Due to the good weather, the palace examination was arranged to be held in the Daqing Palace Square. There was a table in front of each person, with pens, ink, paper and inkstone on the table and no chairs. Everyone had to stand on the exam. Eight invigilators sat in eight directions, and Yu Shen was responsible for leading two deputy examiners to patrol back and forth in the examination room.

At this time, the exam had not yet begun, and the scholars were waiting patiently for the time to come.

Chen Shi was right, and a bell rang in the hall. Yu Shen hurriedly walked down the steps with a scroll in his hand. Everyone was staring at the scroll in his hand. That was today's test question.

Under the eyes of eight examiners and many scholars, Yu Shen opened the scroll, and all the candidates' hearts were suspended, and the palace examination questions finally appeared.

Several examiners copied the questions and showed them in the examination room with signs. When the questions passed by Li Yanqing, Li Yanqing breathed a sigh of relief, and he was indeed guessed the exam questions.

When writing a poem, you need to sing the rhyme of the "Yan" with the double quilts. The lyrics are not limited. The subtitle is the Northern Expedition, which is limited to one hour.

The so-called double quintile means that there must be an upper quintile and a lower quintile. The rhyme is the rhyme of the word "Yan". Although there is no limit on the word "六", the meaning of the title is limited, that is, the Northern Expedition. In fact, the imperial examination is a political vane, and the court will use the imperial examination to express major political intentions.

However, the poem was the Northern Expedition for the provincial examination. The question for this palace examination was still the Northern Expedition, which really surprised many people. They all guessed that the questions for the palace examination were also related to the Northern Expedition. However, experienced candidates know that the question is too easy may not be a good thing, which means that the waters rise and the admission standards will be higher.

Time passed little by little, and almost all the candidates did not start writing. They were brewing and thinking. Although writing a poem was easy for these scholars who had passed the provincial exam, everyone could do it in one stroke, and even Li Yanqing, who was not good at poetry, was no problem.

However, only twenty people were admitted in the palace examination. Although everyone knows that the palace examination results plus the provincial examination results are the final imperial examination results, before the ranking rankings were announced, no one knew their ranking in the provincial examination. Everyone thought they had the hope of entering the top 20, so the results of the palace examination were extremely important to them.

Although lyrics are easy to write, without outstanding lyrics is equivalent to being eliminated. Every scholar is thinking hard and racking his brains to come up with his best lyrics.

Three quarters of a minute has passed, and there is still one quarter of an hour before the end of the palace examination. ‘When!’ the bell rang, and the examiner Yu Shen shouted: “There is only one quarter of an hour left. The scholar who has not started writing can start writing.”

At this time, Li Yanqing had no time to hesitate. He had already conceived two poems, but was not satisfied. In desperation, he still had to use the help of eternal nouns to break through.

He took a deep breath and wrote on the roll of paper in one go:

"Break the Formation? Northern Expedition"

When I was drunk, I looked at the sword with a lamp, and dreamed of blowing the horns and camps. I was divided into 800 miles of fire under my command, fifty strings were heard outside the border, and the soldiers were lit on the battlefield.

The horse made Lu Feifei, the bow was as fast as a thunderbolt. It was shocking. It resolved the affairs of the king and won the reputation of his life. Poor white happened!

The written examination for the palace examination was over. The scholar could not leave, but sat in Fengqi Pavilion to have tea and rest. It was only ten o'clock in the morning and we had to have an interview later. However, not everyone had the opportunity to interview. Only the top ten were interviewed by the emperor himself to determine the top three.

The list of admissions for twenty people in the palace examination will be announced. The top three names are Jinshi and the first three names are Jinshi, the fourth to twenty names are Jinshi, and the remaining 566 people are called Jinshi. Although they are all called Jinshi, the level of Jinshi is different.

Then the Ministry of Rites will issue the ranking outside the imperial city to determine the final ranking of the imperial examination, and at the same time send the admission certificate to each state, and each state will send the good news officer to the candidates' original hometown to report the good news.

At the same time, the Jinshi rode horses to praise the streets and finally went to Qionglin Garden beside Jinming Pool to receive a banquet for the emperor.

In Fengqi Pavilion, everyone sat silently on chairs and had tea and rest. If you want to go to the convenient scholars, you will be led by the guards to go to the toilet. The scholars can also visit Fengqi Pavilion at will. This is actually a place for envoys from various countries to rest and wait. There is a long corridor leading directly to the side hall of Daqing Hall.

All the scholars were very quiet. Occasionally someone whispered, and Li Yanqing sat with more than 50 scholars of the Imperial Academy. At this time, Zhao Kai walked over with a smile, sat down in the empty seat beside Li Yanqing, and said with a smile: "Are you nervous, brother?"

"It's a little bit!"

Li Yanqing smiled bitterly and said, "In this atmosphere, it's a little nervous, and it's not nervous."

"Actually, the top 20 people have already been decided during the provincial examination. The palace examination is only a fine adjustment of the rankings of the top 20 people. Unless the lyrics are written badly or are written too well, there will be a significant adjustment of rankings."

"What about the interview?" Wu Bangchang next to him leaned forward and asked with a smile.

"The interview is the top three. In this case, good appearance and good temperament will have the advantage."

The Taixue scholars next to him all surrounded him and asked, "What will happen to the official position this year? How big is the difference between the Jinshi and the Jinshi family?"

Zhao Kai smiled slightly and said, "In fact, there is only one advantage in the top three. It is better to say that the title of an official is not a good choice for luck than a ranking. Like Qin Hui, the top scholar in the last session, was finally awarded a professor in Mizhou. Although he was also an official, he was not an official appointed by the Ministry of Personnel. How lucky do you think you are?"

Everyone nodded, and everyone knew that officials were divided into officials of the Ministry of Personnel and non-official officials. This was just like the administrative and professional positions in later generations. Although they were both iron jobs, they actually had a big difference.

All scholars wanted to be officials appointed by the Ministry of Personnel, stayed in the court and entered the temples of various departments, and went to the local area to become officials in the county. This was their goal. No one wanted to study and teach in the state, and that was the position left for the Tai students.

"Then what official positions can we get?"

"So I said it depends on luck. If you are lucky, even if you are from the same Jinshi, you can still serve as the chief clerk in the county. If you are not lucky, it would be good if you can go to the state to study. Some Jinshi have to wait patiently for a few years. This kind of thing is not without precedent."

All Jinshis are smart people. Although Zhao Kai always talks about luck, everyone understands that it is not luck, but a background relationship.

Everyone was silent and began to worry about their future.

At this time, the sound of rapid footsteps sounded from outside the gate, and the scholars stood up one after another. The deputy chief examiner Liu Ling walked in quickly. He coughed heavily and said to everyone: "I'll call you ten people below. Please follow me if you hear the name!"

There was an uproar in the lobby. These are the top ten. No one expected that it would be so soon, and the result would be achieved in just half an hour.

"Is this the top ten?" a scholar asked in a low voice.

“That’s right!”

Liu Ling took out a list and recited loudly: "Zhang Hua, Min County, Fuzhou, Wang Zhihe, Wang Yan, Jiangning County, Jiangdu County, Yangzhou, Wang Ang, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Kaifeng County, Li Yanqing, Tangyin County, Xiangzhou, Zhou Yuan, Yangqu County, Taiyuan County, and Lin Hongtai, Lin Hongtai, above ten people, please follow me!"

Li Yanqing's brain buzzed!, and he actually had his own name, which means that he had already entered the top ten in the provincial examination. What he was most worried about did not happen. The poem with a little emotionality was really recognized by the examiner.

Zhou Chun gently hit Li Yanqing with his elbow, gave him a thumbs up, and Li Yanqing nodded gently.

At this time, Liu Ling whispered: "Please follow me with ten people!"

With an envious look, ten scholars walked out of the crowd and followed Liu Ling along the corridor towards the Daqing Hall.

The interview was held in the side hall of Daqing Hall, and everyone was waiting in a room outside. Liu Ling said to everyone: "The emperor is interviewing you personally. You are the disciples of the emperor. You just need to meet with the disciples' etiquette. There is no need to give a big gift. It is about one meter away from the Dan Palace. At that time, the imperial censor in the palace will guide you, don't look up at the emperor. The emperor asked you to look up and then look up. Answering questions is based on streamlining. Do you have a long and honest discussion. Do you understand?"

Everyone saluted together, "I understand!"

"Very good, please sit down and wait. You will call your names one by one later. Let me say first. The order of name and final ranking has nothing to do with it. It's just the order of the states and prefectures. Don't worry about it."

Everyone sat down one after another, and the ten scholars were a little excited. No matter what, they all entered the top ten, at least they were from the second-class Jinshi.

At this time, Zhao Kai lowered his voice and said to Li Yanqing: "I'm really a little nervous!"

"Are you worried that you won't win the No. 1 pick?"

"No! I'm afraid they really force the top scorer to me. I know that I shouldn't be in the top ten."

Li Yanqing smiled and said, "What's your secret in your heart? Who else do you know among these people besides me?"

"No one knows it!"

"That's fine. You don't know that they are learning. How can you be sure that you are not as good as others?"

"I'm just a feeling!"

Li Yanqing shook his head, "You are thinking too much."

At this time, an eunuch shouted loudly at the door: "Please enter the palace for an interview!"
Chapter completed!