Zhu Houxi walked around the examination room and returned to the Fengtian Palace, sat on the dragon chair for a while, yawned a few times in boredom, and finally drove back to the harem surrounded by a group of eunuchs and guards.

As soon as the emperor left on the front foot, the civil and military officials left the scene one after another, and each returned to the official office to do things, after all, the palace examination had to take place for a whole day, and they couldn't stand here for a day.

At this moment, in the east pavilion of Zuo Shunmen, thirteen marking officers led by Yang Tinghe gathered here. There are a total of four elders of the cabinet (Yang Tinghe, Liang Chu, Mao Ji, Jiang Mian), Wang Qiong, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, Mao Cheng, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Yang Tan, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, Wang Xian, the secretary of the Ministry of War, Zhang Zilin, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Li Qi, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Wang Jing, the left capital of the Imperial Palace, Zhang Lun, the right capital of the Imperial History, and Shi Xuan, the bachelor of Hanlin.

The thirteen people present are all heavyweights in the center of the court, and they are responsible for the marking of the palace examination, so at this time, the marquis is preparing to read the papers in the East Pavilion. The reason why it is called marking papers, rather than marking papers, is because there is only one examiner for the palace examination, that is, the emperor today, everyone else is a "foil", only has the right to mark the papers, and it is the emperor who finally assesses the ranking.

Yang Tinghe is the chief marking officer, so he sits in the first place at this time, followed by Liang Chu, Mao Ji and Jiang Mian, the fifth is Wang Qiong, the secretary of the Ministry of History, and the sixth is Mao Cheng, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites.

The assessment, promotion, and appointment of officials in charge of the Ministry of History, so it has the greatest power among the six departments, and the status of the Ministry of History is also the highest.

Wang Qiong, the secretary of the ministry, is about sixty years old, with a wide mouth and a high nose, and his eyes are a little inverted triangle, looking very murderous. ”

Wang Qiong was still the secretary of the military department the year before last, after the rebellion of King Ning, Lu Wan, who was the secretary of the ministry at the time, was taken down due to his fornication with King Ning, and was demoted to Jinghaiwei, Fujian, to fill the army, Wang Qiong was promoted to the secretary of the history department, and Wang Xian, the left attendant of the former military department, took over the post of secretary of the military department.

Wang Qiong is very talented, and he made a lot of contributions when he was the secretary of the Ministry of War, and he was highly valued by Zhengde, and he was crowned as the prince and young master, and he was favored for a while. However, Wang Qiong is sleek and flexible, good at making friends with powerful people, and is also respectful in front of Jiang Bin and Qian Ning, the two ministers, so he gets the opportunity to display his talents, and he handed over to the emperor Suggestions and requests can be approved once they are made, and he can make many meritorious contributions in the military department, which is also with the help of Jiang Bin and others.

Because of this, Wang Qiong was disliked by the Qingliu officials in the court, such as Shi Xuan, a scholar from Hanlin, who despised Wang Qiong's personality very much. As the so-called incorruptible person is not subject to the food that comes to him, as a scholar, how can he bend his waist and bend his waist for the sake of the future?

It just so happens that most of the thirteen examiners present at the moment are Qingliu officials, including the four elders of the cabinet, and the difference is whether they have a bad temper or a mild temper. The second assistant Liang Chu is a moderate in the clear stream, while Shi Xuan is the representative of the stinky temper in the clear stream.

Therefore, at this time, Wang Qiong opened his mouth to ask who would be the champion of today's department, but no one answered, and for a while, the atmosphere was quite embarrassing. Fortunately, Wang Qiong's former old subordinate Wang Xian still gave face, and hurriedly said: "There are still a lot of talents in Jinke, Shangrao Xu Jin, Hebei Yang Weicong, Zhejiang Lu Jun, and Leadshan Fei Maozhong are all temporary talents, and the champion is estimated to be produced among these people." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Shi Xuan snorted coldly and said, "Xu Jin can't do it!" ”

Just as Shi Xuan despised Wang Qiong's sleek sophistication, Wang Qiong also looked down on Shi Qiong's pedantic and old-fashioned manner, and immediately retorted when he heard this: "Why can't Xu Jin?" The thesis is talented, this son is even five yuan, and there is no one before; In terms of martial strategy, this son's performance in pacifying the rebellion of King Ning is remarkable. Such a talent who is so good at writing and martial arts is rare in a hundred years, and he looks dignified, how can he not be the champion? ”

Shi Xuan said coldly: "This son has no integrity, opportunistic, flattery, and someone is the same as a raccoon dog!" ”

Wang Qiong couldn't help but be furious, although Shi Xuan didn't name him directly, he was clearly reflecting himself, and shouted in a deep voice: "Shi Xuan, who do you say is a raccoon dog?" ”

Shi Xuan said fearlessly: "Who knows who you know!" ”

Wang Qiong's triangular eyes widened, she stood up suddenly, rolled up her sleeves and wanted to go up to Qianhai Bian Shi Xuan, who also stood up and prepared to fight!

Don't be surprised, this is the tradition of civil officials in the Ming Dynasty, and it is common for officials to disagree with each other. For example, during the Hongzhi period, Li Dongyang, the first assistant of the cabinet, seized the weapons of the golden gourd warrior in front of the palace in front of the Hongzhi Emperor and chased Zhang Heling, the Marquis of Shouning, but unfortunately he was old and weak, and he did not fight, but was kicked twice by the Marquis of Shouning.

At this time, Wang Qiong stood up and wanted to fight, but Jiang Mian, a cabinet scholar next to him, hurriedly stopped: "Jinxi (Wang Qiong's number) don't be impulsive, you have something to say!" ”

Yang Tinghe shouted in a deep voice: "Sit down, you are all important ministers of the imperial court, what kind of decency is it to be so rude, it is really insulting!" ”

Yang Tinghe is the first assistant of the cabinet, and since the new monarch ascended the throne, his prestige has become even greater, and Wang Qiong can only sit down angrily when he speaks. As a result, a "full martial arts" between civil officials was suppressed by Yang Tinghe.

A leader is a leader because he has enough talent, charisma, and prestige to unite those around him and keep him at the forefront. Today's Yang Tinghe is the leader of the courtiers, and he can't say the same!

……

As time went by, it was getting noon, and there were already candidates who answered the questions quickly and turned in their papers and left.

The process of processing the examination papers of the palace examination is different from that of the general examination, it does not need to be re-copied and proofread, but the name is sealed and immediately sent to the East Pavilion for review and scoring by the examiner. Therefore, if the marking officer recognizes the candidate's handwriting, it is easy to cheat, and if necessary, the official in charge of collecting the paper can also secretly tell the examinee's name to the marking officer, which is the so-called loophole in the rules.

Some people may ask, why has the ranking of the temple examination not changed much compared to the general examination?

It turns out that after the results of the palace examination come out, the results of the examination will also be referenced, for example, the candidates who are in the top three of the original examination, if the palace examination is very good, they can be promoted to the end of the second grade, and then it is impossible to go further. Therefore, the overall ranking of the palace examination will not change very much.

Nearly two-thirds of the candidates have already handed in their papers and left. Xu Jin also finished answering the question at this time, and carefully checked it again, then raised his hand to hand in the file, and immediately the officials of the Ministry of Etiquette stepped forward, sealed it in front of him, put it in a special box, and presented it to the East Pavilion for the examiner to review.

Xu Jin handed in the papers, left the imperial city along the way he came, and found that Fei Maozhong, Wei Yang, and Huang Dacan were already waiting outside Chengtian Gate.

"How did Ziqian do in the exam?" Fei Maozhong's face was happy, and he obviously played well.

Xu Jin smiled and said, "It's okay!" ”

The honest man Huang Dacan said very honestly: "I rarely get involved in military affairs, I'm afraid I won't have a chance to enter the second class, but Ziqian is good at managing things, and he has led the army to fight, and he is the champion!" ”

Xu Jin asked himself that this policy question was indeed answered very well, and aside from other factors, it is estimated that he is likely to win the champion, but Yang Tinghe is the chief marking officer, and it would be good if he could enter the top ten, and the champion should not even think about it.

Senior brother Wei Yang was obviously not in a high mood, and said with a sigh: "Finally finished the exam, let's go, let's have a few drinks, I'll have a treat!" ”

Xu Jin and the three of them glanced at each other and nodded.

The four of them found a restaurant in Mingshifang, and this time, the senior brother Wei Yang was very drunk.

……

Late at night, the East Pavilion at the Zuoshun Gate of the Imperial City was still brightly lit, and thirteen marking officials were working overtime to review the palace examination papers.

Although the list will be released the day after tomorrow, there is still one day to go tomorrow, but there are only more than 300 volumes in total, and thirteen people will review them, as long as they stay up, they can be reviewed tonight, finish things early, rest early, and sleep lazily tomorrow.

At about a certain time, more than 300 papers were finally corrected, and they began to open the seals and preliminarily evaluate the rankings.

The way of marking the palace examination is like this, thirteen marking officers cross-score, respectively with "○", "△", "\", "1", "×" five kinds of marks to rate, "○" means excellent, get the most "○" for the best volume, and then in all the volumes, select the most ten books to submit to the emperor, the first first, second and third place in the imperial approval is the champion, the list eye, and the flower.

"It's not proper, Elder Yang Ge, this official thinks that the ranking of this volume is up for debate!" Wang Qiong, the secretary of the ministry, suddenly raised an objection loudly.