Chapter 1597: Master Zhao's Examination - Unfathomable
On February 11, after the first exam, the exhausted candidates left the Imperial Examination Hall.
As soon as the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall was locked, the Minister of Rites Ma Ziqiang, who was the chief and deputy chief examiner of this year's examination, and the Left Vice Minister of Rites Yu Youding, led the outer curtain officials to begin to cover the names, transcribe and proofread the papers step by step. They then affixed seals and personally escorted the papers to Feihong Bridge to be handed over to the inner curtain officials for examination.
It was already noon on the fifteenth day.
On the north side of Hongqiao, this year's chief examiner, Shen Shixing and Zhao Shouzheng, had already been waiting with the officials of the Internal Retraction Office for a long time.
This year's chief examiner is of a weak official position. It is the first time in many years that there is no Grand Secretary in charge, not even a Shangshu.
Fortunately, the combination of two champions is also acceptable. When grading papers, one should look at the academic level, not the official rank, right?
The two chief examiners, leading the eighteen examiners, have been in the examination room for seven days since the eighth day of the first lunar month. They have nothing to do all day long, so they hold all kinds of banquets and eat and drink at public expense, leading a very carefree life.
However, Minister Zhao seemed very tired. When he first entered the Tribute Hall, he looked exhausted. He basically just ate and slept, and lived like a pig for seven days. Only today did he look radiant again.
"Have you taken a break, bro?" Shen Shixing asked with concern.
Although Shen Zhuangyuan passed the exams two years earlier than Zhao Zhuangyuan, he is four years younger than Zhao Shouzheng.
There's nothing we can do about it. It's because our Master Zhao was a late bloomer. Shen Shixing became the top scholar at the age of 27.
However, in the officialdom, the first person to pass the imperial examination is usually the senior, and Shen Shixing called Mr. Zhao "brother" for Mr. Zhao's sake. As an official from Suzhou, he could not help but be connected with the Jiangnan Group.
"Okay, it won't delay the business." Mr. Zhao smiled embarrassedly.
"Brother, you are old, so you should not overwork yourself." Shen Shixing said with a double meaning.
"Alas, I have no choice." Zhao Shouzheng sighed.
Fortunately, the person delivering the boxes of papers had arrived, and this embarrassing topic for Minister Zhao could be put to an end.
The four bosses went up to the bridge at the same time and completed the handover formalities. The nine large boxes were then handed over to the Neishou Office.
After Shen Shixing and Zhao Shouzheng bowed to their two superiors again, they took the test papers down the bridge and went into the inner curtain to mark the papers.
Ma Ziqiang and Yu Youding stood on the bridge, watching the inner curtain door slowly close, with some envy in their eyes.
Alas, they haven't even been the chief examiner, not even the deputy chief examiner. It's really sad to think about it.
Yu Youding is easy to deal with. He is doing a favor for Zhao Shouzheng. He let him jump the queue, but he will make up for it sooner or later.
Ma Butang was in a miserable situation. In fact, according to seniority, it was his turn.
But there was no way. First of all, he was from Guanzhong. In the 200 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Guanzhong had not even produced a grand scholar. You can imagine how weak the Shaanxi Gang was.
In addition, the Shaanxi man was upright and often offended the powerful, so Ma Ziqiang offended Feng Bao.
The Zhengyi Zhenren of Longhu Mountain was demoted to a supervisor during the reign of Emperor Longqing and his seal and imperial edict were taken away. During the reign of Emperor Wanli, Zhang Guoxiang asked to be reinstated, but Ma Ziqiang refused. Zhang Guoxiang bribed Feng Bao with a large sum of money, and Feng Gonggong interceded for him, but Ma Ziqiang insisted that it was not possible.
Although Eunuch Feng later agreed to it with the emperor's order, he felt very embarrassed, so he interfered and got the emperor to reject his position as the examiner of the undergraduate program, which benefited Shen Shixing and Zhao Shouzheng.
~~
Without mentioning the two adults who were sighing in despair, let's just say that the two examiners returned to the "Jianheng Hall" with nine boxes of examination papers.
In accordance with the regulations, Shen Shixing led the examiners to worship the imperial edict and swear an oath. Then he had someone bring a lottery box and asked the 18 examiners to draw lots to decide which test papers to review.
"Brother Gongming, it's your turn." Shen Shixing saw Zhao Shouzheng sitting there motionless, so he had to remind him in a low voice: "Tear off the seal."
"Oh, okay." Mr. Zhao hurried forward, then stopped and asked in a low voice, "Do you want to tear up one box or all of them?"
"Tear it all apart." Shen Shixing said softly.
Mr. Zhao had never been an examiner before, and he had been sleeping for the past few days, so naturally he didn't know anything.
Fortunately, Mr. Zhao was a kind person, and his reputation as "timely rain" was well known in the official circles of Beijing. Officials in Beijing had a hard life and high expenses. Who didn't have a tight budget? Since Mr. Zhao returned to Beijing to serve as an official, everyone's life has been better.
If anyone was short of money, they could go to his house and sit down. They didn't have to ask for money. They could just chat and the butler would give them a gift when they left. There was no IOU. If they had money, they would pay it back. If they didn't, it was fine. It was very comfortable.
The examiners were mostly young imperial officials, and almost all of them had eaten and taken things from him.
So when he slept for seven days in a row, no one laughed at him. Instead, they tried to smooth things over for him, saying that he was trying to avoid suspicion.
Didn't Minister Zhao have many disciples taking the exam? He couldn't use this as an excuse to ask for recusation, so he could only pretend to sleep and avoid contact with everyone, so as to avoid people saying that he had connections.
The more everyone thought about it, the more they felt that this was the case. After all, Mr. Zhao was famous for being "confused"!
You see he is confused all day long, but he only seems confused, but he is actually clear in his mind. How can a confused official be the first in the country every year? No matter Kunshan or Chaozhou, the places he has been to have been turned upside down?
After entering the capital, working as a minister and working in the Ministry of Rites, there is nothing to be serious about. People are more confused, don't care about anything, be tolerant, and be kind to others! This is the wisdom of the high-level officialdom of the children of officials. They have become smart at this age because they have watched their fathers become officials since they were young.
So now seeing his confused look, everyone laughed secretly and started pretending again...
~~
After Zhao Shouzheng tore off the seal as instructed, Shen Shixing opened the lock and showed nine boxes of test papers. The examiner from Room 18 picked up the test paper he had drawn and sat back at his desk. He tore off the seal and placed a thick stack of red papers in front of him.
"Let's go back and sit down first. Just watch over the next few days. It will take them at least ten days to finish grading the papers." Shen Shixing led Master Zhao back to the hall and sat down. While watching the examiners at the eighteen tables grading the papers, he quietly explained the next procedures.
The internal supervisor sitting opposite and supervising the marking of the papers was Duke Ying, Zhang Rong. After the like-crazy Duke Cheng left, it was his turn to show off his face. Zhang Rong naturally turned a blind eye to the whispers of the two examiners, and would not write them into the report.
Shen Shixing told Zhao Shouzheng that each examiner would be given two to three hundred test papers. In order to be fair, each test paper would be reviewed by several examiners.
Therefore, each examiner had to review thousands of papers for the first round alone. They also had to read the candidates' papers word by word, find all the mistakes, and finally give comments with a green pen. The most important thing was not to make mistakes. After the results were announced, not only would the Metropolitan Censorate examine them, but the candidates would also
I will check my own papers.
If they were allowed to find mistakes, once verified, the examiners would be fined at the very least, or even lose their jobs at the worst, and the consequences would be very serious.
Zhao Shouzheng was shocked when he heard this. He could not do this job. Fortunately, he did not start as an examiner, otherwise he would be scolded to death by the candidates.
"Don't worry, our work is not that tiring." Shen Shixing hurriedly comforted him softly, "The examiner will recommend the paper, and we will discuss and decide whether to accept it or not. After both of us agree with the paper, you will write the word 'take' with an ink pen. I will also write the word 'pass' with an ink pen next to it, and then the paper will be officially accepted."
"Is that so..." Zhao Shouzheng breathed a sigh of relief and said softly, "Of course, the chief examiner has the final say."
"Brother, please don't say that. Let's take the responsibility together." However, Shen Shixing did not appreciate it and was determined not to let him give up.
Are you kidding me? It’s super difficult to be the examiner of this subject, okay?
Among this pile of papers, there are not only those of the two sons of Prime Minister Zhang, but also those of Lu Xingzhou, the son of Second Assistant Lu Diaoyang.
It was absolutely the first time that the three sons of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister took the exam at the same time.
Then the question is, should I take all or part of it? If I take it, what is the appropriate ranking? These are related to how the leaders will view me in the future!
Shen Shixing was a nun who was very thoughtful and thought a lot. It was no wonder that he thought too much, because after the organization decided that he would be the chief examiner of the undergraduate exam, the two university scholars had talked to him separately.
Mr. Zhang asked him to judge the case impartially and not give his two sons special treatment, as that would not only have a bad influence but would also be an insult to his two sons' ten years of hard study.
Bu Gu was so confident. How could he be so gentle without confidence? He didn't believe that his son needed to use a backdoor to pass the imperial examination!
But Shen Shixing couldn't figure out whether he really thought so or was just pretending. According to official rules, those who couldn't figure it out should follow the path that was most beneficial to the leader, so he still had to find a way to ensure that the two princes were selected, and the ranking had to be satisfactory to the leader.
Lu Diaoyang said it more clearly. He told Shen Shixing that he originally wanted his son to avoid suspicion and wait until he retired before taking the exam. But wouldn't that be like joining the army of Prime Minister Zhang? So he had to let his son take the exam, but he must not be favored. Whatever he did in the exam was what he did. Failure was not a bad thing. Just think of it as accompanying the prince to study.
Shen Shixing guessed that what Lord Lu said was true, but he couldn't be sure. When the results were announced and he saw that his son had failed, would Lord Lu still be so open-minded?
If he wins, he won't blame himself. If he doesn't win, he might still blame himself, so he might as well win...
This was the conclusion Shen Shixing came to after thinking about it for seven days. But the problem was that the two university scholars had no connections with him, and he didn't know what the three gentlemen's articles looked like.
Shen Shixing felt that Mr. Zhao was a relative of Mr. Zhang and must be familiar with the writing styles of the two young masters Zhang. How could he stay out of it?
He looked at Mr. Zhao, who was sitting there with his eyes wide open, and thought to himself, I don't believe that Mr. Zhang didn't tell you! You want to put all the responsibility on me? No way!
You must watch carefully for me and make sure that the two Mr. Zhangs will not fail!
Seeing Mr. Zhao nod slightly, Shen Shixing thought to himself, it seems he understands what I mean.
In fact, Zhao Shouzheng just sat there for too long and fell asleep...
(End of this chapter)