Chapter 280 The Wrestling Game of the B-Zi Roll

 “Your Majesty, Gu Bingqian, comes to see the Emperor.”

"Get up." Emperor Yonglong said lightly, discarding the red pen in his hand into the pen holder, and clapped his hands, "Give me a seat."

"Thank you." Gu Bingqian sat down sideways with anxiety.

“Are Shen Qing, Ye Qing, and Fang Qing all a little dissatisfied with my arbitrariness?” Emperor Yonglong looked relaxed.

"Everyone said that this question I asked was too biased and too profound. Well, of course I know, but I don't have such high standards. I don't expect this scientist to come up with any sophisticated answers like the Ministry of War or the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army, but I really want to see if any of the students here have some unusual ideas. Well, don’t just follow the rules and follow the rules step by step. If that’s the case, why do I need to take so much trouble?”

"Your Majesty has worked hard, and all the ministers and ministers in the court will understand." Gu Bingqian said quickly.

"Gu Qing, there is a saying in "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" that I very much agree with. Running water does not rot and door hinges do not get beetroots. The same is true in this court. If all the ministers are so obedient, it will be like this yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It's still the same. When asking about court affairs, it's all about the Guangyuan year and the Tianping year, so we should do the same. But now it's the Yonglong period, not the Guangyuan period, nor the Tianping period. In the former Song Dynasty, Linchuan My husband once said that there is no need to fear changes in nature, no sympathy for people’s words, and no respect for ancestors. I think these remarks are a matter of opinion. Whether they are correct and appropriate depends on the time..."

 Gu Bingqian felt sweat break out on his back. The emperor's words today seemed very touching and very targeted. He had a vague feeling about whom he was targeting, but why did he choose himself to say these words?

In terms of closeness, he is not as good as Zhang Jingqiu, in terms of prestige, he is not as good as Qi Yongtai, and in terms of change, he is not as good as Qiao Yingjia. Gu Bingqian is still somewhat self-aware. Although his articles are good and his poems are famous all over the world, this emperor has never been fond of poetry. , just because you know how to perform during the test?

Gu Bingqian didn't believe that the emperor's trust could be so cheap. There were so many people who wanted to serve the emperor, but he still couldn't be ranked among them.

After calculation, Gu Bingqian felt that he might be among these ministers, who were similar in all aspects, so he had to occupy a niche and be obedient.

 Is it wrong to be obedient? The emperor's decree is an imperial edict. If you have different opinions, you must swallow them.

Noticing that Gu Bingqian was thoughtful, Emperor Yonglong also looked more and more casual, a little pale and the fatigue from lack of sleep on his face seemed to have faded a lot, "Gu Qing, the difficulties facing the court are obvious to all, and we still need your love. Let's work together for this palace examination ceremony. I sincerely hope to select ministers who can make suggestions for me and solve problems for me, instead of rotten scholars who only know how to follow the old system and are helpless when faced with difficulties!"

Gu Bingqian was shocked and raised his eyes. Emperor Yonglong's eyes were particularly sharp. He stood up and kowtowed: "I will live up to the divine grace and die with all my devotion."

“Well, I know Gu Qing’s loyalty is unparalleled, but the government is becoming increasingly difficult, and Gu Qing and all the ministers in the court need to work hard to tide over the difficulties..."

When he came out of the palace, Gu Bingqian was still thinking carefully about the meaning of the emperor's words.

There is probably going to be another turmoil over the examination paper in this palace, but Gu Bingqian no longer has the anxiety he had during the previous examination, and he feels particularly confident.

Gu Bingqian believes that he is not the only one facing such a problem, otherwise the emperor would not have said just now that he and the ministers in the court should work together to achieve unity.

Who are these ministers? They can't be those from the cabinet, or people like Xiao Daheng and Zheng Jizhi, right?

Gu Bingqian thought coldly in his heart, but Gu Bingqian became more and more relaxed. The more the emperor relied on him, the easier his life would be in the future. As for the ministers in the court, it would be good if they could see the situation accurately, but if they couldn't see the situation accurately, then... It needs to be carefully considered.

  ************

When Feng Ziying finished the exam and handed in the paper, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon. At this time, candidates came out one after another, complaining about the tricky and difficult questions in this palace exam.

As soon as Lian Guo Shi came out, he met Feng Ziying. The two of them only looked at each other, but didn't say much. Then Wu Zong, He Feng Sheng, Zheng Chongjian and others came out one after another. Lian Guo Shi and Feng Ziying didn't mention anything at all. , so everyone understood it and never mentioned what happened that night again, as if it had never happened.

After all, students like Xu Xie, Han Jing, Luo Shangzhong, Cai Maode, and Song Tongyin did not benefit from this. If any one of them failed in the palace examination, it would be worse than those who fell to the bottom in the general examination. Knowing this, I'm afraid it will be difficult to resolve the knot in my heart.

Once the palace examination has passed, we only have to wait for the announcement of the results two days later.

Following the old practice of the previous Ming Dynasty, the papers will be read tomorrow and the papers will be read the day after tomorrow. Then on the third day, a grand ceremony of passing on the name will be held in the Huagai Hall and the imperial list will be hung.

According to the usual practice, the reading of the scrolls is presided over by the elder. All the officials of the Liubu Hall, General Secretary, and chief officials of the Dali Temple must participate in the reading. First, everyone will sort out the previous volume, which is about 120 to 130 volumes. The volume is basically determined to be the second-grade, and then the remaining is the third-grade. Then the elders select twelve volumes from the second-grade and focus on the three volumes as the first-grade, and hand it over to the Holy Judge.

More than a dozen people screened 380 papers, which was much easier than the joint examination. Moreover, the officials in these halls were all battle-hardened, and all of them were Jinshi. He himself came from that era. So I am familiar with this type of paper.

 According to convention, people divided into two groups must exchange scores with each other to prevent favoritism and omissions.

Gu Bingqian noticed that Zhang Jingqiu, Qi Yongtai, Chai Ke, Qiao Yingjia and others were basically divided into several groups to grade their papers separately. He also consciously did not grade papers with these people, so as to cover the entire scene as much as possible.

Soon Zhang Jingqiu's deep and powerful voice sounded: "Master Xiao, why was this paper deposed? In my opinion, even if this paper is not among the top thirty, at least it is good for the top fifty, why is it not? Put in second class?”

"This article is too entangled in details. I think there are some flaws in the arts and science..." Xiao Daheng is an old sly man. Seeing Zhang Jingqiu's question, he immediately attracted Qiao Yingjia's attention, so he changed his words: "Mr. Ge, why don't you give me your comment?" .”

The entire Dong Pavilion fell silent. There were controversial situations in this kind of grading, but it was rare to see such a tense atmosphere as Jinke, especially since the examination had caused huge controversy.

The dispute between the two big bosses, Fang Congzhe, the cabinet minister, and Gu Bingqian, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, went from locking up the courtyard to removing the thorns, and then there were a lot of discussions in the court, which had a very bad impact.

Ye Xianggao's face also darkened slightly. He was extremely disgusted with Xiao Daheng's behavior of blaming the blame. However, as the host of this grading, Chief Assistant Shen Guangyuan has always ignored this kind of dispute between the second and third places and will only be in the last place. Once the decision is made, he will be responsible for all other matters.

Ye Xianggao took the paper and read it briefly. There was not much that was surprising. It was just that when discussing the Japanese pirate invasion and Dongfan affairs in the East China Sea, it was slightly new. However, there was nothing wrong with putting the second volume. But if you look at this paper In terms of novelty, it makes sense to barely include it at the end of a volume.

At this time, it is most inappropriate to hesitate. Ye Xianggao made a quick decision: "Master Zhang, this article is not outstanding. It has some new ideas, but compared with other articles, there is still a gap, so Master Xiao's move is not Nothing wrong.”

"Oh? As for this volume, please ask the elder to review it." Zhang Jingqiu did not give up and quickly took out another volume that was also dismissed as two volumes by Xiao Daheng.

Ye Xianggao took a deep breath, took the paper and read it. It should be said that this paper was similar to the previous paper, slightly new, but not substantive. However, Zhang Jingqiu's posture made it clear that this time the marking would not be carried out peacefully. Went down.

Nodding, Ye Xianggao made a decision: "Sir Zhang, it seems that everyone has quite different standards for marking papers in this palace examination. Lord Chief Assistant, in the opinion of the following officials, can we mark each other's papers and list the papers with differences separately? , and then evaluate them one by one?"

Shen Yiguan was a master at blaming others, but he couldn't refuse. He nodded: "I will follow your advice and read the non-controversial papers first, and then decide on the controversial ones."

Once such a divergent standard was determined, the progress was fast, but the number of such papers increased rapidly. By the time the marking was completed, the number of such papers had reached more than thirty, far exceeding previous expectations.

 The focus finally turned to Shen Yiguan, who read them one by one with an expressionless face.

It should be said that these thirty-plus volumes can be directly deposed and classified as second-class, about twenty volumes. This is undoubtedly Zhang Jingqiu and others' deliberate use of this method to exert pressure, but for Shen Yiguan, he does not care about such things. It's commonplace.

"Master Zhang, I have read these volumes. Although the twenty volumes on the left often have new ideas, they are almost meaningless in general. They are all whimsical and not worth mentioning. They can be classified as second-class. These ten One volume can be discussed, and it can be ranked first, but the ranking should not exceed the top fifty."

Shen's consistent attitude is basically the final word. If we continue to entangle, I'm afraid both sides will suffer losses.

"Sir, Chief Assistant, among these eleven volumes, I have also read them, and there are differences among them. Among them, there are two or three volumes that Lord Gu recommended to me to read. I thought they should be between thirty and forty. ..." Qi Yongtai said calmly.

Shen Guanyi was slightly surprised. Qi Yongtai rarely interfered in this kind of matter. Why was he like this today? What is the difference between those in their thirties and those in their fifties?

 After a brief thought, Shen Guanyi selected three volumes.

The names of these volumes are all unknown, but they are no longer transcribed. Shen Yiguan had previously thought that among the volumes, they were more insightful and meaningful, but the discussion was a little thin. One volume was particularly outstanding, but its diction was straightforward and simple. , not in line with the current trend.

 “But these three volumes?”

Qi Yongtai took it and passed it by, nodding: "Master Chief Assistant Mingjian."

Shen Guanguan didn't say much and nodded, "Then let's go with Chengfeng's opinion. Do you have any other objections?"

Seeing that everyone had no objections, he decided on this.

Until the end of the evaluation, Shen Guanyi was still wondering what Qi Yongtai, who had never been successful, meant by this.

If he wanted to push these volumes into the first twelve volumes and submit them to the emperor, Shen Yiyi would never let him succeed, which meant that he might be selected into the top three. These thirty or forty names did not matter. acceptable.

 The only explanation is that Qi Yongtai may have seen the papers containing his disciples and wanted to get a good ranking for his disciples, but this does not matter.

Such trivial matters are found in every subject. This is also a tacit secret among the elders of the Pavilion and the senior officials of Liubu Hall. However, the premise is that you must obtain the approval of most of the reviewers. Small adjustments are just for the next step. Shujishi is just making plans.

This incident, which was originally thought to be difficult to unravel, actually came to an end, which surprised all parties.

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 (End of this chapter)