The examiner, who was feeling proud and giving pointers, suddenly trembled after being scolded.
Turning around, he happened to face Zhang Yuan's face that was still a little angry.
He quickly took a few steps back and said, "My lord, please forgive me. I'm talking too much in official terms."
"Have you ever dealt with floods?"
Zhang Yuan looked at the crowd and spoke slowly.
Many officials who were working on this article just now have shut their mouths.
They themselves are newly promoted Jinshi, some of them have not been appointed as officials, and some of them are reserved for use in the capital.
Because of this, it is natural that there is no experience in local control, let alone experience in controlling floods.
"Since you have never dealt with floods, what do you mean by this?"
Zhang Yuan looked at a few people and spoke again.
The examiners lowered their heads at this time and did not dare to answer.
Only one courageous examiner raised his head and said, "Sir, the DPRK and the Central Government have already reached a conclusion on the issue of controlling floods. Now, there is nothing in this article that is in line with the DPRK's conclusion."
"So according to what you mean, our Song Dynasty is no longer flooded, or floods are no longer a worry for our Song Dynasty?"
Zhang Yuan was not angry and asked instead.
The brave examiner was speechless when he heard this.
"As Jinshi, you are not as good as a small scholar. He is even just a scholar now."
"I work in the Ministry of Industry. Even I dare not say that I can completely quell the flood. The DPRK and China do have a final conclusion, but it is a helpless decision."
"This article on flood control seems to me to be a superior article. When I return to the court, I will present this article to the Holy One."
Zhang Yuan looked at these examiners and expressed his plan.
Upon hearing this, the examiners' expressions changed slightly.
In practice, Zhang Yuan is indeed far superior to them, so naturally they can't argue.
Moreover, Zhang Yuan's sentence of presenting this article to the Holy Spirit shows that he attaches great importance to this article.
Song Mingyuan also picked up the examination paper at this time and began to read it carefully.
Although he currently serves in the Hanlin Academy, it does not mean that he has no experience in serving as a local official.
The most important thing is that he saw the shadow of Duke Jiefu in this policy.
As a little fan of Wang Anshi, Song Mingyuan has read many of Wang Anshi's articles many times.
Among them is an introduction to floods, and Xu Hanliang's article is not only based on Wang Anshi's article, but is even more detailed than that article.
The points and sources that Wang Anshi did not notice were actually pointed out one by one in this article.
Especially the idea of mobilizing the power of the people was a theory he had never heard of or seen.
But he can clearly know that this theory definitely has its practical basis.
"I also feel that this article is a masterpiece."
Song Mingyuan's words can be regarded as a final conclusion to the whole matter.
The examiner who originally criticized Xu Hanliang didn't look good at this time.
He spoke again: "As the two adults said, there is nothing wrong with this article, but this article about the peasant rebellion is full of errors and omissions."
"Once you encounter a peasant rebellion, the first thing you have to do is to appease the peasants, and then report it to the court and let the court make a conclusion."
"But this article points the finger directly at Taizu and actually says that the Song Dynasty has had the atmosphere of the late Tang Dynasty since its establishment. It is really hard to see."
After hearing these words, everyone around them trembled slightly.
You must know that such words cannot be said carelessly.
Although the literary style of the Song Dynasty was open, the court would not control such discussions about government affairs, but the prerequisite was not to shake the foundation of the country.
This article denigrated the Song Dynasty from the beginning, and it was naturally extremely abhorrent in their eyes.
Even Zhang Yuan and Song Mingyuan were slightly stunned when they heard this.
Immediately, the two of them took the test paper and began to read it.
The writing style of the whole article is very interesting, but there is a lot of vernacular in it, and it does not seem to be that excellent in terms of literary talent.
But the most important thing about policy theory is policy, not theory.
"This article……"
After Song Mingyuan read the entire article, the expression on his face was a little strange.
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing.
I have to say that this article does make sense if you think about it carefully, but they don't dare to think about it carefully.
Because what the whole article is thinking about has even surpassed their current understanding.
If you say it doesn't make sense, that's absolutely not true.
But if it makes sense, then they still don't dare.
"Leave aside this article, the other article is still very good."
Perhaps it was because Zhang Yuan was very fond of the article about water control just now, so Zhang Yuan changed the subject.
"If that's the case, how to evaluate it?"
Song Mingyuan looked at Zhang Yuan and asked in confusion.
"No. 1 on the A list."
Zhang Yuan said without hesitation.
"However, it would be too unfair to other students to be able to get the first place in the A list just by relying on one article."
The examiner on the side was somewhat opposed.
"If there is an article among those students that I can submit to the Holy Master, then I can also give it to him if he is number one on the A list."
Regarding this question, Zhang Yuan answered without hesitation.
After hearing these words, several people also understood that Zhang Yuan was determined to do this.
In fact, among these people, the final decision makers were Zhang Yuan and Song Mingyuan.
Now that Zhang Yuan had made his decision, the two of them set their sights on Song Mingyuan.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Song Mingyuan felt a little restless.
"By the way, someone is here."
Song Mingyuan shouted.
After finishing speaking, he sat in front of the document and copied Xu Hanliang's second article.
"Send this article to Mr. Fan and Mr. Han so that they can appreciate it."
After transcribing the entire article, Song Mingyuan made a decision.
Since you can't make a decision yourself, then simply let the two senior officials from the DPRK and China make the decision.
It just so happens that the fathers of these two are also loyal reformists, so they are naturally involved in this kind of issue.
The policy essay itself is more difficult to mark than other papers, and the marking time takes two days in total.
So even if the results don't come out today, they can still come out tomorrow.