The Honglu Temple official responsible for maintaining order sang loudly, then looked at Wei Chen and made an invitation gesture to Wei Chen.
Wei Chen gave a slight salute and stepped into the city gate first. Three hundred tribute soldiers followed Wei Chen and filed in.
A group of imperial guards on the left and right stood majestically, holding golden flags with bone flowers. Accompanied by palace officials, three hundred tributes walked through the many palaces. After passing through a corridor, they arrived at the destination of the trip, Chongzheng Hall. p>
Under the guidance of the officials of Honglu Temple, the tributes entered the hall one by one and stood up, with Wei Chen in front and the other four priests behind.
Sandalwood was burning on the hall, and elegant and melodious palace music came from the left and right wings. The tributes looked at the magnificent and magnificent carved beams and painted buildings in the hall, and felt a little confused for a moment.
There were dozens of officials standing in front of Dan Majesty, all of them were wearing red official robes and gold, silver and jade belts around their waists. Seeing this, Wei Chen couldn't help but secretly take a breath.
These people were not just ministers, but also bachelors. They stamped their feet and made the whole Zhou Dynasty tremble.
At this time, the throne in front of His Majesty Dan was still empty, and the emperor had not yet arrived. All the important ministers in the cabinet seemed more casual, talking to each other in low voices. When they heard the footsteps of the tributes entering the palace, they all turned their heads and looked over.
Dozens of majestic gazes swept over them. At this moment, many Xinke Gongshi held their breath nervously, feeling uneasy in their hearts.
Wei Chen lowered his head slightly and looked at the important ministers furtively. Although he did not dare to look around, he could still see the three officials in the front wearing python robes and jade belts.
The status of these three people is obviously higher. The ministers, Jiuqing and other important ministers are standing beside them, like stars holding the moon.
Among the three, Wei Chen only recognized Xu Mu, who was standing on the far right.
Xu Mu is the examiner of the joint examination. Since Wei Chen won the Huiyuan, he naturally wanted to recognize Xu Mu as his teacher.
After the examination, Wei Chen went to Xu Mansion to pay his respects to his master as usual. However, what puzzled Wei Chen was that he did not see Xu Mu himself during this trip.
Later, it was Wang Wenqing who answered Wei Chen's doubts and told Wei Chen about the dirty things that happened when he tried to determine the rankings.
Only then did Wei Chen realize that if it hadn't been for the Hanlin Academy and other members of the Hanlin Academy to argue with each other, he might have been in vain long ago.
Although Wei Chen finally took Huiyuan, he naturally did not leave a good impression on Xu Mu. No wonder Mr. Xu Ge deliberately avoided seeing him.
Wei Chen was quite helpless about this.
Xu Mu is a bachelor of Longtuge. The power in the entire Zhou Dynasty exceeds that of his. It is really an unreasonable disaster to offend such a powerful minister before he enters the officialdom.
Although Wei Chen did not know the remaining two among the three, since they were standing with Xu Mu, they were naturally the two remaining bachelors of Longtuge, and Wei Chen could guess their identities. The one on the left who looks slightly younger is probably the second assistant Wen Yanchang, and the skinny old man in the middle is naturally the first assistant Han Zhang.
When everyone stood still, the music played loudly on both sides, with yellow bells and bells, and bronze bells and chimes playing together. The sound penetrated the nine levels and cleansed people's hearts. All the officials and tributes in the palace looked solemn.
In the midst of this ritual music, Zhao Zhen, the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, made a grand appearance wearing a dragon robe. Everyone shouted long live and knelt three times and kowtowed nine times.
At this time, a sharp voice from Lord Dan was heard shouting: "Linxuan makes a plan——"
Then he saw Han Zhang, the chief assistant, walking up the stairs. The emperor personally picked up the cutting knife, unsealed the test questions on the yellow gum, and awarded Han Zhang.
Han Zhang took the test questions, turned to face everyone, and announced in a deep voice that the palace examination had begun.
Officials of Honglu Temple led the tributes to the left and right corridors of Chongzheng Hall and seated them at intervals.
Each table has the candidate's name on it, and there are pens, inks, paper and inkstones given by the emperor on the table. They are all high-quality tributes. Candidates can take them away after finishing the exam. They are regarded as gifts from the emperor.
Wei Chen found his seat, lifted up his robe, sat down upright, with his back straight, then pushed his hair up with both hands, straightened his hair crown, straightened his robe, then put his hands on his knees, looking at
Look straight ahead.
Wei Chen is not the only one, but all the other candidates are like this. They have learned these etiquette rules since elementary school, and every candidate does it as naturally as eating and drinking.
In Chongzheng Hall, except for the footsteps of the deacons distributing test papers, there was no sound at all. The three hundred candidates were silent.
Not long after, Wei Chen got the test questions.
"The wise kings of ancient times sought the wise and listened to them, and chose the good and promoted them... I have been in office for thirty-nine years now, and I have made many mistakes in my righteousness and political affairs. The past may not be saved, but the coming ones can still be saved.
Also. Based on what I see, my mother hides."
The test question contains hundreds of words, which is essentially one sentence: If there are any shortcomings in my governance over the years, please feel free to speak out!
If this kind of question had not come from the hands of the emperor himself, even the chief minister Han Zhang would not have dared to come up with it casually.
This is the palace examination, this is the policy question.
The most important test is the scholar's vision and knowledge, and the talent, learning and literary thinking are secondary.
Of course, when making suggestions and suggestions, grasping this "degree" is also very critical.
In other words, you must not only write the article deeply and thoroughly, but also know how to figure out the holy meaning. The emperor allows you to speak freely, but you cannot really speak frankly, otherwise it will be a tragedy.
Even primary school students understand this truth.
Of course, if you really want to spit on the emperor's face, it's not completely impossible, but you have to wait until you have passed the imperial examination, become a Jinshi, and become a serious admonisher.
Zhuang Jun had mentioned these taboos to Wei Chen many times before the exam, so Wei Chen naturally knew about them and would not violate them.
After reading the test questions, Wei Chen did not rush to write, but closed his eyes and meditated.
Although the palace examination generally does not exclude candidates and is considered the easiest test, Wei Chen is different. He has five yuan in his hand. In this palace examination, he came here with the intention of winning six yuan in a row. Naturally, he will not slack off at all.
On the contrary, I am more careful than previous exams.
Different from the essays that are often written in daily life, the strategies tested in the palace examination are often lengthy essays with thousands of words. If you want to stand out in the palace examination, you must think carefully about how to structure the article. Even if it takes an hour or two to come up with it, it is worth it.
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As long as you have the general structure in mind, writing the article will be smooth and smooth.
The coronal needles of the sun's corona move slowly, and as the sun comes out, the sky finally shines brightly.
Wei Chen thought for a long time in front of the eucalyptus, finally opened his eyes, dipped his pen in the ink, and wrote quickly with confidence. In the blink of an eye, lines of small words dripping with ink appeared on the draft paper.
Writing so freely and without any sluggishness is rare even for a great talent like Wei Chen. This is the result of more than an hour of thinking.
Wei Chen poured all his attention into the article. It was not until the last stroke was finished that he realized that someone was standing beside him. He didn't know when the other person came or how long he had been standing beside him.
Wei Chen lowered his head slightly and caught a glimpse of the hem of the other party's bright yellow robe. He was suddenly excited and immediately shook his body. He hurriedly got up from the stool and prostrated himself beside the eucalyptus.
Standing next to Wei Chen was naturally Zhao Zhen, the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Behind Zhao Zhen were Han Zhang and several other important ministers.
Seeing Wei Chen's panic, Zhao Zhen didn't say anything. He just smiled and motioned for Wei Chen to get up. Then he bent down and removed the paperweight on the gum, picked up the paper that Wei Chen had just finished and looked at it carefully.
Wei Chen couldn't help but feel uneasy at this moment, wondering what this official would think of his article.
Not long after, Zhao Zhen suddenly looked around and said with a smile: "A good calligraphy."
Han Zhang and others nodded in agreement.
Wei Chen felt a little depressed when he heard this.
Although his calligraphy is pretty good, this article is what he is most proud of. Why does Zhao Zhen only comment on the calligraphy but not the text? Is it because his article does not suit his liking?