Chongzhen's spring festival began in March of the fourth year, and by May, all the dust had settled.

Not only those frustrated losers in the field have already left the Beijing Division, but also those new scholars who are proud of the field have also come to the time when the officials are appointed officials and then go to all parties to serve.

The first three in the spring of Chongzhen's fourth year, that is, the three people in the first class of high school, that is, the champion Zuo Maodi, Yang Tinglin, and Tanhua Song Shilie, still entered the Hanlin Academy in accordance with the old practice of the Ming Dynasty.

Among them, the champion Zuo Maodi directly served as the editor of the Hanlin Academy from the sixth grade, while Yang Tinglin and Song Shilie served as the editor of the Hanlin Academy from the seventh grade.

In addition to the three people who are the first class jinshi and the first are determined to enter the Hanlin Academy, more than 100 people from the second class can pass the examination held by the imperial court and enter the Hanlin Academy to serve as the review of the Hanlin Academy or the Shuji of the Hanlin Academy.

But after all, there are still a few people who can enter the Hanlin Academy, even if the new scholars in the second class participated in the examination held by the imperial court, only twenty or thirty people finally got their wish.

Speaking of which, the Hanlin Academy does not have any real power.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Hanlin Academy was responsible for the compilation and revision of the history of the previous dynasty, and after the history of the Yuan Dynasty was completed, the biggest role of the Hanlin Academy was left.

The first is to be responsible for compiling the national history of the dynasty, especially the records of the previous one and the living notes of the current emperor.

This function is the first function of the Hanlin Academy, but to put it bluntly, it mainly plays the role of an archive or a national history museum.

There was no other power other than being able to maintain very direct and close ties with the emperor.

Second, he was responsible for drafting important decrees of the imperial court and edicts of the emperor.

However, in the Chongzhen Dynasty, this important role of the Hanlin Academy has now been seriously weakened.

Unless Emperor Chongzhen has a special purpose, such as drafting an edict or edict that is officially released to the whole world like the one at the Zhengdan Dynasty, it is necessary for the Hanlin Academy, a department familiar with the history of the previous dynasty and the current dynasty, to take action.

Most of the other time, now the Chongzhen Emperor chooses the form of an edict and directly sends his military orders and government orders to all parts of the world.

In the beginning, the cabinet, the six ministries, and the Hanlin Yuan, which were responsible for drafting holy decrees, edicts, and edicts, were not very accustomed to it.

But after a few years have passed, now whether it is the cabinet, the six ministries, or the Hanlin Academy, they have all accepted this reality.

Except for some influential court decrees, there are very few people who dare to compete with Emperor Chongzhen for the right to draft and issue the holy decree.

Of course, in addition to the above two functions, the Hanlin Academy also has a third function, that is, to accompany the emperor to read and study, that is, the function of Hanlin to read and speak.

In the final analysis, the Hanlin Academy of the Ming Dynasty had three functions, the first was to compile historical books, the second was to draft edicts, and then to accompany the emperor to read.

Of these three functions, it can be said that none of them can be called power.

Especially after the current Emperor Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, the only three functions of the Hanlin Academy are now only the compilation of historical books.

There is no need to mention the matter of drafting edicts, and Emperor Chongzhen rarely asks the Hanlin Academy to draft holy decrees or edicts.

Sometimes, as a last resort, it is necessary for others to help record, concatenate the text, or help to consider the polishing, and this kind of work is also directly done by the people on duty.

As for accompanying the emperor to study, not to mention, today's Emperor Chongzhen is different from the one in history.

It's not that he doesn't like to read now, or that he doesn't need the guidance of others anymore.

Rather, he didn't have much time to read those ancient books such as the Four Books, the Five Classics, the Hundred Schools of Thought, and so on.

After Emperor Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, the Hanlin Academy wrote many times, asking Emperor Chongzhen to reopen the feast and let the Hanlin scholars or the Hanlin attendants and Hanlin attendants who had been idle enter the palace to explain the four books and the five classics for the emperor.

It's a pity that Emperor Chongzhen kept all the similar books in the Hanlin Academy, and treated them with the method of not being able to read them back and not dealing with them.

Over time, the feast day lecture was also abandoned, and the Hanlin attendants and Hanlin attendants in the Hanlin Academy of Beijing had nothing to do all day, some took a long vacation to return home and save their relatives, and some sent their feelings to the landscape and chanted poems, and they were happy to be at ease.

However, at present, the Hanlin Academy of the Chongzhen Dynasty, even in such a situation, it is still the most noble and prominent place among the officials of the court and Beijing in the eyes of the scholars of the world.

Especially in the eyes of the twenty-four-year-old Song Shilie, being able to enter the Hanlin Academy of the Ming Dynasty as a Korean scholar and Chongzhen's four-year flower exploration made him happier than when he won the Huiyuan.

As for Zuo Maodi, the champion of Chongzhen's four-year spring palace examination, and Yang Tinglin, the leader who won the palace examination after the palace examination, he has been in a trance since the palace examination ended.

Especially the 30-year-old Zuo Maodi, Chongzhen has just been in Shandong in the autumn of the third year, and the purpose of going to Beijing to participate in the examination this time is to familiarize himself with the feeling of entering Beijing to take the examination, so as to make full preparations for the next big competition.

As a result, he never expected that this time, he not only won in one fell swoop, but also the result of the emperor's personal admission after the palace examination was completely beyond his expectations.

In the original history, Zuo Maodi was also lucky, and he also won the first examination in Chongzhen's fourth year.

However, in the original history, whether it was the result of the examination or the result of the palace examination, Zuo Maodi's ranking was very low, and he belonged to the bottom of the top three, that is, the bottom of the same Jinshi's background.

Of course, this time in the examination held by the Ministry of Rites, Zuo Maodi's performance was not outstanding, and he was still ranked outside the four hundred and fifty in the list of tributes arranged by Xu Guangqi.

However, when it came to the palace test personally attended by Emperor Chongzhen, as if there was divine help in the dark, Zuo Maodi heard a strategic proposition that made his heart surging and excited from the emperor's mouth.

Even so, Zuo Maodi, who is thirty years old, is also very self-aware, he is not a genius, he never thought about it, and never dared to imagine that he would become the last champion of Chongzhen's four-year spring festival because of this!

In stark contrast to the triumph of the first three people, Huang Zongxi, who was still depressed after the palace examination, was depressed.

During the examination, Huang Zongxi, who has always regarded himself very highly, took a ranking outside the 500 places, and his mood was already depressed.

When he arrived at the palace test in the Imperial Palace of the Forbidden City, because he saw Emperor Chongzhen himself at close range for the first time, the twenty-one-year-old Huang Zongxi was in a stirred mood, although he wrote four or five thousand words in a few hours, but accidentally on several pages, there were ink stains.

If it weren't for the fact that there was no precedent in the history of the Ming Dynasty for deposing the tributes because of this, then Huang Zongxi would be in danger.

In this way, Huang Zongxi, who has always regarded himself very highly and never talked about the world's scholars, ranked behind again after the palace examination, and it was behind the top three.

This result made Huang Zongxi feel lonely and depressed.

On the afternoon of the first day of the fifth month of the fourth year of Chongzhen, in the courtyard garden of a mansion in the east city of Jingshi, two young people were standing, looking at the goldfish pond under the corridor, and talking sentence by sentence.

I only heard one of them, a young man of about fifteen or sixteen years old, who had just grown up, say to another young man with a gloomy face:

"Everyone knows the talent of my brother! Not to mention that the elder brother is outstanding in the upper house of the country, even the great Confucian at home like the teacher is full of praise for the elder brother! What can a small frustration in the field mean?

"What's more, my brother doesn't know that there are several eight-share decisions on the field, and when it comes to the palace test, it is a strategy to win or lose, but it is just a step of advancement, which doesn't mean anything! Brother doesn't have to be so depressed!

"What's more, my brother has to participate in the test this time as a national superintendent, and he will pay tribute in one fell swoop, even if he is in his hometown of Zhejiang, he can already be regarded as young and promising, and he is proud of the field!"

The young man who spoke was clear-eyed and young, but he was also bookish, and the words he said were even more youthful and old.

When the young man finished speaking, he looked at his brother silently, and after a while, he only heard the younger young man sigh, looked back at his brother, and then turned his head again, looked at the goldfish swimming in the pool, and said slowly:

"Yes! The second brother is not wrong when he says this! It's just ridiculous that I, Huang Zongxi, have always prided myself on learning with talent, thinking that I am proficient in the scriptures and righteousness, so that there is no one in my eyes.

"After all, the teacher is right! From now on, you and my brothers must know that in this world, there are always mountains outside the mountains and people outside the people, and we must not get carried away!

"And at the end of the imperial examination, it is not as unbearable as the second brother said! Although there is room for improvement in the Eight Shares, if a person is not good at the Eight Shares, it is difficult to say that he is very talented!

"Just look at Zuo Maodi, Yang Tinglin, and the North Korean-born Tanhua Song Shilie, one by one, they are by no means idle!

"The moral articles of these people have been read by my brother, and I admire them in words, in arguments, and for brothers! Even the teacher who has studied righteousness and truth is deeply convinced!

"Speaking of which, it is always inferior to people in learning, not as good as people in terms of righteousness, and not as good as people in terms of stability! You see that you are depressed and unhappy for your brother, but you are really sorry for your brother, and you can't do it again! ”

The two brothers who spoke in this garden, the older was Huang Zongxi, and the younger was Huang Zongxi's younger brother Huang Zongyan.

Huang Zongyan was already fifteen or sixteen years old, and like his brother Huang Zongxi, he also worshiped under the door of Liu Zongzhou, a friend of his father Huang Zunsu, and began to bundle his hair and study.

And the teacher mentioned in the conversation between Huang Zongxi and Huang Zongyan is Liu Zongzhou, the head of Dali Temple in the current Chongzhen Dynasty.