Top Scholar

Chapter 459 Reviewing Papers (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

As soon as the hour of Shen (3-5 PM) passed, the bells of Mingyuan Tower rang out loudly, breaking the silence of the past few days. The time for submitting the papers for the first round of the imperial examination had arrived!

"Stop writing!"

"Stop writing!" The soldiers guarding the shed shouted as they patrolled the alley. If they saw someone still writing, they would write it down and report it to the patrol officer, who would then stamp it with a small blue 'overtime' stamp.

In fact, the vast majority of candidates had already finished the exam. After all, they were candidates selected through multiple rounds of rigorous screening, so they had a certain level of control over their abilities.

Unlike the provincial examination, candidates did not leave their seats to hand in their papers. Instead, they waited for the examiner to come over, check the page numbers in person, and stamp the slip with the seal of the examiner before presenting the examination paper, which represented half a lifetime of hard work.

Only after the examiner has collected all the exam papers from the entire examination alley will he instruct the guards, "Let them leave."

The candidates then hurriedly lifted their examination boards, dragged their pre-packed examination boxes, and carried their bedding rolls into the crowd that resembled a refugee fleeing a famine.

Although they would be taking the exam in the same cell again tomorrow, who knew if they would lose anything that night? Once inside the cell, there was nowhere to replace anything that was missing, so the scholars didn't mind the trouble and brought everything they could.

It was already dark, and Su Lu couldn't meet up with his elder brother and the others, so he left the examination hall alone.

After leaving Gongyuan Street, I arrived at the pre-arranged location and, as expected, met Brother Youcai, who had been waiting for me.

"Father..." Su Lu called out.

"Son, don't say anything. Quickly follow Xiaoyuer to the nearby inn to rest. Your second brother and Uncle Youli are there." Su Youcai squeezed his son's hand tightly, unwilling to ask any questions.

There's no other way; it's already late afternoon, and we have to set off again early tomorrow morning. We only have five hours in total, so we must make the most of the time to let the examinees rest…

~~
The candidates left temporarily, and the gates of the examination hall slowly closed.

Inside the examination hall, the marking of examination papers officially began.

Under the dual supervision of the supervising official and the inspector, the examiner counted the 4,200 examination papers one by one and checked for any violations. Such as exceeding the page limit, omitting names and places of origin, or illegible handwriting, once found, the papers were marked as 'discarded' and placed separately in a black discarded paper box for future reference.

The examination papers that passed the initial screening were bundled into red boxes of fifty, just as they were done for the provincial examinations. Once the boxes were packed, they were all sealed with wax seals, stamped with the seals of the supervising official and the inspector, and then sent to the sealing office.

Inside the sealed office, more than ten clerks sat upright, with glue jars and specially made name-stamping paper in front of them.

Under the watchful eye of the supervising official, the two sealing officials verified the seals and opened the box, unfolding each bundle of examination papers one by one, personally checking the candidates' place of origin on the yellow label at the beginning of each paper. According to the regional regulations, they affixed the corresponding stamp to the upper right corner of the examination paper cover. Papers from Southern Zhili (Jiangnan), Jiangxi, and Fujian were stamped with "Southern Papers"; those from Northern Zhili (Shandong) and Shaanxi were stamped with "Northern Papers"; and those from Sichuan, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou were stamped with "Central Papers".

After the official finished marking the papers, he handed them to the clerk. The clerk then folded the yellow label at the beginning of the paper, which contained the candidate's identity information, three times, glued it in place, and then pasted on the nameplate.

Finally, after the sealing official checked and confirmed that everything was correct, he stamped the seam with the "Sealing Official's Seal".

After the names were sealed, the exam papers were repacked, resealed, and personally escorted by the sealing official to the copying office, with the supervising official following closely behind, never leaving their side.

The process of transcribing the examination papers and the subsequent comparison was basically the same as that of the provincial examination, and need not be elaborated upon. The only noteworthy point is that the transcriber would also mark the candidate's district on the red paper according to the marks on the ink paper, as a basis for the examiners' admission.

After the two scrolls were read aloud, the red and black scrolls were bundled together according to their numbers, packed into boxes, and sent to the Zhigong Hall. It was already noon on February 14th, and the second round of the imperial examination was about to end.

The ink scrolls were registered and temporarily sealed by the collecting official, while the vermilion scrolls were jointly sent to the Flying Rainbow Bridge connecting the inner and outer curtains by the supervising official and the dispatching official.

At both ends of the Feihong Bridge, the Imperial Guards were on high alert. The invigilator, Duke Zhang Mao of England, and the two chief examiners were already waiting at the north end of the bridge.

Zhang Mao was the grandson of Zhang Yu, a meritorious official in the Jingnan Campaign and Prince of Hejian, and the son of Zhang Fu, the first Duke of Ying. In August of the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong reign, the highly accomplished Zhang Fu was killed in battle during the Tumu Crisis in a confused state.

The title of Duke of England in the Zhang family was hereditary and could not be downgraded, but Zhang Fu's legitimate son, Zhang Zhong, was disabled and unable to inherit the title. Under these circumstances, the eldest son by a concubine, nine-year-old Zhang Mao, inherited the title of Duke of England, which has remained for fifty-eight years...

Therefore, in terms of both seniority and experience, Zhang Mao was undoubtedly the most distinguished nobleman of the dynasty. In addition, his noble character and resolute nature made him a pillar of the dynasty and a stabilizing force.

However, he was quite old and had stopped commanding troops and participating in politics in recent years, instead enjoying his retirement at home. His name was not initially on the list of examiners; it was added to the list after the emperor summoned the examiners from both inside and outside the palace at the Leopard Chamber.

The elderly person was actually not very willing to come, so after entering, they just looked and didn't say anything, acting purely as a mascot.

Wang Ao and Liang Chuli stood half a step behind the Duke of England, both looking rather grim.

The pressure on Liu Jin and Jiao Fang was already immense, and now the Emperor has sent this powerful figure to oversee things, along with the Grand Secretary and Mr. Shi Cong who also have high expectations for them... Taking on this role as chief examiner is bound to offend people; the only question is who or whom they will ultimately offend.

Of course, Liang Chu, as the deputy chief examiner, had relatively less pressure, since he only had the power to 'select' candidates; the final decision on whether someone passed or failed rested with Wang Ao, the chief examiner. Moreover, after the imperial examination fraud case during the Hongzhi era, later deputy chief examiners learned from Cheng Minzheng's lesson and decided that silence was better than uttering a word.

This subject, in particular, is unprecedentedly complex, and could potentially lead to a major scandal. What you said or did during the exam could all become evidence in court.

So, like Zhang Mao, he didn't bring his mouth with him. He consulted the chief examiner on everything and never acted on his own initiative.

Two of the three remained silent, and Wang Ao couldn't even speak to himself. As a result, after waiting for almost half an hour, the three adults still kept quiet.

This left the other examiner, Lü, the Supervising Censor of Henan Province, both embarrassed and impressed, thinking to himself, "This important person really is sparing with his words..."

Little did they know that the three important figures were also extremely embarrassed, each with their own thoughts.

Finally, the supervising official and the supervisory official outside the curtain arrived at the south side of the bridge with the box of examination papers.

The four people behind the curtain breathed a sigh of relief at the same time; finally, they'd arrived...

The two sides bowed to each other from a distance across the bridge, without speaking or making contact. The Imperial Guards took the examination papers and delivered them to the north side of the bridge. The chief examiner and the invigilator checked the seals and verified the quantity on the spot, filled out the handover documents, and then the two sides bowed and parted ways.

The supervising official and the supervising officer returned to continue supervising the examination, while the examiners and the chief examiner escorted the examination papers back to Ju Kui Hall.

~~
The Ju Kui Hall was equally quiet.

The fourteen examiners, including Hanlin Compiler Zhan Ruoshui, sat quietly behind the table, waiting for the chief examiner and invigilator to bring back the exam papers.

The examiners had different expressions; some frowned in thought, some sighed softly, and some tapped their fingertips lightly on the table, all revealing their unease.

Just like the provincial examination, all candidates' papers had to be reviewed by them one by one, and the best ones were recommended to the chief examiner and deputy chief examiner for final decision... Therefore, the so-called 'key words' had to go through them to be effective.

Therefore, all fourteen examiners had been contacted beforehand. Even for the rare classics like the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Book of Rites, which had the fewest applicants, the two examiners were not spared.

Each of them received a substantial sum of money as a gift, with the promise of further rewards upon successful completion of the task.

Besides enticement, there was also coercion. If they stubbornly refused, wild and pestilential lands like Qiongzhou and Guizhou would be their next destination. They might even suffer the humiliation of being flogged in court…

Each person has their own considerations when making choices, but no matter what you choose, none of them will have an easy time.

They were either promising Hanlin scholars and high-ranking officials, or censors representing justice and the law. If they chose to submit, they would be complicit with corrupt officials, ruining their reputation for life; if they insisted on refusing, they might end up like Wang Yangming and Zhu Liu, suffering a fate worse than death.

Therefore, everyone sat silently, each lost in their own thoughts, until the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the hall. Then, the two chief examiners, together with the old man in charge, escorted the sealed box of examination papers into the hall.

The examiners quickly rose to greet him. After the box of exam papers was neatly placed in the hall, Wang Ao did not immediately open it. Instead, he led everyone in reciting the examiners' oath:

"Do not slack off, do not sell your wealth for personal gain, do not feign sincerity to appear public-spirited, do not flaunt your integrity to seek praise, do not reject elegance and elevate superficiality to the point of neglecting genuine talent, do not tire of the ordinary and crave novelty to follow fleeting trends, do not fabricate theories to obscure profound truths, and do not rely solely on your own strengths to reject the good of the masses. If you commit even one of these acts, who will deceive you, whether in the netherworld or among the gods? And how will you escape public criticism?"

After the oath was sworn, Wang Ao's sharp gaze swept across the hall below, and he then addressed the assembly in a deep voice:
"Gentlemen, we have been here for several days now, and the atmosphere in Ju Kui Hall has been strange. Now that the examination papers are about to be reviewed, let's be frank today—I know that you have all been under a lot of pressure this time, as have I and Lord Liang."

"But Mencius said: 'A man must first know what he will not do before he can know what he will do.' We, as examiners, are responsible for selecting talent for the court. We must be true to our conscience, live up to the teachings of the sages, and, more importantly, be worthy of the younger generation of Confucian scholars taking the exams!" He raised his voice as he spoke.

"Moreover, His Majesty personally summoned us and gave us his earnest instructions; his words still resonate in our ears. Furthermore, he dispatched the Duke of Yingguo to oversee the process. His Majesty's intention cannot be clearer—he wants us to select officials impartially and without favoritism!"

The examiners, upon hearing this, still displayed varying expressions. Then, Grand Secretary Wang pointed to the heavens and swore an oath:

"I hereby swear that I will never dare to engage in favoritism or corruption, starting with myself! You all should also be conscientious in your duties. If anyone dares to engage in any secret acts of corruption, do not blame me for not showing any sympathy as a colleague! If anyone dares to retaliate against you, I, the Grand Secretary, will bear full responsibility!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the examiners responded in unison, and some of them finally showed expressions of relief.

After Wang Ao finished speaking, he asked the old man for a word of advice. Zhang Mao couldn't refuse, so he could only smile and say:
"Hehe, everyone, I've been a veteran of five dynasties since the Jingtai era. I'm old and senile, and I'm no longer of any use. If I had to give you all some advice, it would be this: everything must stand the test of time. While temporary gains and losses are important, if you only look at the present, you'll eventually regret it."

"Yes, we will keep your teachings in mind, Your Excellency," the examiners replied respectfully.

"Let's begin grading the papers." Having said what needed to be said, Wang Ao gave the order in a deep voice.

P.S. This is a post I'll edit later. Please vote with your monthly tickets!
(End of this chapter)