On the ninth day of the eighth month, the provincial examination officially started.

Thousands of candidates in the tribute school wrote quickly at the same time, and there were also people outside the examination room. They had to find someone to quickly solve the four-book test questions they had just obtained, and then try every means to send them to the examination room to complete the cheating.

Since the imperial examinations were held, there have been fraud in the examination hall. In the fourth-level formal examination in the Ming Dynasty, the palace examination is the most difficult to cheat.

Cheating in the palace examination is not very meaningful, because if you don’t cheat, you are also a Jinshi, but if you are found cheating, you will be punished and beheaded.

The difficulty of cheating in the imperial examination is slightly easier than that in the palace examination, but it is only relative. In fact, cheating in the imperial examination is still very difficult. Once it is found that the crime is very serious, Cheng Minzheng, Tang Bohu and others are the lessons learned from the past.

In the fourth-level examination, the most people cheat in the college and provincial examinations, and the widest involvement. The means involved are nothing more than to learn about the test questions in advance, entrainment, marking the test papers, etc.

Chen Xi was in the inner curtain, and even if he was willing to stop the fraud in the examination room, he was unable to do it. The only thing he could do was to evaluate the pros and cons of the article as fairly as possible and be a competent examiner.

But many times, this kind of copying has certain limitations, because ten people will have ten views after reading an article, and everyone will have subjective conjectures. It is almost impossible to intuitively distinguish the pros and cons of the article.

There is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. Who dares to say that the article you choose is the best?

Even a great writer who asks him to write an article casually is not necessarily better than an ordinary person who has worked hard to write it. What's more, the eight-legged essays these days are almost the same tone, and they quote the Four Books and Five Classics. Sometimes the standard for distinguishing good and bad is to follow the crowd. If everyone thinks it is good, it is really good. If someone finds out the shortcomings, it will be fatal. No matter how good a person's literary talent is, he will be sentenced to death.

The provincial examination is based on three articles and four books to determine the results, which is particularly obvious.

This is also the reason why those great talents who claim to be outstanding in literary talent have repeatedly failed in the imperial examination field. It is not that their articles are bad, but that they are not in the eyes of examiners. As long as the examiner thinks you are good, even if you write a bullshit article, you can be admitted in the end.

If the examiner looks at you with a lustful look, even if he is a lotus, he will eventually lose the exam.

Chen Xi was in the inner curtain, and what he could do on weekdays was nothing more than reading writing and writing, and occasionally discussing the exam with Jin Gui and a few inner curtain officials. Life was boring.

Before the end of the provincial examination on August 16, Chen Xi will continue to stay in the curtain of the Gongyuan and know nothing about the news outside.

It is rare to have this time, so Chen Xi took the opportunity to sort out some of the manuscripts in his mind, which he wanted to write before but didn't have time, or he didn't dare to write because of his lack of reputation.

Among them, there are both ancient lost but unearthed in later generations, as well as works by literati and poets after the late Ming Dynasty. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, many ancient books were lost. Chen Xi hoped to organize some manuscripts through his own efforts and edit them into books to pass on them from generation to generation to avoid the catastrophe of the cultural heritage of later generations.

When Chen Xi was writing, Jin Gui would always come to his room to read.

Jin Gui, who was testing flowers in the third year of Hongzhi, was surprised by Chen Xi's profound literary attainments. Chen Xi was writing on the other side, and he picked up the manuscripts with the undried ink marks to read. Often, he reads faster than Chen Xi's writings, because there are many thought-provoking things in Chen Xi's manuscripts that require him to think and consider repeatedly.

"Brother Chen, I used to be too arrogant. I didn't expect you to have such academic achievements? Brother Yu is really ashamed of himself!"

Jin Gui looked ashamed.

Although Jin Gui is polite to Chen Xike on weekdays, he always holds a prejudice, believing that Chen Xi is just about the time to operate, and with some appreciation, he has the status of today at a young age.

But after he saw Chen Xi's article, he realized how talented Chen Xi was.

Chen Xi shook his head and smiled bitterly: "It's just a summary of the manuscripts of the previous generations. Brother Jin is too proud."

Chen Xi attributed all this to the ancients, but it was not entirely true. He could be a university professor in an era of cultural knowledge explosion. The amount of knowledge stored in his mind was quite terrifying, which also covers many of his understandings and summaries of the cultures of all dynasties.

He read 300 Tang poems well, and could not write poems, and even recited them. Chen Xi read tens of thousands of books from childhood to adulthood in his previous life. He was like a large library. As he grew older, his mental power became stronger. Many manuscripts from deep memories always appeared in his mind inexplicably. All he needed to do was to record these things in words. This had long exceeded the category of the heirs, and he could be said to be a creator.

At the beginning, Jin Gui was bored in the tribute courtyard, but there were articles written by Chen Xi to read, and he felt extremely fulfilled in his heart.

Articles that cannot be found elsewhere can be seen here in Shen Xi. Seeing the manuscripts written by Chen Xi is like experiencing a huge chapter of Chinese civilization.

So much so that when he arrived, Jin Gui had to eat and sleep, and he had to bring some manuscripts wherever he went. After reading it, he would always talk to himself, and even record it with paper and pen, and leave it to study it slowly in the future.

"Two lunatics!"

This is the most intuitive evaluation of Chen Xi and Jin Gui.

We came to preside over the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination. The candidates outside were in the examination room. These two people kept writing... Well, I know that you two are from Hanlin officials and have high knowledge, but you don’t have to perform in front of us, right? And you are addicted to acting and always look at the concentration. I wonder if we are annoyed when we see the manuscript now?

Chen Xi and Jin Gui were left alone and just did what they like, so how could they care about what others looked at them?

...

...

On August 16th, the provincial examination that lasted for nine days and seven nights finally ended, but at this time all operations were still on the outer curtains and the inner curtain officer had to review the papers, and it would not start until about twenty days later.

From August 16th to August 20th, it is the time to copy the candidate's test papers. Shuntian Prefecture mobilized the teachers, coaches, and entrusted the people from the provincial and county schools to come and help copy the test papers. For three or four thousand candidates, each of them had to write about 10,000 words. These transcribes almost worked day and night, and even so, they might not be able to record all the test papers in full.

In order to prevent errors in the copying process of the exam paper, or there is a cross-disorder between the exam paper and the candidate's exam number, there will be special inspections on the reading officers.

After the transcription of the test papers is completed, all test papers will be sealed according to the test number, and all test papers will be sent to the inner curtain and handed over to the inner curtain officer for review.

There are nine internal curtain officials in total. In addition to the two examiners, Chen Xi and Jin Gui, there are four examiners responsible for reviewing the test papers, as well as one examiner of the three classics of "The Book of Changes", "The Book of Songs", and "The Book of Changes", but the four examiners who really decide whether the candidates will pass the primary election are the four examiners.

In order to prevent the scene he experienced in the college exam, Chen Xi deliberately brushed the good papers by his fellow examiners. He was ready. He would read the four-book parts of these papers and select the outstanding ones from them to enter the final selection.

After statistics, the number of candidates in the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination in the 14th year of Hongzhi was 3,691. Finally, it was determined that the preliminary examination papers were about 350 to 500. Because there was no deputy list for the provincial examination until Jiajing, the number of candidates admitted in the last quota was fixed. As for Shuntian Prefecture, it was stipulated that 135 candidates were admitted.

The final selection is to select the last 135 candidates from the three or four hundred test papers in the primary election and arrange the order.

According to the rules, each provincial examination can have a small fluctuation of up and down on a fixed amount, with a maximum of 140 people, and the lower limit is 120 people. In order to avoid suspicion, the chief examiner usually tries to take as little as possible and not much to prevent the test papers with poor talent and learning from being investigated later. If there are fewer admissions, it can be explained that the quality of candidates in this provincial examination is generally poor, and those papers are pulled out to fill in the numbers; if there are too many admissions, it is difficult to explain.

It is better to have less than more, which is an unspoken rule for admission to the provincial examination.

Chen Xi is very clear about the hardships of the candidates, so he adheres to the principle that he would rather be more than less! Moreover, he, the chief examiner, is very responsible. If a test paper cannot be decided, he will let it go for the time being and compare it carefully when he looks back.

It may be difficult to directly judge the quality of an article, but if you compare it, it will be easier to judge the quality of the article.

Because "mojian" will not be available after the Jiajing Dynasty, the final admission decision of Chen Xi and Jin Gui represents the final results of the provincial examination. They only need to hand over the papers of the candidates in this provincial examination to keep, and no one will care about whether there is any trick in it.

It depends on one word!

Chen Xi and Jin Gui had very great authority in this Shuntian Prefecture Provincial Examination. One of their decisions would be to judge a person's life and death in the imperial examination. Many people might be the last to participate in the provincial examination. If this class fails, they will be destined to be mediocre students afterwards, and they will make a living by teaching to spend their remaining lives, and will never have the chance to be a gentry class and can only place their hopes on the next generation.

On the afternoon of August 20, the test paper was finally copied and sent to the inner curtain for final review.

The review of the test papers should be completed at the end of August, which is ten days. Together with the last Kaifeng and Zhangbang, everything will be completed in early September. The Luming Banquet is temporarily scheduled on the eighth day of September. After the Luming Banquet, Chen Xi can go home to reunite with his wife and children.

In other words, Chen Xi had to live in the Gongyuan for a total of one month and two days.

There seemed to be not many individual papers, but the total number was extremely amazing. When they were delivered to the inner courtyard, Chen Xi saw dozens of large boxes.

Four examiners, one person is responsible for the test papers of more than 900 people, and they can be so busy that they can be exhausted.

The quota given to them by Chen Xi is to select one hundred relatively excellent test papers from their own test papers, and the preliminary selection time is set at seven days.

In other words, the final election will be completed within three days.

The examiners took the papers back, and they were in the Huijing Hall. In front of each person, there were high stacks of papers. The test papers must be reviewed during the day. When the lamp is held, they must leave the Huijing Hall. The Huijing Hall will be locked and there will be a dedicated person on duty. This is mainly to prevent fires caused by candle lighting at night, and all previous work will be in vain.

On the first day of the paper marking, Chen Xi mainly looked at the papers that were copied by the examiner. Among the hundreds of test papers, he only selected two or three by-shots, and the quality of these two or three test papers was not very high. This shows that the examiners of the same test papers can still be as keen as a wise man in the cross-diagnosis of the first day. Even if one person fails to win the test papers, other examiners can also click on them and add them. Chen Xi's last level seems irrelevant.

But I am afraid that as time goes by, the examiner will start to be perfunctory, and by then, it will be difficult to distinguish between good and bad papers.

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ps: The first update is here!

After reading everyone's comments, the emperor was filled with emotion. The confrontation was so serious that it had never been as intense as it is now. It seems that the emperor must consider Hui Niang's plot carefully!
Chapter completed!