In late February, the imperial court held provincial examinations.
Before the provincial examination, officials from Taichang Temple presided over a fasting ceremony at Jinling Palace. As many as 30,000 to 40,000 candidates who went to Beijing to take the examination were required to attend unless there was no special reason. Zhao Yang also took the time to watch the excitement. The scene was indeed vast.
On the night of the ceremony, Zhao Yang asked the cook from the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry to cook a table of wine and food in the courtyard to entertain Fan Chunren, Shen Dun, Qian Gongfu, Wen Tong, Huang brothers and others, as a way to congratulate everyone in advance. Even Zhang Yaozuo came to the banquet with his nephew Shi Butong.
The next day, the provincial examination officially began. The Gongyuan, Imperial College, and Kaifeng Prefecture courtyards all turned into temporary examination rooms. The imperial censor Chen Xu led officials from the Ministry of Etiquette to supervise the examination, and Kaifeng Prefecture army inspectors maintained order.
Fan Chunren and others had already learned about their respective examination rooms before. Except for the Huang brothers, the examination rooms for everyone else were located in Gongyuan. So in the early morning of February 22, Zhao Yang first sent Fan Chunren and others to the Gongyuan examination room. Unexpectedly, I met Zhang Yaozuo who happened to be sending his nephew Shi Butong to the Gongyuan examination room.
Of course, Zhang Yaozuo did not just come to see his nephew off. As someone with the right to know the affairs of Kaifeng Prefecture, he was also the maintainer of order for this scientific examination, and even had the power of supervision. Therefore, he would deliberately embarrass an examinee or give instructions. It couldn't be easier for the officials and sergeants under my command to do anything to frame him.
Of course, easy comes easy, Zhang Yaozuo did not dare to do this, including hinting to the chief invigilator, censor Chen Xu, and others that his nephew Shi Butong was ranked first in the provincial examination. If this was reported by the censor, Concubine Zhang would not be able to protect him.
However, this guy still dared to peek at the scientific examination papers in advance, and even hinted whether Zhao Yang needed it the night before.
Of course Zhao Yang refused. After all, in his opinion, Fan Chunren, Lu Dafang, Shen Yu, Qian Gongfu and others all had the talents of Jinshi and there was no need to cheat.
Taking a step back, so what if I fail this provincial examination?
The purpose of most students taking the scientific examination is to become an official. A few, like Fan Chunren, do it to increase their knowledge and reputation. If they want to become an official, Zhao Yang recommends them. There is not much difference between failing and failing in the provincial examination. It's just that there is a Jinshi who is promoted and can jump up the ranks.
In this case, why cheat?
If something goes wrong and someone reports it, it will be more serious than failing the exam.
After sending Fan Chunren and others into the examination room, Zhao Yang and Zhang Yaozuo visited the censor Chen Xu who presided over the Gongyuan examination.
Chen Xu was the censor in charge of the imperial court, and his rank was equivalent to that of Zhao Yang. However, because he was the censor, he had the power to impeach matters, so ordinary Yuanwailang-level officials would inevitably be a little in awe when they saw this person, but Zhao Yang had the right to speak out. Being promoted to an official position also has the power of impeachment and impeachment. Therefore, not only is he not afraid of Chen Xu, but Chen Xu is more afraid of him.
After all, Zhao Yang was the one who dared to impeach himself at the court meeting and force the officials to submit. Compared with this matter, impeaching ten Taiwanese admonishers in one go, even the Prime Minister Wen Yanbo seemed nothing.
"Hey, Zhao Zhengyan, Magistrate Zhang."
Sure enough, when he saw Zhao Yang and Zhang Yaozuo coming to visit, Chen Xu, who was chatting with the Gongyuan Master's office, quickly led several other invigilators from the Shangshu Rites Department to greet them, and asked the reason with some doubts and some respect.
Zhao Yang did not hide anything, and explained with a smile: "Chen Yushi may also know that I have a good rapport with Mr. Fan Xianggong's family and several other officials. Today they came to take the provincial examination, so I sent them off. By the way, Also pay a visit to Chen Yushi and his colleagues."
"How dare you? How dare you." Several officials from the Ministry of Etiquette returned the favor with their hands raised.
The situation of the entire Shangshu Province is currently extremely embarrassing. This is the case for the Ministry of Industry of Shangshu Province, and the same is true for the Ministry of Rites of Shangshu Province. In addition to being responsible for assisting sacrifices, invigilating imperial examinations, receiving envoys from other countries, etc., the officials of the Ministry of Rites are quite idle at other times. Officials with real power like Zhao Yang are not allowed.
After everyone exchanged a few words with Zhao Yang, the discerning Chen Xu invited Zhao Yang and Zhang Yaozuo to the next door, lowered his attitude and asked, "I wonder if Zhao Zhengyan has any instructions?"
Zhao Yang did not hide anything, and informed Chen Xu of his intention: "I heard that the provincial exam lasted for several days, during which only pickled vegetables and steamed buns were provided for food, so I intended to send someone to deliver some food three times a day and hand it over to He I have made friends with the Erlangs of the Fan family, and I would like to ask Chen Yushi for a convenience."
Chen Xusheng was afraid that Zhao Yang would make any unreasonable demands. He breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this and thought: "This matter is not a big problem. There have always been people who deliver meals to Kaozi. However, the person who delivers the meals needs to be searched before entering or exiting... …”
"Of course." Zhao Yang said nonchalantly: "Chen Yushi doesn't think that I will be complicit in fraud, right?"
"Don't dare, it's just a routine matter to prevent anyone from gossiping." Chen Xu quickly explained.
To be fair, he did not believe that Zhao Yang would help others commit fraud, because it was not necessary. Given Zhao Yang's status in the hearts of officials, if he wanted others to be officials, he only needed to recommend them, just like Prime Minister Chen Zhizhong recommended to officials some time ago. Su Xun, a native of Meishan, Meizhou, Shu region, was very puzzled by the officials at first. They didn't understand why Chen Zhizhong suddenly recommended a student thousands of miles away. Later, they found out that Chen Zhizhong was just recommending him on behalf of Zhao Yang.
You can ask the current Prime Minister to make a recommendation on your behalf, and even the officials will not reject it. Does this type of person need to participate in fraud?
In comparison, Chen Xu was more on guard against Zhang Yaozuo. After all, Zhang Yaozuo had just hosted a banquet for him and other invigilators a few days ago, and privately made a rude request to read the examination papers. Although Chen Xu declined politely, he still couldn't tell Zhang Yaozuo. Whether the purpose has been achieved.
After all, the engraving of the provincial test papers was also supervised by the Kaifeng Prefecture. To be honest, it was not difficult for Zhang Yaozuo to intercept a copy of the test paper and secretly carry it out.
Especially seeing Zhang Yaozuo's desireless look at this moment, Chen Xu was actually even more suspicious in his heart.
After a few words of greeting, Chen Xu took the initiative to mention it to Zhao Yang: "It's rare for such a grand event to happen. Would Zhao Zhengyan be willing to visit the examination room?"
"Is it okay?" Zhao Yang said a little surprised.
"Of course." Chen Xu nodded, and then smiled and said to Zhang Yaozuo: "The examination papers will be distributed soon. Magistrate Zhang, could you please supervise your sergeants personally to avoid any mistakes?"
Zhang Yaozuo looked at Chen Xu with some confusion, but it was his duty after all, so he said hello to Zhao Yang and left first.
After he walked away, Zhao Yang asked Chen Xu with a smile but not a smile: "Does Chen Yushi have anything to say to me?"
"It made Zhao Zhengyan laugh." Chen Xugong cupped his hands and watched Zhang Yaozuo's leaving figure: "In recent years, although fraud in the examination room still occurs from time to time, the supervision of the imperial court has increased year by year. The time I was appointed as the chief supervisor by an official, I was also very uneasy. I was afraid that major fraud would occur in the imperial examinations under my supervision. At that time, regardless of the official accountability, everyone would look bad... Of course, I am not saying that. Zhao Zhengyan is the one who is afraid of leaving. Apart from the officials, Zhao Zhengyan is the only one in the court who can restrain him now."
Zhao Yang subconsciously wanted to say a few words for Zhang Yaozuo, but he thought that this guy seemed to have obtained the test papers in advance, so he was embarrassed to make any further guarantees. He nodded and said: "I will watch him, so as not to cause trouble to Chen Yushi and Chen Yushi. You colleagues are causing trouble.”
"Thank you." Chen Xugong cupped his hands, then shook his head and said: "I have actually heard about some of Magistrate Zhang's actions, but the impact is not very big, so I don't want to expand the situation... I checked Shi Butong's chosen subjects, It’s the Shishi subject, which is not a subject that can be achieved by relying on certain methods..."
According to his explanation and introduction to Zhao Yang, the provincial examination of the Song Dynasty was also divided into different subjects, such as Nine Classics, Five Classics, Kaiyuan Rites, Three Histories, Three Rites, Three Biography, Ming Jing, Ming Fa, Ming Zi , Jinshi, etc.
The so-called Nine Classics refers to the nine Confucian classics established by the Tang Dynasty; the Five Classics refers to the five Confucian classics established during the Western Han Dynasty; the Kaiyuan Rites is a large-scale ritual book compiled by the Tang Dynasty, which can also be regarded as a professional examination of practical rituals; three History refers to the "Historical Records", the two "Hanshu" and the "Three Kingdoms", which can be understood as the junior college examination in history; the three rites refer to the "Zhou Rites", "Rites" and "The Book of Rites" among the Thirteen Classics, which can be seen Cheng is a specialist examination for ritual theory; Sanzhuan refers to "Zuo Zhuan", "Gongyang Zhuan" and "Guliang Zhuan", which can be regarded as a special examination for the history books of the Ministry of Classics; Ming Fa is a legal examination, and Mingzi is Zi Study for exams.
The most important among them are the Ming Jing Ke and the Jin Shi Ke: Ming Jing refers to the unified examination of all classics, while Jin Shi requires students to read a wide range of books and focus more on literary talent and personal political opinions.
During the narration, since the formal examination had begun in the examination room, Chen Xu simply took a copy of the Jinshi examination paper and showed it to Zhao Yang.
Zhao Yang took it and looked at it, secretly speechless.
I saw that this examination paper begins with the more common "tie", also known as "tie Jing", which is somewhat similar to the fill-in-the-blank questions of later generations, except that the silent passage is longer, covering "The Analects of Confucius", and there are about ten questions. , most of which Zhao Yang knew well, but the ones that were relatively unknown were rote memorization.
The second type of test questions is "Mo Yi", which covers "Spring and Autumn" and "Book of Rites". You need to write the entire paragraph in one sentence and indicate its source. You even have to give an answer, analyze the pros and cons, and difficulty It can be said that it has been upgraded to a level.
The third category is "current affairs policy", which refers to putting forward personal political opinions on the current national conditions of the Song Dynasty. This is no longer in the category of rote memorization, and it is also a relatively large part of the Jinshi subject.
In addition, the examination paper also requires Juzi to write a poem, a poem, and a treatise. There is no doubt that it is to test Juzi's literary talent.
For exams like this, there is really little point in peeking at the test papers in advance, unless someone else writes for them. The problem is, if the ghostwriter can pass the exam, he will have already taken the imperial examination, so how can he still write for others? Therefore, most of the fraud in the Jinshi examination has always been caused by invigilators ghostwriting the test papers for candidates.
This was still quite common twenty or thirty years ago, but since Zhenzong and today's officials have repeatedly banned it, and do not allow exam candidates to call the invigilator "teacher", this matter has gradually disappeared, and some cases still exist. , but most of the invigilators could not forgive the favor, and Zhang Yaozuo naturally did not have this condition. His reputation in the court was worse than Zhao Yang.
What's more important is that after the provincial examination, there will be a palace examination hosted by officials in person, and the examinations then will basically be "current affairs policies", including national policies for the Liao Kingdom and Xixia. Unless someone can be found to take the examination on their behalf, otherwise Once officials discover something fishy, the consequences will be even more serious.
It's no wonder that Chen Xu doesn't want the situation to escalate.
After carefully reading the test questions, Zhao Yang couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect that the Jinshi test questions are so difficult. If I were to take the test, I could answer seven or eight questions in Tie Jing. If Mo Yi were to take the exam, I would probably be able to answer two or three questions." It’s difficult. Needless to say, I’m not good at poetry or poetry…”
"But Zhao Zhengyan is better than Shiwu Ce." Chen Xu complimented: "If nothing else, Zhao Zhengyan, Shiwu Ce, will definitely get high marks."
"Chen Yushi praises me too much." Zhao Yang chuckled and shook his head, not believing Chen Xu's flattery.
After the two chatted for a while, Chen Xu took advantage of his duties and led Zhao Yang to the examination room.
The so-called examination room refers to the corridor where the examinee takes the exam. In layman's terms, it is a cubicle. There are only examination tables, stools and a wooden barrel in the small room. The conditions are very poor. Once the examinee enters and begins to answer questions, the three They were not allowed to leave without permission for five days. They had to eat, drink, and have sex in this small compartment. There was not even a bed. When they were tired, they put on their clothes and lay down on the table to rest for a while.
There are Kaifeng Prefecture sergeants patrolling outside the compartment, and occasionally the invigilator will come to patrol. If the examinee needs anything, he can also inform the military patrol sergeant and the examiner, including if he is greedy and wants to order a "takeaway" - no joke, Bian Restaurants of all sizes in the capital have corresponding services. They have dedicated personnel delivering meals to all parts of the city. Even the most sophisticated ones, even the tableware is made of silver, and have dedicated personnel to pick it up.
All in all, as long as they have money, those restaurants will send people to deliver meals to designated places, and the examination hall is no exception.
The examination room does not prohibit this, as long as the food delivery and pick-up personnel are subject to body search.
Under the guidance of Chen Xu, Zhao Yang walked around the examination room for a while, said hello to Fan Chunren and others, and then left. As for delivering meals, although Fan Chunren, Shen Yu and others politely refused many times, he still ordered Wang Zhongzheng and others asked nearby restaurants to deliver meals for lunch and dinner every day, but the cost was actually not much, but the key was friendship.
Including the Huang brothers who were taking exams in the Imperial College.
Sure enough, Fan Chunren, Shen Yu, Lu Dafang and others were very moved. After the three-day exam, they pooled money to host a banquet in Xiaotianshui Lane to invite Zhao Yang back, and their friendship became closer.
By the beginning of March, the examinations for various subjects were ending one after another, and the Jinshi subjects had already listed their results. The three people on the top list were called the top three, and most of the rest were on the second and third list.
The top three this year were Feng Jing, Shen Yu, and Qian Gongfu. They were the three people who Chen Xu and officials from the Ministry of Rites considered the most outstanding in their answers and articles.
But as the saying goes, there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. Which of the three is more talented in literature? Chen Xu and other invigilators actually have difficulties.
Finally, after Chen Xu and his colleagues agreed, the rankings were changed to Shen Dun, Qian Gongfu and Feng Jing.
The reason is probably that Shen Tao is currently serving as the gunpowder case officer in Zhao Yang's Technology Department, while Qian Gongfu does not work in the Technology Department, but is also very close to Zhao Yang, and Feng Jing... there was a fight in the fan building that day. This person was involved in the incident, and he was also a guest invited by Liu Congguang and the Li brothers.
Considering that Liu Congguang and the Li brothers were demoted three times in five days, Chen Xu and others were willing to sell Zhao Yang a favor. Anyway, it was really difficult for them to judge the top three, and it was not considered fraud.
After the list was released, Zhao Yang was greatly surprised. After all, in his impression, Feng Jing ranked first in the provincial examination this year. Then he won the first place in the palace examination, achieving the title of "top of the three examinations". There may be an element of official "adult beauty" in this, but now this crown seems to be replaced by Shen Tao. After all, Shen Tao is also the first place in the two Zhejiang Province examinations, and he also has this qualification.
As for Fan Chunren, Lu Dafang, Wen Tong, the Huang brothers, etc., Zhao Yang also saw their names in the second-a list, that is, after the fourth place.
What surprised him was that he actually saw the name of Zhang Yaozuo's nephew Shi Butong. It can be seen that unless someone does it for him, Shi Butong is indeed talented, even if Zhang Yaozuo really got the test paper a few days in advance.
After Zhao Yang inquired later, he found that there were more than 30,000 candidates for the examination this time, but the total number of admissions was only more than 1,000, including 498 Jinshi candidates, which was higher than in previous years.
Being able to stand out among hundreds of thousands of students across the country and become one of the 498 passers-by in the Jinshi Department is naturally a matter worth celebrating.
On this festive occasion, Fan Zhongyan finally arrived in Bianjing. His return to the capital made those who opposed the Qingli Reform such as Song Xiang and Liu Yuanyu feel like they were facing a formidable enemy. This also included those in the court who did not oppose the Qingli Reform but were actually in favor of the Song Dynasty. Officials like Xiang et al.
