"It's right to be worried." Zhao Zhen nodded approvingly and said, "But you don't have to be too nervous. The initial and detailed officials are all learned and upright people, so just let them go and mark the papers, it will be easy to get the results.
You can’t be wrong.” He said with emphasis: “You just need to be careful.”
"My son, I respectfully listen to your teachings."
"It is to maintain the fairness of the examination." Zhao Zhen said solemnly: "The king must rely on ministers to govern the country, and the selection of ministers depends entirely on the country's talent selection ceremony. Therefore, the importance of the imperial examination is related to the country, and you must be determined to do so.
You must not be partial to the public. As long as you are not partial, you can be a good CEO. Do you understand?"
"My son...understand." Zhao Zongshi responded quickly: "We must choose the scholars fairly!"
"Yes." Zhao Zhen nodded and said in a slower tone: "Again, I have placed great hopes on this scientific expedition. You must do a good job and recruit a few decent talents for the Song Dynasty.
Come out." He looked at Zhao Zongshi with a stern look and said: "Cherish this opportunity and don't let me down! Remember, God is watching when people do it!"
"I will keep this in mind," Zhao Zongshi said in a low voice with a chill in his heart.
"You and your ministers have nothing to say." Zhao Zhen regained his calm demeanor and said, "Go down."
"Here."
Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Three hundred and thirty-one new Gongshi took part in the palace examination and Xie En left the palace. Dozens of examiners who were responsible for the task of marking the exams began their intense work.
Although starting from the second year of Jiayou's reign, the Imperial Examination has no longer been eliminated. It is still the final examination that determines the ranking of Jinshi. The prospect of being a Jinshi in the Third Class A is obviously different from that of a Jinshi in the First Class, so the examiners are still careless.
After being sealed and transcribed by the scribes, the examination paper has to go through three levels before it can be ranked. The first level is called the preliminary examiner. The preliminary examiner first assigns a ranking and then hands it to the reviewer. In fact, it is the reviewer. The reviewer will review it again.
, have the right to give their own opinions. For example, if the first examiner ranks the top five as "A, B, C, D, and W," the review examiner can rank "A, D, C, B, and W."
Finally, the detailed examiner will refer to the rankings of the preliminary examiner and the review examiner to determine the final ranking of the candidates...except of course the top ten.
Because the top ten were decided by the emperor, to show that these disciples of the emperor were really chosen by the emperor.
However, this year there is an additional CEO. It is said that because of the official's poor health, the Qingling County Prince will perform his duties. This makes countless people excited, confused, and sighing. It seems that the battle for the reserve position has really been settled.
Already.
Maybe there has never been any dispute over the throne, right? In front of Zhao Zongshi, the other four princes have always been foils...
Zhao Zongshi thought so too. However, before the edict establishing him as the crown prince was issued, he still did not dare to relax. Instead, he became more and more cautious. In the face of the overall situation, he was afraid that something would go wrong, so he set a rule not to accept anyone's request.
, we must do the job well so that no one can find fault with it.
It's just easier said than done. As soon as the news of his appointment as president spread, all kinds of connections were made, and there was no way to stop the people who wanted to get in the way. In the eyes of those who asked for help, being able to enter the palace examination means that their children are good enough.
As for the final ranking, the difference between high and low is purely based on the personal perception of the examiner. Therefore, it is just a little effort to place their children as high as possible and does no harm to them.
Therefore, it is natural for His Highness to express his position, but it would be extremely inappropriate if he does not even help me with this little help.
There were many heavyweights among the intercessors. Each note was delivered to Zhao Zongshi through secret means, which made him feel helpless. After thinking about it, he could only eat his own words, silently write down the joints on the note, and then burn it.
Those notes.
But in this way, Zhao Zongshi had to work hard. He had to grade the papers one by one and carefully look for the joints of the agreements... For example, someone agreed on the note that my person would be in the third section of the first policy paper.
At the end of the paragraph, if it ended with 'Yu Xiuzai', he would have to find that joint from the more than 300-point paper. Then he would rank it as far forward as possible.
This is naturally extremely hard work, but fortunately, in the eyes of those officials who don’t know the truth, they will be impressed with admiration... His Highness is really diligent and responsible!
Little did he know that he was working hard to gain benefits for his own people. However, Zhao Zongshi still had a concern in his heart, that is, he would never interfere with the top ten rankings, because it would be too conspicuous and could easily attract criticism...
After more than ten days of hard work, the grading has finally come to an end. The 321 new scholars outside the top ten have been ranked, and only the top ten have not yet been ranked.
Two detailed officials, Wang Anshi and Yang Ledao, presented ten examination papers to Zhao Zongshi.
"What do you two bachelors think?" Zhao Zongshi had a plan and asked sincerely.
"Your Highness, please make your decision." Yang Ledao said softly.
"My little king has little talent and knowledge, so I should mainly listen to you two." Zhao Zongshi said with a smile.
"Your Highness is being humble," Yang Ledao said, "The two of us boldly spoke out. If there is anything inappropriate, please point it out at any time."
"Okay." Zhao Zongshi nodded.
"The first thing that needs to be determined is the first place." Yang Ledao said: "The imperial court has a customization here, that is, no matter how it is ranked, the number one candidate must be selected from the rankings provided by the first examiner and the reviewer, and there can be no other candidates.
Yes." He said with a wry smile on his face: "But what Wang Waizhi means is to break the rules and establish another number one scholar."
"Oh?" Zhao Zongshi looked at Wang Anshi and said, "What does Wang Waizhi mean by this?" He has always been respectful and polite to ministers, let alone a mainstay like Wang Anshi, whose reputation is growing.
"Xiaguan looked at the top names prepared for the preliminary examination and the re-examination, and was not satisfied with the test papers," Wang Anshi reported back: "So I suggested choosing another top name."
"But, this is against the rules." Yang Ledao shook his head and said.
"Of course we must abide by the rules, but they must be drawn up by the imperial court and decreed by the emperor." Wang Anshi said calmly: "This so-called rule is just an act of the former officials in order to shirk their responsibilities. The number one scholar is the best among all living beings.
Kui Ye, you know that there is a better test paper but you don't take it, what's the rule?"
"This, this..." Yang Le said, who was Wang Anshi's opponent? He held it in for a long time before saying: "Let us ask His Highness to make a decision."
"Then let your Highness make the decision." Wang Anshi had no choice but to agree.
"Uh..." To be fair, Zhao Zongshi liked Wang Anshi's impulsiveness, but at this point, it was better for him to do less than to do more. Not to mention that he was a thief with a guilty conscience. After pretending to think for a moment, he smiled and said: "What Wang Anshi said makes sense.
, but let’s just follow the rules.”
Wang Anshi became a little anxious immediately, and said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, the principle of everything should be to select the best talents, and we should not use rules as the principle to tie ourselves up!"
Zhao Zongshi's face was splashed with a few drops of saliva by Wang Anshi, and he was immediately unhappy. He said lightly: "Actually, this rule is not a bad thing. At least it can limit the power of the detailed official, so that he cannot bend the law for personal gain."
This was a bit harsh, so he quickly slowed down his tone and said: "Of course, the prince's talents and character are known to the world, and no one will doubt your judgment. But if you break this rule, if there is a willful or evil-minded examiner in the future
, there is no guarantee that the imperial court’s talent promotion ceremony will not be turned into a feast for one’s own family.”
Zhao Zongshi was indeed smart, and what he said made Wang Anshi blush. If he persisted, he would become that "willful" or "ill-intentioned" person, and he would have to hang his head angrily.
Zhao Zongshi reassured Wang Anshi with some kind words, and then decided on the candidates for the top prize according to Yang Ledao's opinion. For the last nine, Wang Anshi and Yang Ledao had no dispute, so Zhao Zongshi accepted them all.
The rankings for Jiayou's sixth year of palace examination were finally determined. Zhao Zongshi breathed a sigh of relief, clasped his fists at the two officials and said, "Thank you for your hard work, sir. Let's hurry up and report the good news to the officials."
"Yes." The two of them stood up and responded. Then they ordered people to pack the copied test papers into boxes and carry them to Funing Hall to report to the officials.
"Thank you for your hard work." After hearing their report, Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "It is inhumane to be locked up in the palace for so many days. Please go home and reunite with your wife and children."
The three of them felt strange that this was against the rules. Zhao Zongshi had no choice but to ask: "Father, haven't you opened the seal and copied the name yet?"
"Leave these trivial matters to the people below." Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "Why do you bother me?"
"Yes..." The officials were considerate and everyone couldn't say anything more, so they left.
After leaving Funing Hall, Zhao Zongshi felt more and more uncomfortable the more he thought about it. Seeing what the official meant, he seemed to want to read the papers. Then why do you want to be the chief executive yourself?
Thinking about it, it seems that there are only two possibilities. One is a test by the officials to see if he is qualified for the job. The other is that he, the president, is just a symbol, paving the way for the future succession to himself.
After thinking about it, no matter which one, it shouldn't be a big problem... After all, it's just a ranking, no one can say whether it is high or low.
As for the notes that were passed through the joints, they were all handed in by my own princess, so there was no way the news could leak out there.
So he put away his thoughts, rode on the horse brought by the palace servants, and left the palace.
In the Funing Hall, Zhao Zhen held the No. 1 Scholar Scroll in his hand and seemed to be reading it, but a little carelessly.
Downstairs, Hu Yandui and Li Xian were searching for the corresponding original paper from a box of test papers according to the picture.
"Found it!" After a while, Li Xian finally found the 'Xu Zi No. 7 Paper' among hundreds of test papers and handed it to Hu Yandui.
Hu Yandui quickly presented it to the officials.
Zhao Zhen opened the test paper and saw that the content on it was indeed word for word. He nodded and said, "Rename it."
"Yes." Hu Yandui picked up the silver letter opener from the imperial desk, carefully cut it open, and then turned the test paper to the emperor.
When Zhao Zhen took a look, he saw clearly written on it, 'Wang Junmin from Donglai County, Laizhou'!...)
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