Chapter 22: Along the Dragon (1)

The chief officer took the papers and waited for the reviewing minister to sit down on the ground and began to divide the papers. The total number was 267 papers. After thirty-three rounds, three leftovers were added. The remaining three were to be troubled by the top three ministers and ministers.

There are certain rules for marking papers. First, the rating is fifth-class. The first level is called circle, which means drawing a circle; the second level is drawing a triangle called sharp; the third level is point (that is, pointing a clog that people often use nowadays); the fourth level is straight line; the fifth level is fork.

In the palace examination, the fourth and fifth grades are generally not used. The first three types of use also have regulations, which is based on the comments of the first minister to review the paper. The subsequent ministers cannot be evaluated more than the level. That is to say, when the first minister adds points (third grade) to the paper, the second minister can only draw a triangle (second grade), but cannot draw circles (first grade).

After reading the 33 papers in front of each person, everyone stood up and looked at the other people's answers respectively. This process is called turning the table - every minister has to read all 276 papers - after the work is done, it will be noon the next day. Then the eight people summarize and discuss the top ten papers. This is to be reported to the imperial court.

As usual, the Sanding Jia must come from the first ten books, so this is an extremely cautious thing. But this time, everyone held their own opinions and argued repeatedly for one of the papers, but it was not decided for a long time.

According to Qi Junzao's opinion, the student made a rebellious statement in the volume. If such a person is selected as the top scholar or the third tripod, he will be published in the world in the future, which will inevitably cause turmoil in the government. People in the world will think that the emperor is willing to change his course and change his previous laws, and make the policy of pursuing military and revitalizing people's livelihood as a major policy. This matter is very important, so it must not be listed in the top ten books.

Bai Qie, the Minister of War, was a Mongolian man. He was born with a disagreement in Jiangnan. He also agreed after hearing this: "I also have the same feeling, so I can use Pu Gong (Qi Junzao’s name is Chunpu)?"

It would be fine for others, but Zhou Zupei was unwilling to let go. Because of Chen Fuen's affairs, he was picked up by the emperor and pulled him into the Minister of Justice and joined the Military Affairs Office. Although he was a new recruit and ranked below everyone, he was also a top favorite in the court. He probably guessed that the original intention of the emperor's proposal was to come up with such a plan - of course, he could only say to himself in his heart. Since ancient times, he has been a death sentence. At this time, he said about this matter: "Duke Tao (Bai Jingtao, whose name is "Jingtao") is not allowed to agree with this. The emperor's personal writing to write a topic, and I think the holy intention also has the opportunity to let the scholars in the world speak freely. We should read the book, and we should first understand the holy heart and comfort the scholars. Or present the original book to the imperial court and ask the emperor to decide. Do you think?"

He took out the emperor's big hat, and who dared to refute it, nodded one after another: "Yes, yes, just as Brother Zhitai said, please beg the Holy Lord."

Therefore, this paper was added to the top ten papers, followed by the rankings of the second and third grades. The second grade "gives the Jinshi" and the third grade "gives the same Jinshi". The difference in this word is related to whether you can be a Shujishi and whether you can study in the Hanlin Academy. If you are the last twenty or thirty of the third grade, you can conclude that there is no hope of becoming a Hanlin. Therefore, Qi Junzao was particularly serious about the ranking at the end of the list.

The next morning, eight people gathered in the Yangxin Palace and presented the top ten papers, and specially put the controversial paper aside. The emperor took a brief look and did not have time to carefully evaluate it. He just counted the circles above. There were eight circles listed as the first place, and eight circles ranked second and third place. After reaching the fifth place, the number of circles was obviously reduced.

After reading the remaining nine papers, the emperor picked up the most controversial one, which had six circles and two triangles on it, but he didn't know which minister of the reviewing papers each belonged to. The other papers were fine, but this piece aroused the emperor's interest and admired them seriously.

The paper provides a very detailed explanation of the theme of "The pros and cons of Yancai River Engineering, how can we make a perfect plan?" It can be seen that the scholar has conducted real investigations or witnessed the disadvantages of Yancai River Engineering, and the words he wrote are incisive, without any concealment or reservation that is taboo by the venerable.

There is a passage in the article: "...Nanhe has three or four million yuan per year, and all the money is used, and only two or three of the treasury can be used to protect the security. Four or three of the treasury can be used in the book. In addition to the various departments, the rest will be provided to the court, socialize with relatives and friends, and send passers-by in the capital, and be transferred to the chief officer, thousands of generals, clerks, soldiers, and anyone with a duty to the river workers will be given to them."

In the eyes of the emperor, such words almost exceeded the scope of policy questions, but were impeachment written by local officials due to the corruption of the administration. He asked, "How did you discuss it?"

"When I replied to the emperor's words, the old minister thought that the scholar could not be judged. He said nonsense in the palace to ask for a question about a question and was extremely arrogant!" Qi Junzao immediately replied: "Therefore, the tribute scholar should be deposed on the grounds of unclear style and absurd words, and the student's province where he was located was to study and punish him strictly! He should serve as a warning to others."

The emperor has been in power for a long time and has become more and more experienced: "The question was written by me personally. It was originally for the scholars of the world to speak freely. Emperor Gaozong once said: "Don't blame people for words." What's more, if the poor scholars in the world studied hard for three years, they would be easily dismissed because of the violations in the text, which would definitely hurt the hearts of the people, and I couldn't bear it."

"The emperor is in charge of the heart of heaven and the people are at peace. I am impressed by the emperor."

"Besides, I see that the student's writing is not a big violation. The Yancai River Industry has a big problem. The pros and cons are to ask students to submit it according to the facts. They are from the people and are well aware of the suffering of the common people. They are also considered to be for me and to give advice to me as ministers, right?" He stopped and thought for a while, and made a decision in his heart: "In my opinion, the student's writing is not only not inconsistent, but also frank and frank, and thought-provoking! Even if he gives a top scholar, he will not be rewarded for excessive rewards!"

Speaking of this, the emperor picked up the ivory paper knife and gently picked up the paste on the roll. It was the Chongshi who no longer wanted to hold on to the idea of ​​Lun Yuanzhi! After carefully looking at the resume written on it, the emperor said lightly: "Why do you do this?"

Everyone was standing there blankly for no reason. The emperor handed over the paper, and Qi Junzao and others were also stunned: they felt worried.

Since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, in order to win over scholars all over the world, the palace examination of the Three Tripods and Armors was always the key points for the Han people. On the one hand, of course, it was because of political needs, and on the other hand, it was because the bannermen had a wider way to enter, either assuming titles or military achievements, and without any knowledge, he could become a minister of the department. Therefore, no one would have been in front of the emperor for such reasons.

But today, a top scholar from the bannerman appeared? What is this? Everyone looked at each other, and no one dared to take the initiative to make suggestions. So they looked at each other silently and had a rare deadlock.

After all, he was young and light, and could not calm down. Cabinet scholar Che Keshen said: "The palace examination is a great ceremony for talent. We should be judged by words. How can we distinguish between Manchu and Han territories?"

"No," Zhou Zupei agreed loudly, suddenly remembering that he was still in front of the emperor, and hurriedly knelt down: "I lost my etiquette."

The emperor did not speak anymore, nodded with satisfaction, picked up the pen from the imperial desk, and marked the word "Yuan" with a cinnabar red pen next to Chongshi's name. This was considered to recognize his identity as a disciple of the emperor.
Chapter completed!