Since the initial introduction had taken a lot of time, Zhang Shou began to give a formal lecture according to the previous preparations.

"There are thousands of prisoners in Guozijian, among whom are serious in prison and have been promoted to the Frank Hall, most of them want to be admitted to the Jinshi and make a name for themselves, while most of the prisoners in the Banshan Hall do not take the imperial examination, which is different from the other six classes, but today, since we are in the Guozijian and it is the first history class we have attended, then I will casually tell the story of the imperial examination."

"There was a monk in the Tang Dynasty, of course, he was not called Tang Sanzang."

Zhang Shou's first sentence was just habitually shaking off his burden, but he immediately laughed when he looked down. When he heard someone shouting about Journey to the West, he realized that it was Emperor Taizu who had made Journey to the West earlier.

Fortunately, he never had the luxury of being a writer, so he just didn't hear the chaotic sound at the moment, and said it to himself.

This monk was tired of it, and he had a whim, and felt that the Taoist priest was not bad, so he returned to the vulgar and went to Lushan to become a Taoist. However, after three years of eating and drinking, he couldn't become a god, and he finally realized that it was not good to be an official to be an immortal. So, he was angry and prepared to take the Jinshi exam, and then ...... I passed the test. ”

Hearing the uproar below, Zhang Shou said with a smile: "Do you think it's ridiculous? Actually, it's not ridiculous at all. As long as you have a small reputation as a monk, but you write poems and songs well, and you can have the power to appreciate you, of course you can be selected. With a slight click, the examiner took the one who had been mixed in the two worlds of monks and Taoism. ”

Since he was a child, his father felt that he had no talent for reading, Zhang Chen couldn't help it, and six words burst out of his mouth: "This is grandstanding!" ”

Zhang Shou ignored Zhang Chen, and said to himself: "This monk-born Jinshi, some people even claim that his articles can be compared with Han Yu Liu Zongyuan. Of course, most of us only know Han Liu now, and we don't know this monk. But people have served as a servant of the imperial history and a history of assassination, which can be regarded as a good achievement. Oh, this monk's name is Liu Ke, if you are interested, you can check it out. ”

Without waiting for Zhang Chen to interject again, he said with a smile: "There was also a monk in the Tang Dynasty, probably he also admired Master Sanzang, so the Dharma name is Zangji." He liked Buddhist scriptures since he was a child, so he became a monk in Chang'an Daci'en Temple, and also mixed up a great virtue and became famous in Guanzhong. But it was such a monk, during the Guangming Rebellion, he was frightened by the Yellow Nest that hit Chang'an. ”

"A generation of young monks, but because of the great changes in the times, they quickly grew their hair and took their elderly parents to escape the war. One hiding, more than ten years. When the chaos finally disappeared, he finally realized that in the troubled times, being a monk could not even be alone, and it might not be a good destination, so he decided to follow the example of the senior monk Liu Ke and also go to the Jinshi examination. ”

Zhang Shou paused slightly, and when he saw that Zhang Chen was already frowning, he said slowly: "And this former monk is not as lucky as his predecessor." He met an upright examiner, and when he saw him, a famous monk from the Great Mercy and Grace Temple, come to take the exam, he was extremely contemptuous, and he deposed him without even reading the papers. But the monk does not give up. He pondered it for a while, and then went to apply for the Erudite Vocabulary Department. ”

As soon as these words came out, there was a sudden amazement in the mid-mountain hall. Although it is a fool's errand, there is still common sense. Although the system of this dynasty is not often opened, there is still occasionally a system of erudition and vocabulary for the hidden masters of the mountains and forests - the famous Ge Taishi once won a system in this subject.

And the difficulty of this subject, because Taizu doesn't like hermits very much, is known as the most difficult in the world.

Zhang Shou paused for a moment and explained: "The erudition of the Tang Dynasty is not as good as mine, but the difficulty is not low. And this Tibetan monk is elegant and beautiful, and he thinks that he is nine out of ten, but he is very unlucky to bump into the former examiner again, and at this time, he is already a secretary of the ministry, and there is no doubt that he was deposed again. ”

However, the Tibetan monk was not convinced, and went to defend in front of him, and cited the senior monk Liu Ke and the first as an example, as a result, the examiner scolded angrily, although Liu Ke you said became a monk, but not as famous as you. Your father is a strategic envoy of the Tolerance and Management Scriptures, but you went to be a monk for no reason, and I took the main exam ten times, and I deposed you ten times, not only that, but also publicized the matter loudly! ”

Hearing this, Zhang Chen applauded loudly: "A monk who is still vulgar actually wants to be admitted to the Jinshi, but the six roots are not pure, and he deserves to be dethroned!" ”

However, some people objected, feeling that the times had changed drastically, and the monk had to return to the vulgar, and the examiner was too unkind.

And the third prince, who had just muttered to his fourth brother and figured out what it meant to be dethroned, couldn't help but sneer: "It's already made the family fall off the list, that's enough, why does the examiner still preach?" My father often said that you have to be forgiving and forgiving, is this examiner too intolerant? ”

Outside the door, the emperor couldn't help but smile when he heard the word tolerance, but Zhu Ying snorted angrily: "One didn't think about it first when he was a monk, and the other was too harsh and unkind." But there are still more mistakes in monks, and their parents are still there, what kind of monk to be a monk! Later, I knew filial piety, why did I go earlier? ”

In the middle of the hall, Zhang Shou did not answer the three princes, but glanced at the others. I saw that everyone else was talking to each other, but no one rushed to grab the spoilers. Obviously, not many people have read such a sideline story.

At that moment, he continued: "The Tibetan monk can drill the camp in the end, so even if he was blocked twice, he still succeeded in drilling the camp and entered the Guangwen Pavilion as a doctor. He is well-read and memorized, and the articles are also well written, and several Jiedu envoys rushed to recruit him into the shogunate, and finally went to Zhu Wen for a festival marshal to send an envoy, he was left by Zhu Wen as the secretary of Jiedu, and later recommended him to enter the court. ”

"Zhu Wen was in power at that time, and the Tibetan monk was personally recommended by him to enter the court, so he naturally became prosperous, and became a scholar of Zhongshu all the way, a bachelor of Hanlin."

Speaking of which, Zhang Shou casually popularized the extremely chaotic history of the late Tang Dynasty, and saw that many of the children of Guijie who originally seemed to be unreading and not reading history were gradually very curious about the follow-up, so he said unhurriedly: "Then, Zhu Wen replaced the Tang Dynasty and became Liang Taizu, and this former Tibetan monk first became a waiter in the Ministry of Works, and a bachelor of Hanlin undertook the order, and then he actually became the prime minister all the way." ”

At this time, the third prince finally couldn't help but ask, "But what about the chief examiner?" ”

"How can someone who can't even get used to being a monk taking the Jinshi exam can get used to seeing Zhu Wen and Tang Dynasty?"

The corners of Zhang Shou's mouth drooped, and he said lightly: "Of course, he can't get used to it and can't speak." Just a year before Zhu Wen became the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Chong, the chief examiner who had already become one of the three princes, was given to death at the White Horse Station with Pei Shu, the prime minister at the time, and even the body was thrown into the Yellow River. The Tibetan monk has a lot of credit in this matter. ”

"Futu is abominable!"

It was not Zhang Chen who started the case, but the four princes. I saw that the shortest little prince in the entire Banshan Hall was so angry that his face was flushed, and he waved his fist and shouted: "No wonder Emperor Taizu strictly forbade the Buddhist temples in the world to shave the monks on their own, not allowed the monks to exceed 300, not allowed them to possess more than 1,000 acres of land, and did not allow them to trespass into the official office...... It's just too bad! ”

The emperor in front of the door saw that Zhu Ying was also frowning, and he was clearly a little indignant, he didn't need to step forward, he knew how Zhou Xijiu and Luo Siye, as well as those Dr. Guozi, would have a delicate complexion.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Shou actually talked about the monks to those noble disciples who couldn't listen to the Four Books and Five Classics about the extremely tragic White Horse disaster at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and it was interpreted from another angle.

"Zhu Wen on behalf of Tang, more precisely, it was Zhu Wen who usurped the Tang Dynasty, killing hundreds of people in the White Horse Station, violent and tragic, but to say a bad word, with Zhu Wen holding the military power at that time, even if these civil officials were mantis arms as cars, they couldn't stop him from usurping the Tang Dynasty as emperor, and some people didn't intend to resist him at all. So why does he still kill so many people? ”

Zhang Shou paused, and his voice was low: "Because, in one fell swoop, he wants to eradicate the high-ranking families who boasted of being clear and looked down on him in the past, eliminated potential opponents in the future, and made room for more seats for those who once served under his command, and at the same time gave them an outlet to vent." And why do these people breathe this way? To a large extent, just for four words, the imperial examination is unfair. ”

"The imperial examination was raised from Sui, but gradually there were rules, but it was in Tang. Unlike our current examinations from the county examination, the government examination, the hospital examination, and the township examination, the hall examination, the Tang Dynasty is the examination and the Ministry of Rites examination are relatively formal, and the selection under the examination is far less rigorous than today. ”

"Moreover, even the examination of the Liberation Examination and the Ministry of Etiquette, when taking the taxi, the upper and lower instructions, and the friends are on the list, it is simply a group of demons dancing, and I don't know how many people hate it. It is said that it is an annual exam, but there are only a dozen Jinshi who are admitted to the Jinshi every year, and there are countless talents. And because they have to take the exam every year, I don't know how many people dare not go home, living in the capital year after year, begging for food, and being miserable. ”

"And at the end of the Tang Dynasty, there were many feudal towns, and the chief examiners of your court disdained the talents, but the feudal towns couldn't ask for them, so when the feudal towns forced the center, the Qingliu clan, which used to boast of its own power, naturally became the target of revenge from the fallen scholars of the year, and now the strategists of the feudal towns. Even the Yellow Nest of the Guangming Rebellion rebelled because of repeated failures. ”

Therefore, from the Tang and Song dynasties to the present, the imperial examination has gradually become fair, from vague names to transcriptions, from a chief examiner to set everyone's ranking, to the examiners in each room to mark the papers layer by layer, the chief examiner to review, and even a large search for the papers, at least, ordinary people finally have a way to rise. The rich and powerful men also have a wake-up call. ”

The third prince and the fourth prince are still young, that is, they understand the first meaning of the monk killing the examiner; Most of the nobles' children, including Zhang Chen, understood the second meaning of the monk's revenge on the examiner, a group of Qingliu scholars, because of the unfairness of the imperial examination, by taking refuge in Zhu Wen, who usurped the throne; However, Zhang Wu, Zhang Lu and a few others understood the third meaning.

There is no big family in this dynasty, because when Emperor Taizu made great contributions, he set a permanent system in which no great merit was made, and the title was reduced from generation to generation. Ruizong's meritorious heroes, except for the three hereditary princes of Zhao, Chu and Qin, are not reduced, and the rest are all decreasing. Cabinet scholars are not allowed to be of the same clan and clan, fathers, and clansmen are not allowed to recuse themselves from official positions, and so on.

Therefore, most of the sons and daughters of the nobles sitting here today are the descendants of the meritorious heroes of Ruizong, the children of civil officials go back to three generations, and many of their ancestors are unknown. No matter how rich the family is now, if there are no outstanding children to inherit it, and it doesn't even take five generations, maybe two or three generations will be lost.

How many unambitious people like Tibetan monks in this world are staring at the high-ranking families?