The papers of the three candidates were presented in front of the five examiners.
On one side is the famous scholar Sansu who is famous all over the world, and on the other side is the number one scholar in Jiayou's sixth year.
Everyone read Su Shi's article first, and the five examiners all praised it.
Sima Guang first praised: "Before the imperial examination, Su Zizhan spoke to the old man and said frankly that he had no grievances because of the current situation. From this point of view, he could be said to be correcting every sentence.
Cai Xiang smiled and said: "No wonder this son was recognized as a scholar by Zhang Ledao (Zhang Fangping). Ou Gong also praised Su Zizhan to me, saying that after a few decades, no one will know about his articles."
Several examiners laughed, and they were all convinced by Su Shi's article.
Hu Su said: "You can enter the third level. But don't rush to make a conclusion. You should first read the other two people's plans before speaking."
Everyone unanimously praised: "This is a mature statement."
Then everyone looked at Su Zhe's paper.
Su Zhe’s paper really made the examiners take a breath of cold air. What is this?
"Twenty years have passed. The ancient sages were deeply worried when they had nothing to do, and were not afraid when they had nothing to do. If they were deeply worried when they had nothing to do, they were not afraid of anything. Now, Your Majesty, you are not worried when you have nothing to do, and are greatly afraid when something is happening. I think your Majesty is worried about losing his place."
Su Che's policy was met with one sentence: criticizing the emperor.
Hu Su shook his head and said: "This is not what a minister said."
Unexpectedly, Hu Su read half of it and found another sentence below Su Che.
“Your Majesty has neglected and despised ministers, and has secretly heard of you. Since your Majesty’s recent years, there have been thousands of noble ladies in the palace, singing, dancing, drinking, and enjoying themselves out of fashion. You sit in court without hearing advice, and you have no advisors in the palace.”
Su Zhe actually said that ministers heard from hearsay that the emperor keeps thousands of beauties in your palace, who sing, dance and drink all day long and ignore the government affairs?
Hu Su was furious when he saw this.
The emperor is also a human being, why can’t he have some normal hobbies? Even though there are so many beauties in the palace, they are still working hard for the country.
Su Che actually compared the emperor to six faint emperors: Taikang of Shang, Zujia of Shang, King Mu of Zhou, Emperor Cheng of Han, Muzong of Tang, and Gongzong of Tang.
The five examiners also had different evaluations of Su Che’s paper.
Sima Guang believed that Su Che’s paper should be ranked third grade.
Sima Guangdao: "Although Su Che's words are urgent, he is not a man who abides by the moderation of his country's wishes. He is honest and straightforward, but seems to be arrogant and disrespectful."
"What Mr. Wen said is wrong. It may not be that no one is pretending to be loyal and upright for the sake of his country." Fan Zhen said.
Fan Zhen and Cai Xiang agreed that Su Che's paper should be included in the fourth grade.
The examiner Hu Su was even more fierce, thinking that Su Zhe's words were disrespectful and urged his removal.
The examiners had different opinions and put it aside for the time being.
The last is Zhang Yue’s paper.
After reading Zhang Yue’s article, the five examiners immediately split into two groups.
Sima Guang said: "Although Zhang Zidu's article is profound, it is full of Legalist tactics. He talks less about morality and only talks about correcting the emperor. If Gao Di is afraid, he will be suspected of invading officials and disrupting the government. But his article is talented and insightful.
You must praise me, I think fourth grade is enough."
Fan Zhen was silent for a while and said: "I also feel that he is suspected of invading the government, but I cannot demote him to a higher level based on this."
Sima Guang said: "It's not as good as Zizhan."
Yang Tianze said: "I have a different view from Wen Gong. Zhang Duzhi's article has a deeper understanding than Zizhan Ziyou."
Yang Wei looked at Cai Xiang, the third envoy of Quan Li, and asked, "Where is Cai Gong's opinion?"
Zhang Yue's article believes that the prime minister's command of the branch is really intrusive to Cai Xiang, who is the prime minister.
Cai Xiang spoke up and said: "Look at each other, Su Zizhan and Zhang Duzhi both mentioned relocating people to Huguang. What is the difference between their policies?"
“What is Mr. Cai’s advice?”
Cai Xiang said: "Su Zizhan moved the people in order to reduce the narrowness and make it wider, and he answered the questions. But Zhang Duzhi first moved the people to the border where they were guilty, and then changed the native officials to the exiled officials. In his words, he changed
Tuguiliu. Relocating people and reforming Tuguiliu are the ways to strengthen cadres. His article stays true to its main points. I think it can be said to be coherent and logical."
After listening to Yang Tian’s words, Sima Guang suddenly remembered that day Wang Anshi commented on Su Shi and Su Che’s writing.
It means to discuss one thing at a time, without any important point in the whole article. It is just for commentators and commentators. This is the so-called Warring States period article.
Zhang Yue's article is indeed coherent and clear, with one argument leading up to the whole article. The so-called method of governing the country is also. Of course, Sima Guang opposed such a strong and powerful method of governing the country, but in terms of countermeasures, it is better than two Su and one.
Therefore, Sima Guang remained silent and did not object to Zhang Yue being demoted to the fourth class, but he also did not support Zhang Yue being demoted to the third class.
Sima Guangze said: "I think Su Ziyou's Theory of the Six Kingdoms is extremely wonderful and magnificent. This chapter of Zhang Du's is not as good as the Theory of the Six Kingdoms."
The five examiners had a discussion and differences arose.
Should Su Zhe be dismissed?
Su Shi, who is the third class of Zhang Yue, and everyone argued that it could not be done. In the end, the old way was to ask the sanctuary.
As it was getting dark now, Zhang Yue, Su Shi, and Su Che waited in the side hall of Chongzheng Hall for more than half an hour, but no one came forward to announce the order, which made them feel strange.
At this moment, Su Shi and Zhang Yue discussed strategies.
“Du Zhi, what is the title of your paper?” Su Shi asked. Su Che glanced at his brother. Is this a casual question?
Zhang Yue smiled. He knew that Su Shi didn't have much scheming, so he said frankly: "The theme is to be strong."
Su Che secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked: "Is it necessary to strengthen the trunk and weaken the branches?"
Su Shi said to Su Che: "Ziyou, this sentence comes from the Chronicle of the Han Dynasty, the Chronology of the Princes and Kings since the rise of the Han Dynasty, Han County is eighty or ninety years old, and the shape is different among the princes.
Strength, superiority and inferiority are clear, and everything is in its proper place. I forgot it when I memorized the Han Dynasty, but you reminded me."
Su Che smiled and said, "Brother still remembers what happened so many years ago."
Su Che said to Zhang Yue: "I remember that the Han Dynasty reduced the power of princes and kings by pushing favors and orders, which can be said to strengthen their trunks and weaken their branches. The thing that Taizu Taizong did to strengthen the trunks was to suppress the military with culture and get rid of the feudal towns.
, why should we save it? Is it possible to extend the grace order?"
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "The extension of favor orders is a good law through the ages, but in the final analysis it lies in suppressing mergers."
After a pause, Zhang Yue continued: "Actually, I only talked about strong trunks and not weak branches. But if I really want to talk about it, I should talk about strong trunks and weak branches to enrich the people."
Su Zhe said: "Although it is a good idea to save it, it is difficult to enrich the people by strengthening its cadres. If you want to enrich the people, it is difficult to strengthen its cadres."
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "What Ziyou said is very true. This is the way of repetition, which means to complement the broad and strong. For example, when planting a tree, the main trunk is the base. First prune the branches to make the main trunk more straight and strong. Later, the branches and leaves will become stronger.
dense."
"If you don't overdo it, you can think of the branches and leaves of that place at that time, but not the branches and leaves of this one." Su Shi frowned and said.
Zhang Yue said: "Taizu once drank a cup of wine to release his military power, but he did not replace it."
Su Shi thought deeply and said: "If so, it seems feasible. But I'm afraid it's just a matter of course."
Zhang Yue smiled and said: "Government is different, governance is different, Confucianism alone is not enough to govern the world."
Zhang Yue knew that Su Shi and Su Che had both opposed political reforms in history.
However, at this moment, the tension between conservatism and reform has not yet reached the point of tension in the future. Zhang Yue had a frank conversation with Su Shi and Su Che. Although their views were different, it was as ordinary as talking about a delicacy.
Just like you are a sweet party and I am a salty party, we can argue without hurting the friendship.
I wish it could be like this in the future. Even if everyone has different political opinions, they can sit down and chat calmly.
At this moment, I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps. It turned out that it was Han Qi who had arrived.
