Chapter 170 169 Palace Examination

Wei Guangde's mentality was bad. He stood outside the Meridian Gate and thought a lot. He didn't know why he entered the Meridian Gate with the tribute procession.

When he came to his senses, he had followed the team to the outside of Fengtian Hall and stood on the west side of Danqi.

In front of them were the officials in green uniforms. They were not qualified to enter the Fengtian Hall, where only high-ranking officials could set foot.

But at this time, the door of Fengtian Palace was completely open, and Wei Guangde could still vaguely see what was going on inside.

After all the officials and tributes stood still, the minister of Honglu Temple, who was in charge of court etiquette, invited the emperor to ascend to the palace. As the ritual music played, Emperor Jiajing came out from one side in his robes and entered the Fengtian Palace. At this moment, the sound of a cleansing whip was heard in front of the hall. Voices.

"Pah, pah. pah."

After the emperor sat down, the officials and tribute officials kowtowed to Emperor Jiajing on the throne amid the chorus of the officials from Honglu Temple.

After that, Wei Guangde didn't hear anything that was said in Fengtian Palace from a distance. At the moment, his main energy was spent on adjusting his mentality.

Try to let yourself get rid of those emotions that came out of nowhere before. He should empty his mind and let himself be completely quiet.

As the words "Xuan Jinke's tributes go to the palace" came into his ears, Wei Guangde mechanically followed the others again, walked forward slowly, and stepped on the steps step by step.

At this time, Emperor Jiajing, who was sitting in the Fengtian Hall, looked at the three hundred tributes walking slowly, his eyes were a little dazed, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

Under the guidance of officials from Honglu Temple, Wei Guangde and the others were qualified to enter Fengtian Temple at this time.

Wei Guangde and the others' positions were regulated, and the tributes were required to keep enough distance between them until everyone was in position. Standing on His Highness, they once again kowtowed to Emperor Jiajing on the throne.

When the tribute students entered the hall, the civil and military officials in the hall had already consciously moved to both sides of the hall.

Although Fengtian Hall is large, three hundred people came in at once, and they were still packed to the rafters.

"let's start."

Seeing that it was almost done, Emperor Jiajing whispered to the eunuch next to him.

Immediately, the eunuch following the emperor unfolded an imperial edict with his hands and read it loudly with a high-pitched but penetrating voice.

"In the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Emperor Jiaxu, the imperial court of Jiaxu tested the system of tribute scholars in the world and said: I have established a king according to the destiny of heaven to lead the country, and I must have ministers who can help me with the affairs. This is the so-called neighbor. I urge Yao and Shun to defeat the saints without the help of great sages and great virtues. , how can the two saints work alone? I think the head of the ancients is really one, and the upper and lower parts are not as different as now. How can I regard my heart as my enemy? It is also for the people. I am ignorant of the wisdom of others. I want to know what I can do. If you see it, it will be beneficial to me. Don't hold back and don't deceive."

After the eunuch finished reading the imperial edict, Emperor Jiajing waved his hand. The eunuch put away the bright yellow scroll in his hand and walked down slowly, handing it to the promotion officer of this palace examination. This is to award the strategic questions, and the promotion officer will place the strategic questions. On the policy proposal in the middle passage of Fengtian Hall.

The emperor has issued the policy question, and the next step is for the tribute students to answer it. However, before that, Wei Guangde and the others were guided by the officials of Honglu Temple to once again bow to the emperor on the throne with five bows and three kowtows. After the ceremony, Get up and stand.

The Ming Dynasty's five bows and three kowtows are the rites of the emperor and his ministers. The first four of the five bows are all for worshiping the head, and the last one is for three kowtows. They are all taken from the nine bows of "Zhou Rites".

As for the three-kneel-and-nine-kowtow ceremony that the people say, it was actually used by emperors to worship heaven, but it was abused by later dynasties.

In just ten minutes, Wei Guangde had knelt down three times. He began to think seriously about whether it was good or bad to stay in the capital and serve as a capital official.

"Let the exam begin."

On the throne, Emperor Jiajing looked at this year's tribute scholars. In a few days, they would transform into Jinshi and become disciples of the emperor.

He has been sitting in this position for more than thirty years. After more than ten palace examinations, he no longer had the initial feeling that "all the talents in the world have fallen into my trap." He looked at His Highness's tributes indifferently.

He must attend the palace examination, the country's talent promotion ceremony, and at least go through the basic etiquette.

However, Emperor Jiajing could not sit still at this moment. He might still think it would be better to go back to Xiyuan for a ritual ceremony, so he wanted to end these tedious procedures as soon as possible.

After he finished speaking, the eunuchs who had already been prepared came forward with a small table in the order that had been arranged. Behind them, there were people holding pens and inkstones and began to distribute them.

After the eunuchs finished their work, the officials of the Ministry of Etiquette began to distribute the question papers. Each person had twelve papers, no more, no less. They were all given to them by the printing officer last night after checking and printing.

The title paper is mounted on rice paper and is extremely elegant. Each page is 40 centimeters long and 12 centimeters wide. There are red lines and straight grids. Each line has 24 words. Each word must be written neatly.

Candidates knelt down one by one to receive the question papers and began to answer questions at their seats.

"The head of state is really one body, and the top and bottom support each other."

This question was beyond Wei Guangde's expectations. At this moment, he was silently reciting a passage he extracted in his mind.

Before that, Wei Guangde had always thought that the questions asked by Emperor Jiajing would either solve the problem of Tatars in the north or the Japanese pirates in the south, or at the worst, solve financial problems and contribute to his career of cultivating immortals. However, Wei Guangde really did not expect that the questions asked by the emperor would be it is this.

The holy edict has said before that in ancient times Yao and Shun had great sages to help them, and the credit was not given to the two sages alone, but to everyone.

Is this going to start emphasizing "the monarch and his ministers are of one mind"?

Could it be that Emperor Jiajing had already discovered that the officialdom was corrupt, the party struggles were intensifying, the administration of officials was seriously damaged, and gradually out of the emperor's control.

Therefore, the emperor reflected his strong demand for clean administration and harmony between the emperor and his subjects in the policy questions.

Wei Guangde did not start answering the questions immediately after reading the questions, but started thinking.

In fact, most of the candidates did not answer the questions immediately at this time, but were thinking about what the policy essays meant.

The palace examination was different from the previous provincial examinations and joint examinations. It did not look at literary talent but at solutions.

A large part of the palace examination results depended on the candidates' understanding of the intentions of the questioner and how to answer. If they answered the right direction, they would be outstanding and their rankings might be improved.

Inadvertently, Wei Guangde secretly raised his head and glanced at the person on the throne. Although he was wearing a crown and his face was blocked by the crown tassels hanging in front of the crown board, Wei Guangde could still vaguely see the face of Emperor Jiajing. He had a long face, a high forehead, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a beard that was okay, but not a big beard.

The crown on his body also "carries the sun and the moon on his shoulders, and the stars on his back". Wei Guangde couldn't see these things clearly, but they were all said in the book, so he thought they were correct.

Hmm?

Wei Guangde suddenly felt very strange, and he seemed to see a meaningful smile on the corner of the emperor's mouth.

However, Wei Guangde's heart tightened immediately afterwards, and he felt that his eyes seemed to meet someone's.

Yes, although he wanted to leave, he couldn't get up and leave immediately at this time. Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houcong was also sitting on the throne and looking down at the candidates below.

Some people were already grinding ink, and more were still thinking there.

This time, Emperor Jiajing was also on a whim. Now the candidates like to guess the emperor's mind. In fact, not only the candidates, but also the ministers under his command are like this.

The people all think that the court is troubled by the southern Japanese and northern barbarians, and most of the officials know that the court is financially tight. I think the candidates below have the same mentality. They should bet in this direction when they predict the topic, but I just don't agree with your wishes.

Thinking of this, Emperor Jiajing let out a playful smile, and then he found that a guy near the entrance of the hall was secretly looking up at him.

As the emperor, Emperor Jiajing would naturally not argue with him, after all, he was almost his disciple.

Moreover, given his position, he was probably only in the top three, and it might be impossible for him to come here, to the Fengtian Hall, in the future.

Emperor Jiajing was not a fool, on the contrary, he was extremely shrewd.

He was familiar with the routines of the officialdom, including various unspoken rules.

However, what was the use of knowing, some things were already established facts, and even he, as the emperor, could not change them.

As for the little guy who was peeking at him, Emperor Jiajing saw it very clearly. He was not very old, estimated to be less than 20 years old, and was quite conspicuous among a group of tribute students who were mostly in their thirties and forties, and his face was too tender.

On a whim, Emperor Jiajing put away his smile, but did not frown, but nodded gently at him.

Well, even he himself didn't know what his action meant, so Wei Guangde in the audience naturally couldn't understand it.

Before in the capital, he had heard a lot of gossip, saying that Emperor Jiajing liked to write some notes that normal people couldn't understand and handed them to the cabinet whenever he had something to do, so that they could guess. Wei Guangde felt that it was as mysterious as possible.

Well, now that Emperor Jiajing had given him an action, he didn't understand what it meant for a while.

However, the palace examination procedure had come to this point, and Emperor Jiajing felt that it was almost done. He nodded to the eunuch Huang Jin beside him, and then stood up and left the Fengtian Hall. After the emperor left, other officials who had nothing to do with this palace examination also left one after another.

Because during the palace examination, naturally no eunuch would shout "retreat from the court". Even when high-ranking officials and nobles left the Fengtian Hall, they were cautious and tried not to make any noise. The censors and the examiners were still watching covetously.

Wei Guangde didn't understand the emperor's little action, but now he had already started grinding ink, and it was not good to be dazed all the time.

The name, place of origin and other information are written at the beginning of the paper. This is a common practice. Every time the imperial examination begins, it is like this. After a while, it needs to be sealed.

For the policy essay of the palace examination, Wei Guangde was still trying to figure out whether to flatter the emperor or flatter the emperor. Finally, he thought of several options and chose a flattering method, and then he started.

"I heard from you that the emperor governs the world. He must do his best to govern the world. He must get the key to being an official before he can enjoy the comfort of the world."

This is the format of the policy essay. Everyone has to write "I heard from you" at the beginning, and then his own discussion.

At first, it is still a big truth. The emperor who rules the world must have a way to select people in order to achieve the governance of the world; he must get the skills to manage officials in order to enjoy the comfort of the world.

After that, it is the significance of selecting talents. Wei Guangde dared not write casually, but pondered the answer several times in his mind before he dared to write it on the paper.

This was a waste of time. Although the palace examination lasted only one day and would last until the afternoon when the sun set, the papers would be collected and the candidates' answers would end.

Although it was only a thousand-word policy essay, it consumed Wei Guangde's brainpower.

Even if he had thought about what to write later, Wei Guangde had to write carefully when he wrote the question paper. Perhaps because he was beaten too much when he was a child, Wei Guangde was not very confident in his calligraphy until now.

Even though he was already a juren and a gongshi.

During the whole process of answering questions, except for the invigilators, patrol officers and other examination officials, all other officials had left, including the examiners and other irrelevant deacons. The examinees could only wait outside the hall. After all, the examinees usually handed in their papers in the afternoon. When the examinees handed in their papers, they would come in and collect the papers according to the process.

After thinking for a long time, Wei Guangde wrote about 200 words. At this time, he smelled a strong fragrance. Lunch is here?

Wei Guangde sniffed hard and looked over. It was outside the hall. I don’t know what delicious food I can eat at noon?

Wei Guangde thought so in his heart. His thoughts were a little messy, so he simply stopped writing. He continued to think about how to write later and waited for lunch to be delivered.

It’s not that Wei Guangde is greedy. After all, it’s food in the palace.

But when their lunch was served, Wei Guangde frowned. There was no fragrance of food he smelled before, just two steamed buns and a bowl of soup.

Just this, they were sent away?

The examiners in the hall had already started to take turns to go out for lunch. Well, Wei Guangde knew that all the good food had been eaten by them.

Wei Guangde had no choice but to eat this little food. It was too simple and too little, and it was not enough for his usual meal.

He wanted to raise his hand to ask someone to send some more, but seeing where this place was, he gave up the idea.

After eating and resting for a while, Wei Guangde continued to write.

But Wei Guangde didn't know that on the way back to Xiyuan, he was accidentally asked by Emperor Jiajing again.

Well, the little guy who looked up at the emperor during the palace examination was very interesting to Emperor Jiajing.

There were many Jinshi who peeked at the emperor during the ceremony, but it seemed to be the first time that they looked up secretly during the palace examination. Emperor Jiajing asked the eunuch beside him inadvertently.

There were some things that he, the emperor, could ignore, but the eunuch beside him could not be unaware of.

There were also rules for the positions of the tribute scholars. They all stood according to their rankings and could not make mistakes.

Emperor Jiajing could only roughly judge that Wei Guangde's performance in the examination might not be very good based on his position, but he didn't know exactly how many places he would get.

After the emperor asked, Huang Jin, the eunuch who had served beside him for a long time, did not speak, but looked at Chen Hong on the side. He was more familiar with these things in the outer court.

After listening to the emperor's question, Chen Hong thought about the position and age mentioned by the emperor, and roughly guessed who that person was, so he smiled flatteringly and said to Emperor Jiajing: 'Your Majesty, the person you saw should be Wei Guangde. He is the youngest among the tribute scholars, and he is only seventeen years old this year. '

"Oh, no wonder he is so brave, it turns out that he is a young general who fights for me."

Emperor Jiajing just nodded slightly, "What is the performance in the examination?"