Chapter 720: The Imperial Examination Held Every Three Years

Chapter 720: The Imperial Examination Held Every Three Years

The joint examination is also called the Spring Examination, which is usually held in February. The examination venue is located in the Ministry of Rites, called the "Gongyuan".

Those who participated in the joint examination were all juren who were admitted in the provincial examination.

In other words, if you are not a juren, you are not eligible to take part in the imperial examination.

For example, Qian Yingyang was directly recommended to study at the Imperial College because he was on the second list, and was called a deputy tribute.

But he was still not qualified to take part in the imperial examination.

If one wants to take part in the metropolitan examination, one can only return to Guangnan to take part in the provincial examination. Only after one is on the main list and becomes a juren can one enter to take part in the metropolitan examination.

The advantages of being a deputy tribute student are: first, you can directly participate in the provincial examination without obtaining the qualification for the provincial examination; second, you can be eligible to participate in the selection of officials.

The imperial examination was divided into three sessions.

The first session: February 9th to February 11th.

Second session: February 12th to February 14th.

The third session: February 15th to February 17th.

Each exam lasts three days, for a total of nine days.

The difference between the metropolitan examination and the provincial examination is that one can take a rest after each exam.

There is no need to spend nine consecutive days in the Imperial Examination Hall, and the metropolitan examination is more humane than the provincial examination.

Therefore, it has always been called "Jinshi is gold and Jinren is silver". The most difficult part of the imperial examination is the provincial examination. Those who can pass the provincial examination are the best of the best, the chosen ones of heaven.

The content of the metropolitan examination is almost the same as that of the provincial examination.

It covers the Four Books and Five Classics, astronomy and geography, mathematics, poetry and prose, law and legal literature, as well as classics, history and current affairs.

The current affairs policy in the metropolitan examination carries a heavier weight than that in the provincial examination, and mainly tests the candidates' insights into maintaining national security and stability.

The requirements for the form of the eight-legged essay were relaxed and it was not so rigid.

There are two chief examiners and eight co-examiners in the imperial examination.

The chief examiner must be a minister of the third rank or above and also a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. The co-examiners must all be officials from the Hanlin Academy who are "learned and well-behaved through imperial examinations."

After the joint examination, the candidates' test papers will be covered with names, transcribed, and proofread, and then the same examiners will mark the papers in separate rooms and conduct preliminary selection.

In order to prevent cheating, the candidates' handwriting and information cannot be seen during this process.

You can only see the contents of the candidates' answer sheets.

If any inappropriate marks are found on the test paper, the candidate will be dismissed.

The pre-selected test papers are sent to the chief examiner for review and ranking, which is written as a "draft list".

After the draft list is completed, the chief examiner and the official in charge of the imperial examinations from the Ministry of Rites will compare the "red papers" of the candidates to be admitted with the "black papers" of the candidates.

Those with incorrect numbers will be discarded.

After the review, the admission list will be officially confirmed.

The admission rate for the metropolitan examination is higher than that for the provincial examination, but it is generally fixed at around 300.

This time, because it is the first year of the new emperor's accession to the throne, the number of admissions will be two-thirds more than in previous years.

Also for this reason, the number of people taking part in the imperial examination increased dramatically, and the inns and guild halls in the capital were overcrowded.

Some arrived late and could not find a place to stay, so they chose to live in temples as they had no one to rely on in the capital.

Firstly, the temples are quiet, and secondly, the temples usually open their doors to welcome scholars to stay.

Sun Shan had heard many strange stories about scholars staying in temples.

For example, a woman knocks on the door in the middle of the night, a fox demon seduces a scholar, a monk is seen eating meat in the middle of the night, and the judge of the underworld invites the scholar to be an official in the underworld in the middle of the night...

Seeing that temples all over the capital were filled with scholars staying there, Sun Shan finally understood why these strange stories were always written with temples as the background.

At that time, the imperial examination was not divided into the North and South lists, and there was no "North and South list cheating case"

The Daqian joint examination was a gathering of successful candidates from all over the country in the capital to take part in and compete together.

Perhaps because the previous emperor chose to ascend the throne in the capital, after taking office, he not only encouraged land reclamation, reduced taxes and levies, built water conservancy projects, supported industry and commerce, and rectified the administration of officials, but also paid attention to education.

Resources are allocated to areas with weak education, so there is currently no particularly large gap between the education level and quality of students in the north and south.

It is still within an acceptable range and no irreconcilable conflict of interests has occurred.

Sun Shan looked at the native places of candidates who had passed the imperial examinations in previous years, and found that there were more students from the south, especially from Jiangnan, Fujian and Jiangxi, than from other places.

Sun Shan was worried that a conflict would break out sooner or later.

As for how the outbreak would occur, that was a matter for the future, and Sun Shan could do nothing about it.

The so-called North and South Lists - North and South Papers, refer to the examination stage, when the examination papers of southern and northern juren were presented separately for review.

The South Paper accounts for 60% of the admission quota, and the North Paper accounts for 40%.

In the next palace examination, there will be no distinction between the North and South papers, and students will be ranked uniformly according to their scores.

For example, a total of 100 Juren were admitted as Jinshi in this session.

60 people were admitted in the southern paper and 40 people were admitted in the northern paper.

Then these 60 and 40 people, regardless of southerners or northerners, were put together to take part in the palace examination.

Then they are ranked according to their results in the palace examination.

It would be fine if the top three, even the top 60, were all from the South.

The same is true for northerners.

Being able to enter the palace examination means that you will not be eliminated and it will not affect your admission quota.

Even if the strong ones occupy the top spot, they cannot complain about their fate.

Later it was divided into South, Central and North volumes.

The admission ratio is 55%, 10%, and 35%.

Similar to the current college entrance examination, there are National Paper 1, Paper 2, Paper 3, Jiangsu Paper, Shanghai Paper, etc.

Admission quotas are allocated according to region.

At this moment, Sun Shan doesn't need to care about this question.

At this moment, the imperial examination he participated in was still the same test paper for the whole country.

Regardless of region or identity, everyone marks the papers together.

If you make the list, you make the list; if you fail, you fail.

Without any additional points, a test paper determines victory or defeat, and at the same time, a test paper almost determines a person's life.

The wind in early spring was still very cold. At the dock, I said goodbye to Qian Yingyang and Qian's father reluctantly.

Sun Shan and Zhu Pengyuan broke off a willow branch and handed it to Qian Yingyang.

Qian Yingyang's eyes, which were originally narrowed into a slit, were now narrowed so narrow that they could not be seen.

With a face full of sadness, he said: "Ashan, Pengyun, a thousand words are all unsaid. I wish you success in the imperial examinations and to see all the flowers in Chang'an."

Sun Shan held Qian Yingyang's right hand, Zhu Pengyuan held Qian Yingyang's left hand, and the two looked at Qian Yingyang steadily.

I have thousands of words on my mind but I can’t express them, so I can only say: take care.

After this farewell, I don’t know when we will meet again.

Sun Shan patted Qian Yingyang on the shoulder and said sentimentally: "Yingyang, write to me often and keep in touch."

Zhu Pengyun was more emotional than Sun Shan. With red eyes, he said, "Yingyang, if there is a chance, we can become in-laws."

Qian Yingyang suddenly pushed Zhu Pengyun away, shook his head and said, "Your daughter can marry my son, but my daughter will not marry your son. It's too far away, and marrying out is not popular in our place."

He blinked at Sun Shan and asked for confirmation: "Ashan, am I right? Girls in Guangnan don't marry outside the family."

Sun Shan chuckled, and the sadness of parting dissipated a lot. He nodded repeatedly and said, "Ying Yang is right, my daughter will not marry outside the family. If your daughter marries my boy, I can reluctantly accept it."

As soon as these words were spoken, Qian Yingyang and Zhu Pengyun beat Sun Shan so hard that he fled away in fear.

He cursed: "What do you mean by reluctantly accepting? Ah Shan, what do you mean? Do you dislike our daughter?"

They said goodbye to Qian Yingyang and Qian's father in a playful and playful manner.

It is the eighth day of the second month in a blink of an eye. Tomorrow will be the test day!