Do You Know?: I, the Little Cabinet Elder, Regent of the World

"We sincerely thank the examiner for his guidance, and we will certainly live up to his kindness!"

"We sincerely thank the examiner for his guidance, and we will certainly live up to his kindness!"

"We sincerely thank the examiner for his guidance, and we will certainly live up to his kindness!"

Nearly ten thousand test takers echoed this sentiment.

Jiang Zhao nodded, addressing the nearly ten thousand examinees.

This "bowing ceremony" was quite popular in the early years of the late emperor's reign, and it happened almost every year.

Later, in order to prevent fraud, the worship ceremony became less and less frequent, and it might not happen even once every ten years.

Even on the rare occasion when the examiner and the candidate were a hundred paces apart, just like he was.

The reason for holding the "mutual worship ceremony" is that this examination is the first imperial examination since the new emperor ascended the throne.

We will not fail Your Majesty's grace!

The pronunciation is the same, but the meaning has changed drastically.

Because the emperor has changed.

This ceremony was specially arranged to serve as a "reminder".

In any case, a document was submitted asking the new emperor whether he wanted to hold a mutual worship ceremony, and the new emperor did not object.

The absence of opposition is itself an attitude.

The bowing ceremony was also the first meeting between the examiners and the candidates.

After the mutual bowing ceremony, the next meeting would be after the results were announced, when the candidates would visit the chief examiner's residence to express their gratitude.

The examiner will accept the candidate as the "master," and the candidate will perform the apprenticeship ceremony.

It was often at this time that some poor scholars without any background would express their support to their "master" and seek a patron.

"Let's verify their identities and conduct a thorough search to prevent any misconduct," Jiang Zhao waved his hand and instructed General Zheng.

This young General Zheng had crossed paths with him during the opening of the border in Xihe, and was the love interest of Zhang Guifen, the only daughter of the Duke of Ying.

"Yes, sir." General Zheng quickly bowed.

Jiang Zhao nodded, and the dozen or so people walked towards the inner courtyard.

This is the first imperial examination held in spring since the new emperor ascended the throne, and efforts must be made to ensure "absolute fairness".

There should be no possibility of contact with the test takers, so as to minimize the possibility of rumors of "insider dealings".

About a quarter of an hour after the figures of more than ten people disappeared, General Zheng roared.

"Line up and verify your identity!"

Enko, let's begin!

……

Chapter 184 List of Candidates for the Imperial Examination!

The imperial examination consisted of three parts: first, an examination on the meaning of classical texts; second, an examination on current affairs; and third, an examination on essays, judgments, edicts, proclamations, and memorials.

Three papers, taking nine days.

Thus, the candidate's task is considered complete.

The examiners, however, became quite busy.

Nearly 10,000 test takers and 30,000 papers all had to be graded one by one.

Zhigong Hall.

The name "Zhigong" is taken from the phrase "Heaven has no favorites, but always sides with the virtuous" in Zhuangzi.

The long sandalwood plaque, with gilded characters, was written by Emperor Taizong himself, conveying a sense of grandeur and vastness.

The incense burner burns continuously, enshrining an image of a saint.

Chief examiner Jiang Zhao sat in the center, holding the list of examiners in his hands.

The remaining eighteen people stood on either side, their faces solemn.

"Six measures to address the corruption of officials: First, integrity and kindness; second, integrity and competence."

Led by Jiang Zhao, the nineteen people recited together the "Zhou Li: Tian Guan".

About fifteen minutes later, Jiang Zhao tossed the list of examiners into the incense burner and burned it.

The nineteen men shouted in unison: "No favoritism, no following hometowns, no handwriting analysis, no reading alone at night, no sending outside messages! If we, your subjects, show favoritism or stoop to personal gain, we are willing to suffer divine punishment! Those who break the law will be crushed to pieces, and those who betray their conscience will be punished by the gods!"

After the ceremony, the dozen or so people breathed a long sigh of relief.

Compared to previous scientific expeditions, this one was a special expedition by the new emperor, and both the procedures and the ceremonies were much more solemn.

Just now, more than ten people were performing the ritual of locking the courtyard and burning incense.

In the past, there have been similar procedures, but they have all been simplified considerably. The "Zhou Li·Tian Guan" has not been recited in unison for decades.

However, this is not surprising.

When a new emperor ascends the throne and bestows a special imperial examination, also known as the Dragon Soaring List, it is bound to be much more serious, and no mistakes can be tolerated.

Jiang Zhao patted his sleeves and waved his hand, saying, "Go into the inner courtyard to review the papers! Recommendations, acceptances, sloppiness, rejections—no favoritism allowed."

"promise!"

More than ten people bowed in unison.

The inner court.

At the head of the table, two pearwood tables, each about ten feet long, were placed side by side. The chief and deputy examiners sat side by side, with several stacks of examination papers on the tables.

Below the seat of the examiner, there were desks on both sides, and the seventeen examiners sat separately, each with a stack of examination papers on their desk.

The examiners evaluated the papers using four words: recommended, passable, rough, or unacceptable.

Generally speaking, the word "recommend" alone is enough to make a "recommended book".

The two "recommend" characters indicate that the recommended papers are of the highest quality.

For each exam, approximately 450 recommended papers are submitted to the chief and deputy examiners. After screening by the chief and deputy examiners, one-tenth are eliminated, and the remaining papers are the ones that are truly shortlisted.

As for the other exam papers, even if a candidate ranked 401st in all three subjects, it would be difficult for the examiners to give them a second glance, and they would simply be rejected.

At this moment, apart from the papers on the desks of the chief and deputy examiners which were somewhat special, the papers on the desks of the remaining seventeen examiners were all those that had been selected and shortlisted.

“Select all the papers that have been shortlisted for the policy question.”

"Papers that have been shortlisted in two or more subjects were also selected."

With three subjects recommending papers, each subject selects 400 papers, resulting in 1,200 papers being shortlisted.

However, the vast majority of candidates did not have the ability to pass all three subjects simultaneously, which meant that the 1,120 papers did not correspond to 400 people, but rather 600 or 700.

Even the exam papers that have already been shortlisted need to be screened again.

Of the six or seven hundred shortlisted candidates, some still need to be eliminated.

Of the three examinations, the one on current affairs is the most important.

Those who pass the practical examinations are guaranteed not to fail, even if they only pass one subject.

The imperial examinations selected three to four hundred scholars, and about a hundred of them passed the two examinations, so they certainly wouldn't fail.

Those who are truly likely to fail are those who qualify for a single subject, specifically the "Tiejing Moyi" subject or the "Lun, Pan, Zhao, Gao, Biao" subject.

There were approximately five hundred candidates who passed the exam in a single subject.

Of these 500 people, half will fail the exam.

If we're talking about cruelty, then it's definitely extremely cruel.

Out of fifty million people, the four hundred most outstanding individuals are selected to rise to the top in one step, like a carp leaping over the dragon gate!

Opportunities are endless, but so is the cruelty!

Once the decision was made, the seventeen examiners successively screened the candidates who did not need to be eliminated and those who qualified for the two subjects.

Jiang Zhaoping nodded, pushed the three stacks of exam papers on the desk, and looked at the deputy chief examiner Wang Gui beside him: "These three stacks of exam papers are all from candidates on the Longyou list, and the examiners have already ranked them according to their individual strengths and weaknesses."

"The two of us will select the top twenty students in each subject to observe, resulting in sixty papers. The best will be admitted, and the worst will be dropped."

Since the opening of the border in Xihe, the late emperor bestowed the Longyou list, allowing Xihe candidates to compete "within the province" in the imperial examinations.

Candidates from Xihe do not need to compete with candidates from other areas; they only need to compete with the candidates from Xihe area. The top twenty will be awarded the title of Jinshi.

Among them, the first three were awarded the title of Jinshi (进士出身), which is the second class; the latter seventeen were awarded the title of Tong Jinshi (同进士出身), which is the third class.

In terms of process alone, it's a smaller-scale "trial run".

With sixty exam papers, roughly corresponding to forty or fifty people, at least half of them will fail.

“Very good.” Wang Gui nodded.

In about half a day, the papers for both the right-hand list and the spring imperial examinations had been selected.

Several desks were moved together, piled with the papers of the four hundred shortlisted candidates, totaling about six hundred papers.

"Let's sort them."

"According to convention, those ranked 70th are in the second tier, and those ranked 70th are in the third tier."

Jiang Zhao slowly said, "The imperial examination does not rank candidates by grade. However, the examiners still need to have a standard for ranking them in private."

"Of the three entries that make it to the finals, the best one will be ranked first, and the worst one will be ranked second."

"If two essays are shortlisted, the better ones will be ranked in the top two, and the worse ones will be ranked in the bottom two; if the essays are not shortlisted, the better ones will be ranked in the bottom two, and the worse ones will be ranked in the top three."

"Those who make it to the finals will be ranked second to last, and those who don't make it to the finals will be ranked third."

The first, second, and third ranks were originally the order of the imperial examination.

The ranking of the examiners was essentially just a simple matter of ranking.

The purpose of stating "first-class" is merely to provide the examiners with a reference standard.

The rest of the people nodded in unison.

All 600 papers were selected, evaluated, and ranked.

By the time the ranking process begins, the examiners can already see the candidates' names.

A short while later, one person's test paper was turned over.

This paper has two sections that made the cut: the first section on "The Meaning of Calligraphy and Painting" and the third section on "Imperial Edicts".

Qi Heng, from Kaifeng Prefecture, was born to Duke Qi Tingzhi and Princess Pingning.

Jiang Zhao raised an eyebrow and waved his hand, saying, "Top three."

The examiner holding the exam paper nodded and tossed the exam paper to the group of the top three candidates.

Young Master Qi Heng ranked among the top three.

This is not because Jiang Zhao intentionally suppressed him.

In fact, whoever graded Qi Heng's paper would have given this answer.

Those who came from military backgrounds were almost guaranteed to be among the top three.

Not only that, but it was also highly unlikely that he would pass the examination for the position of Shujishi.

As the son of a duke, having chosen the path of a civil official and competing with scholars for a living, he was destined to endure the corresponding hardships.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the maximum rank is five!

Of course, accidents can happen occasionally.

In the original storyline, the new emperor and the empress dowager were fighting each other, and Qi Heng sided with the empress dowager, becoming her vanguard.

Taking advantage of the power struggle between the new emperor and the empress dowager, Qi Heng's promotion was practically a meteoric rise.

He had just passed the imperial examination and was already wearing a red robe.

He was demoted after being hit hard, but soon returned to power.

His promotion was so rapid that even Jiang Zhao could not match it.