Pei Gonggui

Loads of roll papers were brought up one after another by the handymen, and the thousands of thin answer sheets contained in them were the fate books of each student——

Whether it is to become prosperous or to reread after a cold window, everything depends on the thousands of words in this volume and the eyes of the examiners.

Marking grades are extremely strict.After the prison officer collected the scrolls, all the rolls had been scribbled by Mi Fengguan one by one, and stamped with the red seal of "Mi Feng Guan Fang" to prevent anyone from opening and spying on the scrolls; and then they will be handed over to the Hanlin Transcript Academy The official scribes copied it with a red pen to prevent officials from deciphering characters and cheating.

However, after the transcription was completed, the imperial court was afraid that some of the transcription officers would take bribes and directly rewrite the answer papers for the examinees. The transcribed copies could not be directly handed over to the examiners for review, but had to be sent to the Ministry of Rites together with the candidates' original papers. After the comparison is correct, the students will print one by one and write the name and place of origin of the person who handled it for inspection, and then it can be handed over to the examiner for reading.

But the examiner is only the lowest rank among the officials participating in the examination, and there are fellow examiners and chief examiners on his head.The test papers that the reviewers think are good can only be approved with the word "recommended", and then these "recommended papers" will be handed over to the same examiner for a second selection. The examiner came to decide whether "middle" or not, and reported the "middle volume" to the imperial court, and recorded it as a tribute.

After the tributes are settled, they still need to review the papers and discuss among the officials, and select those with excellent literary talent, or extremely special political comments, or extremely pleasing to the royal family, and then they can be accepted as candidates for the palace examination. The palace, after being tested by the emperor and tasted by hundreds of officials, is out of the top three.Its head armor is divided into champion, second place, and Tanhua, and it is awarded "Jinshi and rank", the rest of the second is awarded "Jinshi background", and the third is awarded "Same Jinshi background". At this point, the first scientific examination was finally completed.

In this level of student selection, the chief examiner, as the person who leads the marking, naturally has great authority in his hands.

According to the customs of the court, the chief examiners who graded the papers in the past used to rotate among the first and second-rank ministers, and the timing of Pei Jun's promotion to Shao Fu happened to be at the end of the previous round, ranking ahead of the chief examiner of Shangke Zhang After Li Ling, he replaced Cai Yang, who was originally supposed to be the chief examiner, and took away the post of chief examiner that Cai Yang had been looking forward to for many years after entering the cabinet.

In addition, Pei Junben was the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and he had a hand in everything from the bottom-level readers to the selection of the examiners. He was also one of the authors of the questions. By chance, he possessed far more authority than Cai Yang. The chief examiner is getting older, and if he wants to, it's not impossible to hide the truth and cover up the sky with one hand, so everyone in the court stared at him with wide eyes—just like the Yushitai's various examinations and dismissals. out of the officials.And Cai Yang, who was suddenly demoted from the main examiner to the same examiner, should be even more jealous of him.

But what Pei Jun wanted was Cai Yang's jealousy.

Now that the Cai family hates Pei Jun because of the New Deal salt case, they will definitely use clues to plot against Pei Jun.Pei Jun was in a different position, and thought that the most convenient way for the Cai family would be to let Cai Yang play by ear when he was admitted to the hospital for examination papers. Decapitation is the so-called killing two birds with one stone.

Coincidentally, this is what Pei Jun wanted to do to Cai Yang.

And if Cai Yang is blinded by jealousy, it will be easier to be invited into the urn.

On the first day of reading the papers, because the reviewers from the outer court had just started reading the papers, and they hadn't come up with any more recommendable and desirable ones, they sent them to the Huiwen Library for review, so everyone in the library stayed in their respective rooms and lived in peace.In addition, there are resident guards from Yushitai in the outer corridor to strictly prevent fraud, and there are some palace guards with swords patrolling, so the hall is quite leisurely and calm all day long.

Pei Jun had nothing to do in the room, and he didn't want to talk to Feng Jiru over and over again, so he looked through some books in the library early on.But he knew early in the morning that Feng Jiru had received the money and wanted to change the papers for someone else, so he glanced at Feng Jiru from time to time, and dragged people around, lest Feng Jiru rush to change the papers and make the other party Cai Yang in the compartment noticed that it caused big trouble.

So at night, Feng Jiru was constantly instructed by Pei Jun to do this and that, and before he found a chance to go out and be active, it was time to rest.

Different from when writing the questions, the daily necessities of food, clothing and housing during the marking are much more relaxed. There is a special room behind each wing room for the marking officials to rest and take a bath.However, in order to stare at Feng Jiru, Pei Jun couldn't wash up and rest for a long time, and just pretended to be reading the classics. Gradually, Feng Jiru became a little uneasy.

Feng Jiru sat at the round table in the hall with a sad face, and asked Pei Jun respectfully: "Master Pei, don't you rest? You have been watching for a whole day, and your eyes will be exhausted."

Pei Jun leaned on the Luohan couch, put his long legs on the small wooden table, swayed his feet, and said leisurely: "It's okay. This book is interesting. I may not be willing to sleep until I finish reading it. You should wash and rest first."

Feng Jiru glanced at the extremely thick "West Regions Fang Wu Jilu" in Pei Jun's hand, he was speechless for a long while, and his brows were furrowed.

He silently took out the handkerchief and tapped the unnecessary sweat on his forehead, and saw that Pei Jun seemed to be full of interest and couldn't put it down, and he didn't know how long it would be until he fell asleep, seeing that he was not able to survive at his age So, he had no choice but to nod his head, and said with a forced smile: "Then it's better to be respectful than obedient to the lower officials, and here... it's rude."

After finishing speaking, he got up and called the handyman, set up a screen in the back hall to wash, and when he was done washing slowly, he removed the screen, only to find that Pei Jun was really still holding a book and reading under the lamp on the other side.

Feng Jiru pursed his lips, and tentatively said again: "Master Pei is at the top of the etiquette department, but he is still eager to learn. It really makes us feel ashamed... But about tomorrow, the recommendation papers and papers will be delivered. So, my lord, let's take a rest earlier, I have to get up early in the morning to do things."

Pei Jun just stared at the book and said: "It's okay, I go to bed late every day, and I'm used to it. You should rest first, there is no need to be formal."

Feng Jiru's expression became distressed again. Seeing that Pei Jun was indeed unmoved, he had no choice but to say goodbye to Pei Jun again, and reluctantly went to lie down first.More than an hour later, when the moon was hollow, the night was cold and dew heavy, and Pei Jun had finished reading more than half of the book in his hand, Feng Jiru's even and dull snoring came from the other side of the back hall.

After listening for a while, Pei Jun was convinced that it wasn't just pretending, so he put down the book in his hand at ease, asked for water to wash up, then turned off the light, got dressed and went to bed—but he didn't dare to sleep, just Close your eyes and rest your mind, in case Feng Jiru gets up again in the middle of the night and makes trouble.

But in the examination papers, he had to guard against day and night until he had dealt with Cai Yang. He couldn't help but sighed for a while, feeling really tired in his heart.

——In fact, the dispute between officials and officials will always be like this.

In order to survive in the struggle, people have to cling to the dead vines on the shore day and night, all the time. Everyone around them will be drawn into the bottom of the invisible pool and become the burial of those who have lost their footing.So once pulled into this quagmire, there will be no peace in the future, and what often makes the difference between officials and officials is not who is smarter or more powerful than the other, but who is more able to survive than the other.

At this moment, Pei Yan is still in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and was photographed by the opponents of Pei Jun and the central government as fish on the cutting board, so Pei Jun believes that he must not slack off in the slightest, he must hold on and endure, otherwise even if One carelessness can make things irreversible.

In his previous life, he had been alone with Pei Yan for 20 years, and in this life, he would never allow her to die or part with his son Jiang Xuan again.

And when he thought of Jiang Xuan, Pei Jun recalled in Pei Jun's mind the appearance of the child standing by his carriage in the morning and chant poems to see him off, the depression in his heart seemed to gradually fade away.From this, I think that Jiang Xuan is now in the Prince Jin's mansion, and I don't know if he will rely on Jiang Yue's noble and dignified person to accompany him to sleep and tell stories, or if he will lead the dog to gnaw flowers in Jiang Yue's clean courtyard. The wall is screaming, and will it ask Jiang Yue to take him to the street to buy clay figurines...

Thinking of this, he wanted to fly to Prince Jin's Mansion to see for a while, so as to know exactly how Jiang Yue would deal with that rambunctious child——

That must be different from him.Ginger is used to be milder, which is different from what it looks like.

Thinking of this, Pei Jun suddenly found himself calmed down.Although Feng Jiru on the other side is still snoring, there is still Cai Zhang staring at him outside the house, the sky is dark, the mountains and rivers are as dark as wind and rain, but at this moment he is lying on the thin ice with undercurrents and turbulent currents, as long as he thinks of Jiang Yue's words "everything is I", I felt extremely peaceful in my heart.

Such a night without words.Early the next morning, before all the officials in the hall woke up, Pei Jun had already got up and started punching in the corridor. He was still stationed in the same yard, and the guards were chatting and laughing. Only then did I see Feng Jiru yawning and walking out of the wing room, so he had a refreshed and authentic morning speech.

Feng Jiru was already convinced by his boss's spirit, and he said good morning with a heartfelt heart, and then sat beside Pei Jun in a restrained manner and finished breakfast together.

When the two got up, they saw Cai Yang from the opposite room come out, and Pei Jun exchanged greetings with Cai Yang about how he was sleeping, and he couldn't help ridiculing the two or three, causing Cai Yang to wake up early in the morning with a red neck and thick face , but he himself slapped his butt laughingly and went back to the wing to read.

But as soon as he sat down and picked up the book, Feng Jiru took advantage of him not paying attention and raised his foot to go outside.

"Where is Feng Shilang going?" Pei Jun called him to stop.

Feng Jiru was stunned, and his footsteps stopped at the door: "Xia, Xiaguan, go to solve an internal emergency."

Pei Jun raised his eyebrows and nodded, thinking that Feng Jiru was probably in a hurry.After all, if you don't talk to the examiner at this time, then if there is no one in the recommended test that he wants to take care of, then he will be unable to take care of it if he wants to take care of it, and the money collected will have to be returned.

Seeing that Pei Jun just nodded, Feng Jiru didn't ask him to come back and explain his affairs like he had to go to the toilet the day before, so he was overjoyed, and quickly grabbed his robe and ran out.

Pei Jun watched Feng Jiru's back turn around the corner of the side corridor, and saw Cai Yang on the opposite side return to the room. After sitting for a while, he got up, nodded to the few guards and guards who were joking just now, and stared at them. Looking at this place, stuffed some silver locks, and then followed in the direction of Feng Jiru.

Pei Jun had guessed a long time ago that Feng Ji's change of papers in this way should be based on the "joint" he had agreed with the bribed candidates to identify the papers.In this way, he thought, if the evidence of joint fraud can be put on Cai Yang, then what Feng Jiru committed can also be blamed on Cai Yang, and Feng Jiru will not need to plead guilty when the matter comes to light. Ji Ru would do everything possible to help Pei Jun get the slander.

"Joint" originally refers to the continuation of each part of the examination paper. The words and sentences at the juncture can be used to bribe officials and cheat more. The secret code of what words to carry on the topic and what words to conclude.

Candidates write the essay according to the agreed words and phrases, and officials who accept bribes do not need to remove the seal or identify handwriting to identify the roll paper.And Feng Jiru has worked in the Ministry of Rites for many years as an official. Although his official position has not changed much all the year round, he has long been well versed in the principles of scientific examinations, so he hurried to the Ministry of Rites to reset the test papers as early as after the questions were written. It should be that the rolls that he wants to move are arranged in a specific order, so that after the markers draw lots, they can calculate which number of markers the roll is in by placing and distributing it, so as to find the person who bribed him, saving money. Time and effort.

The only difficulty is that the examiners, like those who set the questions, are determined by the palace, and will be notified on the first night when the examiners go to the Huiwen Hall. Before all the examiners arrive at the Huiwen Hall, except for the chief and deputy examiners , and they don't even know who is who.Therefore, if Feng Ji wanted to change the papers that bribed candidates into recommendation papers in advance from the examiners, and then arranged for the papers to be recommended to him, he could only stay in the Huiwen Museum and act temporarily.

On the other side, Feng Jiru had already walked quickly to the residence of the judges in the outer courtyard.Because he was the deputy examiner of this subject, the guards were not surprised that he came, they only thought that he was here to assign affairs.

Feng Jiru first pretended to ask a few questions about the slowness of grading papers, saying that he must present some good papers today, and so on. Later, he secretly asked the acquaintance of the library staff to disclose the situation of the lottery the day before, and thus calculated what he wanted. Who took care of the rolled paper?

And the person who read the volume was the head of the Ministry of Rites, so Feng Jiru found a pretext for official business, and called the head of the bamboo garden to the side, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and rewarded several guards and resident guards around him. He said that he would instruct one or two in advance to release the list and record the tribute. This is a secret in the court, and I hope to avoid one or two.

The guards and garrison took the money to shut up and walked away. Feng Jiru saw them walking away, so he opened his mouth and promised the chief 200 taels of silver, asking him to help him.

The principal is the principal of the Ministry of Rites, and Feng Jiru is the servant of the Ministry of Rites—not to mention that the chief does not dare to disobey the request of his immediate superior, but only that the 200 taels of silver are just for him to simply recommend one roll and change another. , After all, it is easy money.But all the people are greedy and chaotic, and this money was sent to him by his crooked immediate boss, so why should he have to deal with the money that was brought to his lips?Naturally, he half-pushed and half-answered.

Seeing this, Feng Jiru took out a note with joints, and whispered to the principal, "That student also has some talents, and he only wants to be a tribute student, not a Jinshi, and he will never be eye-catching if he wins the list." , you just be careful and see what you do. There is no need to be afraid, and the benefits are indispensable. You must find a way to put the papers that are sent up at that time in the second box, so that they will be brought to the library and belong to me. Remember not ?”

The chief took the note and nodded.Seeing that it was all right, Feng Jiru went back and forth without delay.

The master waited for Feng Jiru to go away, carefully memorized the joints on the note, put it in his sleeve and went to the marking room.But as soon as he entered the door, he saw that there was already a person sitting in his marking room——

This person is the chief examiner of this subject, his boss's boss, Pei Jun, Minister of Rites.

The chief's legs softened and he supported the door frame. Before he could meet the ceremony, Pei Jun smiled at him kindly: "Master Feng just ordered you to do something? What did you say?"

The principal immediately knew that Feng Jiru's whereabouts had been revealed, and made Pei Jun aware of what he had done. At this time, his heart was beating drums and his head was in a daze. The official recommended a paper... said to put it in a box and pass it to him, and returned, sent, and sent a share to the lower official, and the lower official also obeyed the order—”

"What kind of joints?" Pei Jun took a leisurely seat at his marking table, stretched out his hand and said, "Come, show this court."