When Li Hao and others were about to arrive at the mansion, they saw Wei and Li Jian waiting outside the mansion. Apparently, they had been informed of the good news by their servants. Wei and Li Jian welcomed a few people in from outside and said, "I have ordered a banquet in the courtyard. Today, everyone has been selected. It is a great joy. Let's rejoice together."
After saying that, without waiting for Li Hao and the others to reply, Wei took Li Hao and Li Jian took Zeng Gong with one hand and Zeng Bu with the other. Then they greeted Zeng Mou and Zeng Fu and went to the banquet. Everyone was happy. Except for Zeng Gong who restrained himself, everyone else was basically drunk and were then sent back to the courtyard to rest by their servants.
However, when these successful candidates were happy, they did not know that there was a secret meeting among the candidates who failed the examination. Headed by Liu Ji, a Taipei student, many candidates who failed the examination gathered together to discuss the unfairness of the examination. , demanding a thorough investigation into the re-examination.
There is a reason why these people were able to gather together, and Liu Ji was the leader. Therefore, there was a literary sect "Tai Xue Style" at that time. Its greatest specialty was that it often played with uncommon words in ancient books. Liu Ji is the leader of the Taixue movement. He is second to none among the Taixue students. He is the object of admiration and imitation by many young students. He has the highest voice for winning the first place in this tribute examination.
Ouyang Xiu had already heard about him, read his articles, and was very disgusted. So when grading the exam, Ouyang Xiu saw an article that was so weird that it was incomprehensible: "The heaven and the earth are rolling, all things are flourishing, and the saints are growing." Ouyang Xiu concluded that this must be Liu Ji's article, so he wrote it directly at the back of the test paper Said: "A scholar thorns (absurd), an examiner brushes". He also used a large ink pen to mark Liu Ji's article from beginning to end with a line called "Hong Le Silk", and marked it with the words "big mistake", and posted it on the wall for all the examiners to see. Later, when the "ambiguity" was removed, it was found that the author of this article was indeed Liu Ji. This incident was later spread and aroused everyone's suspicion. Originally, it would have been just one person.
But this time Ouyang Xiu presided over the examination, and when reviewing the examination papers, he adhered to the principle of focusing on ancient prose and policy theory, with poetry as a supplementary proposition. All those who participated in the examination and used Taixue style were all failed, which suddenly made these scholars Anger and dissatisfaction were aroused.
Moreover, because of the long lock-in period for this year's examination, the six examiners felt depressed and bored. They openly wrote poems and sang songs in the Gongyuan, and used the metaphor of a caged parrot to compare themselves with each other. In the aphorism of his poem, the examiner Ouyang Xiu wrote: "There is no warrior holding a piece of bravery in his hand, and the sound of spring eating away at the leaves when he writes." It describes the candidates as a warrior holding a piece of paper and running fast. The examination room is quiet and solemn, and only the rustling of the pen on the paper is heard, like spring silkworms. The sound of chewing mulberry leaves. He also wrote: "I feel ashamed that my body is weak, my mind is exhausted, and I have to rely on the discernment of the public." I am ashamed that my body is weak, my mind is exhausted, and I hope that my five colleagues will be good at identifying talents and select talents for the country. Deputy examiner Mei Yaochen wrote: "Thousands of ants are fighting, and the spring is warm, and the five stars are bright in the deep night hall. If you beat the stubborn stone hard, you will find jade, and you will find gold after all the cold sand." It is written that the candidates' answers during the day are like thousands of ants fighting, The atmosphere was tense; in the evening, the examiners reviewed the answer sheets like a star hanging high until late at night, and they worked hard to find outstanding talents. "Five stars" is a pun, referring to both the stars of the night and the five examiners including Ouyang Xiu. Originally, if these were just for my own entertainment, it would be fine if they were not spread out. But afterwards, Ouyang Xiu specially compiled these singing and harmony poems into the "Collection of Singing and Harmony Poems of the Ministry of Rites", with a total of three volumes and 173 poems, which was widely disseminated.
Immediately, this move completely caused the unsuccessful scholars to burst out their dissatisfaction. A large number of unsuccessful scholars were dissatisfied and accused the examiners of being indulging in entertainment, not interested in working, seriously interfering with the evaluation, and being condescending, even comparing themselves to "five stars", treating all candidates as scum. Silkworms and ants have further amplified the contradiction.
So these scholars began to connect. On the one hand, it was initiated by the students of Etai Studies, and they jointly contacted the officials of the Admonition Court and Yushitai to collectively write to Song Renzong requesting a thorough investigation of the matter; secondly, they united with the scholars who failed the imperial examination, especially those who failed the imperial examination. It was the Marquis, a family of officials, who jointly put pressure on the five examiners this time, demanding a re-grading.
Among them, Qi Heng of the Duke of Qi, Gu Tingye of the Marquis of Ningyuan, Sheng Changfeng of the Sheng family, etc., who failed the list this time, are also the targets of the series.
The reason for looking for Qi Heng is because of his prominent family background and his reputation as a talented person in the capital. Therefore, Qi Heng's presence will definitely win over more people in Bianjing City. What's more, Princess Pingning has a close relationship with the palace. Great help. But who are Princess Pingning and the Duke of Qi? How could they let their son stand out in the limelight, so they would close the door and wait for the outcome of the matter. Anyway, the left and right would not suffer.
And Gu Tingye was well-known in Beijing, and because he was the second son of the Ningyuan Hou family, he had a noble status and a naughty temper, so he could make things worse. However, it was a pity that Gu Tingye knew that he had been deposed by Song Renzong himself. After failing to take the scientific examination, he became disheartened and did not want to participate in this matter.
Sheng Changfeng was pulled in casually. In fact, Sheng Hong would not let him participate in such a thing because of his temper. Unfortunately, Sheng Hong was not very informed after all, which gave Sheng Changfeng an opportunity and was dragged to participate in the series. It was revealed that Zeng Gong, Zeng Mou, Zeng Bu, Zeng Fu and Li Hao all ranked among the top officials among the officials in the imperial examination. This made everyone feel that Ouyang Xiu was choosing based on emotion and using public tools for private use. , and became more insistent on reporting fraud in the imperial examination and demanding a thorough investigation into the matter.
It was under this situation that both the court and the people reacted quickly, causing turmoil.
The court was quickly divided into two factions. One was led by Hanlin scholar Wang Gui, imperial censor Lu Jie, and supervisory censor Jiang Zhiqi. They demanded a strict investigation of the examination and followed Taizu's old rules to select the unsuccessful scholars. Conduct a re-examination with the successful candidates to set the record straight. The other side was led by Ping Zhangshi, a disciple of Tong Zhongshu, Fu Bi, a scholar of Jixian Palace, and Han Qi, the Privy Councilor. They firmly believed that Ouyang Xiu and others were fair and strict in selecting talents for the country, and there was no need for re-examination. The two sides were quarreling at the court.
Among the people, a group of ungrateful people among the unsuccessful scholars first made up a jingle, "The examiner prefers foreign students 'er' (nephew)", and used Ouyang Xiu's previously framed scandal with his niece to satirize it.
Later, everyone even blocked Ouyang Xiu's way to go to court. When people came, they surrounded Ouyang Xiu, scolded and insulted them, and even if the officials patrolling the streets arrived, they could not disperse them. The city guards were called in later. Ouyang Xiu was rescued, but fortunately everyone still had some sense and did not dare to really hurt the important ministers. But in private, someone wrote "Sacrifice to Ouyang Xiuwen" and threw it into his home, cursing him to die soon.
On the other hand, this group of defeated scholars also organized and surrounded many of the middle-ranking scholars, asking them to agree to retake the exam. Naturally, the middle-ranking scholars did not agree to this, but because of the sudden incident, the middle-ranking scholars basically They were all related but not connected, so they were alone and surrounded by the fallen soldiers.
Especially for Li Hao and Zeng Gong, Sheng Changbai heard about it from Gu Tingye and hurriedly came to inform them. Li Hao, Zeng Gong and others knew that the matter was troublesome and hurriedly sealed the mansion. Fortunately, these scholars still had sense and only made noise outside without actually attacking the mansion.
But even so, Li Hao, Zeng Gong and others were helpless, because now this was not just a dispute between the elites, but had evolved into a dispute between the court and the court. This matter made it impossible for Li Hao and others to do anything. After all, the court and the court Apart from Ouyang Xiu, official Li Hao only knew two senior brothers and Sheng Hong. However, Sheng Hong was too cautious to get involved in this matter. The two senior brothers were willing to take care of it, but after all, they were only seventh-grade minor officials and could not get involved at all. The same is true for the Zeng family, so they can only wait for the results of the court.
