Chapter 276 All heroes in the world are within my grasp! (asking for monthly tickets)

Li Xiang was not trying to fool people. In fact, his admiration for Lao Li was genuine.

Putting aside the facts, having a grandfather who can pass the throne to you... let alone worship him, you would have no problem kneeling down and kowtow to him respectfully.

But then again, what Li Shimin said was indeed a problem, but the problem was that under the current circumstances, it was impossible to popularize doctors in rural areas. Even barefoot doctors were somewhat unaffordable.

Being able to cover towns is already the current limit.

But don't be in a hurry, eat the meal one bite at a time.

Tomorrow is the day of the palace examination. One day doesn’t make any difference anyway, and he still has to wait for others to hand over matters, so Li Xiang plans to officially set off the day after tomorrow.

Early the next morning, Li Xiang came to Liangyi Hall to witness the first palace examination in history.

The origin of the palace examination was in the sixth year of Kaibao during the reign of Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty.

Hanlin scholar Li Fangquan was in charge of the imperial examination and presided over the national examination held in the Tokyo Imperial Examination Hall.

After various examinations, a total of 38 people were admitted as Jinshi and those who passed the exams in various subjects.

Among them were a man named Wu Jichuan and another named Liu Jun, who were dismissed when summoned for an examination because of their "poorest qualities and inappropriate answers to questions."

This Wu Jichuan was a fellow townsman of Li Fang. When Zhao Da learned about this, he was very unhappy.

Not only Zhao Da was unhappy, but Xu Shilian, a failed Jinshi, was also dissatisfied. He beat the drum to accuse Li Fang of being unfair in treating his fellow villagers well and demanded that the emperor personally preside over the examination in order to seek justice.

So Zhao Da issued an edict to select 195 failed candidates and 36 successful candidates for a re-examination in the Lecture Hall, which was presided over by Zhao Da himself. As a result, 127 people passed the exam again, while 10 of the originally admitted candidates failed.

After the notice was posted, there was an uproar in the court and the public, and Li Fang was demoted.

This imperial examination case not only marked the beginning of the palace examination, but also established the three-level examination system in feudal society.

Some people believe that the palace examination started during the reign of Empress Wu, but this is actually wrong.

As the saying goes, "The examinations conducted by Empress Wu were like the provincial examinations of the world, not the palace examinations in addition to the provincial examinations. Before the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, the examinations were not conducted by the Ministry of Rites, but by the Ministry of Examination. Empress Wu was good at writing, so she conducted the examinations of the Ministry of Examination in the palace."

In the Tang Dynasty, "questioning tribute candidates in the Luocheng Palace" was only done occasionally by Wu Zetian, and it did not become a system. Moreover, she only presided over a provincial examination in person. So strictly speaking, Wu Zetian's behavior this time was completely impromptu and did not become a system. Therefore, it cannot be regarded as the beginning of the palace examination.

After all, this is not the first time that someone has been misattributed. It is as ridiculous as attributing the title of the Grand Canal to Yang Guang.

The current palace examination in the Tang Dynasty is similar to the mature palace examination process in the later Ming Dynasty.

The rule of the palace examination is that once you enter the palace examination stage, you will not be eliminated, and everyone's scores will be ranked uniformly.

The reason for not publishing the scores of the imperial examination is actually very simple. If you look at the same paper, the person from the Hehuai examination area scored 95 points and ranked 55th and was not admitted, while the person from the Lingnan examination area only scored more than 50 points and ranked first and was admitted. This can easily cause dissatisfaction.

Therefore, it is reasonable to rank the rankings and not announce the scores.

As for the palace examination, there are not so many problems, since the selection is equal anyway.

The palace examination only tests policy questions and nothing else. Candidates enter at dawn and go through rituals such as roll call, distribution of papers, praises, and salutes before the policy questions are announced.

When Li Xiang arrived at Liangyi Hall, the palace examination had already begun. Li Shimin was sitting at the top, looking energetic and spirited.

You really aren't sleepy at all, Aung...

Li Xiang yawned. He had a heart-to-heart talk with Pei Xueqing last night, and the chat lasted for a long time... It was indeed just a heart-to-heart talk. After all, Pei Xueqing was pregnant, and Li Xiang did not do anything out of the ordinary.

He walked up to a tribute scholar and looked down.

Hehuai examination area, Wei Siqian.

Li Xiang's nostrils twitched. How come he saw a historical figure when he lowered his head?
He knew Wei Siqian, not because he had been prime minister, but because of the idiom "blatantly".

At that time, Chu Suiliang bought someone else's land at a low price, and Wei Siqian impeached him. With irrefutable evidence, the court could not openly protect Chu Suiliang, so he was transferred to another place. When Chu Suiliang returned to Beijing, he immediately retaliated against Wei Siqian and demoted him to be a county magistrate.

When someone asked him if he regretted it, Wei Siqian said: "A real man should be in a position of integrity and repay the country openly and boldly. I can't protect my wife and children for the sake of a mediocre minister."

Of course, the term later changed its meaning.

But... shouldn't the surname Wei be from Jingzhao? Why did he go to the Hehuai test area to take the test?
I looked at the questions again and saw that there were three questions in total.

The first one is, if a prisoner on death row has no relatives, and he petitions the emperor to allow him to serve as a servant, if he is pardoned, should he be spared from death?

Second, Duke Wei killed the king and seized the throne, which was the beginning of the slight flaw in the kingly way?
The third way is to govern the former territories of Goguryeo and Baekje, so that their people will be grateful for the grace of the holy dynasty, be influenced by the king's teachings, and gradually become Chinese citizens.

The questions were of very high level. The first one tested criminal law, the second one tested historical theory, and the third one tested current affairs. Although there were only three questions, the scope they covered was of practical significance for selecting officials.

There is no word limit for the palace examination, so you can write a few dozen words, but you cannot write no words at all. If you anger the emperor, it is possible that you will be directly kicked out.

It is true that you will not be deposed, but if you despise the palace examination, don't blame the emperor for treating you like a chicken.

Li Xiang took a quick glance and knew that those who could enter the palace examination all had some ability and there would not be any unqualified people.

After all, even in Lingnan, there are gentry.

Although he is not ranked among the top in Hehuai and other places, and is a small fry in front of the Cui, Lu, Li and Zheng kings who have passed down the tradition for hundreds of years, he is still much better than ordinary people.

The palace examination lasted until noon, probably from six in the morning to twelve noon.

Following Wang De's command to stop writing, the candidates put down their pens one after another and waited for the eunuch to take away their papers.

Different from the rules of the Ming and Qing dynasties, Lao Li had to mark the papers personally in the palace examination, and the palace also provided a meal for the candidates.

The food in the Shangshi Bureau was delicious, all prepared by Fubao. People from top aristocratic families were better off, after all, they had eaten a few meals in Jianghu restaurants. But the candidates from old, young, remote and poor areas were in for a treat, they were very satisfied with the meal, and kept saying that this was the first time they had eaten such delicious food in their lives.

After the meal, the candidates expressed their gratitude repeatedly and left the examination room in an orderly manner.

Old Li spent the entire afternoon marking the papers, and even forced Li Xiang to mark the papers with him.

Li Xiang was really tired, so he found an excuse and slipped away, leaving this glorious and arduous task to Lao Li.

Old Li couldn't help but laugh, this brat is really good at being lazy.

That evening, the extremely efficient Li Shimin completed the ranking of the candidates.

Early the next morning, the candidates gathered in front of Chengtian Gate.

After all, this was the palace examination, which was held in the palace, and the results were naturally announced in front of Chengtian Gate. Zhuque Street was spacious, so it was enough for the examinees to see the list, and the Chang'an people who were curious also gathered around to see the champion and other new Jinshi.

Yes, there is no such title as Bangyuan and Tanhua now, but there is still Zhuangyuan.

The first recorded number one scholar in history was Sun Fujia, who won the title in the fifth year of Wude.

When the Chenshi arrived, Chengtian Gate slowly opened and a team of eunuchs walked out, holding an imperial edict covered with red silk in their hands.

"Here it comes! Here it comes!" everyone shouted.

Immediately, the crowd made way for a path like Moses parting the sea to accommodate the eunuchs carrying the imperial edict.

When the auspicious time arrived, the eunuchs unveiled the imperial edict and began to call out the names.

"The first place in the first class, the top scholar Cui Shouye, is from Boling in the Hehuai examination area!"

"The second place in the first class, runner-up Wei Siqian, is from Songzhou in the Hehuai exam area!"

"The third place in the first class is Hua Jinzhong, a native of Qiantang in the Jiangnan examination area!"

Everyone was stunned. How come... there is such a new and strange name?

It should be noted that the first, second and third places have been kept secret by the imperial court since the reform.

When Qian Jinzhong saw that he was the third place in the imperial examination, his face turned red.

Oh my god, this is something that brings honor to our family! Our Qian family actually has a top-ranking Jinshi! And a top-ranking Jinshi!
The eunuchs called out the names, but only the first three.

After all, only the top one is worthy of being called out, and the rest... go and see for yourself.

Seeing the eunuchs stop, everyone was still expecting to continue singing, but they found that the eunuch who had just called out the names stopped calling out the names. After saying that the court would prepare a banquet in Qujiang this afternoon to entertain the new scholars, he turned and left.

Good guy...

Everyone rushed forward and began to read the imperial edict.

After all, no one would be disqualified in the palace examination, so no one cried bitterly, but the person who ranked last was ridiculed.

There is no other name. The last one is named Zheng and he is from Xingyang in the Hehuai examination area.

You said that you are a person from the Zheng family of Xingyang, and it’s fine that you failed to pass the exams of people from other examination areas in the Hehuai area, but you couldn’t even pass the Lingnan and Jiannan areas. Do you still have the face to do that?
The candidate named Zheng didn't care at all. As long as he passed the exam, it would be fine. The requirements were not very high.

After reading the imperial edict, the new scholars began to imagine tonight's banquet.

The banquet held after the palace examination was called the Qionglin Banquet because Zhao Da stipulated that after the palace examination, the emperor would announce the ranking of the successful candidates and give a banquet to celebrate. Since the banquet was held in the famous Qionglin Garden, it was called the "Qionglin Banquet."

In the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, it was changed to "Enrong Banquet". Although the name is different, the content of the ceremony remains basically the same and can still be collectively referred to as the "Qionglin Banquet".

The Tang Dynasty also had its own Qionglin Banquet, which was the Qujiang Banquet that began during the reign of Li Longji.

However, there was no palace examination in the Tang Dynasty, so it was held after the announcement of the Jinshi results.

As for the practice of horse racing in the Imperial Street, it also started in the Song Dynasty. It is generally considered to be a policy that was made in order to emphasize civil over military and show that those who called out names under the Donghua Sect were good.

Both Li Xiang and Li Shimin felt that one should not be overly biased towards civil or military affairs, so Li Xiang did not mention this aspect, and Li Shimin did not even think about it.

Not only the imperial examination, Li Xiang is even thinking about the military examination, but there is no rush for this.

The treatment for the military examination should be the same as that for the Jinshi examination, and there should be a Qujiang Banquet after the examination.

However, the Jinshi banquet is held in Qujiang, so if the military candidates are also held in Qujiang, it would be a bit repetitive. Therefore, Li Xiang is also thinking about whether the military candidates should hold the banquet in another place when the time comes.

But I have to say it, the military examination did indeed begin with Wu Zetian.

In the afternoon, Li Shimin brought his whole family to Qujiang Lake.

Qujiang Lake is located in the southeast corner of Chang'an City. It has been the royal territory since Qin Shihuang built a palace here. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the area around Qujiang Lake was included in Shanglin Garden, and Qujiang was excavated. Because "the water is winding, similar to the river in Guangling, it was named 'Qujiang'."

Some time ago, since he had nothing to do, Li Shimin ordered the repair of Qujiang Pond, and rectified the name of "Furong Pond" which had been renamed in the Sui Dynasty and changed it back to Qujiang Pond.

Those who attended the Qujiang Banquet this time included not only the Tang Dynasty royal family and the newly-appointed Jinshi, but also important civil and military officials in the court, and even some common people whose families had a little money.

That's the reason why we share happiness with the people.

The preparations for the Qujiang Banquet were handed over to the Shangshi Bureau. Early in the morning, led by their chief, the Shangshi Bureau came to the Qujiang Lake and began to prepare the dishes for today's Qujiang Banquet.

The dishes are all carefully selected, taking into account the color, aroma and taste, and can be called works of craftsmanship.

Don’t ask, the answer is craftsmanship.

Old Li sat in the most luxurious pavilion in Qujiang Lake, surrounded by members of the royal family.

He looked at the newly-appointed scholars sitting below him and could not help but sigh, "All the heroes in the world are within my reach!"

Li Xiang took a deep breath. Did this count as witnessing a famous scene?

He had heard this when he was in school, and when he saw it with his own eyes today, he had a strong sense of déjà vu.

When the attendant behind him heard Li Shimin's words, his eyes lit up and he began to write down the details with his pen flying.

Li Xiang did not say "Emperor Taizong Wen" yesterday because he was somewhat concerned about the existence of the attendant.

If it was recorded in the diary that "Emperor X determined the temple name and posthumous title for Emperor Taizong Wen when he was in his private residence", then the reputation of being filial would be passed down for generations.

Conservatively speaking, if Arthas had not appeared, he would have been synonymous with a filial son.

So sometimes you can’t say these things carelessly, otherwise it would be interesting if it was written down in your notebook.

There are rumors that Li Shimin changed history. In fact, it was because Li Shimin took a look at the daily notes and felt that the part about Xuanwu Gate was not written clearly enough. So, as an eyewitness, he corrected the part that was taboo for the respected person and told others clearly that I was the one who shot my eldest brother.

As a result, the story was passed on and finally reached Li Erhei's mouth, and it became that Li Shimin changed history, which was somewhat stupid and evil - considering that Li Erhei was mostly uneducated, he should be both stupid and evil.

Don't even use your wrapped up little brain to think about it. If Li Er really changed the history, would you still know that Li Jiancheng was shot by him personally?

(One chapter today. I went to the mountains to visit graves during the day and had a lot of bites on my forehead...)
(End of this chapter)