Mingyuan Building is the central building of the Gongyuan, and it is also the highest building, three floors high, made square, the lower eaves are out of the eaves, there are windows on all sides, the field of vision is extremely broad, the examiner can overlook the rows and rows of examination sheds below in the building, monitor the candidates' every move, and play a certain deterrent role.

Liang Chu and Shi Xuan, the two presidents of the examination of the Ministry of Science and Rites, returned to Mingyuan Building after inspecting the examination room with eighteen fellow examiners, chatting while drinking a glass of water.

Liang Chu is the deputy assistant minister of the cabinet, and he is also the chief examiner of this examination, and his status is respected, so he naturally sits in the main position, and then it is the turn of the deputy chief examiner, Shi Xuan, a bachelor of Hanlin and the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites. Nearly half of the eighteen fellow examiners were officials of the Hanlin Academy, including Liu Tianmin, the Hanlin worshipper who presided over the Jiangxi Provincial Township Examination. In addition, some of the same examiners were officials of the Sixth Ministry and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Liang Chu took a sip of tea and smiled: "I heard that there are a lot of talented people in this section to take the exam, and it is estimated that there will be a few eye-catching exam papers in this section!" ”

A fellow examiner echoed with a smile: "What Elder Liang Ge said is very true, as far as the lower officials know, Yang Weicong, the son of Gu'an, Lu Jun, the son of Zhejiang, Fei Maozhong and Wei Yang of Jiangxi, are all talents of the moment. Of course, the most famous is naturally Xu Jin Xu Ziqian of Shangrao, Jiangxi, this son was in the boy test company three yuan, was appointed by the emperor as Jiangxi Township to try to solve the yuan, not long ago he won the head of the Shangyuan Festival Spring Festival held by Wei Guogong. It is the biggest hit of today's Keyuan Club. ”

As soon as the words ended, someone snorted coldly and retorted: "Shangrao Xu Jin is the most famous, and his talent in poetry is indeed unparalleled, but what the imperial examination values is still the scriptures and righteous articles, so the Huiyuan of this branch may not be him." ”

Shi Jue, the left attendant of the Ministry of Works, nodded and agreed: "Master Su is right, after all, poetry is a small way, and Jingyi articles are the way. The officials of the township examination articles of the provincial lifting sub-section have read a lot, and the highest level is the first to recommend Yang Weicong of Gu'an, followed by Lu Jun of Zhejiang, and Liao Daonan of Huguang Juzi is also excellent, as for Xu Jin, the son of Shangrao, has not participated in the township test, and the level of craftsmanship is unknown. ”

As soon as Shi Jue finished speaking, several fellow examiners nodded in agreement. In the final analysis, these people are actually dissatisfied with the emperor's practice of bypassing the imperial examination to appoint Xie Yuan.

Liu Tianmin frowned, he was the chief examiner of Jiangxi Township last year, and he also had a lot of complaints about the Son of Heaven's direct hand-picking of Xie Yuan, but after seeing Xu Jin's talent and wit with his own eyes at the Luming banquet, he had quietly changed his opinion, especially the policy questions that Xu Jin answered on the spot, which were to the point, and even Wang Boan (Wang Shouren) was categorical that this son would be the pillar of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

"Xu Ziqian's boy tried to be able to connect the three yuan, which shows that this son's level in terms of scripture and righteousness should be good. And with his performance in pacifying the rebellion of King Ning, it is not an exaggeration for the emperor to grant him a township test to solve the yuan. In addition, at the Luming banquet after the township test that day, this son's performance was remarkable, and the top ten lifters of the three township tests took turns to challenge and failed, and Xu Ziqian's Xie Yuan was well deserved. ”

Although everyone was chatting at this time, once the evaluation of Xu Jin was qualitative, it would definitely affect the next evaluation and ranking, so Liu Tianmin felt that it was necessary to speak fairly for Xu Jin. This son is a talent, but he can't be buried because of everyone's prejudice.

Shi Xuan, the deputy chief examiner, said in a deep voice: "Even if Xu Jin is really good at learning, he can't be the master of the township test, this son lacks the integrity that my generation of scholars should have!" ”

Liu Tianmin frowned and said, "Why did Lord Shi say this? Xu Jin's befriending Zhang Zhongzhi is completely false, and Fei Ge Lao also came forward to clarify. ”

Shi Xuan snorted coldly: "Maybe Xu Jin's banquet to invite Zhang Zhong is indeed to save people, but the starvation of my generation of scholars is small, and the loss of discipline is big, how can I bow my head to the eunuch and seek perfection." What's more, this son did what he liked and presented the drawings of the Francophone cannon to the emperor, which shows that he is accustomed to speculating in the camp. ”

As soon as Shi Xuan's words came out, most of the officials present nodded their heads, the emperor stayed in Jinling and did not return, and all the officials were very angry, and recently heard that the emperor ordered the Jinling Military Bureau to build artillery, so they were quite annoyed by Xu Jin's "flattery" behavior. As for the great significance of the Franc cannon to improving the combat power of the Ming army if it can be built, these pedantic civilian officials selectively ignored it.

Liang Chu coughed lightly and said: "Shi Shilang, I am waiting for the emperor's order to preside over the examination, shoulder the heavy responsibility of recruiting talents for the country, and strive to be fair and just, how can we break the rules because of personal joy and anger." Everything should be subject to the examination papers, if Xu Jin has real learning, he will be able to pick up the current branch with his ability. ”

Shi Xuan's face was slightly embarrassed, and he nodded: "What Elder Liang Ge said is very true, but he is a subordinate official. ”

Liang Ge Lao made a final decision, and this "Huiyuan" controversy naturally ended. However, the minds of the fellow examiners present were lively, although Liang Ge Lao clearly said that he would learn from the scriptures fairly and justly, but as fellow examiners with the right to mark papers, they would not make some small moves because of their personal preferences?

……

Xu Jin, as the party concerned, did not know that the bigwigs who were marking the papers upstairs in Mingyuan had already started a war of words because of him. At this time, Xu Jin was seriously writing the first eight-strand essay, and after writing it, he carefully revised it several times, until he was personally satisfied, and then carefully transcribed it to the answer sheet.

Although he had no ambitions for Huiyuan, Xu Jin still strived for excellence, so he wrote slowly, and by the time he finished the second four-book text, it was already late in the evening.

At this time, his spirit was already a little tired, Xu Jin stopped his pen very simply, put away the pen and ink rolls, and then stood up and moved his muscles. Soon a man brought dinner, the food was very simple, boiling water with steamed buns, pickles and bread, which could make the mouth fade out of the bird!

It's not that the government is too stingy and reluctant to supply candidates with big fish and meat, but it's really that those things are easy to stagnate, and greasy food may spoil the stomach, who is responsible if you pull up the stomach? Therefore, the food served in the examination room is as light as possible, and there is no merit but no fault.

It's just that this can be a lot of hard for a group of candidates, nine consecutive days of exams, physical and mental power is already a huge consumption, and the taste of eating steamed buns with water is not comfortable, so every time the exam is over, the candidates basically have to lose a circle, and after leaving the examination room, they are like starving ghosts to flock to major restaurants and restaurants.

Xu Jin finished eating two big steamed buns with clear water, ate two more dough cakes, and stopped eating when he was eight points full, practicing spitting in the narrow position, and digesting the food by the way.

The candidate's number is less than two square meters, three sides are walls, about 2 meters long, about half a meter wide, two wooden boards are erected, the lower one is used for sitting, and the upper one is used as a bookcase. When you go to bed, you remove the top piece of wood and put it together with the bottom board to make a bed, and you sleep on it at night.

At this time, Xu Jin dismantled the wooden plank and made room for practice tuna, and those patrolling officers didn't care when they saw it, anyway, as long as the candidates didn't cheat, they wouldn't care if they and pee in the number position.

After practicing a few times, it was already dark, Xu Jin put the bed together and covered his head and slept, as for the three candles, he had already thrown them to a corner. As the saying goes, sharpening knives does not mistake chopping firewood, only by resting well and being full of energy can we do things well.

Of course, not all candidates think so, many candidates in the number position lit candles, and continued to race against time to pick up the lights and fight at night. The weather is getting warmer, and the mosquitoes are already infesting in swarms, and those female mosquitoes in heat are buzzing around like bombers.

Fortunately, Xu Jin was prepared, Xiao Wan sewed a hood for him, and put it on when he slept, only exposing his two nostrils to breathe, and sit back and relax, which made those errand officers who passed by envious.

When he woke up the next day, Xu Jin took a short break from breakfast in the courtyard, and then began to do the Five Classics with full energy, the so-called Five Classics are "Book of Songs", "Book of Rites", "Book of Rites", "Zhou Yi" and "Spring and Autumn". The four books must be ripe, but the Five Classics only need to be familiar with one of them, which is called the Benjing, and Xu Jin's Benjing is "Spring and Autumn"

Therefore, Xu Jin should have used "Spring and Autumn" to answer the Five Classics questions, but he thought about it when he was sleeping yesterday and felt that if he used the "Book of Rites" as the answer, he would be able to write a more wonderful article, so he decided to use "The Book of Rites".

When you're focused on one thing, time flies very quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it's February 17th, the last day of the exam.

At around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, some candidates began to hand in their papers and leave. Xu Jin also pulled the rope bell, and soon an official from the sealing office came over, sealed the test paper in front of Xu Jin, and then put it in a special box and took it away, and sent it to the transcription department for transcription.

Xu Jin came to the dragon gate, and at this time there were already twenty or thirty people who had handed in the papers, and there were enough fifty people to open the door and leave.

"Brother Ziqian!" An old man in his forties and fifties stepped forward to greet Xu Jin, and it was Zhang Zhang, a man in Wenzhou, Zhejiang.

Xu Jin smiled and said: "Brother Bingyong is full of spring breeze, he should have done well in the exam!" ”

"Hehe, it's okay!" Zhang Xuan smiled modestly, but a flash of joy obviously flashed in his eyes, last time he copied some training questions from Xu Jin and went back, and he benefited a lot, including one of the questions, so Zhang Xuan estimated that he should be able to Chinese style this time, so he was both happy and grateful to see Xu Jin at this time.

At this time, two more acquaintances came over, it was Li Zhe and Yuan Cheng, fellow villagers in Jiangxi, the former asked, "Brother Ziqian, how did you do in the exam?" ”

Yuan Cheng smiled and said first: "I still need to ask, I'm afraid that Huiyuan is already in Xu Siyuan's bag, and we will soon change our name to Xu Wuyuan!" ”

"Hmph, don't be ashamed!"

As soon as Yuan Cheng finished speaking, someone nearby snorted unhappily, it was the mad Lu Yan.

When Lu Jun saw Xu Jin and the others looking over, he proudly raised his head and said, "Xu Jin, this time Huiyuan Tie must be mine, don't be delusional!" ”