The policy essay questions were still the same three, which were quite sharp. Candidates who should not be able to answer them still couldn't answer them.
A group of important ministers, except Zhou Chen, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, who was extremely busy, Chen Xun, Wang Wen and others all came to the examination room and stared at it personally.
This group of civil servants who were in power were also scared. They could not let another accident happen. If another accident happened, they would have no way to explain it.
The emperor was just too lazy to worry, but he was not immune to getting angry.
Chen Xun, Wang Wen and others stood on the steps of Fengtianmen, with embarrassment written on their faces.
According to normal logic, the Forbidden City was built to be majestic and majestic, just to make people feel shocked and admired at the first sight.
But now that Fengtian Hall has been burned to ashes, the emperor also asked the candidates to answer questions in the square between Fengtian Hall and Fengtian Gate.
What will the candidates think after seeing this large area of ruins?
The rural examinations were organized separately by the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and the selected candidates went to Beijing to participate in the joint examinations.
All candidates from Northern Zhili came to Beijing to take the Shuntianfu Township Examination.
In the Tianfu Rural Examination and the Jiangxi Rural Examination, the most powerful candidates were selected, and the largest number of Jinshi candidates were selected in the subsequent examinations.
After the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination, the subsequent number of Jinshi scholars produced can only be regarded as average.
The candidates who took part in the Shuntianfu Township Examination in the first year of Jingtai were even more mediocre.
However, Zhu Qiyu's luck is so good: Ming Dynasty Weiningbo Wang Yue, a native of Damingfu, North Zhili, is 24 years old this year and happens to participate in this Shuntianfu Township Examination.
All good things come to pass, and Wang Yue has experienced a lot in the past few days. First, he saw those three strange policies and topics, then he was frightened by the fire in Gongyuan, and now he faced the ruins of Fengtian Temple in the square.
Although Wang Yue was still very young, he could see that the Ming Dynasty's court was not peaceful at all.
On the surface, everything seems to be turbulent, and all kinds of weird things happen one after another.
The undercurrent under the water is so dangerous that people can’t even imagine it.
The most bizarre thing is that he was forced to take sides even before he won the exam.
Let's take a look at these three strategies issued by the emperor, on the Battle of Luchuan, on the changes in Tumubao, on reviving the Ming Dynasty and creating a prosperous age.
After the discussion, the team's position was clear.
What’s even more confusing is that these test papers will be stored for a long time. Do you want to disown your account afterwards and admit that you expressed a certain point of view? There are no doors.
Which position you expressed in the three policies will be bound to it for almost your whole life.
So don’t look at three questions. They are only a few sentences, but the answers are extremely stressful.
It takes one day to answer these three policy questions. Each question can be answered with a few hundred words, a few thousand words, or tens of thousands of words.
After two days of careful consideration and only one morning, Wang Yue was the first to hand in the paper and leave the examination room.
In the afternoon, other candidates also handed in their papers one after another.
Then the officials of the Ministry of Rites stayed up late to copy it. After sealing it, they hurriedly sent it to the emperor for inspection.
At noon the next day, when Zhu Qiyu came out to see what was going on, He Yi, Yue Zheng and others had already sorted out most of the examination papers.
Zhu Qiyu ordered: "You continue to mark the papers. Everyone reads the papers again and picks out the good ones."
After saying that, Zhu Qiyu sat on the soft couch in a daze.
Yue Zheng then asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, what are the criteria for evaluation?"
Zhu Qiyu replied with a smile: "Outstanding literary talent, as long as the words are meaningful. Most of them are young people, and they are not required to have a deep or comprehensive understanding of government affairs.
There is a lot of knowledge involved in handling government affairs. Getting a Jinshi is just the beginning, and you will have to study for decades.
In fact, there are many ways that, to be honest, even an emperor like me can’t understand them.
For example, regarding water control, even though I have heard Xu Youzhen talk about it so many times, I am still confused.
If you ask me to control the flood myself, I'm sure I'll do a terrible job.
Therefore, the current grading is not based on how mature and profound the candidates are, but whether they are talented people. "
Yue Zheng nodded repeatedly, indicating that he understood.
In fact, Yue Zheng really understood that the emperor wanted to select a group of talents who could clearly stand on the emperor's side and who could be cultivated and molded.
Zhu Qiyu continued to ask: "It was not easy for you guys to study and take exams back then, right?"
The people sitting here, He Yi, Yue Zheng, Xu Zheng, and Huang Jian, are all young talents in their twenties who have been awarded Jinshi.
Yue Zheng was still Tan Hua Lang, the one with the most say here, so he smiled bitterly and replied to the emperor: "Your Majesty is right, although we all have some talent in reading, back then we were all about hanging beams and thorns in the buttocks, not at all. exaggerate.
The days of studying were very hard for us, and many times we felt like we couldn’t hold on.
Fortunately, I was able to graduate from high school in one fell swoop when I was in my twenties, which was a matter of time and destiny. "
Zhu Qiyu smiled and said: "I feel so ashamed when you say that. If you want me to take part in the imperial examination, I can't even pass the examination as a scholar."
He Yi smiled and replied: "This is the same as what Han Xin said. Han Xin is good at generals, while Emperor Gao is good at generals. The same principle applies to the same thing. I am a learned man who is good at reading, but your majesty is good at driving. Hundreds of officials control the overall situation.
What the ministers master is the art, but what your Majesty masters is the Tao.
The skills are small but the Tao is great. He is good at the easy skills but the Tao is difficult. Therefore, despite the fact that I will be a Jinshi in my twenties, my talent is actually far inferior to His Majesty's. "
Zhu Qiyu smiled and nodded. He didn't dare to say anything else. He Yi's talent for flattery was definitely better than mine. Although I make my beloved concubines happy with my sweet words every day, and my skills in flattery are excellent, it is obvious that there are people outside the world, and there is a sky outside the world, and every mountain is higher than the other.
The monarch and his ministers were talking and laughing while reviewing the papers, but they were also quite content.
By the afternoon, the examination papers had been marked.
He Yi, Xu Zheng, and Huang Jian all declined, and Yue Zheng made the summary.
Yue Zheng couldn't refuse, so he took out an examination paper and handed it over: "Your Majesty, half of the candidates are candidates who generally agree with the test. Among them, those with outstanding literary talent and clear organization account for another 20%.
Those who have some spiritual understanding of government affairs only have about twenty test papers.
This is the only exam paper that is innovative and insightful. The four of us all think that this volume should be the first, and we respectfully invite your Majesty to read it. "
Zhu Qiyu reached out and took the test paper.
Over the past year, Zhu Qiyu has perfected his laziness skills.
Thousands of people participated in the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination, which meant thousands of examination papers. In the end, Zhu Qiyu only read one of them.
This laziness is considered a big steal.
But Zhu Qiyu is not worried about missing talents.
He Yi, Yue Zheng, Xu Zheng, and Huang Jian each read the test paper. A single person may make a mistake, but it is unlikely that four people will make a mistake at the same time.
After taking the test paper handed over by Yue Zheng, Zhu Qiyu read it carefully from beginning to end.
After reading it, I couldn’t help but nod my head.
It can be seen from the feedback from He Yi and others during the examination that most candidates attributed the fault of the Tumubao Incident to Wang Zhen's monopoly on power and deceiving the Supreme Emperor.
There are only a small number of people who can shift the responsibility to Yang Hong.
The two combined are absolutely mainstream.
There are very few people who dare to put the responsibility on the Supreme Emperor himself.
As for the answer that Zhu Qiyu wanted, there was only one person.
(End of chapter)
