The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

On May [-]th, the selection of examination papers officially began. In the lobby of the yamen of the Ministry of Rites, the test papers that had been uniformly transcribed were piled up on more than a dozen long tables lined up. More than [-] officials participating in the examination papers sat on the left and right, and began to Preliminary review of test papers.

The first step is to eliminate those poems, prose, strategies and theories that have been handed in blank papers. More than 160 people have been eliminated for this alone.

The second step is to eliminate papers that are general in content, full of errors, and incorrect in question. This item eliminates more, and more than 1000 people are eliminated in this item.

In the end, there were only more than 400 examination papers left in front of the three main examiners, Lu Yijian, Du Yan, and Yan Shu. The more than 230 Jinshi who will be selected in the undergraduate provincial examination will be selected from these more than 400 people.

The three began to mark the papers one by one. As people who have experienced it, they all know the importance of the imperial examination to the candidates, so they dare not slack off at all. The three of them have to talk and exchange opinions on the content of each test paper before deciding on a choice. .

After three days of reviewing without sleeping and eating, by the morning of the thirteenth day, two places of 230 were ready to be awarded.

All that was left was to rank the top ten, and the most important thing was to rank the top three. At this point, the opinions of the three had serious differences.

The top three test papers selected by each of the three were actually different, and a total of nine test papers participated in the competition for the top three; in desperation, the three had to read through the nine test papers again, and soon Du Yan discovered the problem.

"This candidate didn't even answer the test paper completely. How can he enter the top three competition? This is the candidate selected by Yan Sansi. This is not good! According to the rules, such unfinished test papers should not be taken. I think it's better to eliminate them and fill them up with another person." Du Yan shook the test paper in his hand.

Lu Yijian reached out to take the test paper, and saw that the candidate did not answer the questions in accordance with the regulations in Moyi, but wrote a doggerel on it.

"Last night, it rained lightly in Bashan, and in the morning, snowflakes will fall in Saibei, and Gudeng's ancient books are not read enough. How do you know the difference between cold and heat and winter and summer?"

Lu Yijian threw the test paper on the table, and said in a cold voice: "Absurd! The words are sarcasm. Is this to point out that the undergraduate exam questions are too remote? Just such unreasonable words should be discarded directly, you need to know The exam questions are hand-picked by the Holy One, how can he be allowed to point fingers. Yan Sansi, the old man sees it and gives up."

Yan Shu was deeply impressed by this test paper, and hurriedly said: "My lords, the reason why I took this test paper is because the essays on policy theory are very well written. Do you two adults feel that most of the essays on policy theory this year are all Talking about redundant officials? The content is the same, picking up the wisdom of others, and almost without exception quoting the words written by Song Zijing during the Tiansheng period. Apart from the literary talent and rhetoric, there are few novel arguments; and this one is unique. , Starting from the balance between officials and officials, the viewpoint is novel and the arguments are rigorous, so this old man puts it up alone."

Lu Yijian didn't read this policy theory carefully. Seeing Yan Shu's seriousness, he read the following policy theory carefully, nodded slowly and said: "Although it is a bit biased, it is still novel. It is indeed a bit different. The literary talent is not so good. Makes sense too."

Du Yan frowned and said: "However, if such an exam with incomplete answers can win the top three, how will the emperor explain it? Besides, wouldn't the exams be quite critical when it was spread out? Besides, these people can't answer the questions and they just satirize the one who made the exam. People are so proud of their talents, how can they be worthy of great responsibilities in the future? I mean, if you just abandon them and pull them down, the most important thing in choosing a scholar is attitude. If you have a bad attitude, what if you have talent?"

Yan Shu understood that what Du Yan said sounded good, but in fact there was something hidden in it; over the years, the imperial examinations had finally been delineated to the top three, and the examiners all hoped that the person they selected would be shortlisted. The reason was simple. What would be the basis for recruiting these new officials in the future?It is the virtue of being recommended by the kindness of knowing you; in the future, you only need to say a little: "If the old man hadn't pushed you to be the top three in the past, how could you have today." Only this sentence is enough to teach These fledgling students bowed down at their feet in gratitude.

The competition among examiners for the selection of scholars is largely to lay the foundation for their future power training.

"Du Shumi, now we are looking for scholars for the country, but it depends on the talent. As for the character of the son, I am afraid that it is difficult to make a conclusion based on a small poem; privately speaking, these questions are indeed a bit biased, so let's take a look. If it is you and me who answer, I am afraid that we will not be able to figure out why; although the other students have answered, they are far-fetched and not brilliant, and the old man thinks that this candidate is straightforward and dare to speak out."

Du Yan waved his hand and said, "It's just frankness and grandstanding. This old man insists that it's unacceptable."

Yan Shu looked at Lu Yijian and said, "Mr. Lu, what do you think?"

Lu Yijian is going to be an official after a few years, of course there is no problem of cultivating his own power, so he doesn't care who recommends the top three; from an emotional point of view, Du Yan is naturally more important, but Lu Yijian is not someone who expresses his opinion easily, One of the secrets of standing in the court and not falling down is to kick the ball, so he said: "The old man thinks that Du Shumi's words are reasonable, so, the old man suggests that the three of us each choose an answer sheet and send it to the Holy One, and the Holy One will make a decision. This is a good fit." Holy Will, the differences between the three of you have also been eliminated; to be honest, I have been grading papers for three consecutive days, and the old man was a little dizzy and couldn't take it anymore, so he wanted to go back to rest earlier."

Du Yan and Yan Shu hurriedly asked: "Lu Xiang takes care of his body and must not be overworked; just follow Lu Xiang's words."

Since Lu Yijian had spoken, Du Yan had no choice but to give face, so the three of them each selected a test paper, presented it to the palace, and kicked the ball to Zhao Zhen.

……

After the provincial test, Su Jin did not have a single day to spare. On the one hand, he began to prepare for the wedding on the eighteenth day, and on the other hand, he had to supervise the completion of the house near the Lijing Gate.

In order to complete the construction of the new house as soon as possible, as early as ten days ago, Su Jin did not hesitate to spend a lot of money and asked the dynasty to hire hundreds of craftsmen to work here, in order to complete the construction as soon as possible. Living in Yan Mansion, Yan Shu naturally didn't say anything, but Su Jin didn't want to see the faces of other people in Yan Mansion.

The new house covers an area of ​​nearly [-] mu. The original wall was only five feet high, and it was not occupied for a long time, and there were many damaged and collapsed places. Su Jin ordered all the walls to be demolished and rebuilt. to one foot five; and imitated the practice of the imperial court to cover the walls with thorns, porcelain and other things, and spent a lot of money to pull up several barbed wires.

In terms of the layout of the house, two watchtowers were built in the front and back yards, and copper gongs and arrows were placed for warning and defense. Once the enemy attacked, they could quickly warn and carry out preliminary defense.

The inner house spent a lot of effort to build several strong secret rooms. In case of danger, the whole family, young and old, could stick to it like a secret room and wait for help.

Between the inner house and the outer hall, the original two-entry house was demolished, paved with green bricks, and transformed into a small square; seven or eight Jing houses were built on both sides, led by the dynasty Ma Han, Zhang Long, Zhao Hu and others Living in the nursing home, it can be used as a place for martial arts training on weekdays. If there is any danger, the empty square is also convenient for the enemy to have nowhere to hide.

After the whole house was built, it looked like a small castle. The whole house was surrounded by strong, tall and thick walls. Tall towers stood in the front and back yards. The five-entry mansion was changed to four-entry. After entering, it is basically a restricted area. Except for a limited number of maidservants and Chao Mahan and others, the rest of the people are not allowed to enter the backyard.

Su Jin was also quite helpless. It cost nearly 15 yuan to rebuild the house, and all this was because he was worried about Xia Song's counterattack, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

He has always taken the initiative to attack, but at this moment he has no choice but to do it. The assassination against him last time was unsuccessful. When the situation calms down, Xia Song will not give up easily. Moreover, Yan Biyun is about to get married, Rouniang, Huanniang Xiaosuier, and the family members are about [-] to [-] people. Any mistake may be taken advantage of by Xia Song. Su Jin can't take this risk.

But how can Su Jin be willing to be suppressed for a long time and live in the shadows? Once there is no worry in the backyard, he will seek a chance to fight back. Anyway, both of them are doing things secretly, and it depends on who is more clever. Whose arrangements are more meticulous.

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