Mei Ruochu, Mu Erpang and others were of course a little nervous, but compared to the others, they had the advantage of knowing Shangshu Wang and knew that he was particularly approachable, so they appeared calm and composed.
There was no need for them to discuss anything, as they stepped forward in tacit understanding according to their ranking in the examination.
Just like the Deer Ming Banquet after the previous provincial examination, Minister Wang also had a box at hand, from which he randomly drew questions for them to answer.
However, there is one difference. This time, the questions cannot be assigned to anyone that Minister Wang wants. Instead, you have to answer whatever question you draw.
Minister Wang drew questions for the six of them in turn, and then gave them a quarter of an hour to think.
Mei Ruochu drew a historical essay question, which was quite tricky. The title was "Zhuge Liang did not have the heart of Shen Shang but used his tactics, while Wang Anshi used the reality of Shen Shang but avoided his name."
This "Shen Shang" refers to Shen Buhai who assisted Han Zhaohou in his reforms and Shang Yang who made Qin State stronger through reforms.
The meaning of the whole sentence is that Zhuge Liang did not have the intention to reform like Shen Shang, but he used their methods. Wang Anshi was actually carrying out great reforms, but he was reluctant to be mentioned in conjunction with these two people.
This question asks about "reform", and there have always been different opinions on Wang Anshi's reform - some people think it was successful, after all, it consolidated the court's rule to a certain extent. Some people also think it was a failure, and some even believe that it was this reckless reform that left the biggest disaster for the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The question itself is not easy, it can be used as the finale question in the imperial examination on history and essay.
What is even more difficult is that the current emperor had just thought about implementing reforms, but was stopped by a group of old ministers.
The scale of this is up to the candidates to decide for themselves.
This question was exactly the most difficult one in this re-examination, and he was the first one to be drawn. However, apart from his luck, he had no weaknesses. When the question came to him, it only took him half a quarter of an hour to sort out his thoughts.
Mei Ruochu advocated implementing reforms when the country was confirmed to be weak, but as to how to implement them, he needed to learn from history.
In order to save time for everyone, and since he no longer needed to hide his edge at this juncture, he was the first to finish answering the question after he thought about it.
He calmly quoted from classics, listed in detail the deeds of Shen Shang, Zhuge Liang, Wang Anshi and others, and expressed his views one by one without pausing for a single word.
Such a wonderful opening made the smile on Minister Wang's face even warmer.
Shen Aoshuang, Mu Erpang and Wei Xi followed closely behind. Their topics were much simpler. Shen Aoshuang wrote a poem on the spot, while Mu Erpang and Wei Xi answered the Four Books.
After the four of them finished answering, Wei Shu and Cui Fei had also thought of the answers to their own questions.
Although the answers were inferior to those of the previous four, especially Cui Fei's answer, in comparison, it was at most a passing level.
But Minister Wang did not blame him. Instead, he looked at him as if he was a little embarrassed and gave him an encouraging look.
With the six of them leading the way, the other candidates who were unfamiliar with Shangshu Wang also knew that he was approachable, and they were not so nervous anymore.
Later, Shangshu Wang divided the candidates into groups of twenty and tested them from the morning until the afternoon, finally concluding the re-examination.
Finally, before everyone left the palace, Shangshu Wang and other officials from the Ministry of Rites spent nearly an hour teaching them about etiquette.
When it was getting dark, before the palace doors were locked, the candidates left the palace along the same route.
Only after leaving Suzaku Street where the imperial palace was located did the silent procession begin to hear voices again.
However, everyone had been highly focused the entire day and had no food in the palace, only steamed buns and soup, so no one was in the mood to chat. Only the tribute scholars who were familiar with each other either traveled together or said goodbye and went home.
Mu Erpang and the others also let out a long breath at the same time.
Cui Fei spoke first, "We answered the questions the earliest today. I was not idle afterwards. I listened to the answers of the other candidates and took a look at them. No one gave a particularly outrageous answer or could not pass the test. The same group of people will take the palace examination later."
This result was not surprising, because anyone with some physical disability, unlike Wei Xi who was lucky enough to have all the necessary medicines and strong willpower, would have performed poorly in the "toilet monster incident".
The number of candidates who passed the imperial examination was nearly a hundred less than that of the previous exam, which also proved that the chief examiner Pang Ci Fu would rather have no candidates than have unqualified ones, and did not randomly select unqualified candidates to fill the numbers just because many candidates performed poorly.
The number of people is already so much less than in previous years that Minister Wang and other officials from the Ministry of Rites will not easily dismiss people.
As they were talking, everyone from Cuiwei returned to the academy. After a night's rest, they reviewed their lessons as usual the next day.
In a blink of an eye, it was March 15th, the day of the palace examination, and they got up before dawn.
This time they were going to the palace to meet the emperor, so Chen Cui had already prepared brand new robes for them.
Because a large number of shopping points will be credited to her account soon and clearance is imminent, Shen Cui did not skimp on the shopping points. She designed them in her mind after purchasing directly from the system mall.
The style is the simplest straight stitch, and orchids representing Cuiwei Academy are embroidered on the chest and cuffs.
After the boys put on their clothes, they all looked high-spirited and imposing.
Shen Cui looked at them one by one, and finally stood in front of Mu Erpang.
Before she knew it, six years had passed since she traveled through time, and her fat son had changed from a little chubby boy who only knew how to eat and sleep, into a well-educated, handsome young man.
Just one step away from success, Chen Cui was filled with emotion, but in the end she didn't say anything, she just smoothed out the tiny wrinkles on his clothes.
The palace examination also starts in the morning and the papers must be handed in in the afternoon. You can stop to rest in the middle and a simple meal will be provided.
In addition, there was no rule that prohibited going to the toilet, but in a place like the palace, one had to be accompanied by palace servants when entering and leaving, and the emperor would also be present - although he would not stay there all day, he would go to other palaces to rest, eat, or do other things, but his holy carriage was always there.
Even the most tactless person would not go to the bathroom frequently during this time, but would rather hold it in for the whole day.
Therefore, before the exam started this time, Shen Cui bought some medicine in the system to reduce their desire to defecate for them to take.
They hadn't drunk much water since the night before.
After getting up and dressing, everyone felt a little thirsty, but they only dared to drink a little warm water to moisten their mouths, eat some dry food, and then leave the academy together.
The palace examination requires entering the palace again, and the process is slightly more complicated than the previous re-examination. Not only does one have to be searched, but one also has to go through various rituals and etiquette such as roll call, distribution of papers, praising the rules, and bowing.
This time, the body search also does not require people to take off all their clothes, but if they are found to have smuggled items, they will be taken out and beaten to death.
It has come to this point. Unless there are huge mistakes in the palace examination, at worst the candidate will be a fellow Jinshi. So no one will risk losing their head to cheat.
After completing a series of procedures, the candidates were divided into two teams, with those with single names in one team and those with duplicate names in the other. After the division, they would fight according to their ranking.
So Mei Ruochu led one team and Wei Xi led another team, and they followed the palace servants to the desk in the hall.
More than 200 desks were neatly arranged in one place, separated only by an aisle.
It seemed to be the exam with the loosest records, but it was under the emperor's nose, and there were many palace guards with high martial arts skills and sharp-eyed and clever palace maids around.
On average, almost every tribute scholar had two people guarding him. It also eliminates the possibility of cheating.
Not long after they stood still, Emperor Xihe arrived.
After the whip was cracked, the eunuch sang "The Emperor has arrived", and all the candidates knelt down and saluted to welcome him as they had been taught by the officials of the Ministry of Rites.
Soon, Emperor Xihe sat down on the dragon throne at the top and said calmly, "All the tribute students, please stand up and take your seats."
Everyone stood up and sat in their examination seats.
Mei Ruochu and Mu Erpang were sitting in the first row because of their good rankings. They were so close to Xi and Di that they could even hear his breathing.
They thought Emperor Xihe's voice sounded particularly young, and of course they were a little curious about this emperor who was of the same age as themselves, but according to the rules they were not allowed to look up, so they just watched with their eyes wide open and waited for the papers to be distributed.
Mu Erpang ranked third in the examination, so he naturally sat in the middle of the first row.
As early as the county examination, he had taken the exam under the nose of the chief examiner, but the pressure from the emperor and the county magistrate was incomparable.
So his heart couldn't help but beat faster, and he couldn't help thinking that the environment of the palace examination was very good, spacious and ventilated, but it would be better if he could bring his own luggage in like in the previous exams.
If he lights a stick of incense prepared by his mother at this moment, he will definitely get twice the result with half the effort.
After being distracted for a while, Mu Erpang finally calmed down.
He still did not raise his eyes to look at Tian Yan, but only used his peripheral vision to observe his surroundings - Chen Aoshuang was still dozing with his arms folded and eyes closed, as usual.
Wei Xi was also looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and seemed a little nervous.
He could not see Mei Ruochu who was further away, but Mei Ruochu had always been the one with the best mental quality among the few people, so no one needed to worry about him.
As for Wei Shu and Cui Fei at the back, they were far away from the emperor, so they should not be too nervous.
Mu Erpang and Wei Xi quickly exchanged encouraging glances, and neither of them paid attention to looking at others.
The test papers will be distributed soon.
The beginning of the palace examination paper is the same as that of previous examinations, where candidates are asked to write about their place of origin and the resumes of their ancestors for three generations.
After writing all this, I will get to the point.
There is usually only one main question, but the stem will be much longer than the previous one, usually around 200 to 300 to 400 to 500 words.
Since the question stem is so long, the answer written by the candidates is naturally required to be longer, about 2,000 words.
Writing a 2,000-word policy essay in one day is not a difficult task for a candidate who has passed this test.
The difficult part, of course, is to write well, so well that it stands out and is remembered by the emperor.
Although it has been mentioned before that the ranking in the joint examination generally corresponds to the ranking in the imperial examination, there are of course exceptions every year.
After all, the emperor is the ruler of a country and his power is very great.
Many tribute students who were not good at history and theory but good at writing policy essays tried their best to improve their ranking at this time.
Mu Erpang took a deep breath and began to look at the questions:
'The emperor governs the world and spreads governance. We must focus on the basics, cultivate good conduct, and promote good morals. So that the people value grandeur... care about the dependence of the common people, and only focus on agriculture and sericulture... and education is not flourishing. Ordinary scholars pursue empty reputation but do not study hard. The false and the hypocritical people incite each other...the scholars are accustomed to the gains and losses of the people's livelihood and are familiar with them. They all expressed what they had learned to contribute to the enrichment of education. '
The title is indeed very long, but the meaning is not difficult to understand. Mu Erpang quickly extracted the key words - agriculture and education.
Then his policy essays were naturally written around the theme of "encouraging agriculture and sericulture, and promoting education".
After having a direction, Mu Erpang felt calm and prepared to start drafting on the manuscript paper, but he inexplicably felt that someone's eyes were always on him.
He did not subconsciously look for that sight, because he knew that Shen Aoshuang and Wei Xi beside him must be concentrating on reading the questions and would not look around at this time.
Mu Erpang couldn't help but wonder if he was too nervous and was overthinking it?
After all, answering the question is the most important thing. Mu Erpang closed his eyes, no longer paying attention to the vague gaze, picked up the pen, dipped it in ink, held his breath and began to draft.
The author has something to say:
Note: "Zhuge Liang had no intention of using Shen Shang but used his tactics, while Wang Anshi used Shen Shang's reality but avoided his name" is a real question from the imperial examination
The policy questions are also real questions, and are quoted here after deletion and modification.
The original title is longer: "The emperor governs the world and spreads governance. He must focus on the basics, be kind and virtuous. So that the people can follow the great cause and benefit the people.
When will the Yong wind move? This is the upper principle. Lian Yanghe Tianbed. Inherit the great cause of our ancestors. Working day and night. The period is to ascend to Zhilong. Thinking of the dependence of the common people, agriculture and sericulture are the most important. But I still feel that there is still a lot of open land in the wild, and little storage in the house, and I am still not able to provide enough food for my family. There will be many people who are not idle and pursue nothing. But those who hold the plow and hoe are sometimes weak. The imperial edicts to exempt rent were issued repeatedly. The order of Xinghuang was issued at that time. Those who are in charge of starting things have always been like this. The result is that the main business is not weak. There is no greater virtue than filial piety, and no more important integrity than integrity. The Han Dynasty had a system of filial piety and integrity, and its laws were still relatively recent. Since the accumulation of frivolous habits, few of them have the conduct of an insider, and the taste of a scholar is only that of an ordinary person. Now, if we want to make them restrain themselves and sharpen their moral principles, how can we do that? Education is not flourishing. Generally speaking, scholars pursue empty reputation but do not study hard. To incite each other with falsehood. In the hearts of people. Everyone is warned to be vigilant and aware of their own mistakes, to be sincere and get rid of falsehood. What method can be used to achieve this? There are pure customs in the countryside and many upright people in this dynasty. Concealing one's feelings and disguising one's appearance, fostering bullying. Filial piety, brotherly love, hard work in the fields will lead to good customs. This theory can be generally referred to as soft. Erdoshi weighs the past and present. As for people's livelihood, scholars are accustomed to the gains and losses and are familiar with them. They all expressed what they had learned to contribute to the enrichment of education. ”
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