In the Fengtian Palace, Emperor Yonglong was on the throne and looked down at the front, "Shen Qing, Zhu Qing, have you finished reading the volume?" ”

"Back to the emperor, the examination papers of the Chun Xuan Hall of Ding Weike in the fifth year of Yonglong have been completed, and the preliminary agreed results have also been released, please ask Your Majesty to make a holy judgment." Shen always stood out and bowed.

"Well, let's bring it up, I also want to see what kind of demeanor this student is." Emperor Yonglong smiled at the corner of his mouth, and his gaze stayed on the face of His Highness's dry scroll reader, "I hope I won't be disappointed too much." ”

Shen Yi's heart tightened, he hadn't read the scrolls yet, could he have already expected that the scrolls of this subject would not be in line with the holy will?

The chamberlain had already presented the prepared twelve volumes, and Emperor Yonglong read them at a glance and ten lines.

The officials in the hall all looked at each other, and they all realized the hidden meaning of the emperor's words, but they didn't know what they meant.

Emperor Yonglong first looked at the first three volumes, which were the first three volumes recommended by the cabinet, and generally speaking, the three volumes of Sandingjia were these three volumes.

After the thirty-second year of Yuanxi, there has been no change, including the spring of the second year of Yonglong.

However, before the 32nd year of Yuanxi, there were also precedents for emperors to change their rankings and ask for more reading and select the three tripods from them.

All in all, everything is determined by the emperor, but on the whole, the changes will not be too big, it is impossible that all the candidates for the three tripods launched by the cabinet have not been selected, and those cabinet elders really have to kneel and beg His Majesty to resign.

Emperor Yonglong has simply read three volumes, it should be said that they are all first-class masterpieces, and they are also quite innovative, after all, this is a top-notch talent selected by more than 1,000 elite students on the Great Thursday, if there is no level, it is naturally impossible to put it in front of him.

Nodding slightly, Emperor Yonglong still had a difficult meaning in his heart, and then continued to read the following nine volumes, which are spare volumes, and there are also commendable works, but overall, they are not as good as the previous three volumes.

It is half an hour to read one by one, and the number of words in each volume is not much, and it is limited to 1,000 words, which is also a test of students' writing skills, in order to be concise and incisive, and Emperor Yonglong's reading of the paper will naturally not be like the reading of the papers, word by word review, sentence by sentence review, he is more to see whether there is something to say, to the point.

After reading the twelve volumes, Emperor Yonglong was still unsatisfied, "Shen Qing, let me take a look at the twelve more volumes." ”

Shen was slightly stunned, this kind of situation is rare, but he has already been prepared, and he bowed his hand slightly, and motioned to the person next to him to send the prepared twelve scrolls.

These twelve volumes of Emperor Yonglong read much faster, almost the same, not as good as the previous twelve volumes, which also made Emperor Yonglong a little disappointed.

These volumes are all vague names, and even the emperor can't open them, so after a little hesitation, Emperor Yonglong said: "I am still in good spirits today, so I will read the twelve volumes again and send them up." ”

Shen has always felt a pang in his heart, this is that the emperor is not very satisfied with the situation of this subject.

Looking at the thirty-six volumes, I dare not say that there has never been one, but I am afraid that only the most diligent Emperor Taizu Taihe of the Great Zhou Dynasty had a precedent of reading the highest seventy-two volumes, but that was also the beginning of the founding of the country.

Since Emperor Taihe, there have been only a handful of emperors who have read twenty-four volumes, and Emperor Yuanxi has never exceeded twelve volumes.

Taking a deep breath, His Majesty the Emperor still wants to see the twelve volumes, and Shen Cheng can only let him signal the people below to immediately take out the top twelve volumes and present them.

This time the situation was slightly different, when he saw the next few volumes, Emperor Yonglong obviously put his reading speed to the fullest, and he read the two volumes repeatedly before finally thinking about it.

His Royal Highness's ministers all looked at each other in surprise, not knowing what the emperor meant by this, but they didn't dare to disturb, so they could only hold their breath and wait for the emperor to decide.

"Hmm, Shen Qing, if I think this volume should be among the top three tripods, what does Qing mean?" Emperor Yonglong raised a scroll in his hand and said with a slight smile: "Listed as the thirty-third by Zhu Qing, I feel that in addition to being slightly inferior in words, his words can be every word and thought-provoking, I don't know why Zhu Qing is so stingy to let him enter the top twelve?" ”

A slightly cold gaze swept over the faces of a heavy minister, but Shen Cheng was expressionless, and just replied calmly: "Back to Your Majesty, the ministers must review and approve it one by one from the words and reasoning, which is also an explanation to the world's readers, so as to select a volume that can convince tens of millions of readers in the world." ”

Shen has always become extremely tough at this time, and he wants to defend his dignity and rights as the first assistant, as the head of the civil ministers!

In the past two or three years, he has been accustomed to Taoguang and obscurity, but now he knows that he has no way to retreat, so he made up his mind.

Thinking of this, Shen Cheng became extremely relaxed, but his old eyes, which were originally a little cloudy, were scorching, and he arched his hands slightly, looking straight ahead.

It was also extremely uncomfortable to be tough by Shen's consistent wave, and Emperor Yonglong didn't expect that this Shoufu, who had always been accustomed to mud, suddenly seemed to be a different person, and after a slight suffocation, his face remained unchanged, but he took a deep breath and nodded: "Shen Qing's intention is also reasonable, it seems that my intention is too impatient, okay, this volume can be included in the top twelve, well, one and three volumes, according to Zhu Qing's opinion!" ”

After speaking, Emperor Yonglong wrote on the three volumes with a red pen in his hand, and then dropped the red pen, "I am tired, if there is nothing to do, then retreat!" ”

Before the shocked ministers could react, Emperor Yonglong got off the throne and walked away, and the servants hurriedly followed all the way away.

Shen Zheng's face was calm, still the same, "Congratulations to Your Majesty!" ”

When the emperor's figure disappeared, Shen Yi smiled indifferently, "Okay, the matter of this branch of the Spring Festival is over, and you have to work hard for you to continue to work hard in the Ministry of Rites today, and tomorrow you have to go to the Huagai Hall to write the list and use the seal, then everyone can be relieved." ”

Rao is Ye Xianggao, Fang Congzhe, Zhang Jingqiu, Qi Yongtai, Qiao Yingjia and others have always been dissatisfied and slandered by Shen, and they had to be excited at this time, and bowed their hands to show respect and support, only Xiao Daheng and Gu Bingqian hesitated slightly, but when they saw that all the ministers were like this, they could only bow their heads and give their hands.

If the emperor's previous actions were that Shen always did not dare to go up, then the prestige of the cabinet would be gone, and I could not be the first assistant, but the power and responsibility of the first assistant and the cabinet could not be encroached upon! This is the burden of the head of the civil ministers.

Shen's actions today are actually equivalent to making the most standard demonstration to his colleagues, that is, those who may step into the position of first assistant in the future.

*******

When Feng Ziying and the others were again introduced to wait outside the Fengtian Palace, they knew that the fateful moment had finally come.

Everyone held their breath in awe, but they pricked up their ears and waited for the roll call of the last deacon.

When the deacons placed the case in the Danqi Imperial Road, all the jinshi knelt down.

As soon as they were done, they held their breath and waited for the last moment.

"In the fifth year of Yonglong, in March, on the fifteenth, the first class was given to the Jinshi and the first, the second was given to the Jinshi, and the third was given to the same Jinshi."

The deacon's voice was exceptionally loud, and the entire Danqi Imperial Road was silent, only his voice echoed in the empty square.

"The first place in Henan Yongcheng Gongshi practice state affairs!"

Practicing state affairs is surging, even the eyes are so moist that they can't see the surroundings clearly, they can only hold back the ecstasy, excitement and excitement in their hearts, trembling and standing out, someone has taught them relevant etiquette knowledge before, knowing that they need to go out of class, kneel again, and thank God.

Feng Ziying and other Qingtan students couldn't help but shout secretly, champion Lang, and it is the champion of Huiyuan, even the middle two!

This is enough to make Lian Guo's affairs a great book in the history of the Great Zhou Imperial Examination.

"First and second place, Zhejiang Yuyao Gongshi Huang Zunsu!"

……

"The first and third place is Yang Sichang, the Gongshi of Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture!"

Feng Ziying's eyes saw that Yang Wenqiao was also staggering out of the ranks, obviously overly excited and excited, and knelt on the ground, thanks.

……

"The second first, the first place, Fujian, Tongangongshi, Xu Ji!"

I didn't expect Xu Ji to be so tall, but Feng Ziying was a little surprised, so she didn't need to go out of work, she just needed to kneel down and thank you on the spot.

"Second place, second place, Zhejiang Yanzhou Mansion Gongshi Wang Qiaonian!"

This Feng Ziying doesn't know, it should be from the academy in Jiangnan, the same as Huang Zunsu in Bangyan.

……

"The second and eighth place is the Gongshi Hou of Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture!"

I didn't expect Hou Sui to be able to get so high in the exam, and he deserves to be one of the top figures in Chongzheng Academy.

"Second and ninth place, Shuntian Mansion, Wanping County, Gongshi Feng Keng!"

Feng Ziying's brain was full of enthusiasm? Is it really yourself? That's right, it's yourself!

How can it be wrong if the origin and name are the same?

But this is the ninth in the second class? Isn t it too high, completely beyond imagination, all kinds of thoughts and questions poured into Feng Ziying's mind like a tide, but at this time, the energy turned into a mechanical kneeling action, thank you.

Then there's a long wait for a roll call, and you're done singing, and you're going to have to wait until everyone else finishes singing it one by one.

Of course, Feng Ziying didn't care much about other people, but of course he had to pay attention to the classmates he was familiar with, and according to the chaotic thoughts in his heart, Feng Ziying listened to the rankings of other classmates quietly.

Not surprisingly, Song Tongyin and Luo Shangzhong were both ranked in the second rank, ranking 38th and 55th respectively, and Fang Zhenru ranked 109th in the second grade.

Fan Jingwen is undoubtedly the most surprised, the second class ninety-seven, and there is also a surprise that belongs to He Fengsheng, the second class one hundred and eighteen.

The rest of the students can only be ranked in the top three, like Zheng Chongjian ranked in the top two hundred and sixty-eight, and Fang Youdu ranked three hundred and thirty-five, all of which have greatly improved their rankings from the previous examination.

This roll-call lasted until the end of the last name.

His Majesty, the official of Honglu Temple, knelt down and delivered a speech: "Tiankai Wenyun, virtuous and virtuous, congratulations!" ”

The civil and military officials and the scholars who climbed the list bowed five times and kowtowed, and came out after the ceremony.