Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 202 Leaked Essays
This essay exam went on until late at night. Some candidates had exhausted three candles and still hadn't finished writing, so they were begging for another candle so they could continue answering the questions.

Faced with this situation, Yan Tingzhi simply shook his head and refused. This was not the first time he had seen such a situation since he began his involvement in the imperial examinations, and he was well aware that what limited these candidates' ability to answer questions was not time, and even if they were allowed to continue indefinitely, it would be of little use.

Although the rules for the provincial examinations in the imperial examinations were not particularly strict, the elimination rate was extremely high. Hundreds of candidates would participate in the provincial examinations, but only a dozen or twenty would ultimately pass.

Therefore, these people must make the most of the opportunity provided by the provincial examination to showcase their talents; the capable will pass and the incapable will fail.

Yan Tingzhi sympathized with these candidates, but he couldn't just keep waiting like this. Giving them extra time would be unfair to the other candidates who had already submitted their papers and left the examination hall.

So after the three candles burned out, he ordered the soldiers still waiting in the examination hall to persuade and expel the candidates who were still unwilling to give up.

After collecting, stamping, and locking all the exam papers in the cabinet, he led his soldiers to inspect the examination hall to ensure that no one was missed before returning to the examination hall to sleep.

The imperial court did not have an explicit rule that examiners in charge of the imperial examinations had to stay in the examination hall at all times; this was Yan Tingzhi's requirement for himself.

Since he became a candidate for the imperial examinations, after the prefectural examinations ended, he no longer received guests at his home or went out to socialize. After the provincial examinations began, he never left the examination hall once he entered it. He ate and slept there, refused invitations from his colleagues, and did not accept requests for favors from students.

His upright conduct here also made others involved dare not slack off, and they all perked up and handled the matter seriously. But no matter how strict they were, there were always undercurrents surging in the shadows, unseen by anyone.

The next day, Yan Tingzhi slept until the morning and regained his energy. After breakfast, he sat upright at his desk and began to formally grade the exam papers.

He has to carefully grade all of these thousands of exam papers and select those that will advance in the next few days, which is a very heavy task.

Alongside him in reviewing the exam papers were two chief clerks and several officials from the Examination and Merit Bureau. Their primary responsibility during the review process was to identify obvious problems such as spelling errors, taboos, and incorrect use of classical allusions. The final decision on whether the exam passed or failed rested with Yan Tingzhi.

“Reporting to Master Yan, I have matters to report to my department this morning. Please allow me to proceed.”

Shortly after one of the officials began reviewing the papers, he stood up and made a request to Yan Tingzhi.

Yan Tingzhi was focused on reviewing the exam papers when he heard this. He simply said in a deep voice, "Go and return quickly. Do not meet with any outsiders on the way."

Upon hearing this, the official in charge nodded in agreement and quickly left the examination hall. He wandered around outside the main hall for a while, and soon an official in a green robe invited him to a nearby annex for a chat.

"Master Liu, what do you think? This matter is risk-free and does not violate any prohibitions. It does not require you to interfere with the selection process. You simply need to memorize and recite the essays selected by Master Yan. I can make the decision here. You will be paid two strings of cash for each essay. After reciting them all, you will earn at least a hundred strings of cash!"

After inviting the official in the green robe in, he immediately advised him impatiently, "How many years will it take for us to achieve such a harvest after serving as officials diligently? Moreover, there are unforeseen events today, and last year there was a disaster. Prices of everything have soared. If we don't save money and silk to prepare for the future, how will we make a living?"

The steward, Liu, was somewhat tempted by what he heard, but still hesitated and said, "I would like to ask Registrar Wang, what is the purpose of collecting these essays for the examinations? These essays are merely leftover material from the examinations, and they are of no use after the exams. After the examinations, they will be stored in the government treasury for anyone to read. Why is it necessary to rush to buy them now?"

Although those essay exam papers were related to the future of each candidate, they were not of much value in essence. Even if the candidates racked their brains to write them and achieved success, these old essays for the exams had little meaning to them. Some were even ashamed to show them because of their dull writing.

After the Ministry of Personnel's Examination and Evaluation Department selected the successful candidates, it would simply store all the answer sheets in the treasury and then dispose of them as surplus after a certain period of time.

Upon hearing this, Wang the Registrar laughed and said, "I'm not afraid to tell you this, but does the clerk know that last year, bookstores in the city were selling a selection of essays written for the imperial examinations over the past few years? This book was a bestseller, selling over a thousand volumes in just over a month, and some even sold over a hundred strings of cash per volume!"
Therefore, those booksellers wanted to rush to sell the essays of the successful candidates in this year's provincial examinations this spring, precisely because they wanted to sell them in time to those who failed the examinations and stayed in the capital for the summer, and to those who would be entering the capital this autumn.

"A single scroll can fetch a hundred strings of cash?"

Upon hearing this, Manager Liu's eyes widened in astonishment, and he stammered somewhat awkwardly, "This, this, I only have two strings of cash..."

"Two strings of cash for a single essay is already quite a good price! Don't get smug just because others are making money. After deducting the cost of buying the essay from you, they still have to prepare paper, ink, materials, calligraphers, and other manpower. It's already good enough if they can make a profit by selling these failed essays. In the summer and autumn, they still have to carve the printing blocks, which consumes even more labor and materials..."

Seeing that the other party seemed to think the price was too low, Wang, the clerk, added, "I can make the decision here; I'll add another hundred coins to each one. You probably know that after the selection period, these essays will no longer be worth anything, so don't spend money to buy them then!" The customers targeted by the booksellers in the market were those who failed the imperial examinations. They had invested time, energy, and youth, and naturally wanted to understand as soon as possible where they fell short of those who passed. Therefore, they would probably spare no expense to buy such a volume.

In particular, some scholars who failed the imperial examinations did not leave the capital region, but chose to stay in Luoyang to continue their studies and prepare for the next year's examinations. This was known as "passing the summer".

Summer study wasn't just about rote learning; it also involved preparing essays to curry favor with powerful figures in the autumn—a process known as "summer assignments." Having access to a selection of essays from the previous year's successful candidates was invaluable for these students preparing for their summer assignments.

Therefore, in order to ensure timeliness, these booksellers couldn't even wait to prepare printing plates and had already recruited a large number of calligraphers to copy books for sale, ready to start work as soon as the miscellaneous articles arrived.

"Well, alright, but if things really go wrong, Wang Lushi, please don't let me end up in the criminal justice system!"

After some deliberation, Manager Liu was finally tempted and nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry, Steward Liu. This matter is not illegal, so why should the criminal authorities investigate it?"

When Wang the clerk saw him nod, he was immediately in a good mood. They then agreed on a time and place for the delivery of the article before parting ways.

After leaving this place, Chief Clerk Liu quickly returned to the office of the Examination and Merit Bureau, signed his name on the record book, and then hurriedly returned to the examination room to continue reviewing the examination papers.

As a low-ranking clerk in various departments, the chief clerk was required to be well-read and have a strong memory, so it was not difficult for him to memorize some of the candidates' essays.

Because he wanted to earn this extra income, Manager Liu was much more diligent than others, and thus discovered many mistakes that others had carelessly overlooked. As a result, he was praised by Yan Tingzhi, who then introduced Yan to his assistant position to help him. This naturally made it much easier for Manager Liu to sell his writings.

So Yan Tingzhi was completely unaware that the names of the Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) he had carefully selected had just appeared on the list when their essays were sold and appeared on the desks of calligraphers in bookstores.

It's not fair to blame Yan Tingzhi for being negligent. After all, even the law lags behind evil. No one had ever done this before, so naturally no one thought of it or took precautions.

Two days later, the list of those who passed the essay test was finalized and published on time.

The candidates and their entourages, who had been waiting there for a long time, rushed forward to search for their names on the list. Those who found their names were overjoyed, while those who couldn't stood outside the thorny fence with serious expressions, staring intently as they searched again and again.

If the previous examination on classical texts was merely a small scalpel, eliminating only a tiny number of candidates, then this examination on miscellaneous essays was a powerful, dragon-slaying sword. Hundreds participated, but only forty-seven ultimately passed.

Only about one in ten people passed the test and were able to participate in the next round of examinations. As for the others who did not make the list, they naturally had no chance to take the next exam and could either pack their bags and prepare to go home, or stay in Luoyang to continue their studies and look forward to next year.

Because of his grandfather's evaluation, Zhang Dai was much calmer. When the list was announced, he was indeed on it, which made him look forward to the upcoming test.

Not to mention the mixed feelings of the candidates taking the exams, the booksellers in Luoyang were extremely anxious these past few days. Having finally found a way to collect the essays on passing the exams, they immediately ordered their calligraphers to copy the books day and night, while also advertising in their shops.

"Here are some essays by the successful candidates from this spring's imperial examinations? Give me a volume, and I'll see if the examiners were fair in their selection or if they were simply blind to have chosen me! What, thirty strings of cash?"

Some candidates, while browsing through bookstores, were itching to buy a copy of a book to compare its quality when they heard the booksellers' advertisements. However, when they heard the exorbitant prices, their eyes widened in surprise.

However, some people with ample funds were not deterred by the high price and immediately spent a large sum of money to buy a copy to carefully read and appreciate it.

The booksellers were overjoyed. Even if they only sold a dozen or so volumes at such a high price, it would be enough to offset their costs and give their shops a great reputation. As a result, the sales of other books also improved significantly.

(End of this chapter)