The time for copying was limited to three days, and the time for examination was one day. The time for marking was also three days, for a total of seven days. It was the first imperial examination after the restoration of the Tang Dynasty.

This was the largest imperial examination after the fall of the Tang Dynasty. Due to the defeat of the Southern Tang Dynasty in Qianzhou, there were more than a thousand candidates from outside Lingnan, as well as some from Bohai, Goryeo, Japan, and Champa.

The total number of candidates including the Prefecture of Jiaozhou and the Protectorate of Jiaozhou exceeded 5,000.

This is a sign of stable rule.

The Protectorate of Champa and the Protectorate of Jiaozhou need a large number of officials, and the Lingnan states also need to eliminate some corrupt officials to purify the officialdom.

Li Jia attached great importance to the first examination after the restoration of the country. Thousands of forbidden troops were deployed in the examination room. In order to prevent cheating, he even sent several examiners to the palace three days in advance.

As for the examination papers, they were drafted by several prime ministers from the Ministry of Rites and the Political Affairs Hall, and then three copies were made for the emperor to choose. On the day before the examination, they worked overtime and printed them on a large scale.

"The saint has good intentions this time!"

With his hands behind his back and wearing official uniform, Sun Zhao looked at the huge statue of Saint Confucius in front of the hall, his thoughts turned over and over again, and he sighed.

For this imperial examination, the emperor had just issued an order three days ago, asking him to serve as the examiner to review the candidates' papers. It can be said that he has great trust. This batch of candidates who have passed the examination will have to be called "teacher" when they become officials in the future.

The network of people is very broad.

After receiving the order, he thought very deeply. Does His Majesty want me to be Prime Minister? That should be the case!

"Mr. Sir!" Then, four fellow examiners also came out and bowed.

They are all editors of the Hanlin Academy. The older one is in his forties and the younger one is thirty years old. Their knowledge is not bad and their qualifications are sufficient. Being able to work with the examiners this time can be regarded as a sign of their future.

A thick stroke will naturally bring joy to your eyebrows.

Moreover, the emperor also told them that if there were no mistakes in the imperial examination, they would be released as officials, either as judges or county magistrates. After all, they had already studied in various ministries and knew some political affairs.

There is only training.

"I was sent by the saint to serve as the chief examiner. In the following period, I hope that you will review it impartially and not be selfish, so that you can live up to the arrangement of the saint!"

Although Sun Zhao was the lowest-ranked husband-in-law, he was already a huge figure to these fellow examiners, so he had to be careful with compliments.

"We'll know!" The four fellow examiners bowed their heads in agreement.

Seeing the respectful attitude of these people, Sun Zhao nodded with satisfaction, took out a piece of silk from his sleeve, took a look at it, and said according to the picture:

"In this scientific examination, I am responsible for conducting the examination. You are all taking the same examination. Thousands of examination papers must be reviewed within three days. If the time is exceeded, I will be the one to blame, and the saint will not be able to explain it.

This is the charter for this review!”

"On the first day, you must pick out all the papers that have typos, stained ink, and taboos and make them waste papers!"

"The remaining examination papers will be divided equally among us. If they are approved, a circle will be drawn with a red pen. Then, several other examiners will review it. Only those with two or more red circles will be approved by me."

"Of course, if more than three of the four of you think it is a good paper, it must be accepted. If I don't agree, it can be passed!"

"On the last day, all the passed examination papers must be ranked. From high to low, there are a hundred and forty in the Jinshi subject, and thirty in the Mingshu and Mingfa subjects. The discarded papers must also be re-examined to prevent omissions!

"

After finishing his statement, Sun Zhao drank tea and then continued with a straight face:

"This scientific examination focuses on strategy and theory, don't mess with the rules. Poems and poems are just trivial matters. The test papers will be sent out later. Follow the regulations just now and don't make mistakes!"

The imperial examinations before the Song Dynasty were basically in the wild stage. The time was uncertain, and the focus of the examination depended on the emperor's wishes. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty liked poetry, so there were a lot of poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty...

Today I met an emperor who emphasized strategic planning. Although everyone felt a little strange, they still adapted to it and followed the emperor's wishes. This is the core of the establishment of the group system.

Soon, under the supervision of the imperial guards, examination papers were delivered one after another, filling the entire courtyard, and the officials were unpacked one by one in front of their fellow examiners, and there were dozens of them.

They are responsible for checking and proofreading the examination papers, of course, only for the first session of Bible study.

Sun Zhao was sitting in his seat. As the examiner, if he did not write, his fellow examiners would not move. As soon as he reviewed the examination papers, the others would follow.

The first thing to be presented is the Sutra, which needs to be filled out whether you are a Jinshi or Mingfa Mingsuan, and it is the same. The test is whether the candidate has a wide range of knowledge and memory, which is considered basic.

They were all superficial questions, very simple. He had good knowledge. After reading the answers, he started reviewing them without raising his head. This one was quite simple. If he got eight of the twenty questions wrong, he would be considered unqualified.

There is no need to review the rest of the policy poems and poems.

After sitting for a whole day, by noon, he had reviewed almost a thousand papers, of which only less than half, or more than three hundred, had passed.

The same was true for the other examiners. There were more than 5,000 papers, and only 2,000 were left. This also shows that Lingnan is indeed a cultural desert.

The next day was not simple. The articles and poems written by the Jinshi subjects were reviewed, and they were required to be comprehensive in both arts and sciences, with no typos. They required a lot of thinking, and they also needed to be reviewed repeatedly by each examiner, which wasted a lot of time and energy.

The Jinshi Section is very important, and it is also the longest to be reviewed. After all three reviews of the Jinshi Section are completed, the Ming Fa and Ming Calculation can begin.

Mingfa is still simple, it is still about pasting scriptures, but it is filled in the Tang law, fifty lines, if you make five mistakes, it will become a waste paper, which is a test of memory.

The Mingshu subject tests nine chapters of arithmetic. It gives some questions and asks candidates to perform calculations, which is quite simple.

At You hour on the third day, all the examination papers were finished and the final ranking began.

"My lord, look, this poem is so wonderful and endlessly memorable!" "The first important thing is the strategy——"

"Mr. Sir, this article is so heart-wrenching that it deserves to be on the list!"

"This policy is well-founded and highly feasible. It should be in the top ten!"

…………

Several examiners began to present their favorite articles in front of Sun Zhao. They were striving for the top ten positions in the Jinshi subject. It didn't matter whether they were clear about the law or calculation. They were determined and there was no room for moving them.

The main power of the examiner is to designate the top ten positions, because only the top ten will be presented to the emperor for his review, and the number one, second and third overall pick will basically be born among these ten people.

"You are all very talented and knowledgeable, and the ones you recommend must be talented people, but the positions for these ten people are already full, so what can I do?"

"Alas!" All the examiners also felt very sad.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Sun Zhao selected the top ten articles, all of which were policy discussions for the second session of the Jinshi subject, and the second session was the most important.

As for those poems and poems, they are the icing on the cake, extra points, and are irrelevant.

The imperial examination was determined by the attitude of the emperor. The imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty loved poetry, so those who were good at poetry could easily pass the examination. However, today's emperor likes strategic discussions, so to the surprise of all candidates, the second strategic examination is the most important.

Therefore, many candidates who specialized in poetry failed the exam.

"Your Majesty, the examination papers for all of you have been delivered!"

The next morning, some examination papers were placed on Li Jia's desk.
Chapter completed!