In the Huagai Hall, Zhu Di was sitting at the head of the palace. Lü Zhen, the Minister of Rites, Leng Aoyu, the scholar of Hanlin, Chen Ying, the imperial official of the Zuodu of the Imperial Academy, and Chen Anzhi of the Imperial Academy, all led their outstanding staff members to gather together. On the imperial desk were placed
The ten articles are the articles that ranked among the top ten candidates in this course.
Lu Shangshu, Leng Xueshi, Chen Buyuan and their staff were all given seats. The hall was so quiet that you could even hear the scratching of sleeves when people raised their hands and feet, and the taunting of paper when unfolding the test paper.
Mu Si and several young eunuchs delivered the test papers to all the adults one by one. The first one was Lu Zhen, the Minister of Etiquette. After Lu Zhen read it carefully, he closed his eyes and tasted it, and then transferred the test papers to Leng Aoyu, the bachelor of Hanlin.
He took the second test paper in his hand and continued to review it. Zhu Di even stopped attending the morning meeting today, and gathered these people from early in the morning to start reading the paper.
The scientific examination is divided into three sessions, each lasting three days. The first session tests the three meanings of the "Four Books" and the four meanings of the "Five Classics" to test the candidates' familiarity and understanding of the Confucian classics. The second session examines one topic and examines the students.
The students' ability to distinguish right from wrong and write various official documents and administrative documents. The third test examines the five disciplines of classics, history, and policy to examine the students' knowledge of ancient and modern political affairs.
The National Examination is the country's talent selection ceremony, and its importance cannot be overstated even when it comes to the rise and fall of a country. However, in the actual marking process, due to the large number of candidates, the piles of test papers, the marking time is tight, and the tasks are heavy.
You have to carefully consider every word and sentence, and you can't be sloppy. God can't complete all the marking work with quality and quantity. Therefore, the regular examiners have formed an unwritten rule: only focus on the seven eight-part essays in the first section.
Why only focus on the eight-part essay? Because this is a very strict format. For examiners, it is easier to grasp the pros and cons of right and wrong, which greatly increases the speed of grading and makes it easier to judge whether the test paper is appropriate or not, so that all test papers can be completed as scheduled.
Marking reduces the subjective factors of the examiner to a minimum, thereby ensuring the seriousness and fairness of the official selection examination.
Therefore, although it is criticized for being rigid and rigid, it does force candidates to follow suit and not dare to take a step further. However, it is precisely because it has strict regulations on beginnings, inheritance, transfers, and combinations, even in terms of the number of words.
There are also strict regulations on the number of sentences, which can minimize the subjective factors of the examiner, thus ensuring the rights and interests of the candidates to the maximum extent, so that the truly outstanding candidates can obtain fame.
There are very few people with outstanding talents and learning who cannot even do the most important eight-part essay in the scientific examination. If you insist on saying how outstanding his knowledge in other aspects is, the reality is limited. In the era of officialdom, if the examiner's grading standards
If there is too much freedom, there will be a lot of room for cheating. Therefore, the Eight-part Examination was a relatively standardized test of that era, and it was the most objective and fair way to select talents.
However, its degree of standardization is still limited after all. If the articles are not too different from each other, who is good and who is bad, different examiners, and different appreciation angles, naturally we can draw different conclusions. Lu Zhen just played tricks in this aspect.
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When everyone had finished reading the test paper and it was time for them to make comments, adults Lu Zhen, Leng Aoyu, and Chen Ying whispered to their colleagues, exchanged opinions, and then gave in to each other. Finally, Lu Zhen made the first comment.
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Lu Zhen said respectfully: "Your Majesty, I have read the test papers carefully. The first-class and first-class papers chosen by the bachelor of interpretation are indeed excellent works from the four aspects of 'reason, law, Ci, and Qi'."
.Three articles, the mastery of the scriptures and the understanding of Cheng and Zhu’s annotations, the structure of the articles, the students’ writing ability and the interpretation of the literary spirit are all very good. However..."
Zhu Di opened his eyes and asked: "But what?"
Lu Zhendao: "However, the article written by You Tingguang, who ranked seventh in my review, is pure and elegant, full of emotions, vivid writing style, and stable dialogue. It breaks the topic, carries on the topic, and turns naturally. Its explanation of meaning is particularly excellent, although it is not as good as that of the great scholar of Jie University.
The articles of the first, second, and third candidates are splendid in terms of words, but they are well-written and well-written, and they are highly praised by the minister. If I are the chief examiner, this person should be the first. In addition, the ninth-place candidate should be selected as the first.
Chang Hui, whose articles..."
Lu Zhen said it tactfully, but in the end he rejected all the first and second places chosen by Xie Jin, ranking You Tingguang as the top pick, Chang Hui as the second pick, and only the third place was untouched. Zhu Di frowned.
, said in a deep voice: "In other words, Xie Jin's selection of scholars is not fair?"
How could Lu Zhen, such a slippery and sophisticated person, be willing to come forward and challenge Xie Jin directly? He said hurriedly: "I don't dare to judge this. Examiners have different likes and dislikes, so it is normal for them to be biased in their grading."
Zhu Di snorted and turned his eyes to Leng Aoyu, the scholar of Hanlin. This bachelor was once publicly humiliated by Xie Jin when he recited a poem against him. He was a noble official who rarely interacted with Xie Jin, but he was not afraid of Xie Jin.
Jin Quanquan, who was talking non-stop, criticized the article selected by Xie Jin. He did not say whose article was good, but only said that the article selected by Xie Jin was not good. If you want to find faults in that article, you will find it no matter what.
Yes, Academician Leng mustered up his energy and refuted Xie Jinxuan's article as useless.
Zhu Di's face turned a little dark. He asked Chen Ying for his opinion again. Chen Ying did not directly criticize Xie Jin. Instead, she said good things for Xie Jin. They were all graded and judged by the same examiner. The examiner only reviewed the selected articles at the end.
Check and decide a ranking; since time is tight and the amount of examination papers is large, it is inevitable that some oversights will be made; in the end, I just point out two small mistakes with a little regret, such as the handwriting of the number one examination paper selected by Xie Jin is not elegant enough, and the handwriting is not elegant enough.
There was a small ink mark on the paper, which made Zhu Di feel even more confused.
The last turn was Chen Anzhi from the Imperial College. Old Master Chen was more leisurely than the great scholar Leng of Hanlin Academy, and he was not afraid of how Xie Jin would retaliate against him if he was not defeated. He immediately rolled up his arms and sleeves and went into battle shirtless, saying plausibly: "This article is being interpreted
The essay chosen by the bachelor as the number one scholar had vague topics, low-level sentiments, and lackluster writing. On the other hand, the article "Slim and Slim Lichang of Dongfang Mingyuan" by Zhejiang Juzi, which was chosen at the bottom of the top ten, was much better than the essay taken by the bachelor.
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Your Majesty, please read, this article is divided into eight strands, like a chain of locks, and the joints are interconnected. There is no need to transfer a single sentence, and the method is the most advanced. The middle strands are connected from behind, and they all have the wonderful feeling of breaking the lotus roots and connecting them with silk. Each strand is shaky and swaying in various ways.
.The real meaning is explained in the article, and every word is thorough and precise. At first glance, it seems ordinary, but when you think about it carefully, you will be amazed. The origin and destination are very clear, and you can speak for the sages! Looking back at the articles taken by the Bachelor of Interpretation...
"
Chen Anzhi curled his lips and said disdainfully: "Your Majesty, please read this article explaining the policy of the bachelor's selection of the number one scholar. I only took a cursory glance and found two typos in the article, and one sentence did not make sense. After a closer look
Look, I have never read a sentence! I dare not say whether Xie Xue is pursuing personal interests, but Xie Xue is careless and slack in selecting scholars for the imperial court, which is evident from this!"
As mentioned before, when selecting candidates, due to the large number of test papers, the large amount of test papers, and the short time to reveal the results, there was no time to read all the candidates' papers, so the examiners only focused on eight essays, but according to the rules, all essays should be carefully considered.
, carefully reviewed. Others act according to the unspoken rules, and it's okay if nothing happens. If Xie Jin commits a crime at this moment, then he will find out what's wrong with him.
There were no punctuation marks in ancient my country, but in order to pause and break sentences to facilitate understanding and reading, scholars gradually invented symbols similar to modern punctuation marks and periods. When marking papers, these symbols should be added to indicate that they have been read word for word. But if you want to do this, you have to read the entire article carefully in order to make accurate sentences. This strategy is not taken seriously by others, so the examiners will naturally be lazy.
Now that Chen Anzhi has raised it, it is an undeniable issue. Whether Xie Jin is doing his best to recruit scholars for the court has naturally become a big issue.
Zhu Dihan said with a face: "Today, I only asked you to read the top ten volumes, and you have come to these conclusions. How do you know that there are no virtuous and capable people among the candidates who are ranked at the bottom or even failed? Students have been since primary school.
The little Mengtong studied hard in the cold window, and was eliminated at every level. It will take decades for those who can pass the Jinshi examination. Decades, a baby with a milky voice, can learn something in the near future, or even longer.
If it’s done, how can the imperial court not value it?”
He slapped the imperial examination case and said in a deep voice: "I declare that the undergraduate ranking list is invalid! All examination papers will be reviewed by the Ministry of Etiquette in conjunction with the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College, and then the ranking list will be announced!"
All the civil servants in the hall stood up one after another and bowed together: "I accept the decree!"
Mu Si, the chamberlain, dusted herself with a fly whisk and slowly walked out of the Huagai Hall. She glanced left and right, waved to a young eunuch, and whispered: "Go to the East Factory quickly and tell your godfather that the Grand Bachelor of Jie... it's over!"
The emperor overturned the original list and ordered the examination papers to be reviewed again, which naturally proved that Xie Jin's selection of scholars was unfair. Since the selection of scholars was unfair, it would naturally be severely punished. How could Mu Si not understand such a simple truth?
In the Wenyuan Pavilion, Xie Jin was restless. In the Huagai Palace, the emperor was convening officials from the Ministry of Rites, the Hanlin Academy, the Imperial Procuratorate and the Imperial Academy to discuss matters. Needless to say, the matters being discussed must be related to the accusations against him by his disciples.
, Xie Jin wanted to inquire about what was going on over there, but it was really not appropriate for him to take any action at the moment.
His in-law Hu Guang had originally encouraged him to become the examiner, but now he was in trouble. Hu Guang felt so ashamed that he didn't even show his face. Several other cabinet academicians also looked strange when they saw him, a bit shy.
The feeling made Xie Jin dare not go for a walk in the corridor, for fear of bumping into his colleagues and making everyone feel uncomfortable.
He regretted it. He really regretted it. He thought about why he didn't listen to the advice of the Duke of Fu. He was blinded by lard and went to compete for the exam! Seeing that the "Yongle Dadian" was about to be compiled, he was afraid that he would not be able to repeat his great achievements.
To win the favor of a saint? Now a group of villains are adding insult to injury, this... what should we do?"
The more Xie Jin thought about it, the more anxious he became. Just at this moment, a young eunuch walked in holding a stack of memorials. Xie Jin glanced at it in a hurry and saw that it was the memorial that the emperor had transferred to the East Palace for review. The East Palace always handed over memorials to him from the East Palace.
Zuo Yude and Yang Shiqi were in charge, why was he replaced by a young eunuch?
Xie Jin asked in surprise, and the young eunuch said: "The prince asked his slave to send me the memorial. I just have to obey my orders. I don't know what the elder asked me."