The first ray of sunlight in the morning poured down from the sky to the earth, and fell into the main hall through the Bagua window of Cheng'en Hall in Xiyuan, casting a mysterious Bagua pattern halo. In the middle of the two poles of the Bagua pattern stood two people, one wearing a dragon robe and the other wearing a gray and white Bagua Taoist robe.
"What does this dream of mine mean?" a question came from the hall.
After hearing Emperor Jiajing's question, Tao Zhongwen, who was wearing a gray and white Bagua Taoist robe, saluted Emperor Jiajing, then closed his eyes, stretched out his right hand from the robe, and bent his five fingers to count.
"One is Kan, two is Kun, three is Zhen, four is Xun, five is the center, six is Qian, seven is Dui, eight is Gen, nine is Li..."
Tao Zhongwen calculated and muttered to himself at the same time.
About two minutes later, Tao Zhongwen suddenly opened his eyes, his face full of joy, and bowed deeply to Emperor Jiajing, happily announcing the good news to him: "Congratulations, Your Majesty."
Jiajing's nervousness disappeared when he heard this, he relaxed the muscles on his face, and then asked again: "Where does the joy come from?"
"Xun is bright in the middle and Kan is full in the middle. This is a sign of great luck and a long-lasting stability of the country." Tao Zhongwen stroked his white beard in the sunshine. The sunlight hitting him made his charlatan aura rise several levels at once.
Jiajing was overjoyed when he heard this.
"But why did Emperor Taizu Gao stand on a river bank covered with green duckweed, looking at me without saying a word, and finally pointed at his feet and flew away?" After being overjoyed, Emperor Jiajing asked Tao Zhongwen with some doubt.
"This is your Majesty's family affair. I am an outsider and it is not appropriate for me to interfere."
Tao Zhongwen looked at Emperor Jiajing and shook his head slightly, with a charlatan expression on his face that said, "I know everything but cannot say it."
This is Your Majesty's family affair!
If Zhu Ping'an was at the scene, he would definitely despise Tao Zhongwen's behavior. I took off my pants, and you told me this?! This old charlatan is too good at refusing. The Jiajing Emperor took drugs and had hallucinations. God knows what it means. This old charlatan's trick is too good. This is your Majesty's family affair! Your ancestor appeared in your dream. Communicating with you, this is your Majesty's family affair, it is difficult for an honest official to judge family affairs, let alone your imperial family, I know everything. But it is not convenient for me to say it.
The Jiajing Emperor's perspective on issues is obviously not comparable to that of ordinary people.
Jiajing listened to Tao Zhongwen's words, nodded, thought for a moment, and felt that what Tao Zhongwen said made sense. This was the dream of Emperor Taizu Gao. Of course, he would not dream for no reason. It must be related to the country of our Zhu family. It is more appropriate to say that this is a family affair than a state affair.
How can the words of ancestors to their descendants be conveyed through the mouths of others? Well, what Tao Zhongwen said makes sense.
When Emperor Jiajing was asking Tao Zhongwen about his dream, in the cabinet's exclusive residence outside the south gate of Xiyuan - Yangde Gate, Yan Song and eight other ministers appointed by Jiajing were busy reviewing the papers.
Yan Song was the chief minister of the cabinet and the first minister to read the papers in this palace examination. In addition to Yan Song, the other seven were also famous ministers of this dynasty. They were the Minister of Personnel, the Left Vice Minister of Rites, the Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Supervisory Council, the Minister of the Supreme Court, the Minister of the Imperial Household, and the remaining one was a member of the cabinet.
The results of the palace examination would be announced three days later, leaving them with less than two days to mark the papers. The palace examination did not eliminate candidates, but the rankings had to be determined, which was a huge workload, especially since the way the eight examiners marked the papers meant they could not mark them very quickly.
The review of the palace examination is different from the provincial examination. The eight ministers who read the papers, including Yan Song, sit at a large table and need to review each palace examination paper in turn. Simply put, the first person reviews the paper after reading it, and then passes it to the second person. This is not completed until the eighth minister who reads the paper. Each minister who reads the paper must score the paper. The palace examination paper is divided into five levels. According to convention, the five levels are represented by five symbols: "○", "△", "＼", "1", and "x". "○" is the first and best. "△" is the second, and "x" is the lowest grade. Everyone must use this symbol to score the paper.
At the end, the more "○"s there are on the test paper, the better the test paper is. Other symbols are also counted and compared to get the ranking. According to convention, if you want to get the first or second place, you must get at least seven "○". If the test paper scores less than seven "○", you basically have no chance of getting the first or second place, let alone the first, second or third place.
The 11th to 400th place candidates can decide their own rankings in the palace examination. The emperor will not interfere with this. Even if he wants to, he does not have the energy to do so.
The main task of the eight ministers including Yan Song was to select the ten best papers with the most "○"s and present them to Emperor Jiajing, who would then select the top three winners from these ten papers.
Yan Song was very responsible. He reviewed every sealed test paper with all his heart and impartiality! Except for two test papers! No, Yan Song reviewed all the test papers with all his heart and impartiality.
Yan Song gave grades entirely based on the quality of the test papers. He could guess what Jiajing meant and could tell the pros and cons of the test papers.
Fonts, current affairs policy and so on are all reference factors, but as long as the test paper does not show what Emperor Jiajing did well, the best you can get is a "△"!
Yan Song set an example himself, and the other seven ministers who were in charge of marking the papers naturally did their best. They were all masters in this field, so marking the papers was naturally a piece of cake for them, and they all marked the papers diligently and impartially.
However, there were only two examiners who made exceptions for the two test papers!
One of the test papers contained the words "Officials should be able to communicate with the upper and lower classes, which is what the country values. Respect the monarch's power, select officials, assess their duties, supervise their performance, and reward and punish fairly..."
The other test paper contained the words "The world is for the public, the sage ruler unifies the country, he accepts the will of heaven and reflects the sentiments of the people..."
Yan Song gave the highest score "○" to both test papers, and five of the other seven ministers who examined the papers also gave the highest score "○".
But there were two exceptions, one was the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and the other was a Cabinet Assistant. They both gave the first test paper a "△" and gave the second test paper the highest score "○".
When the Left Vice Minister of Rites saw the words "Officials should be able to communicate with the upper and lower classes, which is what the country values. Respect the power of the monarch, select officials, assess their duties, supervise their behavior, and reward and punish them impartially..." on the first test paper, he immediately gave it a "△" without thinking. After the Left Vice Minister of Rites finished reviewing it and passed it to the cabinet ministers for review, he pressed his hand twice without leaving a trace, and then the cabinet ministers nodded in understanding and also gave it a "△".
The Left Vice Minister of Rites remembered this passage from the first test paper very clearly and there was no way he could have remembered it wrong. This sentence was written by the first person sitting on the east side of the palace examination!
Everyone has their own preferences. Reasonable errors are allowed in the examination paper marking, but the difference cannot be too big. What is a reasonable error? It means that the eight examiners cannot give more than three grades to the same paper. In other words, if someone gives first grade and someone gives second grade, and you give someone fourth or fifth grade, it is not reasonable. Even if everyone has their own preferences, you can choose vegetables, but you cannot eat meat. The difference is too obvious. If the difference is too big, you will be held accountable, and the responsibility is heavy!
The Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites and the Cabinet Assistants were very calculating when giving scores. Others gave first grade, but we two gave second grade. It's normal. I just don't like it. What's wrong with giving second grade? It's a reasonable error.
As a result, the test paper containing the words "Officials should be able to communicate with the upper and lower classes, which is what the country values. Respect the monarch's power, select officials, assess their duties, supervise their performance, and reward and punish fairly..." only got six "○"s.
However, the test paper with the words "The world belongs to the public, the emperor unifies the country, he follows the will of heaven and understands the people's sentiments..." got eight full "○"s.
Only the top ten would be sent to Emperor Jiajing for his review and compete for the top spot in this special examination, while the rest would have no chance.
The first test paper had six "○" and two "△", less than seven "○" means basically no chance of getting into the first or second place, and far from the top ten of this palace examination. There were quite a few people who got eight "○" in this palace examination, not to mention seven "○".
Therefore, this test paper will not have the chance to be read by Emperor Jiajing! Forget about getting the first, second, or third place in the imperial examination! Don't even dream about it!
The Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites looked at the scoring symbols on the test paper and smiled with satisfaction. (To be continued.)
ps: It’s 2016 now, and I wish all my book friends good luck and happiness in 2016.