White-robed Minister

Chapter 107 0105 [Passing the Imperial Examination]

"Xingzhi, get up and check the results!"

Yang Shu and Yu Shanyuan stood outside and called out.

Xu Lai has been a bit lazy lately. He studied hard for several months last year, but now that the exams are over, he's been sleeping in every day.

How should I describe that state?

Just like when I finished the college entrance exam and didn't want to touch a book.

"Here I am, here I am."

Xu Lai rubbed his sleepy eyes, got dressed, and went out to wash up, muttering to himself, "Damn, what time is it? It's not even dawn yet."

"What did you say?" Yang Shu and Yu Shanyuan didn't understand.

Xu Lai shook his head to clear his mind: "I said it's too early, there's still a long way to go before the results are released."

A moment later, the three of them went out together, buying meat buns along the way and eating them as they walked.

The Ministry of Rites compound, where the notices were posted, was located two or three miles south of the Kaifeng Prefectural Government. When Xu Lai and his group arrived, the place was already teeming with people; countless commoners had come to see the spectacle.

In the previous imperial examination, due to Emperor Renzong's serious illness, the palace examination had to be postponed, and the announcement of the results was also delayed for a long time.

This year's imperial examination did not include a palace examination, and the results were released early.

Chen Yanhong walked over with his page, as if taking a leisurely stroll, his every move exuding elegance.

Because some students with connections didn't even participate in the Imperial Academy's preliminary examination, it was easy to obtain a spot last year. Chen Yanhong was one of the beneficiaries, getting the spot with ease.

Of course, one must also have the ability.

Lu Zhiyuan, who had never intended to take the imperial examinations, considered participating last year. However, because he usually read leisure books and his knowledge of classics and history was too poor, he was eliminated in the preliminary examination stage and did not even have the qualification to obtain a quota through back channels.

Perhaps it was because of Chen Yanhong's extraordinary demeanor that someone offered to help him as soon as he stood still.

A scholar in his early twenties bowed and said, "My name is Zhang Shangying, courtesy name Tianjue, from Shuzhou. May I ask your honorable name?"

.

Zhang Shangying spoke Sichuan dialect, which is quite similar to Shaanxi dialect, and was collectively referred to as "Western language" during the Northern Song Dynasty. He was thus a target of ridicule.

Chen Yanhong had some difficulty understanding, but he eventually comprehended it and returned the greeting, saying, "I am Chen Yanhong, courtesy name Wenyuan, from Guangzhou, a student of the Imperial Academy. Greetings, Brother Tianjue."

Zhang Shangying then introduced her friends.

"To act, but where does the action lie?"

As these people were talking, Xu Anshi rode over on a donkey, calling out Xu Lai's courtesy name along the way.

Unfortunately, with so many people and so much noise, his voice didn't carry far at all.

Xu Anshi himself didn't take the exam; he was just here for the fun of it all. He mainly wanted to know Xu Lai's ranking—he firmly believed Xu Lai would pass.

Ouyang Bian also arrived, and his situation was similar to Xu Anshi's.

The wall used to post the results was over ten feet high, about four meters.

In front of the high wall was a lower wall and a fence, used to keep out the crowds looking at the notice. No one was allowed to cross the lower wall and the fence.

Before dawn, a troop of imperial guards charged in.

They were soldiers protecting the examination papers, preventing unsuccessful candidates from breaking through the barriers and tearing down the examination notices. Such incidents of unsuccessful candidates tearing down the notices had occurred before, during the Tang Dynasty.

After the army stabilized the situation, the officials from the Ministry of Rites appeared with the imperial edict.

"It's on! It's on!"

The crowd watching the rankings stirred and unconsciously pushed forward.

The imperial guards, spears drawn, shouted: "No crossing the wall! Back off! Back off!"

The first to be posted was the fifth-ranked Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination).

The characters were written very large, but they were posted too high, and there was a low wall blocking them, so only the person standing at the very front could see them clearly.

Those who could see the list readily helped announce the names: "Chen Xu from Changzhou, last place!"

Those positioned slightly further back, though unable to see the list clearly, could hear what was being said in front, so they joined in shouting, "Changzhou Chen Xu, last place!"

The voices were passed around, and as they reached the back, a scholar suddenly burst into laughter: "Haha, I passed! I came in last!"

Congratulations!

The scholars and common people around offered their congratulations.

"Who won? Is he/she married?" a merchant immediately asked.

Court officials would also seek sons-in-law from among the successful candidates in the imperial examinations, but they looked down on those ranked fifth or fifth. This created an opportunity for merchants, who would specifically target candidates ranked fourth or fifth, as they couldn't find sons-in-law from those ranked higher.

The second list was also posted, and the number of names kept increasing as they were read aloud.

Yu Shanyuan's heart sank. He knew his own limitations; he was at the bottom of the list in the provincial examinations in Shaozhou. If he didn't make it to the final list in the imperial examinations, he basically had no chance.

"Ugh!"

Yu Shanyuan sighed.

At that time, the imperial examinations were held every two years, so the frequency was very high, resulting in a relatively small number of successful candidates. As we can see from the rankings just announced, a total of 172 people were admitted to the highest level of the imperial examinations this year. This is a few more than last year.

The fifth class of Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) consisted of 100 people, but Yu Shanyuan's name was not among them.

That leaves only 72 people, and Yu Shanyuan doesn't think he can get into the top 72.

Yang Shu was also uneasy, as it seemed he wasn't among the fifth-ranked candidates.

"Yang Shu from Guangzhou, ranked seventy-first!"

Upon suddenly hearing his name called, Yang Shu was taken aback for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "Is it me?"

"Ha ha!"

Xu Lai smiled and cupped his hands in greeting: "Congratulations, Jie Zhi, on becoming a fourth-class Jinshi."

"Jiezhi passed the exam! Jiezhi passed the exam!" The scholars from Guangzhou shouted, each one feeling proud.

Last time, no one from the entire Guangdong province passed the imperial examination, but this year one has finally emerged.

Yu Shanyuan also cupped his hands in greeting: "Congratulations, my worthy brother."

"Hehe, hehe--hahahahaha!" Yang Shu went from feeling insecure to laughing out loud, and then she felt like crying.

Scholars who knew him gathered around to celebrate.

The nearest merchant, accompanied by his burly servants, rushed over: "Is Master Yang married?"

Yang Shucai refused to marry into these merchants' families, and casually made up a story: "I'm already engaged."

The merchant, however, was not about to give up easily: "It's just an engagement, not a wedding. If Young Master Yang becomes my son-in-law, aside from the dowry, my family will cover the gratitude money and the pre-wedding funds!"

"How can an engagement be broken? Don't say such things again!" Yang Shu rebuked angrily.

Another merchant rushed over: "Master Yang, do you need a loan? My interest rates are low, and we offer three-year, five-year, and ten-year terms."

Yang Shu asked, "What's the interest rate for a three-year term?"

Xu Lai felt a little dizzy listening to this.

Although the scene was extremely noisy, he heard many people talking about loan business, and Xie Enyin and Qijiqian were repeatedly mentioned.

What is this thing?

"Haha, congratulations, Brother Yang." Xu Anshi led the donkey over, with Ouyang Bian beside him.

They met first, and only then did they find Xu Lai.

These two people weren't very familiar with Yang Shu, but they weren't complete strangers either; they had even visited the Lantern Festival together a while ago.

Xu Lai couldn't help but ask, "What are 'thank you silver' and 'pre-collection money'?"

Ouyang Bian explained: "The 'thank-you silver' is the silver given by the newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) to express their gratitude to the emperor. It requires one hundred taels. The 'funding for the new Jinshi' is the money raised by the new Jinshi to hold celebratory banquets, compile the list of successful candidates for the same year, visit the Confucius Temple, hold poetry gatherings and other entertainment, etc."

Xu Lai was dumbfounded.

Newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) in the Ming Dynasty could also receive money as a reward from the emperor. Although it was in the form of Ming Dynasty paper money, which was practically worthless, it was still considered a form of money bestowed by the emperor upon the Jinshi.

Did the Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) in the Song Dynasty have to give money to the emperor?

Is this fucking reasonable?

Moreover, wasn't the banquet for celebrating the good news funded by the imperial court? How did it become a matter of the scholars raising funds themselves?

Xu Lai asked, "What if an impoverished scholar cannot afford the money?"

Xu Anshi pointed to the merchant who was discussing business with Yang Shu: "Loans are available."

Xu Lai finally understood why no one had told him this.

Because nobody took this money seriously; it was just a loan, and they would pay it back slowly once they became officials.

Xu Lai grew angrier and angrier, his heart filled with extreme fury.

He wasn't worried about the money.

Rather, this practice by the Song Dynasty court was forcing ordinary scholars from poor families to become corrupt officials! Damn it, they had just passed the imperial examination and hadn't even been appointed to official positions yet, and they were already burdened with loans.

Low-ranking officials have very low salaries, and they simply cannot repay their loans with their wages alone, so they can only take advantage of their positions to make money.

That damned Song Dynasty!

Should I pay for this?

The money raised in the period had to be paid out, as it was funds raised by the scholars for their own use.

Xie Enyin resolutely refused to give it, but he had to find a way to refuse under a perfectly legitimate pretext.

Hmm, we still need to find out the attitudes of the other successful candidates.

In fact, apart from those whose families were not short of money, all the Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) deeply resented the silver for gratitude and the money for collecting gifts.

At this moment, the third list was posted, with a total of twenty-seven names: seven in the second tier and twenty in the third tier.

Chen Yanhong, who had always been full of confidence, listened for a long time without hearing his own name called. He finally lost his composure and desperately tried to squeeze in with his page.

After a long while, Chen Yanhong finally squeezed in. After looking at the list of second and third place winners, his face turned ashen.

The pageboy said, "It might be in the fourth or fifth tier."

Chen Yanhong hurriedly checked the other two lists, looking at them repeatedly, but his name was still not there.

"How could this be? How is this possible?" Chen Yanhong felt a sudden darkness before his eyes.

Liang Wensu's reaction was similar; he was one of the top students at the Guangzhou Prefectural School. He actually failed the exam?

In Guangdong this year, only Yang Shu passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi.

But at least one student passed the exam; the previous two years didn't have any.

As for Xu Lai, strictly speaking, he was not a scholar from Guangdong, because his academic record was registered at the Imperial Academy.

"Congratulations, Tianjue, on achieving top three in the high school entrance exam!"

A group of Sichuan scholars surrounded Zhang Shangying to offer their congratulations.

"Who ranked in the top three in the exam? Is he/she married?" The groom-hunting party has come again, and this time it's an official's family member coming to find a son-in-law.

The scholars in Shaanxi were also cheering.

Zhang Shunmin, a scholar from Banzhou, Shaanxi, ranked first in the second class (fourth overall).

Zhang Shunmin's essay, despite having its rhyming errors corrected by the examiner Feng Jing, was exceptionally admitted as the top student in the second tier. Neither of them anticipated that Zhang Shunmin would later impeach Feng Jing several times.

Only after retiring did Feng Jing admit that he had helped Zhang Shunmin, saying, "You used to be an official in the Censorate, and impeaching me was within your duties. It was inconvenient for me to show you any leniency. Now that I'm retired, it's alright to tell you."

Zhang An, who was already thirty-nine years old, stood outside the crowd with a calm expression.

He was the nephew of the late Chancellor Zhang Dexiang, and all the people with the surname Zhang in the Northern Song Dynasty were his relatives. For him, whether or not he was on the list of those to be released from prison was irrelevant, because he had already risen to the position of Registrar of Mengzhou.

If he passes the imperial examination, with his existing official qualifications, he will be granted a higher official position than the top scholar!

He watched from afar as the officials posted the last yellow notice.

Before the yellow notice board was even properly posted, with the top half dangling, someone already shouted, "Third place in the first class, Zhang Zi from Jianning Army!"

Zhang Zi smiled slightly, waiting to see who would be the top scholar and the second-place scholar.

The clerk pressed his palm against the yellow notice board and pushed the drooping part upwards.

"The top scholar, Xu Lai from the Imperial Academy!"

"Second place winner: Peng Ruli from Raozhou!"

v