After nine days and six nights, candidates like Wei Chen finally finished the exam, but the examiners in the courtroom continued to be busy.
After the candidates finished answering the first question, they handed in the ink scrolls just like a provincial examination. They were collected and sealed, transcribed and read, and after confirming that they were correct, the supervisor escorted the ink scrolls to the inner curtain of the court hall. p>
In the sixth year of Tianyou's examination, there are seventeen rooms in total, divided into five rooms of the Book of Changes, five rooms of the Book of Songs, three rooms of the Book of Books, two rooms of the Spring and Autumn Period, and two rooms of the Book of Rites.
Among the seventeen fellow examiners, there are eleven from the Imperial Academy, three from the Department of Science and Technology, and three from the Sixth Ministry.
Among these fellow examiners, more than half are from the previous imperial examinations. They are all knowledgeable and talented middle- and high-level Beijing officials.
The background of the two examiners, chief and deputy, who presided over this national talent promotion ceremony is even more frightening.
The examiner of the examination is Xu Mu, who is the Crown Prince Shaobao, the Minister of Rites, and the Bachelor of Longtuge.
Liu Tingxi, the deputy chief examiner, is Zhan Shifu of Zhan Shifu and a Hanlin bachelor, with a third grade.
When the first examination paper was delivered, the chief examiner Xu Mu and the deputy examiner Liu Tingxi led seventeen fellow examiners to the portrait of "Dacheng's Most Holy Master" in the lobby.
The two examiners came forward and burned three sticks of incense, and then bowed three times and kowtowed nine times. The rest of the examiners followed suit and came forward to salute.
Come and try it soon.]
Under the watchful eye of the Holy Master, Xu Mu led the examiners to swear an oath: "To select scholars for the country and the country, we will not be interested in personal interests, we will not be entrusted with requests, we will not accept bribes, and if we fail to do so, we will die together." p>
This is a rule that has not changed for hundreds of years. After completing this process, two examiners will preside over it. After the seventeen fellow examiners draw lots, each person will be assigned a stack of red papers.
After the examiner Xu Mu announced the request to take the papers, the examiners returned to their respective rooms, opened the bundles of papers, and distributed the red papers to the three subordinate marking officers, who read the papers first.
First, look at the word count of the article. Papers with less than 300 words on the Four Books or less than 500 words on the Five Classics will not be accepted.
Next, those articles whose words violate taboos, such as the names of saints or temple names, will also be eliminated.
In addition, if a candidate is found to have particularly deviant and heresies in his articles, it will even be reported to the Ministry of Etiquette to hold the candidate accountable, have his or her original honorary title revoked, and be demoted to serve the people.
There have always been more than 200 papers in each examination room, and 30 or 40 papers were dismissed due to various violations.
As the first screener in the marking process, the marking officer has a heavy responsibility, and the pen in his hand is related to the fate of every candidate.
Therefore, when marking the papers, the marking officers were cautious and meticulous, not daring to miss a word.
At this time, in the scripture room of Shangshu, fellow examiner Xue Yungong and three marking officers under his command were working all night long to mark papers.
Xue Yun bowed his head. Yang Lin, the marking officer with bloodshot eyes, had just graded a paper in his hand as the lowest grade, and then took out the next paper from the unread paper.
According to the rules, each room has thirty recommended papers, including twenty main papers and ten backup papers.
At present, the recommended papers for this room are almost full, but there are still many unread papers left, so when he picked up the paper in his hand, Yang Lin looked at it with a critical eye.
Let’s look at the title first: “If you study for a long time and become specialized, you will call it the most beautiful.”
The word "learn it" is concise and concise, which can be regarded as reading the profound meaning of the sage. However, to solve the problem to this point, I am cautious, but it is not original.
Yang Lin rubbed his eyebrows, took a sip of tea, and continued reading, reading the sentences carefully while looking at the text.
Gradually, his eyes seemed to be stuck in the article and could not be pulled out...
After a long while, Yang Lin, who had read the entire article, raised his head in despair, recalling the words and meaning in the article.
"Therefore, if you don't hear it with your ears, but it is really understood in your heart, just this sentence will fully capture the joy of a sage!"
Yang Lin's eyes were full of excitement. He took out the pen and was about to draw a circle. Suddenly he seemed to think of something and suddenly stopped what he was doing.
The quota of recommended papers is full. This extra paper means that one of the recommended papers will be eliminated. Yang Lin is just the marking officer and does not dare to make such a decision rashly.
After frowning and thinking for a moment, Yang Lin finally put down his pen, walked towards his fellow examiner Xue Yungong, and explained his concerns.
After Xue Yungong understood the situation, he asked Yang Lin to go back to grade the papers, while he picked up the papers Yang Lin sent and read them.
After reading the article carefully, Xue Yungong couldn't help but nodded slightly. After pondering for a while, he took out another article from the eucalyptus.
This is a main volume to be recommended, and the article is among the best among the thirty recommended volumes. Xue Yungong wanted to compare this volume with the two volumes he just read, so that he could have a reference. p>
After comparing the seven articles one by one, Xue Yungong took a deep breath and came to a conclusion in his mind.
"From beginning to end, this volume is even more brilliant. Such a powerful and majestic style cannot be achieved without a scholar and a famous scholar!"
At that moment, he smiled slightly, picked up his pen and wrote a comment in the blank space at the back of the volume sent by Yang Lin: "High knowledge and great theory, with great pronunciation, this is really the joy of a saint!"
Then, this paper was put into the pile of recommended papers and placed at the top.
……
The examiners in each room followed the procedures and marked the papers day after day. In the blink of an eye, it was the end of February, and it was finally time to determine the results of the examination.
Although it was daytime, the door to the public hall was still closed, and red candles were burning inside to illuminate it. All the outer and inner curtain officers who were conducting the examination gathered together.
In the seventeenth room, a total of 340 main papers, 170 backup papers, and the failed papers collected by the chief and deputy examiners were selected and placed in three stacks in the hall.
Examiner Xu Mu, deputy examiner Liu Tingxi and seventeen fellow examiners went to the statue of the Holy Master to offer incense. After offering incense, Xu Mu said calmly: "Let's start filling in the exams."
The number of successful candidates in each room has nothing to do with the marking officer, but it is closely related to the examiners in each room.
In order to get a few more good students, the examiners from each room argued with each other about the papers of their own room, and they were furious with other examiners.
The debate lasted for two days and finally came to an end. The last 290 people were all arranged in order, and only the paper of the Five Classics Leader was still placed in the hall.
The paper that Xue Yungong sent up was also among them. Now he has been designated as the chief of the Shangshu Jingfang. When he opened the paper with the name of the lake, the word "Wei Chen" was clearly visible.
The papers of the Five Classics are arranged in sequence for review by seventeen fellow examiners and two chief examiners to determine the final ranking.
One of the fellow examiners, Zhang Maoxiu, who is also the director of the Ministry of Industry, was the first to speak: "I think that the article written by Xu Lin, the leader of the Book of Songs, is slightly better and can be a good candidate for Huiyuan."
After Zhang Maoxiu finished speaking, another fellow examiner, Qiu Zhongyi, a member of the household department, also agreed: "I also think that Xu Lin's article is better."
Seeing the two fellow examiners expressing their opinions one after another, the examiner Xu Mu smiled slightly and was about to speak when he suddenly heard a sound on the table. One of them suddenly stood up and shouted angrily:
"Have you all forgotten how you swore an oath in front of the Holy Master?"