How to Raid the Queen

After a few days of sleepless nights and food, with the help of Li Xi, Jing Wenhao finally passed the test.

Three days later, the palace examination was held as scheduled.

Standing in the main hall are the top five candidates, Tao Yulin's second son Tao Xianzhi is at the top, Xie Xuan is at the bottom, and the other three are mostly sons of Jingzhong clan.

"You are all famous people on the list. Today I am fighting for the top three. I want to use morality as the topic. In half an hour, I will make a strategy paper to determine the winner." This topic was thought of when I judged the paper with Li Xi the day before yesterday. Thinking of Li Xi, Jing Wenhao unconsciously softened his expression, which made the few students who had just entered court less nervous.

Jing Wenhao arranged for the palace servants to put tables and banknotes on the table, and the five people sat on the floor and wrote vigorously.In less than a quarter of an hour, Xie Xuan and Tao Xianzhi finished writing at the same time.Although it was the first time they met, the two looked at each other and smiled, but there was a sense of sympathy for each other.

After handing over the answer sheet to the palace man next to him, the two stood back in their seats.

Half an hour passed, and the candidates all handed in their answer sheets.Jing Wenhao took the test papers of several people, flipped them left and right, then suddenly laughed, and said: "If I hadn't decided this question yesterday, and I saw you sitting in this hall answering the question today, I would have thought you The two are suspected of fraud."

The officials and people below are a little confused.

Jing Wenhao continued: "Tao Xianzhi, I ask you, why do you regard Dejiao as respecting heaven, ancestors, and people?"

Tao Xianzhi was dressed in a light-colored brocade, although he deliberately showed a low profile, being named by the emperor in this way showed his irresistible nobleness.

I saw him take a small step to the left, salute, stand upright, put one hand behind his head and the other in front of his chest, and Shi Shiran said: "Students think this virtue is not Peter. Legislation in the Western Zhou Dynasty, people said What does it mean to be a virtue? One is to respect the sky, which means conforming to the will of heaven, the Tao follows nature, and human beings are nothing but vain in nature. Only by being loyal to nature can one find the way to survive. The second is to respect ancestors, ancestors and ancestors , The beginning of our generation is to respect the previous life, so that it will be long and long. The third is to respect people, and those who respect people, people respect them. A king who puts people first will be able to live forever. The humble opinion of students, I hope the emperor will correct me."

Jing Wenhao nodded in satisfaction, and said to Tao Yulin, "The children taught by the teacher really won my heart."

Tao Xianzhi was not complacent when he heard this, and retreated with a humble expression.

Jing Wenhao said again: "Xie Xuan, tell me why you said that again."

Xie Xuan wore a blue shirt, not as simple as the last time I saw him in the Zhuangyuan Building. Unlike Tao Xianzhi, Tao Xianzhi had a modest aura, showing the demeanor of everyone in the clan, but Xie Xuan had his own Calm and understanding.Although it was his first time to go to court, he was not stingy at all. Compared with many oily people who often struggled in officialdom, they were even worse.

Xie Xuan took a step to the right and made a salute: "Fajing said to get the heart, and the legislation said virtue, and the heart is also. The root cause is that the people's heart is the most important thing. Ask the people what is important? Heaven, earth, ancestors, and oneself The ear. Ancestors are the foundation of the body, endowed with flesh and blood, and they are important. Heaven and earth provide their five grains for their continuation, so they are also important. Husbands themselves, living as human beings, are inevitably disturbed by selfish desires, and selfish desires are the foundation of human beings, so It is more serious. Today, my emperor governs the people with virtue, and he must respect the sky, respect the ancestors, respect people and put people's hearts at ease."

After Xie Xuan finished speaking, he didn't hesitate at all, but panicked the veterans behind him.A group of people are thinking that it is disrespectful to say such things in the palace examination.

After Jing Wenhao heard it, he was shocked. When he saw Xie Xuan for the first time, he just felt that Xie Xuan might be a useful person, but he never thought that Xie Xuan could have such courage and talent.When judging the papers a few days ago, what he was most satisfied with was Xie Xuan's article, and today's explanation from Xie Xuandian moved him even more.

Jing Wenhao didn't say anything, but said again: "Raise your head and answer me, how should we deal with etiquette and punishment?"

Xie Xuan raised his head when he heard the sound, and looked at Jing Wenhao. There was no trace of tension in his eyes, and he replied calmly: "Since Confucius, all kings have followed Confucianism, and the best policy is to restrain oneself and return to etiquette. The light punishment shall prevail. What’s more, the courteousness is not inferior to ordinary people, and the punishment is not as good as that of a doctor. I think it’s just nonsense.”

As soon as this conclusion came out, there was an uproar in the court, but Xie Xuan pretended not to hear it, and continued naturally, "For ministers, first serve the people, and then serve as ministers. In the old days, punishment could not be punished by a doctor, and a doctor can assist the court when he enters the temple. , When you go out of the temple, you can take the lead and lead the army to fight. These are the doctors. But today, after a thousand years, we are called doctors, and we are all people who observe words and looks, and are wise and protect themselves. For great achievements, this kind of doctor should be spit on by the people of the world."

"Okay, okay, okay." As soon as Xie Xuan finished speaking, Jing Wenhao repeatedly claimed that he was okay. Since the day he was reborn, he has seen through the pedantic spirit of the court. What he lacks is Xie Xuan's upright attitude. , not afraid of power, not afraid of the civil servants of the clan.

Jing Wenhao took the cinnabar pen from An Fuquan and wrote the word "No. [-] Scholar" on Xie Xuan's paper, which was regarded as a compliment to Xie Xuan.

After finishing this, Jing Wenhao directly filled in the names of the top three on the imperial decree that had already been drawn up next to him.

Xie Xuancai built Jinghua and was the number one scholar, Tao Xianzhi was next in second place, and Tanhua was the second son of Jiading Hou's family, Wang Bowen.

There was an uproar in the court for a while, and all the adults looked at Xie Xuan with strange eyes, and didn't know which family he belonged to. However, judging from the situation in the court today, the emperor is very fond of this new champion, so They all came forward to congratulate him, and for a while Xie Xuan became a favorite, surrounded by people, and he didn't even have time to change the number one scholar's uniform.

Finally squeezed out and followed the palace people to change clothes.

"I heard about Brother Xie's name a few days ago, and it's really a great fortune to be able to enjoy Brother Xie's advice today. Brother Xie is really talented." It was Tao Xianzhi who spoke to him.

The praise on Tao Xianzhi's face was different from others, it was straightforward and frank. Xie Xuan knew it was sincere, so he saluted and said: "Master Tao Yulin's children are really extraordinary. Mr. Tao is more talented than me. Now Slightly better is just because of my slanted sword, opportunism, and chance. These are all behaviors that scholars despise."

Tao Xianzhi hurriedly said: "This statement is wrong, a true scholar with the world in mind. Brother Xie for his foresight, I am ashamed of myself."

Xie Xuan was about to reply, but Wang Bowen couldn't listen anymore: "You two are fine, can we change our clothes and go parading in the street first? I'm still waiting to go home and propose marriage to my sweetheart."

The three looked at each other and smiled and quickened their pace.

Because there were too many congratulatory people, the three of them were delayed in the palace for some time, before leaving the palace, the ones who announced the good news arrived first.

In Li's residence, Li Zhiyuan received the good news and learned that Xie Xuan had won the first prize, so unhappy, he took out his purse and gave all the silver to the visitor without blinking his eyes.Fu felt that his little money was not enough, so he simply tore off the jade pendant from his waist and handed it to the man.I went back and changed my clothes, and went to the Zhuangyuan Building to find the best seat and wait.

An hour or so.The sound of gongs and drums, and the sound of firecrackers finally sounded. Xie Xuan was dressed in red, wearing a crown, riding on a horse, and walking in the forefront. He was very heroic.With Tao Xianzhi behind him, the bookish atmosphere is stronger, looking refined and elegant.And Wang Bowen, who was at the bottom, was more like an elf, shaking left and right to greet the crowd.He was younger in the first place, plus he was tall and handsome, so he became the best object in the hearts of the girls for a while, and everyone threw flowers on Tanhualang's head one after another.

When he reached Zhuangyuan Building, Li Zhiyuan couldn't restrain his inner excitement, surrounded by a circle of women, shouting loudly: "Brother Xie, brother Xie."

However, Li Zhiyuan's voice was a little softer after all, and was buried in the shouts of all the ladies.Li Zhiyuan saw that Xie Xuan was about to pass the Zhuangyuan building, but he didn't notice him, so he simply stood on the stool and shouted a few times: "Xie Xuan, Xie Xuan, Xie Xuan, look at me."

Li Zhiyuan's two voices successfully attracted Xie Xuan's attention, Xie Xuan looked back up, looked at the extremely excited Li Zhiyuan upstairs, and smiled.

Li Zhiyuan just felt like he was being hit by an electric shock, and his heart skipped a beat. His brother Xie had never had such a bright and beautiful smile.

Li Zhiyuan's heart was beating wildly, he dawdled back to his home, saw someone carrying things out, carefully looked at all Xie Xuan's things, grabbed one person, and asked: "What is this? "

Seeing that it was his son, the servants only replied: "The emperor gave the house to Mr. Xie in Jingzhong, Mr. Xie will move out tonight."

"Then where is he now? He's back?" Li Zhiyuan was even more flustered.

"I just came back, thanked Mrs. Madam, and asked someone to help him move some things, and then entered the palace."

Li Zhiyuan, who was bumping around like a deer just a moment ago, felt cold at this moment, and when he walked to the Xiyuan wing, Xie Xuan's room was already empty, Li Zhiyuan thought to himself, this is probably the case between them.

The author has something to say:

A brief explanation of this chapter:

1. The explanations about virtue, ritual and punishment all come from my understanding of the history of punishment in ancient China. The interpretation of the word "de" comes from the Western Zhou Dynasty, because at that time there were two ways of writing "dezi", one is to get the heart, and the other is to be straightforward.Punishment is a part I like very much, so in order to advance the plot, I should write criminal law reform.In fact, I have always wanted to write a book about criminal law, the kind where Xiao Gong takes Xiao Shou to fight monsters and maintain judicial justice, but I don’t have time now, and it should be opened in a year. Everyone is welcome to read it then ah.