After Yunxi left the capital, Xiyao ordered that palace restrictions be strictly observed. Even the family members of the 15th palace concubine were exempted from visiting the palace on the first day of each month according to the custom. There were also strict restrictions on eunuchs leaving the palace, which were even stricter than the last time Yunxi personally conquered the palace. .After all, at that time, Yunxi ordered the prince to supervise the country but handed the jade seal to her for safekeeping. She also brought Wen Yuan to the Qing Palace to do the imperial duties.
But there was one thing that Xiyao really couldn't let go of. On the eve of Yunxi's official departure from the capital, she sent people back to her parents' home before strictly observing the palace ban, and said to her father Xue Ning: "Dad, you must urge your brother to study. The county examination will be held in a few days." Yes, there will be Yingtian Mansion’s examination later, I must pass it.”
Yes, when she was pregnant and Yunxi left Beijing, what she could not forget was that her brother Xue Xiyang took part in the imperial examination.
These days, there are no certain rules for the promotion of civil and military officials. If an ordinary person fails to pass the Jinshi examination, he can still become an official if he goes to the Imperial College. As long as Yunxi is willing to be promoted, it is also possible to become a high-ranking official such as Jiuqing.
However, Xue Xiyang has a special status. As a relative of an upright scholar, it is enough for him to be a military commander. If he is not a civil servant from a decent background, he will inevitably have the irony of being lucky. Xiyao is determined to make Xue Xiyang a civil servant, so Xue Xiyang must take the imperial examination, at least Those who pass the examination will be able to serve as officials in the court.
Xue Ning knew his daughter's thoughts well, but he smiled bitterly and said to Zhiyi who was sent to deliver the message: "Please repay the Queen, I will naturally not let Xiyang slack off. But now Xiyang himself is very It's so hard, if I push him again, he won't be able to bear it anymore."
Xiyang is indeed working very hard now. He has a deep relationship with Xiyao and Xiyi, and he has always wanted to show his ability to the outside world like his father and eldest brother, so that outsiders will not ridicule the Xue family as "just relatives"; Xiyao He also persuaded him to become a civil servant rather than a military commander, so he has been working very hard recently, just to be able to pass the county examination and the government examination consecutively, and next year he can safely pass the college examination and become a scholar.
Xue Xiyang is still sure whether he can pass the scholar examination, which is not too difficult; but he is not sure whether he can pass the provincial examination later.
On August 25th, the second day after Yunxi officially left Beijing, Shangyuan County and Jiangning County, Fuguo County of the capital, held county examinations at the same time under the auspices of the county magistrate.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the sixth-level imperial examinations, the latter three-level provincial examinations, the joint examinations, and the imperial examinations all had certain rules in terms of time, examination content, examination administrators, admission quotas, etc.; however, the first three-level examinations, county examinations, government examinations, and The rules of the college examination are much looser. Apart from the rules for the examiner and the scope of the questions, there are no other rules. Even the examination time is chosen by the examiner. The two magistrates probably met each other and felt that this day was nothing. It was decided that the exam would be held on this day.
Without further ado, at dawn that day, many people gathered at the gates of the schools in the two counties. Especially those who lived outside the city were afraid of being late and rushed into the city to wait when the city gates opened.
At the beginning of Shenshi, the patrol police who were temporarily transferred opened the gate of Jiangning County School and began to roll call and maintain order. As for the inspection, others were responsible for it. A group of officials from the Ministry of Rites were responsible for all inspections from the county examination to the general examination.
Upon hearing the roll call, hundreds of people gathered at the gate of the county school pushed forward, fearing that they would not hear their names and delay the exam. The patrolmen held batons to maintain order and managed to prevent the scene from becoming chaotic.
The person who called the roll followed the roll call step by step. After a while, he heard this person say: "Xue Xiyang, the military household of the guard station!"
Xue Xiyang immediately pushed to the front and went up for inspection.
Ordinary people didn't react much when they heard this name, but the police, officials from the Ministry of Rites and Jiangning County officials who were present were all convinced: This must be His Majesty's real brother-in-law!
This was not the end of the Ming Dynasty. Even the top civil and military officials would not offend their relatives, let alone little people like them. Although the inspection officials looked meticulous on the surface, they were actually waterproof.
Patrolman Liu Fengyu, who was maintaining order on the side, secretly wondered: 'I heard that Mr. Xue has applied for household registration in Shangyuan County and wants to take the county examination in Shangyuan County? How come he came to Jiangning to take the county examination?'
Xue Xiyang took part in the county examination for the first time. He didn't know that these inspectors were incompetent. He thought they had always conducted inspections like this. He was still confused: 'I heard that inspections in imperial examinations have always been hated by scholars. Why do I think it's nothing?
'
After passing the inspection, he walked into the county school and looked inside, only to see Jiangning County Magistrate Yue Zhongmian sitting high on a makeshift platform behind the gate.
The reason why the Xue family originally planned to let Xue Xiyang take the exam in Shangyuan County but suddenly transferred him to Jiangning County was because of the person who served as the county magistrate. Li Guan, the magistrate of Shangyuan County, is now recognized as a person with a bad reputation, and the Xue family is very
Worried that Li Guan admitted Xue Xiyang when his essays were not good enough to pass the exam, which would make his reputation controversial, he urgently moved Xue Xiyang's exam location to Jiangning County before the exam.
Looking to the right again, I saw that the seats in the examination room were temporarily arranged and set up in the open air. It is the time of autumn and the weather is neither cold nor hot, so the open-air examination is not uncomfortable, and it saves money compared to building an examination booth.
.
There was an exam number on the test paper he received earlier, and he followed the exam number to find his seat.
Putting down the examination basket, putting down the answer sheet and pen and inkstone, although Xue Xiyang did not place all his hopes of changing his destiny on the imperial examination like other candidates, his heartbeat still sped up a few minutes.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and calmed down to relieve his nervousness.
The sound of the three-way drum sounded, and Xue Xiyang woke up from his trance and opened his eyes. The "policeman" in charge of the county government's paperwork (counted among the patrol police) held a sign and walked back and forth in the examination room. On the sign
These are the questions for this county examination.
There are only two four-book questions in the county school examination, and since it is the first level of the imperial examination, as long as the county magistrate or magistrate is not a psychopath, he will not deliberately ask any difficult questions. Today's two questions are very common.
After Xue Xiyang saw the question, he took out a piece of good rice paper he had prepared and made a rough draft, and then started writing on the test paper without adding any details.
At about noon, Xue Xiyang finished writing two articles, carefully checked for typos, and got up to hand in the paper.
But when he walked to the examiner's seat, he looked up and saw that the person in front of him was not the county magistrate Yue Zhongmian he had seen this morning, but a man wearing a seventh-grade official uniform.
Xue Xiyang couldn't help but ask: "What did the county magistrate do?"
The seventh-grade civil servant in front of him also responded smoothly: "Magistrate Yue suddenly developed a high fever and had to go back to rest, so he handed over the matter of marking the county examination papers to me."
If any candidates who came to take the exam heard their conversation, they would be stunned and suspect that Xue Xiyang was cheating: One candidate actually asked what the original marking officer was doing, and the new marking officer actually answered very honestly. If any candidate would
After this incident was revealed, no matter how good Xue Xiyang's essays were, it would have been impossible for him to be admitted in the past few years, and the marking officer would inevitably be dismissed.
The two parties involved also discovered the problem immediately after the answer. Zhou Yuan, the county magistrate who replaced Yue Zhongmian as the examiner, immediately broke out in cold sweat on his forehead. He stretched out his left hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, looked around, and thought to himself: '
Fortunately, no one turned in the papers at the same time as Xue Xiyang, and the people around him were not county government officials. They were all just policemen. Otherwise, the official position that I finally got was lost. It’s so risky. These policemen are all from the police station, even if they don’t care about me.
, and I dare not offend Xue Xiyang.'
Xue Xiyang also broke out in a cold sweat. Usually when he saw an official of this level at home, he always said what he had to say. Today he said it smoothly. Fortunately, no one else heard him.
He handed in his papers, walked out of the county school, got into his carriage and immediately took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat.
Zhou Yuan looked at Xue Xiyang's paper in front of him, considered it for a moment, made up his mind, and wrote his own evaluation on it.
…
…
It is customary for county examinations and government examinations to release results on the third day after the examination. In the early morning of August 22, there was a crowd outside the county government office. Two to three hundred people had gathered waiting for the results of county examinations to be released. Xue Xiyang could have asked his subordinates
I looked at the list on his behalf, but he still came by himself.
The sun had just risen, and the gate of the county government opened. Two rows of policemen walked out of the ceremony gate. One of them held the list in his hand, walked to the screen wall in the gate of the county government, and posted the list on the screen wall.
Everyone rushed up to the screen wall, and countless eager eyes looked at the county examination results as if they were seeing countless money.
Xue Xiyang also looked over and saw three words written clearly at the top of the list: Xue Xiyang.
"Did I win? Or did I win the crime?" Xue Xiyang was knocked down by the huge surprise. Although this was only the smallest number one in the imperial examination, and his reputation was far inferior to the Jie Yuan, Hui Yuan, and Number One Scholars behind him, but no matter
No matter how you say it, it’s number one.
After Xue Xiyang congratulated each other with the students who had the same Chinese style around him, he left the gate of the county government office with a smile on his face and went home to announce the good news.
He didn't notice that countless people who didn't look like scholars at all also ran away from the county government after seeing the name of the head of the case.
…
…
"The Empress, Concubine Hui, and Mr. Xue passed the exam, and they also got the head of the case." A young eunuch said with a smile on his face.
"That's great, I'm really lucky." Xiyao patted her chest when she heard that Xue Xiyang had been hit, and Xiyi was about the same. When she heard that he had also been hit by the head of the case, she was even more happy and didn't know what to say.
.
After a while, Xiyao came back to her senses, picked up a bracelet beside her and said, "I will reward you with this."
The eunuch took one look and knew that this was carved from the finest jade and was priceless. He knelt down and said: "I am just a messenger, how dare you get such a heavy reward."
"If I give you a reward, just accept it. There is nothing wrong with it," Xiyao said.
The eunuch then accepted it.
After he retreated, Xiyao said to Xiyi: "I just hope that Yang'er can continue his efforts and pass the government examination."
