"When-when-when-"
At midnight, the bell from the southeast tower of Dazhou Gongyuan came into the simple house, waking up Wei Chen who had not been sleeping for long.
Wei Chen opened his eyes with some difficulty, but his mind was still groggy. Just two hours of sleep was not enough to replenish the energy he had consumed these days.
Getting up from the couch, Wei Chen rubbed his sore temples, looked around the room, shook his head and smiled bitterly.
A portrait of the most holy teacher, a hard couch, a table, and a bucket were all the furniture in the small house where Wei Chen was, and nothing else.
The doors and windows of the house are all nailed shut, and only one pane can be opened to deliver food or other items.
Through the window panes, you can still see the scene in the courtyard outside. There are soldiers from the Imperial City Division everywhere, with three steps, one sentry, five steps and one post, and the guards are extremely tight.
This is the treatment of the chief examiner of the Tangtang Examination.
On the day he was appointed as the examiner of the joint examination, Wei Chen was brought to the Great Zhou Gongyuan by the sergeants of the Imperial City Department and locked up inside.
Until the results were released, Wei Chen had to stay here. He could neither go home nor meet relatives and friends or interact with officials outside the Gongyuan to prevent the occurrence of imperial examination malpractices such as leaking questions and asking for entrustments.
Although Wei Chen understood the necessity of locking the courtyard early on, no matter what, being locked in the Gongyuan for half a month without being allowed to go out, and having to closely monitor every move, making it inconvenient to do anything, this kind of life still made Wei Chen feel Quite boring.
Fortunately, today is already the ninth day of February, the day when the general examination begins, and the day of relief is finally not far away.
After briefly washing up, Wei Chen dressed neatly and walked out of the house and came to the Zigong Hall.
In the court hall, the examiners have almost arrived, and the deputy examiner Ding Siquan and his fellow examiners are sitting at attention in the hall.
Seeing Wei Chen arriving, everyone immediately stood up together and bowed to pay homage to the examiner.
The examiner bowed twice, and Wei Chen bowed once. Then the deputy examiner Ding Siquan invited Wei Chen to sit down at the top of the table, and he sat down below Wei Chen. The other examiners also took their seats.
For this examination, the co-examiners selected from the Beijing officials, first based on academic qualifications, secondly on conduct, and then on knowledge, and a total of eighteen people were selected.
Among the eighteen co-examiners, there were three censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and three officials from the Six Ministries. As for the Hanlin officials, due to their academic advantages, a full twelve people were selected as co-examiners, including Li Zuochang, Sheng Changbai, Chen Shao and others. in it.
However, the Zigong Hall is a solemn place. On this occasion, even close friends would not say much. They would just nod to each other, then drink tea and sit in silence, waiting for the arrival of auspicious times.
Waiting until the fourth watch, only three cannons were heard outside the Longmen of Gongyuan, and the candidates began to enter. Wei Chen and the examiners slowly got up and came to the Mingyuan Tower in the center of the examination room south of Zhigong Hall.
Mingyuan Building is three stories high and is the commanding height of the entire Gongyuan. It is specially used for inspection inspections and invigilation. Standing on the upper floor, you can overlook the entire examination room and have a panoramic view of every move of the candidates.
Accompanied by fellow examiners, Wei Chen climbed to the third floor of Mingyuan Building. He leaned on the railing and looked down. He saw candidates filing in carrying examination baskets. They were filing in one by one in the corridor between Longmen and Yimen. Subject to search.
The prosecutors took the roster and checked the candidates' names, place of origin, age, and appearance one by one, while the sergeants searched the candidates on the side.
These candidates were able to come here, at least because they had the honor of being a civil servant, but the inspection sergeant had no intention of treating them politely. During the inspection, everything from hairline to swollen knees was missed.
If Wei Chen had taken the county examination for the first time and seen this degrading scene, he would have frowned in displeasure.
But Wei Chen had passed the exam all the way and had gone through too many inspections, and his mentality had long been indifferent.
Besides, as the examiner of the examination, he naturally understands that this is not the time to be merciful. If he lets some lucky people go, it will be a great injustice to the candidates who abide by the rules.
Wei Chen was afraid that the prosecutors would save too much face for these candidates and not search carefully enough, so he specially called Gu Wan, the head of the Imperial City Department who was responsible for the search, and repeatedly told him to search carefully, and would rather let the candidates Even though we entered the venue late, we couldn't make any fuss about the inspection.
Gu Wan immediately took the order and left, ordering his sergeants to intensify the search and re-search the hundreds of people who had been searched before. Sure enough, he found two fish that had slipped through the net.
"I was put in the shackles of everyone, deprived of the qualifications for the joint examination, and dragged to the public outside the Gongyuan!"
After Wei Chen announced the fate of the two cheaters, he glanced at Gu Wan, who had come to report, with some dissatisfaction in his eyes.
Something went wrong on an errand, and he was caught by his immediate superior. Gu Wan felt a little embarrassed, and he couldn't get angry with Wei Chen, so he could only hold back his evil anger and vent it on the candidates below.
Now the candidates behind were in bad luck. They were ravaged by the sergeants from the Imperial City Division led by Gu Wan, until they all had disheveled hair and disheveled clothes, as if they had just returned from somewhere.
Wei Chen still stood upstairs in Mingyuan with his hands behind his hands, staring at the inspection below with a stern expression.
The deputy examiner Ding Siquan and the other examiners beside him were filled with emotion when they saw Wei Chen's calm demeanor as an examiner.
The twenty-year-old will take the exam!
If it had been anyone else, I'm afraid the scholars of Da Zhou would have made a fuss.
But this person is Wei Chen.
That's a different matter.
Wei Chen is indeed young, but as far as the imperial examination is concerned, few people can match his qualifications.
Who made Wei Chen not only get the first prize at the age of fifteen, but also get the sixth prize, which is unprecedented and unprecedented?
After Wei Chen passed the sixth grade, he became a living legend in the hearts of scholars and was worshiped by scholars all over the world.
Moreover, as Wei Chen's "Tan Wen Lu" gradually spread over the years, benefiting thousands of candidates all over the world, Wei Chen's reputation was pushed to another peak.
With these conditions in mind, Wei Chen's appointment as the examiner of this examination was expected by the public, but as for his age, it became secondary.
Deputy Chief Examiner Ding Siquan is two rounds older than Wei Chen, but what's the use? He can still only be ranked below Wei Chen.
To be honest, Ding Siquan was still a little jealous of Wei Chen. After all, when Wei Chen first served as a bachelor, his seat in the Hanlin Academy was still lower than that of Ding Siquan.
But now, Ding Siquan is the deputy examiner of the joint examination, while Wei Chen is already the examiner. This gap in circumstances inevitably makes Ding Siquan feel a little disappointed.
However, this little emotion suddenly seems insignificant when compared with the benefits that can be gained from making friends with the Wei Shaozhan in front of him.
Now that the new emperor has been on the throne for nearly a year, the contradiction between Zhao Zongquan and the Empress Dowager Cao has become more and more prominent. The dispute between the emperor and the empress in the court has almost reached the point of being undisguised. However, Wei Chen, the examiner of the joint examination, was able to get the approval of the emperor and the empress dowager. The mutual recognition shows how stable Wei Chen's position in the court is.
Coupled with Wei Chen's current age and achievements... In short, Ding Siquan has secretly made up his mind in his heart. This time he will host the examination and will not act on his own initiative based on his status as deputy examiner. Everything will be based on Wei Chen's leadership.
