Dressed as Su Peisheng

Kangxi 50 years

May 21, Ministry of Rites

Prince Yong led the scholar Wang Xuling and others to open the sealed tribute scroll.

During the grinding of examination papers, all relevant personnel, including Prince Yong, were not allowed to leave the back hall of the Ministry of Rites.

The purpose of the grinding test is mainly to "prevent fraud and ensure the style of the text." From the candidates' test papers to all aspects of the exam, they are all within the scope of grinding.

If the examinee's test paper has incorrect style, suspicious words and sentences, plagiarism of the whole text, discrepancies between the Zhu and ink scrolls, and the answers to the questions in the policy text are not the questions, they will be reprimanded immediately.

If there is disrespect for biography and annotation, not avoiding temple taboos, royal names, holy taboos, running script and cursive script for transcription, citing historical facts and book titles of later generations in the text, not complying with the regulations, or discussing the character and culture of the courtiers, etc., they will be punished. There are one to three subjects in the imperial examination.

The chief examiner and fellow examiners will also be punished by fines and dismissal due to the seriousness of the circumstances.

Because of the examination and grinding, it is only aimed at the tributes who have already been selected, and it often hurts the examiners. In the past, most of the grinding officials adhered to the principle of generosity and tried to turn a blind eye. As long as the problem is not too serious, There are very few people who really reprimand and punish them.

But this year, it was Prince Yong who presided over the trial test. Many candidates who were selected this time complained secretly when they heard about it.

Prince Yong had to stay in the Ministry of Rites for half a month, so Su Wei naturally followed, and Zhang Bao also accompanied him to wait on him.

There are two main steps in grinding the scrolls, first reading the Zhujuan, and then verifying whether the Zhujuan is the same as the Mojuan.

Zhu Juan is the student test paper that is transcribed by the transcriptionist after the exam. After that, all the papers will be graded in Zhu Juan.

Because Prince Yong presided over the grinding examination and did not need to participate in the marking of the papers, only when Wang Xuling, Wang Hongxu and others encountered really problematic test papers would Prince Yong personally judge.

However, the fourth elder brother is serious. After grinding each volume, he still has to read it himself. He also wants to see if there are any amazing talents in this batch of selected papers.

Su Wei usually stays with the fourth elder brother, helping to grind the ink.The fourth elder brother stayed alone in the inner room of the back hall, where he could not only rest, but also store all the ink scrolls sent from the outside.

After five or six days in a row, the examination papers went smoothly, and no major problems were found.

After reading the papers every day, the back hall is locked on time, and the officials go to the wing room to rest.

Prince Yong lived alone in the Cunwen Pavilion in the backyard of the Ministry of Rites, and three meals a day and refreshments were delivered on time.

"In two or three days, it should be almost there."

The fourth elder brother leaned on the soft couch, watching Su Wei sitting next to him playing with the water in the tub with his feet.

"That Wang Hongxu is pretty quiet, he rarely comes to you these days."

"With his elder brother around, he dare not go too far."

"Then I always feel creepy when I look at him."

Su Wei had played enough, wiped with a cloth towel, and put his feet back on the couch.

The fourth elder brother reached out to touch it, but was kicked.

"It's good to finish the work early. It's still Prince Cheng who enjoys the blessing. After bumping into the carriage, he has rested until now."

"It's already been opened, and it's not easy for him to come here again."

The fourth elder brother supported his forehead with one hand, and his eyes were still rolling on Su Weibai's ankle.

"Fortunately, nothing has happened this year. As long as there are no mistakes in the final double-volume proofreading, this job will be smooth."

"After the Zhu Juan is transcribed, isn't there a reading station to proofread it? Will something go wrong?" Su Wei also knew a little about imperial examination marking.

"In the past, there have been precedents of bribing transcriptionists and students. They often form a line of their own. As long as you give enough money, the transcriptionist will help you fill in the answers on the scroll, and will automatically hide it from the students when proofreading. .In addition, they still have a way to escape the proofreading during the re-examination."

"Isn't that the same as buying money all the way?"

Grandpa Su frowned, "Then it's better to just spend money to donate to the official, why bother?"

"Donating officials is often just for the sake of fame and cannot be reused. It is not as good as the imperial examination."

The fourth elder brother frowned slightly, "But this kind of cheating method is generally used in the rural examinations in various places. The supervision of the rural examinations is not strict, and bribery of the chief examiner often happens. It is rare in the general examination. After all, in Beijing, few people are so big. courage."

Another two days later, the meeting roll grinding survey is almost coming to an end.

Su Wei came out from the inner room, intending to go to the latrine, but just happened to meet Wang Hongxu bringing the test paper.

"Lord Wang," Su Wei leaned over and hit Qian'er.

Wang Hongxu didn't even look at Su Wei, he just walked past him and entered the inner door.

Eunuch Su rolled his eyes at him in his heart, turned around and went out with his chin raised.

After coming out of the latrine, Su Wei was not in a hurry to go back, and he was bored for the past few days. He couldn't go out to the yard, so he could only walk around the base of the wall.

Around the base of the east wall is the inner room where the fourth elder brother stayed, and then around the back is a small courtyard, the upper left is the Cunwen Pavilion, and the upper right leads to the library, but the carved arch is locked at this time.

Su Wei walked around to the back of the back hall, intending to go back from the base of the west wall, but saw Shuntian Mansion Chancellor Lian Xiao coming from the shadow of the library gate.

"Master Lian!"

Lian Xiao was slightly taken aback, looked up to see Su Peisheng, and quickly returned to normal, "It's Eunuch Su, what's the matter, does the lord have any orders?"

"Oh, that's not true," Su Wei smiled, "What is Sir Lian doing here? Isn't the library locked?"

Lian Xiao's expression didn't change, he smiled slightly and said, "I'm bored staying in the room, just walking around."

"So it's like this, it's really boring these few days," Su Wei responded naturally.

Lian Xiao didn't say anything more, nodded at Su Wei, and went back to the back hall.

Seeing him walking away, Su Wei walked towards the carved arch in front of the library by himself.

Sure enough, the door was still locked. Looking through the gap, there was no one behind.

"What is Lian Xiao doing here?"

Su Wei didn't believe that he was just enjoying the cool air, so he looked underground through the gap, and suddenly saw a broken long strip of sealing paper hanging in the grass on one side.

When Su Wei returned to the back hall, Wang Hongxu had already left.

"Why have you been here for so long?" Brother Si asked.

"It's okay, I met Lian Xiao," Su Wei walked to the table to help the fourth elder brother grind ink, but his eyes wandered around the room.

He vaguely seems to have seen the pattern of that piece of paper somewhere?

first day of june

After all the test papers have been rechecked, the milling is carried out to the last step, to compare whether the Zhujuan and Mojuan are the same.

This process is much simpler than grading papers, and the speed is also very fast. In the evening, half of the comparison has been completed.

I thought that it would only take one more day, after the proofreading was completed, the trial test would be completely over.

Unexpectedly, there was a problem with the double-volume proofreading this afternoon.

"There are two copies in total. Zhujuan and Mojuan are different, and a lot of content has been corrected and modified." Wang Xuling reported like Prince Yong with a frown.

This is not a trivial matter. It is only after the grinding that the double volumes are found to be different, so in addition to the examination papers, the transcription office, the rereading office, and even the sealing office that seals the test papers will all be involved.

In the capital city, under the eyes of the emperor, someone dared to tamper with in the examination, this is really audacious.

"Check the rest overnight to see if there is anything unusual," Prince Yong calmly ordered.

"Yes," Wang Xuling responded quickly, and a group of officials began to work overtime to proofread the rest.

The ink scrolls were locked in different wooden boxes one by one, with about twenty scrolls in each bunch.

Su Weihou was beside the fourth elder brother, watching the wooden boxes being opened one after another. The boxes were naturally sealed, and each paper was rolled up with sealing paper and stuffed into a sealed bag.

The Ministry of Rites kept lighting the candles all night, and when it was almost dawn, they finally finished proofreading all the test papers.

There are no special cases where double volumes appear abnormal, only those two volumes.But these two copies are enough to break the sky.

The fourth elder brother immediately drafted a memorial and sent it to the palace urgently.

Lord Kangxi was furious when he heard the news, and ordered Prince Yong to investigate thoroughly.

Prince Yong did not allow the officials who participated in the grinding survey to leave, and still ordered them to live in the back hall of the Ministry of Rites and were not allowed to move around at will.

Officials from the transcription office and the interrogation office were sent to the Ministry of Rites for investigation.

According to the names on the scroll, it is easy to find the people who transcribed and read it, but these people firmly refused to admit it, and even if they were punished, they still shouted for injustice.

One of the candidates who participated in the test was not in the capital for the time being, and the other was sent to the prison in Shuntian Mansion, and he refused to admit anything.

On the fourth day of June, the Ministry of Rites

"The evidence is as solid as a mountain, and they can't do it if they deny it!" Lian Xiao, Cheng Lian of Shuntian Mansion, said loudly.

Wang Xuling calmed down a lot, and cupped his hands at Prince Yong, who was seated at the top, and said, "It's about the candidates for this year's examination, the prince still needs to be cautious."

"Cheating in the exam, and using such a bold method, I'm afraid there is something to rely on and nothing to fear." Wang Hongxu said lightly, "The prince should make a decision as soon as possible, and don't let someone with a heart take advantage of the loophole."

Su Wei stood beside the fourth elder brother. Hearing this, he curled his lips secretly.

Lian Xiao, the Prime Minister of Shuntian Mansion, took another step forward and said, "My lord, I feel that we should start with that move. Court officials have experienced many battles, so they may not be afraid. But that move has never seen any battles, so scare him , maybe you can find out something.”

"This method is impossible," Jiang Tingxi said from the side, "The prince should still find out from the inside. If he wronged the candidate, won't it make the hearts of the students all over the world chill if it is spread?"

"The two papers are here, who can wrong him?" Lian Xiao was very unconvinced.

"Could it be the kindness of the transcription office, who edited it for him?"

"I don't know the whole picture, and anything can happen," Jiang Tingxi continued, "This incident is somewhat weird. Everyone knows that the examination must be stricter than the rural examination. How can such a risky method be used?"

"People are dazzled by fame and fortune, what can't they do?" Wang Hongxu snorted softly, and was glared at by Wang Xuling.

The fourth elder brother remained silent, sitting on the seat, tapping the armrest with his right hand.