The prince nodded, turned around and was about to leave. He thought of something and turned around and asked, "Where is Bai Shan ranked now?"
Several examiners looked at each other and said, "Your Highness, the current affairs policy has not been approved yet, so there is no ranking yet."
"Find out his papers," the prince paused and frowned, "and bring out Bai Cheng's papers as well."
So everyone had to work together to find the two people's papers. Fortunately, their names were not unknown in the exam, and Bai Shan's two papers were temporarily rated as top, so it was still easy to find.
It took Bai Cheng some time.
The prince felt a little dizzy after reading Bai Shan's Confucian classics. He simply handed the paper to Kong Jijiu and asked, "How do you think the answer was, sir?"
Kong Jijiu had seen it before, but this time he just saw it again. He touched his beard approvingly and said: "Not bad, but the current affairs policy is a little worse, but the naming should be able to enter the top ten."
Someone expressed opposition, "He is ranked eighteenth on the general list. Sir, the quotas for the four people below the number one scholar have been determined."
Only then did Kong Jijiu remember this, frowned and said: "The general list is a general list after all, and articles should be the main focus."
"It is mainly based on articles. Everyone has read their papers. Don't you agree with them before? This imperial examination is just a paper. It is biased to judge based on this alone. In comparison,
, the writing can better reflect their talents."
The prince then asked, "Doesn't Bai Shan have any deeds?"
"Yes," Kong Jijiu said, "We all make the list based on their records."
What is the list?
Before the exam, the examiners go to the public to investigate the talents and reputation of the candidates, and then compile a list based on the comprehensive consideration of the quality of the papers submitted by them. This list is called the general list.
After the Jinshi examination papers are marked, the examiners will refer to the general list to determine the names. Some of them have already decided on the top few places before the examination even starts.
Therefore, some candidates will spend a lot of money in order to gain reputation, but spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for this is a small amount.
The prince asked to see their top ten current affairs policies.
After reading it, he picked out two and threw them aside, saying with a sullen face: "I won't talk about the other orphans, these two are not worthy."
The examiners looked at the two papers, and one of them, the Doctor of Taixue, who highly recommended a candidate, said: "Your Highness, why not take a look at his writings? He is very talented, and his poems and essays are like flowing clouds and flowing water..."
The prince glanced at him and said: "I only know that his article is not as good as Bai Cheng's. This is the Jinshi examination. If we only read the written papers, then what else is there to test? Wouldn't it be better to just pass the list and determine the name?"
He sneered and said: "You don't have to talk about how important the ranking is, right? The Jinshi subject is for recruiting talents, and what I want are knowledgeable people, not just rich and famous scholars."
Kong Jijiu didn't express any objection, and the others could only hold it in even if they were dissatisfied.
The prince had a fit and then turned around and left. Kong Jijiu stayed behind and calmed the examiners with a smile before following him out.
The prince stood waiting outside the courtyard of the Ministry of Rites.
Kong Jijiu came forward and bowed before sighing: "If Your Highness wants to win more scholars from poor families, then it would be fair to cancel the general list and obscure the names in the examination papers."
The prince frowned and said: "I mentioned it to His Majesty Gu He, but Your Majesty said that it took five years for the late Emperor to set the regular examinations, and there was a pause for several years. Over the years, various families have often written to ask Your Majesty to open regular examinations, and every family has also made inspections.
Talents come to Beijing, and if we let people cancel the rankings and lose their names, I'm afraid there will be even more trouble."
The prince himself is not afraid of making trouble, but he feels that his father may not like making trouble at the moment. In recent years, the emperor has become more and more seeking stability and is unwilling to cause more disputes.
Kong Jijiu obviously knew this. He glanced at the prince and nodded slightly, feeling convinced.
He didn't know whether the emperor was seeking stability, but he knew that the emperor obviously wanted to leave this matter to the prince, so that the prince would be able to establish his authority.
However, the emperor saw that it was the time when the Spring and Autumn Period was at its peak, and the prince did not know when he would be able to use this matter to establish his authority.
Kong Jijiu sent the prince out before going back to continue marking papers.
Then the examiner brought up the paper and asked, "Sir, this paper..."
Kong Jijiu said calmly: "The general list is just for reference, you should pay more attention to this time's test papers."
"But……"
Kong Jijiu didn't wait for him to finish speaking, then took out two papers from the side and placed them on top of Class A beside him, and said to him: "These two papers are not bad, let's order them together later."
Everyone looked at the place of birth and names on the paper and found that they had never heard of them. They thought about them in their minds for a long time and couldn't remember who these two people were.
I can only reach out and pick up the paper and read it. Well, this paper is impressive. The poems and prose are not so good, but the classics and current affairs are still well written, but he is unknown and I don’t know who he is.
Mainly I don’t know how good his character and prestige are.
Everyone wanted to object, but Kong Jijiu had already said: "In the past two years, most of the places for the Jinshi examination were from the general list, and almost all of the general list were students. In the recent two Jinshi examinations, no rural tribute was selected, right? If things continue like this, I'm afraid it will be
The civil servants are dissatisfied."
A doctor with a doctorate in Guozixue objected: "After all, there are only a small number of civilian scholars. All scholars of the same age have passed the examination and entered county schools, government schools and Guozijian. In total, there are still many students."
Kong Jijiu shook his head slightly and said, "Why not eat minced meat? There are countless students in this world who want to learn but cannot afford to go to official schools. We can't be biased just because they are not students."
"Government education can be reduced to some extent, but private education is more expensive. If you can afford private education, why can't you afford government education?"
"Of course there are private tutors from father and brother," Kong Jijiu said: "Dr. Yan should go to the local area more. Since the Jinshi examination has passed the examination paper, it should be based on the examination paper and only judge based on the content of the paper. This
Two papers, okay?”
So everyone started talking about the quality of the article.
It is really easy to find faults with an article. There is no first article in this article. If someone is interested in finding faults, there are many ways.
Everyone debated for half the night, and finally agreed that the two papers should be placed in the first grade.
By the time they finished marking the papers, it was already five days later. After five days of marking, they had been arguing for five days. Fortunately, Kong Jijiu was very prestigious and could suppress others, so the marking of the papers was not delayed during the quarrel.
There are thirty-two Jinshi candidates scheduled to be selected this year, so the obviously bad papers were thrown into the bamboo basket aside, and only a few could be put on the table.
The papers on the table are also divided into two types. The ones on the left are definitely good and can be taken, and the ones on the right are undecided.
The ones to be determined are either those with good test papers, or the candidates themselves are very famous, maybe on the general list, and have good reputation and good test papers.
In the end, everyone selected 32 papers from the more than 60 papers left to finalize.
Everyone argued for a day, and finally settled on thirty-six papers. Kong Jijiu sent the quota and papers to the palace for the emperor to see, and he made the selection.