Chapter 101 Where is Xiao Heizi?

Chapter 101 Where is Xiao Heizi?

Chapter 101 Where is Xiao Heizi?
The palace examination is the last exam in the entire imperial examination process and also the most glorious one.

Also known as the "Imperial Examination", "Court Examination", "Court Interview", etc., it was one of the imperial examinations during the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Only those who passed the examination could participate.

Its origin was created by the empress Wu Zetian in the Luocheng Hall of the Ziwei Palace in the capital city (Luoyang), so tracing back to the source, the palace examination began in the Wu Zhou period.

The palace examination was more practical, and only tested policy questions. Candidates entered at dawn, went through roll call, paper distribution, praise, and salutation, and then the policy questions were issued. The policy questions were generally very long, about 300 to 500 words.

Taking the Guisi Examination in the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign as an example, the policy questions asked by Emperor Hongzhi that year were as long as 354 words, the same as a short reading comprehension essay.

On the day of the palace examination, the emperor would drive to the Fengtian Hall and order the Grand Secretary or the Minister of Rites to be the examiners of the examination papers.

Then the palace examination will be conducted according to the established etiquette.

The palace examination lasts only one day. The papers are handed in at dusk and are kept by the officials who receive, manage and seal the papers.

On the day of marking the papers, they were divided among eight or ten examiners, each at a table. They took turns to read the papers and added five kinds of marks: "○", "△", "\", "1", and "×". The paper with the most "○" was considered the best paper. Then, from all the papers, the ten with the most ○ were selected and presented to the emperor.

The emperor would personally designate the first, second, and third place on the ten palace examination papers based on his personal preference, and they would be named the top scorer, the second place, and the third place.

These three are the so-called "first class", which can be called "Jinshi Jidi" or "Sandingjia".

A number of people in the second class, accounting for one third of the admitted candidates, are called "Jinshi Chuan". The first place in the second class is called Chuanlu. A number of people in the third class, accounting for two thirds of the admitted candidates. Finally, the list filling officer fills in the list and announces it.

On the 15th day of March, at the request of the Cabinet and the Ministry of Rites, Emperor Jiajing drove to the Fengtian Hall and personally visited the palace examination venue. As the Son of Heaven, he supervised the examination of 320 "tribute scholars" who had been selected through the joint examination.

No matter what the results of these 320 tribute scholars were, they would be called "disciples of the emperor", enjoy the treatment of Jinshi graduates, and reach the peak of their lives from then on.

When Emperor Jiajing arrived at the dragon throne in the Fengtian Hall and sat on it, all the officials and 320 examinees knelt and cheered under the guidance of the ceremonial officers.

Emperor Jiajing remained calm and silent, like a god.

Huang Jin, standing beside the dragon throne, spoke for God.

Huang Jin opened the imperial edict and read: "The Emperor of the Mandate of Heaven, I decree: I believe that a ruler must have merits and virtues. My Taizu Gao Emperor and Chengzu Wen Emperor had divine merits and virtues that were unrivaled in ancient and modern times. The successive emperors inherited their wills and narrated their deeds, each reaching their peak. The reason for this is that I have inherited the throne. The students of Tudi Zhipingzi have come here to learn Taoism and arts, and they all have ambitions to contribute to the world. There should be those who can assist me. Please explain them in detail, and I will follow their instructions."

The topics of the palace examination were issued by the imperial edict. After listening to the edict, the 320 candidates carefully concentrated their minds and thought about their drafts, wanting to put their brilliant talents and ambitions into writing so that His Majesty the Emperor could see their literary talent and extraordinary essay skills.

At the same time, officials from the Ministry of Rites began to distribute the sealed test papers that had been prepared long ago to the examinees one by one.

After receiving the test papers, the candidates continued to work on their thoughts. Only after they had a rough idea of ​​what they were going to think of did they start writing down their thoughts on the draft.

After finishing the mental draft, the candidates will start to check the article word by word to see if there are any typos, taboo words that were not noticed in time, incorrect allusions, etc.

If they find any errors or omissions, they will mark them or modify them immediately, and then check them several times to ensure that there are no mistakes.

These candidates would meticulously copy the draft policy essays in the Taige style onto the official examination papers.

Emperor Jiajing sat on the dragon throne, his eyes slightly closed, his expression indifferent, as if he was in a trance. But after such a long time, even Emperor Jiajing, who was good at meditation and cultivation, could not stand this boring waiting.

Emperor Jiajing moved, and Huang Jin immediately leaned over to wait for his instructions.

Emperor Jiajing seemed to suddenly remember something, and he asked in a low voice: "Where is that little black guy?"

After hearing the question from Emperor Jiajing, Huang Jin was stunned for a moment. Then he stood up and tiptoed to search for the little black spot that Emperor Jiajing mentioned.

Huang Jin's eyes searched for Hai Rui's position. Although Hai Rui's position was at the back, it was easy to find because the positions of these candidates were ranked according to the established examination scores.

So it didn't take long for Huang Jin to see Hai Rui, who was not too tall, dark, thin and energetic.

Huang Jin lowered his head and whispered, "Emperor, that little black guy is in the third row from the bottom in the northwest corner."

Emperor Jiajing also looked up slightly in the direction Huang Jin said.

At this moment, Hai Rui had no idea that he had caught the emperor's attention. He was still concentrating on writing his answers to the examination questions in his examination seat.

When Emperor Jiajing saw Hai Rui's dark and thin appearance, he smiled. "He is indeed a little black man. When the final examination is over, go and get his test paper for me."

Huang Jin was secretly shocked when he heard this, and at the same time he was amazed at Hai Rui's good luck.

To be able to attract such special attention from His Majesty the Emperor, as long as you don't make any mistakes, you will definitely be successful in the future.

Huang Jin glanced at Hai Rui quietly again, and then he continued to serve respectfully beside Emperor Jiajing as before, quietly waiting for the palace examination to end.

As it was getting close to sunset, with the sound of bells and chimes from an official from the Ministry of Rites, the time for collecting the papers for the palace examination had finally arrived.

All candidates must stop at this moment, put their pens aside, and wait for the ceremonial officer to collect their test papers one by one.

Hai Rui also put away the pen in his hand and waited with unbearable excitement for the examiner to take away his test paper.

After all the test papers were collected, the 320 candidates, under the guidance of the ceremonial officers, bowed deeply to Emperor Jiajing, and then left the palace examination room in order.

After they all left, Emperor Jiajing naturally stretched his body and said in a relaxed manner, "Let's start reviewing the papers."

Yan Song and others bowed to Emperor Jiajing and said, "We obey your order."

Then Emperor Jiajing stood up and left the Fengtian Hall, returning to the Western Garden to wait for the results of the examination.

The examiners in charge of marking the papers will be locked up together for three days and are not allowed to leave the marking area until all the papers have been marked.

The officials in charge of marking the papers followed the rules of the palace examination. They reviewed the papers one by one at a table, and marked the papers with "○", "△", "\", "1", and "×" according to their attitudes towards the papers. Then they marked the papers crosswise. Finally, the ten papers with the most "○" were selected and presented to the emperor.

(End of this chapter)