Among the friends who once went to Beijing to take the exam together, only Wang Yuan and Jin Lei are left.
Tian Qiu of Sinan Prefecture was even worse. He returned to Guizhou after the examination in his hometown and parted ways with Wang Yuan in Guiyang. He fell seriously ill just after returning home. It was already the Lantern Festival after he recovered. How could he still have time to go to Beijing to take the examination? He might as well run away.
Go to Nanjing Imperial College to study.
In Guizhou's examinations, only Wang Yuan was left.
Yunnan is slightly better. In addition to Jin Lei, there is also a candidate named He Bangxian who passed the imperial examination.
He Bangxian and Jin Lei belong to the same hometown of Dali, but they were poor since childhood and studied with their uncle who was a businessman. His uncle was only a small businessman, so He Bangxian did not rent in Qingyun Street during the provincial examination, nor did he live with Wang Yuan or the others.
What exchange.
But at this moment, they have become acquaintances, and there are only three of them left in the Yunnan-Guizhou area.
Before the third watch, 350 scholars entered the imperial city from Chengtian Gate and gathered outside the Meridian Gate. At the same time, there were also hundreds of civil and military officials of the imperial court waiting here, many of whom were secretly yawning.
There are five door openings in the Meridian Gate, three at the main entrance and two at the side entrance.
The drum beats the three links, and the civil and military officials enter through the two side doors respectively. The 350 scholars, according to their ranking in the examination, will go through the left door in odd numbers and the right door in even numbers.
As for the three main entrances, only the emperor and empress could enter.
Of course, those who are ranked number one, number two, and number three can also go through the main entrance next time they enter the palace.
After all the officials and scholars entered the Meridian Gate, they all stayed at Jinshui Bridge, and they lined up according to their rank and ranking.
The royal guards blew their whips, and everyone crossed the Jinshui Bridge and arrived at the square in front of Fengtian Hall.
The cabinet members and the big bosses of the Sixth Ministry, Sixth Section, etc. continued to move forward to Danbi, which is the middle position between Fengtian Hall and the steps in front of the hall. Ordinary officials could only line up on the steps or square with the scholars.
At about dawn, Emperor Zhengde ascended to the palace. All civil and military officials kowtowed and saluted, while 350 scholars remained standing.
After the ceremony, all civil and military officials entered the Fengtian Hall.
The officials of the Ministry of Rites led the Chinese-style candidates to the place where the big bosses stood before, and arranged them on the left and right sides of Danbi according to their examination rankings.
The officials of the preface class of Honglu Temple, holding the sealed examination papers, descended from the left steps to the middle path to salute. Wang Yuan and other candidates for the intermediate examination followed suit and kowtowed five times and three times.
The civil and military officials retired from the court, walked among the scholars, and got off the throne in rows on the left and right.
"Chinese-style selection of people in Fu'an County, Jiangxi Province, Zou Shouyi!"
Zou Shouyi immediately left the queue, received the paper when entering, and walked into Fengtian Hall with his head held high.
"Chinese-style selection of people in Xindu County, Sichuan, Yang Shen!"
Yang Shen clasped his fists at the scholars on the left and right, and after receiving the scroll, he walked into Fengtian Hall with a smile.
"Guizhou Xuanwei Division Chinese-style candidate, Wang Yuan!"
Wang Yuan also clasped his fists at the scholars next to him and walked to the door to receive the scroll. There were "big Han generals" in full armor here. The first two people walked by without looking sideways, but Wang Yuan came over. The "big Han generals"
I couldn't help but glance at him.
Obviously, the name of the white-robed flying general Wang Erlang has even been heard by the "General of the Han Dynasty" who is on duty at the palace.
Wang Yuan walked into Fengtian Hall and looked around curiously, and at a glance he saw Zhu Houzhao sitting on the golden platform.
The Fengtian Hall of the Ming Dynasty was called the Huangji Hall after the Jiajing reconstruction, which was also the Taihe Hall of the Qing Dynasty.
However, the area of Fengtian Hall is much larger than that of Huangji Hall and Taihe Hall. This is because the area was reduced after being damaged by lightning and renovated.
The distance from the entrance of the palace to the emperor's throne was more than forty meters, and the sky was dimly lit at this time, so Wang Yuan couldn't see clearly what Zhu Houzhao looked like.
The exam table was arranged by Guanglu Temple, and there were candidates' name tags on the table. Wang Yuan quickly found his table.
Wang Yuan was particularly unlucky.
Because the exam desks were randomly assigned, Wang Yuan was placed in a corner. The palace was dense and the light in the corner was not good, so I couldn't see the words at all at the moment. I think it would be better after dawn.
The test paper is mounted on four layers of white rice paper and is divided into fifteen pages. The first six pages are used to write the candidate's information. After the paper is submitted, it must be sealed. The last nine pages are used to write the main text of the test.
Although Wang Yuan could not see Zhu Houzhao clearly, Zhu Houzhao kept staring at Wang Yuan with a smile on his face the moment he entered the palace.
Seeing Wang Yuan being placed in a corner, other scholars began to write their names and places of origin, but Wang Yuan could only slowly study the ink because the light was too weak. Zhu Houzhao gloated and laughed even more happily.
The sky was getting brighter and brighter, and Wang Yuan took up his pen to write his own message: Wang Yuan, a sixteen-year-old candidate for the Imperial Examination, was a member of the Guizhu Chief of the Xuanwei Department of Guizhou Province. He was a student of the Xuanwei Department of Guizhou Province, Ying Zhengde, who took the Gengwu Examination in Yunnan and Guizhou Township in the fifth year.
The mid-level examination was held by the mid-level examination of Xinwei Ke in the sixth year of Zhengde's reign. Today, in response to the palace examination, I would like to list the roles of the three generations below. The great-grandfather was loyal (not in office), the grandfather was en-en (not in office), and the father was full (not yet in office).
(official), they have been farming for generations.”
When the time was almost up, the test content was finally announced.
The title contains more than 500 words, roughly meaning:
"To start a business, we need military force, and to maintain success, we need literature. But soldiers and peasants are the same, civil and military are the same. What is the difference between the roles of civil and military? Throughout the pre-Qin, Han, Tang and Song Dynasties, the British masters were both civil and military. Although the world is safe, forgetting to fight will be dangerous, and governance will be dangerous.
What is the difference between the way of military service and the way of governing the people?”
"The Emperor Taizu of my dynasty was very powerful and made everything very well, so we had a hundred and fifty years of stability and prosperity. But now the scholars are unemployed, the people are hungry, and the refugees have turned into thieves; now there is insufficient taxation, and the people's strength has been exhausted.
"The military pay is not enough, the troops are lacking, and the rebels have not been eliminated. Did the civil and military officials do something wrong?"
"How can we avoid Wen Tian's military exuberance, how can we make the world stable, and how can we ensure the long-term peace and stability of our Ming Dynasty? Let the scholars tell us."
After the scholars got the questions, they were all a little surprised. The content of today's palace examination was too real. In the past, there were such false words as kingly principles and ethics. How could they ask about how to govern the army and the people?
But if you think about it carefully, as early as half a month ago, the rebels had reached a hundred miles south of Beijing, and now they are still running around in Henan and Shandong. This policy issue is obviously in line with the current situation!
More than three hundred Chinese-style lifters, at this moment, are collectively trying to catch people blind.
Wang Yuan was also scratching his head. This question was too big and could not be written in one day.
Fortunately, after Wang Yuan traveled through time, he didn't just read the Four Books and Five Classics. There were various historical stories in "The Thousand Character Classic" and "The Little Four Books". In Longgang Mountain, Wang Yuan also asked Wang Yangming for advice on current affairs and ills, and also read
A few messy historical miscellaneous books.
Many contents in the "Book of Rites" can also be quoted. Anyway, it talks about military affairs and peasant affairs in the past dynasties, and it can be answered by combining it with the high school history books before time travel.
I decided on the content of my answer and started writing for a while. It was almost noon.
The emperor sent someone to reward him with a bag of palace cakes, and he had tea and lunch.
There is tea in the alchemy room outside the palace. Scholars can drink it at any time and go to the toilet at any time. As long as you don't look at other people's papers and don't make a lot of noise, no one will care what you are doing. Just sleep in the toilet.
One night's sleep is fine.
Zhu Houzhao kept his temper and sat in Fengtian Hall until noon, then yawned and sneaked to the Leopard Room to play.
Wang Yuan came back from going to the toilet and found that the emperor on the golden platform was missing. He closed his eyes and lay on the examination table for a while, gathered his thoughts again, then sat up straight and continued to write blindly.
In the evening, night falls.
There are no candles in the palace examination. If you have a magical eye, you can continue in the dark. But this is not a fairy tale, and the candidates will hand in their papers one after another, and then leave the palace together in mourning.
Jin Lei looked sad and said to Wang Yuan: "The test questions are too difficult. I'm afraid I will only be ranked among the top three."
"I wrote it blindly too." Wang Yuan said with a smile.
Nonsense, who among the scholars who studied the Four Books and Five Classics assiduously would not write nonsense when faced with this kind of problem?