How did you, a prisoner on death row, become an important weapon of the country? Yecheng Gao Weiming

Li Xin, who was outside the palace, naturally didn't know about all the scandals that happened in the palace.

He didn't even bother to look for Wei Zhongxian again, but quietly prepared for the imperial examination in the guild hall.

Although who the number one winner is is just a matter of Wei Zhongxian's words.

But Li Xin understood that for the sake of future planning and to convince the public, the article he wrote must be so brilliant that no one can argue with it.

After all, the examination paper for the No. 1 Scholar must be permanently archived for future reference. Not only must the handwriting be superb, but the writing talent must also be outstanding.

Things that will last forever are not a joke.

But something interesting happened.

In the evening, Shen Lian, a member of the Jinyiwei family, secretly came to the Henan Guild Hall to find Li Xin and handed Li Xin a note.

Li Xin opened it and saw that it was the test question for tomorrow's palace examination, and felt dumbfounded.

"Sir, this thing was written by the factory owner himself. Lu Qianhu said that he must burn it after reading it to avoid unnecessary trouble."

Shen Lian held his fists and whispered, his eyes fixed on the note in Li Xin's hand.

Li Xin smiled and nodded slightly. After burning the note to ashes with a candle in the room, Shen Lian was completely relieved.

Damn it!

If this thing were discovered, it would cause a national sensation.

The palace test questions were leaked?

That whole Apocalypse Enco would be a joke.

Although under the control of Wei Zhongxian, the Enke Examination has long become a selection test for eunuchs, at least it cannot be made so obvious.

It's a pity that I am so diligent, full of courage and passion, and finally became a member of the eunuch party.

Shen Lian breathed a sigh of relief and clasped his fists again.

"Sir, in that case, Shen will leave first. I wish sir that he will win the title of Toad Palace tomorrow and come out on top..."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

"and many more!"

However, Li Xin called out to the other party: "Shen Lian, I wonder if your factory father is in the house? Today...there is nothing else going on, right?"

Li Xin spent the whole day in the guild hall today, but he always felt as if he had forgotten something and was restless, so he couldn't help but ask.

"other things……"

Shen Lian was stunned for a moment, with a look of embarrassment appearing on his face.

As a royal guard, he naturally knew about the scandals in the palace.

It was said that Mrs. Feng Sheng was hanging out with the young emperor, and she was caught by Empress Zhang. She made such a scene in the Qianqing Palace that the child almost died.

But this matter...

He wouldn't dare to spread the word even if he was given ten heads.

If you say a word, your house will be confiscated and your family will be destroyed.

Shen Lian had no choice but to say: "It's nothing, sir! Mr. Factory Lord will go back to his house to rest after sunset, so that you can have a good rest and participate in the palace examination tomorrow."

Li Xin seemed to see that the other party had something to hide, but he also knew that his identity could not be revealed at this moment, so he could only nod.

"Okay! Thank you very much, Shen Baihu."

"Don't dare, don't dare!"

Shen Lian left directly, leaving Li Xin looking out the window and sighing.

What on earth did I forget?

……

Day two.

The palace examination was held as scheduled.

Before dawn, a large number of Gongsheng students who passed the examination entered the imperial court one by one.

The palace examinations in the late Ming Dynasty were held in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony like the Qing Dynasty.

But at this time, the Hall of Supreme Harmony was still called the Hall of Emperor Ji, and was first called the Hall of Fengtian. The name was changed several times.

Candidates had to go through numerous inspections before dawn to ensure that they had no cheat sheets or weapons that could harm the emperor.

It was said to be a palace examination, but he couldn't enter the main hall at all.

About a hundred people would come to the Huangji Palace and stand in front of the palace, waiting quietly for the emperor to appear.

Hundreds of tables and chairs have been placed in the open space on both sides of the hall for candidates to write.

After the sun rises, Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao will appear in the main hall, announce the start of the exam, and order eunuchs and officials from the Ministry of Rites to issue test papers.

At this time, if you want to see the emperor's face, you still can't see it.

Because the emperor was sitting deep in the hall and didn't bother to come out to meet the candidates.

Candidates can only sit down honestly, pick up paper and pen and start answering papers.

It takes a long time to answer the test paper. It takes about twelve or three hours to take the test, which is more than six or seven hours.

The exam lasted from dawn to afternoon, and those who finished could hand in their papers and leave the palace.

If you haven't finished writing it by nightfall, you will have to say goodbye to the imperial examination and become a laughing stock.

But this situation is basically impossible to happen.

After all, they are all Gongsheng students who have passed many exams and are the elite among the elites in the country.

How could I not finish a test paper in one day?

The reason why I write slowly is to make the font look good and not make any mistakes.

Strictly require the pavilion style, and the characters should be square, smooth, dark, and large.

to be honest.

The entire two- to three-thousand-word test paper must be extremely beautiful, with not a single clerical error or ink spot allowed.

Because once there is an alteration, it means that you are not destined to be among the top three, or even the top twenty.

If you can't even write well, why the hell are you bothering?

Failure is not a big deal, because the palace examinations of the Ming and Qing dynasties will no longer screen the tribute students, but will rank them.

The best ranked ones are naturally the top three. The top pick, second pick, and top pick are regarded as Jinshi.

The second class, also called Erjia, is about one-third of the total number of people and is given a Jinshi background.

The third class, also called Sanjia, is the remaining group of unlucky people who were born with the same Jinshi background.

This ranking is very particular.

You must know that only three people from the first and second grades can enter the Hanlin Academy to serve as editors and editors.

The rest either watch the government in the six ministries or are sent to serve as officials throughout the country.

Once you fail to enter the Hanlin Academy, your life will be basically set.

Because since Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, subtle rules have been set.

Those who are not Hanlin officials will not be admitted to the cabinet.

In other words, as long as you don't enter the Hanlin Academy and become a concubine, your future achievements will be very limited and you will never be able to enter the cabinet.

Therefore, ranking in the palace examination is very important to Gongsheng students.

Only the marking officer has the final say on how the palace examination rankings will appear.

Generally, a marking team composed of eight highly respected officials will judge the candidates for the palace examination.

After eight people read all the test papers, all members finally selected the ten best papers and presented them to the emperor for review.

Therefore, the emperor only needs to read ten papers to hand-pick the top pick, second pick, and top pick.

As for the other people, the marking officer can arrange them in order.

Time soon came to sunset. After all the candidates handed in their papers, the marking officers immediately started working overtime to mark the exams.

Because their fucking emperor Zhu Youxiao requested that the Chuanlu Ceremony be held tomorrow and he would go out of the palace to play the day after tomorrow.

It was just after Xu Shi, and at a quarter of Hai Shi, that is, around nine o'clock in the evening, the rankings of all the tribute students were finally arranged.

Ten test papers for outstanding candidates were sent to Zhu Youxiao of Qianqing Palace.

Li Xin's paper was placed first.