On the day of the trial of the temple on March 15, it was a sunny day with a mild wind and sunshine.

Early in the morning, before dawn and the cold wind was still bone-chilling, the tributes who had passed the test had been neatly lined up in the Danqi on the east and west sides of the Huangji Palace. In addition to them, civil and military officials are also serving things as they usually go to the court. For Wang Fulin, stepping into the Forbidden City not as a tourist, but as a future courtier, this fresh experience can not cover the impatience of getting up in the middle of the night and rushing here, and then being tossed around. When he saw the umbrella-covered cart gradually coming from afar, he thought that the Wanli Emperor's situation in the past few years would not be happier than that of his courtiers, he was mentally balanced.

The emperor can't even do whatever he wants, let alone himself?

After three silent whips, it was the hundred officials who kowtowed first, yes, for the time being, they could still stand first. It wasn't until the question of the current affairs of the palace examination was handed over to the final examiner of the Ministry of Rites step by step after a complicated procedure, that it was their turn to be kowtowers. After five bows and three kowtows, he got up with the other tributes and sent the Wanli Emperor to Luan to leave, and it was not until the civil and military officials also retired one by one that he saw hundreds of military academies begin to place test tables. If the weather is bad, windy and rainy, the examination tables are placed in the halls on both sides, and today's good weather, they will have to experience the joy of the open-air examination.

Although the emperor is gone, and the civil and military officials are also dispersed, before the official announcement of the examination questions by the Ministry of Rites, there is still a procedure of kneeling to receive the examination questions and kowtowing to take the exam. Wang Fulin thought that he didn't kowtow as much in his life as he does now, but he had to go with the flow. When he finally sat down at his test table, he saw a large group of military schools starting to distribute morning porridge.

Because there are only 300 tributes in total, they are not as active as the township examination, and they will become officials in the blink of an eye after the palace examination, so the treatment is naturally not comparable with those big exams in the past. is like the bowl of hot porridge delivered to Wang Fulin at this moment. Not to mention the quality of the white porcelain bowl that he slandered, when he looked left and right, he could even see that many would-be jinshi who participated in the temple examination were in those two tears, as if they were grateful for this grace. While pondering the previous test question, he stirred it in the porridge with a spoon, and accumulated pork cubes, mushrooms, mushrooms, and peppercorns. There is also sesame oil floating on it, and when you taste it, it is full of peppery flavor.

In general, this is a bowl of pork mushroom porridge, with pepper and pepper as a seasoning, suitable for warming the body, and it should come from the craftsmanship of Guanglu Temple, so the taste is okay, but it is not hot enough.

Although I had breakfast early or came out with a snack. But Wang Fulin still solved the bowl of porridge by dividing it by two, and then began to ponder today's current policy with all his heart. Sprinkled with hundreds of words, this question without punctuation first talks about the past and the present, tells about a variety of so-called ways of governing the country in ancient and modern times, and then expounds the doubts of the little emperor who ascended the throne with Chongling, trembling and diligent listening to lectures and learning, and these various governing arguments. Then ask the many tributes who are taking today's exam to compromise many arguments and elaborate on what should be learned. What is the priority of the decree, what is the difference between the ancient and modern situation, and what is the difference between entrepreneurship and success.

At first glance, it seems that the little emperor of Wanli asked Gongshi to speak bluntly, but after careful analysis, Wang Fulin did not believe that Zhang Juzheng would let the twelve-year-old Son of Heaven personally solve the question. It must be done single-handedly from the position of the emperor. At this moment, he thought that he would always be in the top three with the same jinshi this time, although he was definitely more aware of Zhang Juzheng's various reform measures than the current Zhang Juzheng himself, but he did not intend to be different and make a blockbuster. After I finished working on the ink, I started to work on the draft. Anyway, the so-called current affairs are always clichés, so let's talk about it.

The reading officer of the palace examination has already been decided, not surprisingly, Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang are headed by the two elders, and the six Shangshu is led by Zhu Heng, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, followed by Zhang Han, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, Wang Guoguang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, Tan Lun, and the secretary of the Criminal Department, and the secretary of the Ministry of Rites is absent, because the Ministry of Rites Shangshu Wan Shi and just arrived in December last year, and was recommended by Lu Shusheng, the former secretary of the Ministry of Rites. Excluding people from the examiners.

In addition, Wang Fulin also heard Wang Daokun say that Wang Xilie, the deputy chief examiner of the examination, Zhang Siwei, the head of the Hanlin Academy, and even Shen Shixing, who is still a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, are among the paper readers. Xu Guo didn't play, and he didn't know if he avoided his son-in-law's reference, or if Zhang Juzheng hadn't taken a fancy to him yet.

There are a total of more than a dozen paper readers in the palace examination, and within two days, there are only 300 copies of the paper with only one current policy, which seems to be an average of only more than 20 copies on each person's head, and it seems that the burden is not so great, but in fact, every paper reader has to read all the 300 papers, and the ones who like them draw circles on the papers, and the final result is that those who have more circles are in the front, and those who have fewer circles are in the back. Because the palace test is vague but not transcribed, the reader can sometimes see the handwriting of relatives and friends, but he can't stand the large number of people, so if you want to do anything in the ranking, you have to look at the means of personal power.

Even if Wang Fulin knew that today's palace exam would definitely not make people fall off the list, there was no way to make a preemptive attack, but he didn't intend to lose face. Compared with these today's readers, his biggest advantage is that his thinking is broad-minded, so the draft of six or seven hundred words is almost empty before noon, and of course, his stomach is almost empty. When he looked up, he saw that the military academy was carrying the bucket and began to deliver lunch again.

Probably considering that the tributes were busy answering the questionnaire and had little time to eat for lunch, the things that were sent were convenient to satisfy hunger, two white flour steamed buns per person, and a bowl of steaming mutton soup. Although there are only two slices of mutton in each bowl, a large bowl with steamed buns will make the stomach almost full. At this time, it is inevitable that someone will get up and leave for convenience, and when the military academy comes to clean up the sundries, this is the answer to the question in the afternoon. Compared to the difficult and large number of questions that will be tried three times, today is a complete refinement, and everyone is constantly polishing the draft until the time is limited, and then the transcription begins.

Wang Fulin finished the test paper about two quarters of an hour before the arrival of sunset, rubbing his wrist and looking at the front and left and right, he found that most of the people were almost finished, and there were already eunuchs and military academies waiting there with lanterns not far away. The palace examination is different from the general examination, and after the examination, you can also enjoy an additional dinner at the Ministry of Rites, which can be regarded as a means of expressing the court's courtesy corporal. Therefore, after the East Corner Gate handed over the papers, there were people shouting in front of them. He instructed the tributes to follow the lanterns in a procession and go to the palace to try the dinner.

As with the previous exams, each table is lined up with a total of 30 tables, from the highest to the lowest in the exam. When Wang Fulin sat down, he found that there were only whispers around him that he was trying to suppress. But there are very few strong vernacular accents. The reason is very simple, a person who wants to be an official, no matter how poor his family is, will always practice official dialect for a while before entering Beijing. Since it was a cauldron banquet, before Wang Fulin could get acquainted with the future peers at the same table, the meals were delivered one by one.

First of all, there were five plates of tea and five plates of fruits, all of which were small plates with white porcelain stilts, and the portions were limited. He politely asked the elders to eat first, only to see that everyone was reserved, and when it was his turn, there were still most of them. But as soon as he tasted it, Wang Fulin thought that he understood the reason for everyone's humility. There's really nothing to eat, it's just an atmosphere and a name.

After these, there were three bottles of wine, followed by two large bowls of soup, and the soup was ham, egg and tofu soup. The pork vermicelli soup is lukewarm rather than piping hot. But it's delicious, and it's quite beneficial for people who are hungry after a day of exams. The four-color meat dish is a smoked goose, a red stewed mutton, and a fried cucumber with shredded venison, and the shredded venison can be counted completely. A dish of white-cut meat, a four-color vegetable dish is a seasonal fresh vegetable, and of course, each person is full of rice. As for the last snack, it is a kind pork and cabbage stuffed steamed bun. One per person per table.

This meal is not a delicacy, but Wang Fulin is quite satisfied, after all, there is still a way to go home from the palace, and it is not bad to have something to take care of. Unexpectedly, a white young man next to him who seemed to be from a wealthy background muttered in a low voice: "It turns out that the wine banquet in the palace is nothing more than this, it is really simpler than the rich people, it is not easy!" ”

Wang Fulin was muttering in his heart that the things outside could rise tenfold in the blink of an eye when they were sold in the palace, and the emperor's money was rubbed with oil layer by layer, of course, he couldn't eat good things, but there were tributes who improvised poems there, and burst into tears. Facing the appearance of all beings in this field, he looked around, and soon found Cheng Naixuan sitting at the end of the table, and saw that his face was full of depression, so he smiled and lost his eyes.

According to the reason, they went to worship the master after the exam, Lu Tiaoyang is not humming, not a party, not a group, so he has the heart to tie this second assistant is considered to have touched a soft nail, and it is too late to connect it in the same year, taking advantage of the dinner at this moment, there are people walking around the tables and making friends, Wang Fulin saw that Cheng Naixuan's table was empty, so he quietly came over. As soon as he sat down, Cheng Naixuan complained: "One by one, I didn't do a good job and I didn't write well when I was going to try, as if it was a shame to fall in the last few places, so I didn't eat a meal." The top three are the top three, and most of the three hundred jinshi are the top three! ”

"Since you know, why are you angry?" Wang Fulin saw that many people were trying their best to move forward, and thought that his father-in-law Ye Junyao had also experienced this scene, so he couldn't help but smile slightly. He didn't have the heart to go forward to meet the pride of the sky, but he didn't think that three people would come to them together. He recognized one of them as Huang Yunlong from She County, and hurriedly pulled Cheng Naixuan to get up, and waited until the three of them stepped forward to introduce themselves. After coaxing and saluting each other, they saw Huang Yunlong look at the empty tables around him and laugh.

Everyone else is squeezing forward, but the two virtuous brothers are immovable. However, although it is a big year in Shexian County this time, we have won five exams at once, but our rankings are very low. ”

Wang Fulin knew that he and Cheng Naixuan didn't need to mention it, the three in front of him were also outside the hundred, the best Chen Hejiao was more than one hundred and fifty, and the other two were around two hundred. But there is nothing to worry about, I think that Wang Daokun and Yin Zhengmao were also in the top three when they were in the same department, and Yin Zhengmao's ranking was also the last. He smiled freely, shrugged his shoulders and said: "I don't know how many people envy me if I can pass the exam, and I can't force the ranking, after all, there are 300 people in each subject, and there are more than 70 people in the first and second grades, and less than 60 people, we are all very lucky." ”

At this time, Wang Fulin only heard a shout from the front: "Brother Sun's family history is also the current science and society, I don't know if I can meet the two yuan and the first, and also add some joy to the first spring in this Wanli year!" ”

For such a clamour, Chen Youjiao frowned and said, "Isn't this causing trouble for that Sun Ying?" I heard that there are already many people outside who criticize Yuyao Sun's too many Jinshi, and they have everything to say. Having said that, this time he won the 300 tributes, but in the end there were 299 people who came to the palace to take the exam, and it is said that Chen Gongzi was suddenly bereaved by his father and could only wait for the next subject, which was really bad luck. ”

Seeing that Huang Yunlong and Cheng Youshou were also full of regret, Wang Fulin also echoed two sentences.

It's just that someone has to be late for a term because of mourning, whether it is unfortunate or lucky, these people naturally don't know at the moment.

PS: The palace test is for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as for what to eat, I broke it blindly according to the ingredients...... (To be continued......)