Seeing that the dragon gate was about to open, the candidates who came from a distance shouted "wait a minute" and "please wait a moment, sir".
In front of Longmen, the supervisors and the candidates were quarreling endlessly. The candidates headed by Kaifeng Prefecture shouted: "Sir, the emperor wants to recruit scholars to show off the cold and show off to the people. Now that we have encountered this unexpected wind and snow, everyone has a path."
Because of the difference between near and far, can we allow time to be extended and rely on people's flexibility to make up for the injustice of the sky?"
The gate officer looked at the candidate and said directly: "What's your name?"
The other party was speechless for a moment, and the prison officer sneered: "I don't even dare to report my name. Someone will take it out!"
Chapter Yue saw this scene and knew that although what the examinee said was very reasonable, it was not enough to impress the prison officer.
Because it is the duty of the gatekeeper to open the gantry as per the regulations, otherwise the court will hold him responsible for his dereliction of duty, so what does he have to do with the postponement of the examination?
Therefore, no matter how high or good the principles are, they are useless without power.
So Zhang Yue walked up and said to the prison officer: "I'm here to teach Zhang Yue, the chief of Zhengzhai Zhai, an official who has something to do!"
The prison officer raised his eyebrows. Just now, the candidates did not dare to speak their names for fear of retaliation. But now there is one person who dares to come forward. Do they really know whether they are alive or dead?
Before and after Zhang Yue came up, Huang Lu and other imperial examination candidates gathered behind him.
When the prison officer saw this, he thought in awe, this person has some background.
The prison officer sneered and said: "You are such a reckless Cuo Da, do you know Chen Pengnian?"
Zhang Yue knew that Chen Pengnian was a famous minister, and he promoted him to Jinshi, but because he was young and rash, he liked to slander officials. At that time, Song Bai knew about Gongju, disliked him as a person, and deposed Chen Pengnian.
But later Chen Pengnian still won the Jinshi, and he has been committed to selecting scholars based on his articles and reducing the chance that examiners will select scholars based on their own likes and dislikes.
When Chen Pengnian was appointed as a Hanlin scholar, he reported it to Prime Minister Wang Dan. Wang Dan asked: "What is this?"
Chen Pengnian said: “The academic field is consistent.”
Wang Dan threw it to the ground and cursed: "How many days has Nei Han been an official? How dare you separate (the examiner and) the world's Jinshi."
Zhang Yue heard the threat from the other party. The implication was that you want to imitate Chen Pengnian? Do you know the consequences of offending the examiner?
Zhang Yue said: "My disciples do not dare to imitate Chen Gong. They just have something to report to him."
“What you say!”
Zhang Yue said: "We have just counted the number of people below the gate. There are still nineteen people missing from Piyong Sheng. Please ask the officials for instructions on how to deal with them."
Zhang Yue played a trick here, including Yongsheng students and Guangwen Guan students, but he was able to mislead the other party.
The other party listened for a moment and thought, Taixue is so close to Gongyuan, but there are so many candidates missing. If you force the exam to start, you will not only offend these nineteen people. Not to mention the candidates from Kaifeng Mansion and other walks of life.
Already?
The prison officer immediately asked the Kaifeng Prefecture student who had just argued with him: "How many people are you lacking in Kaifeng Prefecture?"
The student from Kaifeng Prefecture shook his head with a confused look on his face.
The prison officer shouted: "Hurry up and count them!"
The prison officer was a little angry. He turned to look at Zhang Yue, but his face softened a lot and he said, "What did you say your name was just now?"
Zhang Yue said: "I am here to teach Zhang Yue, the head of Zhengzhai Zhai."
The prison officer raised his eyebrows and said: "It turns out, Zhang Duzhi, I have read your poems and articles. You go back and continue to count the people. I will send someone to report to the chief and then I will reply to you."
Zhang Yue said happily: "Thank you sir."
Everyone else was overjoyed, and a group of students from Kaifeng Prefecture came forward and said, "Thank you so much, Brother Zhang."
Zhang Yue smiled, but he never showed kindness to others openly, so he said, "Anyway, some of my classmates were delayed due to snow, but I just reported it truthfully."
After Zhang Yue answered, he glanced into the distance and saw that the snow had stopped in front of the gate of Gongyuan.
Gongyuan Street is crowded with people. Candidates are coming from far away to go to Gongyuan. People on both sides of Gongyuan Street spontaneously get up early to clear the snow on the street and clear a road for candidates to drive directly to Gongyuan.
Even so, the horse-drawn carriage and donkey-cart were still blocked half a mile away from the Gongyuan, unable to move a step.
Therefore, the candidates had to leave their cars and rush to Gongyuan with their test boxes. The test boxes contained candles, water, charcoal, food and tableware, etc. Now, each candidate is afraid of being delayed, so they either carry the test box on their shoulders.
Either hold the examination basket in your hand and come to Gongyuan.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Yue couldn't help but thought, Brother Guo, you should hurry up.
Candidates have been suspended from entering in front of the dragon gate. The officials sent by the gate supervisor immediately informed the chief examiner Wang Gui and the two deputy examiners Fan Zhen and Wang Chou of the situation.
In the past few days, when Wang Gui and the two examiners were locked in the courtyard, they wrote a lot of poems and songs to each other, and the relationship between the three of them was really improved.
“One Imperial College alone is short of nineteen people. What about Kaifeng Mansion and other schools?” Wang Gui asked.
“Not yet counted.”
“What about off-site candidates?”
“Everyone is shouting in unison to plead for leniency.”
Wang Gui asked: "Oh? There is such a big fuss in Ju, but someone is taking the lead?"
“The leaders are unwilling to reveal their names, but I do know that there is a man named Zhang Yue in the Imperial College.”
Wang Gui couldn't help but think a little when he heard Zhang Yue's name.
Of course he had known Zhang Yue for a long time. He had heard about Zhang Yue's articles and talents. The last time Zhang Yue came to his house to write a scroll, Wang Gui happened to be away, otherwise he would have summoned him to meet him.
Wang Gui not only knew Zhang Yue well, he also knew that Zhang Yue was Ouyang Xiu’s nephew.
It should be noted that Wang Gui and Ouyang Xiu had a particularly close relationship in the past. In the second year of Qingli, Wang Gui participated in the special examination. At that time, Ouyang Xiu and Zhang Fangping were Wang Gui's examiners.
In the second year of Jiayou's reign, Wang Gui went to Tongzhi Gongju, who knew that it was Ouyang Xiu who was doing the Gongju.
The two of them stayed together for more than fifty days, and when they were bored, they sang poems to each other.
Wang Gui's poem to Ouyang Xiu said, "Fifteen years ago I went out, and today I am most honored to attend the East Hall."
It means that I was your student fifteen years ago, and now we are both examiners. This is really an extremely honorable thing.
In addition to the relationship between Zhang Yue and Ouyang Xiu, Wang Gui also knew that Zhang Yue was engaged to the Wu Chong family with Ouyang Xiu as guarantee. This matter was not a secret among senior officials in Bianjing. Wang Gui had known about it for a long time.
Wang Gui had not yet spoken. Fan Zhen said: "I heard that this chapter is very powerful in Taixue. Lu Zhi said that he relied on it as his right and left hand. It seems that he is not the one who caused trouble."
What Fan Zhen heard was Fan Zuyu who whispered in his ears at that time.
The official on the side hurriedly explained: "The villain is not saying that he caused trouble, he just reported it truthfully and did not get involved with the clamor."
Hearing this, Wang Gui smiled slightly and said, "I know, this Zhang Duzhi is indeed a courageous person. What's more, if we didn't know that he counted the students, we wouldn't have known that even this imperial student would be missing so many people."
Wang Chou, the censor Zhongcheng, asked: "Then what is the chief minister's plan?"
Wang Gui thought for a while and said: "I remembered what my grandfather told me about the Zhenzong Dynasty. At that time, the late emperor asked his ministers: 'How many tributes are there in the world?'
‘The Prime Minister replied: “There are more than 13,000.’
dedthoary
‘Approximately one out of ten.’
‘The late emperor sighed and said: “There are no less than ten thousand people who will fall. We must carefully choose those who have the authority.’”
At this point, Wang Gui paused and said: "The late emperor cannot let go of the loss of thousands of people. He is careful about his fate and will not miss a person with real talent and learning. Now the delay due to wind and snow is unexpected. I
How can you strip away the hard work of these scholars for ten years with just one sentence? What do you two think?"
Fan Zhen and Wang Chou both said: "Everything must be obeyed by the chief commander."
Wang Gui said: "That's fine. Tell the prison officer to wait for another quarter of an hour. If he doesn't come again, I will do my best to be merciful and righteous."
