Wang Chengwei and other scholars from Longyou first went to Shangshu Province to submit their travel papers.

The writings of the Tang Dynasty are divided into two categories. One is the collected works submitted to the court. In the early Tang Dynasty, the emperor and prime ministers would check these writings to select capable talents.

However, with the increase in the number of people taking imperial examinations, the emperor and court officials no longer had the time and energy to check these papers, so submitting the papers to the Minister of Finance became a process.

What can really be effective is another kind of scroll, that is, the scroll written by oneself and submitted to the important officials of the court.

The players who came to participate in the imperial examination naturally knew the importance of the script. They put the best poem they had "copied" at the front of the script and voted for it to the famous ministers in the court.

Next, go to the Ministry of Rites to verify your identity, and then decide on the subjects to take the imperial examination.

This is equivalent to the college entrance examination in later generations. You choose to take the liberal arts or science exam. The test questions for different subjects are also different.

After Wang Chengwei and other seventeen players submitted their application papers, they gathered at the Longyou Guild Hall to discuss the subjects they wanted to apply for.

Wang Chengwei did the most homework. He introduced:

"There are a total of six subjects in the Imperial Examination of the Tang Dynasty. Everyone should pay attention when registering to make sure there is no mistake."

"The first is the Xiu Cai Ke. This scholar is not a scholar from later generations. The Xiu Cai Ke exam in the early Tang Dynasty was the most difficult. Only a few candidates could pass it every time. It has now been cancelled. Many famous officials in the early Tang Dynasty entered the officialdom through the Xiu Cai Ke.

of."

"The most popular examination subject today is the Jinshi subject. The Jinshi subject can only admit twenty or thirty people each year. However, some statistics have shown that one-third of the prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty were born in the Jinshi. The Jinshi is the reserve army of senior bureaucrats who enter the officialdom.

The best way.”

"In addition to the Jinshi examination, the Mingjing examination is also one of the ways to enter the officialdom. After passing the examination, you can also be awarded an official position, and the number of people who pass the examination is more. When the subject is small, there are dozens of people, and when it is large, there are hundreds.

pass."

"But as everyone knows, those who pass Mingjing major will start at a lower officialdom than those who pass Jinshi. They will be discriminated against in the officialdom. Under the same conditions, promotion will be much slower than that of Jinshi."

"But there is no poetry test in Ming Jing Ke, and the difficulty of policy analysis is relatively low. If you are not confident in yourself, you can apply for Ming Jing Ke."

There is a saying in the Tang Dynasty that "a fifty-year-old Jinshi is a thirty-year-old Jinshi, and a thirty-year-old Mingjing is still young and promising", which means that a fifty-year-old Jinshi is still considered young and promising, but a thirty-year-old Mingjing is already older.

It can be seen that the difficulty of passing the Jinshi rank is far higher than that of the Mingjing rank.

The great poet Yuan Zhen of the Mid-Tang Dynasty and the poet Li He took the imperial examination in the same year, and the two were good friends before the examination.

Later, Yuan Zhen passed the Ming Jing examination and Li He passed the Jinshi examination. Yuan Zhen went to Li He's door to congratulate him, but Li He refused to open the door to receive guests.

Li He also told the people around him that he was a Jinshi and passed the imperial examination, so how could he lower his status to meet Yuan Zhen, a man who knew the classics and passed the imperial examination?

Later, when Yuan Zhen found out about it, he immediately broke with Li He. The two poets even wrote poems to ridicule each other.

This shows that Ming Jing Ke's background is indeed unpopular in the officialdom, and his career path is more limited than that of Jin Shi Ke.

Wang Chengwei continued to introduce:

"The examination content of the Jinshi subject is divided into three subjects, namely poetry, scriptures and practical strategies. Everyone knows this."

"There are also three exams in the Ming Jing Ke, which are classics, memorization and practical strategies. There is no poetry content, and the questions in the practical strategies are simpler than those in the Jinshi subjects. You can choose by yourself."

Now the players who were preparing to take the imperial examination were confused.

Although you can cheat, the Jinshi exam is divided into subjects.

The first subject of Jinshi subjects is poetry, and this poetry is not just written casually, it requires rhyming and contrasting.

You must know that although players can copy ancient poems, ancient poems for daily writing and ancient poems for exams are completely different.

Jinshike poetry requires five characters and sixteen rhymes, which is a five-character poem in twelve couplets.

If you don't meet the requirements, no matter how well you write, you won't be admitted.

For example, in the imperial examination in Luoyang in the ninth year of Emperor Kaiyuan's reign, Zu Yong, a candidate in Luoyang, wrote a poem on the examination paper:

Zhongnan has beautiful Yin ridges and snow-covered clouds.

The forest is showing its bright colors, and the city is getting colder at dusk.

These four lines of poetry were selected into the later "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty" and can be said to be a quite exquisite poem.

However, because he did not meet the examination requirements, Zu Yong failed to pass the Jinshi.

After that, Zu Yong wasted a lot of time. Fortunately, he was indeed talented, and he passed the Jinshi examination in the twelfth year of Kaiyuan.

You must know that the Tang Dynasty is too far away from modern times. The materials of the Jinshi Examination in the Tang Dynasty, the examination questions and the excellent works of the candidates have been lost in the long river of history.

It can be said that when it comes to writing poems for exams, players are on the same starting line as the indigenous people, and are even worse than those indigenous people who have studied ancient poetry for more than ten or twenty years.

Many player candidates have given up. The Jinshi Department admits twenty or thirty people at a time. The chances of admission are really too low.

Obviously, the Mingjing Keke, which only requires examination of classics and practical strategies, is a better choice for players.

Some players already made their choices silently, and Wang Chengwei continued:

"In addition to Jinshi and Mingjing, this time the imperial court also opened Mingfa, Mingzi and Mingshu. However, these exams are not the official path of the imperial examination, and the number of officials you can do in the future is limited. I suggest that you don't consider it.

.”

Everyone nodded. In the Tang Dynasty, Jinshi was the most important, followed by Ming Jing. Those who entered the officialdom through other ways were regarded as taking the wrong path.

To be an official in the Tang Dynasty, only the Jinshi and Mingjing subjects could go the furthest. These seventeen players who came to Chang'an from Longyou to take the exam finally came to the time of choice.

After reporting to the Ministry of Rites, seven players, including Wang Chengwei, finally chose to take the Jinshi exam.

The remaining ten players chose to take the Ming Jing Ke exam.

After all the players had made their choices, the imperial court began to seal off the Gongyuan. This much-anticipated imperial examination, the first after the new emperor ascended the throne, was finally about to begin!

For the people who came from Chang'an, this imperial examination was equally lively.

The world has not yet been peaceful, but the imperial court's resumption of imperial examinations has indeed given the people of Chang'an a sign that the world is peaceful.

The results of this imperial examination were discussed in the streets and alleys of Chang'an.

According to the past, scholars from Chang'an and Luoyang could account for 30% of the admitted scholars.

This is not only due to the prosperity of Chang'an and Luoyang, which makes the talents of the scholars in the two capitals higher than those in other states.

There is another important reason. There are many children of the rich and powerful who take the imperial examination in the capital. These children of the rich and powerful are more likely to pass the examination than those from poor families.

There are some proud people in Chang'an, and they are all discussing how many Jinshis there will be in Chang'an this time.

Some teahouses even opened bets to discuss how many of the candidates from the capital would pass the imperial examination this time.

In the Gongyuan, officials from the Ministry of Rites were cleaning the examination room and making final preparations.

Many of these officers were recruited after the restoration of Chang'an. Many of the old officials who were familiar with the imperial examination process were lost when Chang'an fell, so the imperial examination this time was much more sloppy than before.

The Gongyuan was simply renovated, and the examiners for the second year of Zhide moved into the wing rooms of the Gongyuan.

When Tong Zhongshu's family was in peace, Pei Mian, the Minister of Civil Affairs, personally took charge of the imperial examination, which was also rare in the history of imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty.

This also shows that the imperial court attaches great importance to this imperial examination. Allowing a current prime minister to serve as the imperial examination also elevated the status of the candidates who passed the imperial examination this time.

In previous Zhigongju exams, the minister of the Ministry of Rites was appointed as the minister, which meant that after passing the exam, the candidates would have a mentor to the prime minister.

Candles were lit in the tribute courtyard, and Pei Mian explained the final notes to the other examiners.

Pei Mian was the prime minister of the dynasty and also the examiner. Of course he would not grade the papers himself.

The people responsible for grading are young officials drawn from the Ministry of Rites, the Imperial College and the Yushitai. These grading officials have only one characteristic, that is, they are all officials with Jinshi and other grades.

Each examination paper must go through the hands of five markers. The first thing examined by the Jinshi Department is poetry. However, the markers do not examine the literary nature of poetry. They only judge whether the poetry written by the candidate meets the examination requirements.

, which meets the requirements of oblique and rhyming.

Only when all five marking officers have circled the examination paper can the examination paper advance to the next round and be sent to fellow examiners for reading.

[A book-chasing app recommended to me by an old book friend I have known for ten years, Yeguo Reading! It is so easy to use. I rely on this app to read and listen to books while driving and before going to bed. You can download it here www. 】

The fellow examiners are middle-level officials such as the head of the Ministry of Etiquette and professors of the Imperial College. They are also officials with Jinshi and other backgrounds.

The examiners will examine the quality of the poems and poems written, and five examiners will mark the papers at the same time. Each examination paper approved by the examiners will draw a circle with a red pen on the paper.

Under normal circumstances, only three rounds of examination papers can enter the third round, which is sent to the examiner Pei Mian for reading.

In the end, the only person who can decide whether to win or not is the examiner Pei Mian.

In addition, as long as the examination paper enters the second round, even if it is not sent to the examiner, the examiner has the right to withdraw it from the discarded paper.

This is also the reason why candidates have to write papers before taking the imperial examination. If they can leave an impression in the mind of the examiner, even if they do not pass the second round, the examiner will be able to fish out the examination papers and have one more chance of passing the examination.

Pei Mian explained the key points of the poetry and Fu exam, and after handing out the questions for the classics exam, he coughed and said:

"This imperial examination is the first since His Majesty ascended the throne. The questions on practical policy were chosen by His Majesty himself."

All the examiners and marking officers present knelt down, and only heard Pei Mian say:

"Your Majesty has said that this time the standards for poetry and scripture can be lowered in the imperial examination. The most important thing is the practical policy part. The imperial court needs to select a group of talents who can understand practical matters."
Chapter completed!