the top three?"
The first assistant asked, looking around.
All the officials nodded in unison: "Yes."
Later, the senior eunuch Deng Youzhong who was waiting on the side sent the young eunuch to get the blank yellow paper.
The chief assistant took matters into his own hands and copied the list one by one onto yellow paper.
This yellow paper is no ordinary yellow paper. It was made by the royal palace's imperial inspector. It is made of three different kinds of rice paper. It has a dragon pattern on the dark background and is extremely difficult to forge. It is the paper used for imperial lists and imperial edicts.
The names of the thirty tribute students were quickly copied on dragon-patterned yellow paper, and then the chief minister and other officials used their seals. The eunuch Deng Youzhong also asked for the emperor's seal to be used for sealing.
At this point, the first, second, and third grades have been decided, and the palace examination has officially ended.
Of course, there is no need for the chief minister and other officials to worry about posting the imperial list. The great eunuch Deng Youzhong took several young eunuchs, followed by a group of soldiers, and left the palace and came to the palace wall outside Taiping Bridge.
At this time, there were many people gathered here, and some government officials were waiting.
Those Yamen servants are the ones who officially announce the good news. Once the imperial list is posted, they will quickly pass the information to Gongsheng.
Seeing a group of eunuchs and soldiers coming, the crowd surrounding the palace wall immediately separated.
No one will cause trouble at this time, and they can't afford it.
Deng Youzhong directed the two young eunuchs to post the imperial list. After looking at it for a while and feeling that there was no problem, he left two soldiers to guard the imperial list while he took the others away.
It is necessary for soldiers to guard the imperial list.
What if someone, risking the accusation of gross misconduct, insisted on causing trouble for His Majesty the Emperor and tore up the imperial list?
In that case, the eunuch Deng Youzhong would be in trouble.
After the eunuch and his party left, the government officials quickly rushed to the imperial list, used the prepared red paper, copied down a name, and then set off in pairs to announce the good news.
In fact, for them, this kind of thing is a rare opportunity to receive red envelopes once every three years.
If you're lucky, you can run twice in a row.
Of course, this depends on who moves faster.
"Report! Congratulations to Danning County Ma Yi Ma Laoye High School for ranking 17th in the top three! Your promotion!"
As the long-voiced announcement of the good news came, several servants who had been waiting anxiously in front of an inn were overjoyed, and then lit the prepared firecrackers. Amidst the crackling sound of firecrackers, the ecstatic man Mr. Ma hurriedly took out two small gold ingots and gave them to the Yamen servant who announced the good news as a reward.
This actually made the two government officials who announced the good news feel ecstatic.
It has to be said that this job of announcing the good news is entirely based on luck.
If you are lucky, just like Mr. Ma, who is full of wealth, he will reach out and find two gold ingots, which can be worth more than twenty taels in silver.
superior!
Even if prices in the capital are high, it can still be considered a windfall.
But if you are unlucky and encounter a poor scholar, it is possible to be sent away a few copper coins.
Fang Xiaoyue was lying in the guest room sleeping at this time, and Zhang Yuanming did not go to the small courtyard to practice swordsmanship. Instead, he stood in front of the inn, looking eagerly at the street leading to the palace, expecting surprises to come.
He didn't believe that his cousin would fail the exam. The only question was what rank his cousin could get.
In fact, there were two other people guarding the door of the inn like Zhang Yuanming.
They are all the candidates who were lucky enough to be admitted to the Gongshi examination this time, and they hope that their results will be higher in this palace examination.
Not long after, two government officials rushed over from a distance, shouting congratulations: "Report! Congratulations to Mr. Zeng Baifu of Changhe County for ranking third in the top three of Mr. Zeng High School! He has been promoted step by step!"
Hearing this, a Gongsheng student guarding outside the inn door jumped up excitedly. He hurriedly ordered the bookboy beside him: "Xiao Li, get the reward quickly!"
He himself took the fire sickle to light the firecrackers. Amidst the crackling sound of firecrackers, Mr. Zeng's eyes and eyebrows almost disappeared from laughter.
After all, he is also self-aware. Being able to pass the third place in the top three is already a very good result. When he is awarded an official, he will at least be assigned to a relatively wealthy county to be the county magistrate.
Compared to Zeng Baifu, the smile on the other Gongsheng's face was even brighter.
After all, his announcement has not yet arrived, and like the palace examination, everyone has a share, so the later the announcement comes, the higher his ranking will be.
About half an hour later, another message of good news came: "Congratulations to Huang Moxuan Huang Laoye High School in Yuetao County for ranking 8th in the second grade! You will be promoted to a knighthood every year!"
Eighth place in the second division? Huang Moxuan, who was standing outside the inn door, was so happy that he was speechless.
This is a complete surprise.
You know, he was ranked 30th among the Gongsheng students! There are only 30 Gongsheng students in total, and he is the last one.
But in the palace examination, I actually got the eighth place in the second class, which is also the eleventh place in the palace examination!
This is much better than the top three.
The top three were just from the same background as Jinshi, and they were also magistrates from other counties.
As for Erjia, who was born as a Jinshi, he stayed in the Sixth Ministry to observe politics and was awarded the rank of Sixth Rank after ten months.
This is undoubtedly much more comfortable than the top three, and it also retains the opportunity to join the cabinet in the future.
As for the top three, there was absolutely no chance of joining the cabinet. They could only move back and forth between the positions of foreign officials, gradually promoted, and finally stopped at the positions of governor and governor.
"Congratulations to Mr. Fang Mingruifang from Kuangluo County, who ranked first in the first grade of high school and won the top spot on the gold list!"
As the news of good news rang out, everyone at the door of the inn was shocked.
Zhang Yuanming was so happy that he was almost going crazy, jumping back and forth like a monkey, hesitating and speechless.
Fortunately, the innkeeper reminded him to give the money for the good news first.
Fortunately, Fang Xiaoyue thought of this before going to bed, so Zhang Yuanming put two big red envelopes on him, each of which contained a ten-tael silver note.
This is not as good as the previous reward of 20 taels of silver from Zeng Baifu, but it is still a large red envelope.
The two government officials who announced the good news reached out to take the red envelope. They felt that it was light and fluffy inside, and knew that it contained silver notes. Generally speaking, the reward for silver notes starts at ten taels, so they followed up with a burst of auspicious words, saying Zhang Yuanming thought that he was the right person to get the top prize.
After sending away the two government officials who announced the good news, Zhang Yuanming ignored the innkeeper who came to congratulate him. He turned around and went to the guest room, noisily waking Fang Xiaoyue from her sleep.
To be honest, Fang Xiaoyue, who was woken up at this time, wanted to slap Zhang Yuanming against the wall.
This guy was too noisy. He was having a sweet dream, but he was woken up by a burst of bleating.
Of course, Zhang Yuanming was his cousin, so he couldn't really slap him against the wall, so he had no choice but to get up.
Wait until he gets up and goes to the inn
On the first floor, the innkeeper was the first to greet him, and he opened his mouth with congratulations.
As for other people living in this inn, they also gathered around.
Everyone knows that if Fang Xiaoyue is admitted to the top prize, she will have a bright future in the future. Interacting with her at this time will definitely be beneficial to her in the future.
Fang Xiaoyue was also very helpless. If he didn't come out to say hello at this time, his reputation would be damaged, and rumors about him being aloof and arrogant might spread.
Three days later, the Jinshi gathered outside the Chongyang Gate of the palace.
As new Jinshi, they need to go to Yonghua Palace to see the emperor to express their gratitude.
The whole process made Fang Xiaoyue feel extremely boring.
Probably all the Jinshi followed the young eunuch into the palace, and then lined up in several lines to wait outside Yonghua Palace until a certain big eunuch came out to announce that everyone had come to see him.
At this time, hundreds of civil and military officials were already waiting in Yonghua Palace.
After all the Jinshi entered the palace, they immediately bowed three times and kowtowed to His Majesty the Emperor.
The first assistant read out the imperial edict and conferred grades and officials on the scholars.
The top three were awarded the same Jinshi origin, and were awarded the seventh rank. The civil servants arranged the imperial examination. Those with excellent results were directly awarded to the county magistrate of Shangxian County, those with average results were awarded the county magistrate of Zhongxian County, and those with poor results were awarded the county magistrate of lower county.
Erjia was given the title of Jinshi, and was awarded the seventh rank. He was sent to various ministries to observe government affairs for one year, and after assessment, he was appointed to serve in various ministries.
Yijia was awarded the rank of Jinshi, and the number one scholar was awarded the Hanlin Academy for compilation, starting from the sixth grade.
The second place in the rankings and the top prize were awarded to the editors and editors of the Hanlin Academy, and were awarded the seventh grade.
This seems to be a bug.
The top three are awarded the seventh rank, the seventh grade, but the second grade is actually awarded the seventh rank.
