Chapter 125: Spring Examination (Part 3) Spring Examination (Part 3)
When the Spring Examination began, the entire capital became extremely lively. Not to mention the students competing in poetry and discussing talent, just the Prince's supervision, the Hanlin Academy came out in full force, the combined list of the north and the south, etc., each one of them was worth a long discussion.
Even many gambling houses in the capital city have opened their betting sites, taking a big look at this year's candidates and letting people place bets on who will win the title of champion in the end.
In the south, there are Meng Ting, Xu Zifeng, Bai Yu and others, and in the north there are Su Qun, Lin Yuye and others. Su Fengzhang is also a hot favorite.
Even the common people in the capital were talking about it, privately speculating about who would win the championship this time. Among them, Meng Ting and Su Qu were the most favored. The former's reputation as a talented and romantic scholar spread very quickly, and few common people didn't know him. The latter's reputation among literati was even better, and the Su family was a large family in Shandong and should not be underestimated.
In comparison, although Su Fengzhang won the painting competition against Su Juan, painting was not a compulsory subject in the imperial examination.
As the chief examiner this time, the prince was also particularly concerned about the popular candidates for this examination. He had learned about them before entering the tribute academy and had a rough idea of his own ranking in his mind.
Just as the southern scholars guessed, because of the existence of Concubine Xu and the Fourth Prince, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had a natural hostility towards the southern scholars. He always felt that these people were helpers of the Xu family. In comparison, the northern scholars who had always supported him were obviously much more lovable. He had even met Su Juan privately and was very satisfied with his talent.
During the first and second rounds of marking, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not say a word, leaving everything to the eighteen examiners. The eighteen people gave their scores separately, and the candidates finally selected were almost the same.
When the Crown Prince saw this, he thought to himself, "Grand Tutor Zhang and Grand Tutor Chu are getting older and more cautious now. Although the North-South combined list is troublesome, as long as no one cheats, it is a great opportunity to win people's hearts."
"Apart from anything else, with so many scholars present, there's no way the same thing as Gu Sanxing would happen again."
Who would have thought that when the third exam paper was handed to them, the examiners, who were originally calm, suddenly changed their attitude and became extremely picky.
The prince was not a fool. He knew where the problem lay after a careful look. Southern examiners preferred southern scholars, while northern examiners preferred northern scholars. After the last round of marking, the students would be ranked. At this time, the names had been removed, so the students' identities would naturally be known.
"I think this volume is excellent, written with great grandeur and a calm demeanor that is truly rare."
"Master Zhang is exaggerating. He may be generous, but he's also a bit too careless and not cautious enough."
"Master Li, what you said is wrong. Young people should have the youthful vigor and vitality."
"Being energetic doesn't mean being reckless. Such an arrogant person can't be down-to-earth. He needs to be suppressed."
Seeing the examiners arguing more and more fiercely, some even rolled up their sleeves, Chi Liangjun coughed and shouted, "What are you doing? You are examiners, not shrews. Are you going to be ranked based on your ability to curse?"
The person being scolded snorted coldly and said, "What do you mean, Master Chi? Master Chi is from the capital and is the chief examiner appointed by the emperor. If you have the order, I will naturally obey."
Chi Liangjun's face turned cold, thinking that this person was really tactless. But after glancing at the Crown Prince, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Since you are all dissatisfied, how about you all rank yourselves and take the middle score? Your Highness will make the final decision. How about that?"
As soon as he said this, the other examiners immediately agreed: "That's right."
They agreed so quickly that Chi Liangjun had the illusion that these people were waiting for him to speak.
Where Chi Liangjun couldn't see, several examiners looked at each other with pride. Since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was eager to do this offending thing, why should they stop him?
The originally noisy place became quiet. The prince nodded in satisfaction and smiled at Chi Liangjun. The latter gave up other thoughts and thought to himself that if others did it, it would offend people, but since His Royal Highness the Prince was the crown prince, it was a favor.
Chi Liangjun himself is from the north. Deep down, he believes that the lack of literary style in the north has been a problem since ancient times, and this is undeniable. Even though the Great Zhou Dynasty intended to support the north, it has only narrowed the distance over the years.
Without mentioning anything else, just looking at the situation in the literary world in previous years can tell us something. It is no exaggeration to say that there are more talented and romantic people in the south. When the Zhou Dynasty was founded, it took countless bloody lessons to force Emperor Taizu to divide the list into north and south.
Two days later, all the papers were ranked and placed in front of the prince.
Chi Liangjun explained: "Your Highness, this is the final ranking calculated based on the scores of all the adults."
He did not mention the disagreements during the scoring process. Deliberate high or low scores are common. It is difficult to blame people because there are so many people. Fortunately, the scores were averaged out in the end.
The prince nodded, then frowned when he looked down. "There's only one champion, why are there two first places?"
Chi Liangjun glanced at the examiners below. Now they all looked well-behaved, with no trace of the red-faced and angry expressions from before.
He could only reply, "What a coincidence! The scores of these two candidates are exactly the same, without any difference."
"Oh, is there such a coincidence?" His Royal Highness the Crown Prince laughed, obviously thinking of the lawsuit involved.
Other rankings are acceptable, but the first place is different. It is related to the face of scholars from the north and the south, so they did not dare to act on their own and instead kicked the ball into his hands.
The prince was not displeased. Instead, he felt that these people were quite sensible and knew that he should be the one to make the decision on this matter.
He lowered his head to look at the two papers, and indeed saw Su Qu's name on the first one. He immediately burst into laughter: "So it's the great scholar Su. He has always been talented and quite famous among scholars. It's no surprise that he ranks first."
Looking at the article again, Su Qun was quite capable, and his writing was beautiful. Thinking of the Su family standing behind Su Qun, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, not bad. His words are meaningful. He is a promising talent."
His bias was so obvious that several officials from the southern faction frowned slightly and exchanged glances privately, obviously very dissatisfied with the prince's behavior.
Chi Liangjun also coughed to remind the prince that even if he had a bias in his heart, he should not show it so obviously.
The prince finally reacted and looked at the second paper without changing his expression. He praised it at first glance: "Excellent handwriting."
After taking another look at the article, he found it was actually very good. If he were to say so, it was on par with any of Su You's articles. Even if he liked Su You more, he couldn't say that this paper was any worse.
It was no wonder that those people pushed this paper forward to compare with Su Qun's. The Crown Prince frowned slightly, and when he saw the signature, he was even more surprised: "Su Fengzhang, this scholar is not very famous."
At this time, one of the examiners, named Li, spoke up, "Your Highness, you are in the palace. You may not know that years ago, scholars from the north and south met in the Scholars' Building for a competition. At that time, Su Qu and Su Fengzhang faced off, and Su Fengzhang was the winner."
The prince's face changed slightly. If Su Qu had been defeated by Su Fengzhang, this would be difficult to do.
Fortunately, Chi Liangjun immediately added: "Master Li, what you said is not true. Su Fengzhang did win at that time, but the two scholars were competing in painting, which has nothing to do with the imperial examination. It cannot be taken as a guarantee."
Someone followed up and said, "That's right. Some talented and romantic men are good at painting and writing poetry, but they still can't pass the imperial examination for more than ten years, and in the end they can only make a living by selling paintings in brothels."
Lord Li said, "Those people are those people, and Su Fengzhang is Su Fengzhang. Putting aside other things, do you think there's anything wrong with his paper?"
"Yes, I have compared them in my mind. Although Su Fengzhang's writing is not as beautiful as Su Que's, it is down-to-earth and practical, like the work of a veteran official. It is truly rare."
Chi Liangjun stole a glance at the Crown Prince's face and added, "Both scholars' essays are very good, but Su Fengzhang is not well-known and has never produced any outstanding works. On the other hand, Su Qun has a good reputation and is more convincing."
Lord Li persisted, saying, "Lord Chi, that's not right. The 'Song of the Year Flower' that was all the rage last year was written by Su Fengzhang. How can you say he's never had any masterpieces?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the prince frowned. "Sui Hua Yin" was passed down from Qingzhou, and the Xu family's base camp was Qingzhou. The two concubines that the emperor loved most in the palace were also born in Qingzhou.
When the prince thought that Su Fengzhang was from Qingzhou, he felt disgusted and disliked the article he read. He felt that this person must be a person with a deep mind, otherwise how could he write such a sophisticated article at such a young age.
After hearing this, Chi Liangjun also shouted, "Master Li, what does writing a story have to do with the imperial examination?"
Lord Li suddenly shut up, lowered his head and said, "It is indeed irrelevant. Your Highness will make the final decision."
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince took a quick look and saw that all the examiners present were obedient. He picked up his pen and drew a red circle on Su Qun's paper. "Both of them are talented, but in my opinion, Su Qun is slightly better."
The final word was given. The examiners knew the prince's little thoughts, but they still agreed.
Just at this moment, a guard came in hurriedly and shouted: "Your Highness, it's bad, the Imperial Examination Hall is on fire."
The smile on His Royal Highness's face froze. "Why did the fire start? What happened?"
The guard, sweating profusely, kept saying, "The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Fortunately, only a few rooms on the east side were burned, and the fire has now been put out."
Chi Liangjun scolded, "Since it's already been put out, why are you making such a fuss?"
The guards were too quiet to speak. Chi Liangjun waved his hand and said, "Alright, it might be that a charcoal fire left by a scholar hasn't been extinguished. Send someone to patrol the examination hall. We can't let this happen again."
The guards obeyed and left, and Chi Liangjun said, "Don't worry, Your Highness. I will go out and inspect it myself later."
The prince nodded and didn't take it to heart.
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