Chapter 165 Passing the Imperial Examination with Top Honors
Nanjing City.
Today is no ordinary day; the triennial "Autumn Examination" has begun again.
The streets were bustling with traffic and people, with a large number of students coming from outside the city to take the exam.
The "Autumn Examination" was held at the Jinling Examination Hall, not far from the Qinhuai River.
The provincial examination was conducted by Hanlin scholars and Grand Secretaries of the Inner Cabinet, who were selected by the imperial court to serve as chief and deputy examiners. The examination mainly tested the Four Books, the Five Classics, policy questions, and the eight-legged essay.
Perhaps for others, this autumn examination is about their future prospects, but for him, it's just a formality.
Seven days before the provincial examination began, officials from the Ministry of Rites had already sent the examination questions to the Shen residence, along with answers personally written by one of the most talented scholars in the court.
Even without the answer from the Hanlin Academy Vice Minister, Li Boyang was confident he could pass the provincial examination based on his own abilities.
However, whether one could get first place in the provincial examination was another matter. The provincial examination was held only once every three years, and only a dozen or so top scholars were produced in the entire Ming Dynasty. Those who could get first place in the provincial examination basically had the ability to pass the metropolitan examination on their first try.
With ready-made answers, Li Boyang was naturally not so pedantic as to rely on his own abilities. When the provincial examination began, while other students racked their brains and scratched their heads over a question, Li Boyang only needed to recite the questions he had memorized.
The results of the provincial examinations were announced three days after the examinations concluded.
These three days are reserved for the officials in charge of the exam to grade the papers. After the officials have made a preliminary ranking of the scores, they will send the papers to the cabinet for review.
After the cabinet's approval, the examination papers were handed over to the reigning emperor for his seal before being returned to the officials who had supervised the examination, and finally the results were announced.
The officials in charge of the examination had no idea that there was a person named Li Boyang in the Jinling provincial examination. In fact, Li Boyang's examination paper was only ranked third when the officials in charge of the examination first reviewed it.
The saying "there is no first place in literature" is quite apt. If one's writing style doesn't match the preferences of the examiners, no matter how talented one is, they won't be ranked first.
Actually, third place isn't low. More than a thousand people came to Jinling to take the provincial examination, but only a mere thirty passed. The pass rate of three per thousand is like a thousand soldiers crossing a single-plank bridge.
However, when the examination papers for the Nanjing provincial examination were sent to the Grand Secretariat, Li Boyang's paper naturally became the first one, regardless of his agreement with Zhu Yuanzhang.
Given that the current head of the cabinet is his disciple Liu Bowen, no one would dare to object to him being ranked number one.
In reality, the deal with Zhu Yuanzhang was mostly to guarantee first place in the palace examination. Liu Bowen could handle the provincial and metropolitan examinations himself, because the emperor had no right to interfere in these two examinations.
Only the palace examination was entirely based on the emperor's preferences. Whoever the emperor said would be the top scholar of the year was the top scholar. In history, there were quite a few cases where the second-ranked candidate in the provincial examination was selected as the top scholar.
After the cabinet ranked Li Boyang first in the Nanjing provincial examination, Zhu Yuanzhang readily stamped the seal, even though he still couldn't figure out what Li Boyang was really up to.
When the results of the national provincial examination were released, Li Boyang's name immediately appeared at the top of the list in Nanjing.
This immediately attracted the attention of those who were interested. As you know, many aristocratic families have inextricable ties with the martial arts world, so they naturally knew that the number one martial arts master in the Central Plains was Li Boyang, the Blood-Handed Butcher.
People in the martial arts world were wondering why Blood Hand Butcher had suddenly resigned from his position at the Six Doors. It turned out he had gone to take the imperial examination.
This surprised many people, but many more were relieved, thinking that Blood Hand Butcher had dominated the martial arts world enough and was now looking for excitement in Shilin.
Many martial arts sects celebrated for several days, and as long as Blood Hand Butcher didn't cause harm to the martial arts world, they didn't care where he went.
However, Li Boyang obviously didn't care about the opinions of people in the martial arts world. After winning first place in the provincial examination and becoming the top scholar, he felt that the pressure of this dream world binding him had lessened a bit.
Once he obtains the top scholar title, he will be completely free from the constraints of this dream world and leave it.
It happened seven days after the autumn imperial examinations ended.
The imperial court announced news that scholars had been eagerly awaiting.
The first imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty will be held in three months.
This imperial examination was held in the form of a special examination, and then it became a regular practice to hold it every three years.
The news caused a sensation in Shihlin.
The candidates, who had been waiting for the imperial examinations for nearly ten years, were moved to tears when they heard that the court was finally going to hold a special examination. They had waited so long, and finally, their time had come.
This special imperial examination is of extraordinary significance, as it will produce the first top scholar in the history of the Ming Dynasty, the best opportunity to leave a mark on history.
Just like the Olympics, the champions are remembered, but who remembers the runners-up?
Scholars from all over the country who had achieved the rank of Juren immediately prepared oxcarts and horse-drawn carriages, flocking to Nanjing like a river crossing a vast expanse of water, with no one willing to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The allure of becoming the first top scholar in the imperial examination since the founding of the Ming Dynasty was immense; even renowned scholars who had long secluded themselves from the world came out of seclusion to take the exam.
A month after Enke's announcement, the number of candidates registered by local governments had already exceeded everyone's expectations.
In a normal imperial examination, the number of candidates nationwide is around three thousand, but this time, the number of candidates registered is nearly ten thousand.
As these people arrived in Jinling one after another, the inns throughout the city were instantly full, and there were even cases where people couldn't find a place to stay even if they paid ten times the price.
Moreover, the businessmen of Jinling were overjoyed when these people arrived. These scholars were prominent figures in various places and were naturally not short of money, so they spent lavishly.
It can be said that the imperial examination alone boosted the economy of Nanjing, something that even the cabinet of the time did not expect.
However, if these people knew that the top scorer in this imperial examination had already been decided internally, and if they could defeat Li Boyang, Li Boyang would probably be torn apart by the angry scholars.
Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in the world. Those who knew that Li Boyang had secretly decided on the top scholar and the crown prince were at least at the level of Grand Secretaries of the current dynasty. Naturally, these people would not have been so careless as to spread the word everywhere.
Just like the provincial examination, Li Boyang received the questions for the metropolitan examination seven days before it began, along with a set of answers.
The selection of the chief examiner for such a significant imperial examination was naturally of paramount importance. The chief examiner for this imperial examination was none other than Liu Bowen, the first Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty and a disciple of Li Boyang.
Interestingly, the answer in Li Boyang's hand was sent by Liu Bowen. Liu Bowen participated in setting the question, and then wrote his own answer.
If the scholars knew this news, they would probably be so depressed they'd vomit blood. How could they stand being treated like this? This is leaving no way out for anyone!