Chapter 125: Lord Fang has made the final decision, and the world's No. 1 scholar is born

Chapter 125: Lord Fang has made the final decision, and the world's No. 1 scholar is born

Chapter 125: Lord Fang made the final decision, and the world's first champion was born (please subscribe)

Everyone stopped what they were doing as they became curious. Shen Mo had been pushing them too hard these past few days, so no one had a good rest.

You know, the time and energy we spend on official duties on weekdays in a year is not as much as these days.

I'm so tired.

Taking advantage of the excitement, even the supervising officials and eunuchs began to slack off.

When Shen Mo saw that the examiner said that someone was cheating, he naturally did not dare to be careless.

Ignoring these guys' trickery, he said in a deep voice, "Master Yu, please show me this answer sheet."

Examiner Yu hurriedly handed in the test paper.

Shen Mo picked up the paper in his hand and looked at it carefully.

At first, he looked calm, but the more he read, the more his heart was in turmoil. He never showed it on his face until he finished reading the whole article, when he could no longer hold back his excitement and grabbed the table fiercely. He knew he had lost his composure, but he pretended nothing had happened and said calmly, "Let's all take a look at this article together."

He picked up the article and handed it to the deputy examiner, Mr. Wang, first.

Mr. Wang is the Minister of Rites of the Six Ministries of Tianjing, a purely retirement position.

This time he came to serve as the deputy chief examiner of the provincial examination, and also to act as a mascot to ease the relationship between the central government and the local governments.

Unexpectedly, I would be involved in a case of cheating in the provincial examination and cursed my bad luck.

He had no choice but to take the paper and look through it first.

Like Shen Mo, the more Old Lord Wang looked, the more frightened he became. After all, he was an old hand, so he kept his composure. After reading it, he did not express his opinion, but said, "Everyone come and take a look."

Then seven or eight examiners came over.

someone exclaimed.

Some people say it is unbelievable.

Someone is thinking...

After everyone had finished reading, Shen Mo spoke up: "My Lords, if you have any opinions, please feel free to speak up."

An examiner said: "This article is righteous and serious, and its logic is true to the Pharaoh. It is indeed a masterpiece that can be passed down through the ages."

Another examiner said: "This article is magnificent and exciting to read."

Another examiner said: "This article has strict logic and clear structure. In addition, the profound knowledge it embodies has the style of an ancient master."

Each examiner praised the article and used precise and appropriate words, but none of them addressed the core issue: whether the article was cheating or plagiarizing the writings of ancient sages.

Just kidding, we are all here to deal with things, it is not our responsibility, so we should never talk nonsense.

But when the examiner asked questions, I had to answer.

So I can only speak my mind “truthfully”.

Shen Mo snorted coldly. He knew that these guys were all old sly guys, so he didn't have much hope in them. But he didn't expect them to be so sly and ruthless.

He resisted the urge to curse and asked in a measured and respectful tone, "My Lord, what do you think?"

When Old Master Wang saw Shen Mo flying over, he quickly bowed and said, "Master Shen, this is the provincial examination room. You can just call me by my current position."

Shen Mo: "..."

He paused, then said helplessly: "Deputy Examiner Wang, what is your opinion?"

Elder Wang twirled his beard for a long time, then slowly spoke: "My opinion is the same as yours, this article is indeed a masterpiece of the highest order."

Shen Mo glanced at the examiner named Yu.

Examiner Yu was now in a dilemma. He could not help but regret that he had spoken too quickly just now, which resulted in him being unable to move forward or backward.

The main reason was that he really didn't believe that the candidates for the provincial examination could write such a sage article.

It takes profound knowledge and cultivation, as well as a deep understanding of Confucianism, to write such a profound article with straightforward language and profound meaning.

Students of the imperial court usually had to study eight-legged essays carefully before passing the provincial examinations. Except for a few geniuses, there were few people who even read the history books of previous dynasties.

Even if there are a few geniuses who have read many books unrelated to the eight-legged essay and have accumulated sufficient knowledge, it is impossible for them to cultivate such a pioneering style of writing before they have achieved fame and fortune.

It's always unreasonable.

Not only did he not believe it, even the many examiners present did not believe it, but they did not dare to say it too firmly.

After all, if this article is a famous ancient text, they would definitely have an impression of it.

However, over the past thousands of years, every time a dynasty rose and fell, a large number of famous works were scattered and lost. It is hard to say whether an ancient text from the past was found and privately kept by someone.

Shen Mo actually thought in his heart that this was indeed not an ancient text from previous generations.

He had been in the Hanlin Academy for many years and had read countless rare ancient books. If it was an article by the great scholars of previous generations, he could always find a connection with it.

Although this article has a strong ancient style, it is by no means the style of any famous sage or scholar from previous generations.

Because everyone's articles have their own unique charm, if you study them carefully, you will be able to trace their origins.

But he couldn't guarantee it.

What if he really made a wrong judgment?
Even if the verdict was correct, he could not provide absolute evidence, and instead gave people excuses.

Therefore, the issues in this article require everyone to reach a consensus.

Similarly, if it is determined that this article is cheating, then evidence must be produced. After all, cheating in the provincial examination is such a big deal that the Hanlin Academy, the Ministry of Rites, and the three judicial departments must be involved, and the matter must be reported to the emperor.

Therefore, the nature of the matter changed from the moment Examiner Yu said that this essay was cheating.

After all, the supervisors and the internal supervisors are all from the inner court. They are not in the same system as you civil servants, so they will never help you cover up. What's more, there are people from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Internal Factory in the examination room.

These people are the eyes and ears of the emperor.

Normally, it’s just a small matter and I can just laugh it off, but with something like this happening right now, I absolutely cannot afford to be careless.

Therefore, all the officials put aside their thoughts of watching the fun and came back to their senses at this time.

This is a big pit.

Fortunately, they are not the examiners.

Ultimately, the examiner must be held responsible and make the final decision.

It must be said that their professionalism is outstanding. Even if they didn't react at first, they all relied on their instincts to fool Shen Mo's questions.

Therefore, the most embarrassed people now are Examiner Yu and Shen Mo.

Examiner Yu asked the questions, and Shen Mo needed to take on the responsibility of being the chief examiner.

Shen Mo couldn't care less about dealing with the examiner Yu now. He could only solve the current problem first. He slowly said to Mr. Wang, "Deputy Chief Examiner Wang, we have to come to a conclusion whether this essay is cheating or not. After all, as the chief examiner, we have to be worthy of the emperor and the candidates who have studied hard for ten years. We can't be careless."

Under Shen Mo's aggressive tone, Elder Wang could only say vaguely: "The content of this article is vivid and interesting, and very literary. It is hard for me to believe that this article is actually an eight-part essay."

The examiners' eyes lit up.

After all, ginger is still spicier.

If it were the great scholars or ancient sages who wrote articles in the past, it would be impossible for them to be exactly the same as the eight-part essay framework of today.

Although the eight-legged essay is derived from ancient Chinese, its format, framework and rhythm are all very particular in today's era.

It's not something that can just happen by chance.

Shen Mo was not satisfied, because although Mr. Wang's explanation seemed to confirm that the article was not cheated, there was still a hole that was not explained. He continued: "What if someone slightly polished the ancient article and wrote it like this? Although this article is completely natural, it doesn't seem to have any traces of modification."

When Examiner Yu first heard what Mr. Wang said, he thought that the old man was going to approve of the article. However, since he had made such a mistake, he would be in great trouble.

He deeply regrets it now.

But we can't blame him. After marking a large number of papers, he is already dizzy and dazzled. It is normal for him to lose his composure and say the wrong thing when he suddenly encounters such a good article.

And even if he didn't say this, this essay would definitely be discussed and reviewed by the examiners because it was so impressive.

Everyone has this worry.

Because it really happened in the Dayu Dynasty that someone used the famous eight-part essay from the previous generation to pass the exam. However, it was reviewed by a group of idle officials in the Hanlin Academy, which led to the entire provincial examination examiners being implicated.

Shen Mo said this, and the examiner Yu had to agree with him and quickly said, "The examiner is right. We must be cautious."

The other examiners also nodded.

Shen Mo looked at Examiner Yu and said, "Master Yu, do you have any good ideas?"

Examiner Yu's heart skipped a beat, knowing that he couldn't get away with this. He smiled bitterly and said, "Master examiner, why don't we take this candidate's I Ching questions and have a look. The Four Books questions are about profound meanings, and they follow the right path, consistent with the context of ancient Chinese literature. But the Five Classics questions are the original classics that the candidate has studied, and it is impossible that the Four Books and Five Classics questions are all by chance, and both have lost ancient Chinese texts to copy. As long as the level difference between the two answer sheets is too big, there must be something fishy."

The Four Books contain profound meanings and there are innumerable ancient texts related to them. It makes sense that some lost ancient texts could be copied.

However, the questions on the Five Classics were all based on the annotations of Zhu Xi of the previous dynasty. It is simply impossible to find an ancient text with the same writing style as the answer sheet on the Four Books and whose content does not deviate from Zhu Xi's annotations on the Five Classics.

Shen Mo nodded, "Well said, let's see how the owner of this answer sheet answered the five classics questions."

He gave orders and quickly found the answer sheet of the Five Classics of the owner of the answer sheet.

This time Shen Mo asked someone to hang the answer sheet on the wall for everyone to see together.

During the marking process, everyone couldn't help but look at Shen Mo strangely.

Shen Mo's face was as gloomy as water, and it was impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.

At this time, the examiners were silent.

The writing style is indeed different.

only……

This is exactly your writing style, Shen Junshan.

After all, Shen Mo was a top scholar, so the examiners present were naturally familiar with his essay.

The top scholar starts out as a Hanlin editor, also known as the chancellor.

It can be said that as long as the top scholar of this dynasty does not commit suicide, it is impossible for him not to enter the cabinet.

Therefore, for people in official circles, studying the essays written by the top scholar is a compulsory course.

This is the destined future big boss.

Just like the future Buddha of Buddhism.

Reserved a top-level fruit seat in advance.

"You should have told me earlier that he was yours." An examiner muttered.

Examiner Yu's face turned even darker.

So everyone was silent, not knowing how to start.

Shen Mo cried out in injustice. When he took the provincial examination in the past, although his writing style was also the same, his level was still a little worse...

As for now.

After serving as an official for a long time, his academic level had long since declined, and he had not written eight-legged essays for many years.

But he reacted immediately.

"This is Xu Qing's article."

"Bastard!" Shen Mo couldn't help but curse in his heart.

He suddenly understood Xu Qing's intention.

Xu Qing's answers on the Four Books were at the level of articles written by sages and would definitely arouse discussion and attention from the examiners. No matter what, he would be able to pass the first screening.

The questions on the Five Classics have always been used to determine rankings.

Once his writing style came out, other examiners, unless they wanted to offend Shen Mo to death, had to consider the relationship between Xu Qing and Shen Mo and rank Xu Qing as the top of the Five Classics, or even the top scholar.

After all, in terms of level, Xu Qing's essays on the Four Books can be said to be the best in all the provincial examinations.

No candidate in the provincial examination has ever been able to produce such a rich artistic conception of sages.

Only a great scholar of the time can have this kind of sagely state of mind.

But how could such a person come to take part in the provincial examination?

Generally, one has to pass the provincial examination, or even the metropolitan examination, early on, and then devote oneself to academic study before becoming a great scholar.

This was the result of Xu Qing's accumulation of two lifetimes, plus the help of the bronze mirror.

Shen Mo absolutely cannot suppress Xu Qing now.

Because if Xu Qing is convicted of cheating, then what is the point of replacing rice with mulberry trees? What will the Prime Minister and His Majesty think?
Will He, Wu, Feng Xifeng, and Zhou Tixue also be implicated? Behind an official, there is often more than one person.

What's more, among these people, even the weakest one, Prefect Wu, is now a henchman that the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel values ​​very much.

The Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is often the next official in line. Even if he is worse, he can be the Minister of Works. His hope of entering the cabinet is not small.

Shen Mo now has only two choices: try his best to protect Xu Qing, or not, then he will have to conclude that Xu Qing cheated.

There is no middle ground.

Because this guy's writing is so good, so good that if you don't judge him as cheating, then after everyone discusses it, you can only nominate him as the top of the Five Classics, or even the top scorer.

Moreover, no matter whether it was questions about the Four Books or the Five Classics, Xu Qing deserved the first place in this provincial examination both publicly and privately.

In fact, Xu Qing himself did not think so deeply, but he knew that if he wanted the people in the same room to agree to open a window, it would be better to say that he wanted to open a skylight.

In this way, everyone is willing to accept the result of opening the window.

Destiny, no matter how confusing it is, Xu Qing will try his best to control it in his own hands.

"Even if you didn't do this, would I not click on it to be the top of the Five Classics if I knew it was you? At most you won't be able to get the first place." Shen Mo complained secretly.

But he knew in his heart that what Xu Qing wanted was not support, but to ensure the result.

Shen Mo has now witnessed the cruelty of this Jiangning tiger.

"This boy is so young, but he is acting so recklessly and doing evil things. Why is that?" Shen Mo couldn't understand at all.

He exhaled slowly and said, "Everyone, I have something to say."

"Examiner, please give your instructions."

Shen Mo said: "This person's essays, whether they are about the Four Books or the Five Classics, are all ranked first in this provincial examination. I think everyone must have no doubt about this."

"Your Excellency the Examiner is right."

At this time, the examiners did not mention the issue of different writing styles at all.

Shen Mo was left to deal with this matter on his own.

Shen Mo changed the subject and asked, "Do you really think that there is no possibility of cheating in this person's article?"

"Uh." The examiners cursed in their hearts but did not dare to answer.

Shen Mo smiled and said, "I know everyone is worried about this matter, so I will help you dispel this worry."

"Please be frank, Mr. Examiner."

Shen Mo: "Among the elders of this dynasty, Lord Fang is undoubtedly the first in terms of profound knowledge. As long as we invite Lord Fang to come and take a look, we will know whether this article is an ancient sage's article."

Shen Mo knew very well that Lord Fang was a magic sword placed by His Majesty in Southern Zhili, and Lord Fang was famous for his loyalty and integrity. What he said was better than any guarantee.

Just like that.

Shen Mo sighed secretly.

Lord Fang's guarantee for Xu Qing's article was tantamount to tying Lord Fang's lifelong reputation to Xu Qing's.

In addition, the Nanzhili Jieyuan has always been known as the best Jieyuan in the world.

Xu Qing was essentially adding two layers of amulets to his body for no reason.

With this boy's ruthlessness, I wonder how big a thing he can accomplish.

However, there is no other way to quell the controversy caused by Xu Qing's article.

After all, this controversy can directly burn him.

Although the examiners knew that this was not in accordance with the rules, Lord Fang had the silver fish bag bestowed by His Majesty, and could submit the secret memorial directly to His Majesty.

You are qualified to intervene in extremely important local affairs, so please come over. With the trust that Your Majesty has in the other minister, he will not care about such a small matter at all.

Moreover, they had to admit that only with Lord Fang's reputation could the controversy caused by this matter be quelled.

You have to know that none of Lord Fang's own descendants passed the imperial examinations to become juren or jinshi. With this reputation, who can openly comment on it?
So the examiners listened to Shen Mo's opinion and decided to invite the highly respected Lord Fang.

...

...

Square garden.

Elder Fang sat on a recliner next to the ivy rack, basking in the sun.

In my old age, I only like peace and quiet and don’t care about anything.

It's just that the tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop.

As long as he is alive, he naturally has worldly troubles.

Let everything take its course.

"Grandpa, a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard came to see you and asked you to go to the Imperial Examination Hall." A simple young man walked in and reported to Lord Fang.

When he mentioned the word "provincial examination", he was obviously looking forward to it.

Elder Fang was not concerned about the provincial examination, but asked the young man, "Jiebao, do you really want to take part in the imperial examination and seek fame?"

"Grandson listens to grandpa."

Elder Fang sighed and said, "Then don't go."

"My grandson doesn't understand."

Elder Fang: "After Grandpa dies, you will all be rich, but not now. Ask someone to come in."

"only."

The young man led the Embroidered Uniform Guards who came with the message in.

Elder Fang listened carefully to what he said and said, "Let's go."

Afterwards, the Embroidered Uniform Guard invited Lord Fang to the blocked Imperial Examination Hall.

This news quickly spread to all the major forces in Yingtian Prefecture.

The examiner Shen Mo, who invited Lord Fang, didn't care at all. He just wanted to invite Lord Fang with great fanfare so that it would be effective.

Lord Fang entered the Imperial Examination Hall.

The examiners had been waiting here for a long time. When they saw him come in, they all bowed to him.

This old man has been in the court for decades, has great reputation, and has never formed a clique for personal gain. In addition, he is the only one in this dynasty who has always been favored by the emperor despite his high position.

What’s more crucial is that when Lord Fang was in power, no one remembered how many major events he had accomplished, but as soon as Lord Fang left, everyone always felt that the political situation was not as stable as before.

Moreover, Fang Ge Lao's retirement was somewhat related to the Prime Minister's plan to carry out reforms.

He is too old and if he continues to stay in the court, it will be disadvantageous for the Prime Minister to seize power and issue orders in the cabinet.

Elder Fang did not exchange many pleasantries, and looked drowsy the whole time. After everyone had saluted, he slowly said, "Go and read the article."

"promise."

The crowd surrounded Lord Fang and went to the examination hall.

Shen Mo asked Lord Fang to sit at the examiner's desk. Lord Fang did not refuse. He picked up the article that had been prepared long ago and read it word by word.

Until you have finished reading all the answers to the Four Books and Five Classics questions.

At this time, everyone had been waiting for a long time, but they did not dare to urge him and could only wait patiently for Lord Fang to speak.

Elder Fang spoke slowly.
"Shen Junshan, you are a person who needs to do things. You can't be so irresponsible."

Shen Mo pretended to be sweating: "Thank you for your guidance, Lord."

Lord Fang sighed secretly, he knew that as long as Shen Mo did not make any mistakes in his life, he would definitely enter the cabinet, so he did not need to be responsible and courageous to do things, as long as he did not offend the emperor or the ministers, everything would come naturally.

"Only young people can have sharp edges." Lord Fang recalled Xu Qing's appearance. He didn't pay much attention to Xu Qing at that time, but when he recalled it, the banquet that day came to his mind vividly.

Others become forgetful as they get older, but he is the opposite. His memory gets better and better as he gets older, and he can even recall things from his infancy.

This is not a good thing either.

Elder Fang retracted his emotion and said calmly:

"This boy will be the champion of this provincial examination."

He did not give too much description, but simply stated his answer calmly.

For some reason, the examiners felt relieved.

This old man is like an indomitable mountain, able to withstand any storm.

"Thank you, Lord." Shen Mo bowed sincerely.

He knew that Lord Fang would not refuse.

I just didn't expect that Lord Fang would be so straightforward.

"Then you guys go on, you don't have to see me off."

"only."

Everyone watched Lord Fang leave.

Shen Mo watched for a while, then said to everyone: "Let's continue."

The deputy examiner, Mr. Wang, sat calmly in front of his desk. Just like before, he took the answer sheets directly.

This also made Shen Mo embarrassed.

There are only so many vacancies for Juren, and it is simply unrealistic to select all of these recommendations.

So he had to brush a group of them off.

Because as the chief examiner, he needs sufficient reasons to refute the opinions of the deputy examiner and co-examiners, so he has to write down the reasons for the rebuttal carefully.

Naturally, there was a lot more work to do.

He knew that this was done intentionally by Old Master Wang.

Shen Mo knew why and could only endure it.

This is nothing.

Now I guess all the examiners think that he was the one who caused the trouble.

He felt very wronged about this.

After this incident, he became more alert to himself and warned himself not to think about doing things. Doing things would inevitably lead to mistakes, but not doing anything would naturally mean no mistakes.

He seemed to have gained enlightenment from this, and his desire for power faded even further.

As the top scholar, his desire for power is the root of his troubles.

Even if you don't have this thought, what you should have will come sooner or later.

After a busy period of marking the papers and assessing the rankings, the results of the provincial examination finally came out.

Xu Qing was undoubtedly the top scorer in this provincial examination, but the examiners also felt sorry for Xie Quan. His essay was clearly the second best in the exam, but because he and Xu Qing were in the same I Ching room, he didn't even get the top score in the Five Classics.

Time and life.

I wonder what Xie Quan, the famous scholar from Yingtian who is so arrogant, would think when he knew that he was suppressed by a young man.

When they thought of this, everyone couldn't help but want to see the fun.

Then, of course, the test papers would be sealed and sent to the capital for "examination".

However, there is no need to wait until the "review" for the announcement of the results. You can just fill in the form, stamp it, and archive it before announcing the results.

Therefore, the yellow report of Xu Qing's success in the imperial examination was directly handed over to Li's house in Jiangning Prefecture by a special messenger as quickly as possible.

...

...

Just when the results of the provincial examination were announced.

Xu Qing suddenly felt something, and then looked at the bronze mirror.
"This is……"

Xu Qing looked surprised.

At this moment, the text content in the luck column completely disappeared!
(End of this chapter)