Among the casual officials, Doctor Guanglu was of the first rank, but Qin Dewei was awarded the special rank Guanglu Doctor after his last meritorious service, so he was definitely of the first rank.
The grades of military attachés and nobles are falsely high. A first-grade officer is not unusual at all, but a superior grade is just that. If there are too many people, it may not be worth anything.
But being a first-class civil servant is another matter. Except for people like Qin Dewei who were awarded titles based on military merit, there is no living official who is a first-class civil servant.
In the original historical time and space, Zhang Juzheng was granted the title of Grand Master during his lifetime, which was considered a living exception, and this approach was more orthodox than that of Qin Dewei.
All in all, the impact of the first-class civil servants on the courtiers was too great. Qin Dewei immediately felt the strong sourness and quickly said to everyone:
"I didn't want to be so ostentatious. When did you see me wearing this official uniform in the past?"
The system of ennobling civil servants based on military merit in the Ming Dynasty has always been confusing. There is no fixed paradigm and no clear regulations on what clothes Qin Dewei should wear.
Therefore, in daily life, Qin Dewei still wears the official uniform of the third rank, which sounds very low-key.
At this time, even Teacher Zhang, the Minister of Rites, couldn't bear it anymore and reprimanded Qin Dewei: "You didn't claim to leave the honorary title to your future legitimate son, so why did you break your promise and wear the honorary title robe?"
Qin Dewei argued: "Isn't it true that I haven't given birth to my legitimate son yet?"
This answer was so reasonable that Zhang Chao was speechless and just wanted to take action.
Qin Dewei quickly continued: "I thought, since I have the honor to participate in the imperial ceremony, I should treat it with great ceremony!
I originally planned to keep a low profile yesterday and only wear earl robes, but someone refused and insisted on impeachment. I was helpless about this, so today I have no choice but to change back to the most solemn civilian robes!"
Hearing this, everyone subconsciously looked at Mr. Yan Song. Although no one spoke, the meaning in everyone's eyes was almost the same - why did you provoke him?
Mr. Yan Ge didn't care about other people's eyes. He only had one question in his mind, what on earth did Qin Dewei want to do?
During the previous examination period, Qin Dewei had been quiet and inactive. Now during the palace examination, Qin Dewei suddenly became high-profile and arrogant. What is his intention?
Although it is said that the palace examination never eliminates people and is largely just a formality, but who knows what Qin Dewei's evil intentions are?
Today everyone has to go to Wenyuan Pavilion to read the papers and initially determine the ranking. In addition, the top three will be presented to the emperor.
The time was tight and the tasks were heavy, so there was not much time to waste, so in the end everyone had no choice but to press their sour breath and enter the palace together to go to Wenyuan Pavilion.
Qin Dewei recalled the historical materials of the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty that he had seen in his previous life, and there seemed to be a very strange phenomenon.
From the county examination, the prefecture examination to the road examination, and then from the township examination to the general examination, the examination and marking procedures have rich historical materials and detailed records.
Researchers of later generations can basically understand these imperial examination processes and various details by looking at historical materials.
Only regarding the grading procedures for the Imperial Examination, the historical data are always unclear, not only vague but also inconsistent. Even those who are proficient in the history of the Ming Dynasty are often confused about the grading of the Imperial Examination.
This contrasting situation is really meaningful and full of unspeakable mystery.
Qin Dewei didn't know what was going on at first, but after traveling through time, especially after getting involved with high-level officials, he gradually became aware of it.
For no other reason than that there are too many tricks in the palace examination papers, and many times they are simply semi-public. Who would have the nerve to record them in detail as historical materials for future generations to see?
If Qin Dewei used some means to make his brother-in-law become Sandingjia today, would he be embarrassed to write down the detailed process in his diary?
Compared with the provincial examination, the general examination, and the palace examination, it cannot be said that there are no elements of fairness and justice, but it is much less.
To give another example, although the name of the imperial examination was obscured, the time was too tight and there was no procedure for re-copying.
Therefore, the examiner was shown the original scroll. If he was extremely familiar with it, it would theoretically be possible to identify people through their handwriting.
This wave of ministers who read papers during the 20th year of Jiajing stood outside the door of the central hall of Wenyuan Pavilion, and they all looked at Qin Dewei in unison.
Mr. Yan Ge said with a sarcastic tone: "Qin Zhongtang, tell me, how should we position ourselves today? Who is in charge, you or Shou Kui?"
Under normal circumstances, the chief assistant is the highest-ranking civil servant. During the examination paper reading, the chief assistant is in the main position and does not directly participate in the reading but is responsible for presiding over it.
But today's situation is special. Among the people present, the highest-ranking civil servant is obviously someone from Qin who is wearing a first-class official uniform.
So between Qin and Zhai, who should be in the upper position?
Qin Dewei laughed and said: "Of course I respect the chief and assistant, and the position will remain the same as yesterday!"
Mr. Yan Ge was so angry that he had nothing to say and walked into the middle hall of Wenyuan Pavilion first. He just couldn't figure out what Qin Dewei's conspiracy was!
Zhai Shoufu is still in the host position, and Qin Dewei is the chief paper reader, very close to Zhai Shoufu.
Then Qin Dewei and Zhai Luan exchanged greetings and said: "It's really a good story to see the two of you on the examination list, and I'm very happy to congratulate you!"
Zhai Luan didn't know what Qin Dewei meant by suddenly mentioning this. He only nodded coldly in response and didn't want to talk about anything else.
Qin Dewei continued the discussion: "You only have one chance in life. Should we think of a way to rank the two sons in the top ten? Or maybe three tripods?"
Zhai Luan held down the inkstone and wanted to hit someone. Did you, Qin Dewei, do it on purpose? Can you speak louder?
His own family knows his own family affairs. How good is his son? How can he, a father, know?
The key is that he has no weight in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing, so the emperor will not tell the truth and is not qualified to openly cheat!
Besides, even if he had this intention, he would never trust Qin Dewei!
Seeing that Zhai Luan didn't answer, Qin Dewei turned to Yan Song on the other side - according to the ranking, Yan Song was only lower than Qin Dewei, and the distance was also very close.
Then everyone heard Qin Dewei say sincerely: "Old Yan Ge! I heard that you have been very close to the ministers from Zhejiang recently. Have you been asked to ask for help? Do you want to take care of it this time and arrange for a Zhejiang person in Sandingjia?
?”
Before Yan Song could say anything, another minister was suddenly annoyed. He slapped the table and yelled: "You are talking nonsense!"
Qin Dewei followed the voice and saw that it was Tu Qiao, the censor of Zuodu, and responded:
"When we ministers are talking to each other, you, a newcomer who has been in the court for less than a year, have no right to interrupt!"
Others are also quite helpless. Why are you, Qin Dewei, pretending to be stupid today? If you say it publicly like you, can it still be called a black box operation? Or are you, Qin Dewei, planning to overturn the table today?
Yan Song didn't want to get entangled with Qin Dewei, so he said to everyone: "It's not too early today. If you have read all the test papers in hand, let's start changing tables!"
When it comes to the concept of table rotation, we must start with the work of reading papers for the imperial examination.
In theory, all test papers must be reviewed by all test readers, but this consumes too much time and energy. It is unrealistic for more than ten test readers to each read more than 300 test papers.
So at the beginning, the deacon officials would distribute the test papers to a dozen readers, with an average of more than 20 papers per person, which would save a lot of time in reviewing.
Of course, the first secret of the palace examination lies here. For example, how to make Jiao Jiefu's examination paper happen to be sent to the hands of Qin Dewei, the paper reader, is a science.
It can be said that most of the paper readers have one or two such human relations test papers in their hands.
No more will be enough. After all, the test papers are anonymous, and the deacons and officials don’t have such good memories, so they can’t arrange them.
After each reader has finished reading the test paper in his hand and giving grades, he will start "turning tables."
This means taking turns to briefly review the test papers on other people's desks in order, which means they have all been read.
This is the second mystery in the palace examination. If someone is lucky and sees an unfavorable masterpiece on someone else's desk, or a test paper that is "familiar" to him, he can take the test paper back to his desk and repeat it.
Score rating.
Yesterday everyone finished reviewing the test papers in their hands, and today they will turn around the tables first.
Qin Dewei didn't have many ideas, so he just looked through it casually while turning the table and dealt with it.
After the table transfer is completed, you will enter a very important link.
In addition to the chief assistant who is the presiding officer, each of the thirteen paper readers submitted a test paper that he thought was the best to the chief assistant, for a total of thirteen copies.
These are the top three scheduled test papers, as well as ten backup papers, which will be submitted to the emperor for final review, and are regarded as "seeded contestants."
The procedure for reading papers for the Imperial Examination has not been clearly defined. The method mentioned above has also been explored through years of practice.
It not only takes care of the face of every examiner, allowing everyone to select at least the top ten, but also demonstrates the power of the cabinet in determining the ranking.
As for the specific arrangement of the preliminary rankings, which of the "seeded players" will be selected as the top three depends on the authority of the first assistant.
When encountering a strong first assistant, he can directly determine the top three test papers from the "seeded players" with a single decision, but obviously first assistant Zhai does not have this ability.
So everyone looked at Yan Song again. The first auxiliary was weak and the second auxiliary was strong. They were almost at odds with each other.
Some people also looked at Qin Dewei. This Qin Zhongtang occupied the position of chief reader and was definitely not joking.
If it weren't for Qin Dewei, Mr. Yan Ge would have taken the position of chief reader and would have killed Zhai's chief assistant.
But the addition of Qin Dewei, who had unknown motives, prevented Mr. Yan Ge from taking any rash action.
Zhai Luan glanced back and forth between Yan Song and Qin Dewei for a few times, and suddenly asked Qin Dewei: "Starting with you, Mr. Qin, submit the test paper first."
Without even thinking about it, the first test paper Qin Dewei submitted must belong to his brother-in-law. Only by getting the test papers submitted by everyone, would Zhai Shoufu have a chance to compete with Yan Song.
But Qin Dewei hesitated and said: "Although it is my first time to take part in the palace examination and read the papers, I feel that submitting the papers in this way is very disadvantageous!
Everyone submits an excellent test paper, and being a top ten candidate for the top three and two is a bit too one-sided.
In this way, each excellent test paper is reviewed by only one person, which is highly influenced by personal subjectivity and may not be fair. The disadvantages are too great."
Zhai Luan asked again: "Then how do you select the test papers?"
Qin Dewei replied confidently: "It is better to review the thirteen test papers submitted by the examiners in turn, then grade them and mark them on the test papers, ranging from first to fifth.
After the thirteen test papers have been circulated, the ranking will be determined based on the ratings on each test paper. The one with the most first-class results will of course be the first place."
It sounds like Qin Dewei's method is very good, and most people don't think of the shortcomings for a while.
Only Yan Song was suspicious of Qin Dewei and immediately began to deduce.
In front of him is Qin Dewei, needless to say; behind him is Xu Zan, the Minister of Personnel, and this is not one of our own!
In the Ming Dynasty, the powerful position of Minister of Civil Affairs was a very sensitive and difficult position.
Generally, there are two types of official ministers, one is dependent on the chief minister, and the other is independent.
But the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel rarely fawns over the second assistant, because he cannot afford to lose that person! As the head of a foreign dynasty, even if he wants to seek refuge with someone, only the first assistant can accept him!
Therefore, Xu Zan and Xu Tianguan have no reason to seek refuge with him, Yan Song, at least for now.
Mr. Yan Ge crossed out Xu Tianguan in his mind and continued reading. Behind the Cabinet is the Ministry of Personnel, and behind the Ministry of Personnel are of course the other five departments.
So Xu Tianguan's was Wang Yiqi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. When he saw this, Mr. Yan Ge's heart suddenly "thumped".
Children of all ages know that officials and soldiers must pay tribute to soldiers and punish workers!
Behind Xu Zan, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, are the Ministry of Husbandry, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of War. The most important thing is that the ministers of these three ministries are all from Qin Dewei!
So how can the excellent test paper selected by Yan Song be any good after passing through the hands of several enemies in a row?
Everyone has a tendency to follow blindly. People behind you will inevitably not be affected if they see a series of "bad reviews" from the front!
Even in terms of absolute numbers, Yan Song only has a few allies such as the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, the Yushi of Zuodu, and Zhan Shi, so he does not have an advantage.
Before Yan Song could express his position, Zhai Luan, the first assistant who presided over the reading, agreed and said: "Okay, let's give it a try this time!"
On the surface, Qin Dewei's suggestion was to spread the decision-making power among fourteen people, but Zhai Luan had no authority in the first place, and he didn't lose anything. But at the same time, it could spread the authority of Mr. Yan Ge, so why not?
Without giving Yan Song another chance to speak, Qin Dewei said decisively: "Since the chief minister and assistant ministers have agreed, let's start circulating it like this!"
Then Qin Dewei took the lead in passing the outstanding test papers he selected to Zhai Luan, and others followed suit and circulated the test papers in order.
But when Zhai Shoufu got the test paper from Qin Dewei, he thought it looked familiar. After distinguishing it, he realized that it was not the handwriting of his eldest son Zhai Rujian!
Immediately, Chief Zhai raised his head and looked at Qin Dewei angrily. What was his intention?
Qin Dewei was embarrassed to look at Zhai Shoufu and looked left and right at it.
Not long after, the outstanding test paper selected by Mr. Yan Ge was also passed to Zhai Shoufu. The handwriting was also very familiar. Who could it be if it wasn't the second son Zhai Ruxiao?
It is indeed a good thing that his two sons can try both Chinese styles, but Zhai Shoufu doesn't want to make it public. He only needs to have a middle or lower ranking in the imperial examination.
As a result, one of the palace examination papers was given to Qin Dewei, and the other was given to Yan Song, and both became excellent papers. Zhai Shoufu did not believe this was a coincidence!
So Chief Zhai became even more angry, these two bastards who didn't do anything to others!
It is estimated that the big event is about to begin, and my thoughts are still a bit confusing. Give me some time to make the transition temporarily.
