The Mid-Autumn Festival holiday stopped the early court, but the officials of the various departments and offices in the capital still looked at the matter, and those who had ministry did not take vacations. Speaking of which, the Mid-Autumn Festival is just a moon viewing, and it is not as grand as the later generations, and it is a small festival.

Xu Ping got up early in the morning to wash up, closed his eyes in the study, and adjusted his mentality. It wasn't until the red sun rose that he took Sun Qilang all the way to Donghua Gate.

Today is the day of the examination at the Academy, this kind of examination is neither regular nor fixed, when the emperor feels that it needs to be held, he will ask the minister to recommend talents, and choose a day to be assessed by the Hanlin Bachelors. The format of the exam is relatively free, and there are no certain rules for the content of the exam, which varies from person to person. In general, in the past, they were all heavy poetry, and occasionally added a test strategy, but this time the former emperor specially sent an attendant to tell Xu Ping that he was not as good as poetry and theory.

Xu Ping didn't know if this was changed specifically for himself, because next year's Jinshi Changke, Zhao Zhen also asked to increase the weight of the strategy, and it was also possible that he just caught up with the good time.

No matter what, the opportunity is in front of him, and Xu Ping must firmly seize it. If you can really get ahead in the future and become a big official, and you don't even have a museum job, it will really make people laugh.

The rising sun shines into the imperial city, with a majestic color, making it even more majestic.

Xu Ping came to the gate, and it was still Li Zhang on duty, so he hurriedly greeted him. He also knew that Xu Ping was calling for the test today, so he deliberately transferred shifts with his colleagues and came over to make it easier for Xu Ping.

After paying the edict of the Academy and his own documents, Xu Ping followed Li Zhang's east and west turns and came to the Academy.

At this time, before the hour came, the little yellow door of the overseer here came up and led the two to the side room where they were resting.

Li Zhang has official business, so it is not good to stay here, so Xu Ping can ask someone to find him if he has something to do. Then he took his leave and left.

When I entered the door, I saw that there were already two people sitting inside, and when I saw Xu Ping coming in, they got up together to salute.

"Hei, Achi-kyu, you've arrived!" Xu Ping returned the salute. looked at Zhao Yan and Han Qi in surprise.

Han Qi summoned Xu Ping with himself for a long time, but he didn't expect that there would be Zhao Yan this time.

Han Qi smiled slightly: "We are not like Yun Xing who has nothing to do now, and we went to the yamen early to draw a charge, so we hurried over, so we naturally came early." ”

Zhao Yan shook his head again and again and sighed: "I just got this opportunity because of the two of you's face, how dare I be negligent?" Naturally, I came early and waited. ”

There were originally four first-class Jinshi in the fifth year of Tiansheng, but after Xu Ping was promoted to the others, they became five. Among them, Wang Yaochen and Zhao Yi have already entered the pavilion for several years, and they will try Xu Ping and Han Qi again this year. Leaving just one Zhao Yan is too eye-catching. Two days ago, the people in the academy somehow thought about it, and asked the emperor to come with him.

This kind of thing can't be politely shirked, just like Xu Ping's promotion to a first-class jinshi back then was a pure accident, but if he was promoted, he was promoted, and in the future, his official promotion will be counted as a first-class jinshi. No one will look the other way at him. No matter how Zhao Yan's opportunity to call for the test this time came about, entering the pavilion is entering the pavilion. In the future, official promotion is one step ahead of others.

This year, Xu Ping was twenty-four years old, Han Qi was twenty-six years old, and Zhao Yan was one year old to thirty, which was the time when he was in his prime. If nothing happens, they will become the pillars of the empire in a few years, in their thirties.

Since the Taiping Rejuvenation period. Taizong was anxious to replace the elders and nobles with new literati and consolidate his throne, so as to rapidly expand the number of admission places for the imperial examination jinshi, and systematically ensure that these new nobles could climb to the peak of power in the shortest possible time. In just a few decades, the imperial examination jinshi has become the most powerful group in the officialdom of the Great Song Dynasty. The status is unbreakable.

Today, the Jinshi upstarts who had stirred up the storm in the Great Song Dynasty during the Taiping Rejuvenation Period have grown old, and the only one or two people who remained, such as Hu Dan and others, have been forgotten in the mountains, and the descendants they brought such as Lu Yijian and others occupy all the important positions of power in the Great Song Dynasty. The sequelae of the sudden advancement of the Jinshi left over from the Taizong era are still there, and the new generation of imperial examination Jinshi is thriving in the middle level, and soon they will find that the high-level positions are controlled by the elderly, and contradictions are inevitable.

At this time, the new jinshi in the Tiansheng period represented by Xu Ping quickly broke through to the middle level, the old ones did not go, and the new ones came again, which was destined to not be peaceful in the court in the past few years.

The three of them haven't seen each other for many years and talk about their experiences. Zhao Yan is similar to Xu Ping, born in a small family, and there is no family to rely on. Han Qi not only has connections in his father's generation, but his generation is a brother and a few jinshi, and the officialdom is relatively not so hard, and he is relatively indifferent.

In fact, Han Qi and Zhao Yan heard that Xu Ping was back, and if they hadn't been preparing for the academy's exam, they would have visited a long time ago. In terms of official career, this was the second most important exam for them after the imperial examination, and they had to prepare carefully.

Just as the three of them were talking enthusiastically, there was a sound of footsteps outside the door, and Xiao Huangmen led a panting green-robed official in and ordered him to wait here.

Seeing the visitor, Xu Ping stood up and said in surprise: "Manqing, you are here too!" ”

Shi Yannian gasped, looked at Xu Ping, and said with a smile: "Yes, I also caught up!" I didn't expect to see each other in the academy many years later! ”

Xu Ping stepped forward, took Shi Yannian's arm and looked him up and down, and hurriedly helped him to the side and sat down.

During Shi Yannian's tenure abroad, he was degraded because he wrote a letter asking the Empress Dowager Liu to return to power, and now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, they have been retaliated against by the Empress Dowager for this kind of thing. Because he was far away in Jingdong, this time the academy summoned the emperor to take care of Xu Ping, Shi Yannian was in a hurry, and he hurried on the road, and finally arrived in time.

Waiting for Shi Yannian to take a few breaths, Xu Ping introduced Han Qi and Zhao Yan.

Han Qi smiled and got up and bowed: "Many years ago, Shi Manqing's poems were all over the capital, and today I am fortunate to have a respectful face." In the lower prison Zuozangku Han Qi, Wang Manqing did not hesitate to advise. ”

"How dare you, how dare you!" Shi Yannian gasped and returned the salute.

Zhao Yan also saluted and greeted, and only then did a few people sit down again and gossip.

Shi Yan did not have a Jinshi background, and the importance of this call to him was much greater than that of Xu Ping and the others, and while chatting with a few people, he calmed his breath, stabilized his mind, and prepared for the upcoming bachelor's exam.

I don't know how much time passed, but the sun rose and gradually got hotter. At this time, it is the Mid-Autumn Festival, the autumn tigers are raging, and the day is still very hot. Several of them got up early in the morning, wearing a lot of clothes, and feeling more and more hot.

Until the door rang, a middle-aged man appeared at the door, glanced at everyone, his face was serious, and said lightly: "In the lower Hanlin bachelor's chapter, I am ordered to preside over this academy examination." It's not early in the morning, so let's start. ”

Several people stood up and saluted, and agreed together.

Xu Ping felt a little strange in his heart, his top boss in Yongzhou, Zhang Pin, the transfer envoy of Guangnan West Road who had carried a lot of pressure for him, was Zhang Dexiang's uncle. There are very few people in the capital who can get involved with each other, Zhang De seems to be one, but he is the one who presides over the hospital examination, is this intentional or unintentional?

Why are connections in officialdom important? It's not about the naked-naked protection of protection, the party is the same and different, those actions are too eye-catching, and this era pays attention to avoiding suspicion, everyone tries their best to avoid it. What really works is these details, Xu Ping has faintly felt that when he comes back from Yongzhou, he is no longer the little person who was thrown into the sky and no one cares, there is a hand that is holding him up, and he himself doesn't know where he is going to be held.

The academy examination is much more casual than the provincial palace examination, that is, a single room, a few long cases, and several people are separated from each other to determine the answer sheet. The main test chapter is like sitting on it, flipping through some poetry books at random, and occasionally looking up.

It was the little yellow door sent by the emperor to maintain order, and he just stood outside the door and did not come in to disturb him.

Come to think of it, even Ma Jiliang's kind of person who didn't learn and didn't know how to pass the exam back then, and it was rumored that Yan Shu, who was the main examiner, helped him complete the answer sheet, where can the order of this examination room be strict?

The test is two theories and one policy, and there is no poetry. The policy is Anbian Ce, and the first is to reduce financial expenditure, especially for the large-scale construction of the Futu Temple in the later period of the Tiansheng, and the other is open source, which is all about financial planning.

Xu Ping promoted the cane sugar affairs in Guangnan, and was subordinate to the Salt and Iron Division of the Third Division, and his political achievement was to open up the finances of the imperial court. Anbian is not to mention, both the Ding Law and the Tuodi Langzhou are written in content, but there is a financial throttling that is slightly farther away from his own work.

After getting the test questions, Xu Ping was already sure that this exam was specially prepared for himself, and the others just came to accompany the exam. The question is that Xu Ping can see it himself, how can others not see it?

While struggling to write, Xu Ping felt that his face was slightly hot. Since coming to this world, it was the first time he had enjoyed this kind of treatment, and he felt very unaccustomed.

After half an hour, Zhang Dexiang got up from the side of the case and walked down casually. Every time he came to someone's side, he would stop and stand behind him for a while, then walk away silently.

In the end, I went behind Xu Ping, watched Xu Ping finish writing An Biance, and watched most of the treatise written, nodded secretly, and returned to the front desk, read the book with peace of mind, and never looked up.

An hour and a half later, it was past noon, Xu Ping finished writing the volume, raised his head, and saw that others were still writing hard or meditating, and he was the first to finish the volume.

Among several people, Xu Ping is the easiest to answer this kind of question. Zhao Yan and Shi Yannian are not compatible, Zhao Yan is because he has been a judge for many years and is work-related, while Shi Yannian has always been known for his ability to discuss major matters and will not be bad. Han Qi is the most unfamiliar with these contents, but he is proficient in Confucianism and has solid knowledge, which is incomparable to the three of them.

The little yellow door outside walked in lightly, came to Zhang Dexiang's side and whispered: "Bachelor, the official family has given you tea and soup, do you want to rest for a while and drink the tea soup before continuing?" ”

Shi Yan looked up and nodded, "It's okay." ”

This is the emperor's kindness, and several people are really hungry, so they pause answering the questions and eat the tea soup and snacks given by the emperor on their own cases.

Zhang Dexiang walked down again, casually looked at everyone's articles around everyone, and finally went to Xu Ping's case, read what Xu Ping wrote hastily, and said lightly: "Xu Ping, since you have finished the volume, you can go out first." (To be continued.) )