Volume B Chapter 187 Jane in the Emperor's Heart (First update please vote!)
In the Fengtian Hall, Emperor Yonglong was sitting on the throne, looking down at the front, "Qing Shen, gentlemen, have you finished reading the volume?"
"Reporting to your Majesty, the papers for the Chunwei Palace Examination of Dingweike in the fifth year of Yonglong Year have been completed, and the preliminary agreed results have been released. Please His Majesty's Holy Judgment." Shen Yiguan came out and bowed his hands in salute.
"Well, bring it up. I also want to see how talented this scholar is." Emperor Yonglong smiled, his eyes lingering on the faces of His Highness's examiners, "I hope you won't disappoint me too much."
Shen Yiguan's heart tightened. Before he even read the papers, could he have already predicted that the papers in this subject would be difficult to meet the holy will?
A chamberlain had already presented the twelve volumes that he had prepared, and Emperor Yonglong began to read them ten lines at a time.
All the readers in the palace looked at each other in confusion, aware of the hidden meaning in the emperor's words, but they didn't know what it meant.
Emperor Yonglong first read the first three volumes, which were the first three volumes recommended by the cabinet. Generally speaking, Sandingjia is these three volumes.
After the thirty-second year of Yuanxi, there were no changes, including the spring of the second year of Yonglong in Shangke.
However, before the 32nd year of Yuanxi, there were precedents where the emperor changed the rankings and asked for more examination papers and selected the Three Tripods from among them.
All in all, everything is decided by the emperor, but generally speaking, the changes will not be too big. It is impossible that all the candidates for the Three Tripods proposed by the cabinet will not be selected. Those cabinet elders really have no choice but to kneel down and beg for your Majesty's resignation. .
Emperor Yonglong briefly read the three volumes. It should be said that they are all excellent works. There are also quite new ideas in them. After all, these are the top talents selected by more than a thousand elite students in the Great Week. If they are not of a certain standard, they will naturally not be placed on the list. Come before yourself.
Nodding slightly, Emperor Yonglong still had an unexplainable meaning in his heart, and then continued to read the next nine volumes. This is the spare volume. There are also some remarkable works in it, but overall, it is not as good as the previous three volumes.
It took half an hour to read them one by one. The number of words in each paper was very small and was limited to less than a thousand words. This was also a test of the students' writing skills and strived to be concise and incisive. Emperor Yonglong would naturally not be like the paper readers when marking papers. In this way, he considers every word and evaluates every sentence. He is more concerned with whether what he says is meaningful and gets to the point.
After reading the twelve volumes, Emperor Yonglong was still unfinished, "Shen Qing, please read the twelve more volumes for me to take a look at."
Shen Yiguan was slightly startled. This kind of situation was rare, but he had already prepared for it. He slightly raised his hand and motioned to the person next to him to bring over the twelve volumes he had prepared.
Emperor Yonglong read these twelve volumes much faster. They were almost the same and not as good as the previous twelve volumes. This also made Emperor Yonglong a little disappointed.
These papers were all anonymous, and even the emperor could not open them and read them, so after a slight hesitation, Emperor Yonglong said: "I am in good spirits today, so I will read twelve more volumes and send them over."
Shen Yiguan felt a chill in his heart. This was because the emperor was not satisfied with the grading of this subject.
Reading thirty-six volumes, I dare not say that it has never happened before, but in the Great Zhou Dynasty, I am afraid that only Emperor Taihe, the most diligent Taizu at that time, had ever read the highest number of seventy-two volumes, but that was also at the beginning of the founding of the country. That's how you use your talents.
Since Emperor Taihe, only a handful of emperors have read twenty-four volumes, and Emperor Yuanxi has never exceeded twelve volumes.
Taking a deep breath, His Majesty the Emperor still wanted to read twelve volumes, so Shen Yiguan had no choice but to signal to the people below to take out the top twelve volumes immediately and present them to him.
This time the situation was slightly different. When he read the next few volumes, Emperor Yonglong obviously read at full speed. He read two consecutive volumes over and over again before finally stroking the volume and contemplating it.
All the ministers of His Highness looked at each other in astonishment. They didn't know what the emperor meant by this, but they didn't dare to disturb him. They could only calmly hold their breath and wait for the emperor's decision.
"Well, Shen Qing, if I think this volume should be ranked among the top three, what do you think?" Emperor Yonglong raised a volume in his hand and said with a smile: "I was listed as the thirty-third one by all the ministers, but I I feel that apart from being a bit poor in diction, his words are very thoughtful and thought-provoking. I wonder why the ministers are so stingy about letting him be among the top twelve?"
A slightly cold gaze passed over the faces of all the important ministers, but Shen Yiguan remained expressionless and just replied calmly: "Your Majesty, I have to review them one by one based on their diction. This is also I would like to give my advice to the scholars all over the world, and strive to select a volume that will convince millions of scholars all over the world.”
Shen Guanyi became particularly tough at this time. He wanted to defend his dignity and rights as the chief minister and the head of civil servants!
In the past two or three years, he has become accustomed to keeping a low profile and biding his time, but now he knows that he has no choice but to retreat, so he has made up his mind to resign and become an official as soon as this spring is over. And the current emperor also has this intention, so why should he stay in love? go?
Thinking of this, Shen Yiguan became particularly relaxed. His old eyes, which were originally a little cloudy, became gleaming. He slightly cupped his hands and looked straight ahead.
Being resisted by Shen Yiguan's toughness was extremely uncomfortable. At this time, Emperor Yonglong did not expect that the chief assistant, who had always been accustomed to being quarrelsome, suddenly seemed to be a different person. After suffocating slightly, his expression remained unchanged, but He took a deep breath and nodded: "Shen Qing's intention is also reasonable, but it seems that my intention is too impatient. It doesn't matter, this volume can be included in the top twelve, well, one, three, and so on. See!"
After saying this, Emperor Yonglong took the ink pen and wrote on the three volumes. Then he dropped the ink pen and said, "I am tired. If nothing happens, please leave!"
Before any of the shocked ministers could react, Emperor Yonglong got off the throne and walked away, followed by a group of internal servants who hurriedly trotted away.
Shen's face was always calm and remained the same, "Congratulations to Your Majesty!"
When the emperor's figure disappeared, Shen Yiguan smiled calmly and said, "Well, this Spring Festival event has come to an end. You still have to work hard all night at the Ministry of Rites today, and tomorrow you have to go to the Huagai Hall to write the results. If you spread the seal and use it, everyone will be liberated."
Ye Xianggao, Fang Congzhe, Zhang Jingqiu, Qi Yongtai, Qiao Yingjia and others were all dissatisfied and slanderous towards Shen Guanyin. At this time, they could not help but feel excited and gave a big gift to show their respect and support. Only Xiao Daheng and Gu Bingqian were a little bit cautious. He hesitated, but seeing all the officials acting like this, he could only bow his head and hand over his hand.
If Shen Guanguan did not dare to uphold the emperor's previous actions, then the prestige of the cabinet and the emperor would be gone. I may not be the chief minister, but the rights and responsibilities of the chief minister and the cabinet cannot be usurped! This is the responsibility of the head of civil servants.
What Shen Yiguan did today is actually equivalent to setting the most standard demonstration to his colleagues, that is, those who may step into the position of chief minister in the future. Scholars and civil servants should do this!
*******
When Feng Ziying and others were once again introduced to wait outside Fengtian Hall, they knew that the fateful moment had finally come.
Everyone was holding their breath in fear, but their ears were perked up, waiting for the final roll call from the deacon.
When the deacon placed the list in the Danchi Royal Road, all the Jinshis knelt down.
A group of people held their breath and waited for the last moment.
"On the fifteenth day of the third month of the fifth year of Yonglong, we will test the tributes from all over the world. The first one will be awarded the title of Jinshi, the second grade will be awarded the Jinshi background, and the third grade will be awarded the same Jinshi background."
The deacon's voice was particularly loud, and the entire Danchi Royal Road was silent. Only his voice echoed in the empty square.
"The first-class and first-place Gongshi in Yongcheng, Henan Province practice state affairs!"
When practicing national affairs, my heart was surging, and even my eyes were so wet that I couldn't see the surroundings clearly. I could only hold back the ecstasy, excitement and excitement in my heart, and walked out of the queue tremblingly. Someone had already taught them the relevant etiquette knowledge, and they knew they needed to leave the class. Kneel down and kowtow to thank God.
Feng Ziying and other Qingtan students couldn't help but secretly shout, "No. 1 Scholar", and he is the No. 1 Scholar in Hui Yuan, winning two prizes in a row!
This is enough for Lian Guoshi to write a special note in the history of imperial examinations in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
"The first and second place is Huang Zunsu, a tribute scholar from Yuyao, Zhejiang!"
…
"The first and third place is Yang Sichang, a tribute from Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture!"
Feng Ziying saw Yang Wenruo stumbling out of the queue out of the corner of her eye. She was obviously overly excited and knelt down on the ground to thank her.
…
"Second and first place, Xu Xie, a tribute scholar from Tong'an, Fujian Province!"
She didn't expect Xu Xie to be so tall, which surprised Feng Ziying. She didn't need to go out of work, she just had to kneel down and thank her.
"The second and second place is Wang Qiaonian, a tribute scholar from Yanzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province!"
I don't know this Feng Ziying. He should be from the academy in Jiangnan, the same as Huang Zunsu who came in second place.
…
"Second and eighth place, Gongshi Hou Xun from Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture!"
I didn't expect that Hou Xun could get such a high score in the exam. He is worthy of being one of the most influential figures in Chongzheng Academy.
"Second and ninth place, tribute scholar Feng Keng from Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture!"
Feng Ziying's blood surged in her head? Was it really herself? Yes, it was herself!
How could it be possible that the birthplace and name are the same?
But this is the ninth place in the top two? Isn’t it too high? It’s completely beyond imagination. All kinds of thoughts and questions flooded into Feng Ziying’s mind like a tide, but at this time, the energy turned into a mechanical kneeling action, thank you.
What follows is a long wait for roll call. After you have finished singing, you still have to wait for others to finish singing one by one.
Of course Feng Ziying didn't care much about other people, but of course he paid attention to the classmates he was familiar with. Suppressing the chaotic thoughts in his heart, Feng Ziying listened carefully to the rankings of other classmates.
Not surprisingly, Song Tongyin and Luo Shangzhong both ranked second, ranked 38th and 55th respectively, and Fang Zhenru ranked second and 109th.
Fan Jingwen was undoubtedly the most surprised, ranking in the top 97. There was also another surprise for He Fengsheng, ranking 118 in the top 2.
The rest of the students can only be ranked in the top three. For example, Zheng Chongjian is ranked top 268, and Fang Youdu is ranked 335. Both of them have been greatly improved compared to the previous rankings in the examination.
This roll call continues until the last person kneels down.
The official of Honglu Temple, Danbi Zhong, knelt down and delivered a speech: "God has opened up the destiny of literature, and the virtuous and handsome have ascended to the mediocre. It is appropriate to celebrate!"
All civil and military officials and a group of scholars who had been awarded the imperial examinations bowed five times and kowtowed three times before leaving.