Qing Yao

Chapter 113 What qualifications do you, a mere scholar, have!
The imperial examination was divided into three grades, with only three people in the first grade, known as "Jinshi Jidi".

The top scholar (状元) starts at the sixth rank, while the second and third scholars (榜眼 and 探花) start at the seventh rank.

The three entered the Hanlin Academy directly without having to take the imperial examination, serving as compilers and editors. They had a very high starting point and their careers were very smooth. They were very likely to be promoted to ministers or high-ranking officials.

Those who passed the imperial examination in the second rank were called "Jinshi Chushen" (进士出身). The number of those admitted was not fixed; sometimes dozens were admitted, and sometimes more than a hundred.

The starting rank is also the seventh rank, but apart from the highest-ranking "Chuanlu" who can be directly granted an official position, all others need to participate in the imperial examination for selection, and only those with excellent results can be officially appointed as officials.

The top three candidates are usually one to two hundred people, who are called "successful candidates in the imperial examination". Their scores are the lowest in the palace examination. If it weren't for the rule that no one would be eliminated in the palace examination, then all of them would be rejected and have to leave.

Compared to those who were "Jinshi Jidi" or "Jinshi Chushen", officials who were "Tong Jinshi Chushen" had a much lower starting point. They were only of the eighth rank and it was difficult for them to "stay in the capital" to work. Most of them were assigned to remote and impoverished areas.

When it comes to promotion later, if they are competing for the same position with officials who are from the first or second rank, they must give way to those who are genuine Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), but they must be better than officials who are from the Juren (successful candidates in the provincial imperial examinations) or Jiansheng (students of the Imperial Academy).

In other words, "同进士出身" does not mean "having passed the imperial examination" in the traditional sense, but it is treated as such.

For example, "Ru Furen" was actually a concubine who was of lower status.

Therefore, many officials who had passed the imperial examinations were ashamed to mention their "academic qualifications" because it was really embarrassing.

From Zhao An's perspective, this was actually worse than someone who had passed the imperial examination at the same level.

Because he was granted the title of "Bestowed with the title of Jinshi" by the old master when he was in a good mood.

What does that mean?

She's worse than a whore.

This is similar to someone who was born into the Imperial Academy becoming a grandmaster; both are once-in-a-century occurrences.

It's just that the old man liked to do unconventional things in his later years; otherwise, I really can't imagine it.

Historically, there were indeed individuals in the Qing Dynasty who were granted the title of "Jinshi" despite not participating in the provincial or palace examinations.

This man is named Zuo Zongtang.

Empress Dowager Cixi gave special treatment to General Zuo.

If it weren't for the fact that Commander Zuo was too old to lift a sword, who knows if he would have been furious and acted out of a fit of rage for his birth.

However, since Commander Zuo was a Juren (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), it was reasonable to grant him the title of Tongjinshi (another successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations).

Where is Zhao An?
Although he was called a student of the Imperial Academy, he was actually a student of the lowest level of education. Compared with the education of later generations, he was like a vocational school student.

Regardless of whether it's considered an insult, being granted the title of "Ci Tong Jinshi" (赐同进士) is a great honor bestowed by the imperial court. The question is, in which year's top three list was this "Ci Tong Jinshi" title placed?

Whether one is a Jinshi (进士) or a Tongjinshi (同进士), a complete file must be transferred to the Ministry of Personnel so that the Ministry of Personnel can refer to the required years of service when selecting and appointing officials in the future.

Adjusting a position based on the length of service means you can't equate the years of service of a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) from the fiftieth year of Qianlong's reign with those from the thirtieth year.

When the imperial decree was transferred to the Ministry of Rites according to procedure, it caused the Ministry a great deal of trouble, as they were unable to make any arrangements!
The list of the top three candidates in each palace examination, along with their mentors and tutors, has long been compiled into a booklet for each person and is also kept on file in the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel. If someone were to be randomly added, the list would have to be invalidated, which would be a real problem.

The list of items to be recycled alone would keep the Ministry of Rites busy for more than half a year.

It was still the idea suggested by the Grand Secretary that An be placed on the list of the top three in this year's Imperial Examination for the Emperor's Birthday. To make it easier to explain to everyone, An was ranked 185th in the top three.

The top three universities have already admitted 185 students; they can't admit any more.

Because the Grand Secretary was the chief examiner of this year's imperial examination and the reader of the palace examination papers.

As if Zhao Youlu's name was destined to be recorded in history, this operation has once again made history.

The special imperial examination will not be held until November, and it's only October now!

In other words, Zhao An, who was completely unaware that his donated secondary vocational school diploma had been transformed into a correspondence bachelor's degree, became a third-class Jinshi in the special imperial examination of the fifty-fifth year of Qianlong's reign, a month ahead of schedule.

In which dynasty or era has such a good thing happened?

There were other benefits too. As a result, Zhao An not only became the emperor's chosen disciple by the old master, but also directly recognized He Zhongtang as his mentor.

What is the concept of a mentor?
It's similar to having a godfather.

Not daring to offend the Grand Secretary or spoil the old master's mood, the Ministry of Rites had no choice but to reluctantly comply. After a series of swift and decisive actions, they dispatched a clerk with a pre-printed copy of Zhao An's correspondence undergraduate diploma to Yangzhou as quickly as possible.

To make the graduation certificate look legitimate, they even wrote November as the graduation date.

Honestly, this graduation certificate is like a joke; it could just be sent by express delivery. Why does it need to be delivered by a special person?

It's nothing more than lower-level staff in the Ministry of Rites wanting to earn some pocket money.

Coming all this way, the rules start at a hundred taels of silver, and the round-trip food and lodging are all paid for by public funds. Only a fool would travel outside Beijing.

In Yangzhou, after four days of hard work by the students, Zhao An, who had been like a wooden statue for four days, finally got his job—grading papers.

Since there were more than 500 students participating in the prefectural examination, it would take five days to grade the papers.

The examiners, commonly known as "examiners," included six senior scholars selected from the prefectural school, two local officials—Zheng Sanwan, the magistrate of Jiangdu, and the assistant magistrate of Yangzhou—as well as six academic officials drawn from the prefecture and county.

The practice of having officials from prefectures and counties participate in the grading of examination papers was intended to prevent the prefectures from manipulating the process due to competition and forcibly eliminating students from the prefectures and counties.

Including the chief and deputy examiners, the entire marking leadership team consisted of sixteen members.

The group leader, the prefect, did not participate in the initial review of the papers; the person in charge of this task was Zhao An, the deputy group leader.

The first day was mainly for grading the classics, which are things that need to be memorized. The format was similar to exam papers in later times. If you wrote it correctly, you would get points; if you didn't write it or it was wrong, you would get a cross.

It's basically an assembly line operation, so there aren't any problems.

Zhao An also took some exam papers to look at, and after looking at them many times, he was able to memorize a few sentences.

On the second and third days, I graded essays, which mainly tested my knowledge of poetry and prose.

Opinions vary on whether poetry is good or bad, so the final grade depends entirely on the examiner's mood.

This is also the subject most prone to cheating.

The last two days were spent correcting policy essays.

The essay topic was set by the prefect, and it was titled "A King Said, 'My Strength Is Enough to Lift a Hundred Jun.'"

Zhao An didn't understand what it meant, but that didn't stop him from seriously taking the papers that had already been graded by other examiners and writing his own comments on them.

To demonstrate his competence as the assistant examiner, Zhao An had been racking his brains for the past two days, resulting in very professional comments, full of classical Chinese phrases that sounded quite convincing. However, as he revised them, he realized something was wrong: one candidate's paper was missing.

The candidate's name was Chen Dahua. Old Song charged the parents 200 taels of silver to guarantee that their child would pass.

Zhao An also guaranteed that he would definitely give him a second-class grade in the prefectural examination, and as for the provincial examination, he would leave it to fate.

When Zhao An finally realized he hadn't seen Chen Dahua's exam paper, he naturally had to ask about it. Otherwise, Lao Song might have thought he had deliberately blocked the candidate.

It's not worth getting into a fight with Lao Song over such a small matter, especially since he and Lao Ding have already decided to max out the old man's credit card limit together with Zhao An.

Moreover, they have formed a community of life that is even more solid than a community of shared interests, and must not be offended under any circumstances.

They went to the marking room to find Chen Dahua's paper and finally found the policy essay paper with Chen Dahua's name on it among a pile of papers that had been marked as failing.

They didn't just search directly; they pretended to do random checks.

This is also the examiner's right to prevent some students' papers from being deliberately marked as failing due to the personal reasons of the examiners.

The official term is "fukao," which means to review or re-examine.

"This student named Chen Dahua answered well, so why was he graded fourth? Who graded this paper?"

Zhao An asked a scholar who was grading papers beside him.

The examiner selected from Gaoyou Prefectural School was surnamed Wu. He was a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations and served as an instructor at Gaoyou Prefectural School.

The fourth category is for those with flaws in their writing and reasoning. Those with average writing and reasoning are in the first category, those with both writing and reasoning are in the second category, and those with only a slight understanding of writing and reasoning are in the third category. Only those in the third category or above can enter the cross-examination process.

Those who cannot participate in cross-marking will be eliminated.

Clearly, Chen Dahua has been eliminated. Unless his calligraphy and essays are exceptionally outstanding, he has no chance of making a comeback.

“Lord Zhao, I graded Chen Dahua’s paper. You can see for yourself what kind of utter nonsense Chen Dahua wrote. I’m being lenient by not assigning him a sixth grade.”

Wu Xundao was an eighth-rank official and worked at the Gaoyou Prefectural School. He had no subordinate relationship or interest with the Prefectural School. In addition, he heard that the new professor of the Prefectural School was a person who had obtained his official position through donation. Therefore, he looked down on him from the bottom of his heart.

He couldn't help but get angry when the person who donated money to get the prison sentence said that his exam paper, which was rated as fourth grade, was not bad.

That's similar to experts and scholars being questioned for being all talk and no action.

Insult, severe insult.

"Oh? I think Chen Dahua's answers are quite good. I'll take this paper with me. Lord Wu, please continue with your work."

Zhao Ancai was too lazy to waste words with a person who was assigned to participate in the marking. He took Chen Dahua's paper and was about to return to his marking room when Wu, the instructor, was a bit stubborn and said that since he had already marked the paper as fourth grade, if the deputy examiner felt that his judgment was wrong, other examiners could make the judgment.

It means asking everyone to judge for themselves; we can't just accept whatever Professor Zhao says.

Several examiners present were drawn to the commotion. Some were from the prefectural school, while others were local officials. The person in charge was Zheng Sanwan, the magistrate of Jiangdu County.

Magistrate Zheng was just looking for a show, but Zhao An called him out: "Since Lord Wu has said so, then Lord Zheng, you should take a look at this paper and see how well it is answered. If it is indeed flawed in the writing as Lord Wu says, then I cannot promote it."

Hearing this, Zheng Sanwan had no choice but to step forward and take the paper to look at it carefully. The more he looked, the more he wanted to curse. If he were to grade it, he would just give it a sixth grade. A fourth grade would be lenient.

As he turned his gaze away from the scroll, the words that were about to come out came out: "Although it has some flaws, they do not detract from its overall excellence. It would be inappropriate to classify it as fourth grade. I think it should be classified as second grade."

He had to be second-class because he had just spoken to Professor Zhao yesterday and asked him to let two candidates from Jiangdu pass, for which he gave Professor Zhao a bribe of five hundred taels of silver.

"Second class?!"

Instructor Wu stood there, somewhat disbelieving his ears. How could a paper that was clearly graded as high as a fourth grade have become a good second grade paper?

Just then, Teacher Lou, who was proctoring the exam from the province, passed by and heard the commotion in the marking room. He came to see what was going on, but it would have been better if he hadn't come. As soon as he arrived, Professor Zhao asked him to mark a paper.

"Hmm, ah, oh, not bad, not bad. This candidate's answer is very relevant to the exam question, and it is both logical and reasonable. It is a truly excellent paper, and it is not an exaggeration to award it first class."

After saying that, as if throwing away a hot potato, Teacher Lou shoved the test paper into Zhao An's hands, while giving him an angry look: You dare to accept money from a candidate who can't even do basic humanities? You're really blinded by greed!

Even if Teacher Lou was angry, what Zhao An wanted was an attitude, an attitude from the province.

The two men's judgments really confused Wu Xundao of Gaoyou. The magistrate of Jiangdu said it could be classified as second class, while Lord Lou of the provincial education office said it could be classified as first class. Could it be that he really misjudged it?
Out of pride in his professional knowledge, Instructor Wu immediately expressed his objection: "My lords, I have participated in the grading of the prefectural and county examinations for nearly thirty years, and I have never seen such an illegible essay. I don't know why you have graded this paper!"

Seeing this, Magistrate Zheng and Teacher Lou both turned their heads away, too embarrassed to argue with Instructor Wu.

Even trees need bark, so how can a person be truly shameless?
Since they wouldn't argue, Zhao An had to do it himself. He coughed lightly and said, "I am a professor at the prefectural school. Does Lord Wu think that I, as a professor, cannot tell which articles are good and which are bad?"

"Although Lord Zhao is a professor in this prefecture, as far as I know, you actually obtained your position through donation. I'm afraid you may not be able to truly judge whether this article is good or bad. If you really think this article is good, please tell me exactly why it is good!"

Instructor Wu went too far, publicly pointing out Professor Zhao's weaknesses; it was simply outrageous.

They also managed to get Professor Zhao under their thumb.

He can't even utter a decent word!

He glanced at Magistrate Zheng and Teacher Lou as if seeking help, but the two didn't want to get involved. One stammered, while the other remained silent.

The others who participated in grading the papers continued to grade them diligently, as if by unspoken agreement, for fear of getting involved in the dispute.

Zhao An was furious. "You guys didn't lend a hand to your brother when it mattered most. Don't blame me for turning your boat upside down later."

While Zhao was suffering from a headache, Magistrate Wang Mingtai suddenly appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by several officials who looked to be from Beijing. As soon as he entered the room, he eagerly cupped his hands to congratulate Professor Zhao: "Magistrate Zhao, congratulations! His Majesty has bestowed upon you the title of Third-Class Jinshi!"

"what?"

Zhao An was completely bewildered: What the heck, a third-class Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations)?
Ok?
Magistrate Zheng and Teacher Lou looked at the beaming Wang Tongpan and the several staff members from the capital, then at the bewildered Zhao An. Their expressions were truly indescribable.

It felt like I'd swallowed a fly.

Inside the room, including Instructor Wu, who dared to question Professor Zhao's level of education, everyone stared dumbfounded at Judge Wang and his group at the door, as if they were all petrified.

Can those who were granted the title of Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) be granted another title?

"Lord Zhao? Lord Zhao?"

Judge Wang thought Professor Zhao was overjoyed, so he quickly called out twice and smiled as he introduced the staff members from Beijing to Professor Zhao.

To everyone's surprise, Professor Zhao turned to look at Instructor Wu, who was standing to the side with a shocked expression, and snorted rudely: "What right do you, a mere scholar, have to say that I, a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination), cannot understand the quality of an article!"

(End of this chapter)