"Don't be careless!" Before Zhao Zongji said anything, Chen Xiliang, who was listening to all directions, turned around and scolded: "Although there are more people admitted to the locked-down examination, the standard of the candidates is much higher, and it is not much easier than the main examination!"
"Okay..." Chen Ke quickly admitted his mistake humbly and stopped Chen Xiliang's words.
What is the locking examination? This is a special examination for "officers" in the imperial examinations of the Song Dynasty. The so-called "officers" are a special group of officials in the Song Dynasty...for example, relying on the favor of their parents, military merit, or passing through non-governmental organizations.
Those who obtained official positions in the Jinshi examination are, in a word, those who failed to pass the Jinshi examination and became officials.
Ordinarily, the purpose of taking the Jinshi exam is to become an official. Why bother to take the Jinshi exam again after becoming an official? However, in the officialdom of the Song Dynasty, the Jinshi was the right path. It promoted quickly, had great face, and had a good reputation. All high-ranking officials in the court and local governments had to be Jinshi. And the so-called
'Official people' are said to have come from a different background. Most of them are left idle, or are stuck at the bottom and cannot be promoted. And when problems arise, they are always the ones who take the blame. There is no way, who can tell them that they are not from a legitimate background?
Therefore, these "officials" took part in the Jinshi examination one after another in order to improve their political status and obtain better development. The attitude of the Song Dynasty towards "officials" taking the Jinshi examination also went through a process from prohibition to restriction, to permission, and then to
The process of letting go.
At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the founding monarchs and ministers concluded that since the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the regime changes caused by the dictatorship of military generals had made the people miserable, and they began to consciously use literati to govern the country. As the main means of attracting talents from all over the world, opening up colleges and universities to recruit scholars became a top priority. In order to
In order to prevent powerful families from infringing on the interests of civilian scholars. To establish a fair image of the imperial examination and prohibit "officials" from participating in the imperial examination.
However, this is contrary to the interests of the officials... The Song Dynasty's kindness to officials was unprecedented. As long as the officials did not make mistakes, no matter how bad it was, they would always be able to benefit in the end. As for those high-ranking and powerful officials who were promoted to court
.It was able to patronize several children. Therefore, officials from successive dynasties came and succeeded, gradually leveraging this ancestral system until it turned into a feast for the powerful.
First, in the Taizong Dynasty, officials could take the examination in a locked hall, that is, they could take the examination in a separate examination room. After the examination, it would be reviewed separately by the Ministry of Rites and submitted to the emperor for review to avoid malpractice for personal gain. However, at that time, after passing the examination, one could only transfer the official rank, and could not
Being awarded a subject title shows the court's cherishment of the subject title and its attitude of not taking the award lightly. Moreover, those who do not receive the title will also have their official positions revoked, and the officers who recommended them will also be punished. Obviously, the court does not care about officials participating.
I still have a negative attitude towards the imperial examination.
Under such harsh regulations, many officials did not dare to apply for the examination, even if they were willing to take the risk. The local examination officers and recommendation officers did not dare to agree easily. Such regulations were obviously unfavorable to the official candidates, and they were naturally opposed. Later, they were opposed.
In the Zhenzong Dynasty, all those who achieved first place were treated equally, but some officials did not award the first prize to show the court's "love" for the poor scholars.
In this dynasty, taking advantage of the fact that orphans and widowed mothers were easy to bully, and under the unremitting appeal of officials, the restrictions on candidates for lock-up examinations began to be relaxed. First, they no longer punished those who failed and their sponsors.
Once increased to twice, until unlimited times. Nowadays, apart from having to take separate exams and not being able to win the first prize, officials are no different from ordinary scholars.
Moreover, in order to protect the civilian scholars, the measures of ordering officials to lock up the examination hall, conduct separate examinations, and conduct separate admissions have also become a privilege with the increase in the number of civilian children taking the examination... You know, in Jiangnan, where culture and education are developed,
For each region, the acceptance rate for the exam is one in 100, and only one in 100 people can win. Even in the northwest, where the culture is the least developed and the number of people taking the exam is the smallest, it takes only one in 10 people to win.
The admission rate for the locked examination is three out of ten... it is thirty times that of the Jiangnan examination and three times that of the Northwest. And we know that for scholars with real talents, the higher the admission rate, the higher the probability of success.
Multiplied. Moreover, the polarization of officials and officials' children is serious. Although there are top-notch people trained under superior conditions as Chen Xiliang said, there are also a large number of second-generation ancestors who are ignorant and want to try their luck. This adds to the real problem.
The chances of admission for talented scholars.
After a brief analysis, if Chen Ke is not confident yet, then he really needs to see a psychiatrist...
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"The only thing I'm worried about is Bachelor Xie." When he arrived at the Imperial Academy and was waiting to enter, Chen Ke whispered: "I heard from Wen Qixian that Xie Jingchu has promised to make it difficult for me to pass this test."
"Why did you just say it now?" Zhao Zongji rolled his eyes at him and said, "Bachelor Xie has been locked up in the academy for a long time. How can I help you?"
"I don't need your help." Chen Ke said with a smile: "Now that Wen Yanbo is no longer the prime minister, are you still willing to take this risk when your surname is Xie?"
"It's better to be careful," Zhao Zongji said.
"Yeah." Chen Ke nodded and said, "I have my own countermeasures."
"Don't worry." Zhao Zongji patted him on the shoulder and said, "If he dares not to take you, I will file a lawsuit with the officials."
"No." Chen Ke smiled and said, "It's time for me to go in." He took his bedroll and waved goodbye to Zhao Zongji.
"The snacks in your food box were made by my sister, and they are not sweet." Zhao Zongji reminded him: "Don't waste it."
Chen Ke nodded, thinking that this little princess really loved cooking. He said goodbye to his relatives who came to see her off, and entered the gate together with Song Duanping and others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A fence was built in front of the Imperial Academy, and the family members who were seeing off could only be sent to the gate. After entering the gate, all they could see were scholars waiting to enter.
When the drums sounded at the fifth watch, the Imperial College opened its doors, and the patrol soldiers who maintained order began to line up. The officials from the Ministry of Etiquette in charge of examinations also lined up in front of the door, each holding a sign in their hands. An official shouted loudly in front of the door: "take the photo."
Look for the characters on the north side of your names, find the corresponding test administrator, and quickly line up to stand in line. After a quarter of an hour, you will start to enter the venue one by one."
Chen Ke looked carefully at the signs. They were written in the order of a thousand-character script, such as "Heaven and Earth are black and yellow, and the universe is prehistoric." He took out his name card from his arms and turned it to the back. There was "Autumn on the 15th"
', Song Duanping and Shilang Wulang also had their respective serial numbers. The four of them high-fived each other and went to line up.
Chen Ke walked to No. 21 and saw Lu Huiqing, as well as many acquaintances from the same year. He said hello one after another... Those who took the Imperial Examination were either Imperial Students or Imperial Students. Naturally, there were many celebrities like him.
People know it.
As they were talking, it was dawn before they knew it, and it was finally Chen Ke's turn to enter. The official from the Ministry of Rites, who was wearing a sign with the word "Autumn", guided their group of forty people into the gate of the Imperial College.
Inside, there are officials who check the roster and strictly check the candidates' names, place of origin, age, appearance, etc., to prevent anyone from taking the exam for them.
After everyone was identified, the card-playing official took them further inside and turned to a temporary shed on the left.
The official then put down the sign and said to the crowd with a straight face: "You will pay homage to the Holy Master later, and you must take a shower and change clothes. You will have tea time to take a shower, and go to the exit to collect your belongings."
This is not a new rule. Candidates have heard about it before and started to take off their clothes. But it makes people feel a little ridiculous. Is this an examination room or a bathhouse?
In fact, this is a means to prevent entrainment. Like taking exams on behalf of others, entrainment is also a common method of fraud in imperial examinations. There are endless tricks that make it difficult to guard against. When candidates in the Tang Dynasty entered the venue, they not only had to check the items they carried, but also
Whether they were kidnapped or not, they had to be searched from top to bottom, inside and outside. The officials and soldiers were shouting and shouting one by one, which made the weak scholars feel frightened. People with a lot of integrity felt that they couldn't stand this kind of search.
This is an insult to their character.
In this dynasty, as the competition in the imperial examinations became more and more fierce, the inspection of candidates entering the examination room became more and more strict. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to strictly enforce examination discipline, all candidates entering the examination room were required to loosen their tangled hair.
, unbutton all the clothes, and also pick out the ears and nose to prevent candidates from stuffing notes in their ears and noses. Many candidates found this method of inspection unacceptable, and they protested one after another. Many candidates saw
Upon encountering such a search, he immediately walked away and gave up his qualification to participate in the provincial examination. The court ministers also believed that this kind of search was excessive, and it was indeed a lack of respect for scholars.
In view of so many objections, the imperial court finally came up with a compromise, requiring all candidates to take a bath in a designated place and then wear uniform clothes provided by the government. While the candidates were bathing, the invigilators could also
Carefully check the items they carry. In this way, it can not only prevent candidates from being carried away, but also save the candidates' face, achieving the good effect of "preventing abuse without being disrespectful".
However, this method of inspection is time-consuming and requires a lot of material support. Only the Song Dynasty, which was not short of money and loved scholars, would continue to do this.
The design of the bathhouse is also very interesting. There are four thick bamboo tubes running across the roof. There are a row of pores on the bamboo tubes. When the candidates stand naked underneath, they will hear the sound of water flowing. After a while, water will spray out of the pores.
, it turned out to be a shower, and the water was still warm...
Of course, it was impossible to take a quick bath. At the urging of the officials, Chen Ke and the others simply rinsed off, went outside, dried themselves with towels, and collected their clothes... The inner and outer clothes provided by Gongyuan were only small and large.
There are two sizes, but fortunately Han people are very particular about loose clothing, so I can make do with it.
Chen Ke looked at the short Confucian robe he was wearing and felt very awkward, but when he saw Wu Lang's body, he felt that his body was quite acceptable...——
segmentation--
Sorry everyone, there have been a lot of things at home these past two days, so there have been few updates. Fortunately, I have finished my work, so I will write more tonight. (To be continued)
