"Minister Gu Bingqian knocked to see the emperor."

"Get up." Emperor Yonglong lightly discarded the red pen in his hand and clapped his hands, "Give a seat." ”

"Thank you." Gu Bingqian sat down sideways with apprehension.

"Could it be that Shen Qing, Ye Qing, and Fang Qing are all a little dissatisfied with my arbitrariness?" Emperor Yonglong's expression was relaxed.

"It's said that I'm too biased and too esoteric in this question, well, of course I know, but I don't have such high requirements, I don't expect this student to come up with any esoteric answers like the Ministry of War or the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, but I really want to see if there are any unusual ideas in this student, well, don't follow the rules, follow the steps, if that's the case, why do I have to take such painstry?"

"Your Majesty is painstaking, and all the ministers of the court and the central government will definitely understand it." Gu Bingqian hurriedly said.

"Gu Qing, there is a sentence in "Lu's Spring and Autumn" that I agree with, flowing water is not rotten, the household hub is not beetle, this is the same in the court, if all the secretaries are so submissive, yesterday is like this, today is also like this, tomorrow is still like this, ask about court affairs, it is how many years of Guangyuan, how many years of the balance, so we should be like this, but now it is the Yonglong period, not Guangyuan, not the balance of the year, the former Song Linchuan once said, the sky is not enough to fear, people are not enough to be compassionate, the ancestors are not enough law, Whether this remark is correct or appropriate depends on the time,......"

Gu Bingqian felt that sweat was sweating on his back again and again, today's emperor's words seemed to be very touching, and they seemed to be very targeted, who was he aimed at, he vaguely felt it, but why did he choose himself to say this?

In terms of closeness, he is not as good as Zhang Jingqiu, he is not as good as Qi Yongtai in terms of prestige, he is not as good as Qiao Yingjia in terms of machine change, Gu Bingqian is still a little self-aware, although he has done well in his articles and is famous all over the world, but this emperor has always disliked poetry and writing, just because of his performance when he can try?

Gu Bingqian didn't believe that the emperor's trust would be so cheap, there were more people who wanted to serve the emperor, and he couldn't be ranked.

After all the calculations, Gu Bingqian felt that he might be among these ministers, who were similar in all aspects, and he would occupy one of them, obedient.

Is it wrong to be obedient? The emperor's holy judgment is a holy decree, and if there are different opinions, then they must be swallowed.

Noticing that Gu Bingqian entered Europe to think, Emperor Yonglong also became more and more casual, slightly pale and his face seemed to have subsided a lot due to the fatigue caused by lack of sleep, "Gu Qing, the predicament faced by the imperial court is obvious to all, and you still need all Aiqing to work together. ”

Gu Bingqian's heart was shocked, he raised his gaze, Emperor Yonglong's gaze was extremely sharp, he got up and kowtowed: "The minister must live up to the grace of the saint, bow and die." ”

"Well, I know that Gu Qing's loyalty is the same, but the government is getting hard, and Gu Qing and the secretaries of the court and the central government need to work together to get through the difficult times,......"

When he came out of the palace, Gu Bingqian was still carefully reminiscing about the meaning of the emperor's words.

I'm afraid that there will be another turmoil in this hall, but Gu Bingqian no longer has the anxiety he had when he took the exam before, and he is very sure in his heart.

This kind of independence believes that Gu Bingqian will not be the only one, otherwise the emperor would not have said just now that he would work hard with the secretaries of the court and the central government.

Who are these secretaries, it won't be the cabinet, it won't be Xiao Daheng and Zheng Jizhi, right?

Thinking coldly in his heart, Gu Bingqian is getting more and more relaxed, the more the emperor relies on himself, and it will be better to live like this in the future, as for the ministers of the court, if you can see the situation accurately, it is good, but if you can't see the situation, then you need to weigh it carefully.

*******

When Feng Ziying came out after the exam, it was already three o'clock in the morning, and at this time, the candidates came out one after another, complaining about the tricky and difficult questions of the palace exam this time.

As soon as Lian Guoshi came out, he met Feng Ziying, both of them only used their eyes to signal, but they didn't say anything, and then they came out one after another like Wu Fu, He Fengsheng, Zheng Chongjian and others, Lian Guoshi and Feng Ziying didn't mention half a word, so everyone understood and never mentioned the events of that night again, as if it had never happened.

After all, classmates like Xu Ji, Han Jing, Luo Shangzhong, Cai Maode, and Song Tongyin have not been touched by this benefit, in case any of them fail in the palace examination, it is not as good as those who fell to the bottom in the examination, and if they know about it, they are afraid that the knot will be difficult to solve.

After the palace test, I only waited for the announcement in two days.

Follow the pre-Ming precedents, read the papers tomorrow, read the papers the day after tomorrow, and then hold the ceremony of passing the throne and the emperor list on the third day in the Huagai Palace.

According to the usual practice, the reading of the volume is presided over by the cabinet elders, and the officials of the six ministries, the general administration department, and the chief officials of the Dali Temple must participate in the reading of the volumes, and the first volume is about one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty volumes, which is basically determined to be the second grade, and then the rest is the third grade, and then the cabinet elders select twelve volumes in the second class and focus on clearly launching the three volumes as the first grade, and hand them over to the holy judge.

More than ten people screened 380 papers, which was much easier than the examination, and these officials were all battle-hardened, all of them were born in Jinshi, and they came from that era, so they were familiar with this kind of paper.

According to the custom, people who are divided into two groups must exchange papers with each other to prevent favoritism and omission.

Gu Bingqian noticed that Zhang Jingqiu, Qi Yongtai, Chai Ke, Qiao Yingjia and others were basically divided into several groups to read the papers, and he also consciously did not read the papers with these people, so that the entire scene could be covered to the greatest extent.

Soon Zhang Jingqiu's deep and powerful voice sounded: "Lord Xiao, why is this volume down, in the opinion of the lower officials, even if this volume is not considered the top 30, at least the top 50 is no problem, why is it placed in the second class?" ”

"This article is too entangled in details, and the official thinks that the arts and sciences are also slightly inferior,...... Xiao Daheng is an old slippery head, seeing Zhang Jingqiu's questioning, it immediately attracted Qiao Yingjia's attention, so he changed his words and said: "Ge Lao, it is better to ask you to comment." ”

The entire East Pavilion fell silent, and it was not uncommon for this kind of reading to be controversial, but it was rare for the atmosphere to be as tense as Jinke, especially since the examination had caused a huge controversy.

The dispute between the two bigwigs, the old man of the pavilion, Congzhe and Gu Bingqian, the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, went from locking the courtyard to withdrawing thorns, and then to the discussion between the court and the central government, which had a very bad impact.

Ye Xianggao's face also sank slightly, he was extremely disgusted with Xiao Tycoon's behavior, but as the host of this review, Shoufu Shen has always been regardless of this kind of second- and third-class dispute, and will only make decisions on the last one, and he will be responsible for the rest of the affairs.

Ye Xianggao took the volume and read it roughly, there was not much surprising, but when discussing the invasion of the East China Sea and the affairs of the East China, there was a slight novelty, but there was nothing wrong with putting it in the second volume, but if it was for the sake of the novelty of this volume, it was reluctant to be included at the end of the first volume, which is also reasonable.

At this time, it is not advisable to hesitate, Ye Xianggao quickly decided: "Lord Zhang, this article is not brilliant, it is a little new, but compared with other articles, there is still a gap, so there is nothing wrong with Lord Xiao's move." ”

"Oh? As for this volume, please also ask the elder to try it first. Zhang Jingqiu did not stop there, and quickly took out another volume that was also dethroned by Xiao Daheng into two volumes.

Ye Xianggao took a deep breath, took the volume and read it, it should be said that this volume is similar to the previous volume, with a slight novelty, but there is nothing substantial, but Zhang Jingqiu's posture has already made it clear that this time the reading may not be able to proceed peacefully.

Nodding, Ye Xianggao immediately decided: "Lord Zhang, it seems that there is a big difference in the standards for marking the papers in this palace examination, Lord Shoufu, in the opinion of the following officials, can the papers with differences be listed separately after reading each other, and then evaluated one by one?" ”

They are all masters, and Shen has always sneered in his heart, but he can't refuse, and nodded: "According to Jinqing's opinion, read the uncontroversial papers first, and then decide on these controversial ones." ”

Once such a divergent standard was determined, the progress was quick, but the number of such papers increased rapidly, and by the end of the marking, the number of such papers had reached more than 30 volumes, far exceeding previous expectations.

The focus was finally handed over to Shen Yiyi, who was expressionless and read them one by one.

These more than 30 volumes should be said to be directly deposed as second-class, about 20 volumes, which is undoubtedly Zhang Jingqiu and others deliberately using this method to exert pressure, but for Shen Yiyi, this kind of thing is also commonplace.

"Lord Zhang, this kind of volume has been read by the official, although the twenty volumes on the left are often new, but on the whole they are almost meaningless, they are all whimsical, not worth mentioning, they can be entered into the second class, these eleven volumes, they can be viewed, they can be entered into the first class, but the order must not exceed the top fifty."

Shen's consistent attitude is basically the final word, if he wants to be entangled again, he is afraid that he will lose both.

"Lord Shoufu, in these eleven volumes, the lower officials have also read them, and there are also differences, and there are also two or three volumes recommended by Lord Gu for the lower officials to read, and the lower officials think that they should be between thirty and forty ,......" Qi Yongtai said calmly.

Shen has always been slightly surprised, Qi Yongtai rarely interjected in this kind of matter, but why is it like this today? What is the difference between more than thirty and more than fifty?

After a little thought, Shen consistently selected three volumes.

These volumes are all vague, but they are no longer transcribed, and they are also the ones that Shen Cheng felt were more incisive and substantial in the previous volumes, but the discussion is a little thin, and one of them is particularly brilliant, but the words are straightforward and simple, which is not in line with the current fashion.

"But these three volumes?"

Qi Yongtai took it and swept it over, and nodded: "Lord Shoufu Mingjian." ”

Shen always didn't say much, and nodded, "Then according to the opinion of Chengfeng, do you have any objections to anything else?" ”

Seeing that everyone was meaningless, he made a decision.

Until the end of the marking, Shen has always been still wondering what Qi Yongtai, who has rarely come out, means.

If you want these volumes to be pushed into the first twelve volumes and presented to the Imperial Review, Shen has always never let them succeed, which means that it is possible to be selected into the top three, and these thirty or forty have nothing to do with it, and it is acceptable.

The only explanation is that Qi Yongtai was afraid that he would see that there were disciples in the scrolls, and he intended to find a good ranking for his disciples, but it didn't matter.

There are such trivial things in every subject, and this is also a tacit secret of the elders and the officials of the Six Divisions, but the premise is that you have to obtain the approval of the most large degree of paper readers, and a small adjustment is just a plan for the next step.

This turmoil, which was originally thought to be difficult to untie, actually came to an end, which surprised all parties.