prosperous age

Chapter 170 Chapter 169
Wei Guangde's mentality was broken. He stood outside the Meridian Gate and thought a lot. He didn't know why he entered the Meridian Gate with the gongshi team.

When he came back to his senses, he had followed the team to the outside of Fengtian Hall, standing on the west side of Danchi.

In front of them are those officials in green clothes. They are not qualified to enter Fengtian Temple, and only senior officials can set foot there.

It's just that the gate of Fengtian Hall is completely open at this time, and Wei Guangde can still vaguely see the situation inside.

After all the officials and tributes stood still, the minister of Honglu Temple, who was in charge of court etiquette, invited the emperor to ascend to the hall. With the sound of ritual music, Emperor Jiajing came out from one side in his uniform and entered Fengtian hall. At this moment, the clean whip sounded in front of the hall. ll.

"Papa. Papa."

After the emperor sat down, all the officials and tributes kowtowed to Emperor Jiajing on the throne amidst the harmony of the officials of Honglu Temple.

After that, Wei Guangde didn't hear what was said in Fengtian Hall because he was far away, and his main energy at the moment was used to adjust his mentality.

Try to let himself discard the emotions that came out of nowhere before, he wants to let go of his thoughts and let himself be completely quiet.

As the words "Xuanjin Ke Gongshi go to the palace" came from his ears, Wei Guangde mechanically followed behind the others again, walked forward slowly, and stepped up the steps step by step.

At this time, Emperor Jiajing, who was sitting on the Fengtian Hall, looked at the three hundred tributes who were walking slowly, his eyes were a little lost, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

Under the guidance of the officials of Honglu Temple, Wei Guangde and the others were qualified to enter Fengtian Temple at this time.

Wei Guangde and the others had rules in their positions, and the tributes were required to keep a sufficient distance between them until everyone stood in their proper positions. Standing in His Highness, they kowtowed again to Emperor Jiajing on the throne.

When the Gongsheng students entered the hall, the civil and military officials in the hall had consciously moved to the two sides of the hall.

Although Fengtian Hall is big, 300 people came in at once, and it was still packed to the brim.

"let's start."

Seeing that it was almost done, Emperor Jiajing whispered to the eunuch next to him.

Immediately, the eunuch following the emperor spread out an imperial decree with both hands, and read it aloud in a thin but penetrating voice.

"In the 35th year, the Jiaxu court tested the system of tributes in the world and said: I am only destined to establish a monarch to rule the land, and there must be ministers who divide and assist. The so-called neighbors. Calling Yao and Shun to restrain the saints without the help of high virtuous people, how can it be The two sages are alone? Husband and the ancient head of state are really one, and the upper and lower are connected. It is not like the big difference in the past. I put my confidant in the heart of the heart. Why do you see me as an enemy? Anwang is a national sympathetic to the people. Also. I really don’t have the philosophy of knowing people, the wisdom of being able to perceive, I want to hear and know. Fang Erduoshi, what I saw is true. It should be beneficial to my way of knowing. Learn from it and don’t hide it or deceive it.”

After the eunuch finished reading the imperial decree, Emperor Jiajing waved his hand, and the eunuch put away the bright yellow scroll in his hand and walked down slowly, handing it to the promotion officer of this palace examination. On the inscription on the central aisle of Fengtian Hall.

The emperor had already given the policy questions, so it was natural for the tribute students to answer them next, but before that, Wei Guangde and the others were guided by the officials of Honglu Temple to perform five prostrations and three kowtows to the emperor on the throne again. Get up and stand.

The five prostrations and three kowtows of the Ming Dynasty are the rituals of the monarch and his ministers. The first four prostrations in the five prostrations are Jishou, and the last prostration is three kowtows, all of which are taken from the nine prostrations in "Zhou Rituals".

As for the three-kneeling and nine-kowtow ceremony that the folks say, it was actually used by the emperor to worship the heavens, but it was abused by later dynasties.

In just ten minutes or so, Wei Guangde knelt down three times, and he began to think seriously about whether it is good or bad to stay in the capital and be an official in the capital.

"Let's start the exam."

On the throne, Emperor Jiajing looked at this year's tributes. They will become Jinshi in a few days and become disciples of the Son of Heaven.

He has been sitting in this position for more than 30 years, more than ten palace examinations, so that he no longer has the initial feeling of "all the talents in the world are in my pocket", and he looks at His Highness's tribute very flatly.

He had to attend the palace examination, the national talent ceremony, at least the basic etiquette.

It's just that the Emperor Jiajing couldn't sit still at this moment. He might still think it would be better to go back to Xiyuan to pray, so he wanted to end these cumbersome procedures as soon as possible.

After he finished speaking, the eunuchs who had already prepared to be at the side came forward with a small table in the order they had arranged, and behind them there were people who were holding pens, inkstones and began to distribute them.

After the eunuchs finished their work, the officials of the Ministry of Rites began to distribute the test papers, twelve sheets per person, no more and no less, all of which were handed over to them after being checked by the scroll officer last night.

The inscription paper is made of Xuan paper, which is extremely elegant. Each page is 24 centimeters long and [-] centimeters wide. There are straight lines with red lines. Each line has [-] characters. It is required that each character must be neatly written.

Candidates knelt down one by one to pick up the question papers and went to their seats to start answering the questions.

"The head of state's thighs and arms are really one, and the upper and lower are connected."

This question was beyond Wei Guangde's expectation, and he was silently reciting a passage he had extracted in his heart right now.

Before that, Wei Guangde always thought that Emperor Jiajing's questions would be to solve the problems of the northern slaves or the southern Japanese, or at worst to solve financial problems and contribute to his career of cultivating immortals, but Wei Guangde really did not expect that the emperor's questions would be it is this.

The oracle has already said before that the ancient Yao and Shun had great sages to help, and the credit is not for the two sages alone, but for everyone.

Is this to start emphasizing "the emperor and his ministers are of one mind"?
Could it be that Emperor Jiajing has discovered that the atmosphere in the officialdom has been corrupted, party struggles have intensified, and the administration of officials has been severely damaged, gradually breaking away from the emperor's control.

Therefore, the emperor's policy questions reflected his strong appeal for the cleanliness of officials and harmony between the monarch and his ministers.

After reading the questions, Wei Guangde didn't start answering the paper immediately, but began to think.

In fact, at this time, most of the examinees did not answer the paper immediately, but were thinking about what the strategy theory meant.

The palace examination is different from the previous provincial examinations and general examinations. It does not look at literary talent but at the solution.

A large part of the results of the palace examination is that the candidates understand the mind of the questioner and how to answer.

Inadvertently, Wei Guangde secretly raised his head and glanced at the person on the throne. Although he was wearing a crown and his face was obscured by the crown hanging in front of the crown, Wei Guangde could still vaguely see the face of Emperor Jiajing. It seems to be a bit tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, but the beard is okay, not a big beard.

The crown clothes on his body are also "carrying the sun and the moon on his shoulders, and carrying the stars on his back". In fact, Wei Guangde can't see clearly, it's all said in the book, so it's not bad.

Ok?
Wei Guangde suddenly felt very strange, he seemed to see a meaningful smile hanging from the corner of the emperor's mouth.

However, Wei Guangde's heart tightened immediately, and he felt that his eyes met the person.

Yes, although he wanted to leave, he couldn't just get up and leave right now. Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houcong also sat on the throne and looked down at the examinees below.

Some people are already grinding ink, and more are still thinking there.

This time, Emperor Jiajing was also on a whim. The current candidates like to figure out the emperor's heart. In fact, not only the candidates, but also the group of ministers under him.

The folks think that the imperial court is a headache for the southern and northern captives, and most of the officials know that the imperial court’s finances are tight. I think the following candidates have the same mentality. They should gamble in this direction, but I just don’t agree with you. .

Thinking of this, Emperor Jiajing revealed a playful smile, and then he found a guy near the entrance of the hall secretly looking up at him.

As the Ninth Five-Year Lord, Emperor Jiajing naturally wouldn't have the same knowledge as him, after all, he was almost his protégé.

Moreover, as far as his position is concerned, he is estimated to be among the top three. Perhaps it is basically impossible to come here again in the future, to this Fengtian Temple.

Emperor Jiajing was not an idiot, on the contrary he was extremely shrewd.

He is familiar with official routines, including various unspoken rules.

But, what's the use of knowing, some things have already been established, even as the emperor, he can't change them.

As for the little guy who was peeking at him, Emperor Jiajing saw it very clearly. He was not very old, probably less than 20 years old. tender.

On a whim, Emperor Jiajing put away his smile, but instead of pouting, he nodded gently at him.

Well, even he himself didn't know the meaning of his action, and Wei Guangde in the audience naturally couldn't understand it even more.

In the capital before, I heard a lot of gossip, saying that Emperor Jiajing liked to write notes that normal people could not understand and handed them over to the cabinet for them to guess.

Well, now that the Emperor Jiajing gave him the action, he didn't want to understand for a moment what it meant.

However, now that the palace examination procedure is up to now, Emperor Jiajing feels that it is almost the same. He nodded to the eunuch Huang Jin beside him, and then got up and left Fengtian Palace. After the emperor left, other officials who had nothing to do with this palace examination also came They all quit.

Because the palace examination was being held, naturally there would be no eunuch shouting "retire from the court", even when the high-ranking officials and nobles left the Fengtian Palace, they were careful and tried not to make a sound, and the censor and the supervisor were still watching.

Wei Guangde couldn't understand what the emperor's little gesture meant, but he had already begun to grind his ink now, and he couldn't do it all the time in a daze.

The first name and place of origin and other information are written indiscriminately. Every time the imperial examination begins, it will be sealed after a while.

Regarding the strategy of the imperial examination, Wei Guangde was still thinking about whether it is better to flatter the emperor or to flatter the emperor. Finally, he thought of several plans, chose a method of shooting, and then started to do it.

"Minister to minister heard. The emperor's rule of the world is also. You must do the way of the officials and then you can bring about the rule of the world. You must get the needs of the officials and then you can enjoy the ease of the world."

This is the format of policy theory. Everyone must write "the subject to the subject" at the beginning of the article, and then their own discussion.

At first, let’s talk about the general principles. To rule the world, the emperor must have a method of selecting people in order to achieve the governance of the world; he must acquire the skills of managing officials before he can enjoy the comfort of the world.

Afterwards came the meaning of selecting talents. Wei Guangde dared not write casually in his eloquence, but he had to ponder over the answer several times in his heart before he dared to write on the question paper.

This would be a waste of effort. Although the palace examination lasted for one day, it would last until sunset in the afternoon, when the papers would be collected forcibly, and the candidates' answering questions would end here.

Although it was just a thousand-word policy theory, it consumed Wei Guangde's countless brainpower.

Even after thinking about how to write in the future, Wei Guangde still has to write carefully when writing the test paper. Maybe he was beaten a lot when he was a child, and now Wei Guangde is not very confident in his calligraphy.

Even if he is already a Juren, a tribute.

During the whole process of answering the questions, except for the examiner, inspector and other examination room officials, the rest of the officials have left, including the examiner and other irrelevant deacons, and the examiner can only wait outside the hall. We usually hand in the papers in the afternoon, and they will come in and collect the answer papers according to the process when candidates hand in the papers.

After pondering for a long time, Wei Guangde wrote about [-] words. At this moment, he smelled a tangy fragrance. Lunch is here?

Wei Guangde sniffed his nose and inhaled vigorously, then looked over in search of flavors, those who came from outside the hall, don't know what kind of delicacy they can eat at noon?
Wei Guangde thought this way in his heart, his thoughts were a little messed up, so he stopped writing, continued to think about how to write later, and waited for someone to bring lunch.

It's not that Wei Guangde is greedy, after all, it's food in the palace.

But when their lunch was served, Wei Guangde just frowned, there was no smell of the food he had smelled before, just two steamed buns and a bowl of soup.

That's all, send them away?
The proctors in the main hall have already taken turns to go out to eat, well, Wei Guangde knows that they eat all the good things.

Wei Guangde had no choice but to eat this little food, which was too simple and too little, not enough for his usual appetite.

He wanted to raise his hand to ask someone to bring some more, but he looked at where it was, and put out his thoughts.

After eating and resting for a while, Wei Guangde continued to write.

But Wei Guangde didn't know that on the way back to Xiyuan, he was accidentally asked by Emperor Jiajing again.

Well, Emperor Jiajing found it very interesting to look up at the emperor's little guy during the palace examination.

Scholars peeped at the emperor a lot during the Ceremony of Biography, but they secretly peeked up during the palace examination. It seemed to be the first time for Emperor Jiajing to inadvertently ask the eunuch beside him.

There are some things that the emperor can ignore, but the eunuch beside him has to know.

There are also rules for the positions of the tributes. They all stand according to their rankings and cannot make mistakes.

Emperor Jiajing could only roughly judge from Wei Guangde's position that his performance in the general examination might not be very good, but the exact number is unknown.

After the emperor asked, Huang Jin, the eunuch who had been serving for a long time beside him, did not speak. Instead, he glanced at Chen Hong, who was more familiar with such things as going abroad.

After hearing the emperor's question, Chen Hong thought about the position and age that the emperor said, and roughly guessed who that person was, so he said to Emperor Jiajing with a flattering smile: "My lord, the person you saw should be Wei Guangde." Yes, he is the youngest among Gongshi, only 17 years old this year. '

"Oh, no wonder you are so courageous, it turns out that you are the little general who went to battle for me to kill the enemy."

Emperor Jiajing just nodded slightly, "How many people got the exam results?"

(End of this chapter)