Chapter 64 I am optimistic about you
At 1:01 pm on March 15th, Ou Zanghua was awakened by Qu Feiyan and began to wash.

Afterwards, Qu Feiyan carefully took out a set of robes, hats and boots. These were the Confucian ceremonial robes distributed yesterday, and every new tribute scholar had one.

With the help of Qu Feiyan, Ou Zanghua put on his robe, hat and boots. Under the candlelight, his handsome face took on a touch of mystery and majesty.

"Young Master, I wish you a bright future and a successful career." Qu Feiyan took two steps back and bowed like a scholar.

"Yes, I will." Ou Zanghua nodded with a smile, then walked out of the room.

This time, Xiang Danian and Qu Yang were still responsible for escorting Ou Zanghua to the exam. After Ou Zanghua ate some meat patties and drank some water in the carriage, the carriage stopped at the designated location.

Ou Zanghua got out of the car, exhaled slowly, and said to his fellow apprentices, "I'm going in, you guys go back and rest!"

"Senior brother, we are waiting for you here." Xiang Danian looked at his eldest senior brother and said seriously.

"Alright."

Ou Zanghua responded and confirmed his identity with the guard. Then he walked through the Thousand-Step Corridor with many of his peers and arrived in front of Chengtian Gate.

The place was managed by officials from the Ministry of Rites and Ceremonial Affairs. Under their guidance, everyone lined up in order according to their ranking in the imperial examination, waiting for the routine search by the Jinwu Guards on duty in front of the door. Ou Zanghua stood in the first row on the right.

The first person in the left row was Yang Shen. When he saw Ou Zanghua, he smiled and nodded.

On both sides outside Chengtian Gate, there were about two hundred big generals lined up in an orderly manner. Under the watchful eyes of this group of people, after the candidates had been searched, they could continue to follow the footsteps of the messenger from the Ministry of Rites, pass through Chengtian Gate, and arrive at the towering Wumen Gate.

Only the emperor and empress were allowed to pass through the central gate of the Meridian Gate, and only dukes, marquises, prince consorts, civil officials of the third rank, and military officials of the fourth rank and above were allowed to enter and exit the left and right side gates.

However, in order to show the royal family's emphasis on talents, new tribute scholars were allowed to enter and exit through the left and right side doors.

Ou Zanghua took advantage of this wave of benefits and embarked on the path that only third-rank officials could take.

It’s a pity that there were officials from the Ceremonial Department watching, otherwise Ou Zanghua would really like to leave in a more arrogant manner.

After passing through the Meridian Gate, what comes into view is the Fengtian Gate, the largest palace gate in the entire imperial city.

This place is a bit like a transportation hub. Whether you want to go to the Wenhua Hall of the Cabinet or the Wuying Hall, you have to pass through here.

At this time, the several-meter-high vermilion gate was closed.

Ou Zanghua was getting a little bored waiting when a voice suddenly came from behind him: "Jingyu, how long do we have to wait?"

The person who spoke was Yu Ben, a thin scholar who ranked fourth in the examination.

Before Ou Zanghua could answer, the official from the Ceremonial Department glanced at Yu Ben and said, "Teacher, please keep silent."

Ou Zanghua couldn't help but laugh. He put one hand behind his back and made a hand gesture to Yu Ben, which was the Taoist Twelve Zodiac Signs hand seal.

This tells Yu Ben that he has to wait until noon.

"Ugh"

Yu Ben obviously understood what he saw. He not only sighed, but also attracted a look from the official of the Ceremonial Department.

As the hour of Chen arrived, with the rising sun, golden light dyed the Forbidden City.

In the dazzling morning light, the sound of drums and music came from all around, and then the door slowly opened.

Led by the Minister of Rites, the candidates standing in front of the square passed through the Fengtian Gate and came to the Danbi in the square in front of the Huangji Hall.

The examiners and receivers, led by the cabinet ministers, and dozens of stewards arrived early and stood on the steps.

After accepting the greetings of the candidates, they all quietly waited for Emperor Zhengde. Not long after, a eunuch came out and said loudly: "Your Majesty has arrived!"

Afterwards, Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao walked out with the gait of a dragon and a tiger.

Led by the chief minister of the cabinet, all the civil and military officials and the newly promoted scholars filed into the Hall of Supreme Harmony and performed the ritual of five bows and three kowtows: "Your Majesty, I respectfully wish you the best of health!"

"I beg you."

Emperor Zhengde sat upright on a wooden chair painted with gold and carved with dragons. His voice was clear and echoing, with a bit of majesty that was not usually there.

Ou Zanghua took the opportunity to look up, but the angle was wrong and he couldn't see Zhengde's face clearly.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as long as his fellow villagers were not harmed this time.

Then, the cabinet chief, Li Dongyang, stood up holding the imperial edict and read it aloud in a rhythmic manner, skipping the empty words and clichés at the beginning and quickly getting to the point:

".The Emperor's decree says: Start a business with military force, maintain it with civil force. This is what the ancients said. However, soldiers and farmers are the same, civil and military are in the same place, are their uses really different? When did the distinction between civil and military begin? In which dynasty did the distinction between soldiers and civilians begin? Blah blah blah blah."

The whole article does not have many words, less than 500 words.

But what does it mean to have profound meaning in a few words?

That’s it!
Less than 500 words, covering six questions:
First, how should the military and civilians be governed, and what are the differences between the governance of civil and military officials?
Second, when did the distinction between civil and military governance begin?
Third, since the Han, Tang and Song dynasties, when the idea “even if the world is at peace, it will be dangerous if we forget about war” was put forward, what is the difference between the way to command the army and the way to command the people?
etc.
In other words, the 300 or so people present all had good memory. After Li Dongyang read it aloud once, most of them were able to write it out from memory.

At least for the small part that I didn’t remember, I’ll just have to wish you good luck!
After the announcement, the candidates could take their seats in turn. The desks for the examination were arranged by the officials of Guanglu Temple the day before.

After everything is ready, the officiating officer will begin distributing test questions and answer sheets, and then it is time for students to start answering the questions freely.

The palace examination lasts for six hours, with the papers being written at sunrise and submitted at sunset.

Of course, it is impossible for the emperor and the cabinet ministers to sit with the candidates for a whole day. They are not so idle as to be so idle.

Ou Zanghua took out a piece of manuscript paper and wrote out the test questions word for word, and then began to analyze and solve the questions sentence by sentence.

Emperor Zhengde became a little restless after sitting for a while. He looked down and saw the five cabinet ministers, Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe, Liu Zhong, Liang Chu and Fei Hong, lined up in a row. Each of them looked solemn and extremely dignified.

This gave Emperor Zhengde a headache. Are these five people so free today?
Fortunately, after watching for about half an hour, Yang Tinghe, Liu Zhong and Fei Hong took their leave and returned to the cabinet to handle official business.

Zhengde was waiting for this moment. He stood up seriously and walked to the middle of the candidates under the gaze of many officials, stopping from time to time to bend down and take a look.

The candidates were all a little nervous after seeing what he did. Fortunately, they were all people who had seen the world, and although they were a little panicked, they quickly adjusted themselves.

When Li Dongyang saw this scene, a smile appeared on his face, and he was obviously satisfied with the performance of this year's candidates.

After strolling around, Zhengde came to Ou Zanghua, watched him draft seriously, and then asked in a low voice: "Ou Qing, how is your martial arts training going?"

Ou Zanghua was stunned and immediately understood Zhengde's little thoughts.

The boss of the Daming Group just wanted to see the shocked look on the face of this newcomer!
After all, when Boss Zhu left the palace to make friends with him, he used the alias Zhu Shou and it had never been exposed.

Therefore, Ou Zanghua had no choice but to cooperate and looked up at Emperor Zhengde with an incredible expression.

"Hehehe, you didn't expect that, did you?"

Zhengde was satisfied with Ou Zanghua's reaction. He showed a smug smile and encouraged: "Ou Qing, I am optimistic about you!"

(End of this chapter)