Chapter 216 Isn’t it too much to pick the number one pick?
Author: Silent
Chapter 216 Isn’t it too much to pick the number one pick?
March seventeenth.
On the second day of grading for the palace examination and the day before the results were released, the intense grading work was still in progress, while Zhu Youtang was in Qianqing Palace, checking a batch of telescopes brought in by Xiao Jing's people.
"Your Majesty, these telescopes have been made and are of high quality. In addition, Mr. Zhang has also equipped them with several new binoculars, which can be adjusted in a variety of ways to make the binocular vision clearer."
Xiao Jing said, handing the binoculars to Zhu Youtang.
Zhu Youtang looked at it in front of his eyes, then asked about the adjustment method, and said in surprise: "How is this done?"
Xiao Jing said: "It is said that there are gears inside, which drive the expansion and contraction of the caliber, etc., but the slave doesn't quite understand."
For those new things, it would be good if Xiao Jing could remember the names, let alone figure out the principles. He was also thinking, if I can figure it out, what would happen to Zhang Bingkuan?
"Very good, very clear."
Zhu Youtang held it in his hand and looked outside the hall with a smile on his face.
Xiao Jing added: "Your Majesty, Mr. Zhang also gave some gifts..."
"Bonus?"
"Yes." Xiao Jing said, "This is called soap, which is similar to soap locust. It can be used for bathing, washing hands, cleansing the face, etc. It is specially brought for your Majesty to try."
Zhu Youtang glanced at Dai Yi next to him. Dai Yi was very sensible and quickly asked someone to bring him a basin of water. Dai Yi personally took it and presented it to Zhu Youtang.
Zhu Youtang picked up the soap and washed it roughly as Xiao Jing said.
"Well, it feels like it can clean the dirt on your hands better, and it brings a refreshing floral fragrance." After using it, Zhu Youtang was naturally very satisfied.
Xiao Jing smiled and said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Zhang said that this is just a trial production, and for the time being we can only bring in Shifang as a tribute."
"Go and send some food to the Queen Mother, so that she can try this good stuff first."
Without even thinking about it, Zhu Youtang first said that he would give it to Queen Mother Zhou.
Dai Yi and Xiao Jing were also surprised by this.
I thought, Your Majesty, when you had good things in the past, didn’t you always give them to the queen, prince and princess first?
Zhu Youtang said: "The Empress Dowager likes to be clean the most, and people who practice Buddhism emphasize that only by purifying their bodies can they purify their minds. Bingkuan is really thoughtful."
Several eunuchs then roughly understood the emperor's intention of doing this, but no matter how they sounded, they seemed to be forcefully explaining why they should be given to the Queen Mother Zhou first.
And they felt very awkward when they heard it... Talking about "purification" in front of eunuchs, Your Majesty, don't you know that this word has other meanings?
"Is this considered a bribe?" Zhu Youtang suddenly said with a smile.
"Ah?" Xiao Jing looked confused, then smiled and said, "Your Majesty, isn't this Mr. Zhang's kindness? How could it be a bribe?"
Zhu Youtang continued to smile, looked in the direction of the Wenhua Palace, and said: "Now the palace examination is in progress, and the results should be available this afternoon. He gave a gift in advance and asked me to take care of him, right? OK! I appreciate it. .”
"I have never had so many expectations for the results of the palace examination like this time. It's as if someone close to me is also taking the palace examination, but I can control his destiny. I feel very complicated."
And you said it wasn’t a bribe?
Dai Yi consoled him: "Your Majesty, with Mr. Zhang's talent and learning, he will definitely not fall behind others."
Zhu Youtang said: "But if his test paper is not among those ten, it will be difficult for me to promote him to the number one scholar or Dingjia. In this case, Xiao Jing, you go over and keep an eye on it, and spread the word as soon as there is any news. return."
"yes."
Xiao Jing took the order.
I'm also thinking about it in my mind.
I am a Dongchang eunuch, I don’t have much knowledge, and I am not qualified to mark papers. What can I do if I go to the Wenhua Palace?
Will those palace examination examiners give me face?
…
…
It was naturally useless for Xiao Jing to go to Wenhua Hall.
The paper reading has also come to an end. Although the names of each paper are unknown, the handwriting of some candidates can still be recognized by the examiner.
just like……
Can Xie Qian not recognize his brother Xie Di's calligraphy? Wang Shouren went to Li Dongyang several times to seek advice. Many people also know his calligraphy...
Of course, the fonts are all similar, and some of them cannot be completely determined, especially in the selection of so many papers. These paper readers are all arrogant, and probably no one will cheat for personal gain in the imperial examination.
Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, as the highest-ranking examiners in the imperial examination, basically wrote the same paper, and it was they who reviewed it at the end.
At their age, they have to read 300 articles in two days. Each article is at least a thousand words long, and it is a long article without punctuation. It is like reading a novel with 300 chapters in two days. In many cases, There is really no way to read it all, just to see whether the basic arguments are tenable, then look at the calligraphy, then look at the ideas, etc... Some people will follow the crowd.
If others think it is good and there are many circles on it, I will circle it.
There are many triangles above, so I will draw triangles.
Of course, there are ways to be lazy. After all, this is not a general examination. The examiner needs to make detailed comments on the articles. The marking period is said to take three days. In fact, the day of the examination does not count. There are only sixteen or seventeen days before the results are released on the arrival day. The examinations had to be completed before dark on the afternoon of the 17th and submitted to the emperor for approval, and the emperor was asked to rank the ten papers. Many times, I really didn’t bother to read them carefully.
"Eunuch Xiao, it's almost done. Fourteen examiners have read more than 200 papers, and only a few people have not read them yet. It won't delay things. You can rest assured and rest first. "
The eunuch from the ceremonial supervisor's study room came over to explain the situation to Xiao Jing, speaking softly, for fear of disturbing the marking inside.
Xiao Jing was not so evasive and said with a smile: "We are not in a hurry to leave. After the marking is over, we will go to submit the papers with a few old bachelors."
…
…
The examination papers were finally completed when the sun was setting in the west.
In addition to Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian who are going to submit the last ten papers, there are also three bachelor's students and lecturers of the Hanlin Academy, Wang Hao, Li Jie, and Jiao Fang. Originally, the Minister of Rites I will go as usual, but this time Xu Qiong, the Minister of Rites, is not the examiner. This is mainly because of the rumors that there were some questions in the previous examination of the Ministry of Rites. Xu Qiong is avoiding suspicion.
Inside the Qianqing Palace.
Six ministers who submitted the examination papers stood in the palace, and the ten examination papers were each presented to the emperor.
Zhu Youtang didn't talk nonsense. He went up to see if Zhang Zhou's characters appeared in it. After vaguely identifying it, he felt that one of the characters was very similar to Zhang Zhou's. After reading a few sentences, he seemed to have the same style of discussion as Zhang Zhou. It's very similar, with a vague tone of criticizing the current ills, and then look at the scores of the fourteen reviewers...
Zhu Youtang frowned slightly.
Thirteen circles, that is, thirteen equal parts, but there is a slash, which is third grade.
Looking at these ten examination papers, among the 140 marks, there are only two slashes, and there are no marks below the slash. The remaining 138 marks are circles or triangles, which is equivalent to first-class marks. and second class.
Liu Jiandao: "Your Majesty, these ten papers are carefully selected and the papers are considered to be excellent by the examiners and specially presented to your Majesty for reading."
Zhu Youtang seemed a little unhappy because of the third-class score with a slash, and asked: "What criteria are used to determine their merits and then submit them to me?"
Liu Jian was very surprised as to why the emperor asked this.
Liu Jiandao: "Put the first class first, and the one with more first class goes first; if the first class is even, then look at the second class quantity, and the one with the higher number comes first; and so on."
The general meaning is to see who has more circles and who has fewer circles first, and the one with more circles wins.
If there are the same number of circles, look at the number of triangles, then the diagonal lines, and then the vertical lines.
Liu Jian added: "In this palace examination, there are no test papers with 14th and 1st grades. Those who get 13th and 1st grades are graded as 1, those with 12th and 1st grades are graded as 4, and those with 11th grade and 11th grade are graded as 14."
After hearing this, Zhu Youtang felt somewhat better.
In other words, although Zhang Zhou received a third grade, he was the only one who received thirteen circles. According to the scoring standards, Zhang Zhou is the top pick.
However, when the emperor looked at the four papers that scored twelve circles, he found that the remaining two scores were all second-class triangles.
Zhu Youtang was also thinking about it.
Who is this?
Aren't you going to follow the crowd? Do you have to draw a line through someone else's circle to show that you are capable? Or are you the first to mark the paper and feel it is not good, and the thirteen examiners behind you promptly corrected the chaos?
Because names were not recorded during the examination papers, and the emperor did not know who was so ignorant.
…
…
The emperor has to select ten papers.
Except for the top five, the remaining five papers are relatively easy to determine. After the order is determined, someone will then open the seal of the examination papers, announce the names, and then fill in the results.
Gold list.
There are five papers left, and only thirteen circles are left for Zhang Zhou, and there are still twelve circles and four copies of who knows who.
This matter concerns the top two in the second-tier class and the three top players in the first-tier class.
Even though the rankings are not much different, for such a palace examination that does not select Shujishi, the difference between winning and not winning the Dingjia can be said to be huge.
"The fourth place in the top two, Tang Yin."
"Third place in the top two, Wang Shouren."
When Dai Yi read out the names of the seventh and sixth place names, the emperor paid more or less attention.
He had heard the names of Tang Yin and Wang Shouren.
Zhu Youtang also admired Wang Hua very much, but one disadvantage was that Wang Hua was a traditional civil servant. He was too close to Liu Jian and Li Dongyang and could be said to be homogeneous. If he had to choose a Obviously, he doesn't really want to choose Wang Hua as the fourth person in the cabinet.
Originally, Wang Shouren ranked seventh in the second class and Lin Ting ranked sixth in the second class among this batch of Jinshi.
The top five in the top two in orthodox history are: Sun Xu, Luo Qinzhong, Lu Dong, Zhang Wenyuan, and Hu Wenbi.
As a result, Zhang Zhou's appearance created a butterfly effect. Lin Ting did not enter the top ten, Wang Shouren was promoted to the third place in the second-tier class, and Tang Yin squeezed into the fourth place in the second-tier class.
There are five servings left.
Zhu Youtang didn't want to hide anymore. He picked up Zhang Zhou's copy and said: "I have read these ten articles and think this one is the most satisfactory to me. He is also ranked first among the fourteen readers, so he Let’s take it as the first one.”
While talking, Dai Yizheng was about to take it.
Li Jie came out and said: "Your Majesty, although there are thirteen first-class papers in this volume, there is one third-class one. The argument of the article may be slightly biased, so please think again."
What this means is that there are still areas worthy of discussion in this paper's promotion to the number one scholar.
Zhu Youtang became angry when he heard it.
I was just wondering who was so ignorant that he gave Zhang Zhou's paper a third grade, but then you, Li Jie, came out and admitted it yourself, right?
I originally wanted to promote you to be a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, but it seems you can step aside! You don’t even have the discernment to recognize talents, so you still want me to treat you as a dish?
"I also don't understand why such a good article has a third-rate rating? Is it just because the argument is biased? To govern a country with rituals and music, first put the enrichment of the people first, and if it starts from water, it will carry the boat, and if it is water, it will overturn the boat. This is the meaning of " Mencius "Great justice, how can this be biased?"
Zhu Youtang looked unhappy.
Are you being reasonable? Thirteen people think it’s good, but only one of them insists on giving it a third-class rating. It can only be said that this person’s level is not good, and he actually wants me to think that this article is not good?
If this article is not good, it should be thirteen fifth-grade crosses instead of thirteen circles.
Li Jie was startled.
Your Majesty, what does this mean? I just want to remind you that although this article has received thirteen marks, some readers still seem to think that he is not particularly outstanding. Let me give you some advice. Why does Your Majesty have such a big reaction?
Besides... I didn't rate the third-class exam either. I clearly remembered that I scored a circle on this paper, and I particularly appreciated this article.
After being taught a lesson by the emperor, Li Jie wisely stood back to his original position.
"Gentlemen, do you have any other opinions?" Zhu Youtang asked coldly.
Jiao Fang and Li Jie don't seem to know much about this, and they don't know why the emperor is so insistent. However, the remaining four people, including the three cabinet members and Wang Hao, can probably figure it out even if they don't reveal the answer now. Figure out this puzzle.
Is this even necessary to ask?
The emperor was so insistent on using this paper as the number one scholar, wasn't it just because it belonged to Zhang Zhou?
In fact, out of the four people present, three of them did not immediately understand what was wrong with this article, because three of them could not recognize Zhang Zhou's handwriting, but one of them was an exception.
If the remaining three people also knew about it, maybe the scoring of this paper would be changed.
…
…
"It's settled."
Zhu Youtang doesn't talk nonsense.
Who I want to choose as the number one scholar is my business. Not to mention Zhang Zhou got thirteen rounds, even if he is the worst among the ten, you have nothing to do if I want to promote him as the number one scholar.
Who told you not to brush him off in the previous selection?
Since he has entered the top ten, he is basically destined to be the number one pick.
"Second place in the top two, Liu Long."
"The first place in the second class is Chuanlu, Fengxi."
With Zhang Zhou here, the butterfly effect changed again. The second and third place finishers in this competition did not advance to the first place.
"Third place in First Class, Sun Xu."
"The second place in the first grade is Lun Wenxu."
"First place in Class A, Zhang Zhou."
When Dai Yi finished reading this, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He didn't bother to care who was the second best, who was the third best, or who was the second best. As long as Zhang Zhouzhong was the top pick, this is what the emperor wanted to see. This is also the result expected by these eunuchs.
Zhu Youtang pretended to be surprised and said: "Did Bingkuan win the first prize? That would be the third prize."
This time, even Li Jie and Jiao Fang, who were unaware of the situation, suddenly understood.
No wonder.
His Majesty almost fell out of favor just now, probably because he was annoyed by the third-rate rating on Zhang Zhou's examination paper.
Li Jie suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart. His Majesty was almost angry with me just now. He didn't think that... that third-class rating was from me, right?
Rating.
Isn't it just a third-class? If someone intends to suppress Zhang Zhou, shouldn't he be given a fifth-class? At that time, he probably couldn't even choose these ten papers?
But if there are thirteen first-class ones and there is one fifth-class one... that would be too deliberate.
No matter how he thought about it, Li Jie felt as if he had been cheated.
But he couldn't figure out who had deceived him.
Dai Yi asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, now that the examination papers are over, will the results be announced tomorrow?"
"Yes." Zhu Youtang said, "Tomorrow at midnight, I will go to the Fengtian Palace, and all the civil and military ministers from the DPRK and China will go there, and a grand ceremony will be held at that time."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
…
…
The grading of the palace examination ended calmly.
After the six marking officers came out of the Qianqing Palace, Xiao Jing led the way to the entrance of the palace. Because it was already late, even the three cabinet ministers did not need to go back to the cabinet room for duty, and they should go back to rest.
When they left the palace gate, Xiao Jing also went back.
Liu Jian deliberately asked Xie Qian to leave first, while he left Li Dongyang behind.
"Binzhi, Zhang Bingkuan's third-class row was made by you, right?" Liu Jian had a sharp mind.
From Liu Jian's point of view, judging from that article alone, no one should give Zhang Zhou Zhou a first-class rating. Even if some people think it is biased, giving him a second-class rating is outrageous. Since he was given a third-class rating, it must be intentional to suppress him.
And Li Dongyang was not the last person to read Zhang Zhou's paper. Li Dongyang probably wanted to use a third grade to remind subsequent reviewers to give a second or third grade to lower the score of this paper.
Li Dongyang didn't answer, just stared at Liu Jian.
It seems to be asking, how did you see it?
Liu Jiandao: "I was the last one to read this paper. When I saw a third-class exam, I thought there might be something wrong with the article. But after reading it, I seemed to understand that this was Zhang Bingkuan's paper."
Li Dongyang smiled bitterly and sighed: "I really can't hide anything from you."
"His vigor is most vividly reflected in his articles. Not only can he win the first prize in the examination, he must also have extraordinary knowledge and insights. His words do not seem to be empty or pretentious. Maybe they really have the power to calm the people and govern the world. Ambition, and what he did before did not violate this original intention. The only reason why he can be given third class is... someone wants to suppress this man's spirit."
Liu Jian's ability is not empty either.
When he discovered that an exam-oriented article could reveal his domineering attitude, he could also look at the person in the article and analyze that this person might be Zhang Zhou.
Li Dongyang said: "Shouldn't his spirit be suppressed?"
Liu Jian shook his head: "At that time, I was between the second class and the first class, and I hesitated for a long time. If Zhang Bingkuan hadn't done so many things before, I would have pressured him and let him fall into the second, first or second place. But there is nothing wrong with it. But Have you ever thought that no matter how much pressure we exert, His Majesty’s trust in him will not diminish? On the contrary, Your Majesty will think that we are deliberately blaming him because of this?”
Li Dongyang looked heavy.
Thinking about it now, it's a good thing that Liu Jian didn't give him a second place and pushed Zhang Zhou to fifth place.
If this were true, I am afraid that the emperor would have been angry on the spot just now.
Liu Jiandao: "For him to become an official in the future, what difference does it make if he is the number one scholar or the top two? Instead, it is better to let him enter the palace, and with some advice from us, or let him calm down. By the way, it should be
