Chapter 780: Examination Paper Marking Process
The palace examination will be held on March 15th, and the ceremony of announcing the results will be held at noon on March 18th.
On the evening of March 15th, in Wenhua Hall, the examiner collected the papers of all the examinees and handed them over to the sealing officer.
The sealing official will stamp the sealing seal on the documents and send them to the examiner, who will then send all the examinees' papers to the examiner in the East Pavilion, waiting for the examination on March 16th.
The palace examination is not like the provincial examination. The examination requires students' test papers to be copied out, but the palace examination only requires the names and information of the candidates to be sealed.
Therefore, if someone from the court participated in the marking of the papers, the candidates' handwriting would be easily recognized.
At the same time, a candidate with good handwriting may be appreciated by the examiner and rank higher.
This is why it is easier to get things done if you have someone in the court, and why every teacher emphasizes that candidates must have good handwriting.
If you get the attention of the examiner, it will be easier to get the first place.
At 1:00 a.m. on March 16, all examiners will gather together to review the test papers.
Since there is only one day to review the papers, it is impossible to read and review all the papers carefully, so the "unspoken rules" of sticking to the old ways will emerge.
The examiner will first select the papers of the top ten candidates for review.
These ten candidates have gone through countless trials and tribulations and have finally taken the lead in the imperial examination. Their knowledge level must be very high. The examiners will first carefully review these papers.
If we find that the arguments are reasonable and do not violate any taboos, we will select the best candidates for admission.
Most of the top three candidates in the first class will be chosen from these ten points, and the remaining seven points will also be chosen from the top two candidates.
Therefore, if you can get good results in the provincial examination, your results in the palace examination will generally not be bad.
There are some tacit "unspoken rules" in the palace examination, especially for the top three. Unless they are gifted, they will be selected as a balance of power in the court.
For example, if a child or student from someone's family was admitted in the previous class, even if a child or student from someone's family is admitted this time, he or she will not be given the first place again. Instead, the first place will be given to a child or student from another family in order to achieve a balance of power.
Even if someone's child or student is very good, being ranked first depends on the right time and place. Although the chief examiner of the palace examination is the emperor, the candidates are also the emperor's disciples. The actual chief examiner is the "cabinet", and the names of the candidates are more likely to be decided by the "cabinet".
Although the top scholar, model scholar and third place winner were appointed by the emperor, it was the cabinet that presented the papers to the emperor for marking.
It is extremely difficult for a candidate to present his or her paper in front of the emperor. Your paper is only good if the examiner thinks it is good.
Even if the emperor thinks your paper is good, you still need to show it to the emperor.
The results of the palace examination were more likely decided by the cabinet elders than by the emperor himself.
The elders selected in advance a total of 10 test papers to be read tomorrow and decided the order in which they would be read aloud in front of the emperor.
The remaining hundreds of test papers were marked and classified by other examiners.
The examiner will mark "O" or "X" on the paper. The more "O"s there are, the higher the final ranking will be.
Especially the papers at the back seem insignificant. The examiners can just glance at them and mark them with "O" or "X" as they please.
Of course, if the first examiner gives an “X” to a paper, the next examiner will change it to an “O” even if he wants to give an “X”.
Marking all the answers on a test paper with “X” is just looking for trouble. In order to “get by”, the examiner will not allow such an extreme situation to occur.
At noon on March 17, the emperor personally went to the Wenhua Hall and had the reading official kneel before him to read.
In order, the first three test papers to be read are the ones that the ministers had judged as top-ranking in advance. After reading the three papers, unless the emperor ordered to continue reading the papers, if there was no order, the reader would give the remaining seven papers to the eunuch in charge of ceremonies to take them one by one and place them all on the imperial desk.
Then the officials will leave the Wenhua Hall.
Waiting for the emperor to decide the first place, the second place, and the third place in the first class.
After the imperial decision was made, the cabinet minister took the test papers back and the emperor returned to the palace.
After the top three in the first class were determined, the remaining seven papers were still ranked first in the second class according to the order arranged by the ministers.
After the list was finalized, the elder immediately returned to the East Pavilion and filled out the list before evening.
Waiting for next year's ceremony.
At noon on March 18th, all civil and military officials in the court, unless there were special circumstances, would attend the ceremony of announcing the names of the emperor's successors held every three years.
The prospective Jinshi candidates of this session were waiting outside the hall for the singing.
On the afternoon of March 15, Sun Shan returned to He's house in a state of panic and loss of vitality.
After sleeping for twelve hours, your energy will be restored and you will feel full of energy.
When I woke up, my stomach was growling.
Gui Ge'er immediately served the preserved egg and lean meat porridge and asked with a smile, "Brother Shan, I see that you are in much better spirits. You should be alright, right?"
Sun Shan didn't bother to talk to Gui Ge'er. After drinking a bowl of porridge, he said contentedly, "It's okay. A good night's sleep can cure all diseases. I am now as energetic as a dragon and a tiger!"
Sun Dingnan and Sun Dali were relieved to see that Sun Shan looked much better and was no longer as pale as yesterday.
Sun Dingnan said cheerfully: "I'm glad that Ah Shan is okay.
Then he asked, "Ashan, will the results be announced on March 18th?"
When it came to the announcement of the results at noon on March 18th, Sun Shan started to have a headache again.
It was said that the results would be announced at noon, so they would definitely have to wait outside the palace gate in the middle of the night.
After that, there is an elaborate and grand ceremony, and only then will you know your results.
No matter what you do, you have to have some spirit.
No wonder the imperial examination system was so perverted. If it hadn't been trained in such a perverted way, one might have lost his manners in front of the palace and ended up with the whole family being executed.
If you want to study in Daqian, you must be in good health.
Sun Shan was very grateful for his body. Although he was thin and weak, he managed to survive and gave birth to a group of healthy babies.
Sun Shan remembered such a non-imperial conclusion: Don't look down on those who are often sick, have pain here and there, and have to go to the hospital all day. Often these dying people live longer.
And those who usually look strong and rarely get sick may die one day.
Sun Shan didn't really believe in this conclusion which had no scientific basis at all.
But this conclusion seems to be referring to one's own body.
It is easy to get sick and tired when doing something, but once you have rested enough, you can continue to do something.
Sun Shan was in poor health and had problems from time to time, but he was able to outlast many people.
Sun Dali asked, "Ashan, after the results of the palace examination come out, can we become an official now?"
Getting promoted and getting rich are what the people in Sunjia Village most hope for. Everyone is waiting for Sun Shan to become a high-ranking official, make a fortune, and bring success to his fellow villagers.
Sun Dali’s question is difficult to answer. Being an official requires rotation, which requires even greater interpersonal skills.
However, Sun Shan was not too worried about this.
This is only the second emperor, and the official ecological chain has not yet been fully occupied.
What Sun Shan was worried about was where to serve as an official, not whether he could serve as an official at all.