The seventh day of the second lunar month was the day when the guild exams started. The sky was full of stars during Cai Chou period, and the guild halls and hotels all over the capital were brightly lit and bustling. After a while, the candidates, who had been sleepless all night, had finished eating and drinking, and were filled with trepidation.
People with great ambitions, riding in carriages or on foot, accompanied by book boys or family members, flocked to the Gongyuan from all directions... I saw the book boys or family members behind them, carrying bed rolls and carrying large and small examination papers.
Basket test box and the like, the posture looks like fleeing.
Because the examinees have to stay overnight in the examination room, and it is still very cold in Beijing in the morning and evening in February, so in addition to the necessary examination items and food, blankets, cotton clothes, heaters, etc. are indispensable. Of course, this is also related to the candidates.
The identity of a person is no longer relevant in the past. In the past, there were only academicians and no juren. Those who were qualified to participate in the examination were all juren masters. Even if the family was originally poor, it is now prosperous. Some of them are subsidized and helped by fellow gentry, so the icing on the cake is
They all had bookboys and porters with them, and all the exam items were prepared thoroughly and thoroughly, which was different from the provincial exams.
However, when they arrived at the square in front of Gongyuan, many people regretted it, because no idlers were allowed in the examination room, and all items could only be carried by the examinees. The examinees had no choice but to put their quilts and coats on their shoulders and carry them on their backs.
The test box, with the test basket and test stool in hand... The reason why we bring the stool is because thousands of candidates enter the venue for roll call. The inspection is very time-consuming. On the first day, from dawn to dusk, they are all used
Regarding this, if a candidate is unlucky and waits in the early morning and enters the venue at dusk, how can he survive without a stool to sit on?
In addition, they also have paper bags hanging around their necks... As the name suggests, paper bags are bags used to hold test papers. When candidates enter the examination room through roll call, they can receive their answer sheets, but at that time they have two hands
They were all occupied, and there was no way to get the paper. Moreover, the answer sheet was the lifeblood of the candidates and could not be stained at all, so the paper bag hanging around the neck came into being. After receiving the paper, you can go directly to it.
The bag is stuffed, and there is a layer of oilcloth in the middle of the roll to prevent rain. The first thing you do when you get to the room is to hang the roll bag on the wall to feel at ease.
So a scene like this appeared in front of the gate of Gongyuan. I saw weak scholars carrying quilts, examination boxes, examination baskets, examination stools, and examination bags hanging around their necks. They looked very embarrassed.
Embarrassing. But this is nothing compared to the inhuman treatment they will suffer next.
When the fifth watch came up, three cannon shots were heard. The gate of the Gongyuan was opened. Two rows of imperial soldiers wearing brand-new uniforms and carrying long swords came out of the gate in sequence and took up their posts in the square in front of the Gongyuan.
After five steps, there was a whistle. When each of them stood solemnly with their hands on the hilts of their swords, three more cannons were fired. This time the gate of the Gongyuan was opened, and two more rows of Jinyi guardsmen wearing flying fish uniforms and carrying embroidered spring knives came out at the gate.
Line up at the camp gate.
When three cannon shots were fired again, the dragon gate slowly opened, the bell and drum towers in the capital also rang their bells and drums, and the temples and temples also responded together, singing to each other from afar, indicating that the 13th year of the Yongle Examination of the Ming Dynasty had officially begun.
At this moment, the incense table has been set up in front of the court hall. The chief examiner led all the examiners to kneel down to receive the imperial edict, and then paid homage to the Holy Master. He then invited Guan Shengdi, the great demon-suppressing emperor of the three realms, to come in and suppress it. General Zhou was invited to come in and patrol the court. Please
Emperor Wenchang entered the venue to preside over the examination, and asked Mr. Kuixing to enter the venue to shine... After completing these ceremonies, the candidates were allowed to enter the venue for roll call and inspection.
When the first batch of 100 candidates were put into the gate of Gongyuan, it was just dawn. In the capital city in early February, the daytime had already warmed up. However, in this early morning, it was still cold in spring. The entire Gongyuan was like a small city, surrounded by dense bushes.
Surrounded by thickets of thorns, Gongyuan is also called Gongyuan. At this moment, the Thorny City is shrouded in the morning mist. The governors in Thorny City feel that their future is also shrouded in mist...
After the roll call, the candidates can go to the gate of the Tribute Courtyard, but instead of entering the examination room directly, they queue up in front of a stone square. When a hundred people have gathered, they enter the dragon gate under the leadership of the officials. Inside the dragon gate, they see a
There are several small halls on both sides of the long corridor. This is the procuratorate where the examinees change their minds after hearing the news. Although the name of this procuratorate is good, it is the most embarrassing and the most intrusive among all candidates.
A matter of face. According to the original regulations of the Ming Dynasty, as long as candidates wanted to enter the examination room, no matter rich or poor, old or young, they all had to take off their clothes here and accept the inspection naked by the Gongyuan soldiers.
Fortunately, Emperor Hongwu was kind. After hearing that the candidates were humiliated and some even gave up the exam in anger, he issued an order to treat the candidates leniently in the 20th year of Hongwu. From then on, the entrance inspection became just a formality, usually
The examinees lined up in the corridor, and the soldiers simply searched them. As for the council halls, they were idle. Only a few candidates who were not discerning would enjoy the treatment of entering and searching.
The candidates thought that this time was just like the past, and that it would just be a formality. At this moment, they discovered with some uneasiness that the council chambers that were supposed to be unattended were now as bright as day, and did not look like they were going to be idle.
When the examinees were lining up in the corridor, Wang Xian appeared in front of the dragon gate. He stood on the high steps, his cold eyes swept over the examinees and said: "I, Wang Xian, are the prosecutors for this examination.
As you may all know, the inspections in the past examinations were very lax, and it was inevitable that many thieves would bring in writings just because they were lucky. This was the greatest disrespect to Emperor Taizu’s goodwill, and the greatest humiliation to the imperial court’s talent promotion ceremony.
, and it is also the greatest harm to honest and upright candidates.”
As soon as Wang Xian came up with three big hats, all the officials were stunned. They didn't know if he was just talking or if he meant it. "The purpose of the imperial court to recruit scholars is to select people to govern the country and educate the emperor."
Officials of the common people who cheat even in the Jinshi examination are really evil-minded people. How can they shoulder the responsibility of education? How can they abide by the law, be honest and loyal?"
"So this examination must be strictly inspected. I will never allow a scrap of paper to be entered into the examination room." Wang Xian was a ruthless character who had killed people on the battlefield and could manipulate the officials of a province. At this time, he was furious.
With the whole scene open, how can everyone withstand it? Everyone is so silent, who would think that he is just talking casually?
"However, I thought that the inspection was lax before, and I can't bear to punish you without warning. Therefore, if you have any suspicion, you can throw the things you have on you into the big basket in front of you at this moment, and I will not be blamed at all.
"Although Wang Xian is young, he is also an old official who has experienced the dangers of officialdom. Although what he said yesterday is categorical and unquestionable, he still has to be flexible when it comes to doing things. Otherwise, he will really offend the scholars all over the world, and he will suffer in the future.
How can you live a good life? What’s more, you can’t commit a crime...
Therefore, Wang Xian firmly occupies a position of protecting honest candidates, and also gives those who have already harbored the words in their bodies the opportunity to throw away the cheat sheets and pretend that nothing happened, so that others can only say that he is cold and harsh.
, but it cannot be said that he deliberately made things difficult for the scholars... After all, Wang Xian gave them the opportunity, and they still persisted in their persistence. This was the greatest contempt for him as the prosecutor. If Wang Xian took action to punish them, no one would have anything to say.
After saying this, Wang Xian and the inspecting officers and soldiers retreated to the council hall without looking at the situation outside. The officials knew that this was to save them face and let them hand over the cheat sheet themselves. People were under the eaves,
How can anyone not bow their head? Many people throw the notes, paper balls, and pamphlets hidden in the soles of their boots, seams of clothes, pen holders, inkstones, test boxes, snacks into the basket. But there are also many people who rely on their own
The cheat sheet was well hidden. I didn’t want to try it in vain this time, so I took a chance and refused to take it out. Some people were too shy to take it out...for example, they hid it in their underwear, or even just wrote it on their underwear.
Yes, you wear a lot of clothes in winter, so why bother to take off your clothes in public?
The time was short, only the sound of a gong was heard, and the officials were filled with awe, before Wang Xian and the soldiers were seen walking out of the council hall.
Wang Xian's cold eyes swept across the candidates again, and finally landed on the big baskets. Seeing that there were already a lot of things piled in them, he couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If these people are really stubborn, they just want to
There was really nothing he could do to test the law... Just as Chief Examiner Liang was worried, he couldn't miss a thousand people for the exam, and he couldn't even meet the number of people to take the exam, right? If such a big scandal really happened, the emperor would definitely not be able to spare him.
All the scholars in the world would drown him by spitting foam.
Wang Xian dared to say that, not to mention that 10% of the exams were carried out with writing, there would be no problem for 89% of adults. This does not mean that everyone is not good at studying and cannot write without cheating. In fact, for those who have gone through the hardships
After reading and reading, many candidates who passed the examination said that they had memorized the chapters and sentences of the Four Books so well in Cheng Wenchuang's class that there was no need to bring cheat sheets with them. They just thought that no one would catch others if they brought cheat sheets.
I always feel like I'm at a disadvantage if I don't bring a cheat sheet with me, and it's because of this mentality that I bring along the cheat sheet.
Fortunately, most of the examinees were still aware of current affairs, and it was considered that he had not put on a posture of sharpening his sword in vain. Most of them should be able to pass the test now. Wang Xian nodded and indicated that the search could begin.
When the soldiers saw that the basket was already filled with cheat sheets, their hearts were bleeding... This is all money. If Mr. Wang hadn't done this, wouldn't we have made a fortune? However, we need to search more carefully this time.
Okay, we can’t let any guy with a cheat sheet slip through the net, try our best to make up for everyone’s losses.
In the eyes of the inspecting officers and soldiers, the prosecutors had become money trees. Each of the prosecutors...oh no, they were invited to the parliament hall one by one, and the officers and soldiers began to conduct a detailed inspection. In addition, one of the prosecutors was
The officers watching next to them were three officers and soldiers searching a suspect, and the search was very detailed, lest there be any omissions... That's all money.
They strictly followed the procedures established by Wang Xian to conduct searches. After basically searching them all, those people were like beggars with torn shoes, torn hats, and torn bedding. Not to mention the snacks, lampstands, etc. they carried.
Inkstones, brushes and other items that can hide the note...
However, the most unacceptable thing for the soldiers was that the officers and soldiers actually asked them to take off their clothes, even their underwear...