White-robed Minister

Chapter 105 0103 [The Exam Begins]

(The information about the Ministry of Rites' Examination Hall and examination room numbers mentioned in previous chapters is incorrect. I'm too lazy to correct it, so please skip to this chapter.)

After arriving in the capital, the first priority for successful candidates was to find out the location of the examination venue so they could determine where to rent a room.

Where is the exam room?

The Imperial Examination Hall of the Ministry of Rites.

Where is the Imperial Examination Hall of the Ministry of Rites?

do not know!

Because the location is often chosen on short notice.

Sometimes it was set up in a temple, and sometimes in the Imperial Academy.

During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, candidates had to bring their own examination desks. It wasn't until the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song that this requirement was finally lifted.

It wasn't until the reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song that a dedicated Imperial Examination Hall was established by the Ministry of Rites, and local authorities were ordered to build such halls.

Where will the exam be held this year?

"Kaibao Temple".

"I know where it is; it's outside Fengqiu Gate in the northwest of the inner city. You can stay at a nearby temple or an inn in the west of the city."

Aren't you going?

"I have a place to stay."

"Then I'll take my leave!"

"Wishing you success in your studies."

Xu Lai certainly has a place to stay; the Yu family's house is empty.

When Yu Zhongxun passed through Shaozhou, he entrusted Xu Lai with the house deed and keys to take to the capital. He also instructed Xu Lai to find Ouyang Xiu and ask him to sell the house.

If it is difficult to sell for the time being, it can be rented out first.

Xu Lai hired a donkey cart and took Yang Shu and Yu Shanyuan into the city. He also brought along Yu Shanyuan's two bags of smuggled salt.

It was already past the Lunar New Year, but the Lantern Festival had not yet arrived.

"Gah!"

The gate of the house was pushed open.

Xu Lai stepped across the threshold, somewhat dazed.

He was used to the old gatekeeper greeting him every time he came back. He was used to the laughter and noise inside, and his friends' exclamations of surprise when they were doing experiments.

Now, however, the place is completely empty and deserted.

The two donkeys that Fatty Xu bought are also not there.

The old gatekeeper was a former servant of the Yu family, who had already returned to the Yu residence in Shaozhou. The cleaning lady was from the capital and had her employment contract terminated.

"Choose any room."

Xu Lai said, "This house is going to be sold. You can choose to live in the main house. Don't touch the things in the study. They will be stored at Master Ouyang's house in a few days."

Yu Zhongxun observed a three-year mourning period, and his younger brother and son were also ordered to stay in their hometown so that he could personally teach them to read.

Therefore, it would be best to sell this house.

"I'll stay in the guest room," Yang Shu said. "Even if the host isn't here, it's still inappropriate to stay in the main house."

Yu Shanyuan said, "I'll also stay in a guest room."

The three of them settled down there and waited patiently for the exam date.

Yu Shanyuan also took the time to secretly sell the smuggled salt. Instead of retail, he sold both bags directly to a salt shop.

If salt shops in Kaifeng purchased their salt from the Capital Salt Bureau, the official wholesale price was 45 wen per jin. Yu Shanyuan sold it for 38 wen per jin and even offered door-to-door delivery, which made the salt shops very willing to accept it.

Although it was illegal, the scholar was selling smuggled salt, and in very small quantities, so no one would make a big deal out of it.

Xu Lai went to Song Xiang's house to ask Fatty Xu to vouch for him.

"You didn't get the pardon?" Xu Lai asked in surprise.

Xu Anshi said, "I did not participate in the Imperial Academy's preliminary examination."

Xu Lai asked, "Why?"

Xu Anshi said in a low voice, "Many sons of officials are not participating in this year's imperial examination. They're afraid they might accidentally pass!"

"Understood, please forgive me."

Xu Lai thought to himself, these children of the powerful and wealthy are really picky.

Anyone with even a little ability would deliberately avoid the list of successful candidates and would rather take the imperial examination two years later.

To put it another way, this year's competition was the least intense. Furthermore, the ranking of the successful candidates was the least inflated, because the palace examination was not required; if it had been, the top scholar would almost always have connections.

Throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, the most influential top scholar in the imperial examinations was a prince.

Because it was too outrageous, the prince's title of top scholar was revoked.

Xu Anshi said, "I received your letter from Jiangning and have already contacted the classmate who is your guarantor. Come on, I'll take you there now."

"Thank you!" Xu Lai followed him out.

For a local scholar like Yang Shu, three guarantors were sufficient.

Students from Kaifeng Prefecture and Imperial Academy students were required to form a guarantorship team of five.

In those days, the imperial examination system was not yet perfect, so there was no need to go to the Ministry of Rites in advance to collect the examination admission ticket and examination number.

However, the family petition and answer sheet must be sent to the Ministry of Rites in advance.

Initially, it was stipulated that petitions (family petitions and answer sheets) must be submitted to the Ministry of Rites before the Lantern Festival. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, the deadline was inexplicably changed to the latter half of the previous year.

I wonder which clever person came up with this rule for late October.

For scholars from remote areas, if any unexpected event occurs and they are delayed by even a few days, they will not be able to submit their applications in time.

Because many candidates from remote areas were disqualified from the exam due to not having enough time to submit their applications, the exam was postponed to November.

The current deadline for submitting petitions is November 25th of the lunar calendar.

When the officials at court acted inhumanely, local officials had to find ways to remedy the situation, so they simply sent officials to submit petitions to the capital in unison. Of course, candidates could also submit their petitions themselves.

The examination reports of Yang Shu and his colleagues were submitted by the Guangzhou government.

Xu Lai then wrote a letter asking Xu Anshi to deliver it and also asked Xu Anshi to find someone to act as guarantor.

Xu Anshi helped find guarantors, two of whom were external beneficiaries and two of whom were internal beneficiaries. Xu Lai knew them all, but wasn't very familiar with them.

Once all that's taken care of, we can go back and wait.

Xu Anshi and Xu Lai each rode a donkey and slowly returned to the Yu residence.

The chubby boy led the donkey in: "Sigh, you and Uncle Yu are gone. We haven't been here in ages. I miss it. It was so lively back then. I still remember the first hot air balloon test flight, when the donkey flew up ten feet and brayed so pitifully."

"Hahaha," Xu Lai laughed, "the neighbors next door probably thought we were slaughtering a donkey."

The two men led the donkey inside, and Yang Shu and Yu Shanyuan came out to greet them.

Xu Lai introduced them to the group.

Upon hearing that Xu Anshi had deliberately avoided taking the imperial examinations, Yu Shanyuan exclaimed with delight, "If the sons of officials don't participate, won't it be even easier to pass this year?"

Xu Anshi said, "It's not that no one participates; some people still want to take the exam."

"That makes it even easier." Yu Shanyuan hadn't held out much hope, but now he felt a faint sense of anticipation.

The group sat down and chatted, and Xu Anshi didn't leave until late afternoon.

In the following days, Shen Kuo, Lu Zhiyuan, Ouyang Bian, and others came to visit Xu Lai to reminisce. This must have been information revealed by Xu Anshi.

According to Ouyang Bian, his brothers also deliberately avoided taking the imperial examination this year.

Why did the Jinshi (successful candidates in the imperial examinations) from the Liangyan list end up doing so poorly?

Besides the fact that the initial official positions were lower, it was also because the other candidates in the imperial examination had no background and could not help each other by relying on their family influence!

On the Lantern Festival, Xu Lai and a large group of old friends from Guangzhou and new friends from Beijing went to see the lanterns.

The next day he entered the palace to meet the saint.

All the successful candidates went together. In addition to the Jinshi examination, there were also the Mingjing examination, the Xuejiu examination, and so on.

There were several thousand people who passed the imperial examinations in all the different subjects.

This is called collective opinion.

The emperor could not possibly meet with everyone, so he had to select the "head of the family" (or "head of the family").

Each prefecture's military district selected a top-ranking scholar to stand in line and enter the palace to meet the emperor. The other scholars waited outside the palace.

Xu Lai could have been a head of the imperial examinations, but he wasn't in the capital when the Imperial Academy was selecting its head of the examinations.

On this day, all the candidates for the imperial examinations flocked to the palace.

Everyone was overjoyed, especially the head guards, who became nervous even before entering the palace gates.

Xu Lai mingled in the crowd without speaking, slowly following the procession. Then he stood outside the hall with the main group to wait, as hundreds of escorts from all over the country were led into the main hall.

Zhao Shu sat in the main hall, surrounded by some court officials, attendants, and eunuchs.

As the music began, the master of ceremonies called out for worship.

Most of the scholars selected as the head of the ceremonies had not studied court etiquette, and their worship process was chaotic, which caused many servants and eunuchs to sneer.

There's a joke from the capital that goes like this: When people went to pay homage to the emperor, there were three kinds of people who weren't lined up properly: scholars, foreigners, and camels.

The day after paying homage to the emperor, he went to pay homage to Confucius.

After two days of continuous work, I can finally rest, and then it's time for the exam.

Unlike the imperial examinations of the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was no need to queue up in the middle of the night. This was because there were fewer candidates, and the various subjects were scheduled for examination on different dates.

The first exam was the Jinshi exam, with a total of only two thousand candidates.

The acceptance rate is around 6%.

Xu Lai lined up with the four Imperial College students who were under his protection.

The search officers in front, holding a guarantee, read aloud: "Zhang Shangying, Wang Gai, and Li Chunxiao of Shuzhou, are you three mutually guaranteeing each other? Come closer."

"It's us," the three replied.

The officials carefully compared the written description with the actual appearance.

There was no strip search, but the luggage was checked, mainly for any flammable materials.

The examination room was covered with curtains, which could easily cause a fire.

They didn't even carefully check the book box. This was a privilege reserved for those taking the imperial examination, as the content of their exams relied on their own performance, making it difficult to cheat by using cheat sheets.

For those in academic subjects, however, cheating is extremely easy, with various dictation and fill-in-the-blank questions. These students are not allowed to have anything obstructing their view during the exam, nor are they allowed to stop for tea; if they are thirsty, they must drink water directly from their inkstone!

For the Jinshi examination, tea was provided in the examination hall, and candidates could take it at any time.

More than two thousand candidates for the imperial examination entered the examination hall and had to compete for seats on their own.

Several halls of Kaibao Temple were divided into separate spaces by curtains; these spaces were the examination rooms for candidates.

With the snow still lingering, we'll have to endure three days of hardship here, sleeping directly on the floor at night—bringing bedding is allowed.

Xu Lai was quite lucky; because he was near the front of the queue, he managed to snag a spot sheltered from the wind.

If it's in a windy spot, a late spring cold snap might bring snow.

The first thing many test-takers did after putting down their luggage was to bow and pray to the Buddha in the main hall.

"All candidates, return to the open space in front of the main hall!"

Suddenly, an official shouted.

An incense table was set up in front of the hall, and a chief examiner and two deputy examiners appeared together, namely Feng Jing, Fan Zhen and Shao Bi.

The examiners and examinees bowed to each other.

That incense table was not used for worshipping gods, but for "burning incense to pay respects to the successful candidates in the imperial examinations," a ritual passed down from the Tang Dynasty.

The chief examiner, Feng Jing, said, "There is tea in the corridor; you may drink it if you are thirsty. You must line up to use the restroom, one at a time. Take the exam seriously and do not cheat."

The students present all wore smiles.

Feng Jing usually worked part-time as a teacher at the Imperial Academy, and the students were very familiar with his question-setting habits.

Xu Lai, however, had a stern expression.

Because Xu Lai's writing style didn't match Feng Jing's preferences at all.

Damn it, how did I end up with Feng Sanyuan as the chief examiner?