Rise From the Humble

When Zhu Ping'an and the others were taking the second exam, the examiners also started to get busy. ⊙,

In fact, after the first exam, at five or six o'clock in the afternoon the next day, the first batch of one hundred sealed examination papers had been delivered to the examiners, and then five more were delivered. More than a thousand examination papers. On the seal of the red scroll, there are also different words "South", "North" and "Middle".

South, North, and Middle. These three different words indicate the source of the test paper. To put it simply, it is the place of origin of the candidates. The quality of candidates in the Ming Dynasty was different. Approximately, candidates from the south had the strongest imperial examination ability, while candidates from the north had poorer ability. If the origins of middle school students in the north and the south were not distinguished, it is very likely that all the tribute scholars admitted this year were from the south. In order to be fair and take care of students from the north, the Ming Dynasty specially created the system of origin of high school students in the north and south. The admission ratio was roughly 55% from the south, 35% from the north, and 10% from the middle school.

While Zhu Ping'an and the others were taking the second exam, the examiners had already started marking the papers.

The place where the examiners mark papers is in the "Zhigong Hall" of Shuntian Gongyuan. The Zhigong Hall is behind Mingyuan Building, with outer curtains on the east and west sides. This is where the inspection and inspection officials of the examination room work. Behind the court hall is the inner curtain, where the examiners live, and the examiners' offices are also here, so naturally the papers are graded here.

In order to remind the examiners at the Zigong Hall to be fair and responsible, a couplet was hung outside the Zigong Hall, highlighting the difficulties faced by the candidates, and warning the examiners to make good use of their grading rights, truly select talents for the country, and not to bend the law for personal gain. .

"I have worked hard to come here for three years, but I have the heart to sell it. If I am not impartial, I will be happy if I do it. If I make a mistake, I can't be without resentment. Resentment will lead to slander."

"I hope to sit in this hall all my life and be good at the knowledge of empty groups, but be extremely cautious. Then you will gain quickly, and you will not be ashamed if you lose."

In the Zhigong Hall, after the first Zhujuan arrived, the chief examiner Xu Jie and the deputy examiner Yan Maoqing led eight fellow examiners. Arriving under the portrait of Confucius in the inner curtained hall of Zhigong Hall, Xu Jie and Yan Maoqing each burned three sticks of incense and inserted them into the incense burner under the portrait of Confucius. Then they led the examiners to kneel three times and kowtow nine times under the portrait of Confucius. A big gift, this has been a tradition for many years before marking.

Xu Jie was at the front, followed closely by Yan Maoqing, and the other examiners arranged themselves in order according to their positions.

"Select scholars impartially for the country, the country, and the country, without favoritism, without asking for help, and without accepting bribes - if you fail to do so, the gods will die together."

Xu Jie and other examiners stood under the portrait of Confucius, facing the portrait of Confucius, and swore an oath to the sage Confucius. These words are all fixed and recorded in the Ming Dynasty ceremony, and they are just carried out step by step. After the oath was completed, Xu Jie led the examiners to the inner curtain, and left the remaining procedures to others to complete, such as burning incense, paying tribute, etc. Others performed them one by one according to the usual practice.

After the pre-marking procedures are completed, the drawing of lots begins. First, the chief examiner Xu Jie and the deputy chief examiner Yan Maoqing draw lots. The chief examiner draws lots, and the deputy chief examiner draws lots for the test papers. Then, based on the draw results, it is decided which bundle of test papers will be assigned to which group. Room review.

The examiners drew lots and distributed the red papers. Each examiner distributed about 500 red papers, which all contained test papers from different regions of "South", "North" and "Central". The three types of test papers were divided according to the admission ratio. The recommended papers The papers should also be recommended according to the proportion, 55% for south, 35% for north, and 10% for middle.

"Everyone, even if I don't say it, everyone should know the importance of this examination. Everyone must also see the importance the Holy Emperor attaches to this examination. The Qing Ci in the second scene is the Holy Emperor's will. Therefore, just now we vowed to take the initiative."

Xu Jie said as he glanced at the examiners one by one. Xu Jie, a good old man who always had a smile, was rarely serious at this moment.

"Otherwise, be careful about your wealth and life! The Holy Emperor cannot tolerate sand in his eyes! Don't blame me for not reminding you when the time comes! Okay, I believe that you are all fair people, so let's start recommending papers."

Xu Jie finished. He waved his hand, indicating that the examination papers for this meeting had officially begun.

The grading of the general examination is the same as the grading of the township examination. They are recommended by the same examiner, and the chief examiner decides whether to stay or not. The co-examiners first circle the papers that they think are good, and recommend the papers to the deputy examiner. After receiving the recommended papers, the papers will go to the deputy examiner, and the deputy examiner will mark the papers, and then the chief examiner will mark the papers. If the test paper is not recommended, the examiner needs to write a comment on the test paper, and write out the reason why he did not get the recommended paper. Similarly, if you recommend papers, the examiner should also write down the reasons for recommending papers. In addition to recommended papers, there is another type called high recommendation, which means that the same examiner is so surprised after reading the paper that he thinks the paper is very good, so he will recommend it to the deputy examiner.

After getting the recommended papers for the test papers, it does not mean that you will be admitted, and the deputy examiner and the chief examiner have not passed the two tests. After recommending the paper, the test paper reaches the deputy examiner. If the deputy examiner feels that the test paper is well written, he will write the word "take" on the test paper, and then hand in the test paper with the word "take". Give it to the examiner. If the examiner is also satisfied, he will write the word "中" on the test paper. The two examiners combined together will be the word "中". When a test paper reaches this time, you can congratulate the high school student. .

The examination time is only about twelve days. In these short twelve days, each examiner has to read more than 500 papers. The cumulative number of papers for the three sessions is nearly 1,500. In such a short period of time, it is almost impossible to read all the papers for each session. Therefore, it gradually came to be that only the first test paper, that is, the "four books" that every candidate must write, was focused on, and the answer papers of other tests were not paid too much attention.

Of course, with the exception of this examination, they also have to pay special attention to the second test paper, because this test paper contains Qingci questions written by Emperor Jiajing.

While the examiner was busy reviewing the first test paper, the second test was already over. This is the last exam left in this conference.

The test questions of this last exam were issued under the expectant eyes of all the candidates, and the nightly prayers of the candidates were not in vain. At last, this last exam was not as messy as the second exam. This exam The test was the same as before, and it was also a test of the Five Classics and Histories.

The five questions in this exam were also quite satisfactory, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. After working hard to conceive Qingci, the candidates can finally breathe a sigh of relief and start answering the questions step by step.

The same goes for Zhu Pingan. The only difference is that he has one more mask than other candidates. Of course, he also has a historical understanding that surpasses them for hundreds of years, which is very helpful for the economics and history questions. If you stand high, you can naturally see far; if you can see far, you naturally have an advantage.

While Zhu Ping'an was working hard on his last exam, three large ships came to Tianjin Port along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, which is mainly used for water transportation and commerce.

"Miss, where are we? Why are there so many ships? Wow, that ship is so big!"

A little maid with steamed buns appeared on the high pavilion of the big ship pavilion. She looked at the ships that were several miles away in front of Tianjin Port and pouted her mouth in surprise.

"It's rare and strange. That's a sea ship. This is the Tianjin Guard. Ships from all over the country carrying water to the capital all pass through here." Another beautiful girl appeared on the high pavilion of the ship pavilion, holding a book in her hand. The little maid tapped her forehead lightly and said coquettishly.

"Tianjin, aren't we about to go to the capital? Miss, I wonder if my uncle has finished the exam." The fat little maid of Baozi covered her forehead with her hands, her big round eyes sparkling.

"Who has time to care about that toad?"

The beautiful girl pursed her cherry lips and said angrily, then closed the scroll with her slender hands, and walked down the pavilion.

Inside the scroll, a small corner of a well-collected Wensiquan Yongfu appeared.