When something unexpected happened in the Huainan Kingdom, Li Yunze was reading the examination papers of the imperial examination in Chang'an City.
He only briefly glanced at the test papers of those candidates who were recommended for the A-list.
As long as they can barely pass, they will be drawn according to the statistics.
These people are destined to have no big future, and becoming the county magistrate of 10,000 households is the top.
After all, before the imperial examination was held, Li Yunze arranged for Gongsun Hong, Yan Yi and others to privately inform the many candidates who came to participate in the imperial examination. Those who accepted the recommendation of the nobles and entered the first list were inherently inferior to others.
Under such circumstances, those who are still willing to accept the recommendation of nobles to take the first-class exam have either incompetent abilities or character problems, so Li Yunze will naturally not give them a chance.
What he really pays attention to is the candidates from the second list.
In the early Han Dynasty, knowledge was almost monopolized.
Basically, they are concentrated in the hands of wealthy families and many schools of thought.
Even if you are a middle-class family, if you want your children to go to school, you have to either join a certain school of thought or spend a lot of money to hire a teacher.
For a true commoner, unless you are lucky enough to be favored by a certain school of thought, you will get the opportunity to study.
Or just like Wei Qing, secretly studying at Xungui's house.
Although Confucianism has such and such things, their belief that there is no distinction between education and distinction has indeed given many people from poor backgrounds a chance to get ahead.
Otherwise, the descendants of the poor family would have to have their ancestors be generous and leave Yu Ze behind.
Ordinary people who want to get ahead must rely on enlisting in the army to gain military merit.
Li Yunze looked through many test papers, and there were two that attracted his attention the most.
One is from a candidate from Yanci County, Pingyuan County, named Dongfang Shuo.
There is also a candidate from Chengdu, Shu County, named Sima Xiangru.
He knew Dongfang Shuo, the so-called bankrupt beggar’s version of Master Fuyan.
He does have the ability, but compared to his master, the gap is quite large.
Li Yunze would naturally not kill his capable ministers at will, so for Dongfang Shuo, who studied under the Taoist Yin-Yang Sect of the East Prince, after admission, he decided to arrange him as a secretary at his side as Lang Guan.
Basically can be regarded as a secretary.
As for Sima Xiangru...
"Huh." Li Yunze raised his pen and drew an X on Sima Xiangru's beautifully written paper.
"Bah, scumbag!"
Historically, the wife Sima Xiangru married was Zhuo Wenjun, and Zhuo Wenjun was Li Yunze's queen at this time.
As a gentleman, Li Yunze naturally looked down on scumbags who played with emotions, so no matter how beautiful the poems written by Sima Xiangru were, he would not give him the opportunity to harm others.
After cutting off the scumbag's upward path, Li Yunze was in a good mood.
Putting down his pen, he asked the man next to him, "Go and tell the queen that I will go to her place to rest tonight."
"Here~~~"
In the Han Dynasty, not all the imperial palaces were filled with eunuchs. Even among the eunuchs, there were many eunuchs. The emperor had many lieutenants around him.
On the day when the imperial examination results were released, countless officials gathered outside the palace, eagerly looking for their names in the list posted on the wooden board.
Sima Xiangru, who was very confident in himself, carefully read the list from top to bottom, left to right several times, but did not see the name of Sima Xiangru from Shu County and Chengdu at all.
He reluctantly read it several times, thinking that it was his original name.
This boy's previous name was not Sima Xiangru, but Sima Quanzi.
That's right, it's called a dog.
Later, he felt that the name was unpleasant, so he said that he admired Lin Xiangru, the Prime Minister of the Warring States Period, and changed his name to Sima Xiangru after him.
It's a pity that there is no one anywhere, not even one named Sima.
What else can I do at this time? I can only do nothing.
"It shouldn't be."
The dejected Sima Xiangru came to the wine shop and asked for a pot of wine to pour himself. "Why does your majesty look down on someone who is so talented and learned?"
Naturally, he would not have thought that Li Yunze looked down on him because of his poor character.
If you knew this, you would probably sigh and say, 'Why is this scumbag so embarrassed... Bah!'
In the wine shop, there were several people whose names were selected for the second rank of Jinshi. They were cheering and celebrating lively with their friends.
"Brothers, I heard that His Majesty said that Jinshi will be selected through the imperial examination. I wonder where this Jinshi comes from?"
"Don't you understand this? This is from the "Li", one of the Thirteen Classics of Confucianism, "Da Lezheng discusses the creation of outstanding scholars, and reports them to the king, and promotes the commanders, called Jinshi. Jinshi, can advance
It’s also a matter of receiving a noble title.'"
"Nonsense!" As soon as these words came out, someone immediately stood up to refute, "This is from the first chapter of "Mozi", "Kind Scholars". Mozi said, 'Returning national treasures is not as good as dedicating talents to becoming scholars.' Mozi early
Just say it clearly, show your talents and be called a Jinshi!"
"Young Mohists, don't talk nonsense, these are the words of Confucius!"
"You can make such nonsense, this is obviously what Mozi said!"
The two sides yelled at each other and started fighting immediately when the temper got angry.
Wine glasses, dinner plates, tables and cushions are flying all over the sky.
There were many students from various sects attending the ceremony at the wine shop, but only the Confucian scholars from the Guliang sect fought with the Mohist sect.
People from other schools of thought, including those from the Guliang School of Confucianism, stood aside and watched the fun.
While they were watching the fun, they were also laughing and chatting, "The so-called Jinshi in the two rankings naturally refers to the talents who passed the exams in the A and B rankings."
"You really dare to say that those on the B list are indeed great talents. But how can those on the A list be called great talents?"
"That's true. He's just an incompetent person who takes refuge in the royal family."
People in this era are all about reputation and face. After students from various sects know the emperor's views on the first list, very few people will ask the nobles and relatives of the emperor to come forward to make arrangements and recommendations.
The dark-faced Sima Xiangru was drinking wine, but someone came to him and asked with a smile, "Are you a student of the imperial examination?"
Sima Xiangru turned to look at the uninvited middle-aged man beside him, frowning slightly, "What's the matter?"
"Your Majesty, don't be surprised."
The man's smile did not change: "A certain person is in charge of the Marquis' Mansion in Tangyi, and his name is Chen Qian."
Sima Xiangru's heart moved slightly, and he immediately put on a smile, "I wonder what Manager Chen is looking for?"
"I dare to ask, sir." Chen Qian asked with an unchanging smile, "But you failed the imperial examination?"
This question brought up Sima Xiangru's sadness, and he sighed, "Time is also fate."
Regarding his failure this time, Sima Xiangru was really heartbroken.
Here Chen Qian smiled even more, "Young Master, there is no need to be upset. As long as you are willing to become a disciple of the Marquis Mansion in Tangyi, you can be recommended by the Marquis to participate in the next imperial examination. You must also know that the reference for this time's A-list is only 200
Of the remaining people, hundreds of people were hired.
Isn’t it much better than the B list?”
There were more than 200 candidates for the first list, and more than 90 people passed the exam.
There were more than a thousand candidates for the B list, but only less than a hundred people passed the exam.
If you look purely from the perspective of pursuing success in the exam, being on the top list will definitely greatly increase your chance of success.
Sima Xiangru's literary talent was very good, and his arithmetic was not bad, so he naturally knew the comparison.
But he also knew that although the admission rate for the first-tier students was very high, the future was extremely bleak.
The gossip in Changdiao has spread all over the place, and the one who is on the top list is just a county magistrate.
And only the B list is the bright road.
Seeing that Sima Xiangru was silent, Chen Qian was a little worried: "Your Excellency, my residence is well treated by the Marquis. Not only accommodation and food are provided, but also a monthly salary. Those with outstanding talents can be rewarded by the Marquis, including gold coins and silk."
There are all beautiful silks, maids, and mansions."
The royal relatives are not stupid either. They know that the recommended talents can be used for their own purposes. This is an extension of their power, so they spare no effort to recruit talents from all parties.
It’s just that the talented people have the same thoughts.
In the past, there was no way to be recommended without going through the honorific royal family. All you could do was to swallow your anger and be squeezed like the 996 people in the company.
But now that the imperial court has opened the door for them, naturally there won't be such a restricted procedure.
Sima Xiangru thought for a while and finally rejected the invitation from the Tangyi Marquis Mansion.
He felt that he was still young and it didn't matter if he failed this time. He would just take the exam again in the future.
Facing Sima Xiangru's rejection, Chen Qian felt very regretful.
The Tangyi Marquis Mansion, which was once majestic and unscrupulous in Chang'an City, was now in decline.
As Empress Dowager Dou and Liu Qi left one after another, and Princess Guantao paid the due price for her actions, the Tangyi Hou Mansion not only lost its former glory, but was even ridiculed and even suppressed by everyone.
That is because Li Yunze personally promised that they could continue to pass on the inheritance, otherwise someone would have found an excuse to take advantage of it.
In order to strengthen the Tangyi Marquis Mansion, Chen Xu, who successfully defeated his younger brother and inherited the title of Tangyi Marquis from Chen Wu, arranged a lot of manpower to recruit talents.
It is a pity that not only those students who passed the exam looked down upon Tangyi Hou Mansion, but even those who failed the exam, such as Sima Xiangru, were unwilling to pay attention to it.
This is really like a tiger falling in plain sight and being bullied by a dog, and a phoenix landing on the ground worse than a chicken.
When Princess Guantao was in full power, these people were so miserable that they couldn't even get in if they wanted to come to Tangyi Marquis' Mansion to register!
Ignoring Chen Qian's disappointment, and not paying attention to the screams of the Confucian scholars of the Guliang sect who were violently beaten by the Mohist disciples, Sima Xiangru, who was in a depressed mood, settled the account and left the wine shop.
As soon as we left the wine shop, we saw a large group of people from the Shaofu, beating gongs and drums and shouting along the street.
"The newly ranked second-level Jinshi, I was paraded around the streets to praise you on the emperor's orders. Come and see, everyone~~~"
Sima Xiangru stood on the side of the street, staring blankly at the B-ranked scholars who were riding tall horses and wearing big red flowers. They proudly passed in front of him amidst the cheers and blessings of the crowd, and he felt depressed.
, an uncomfortable splitting headache.
However, this was not the end yet. Sima Xiangru watched helplessly as a large group of stewards from various royal families' mansions chased the second-ranked scholars and shouted, "My master has a daughter and granddaughter... a dowry."
Rich... As long as you agree, it will be done tonight
Dear~~~’
Living in Chang'an is not easy.
Sima Xiangru, who was in a tight financial situation, saw that those B-ranked scholars had everything from money to money, cars, houses, and girls after high school, and his heart felt like a burning pain.
His heart felt as if it was on fire, and in the end he could only sigh, turn around and head straight to Zhangtai Street.
I didn’t have much money, so I could only go to Zhangtai Street to write lyrics and poems for the girls to make ends meet.
On the way forward, Sima Xiangru secretly made up his mind.
"I must pass the exam next time! Emperor help me~~~"