Chapter 39 preamble

The exams in the Great Tang Dynasty were very humane, far from being hated by countless heroes like today, who wanted to burn their books and hurry up. Wen Tingyun, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, was the living Lei Feng in the examination room. He was quick in writing and thinking, and he cheated a lot in every examination. "Quan Tang Poetry Talk" said this old man: "Every time he enters the test, he rhymes with the official rhyme and composes a fu. All eight-pointed hands form eight-pointed rhymes, and the time is called warm eight-pointed hands. Most of them are prosthetic hands for neighbors, and they save several people every day." At that time His cheating mechanism is not perfect, and the examiners still have nothing to do with him.

However, this is not a big deal, and there are even more tongue-in-cheeks.In the spring of the seventh year of Zhenyuan, Emperor Dezong of Tang Dynasty, Du Huangshang, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, was appointed as the chief examiner."Backdoor" figures of various backgrounds came in one after another, which made Master Du very annoyed by the exam, so he had to have a boy servant in the family block the door, and all those who came for the exam would not be seen.Although small people can be dismissed in this way, there are still many guys with great backgrounds who can't even offend Chief Examiner Du: they have to see, they have to listen, and they have to think about it.This time, there were too many people who came through the back door, so that the admission quota stipulated by the state was seriously insufficient, and there were still many people asking for the second place in the first place. Examiner Du was dumbfounded—where can I find so many places for the second place in the first place?What's more, more than half of these recommended people still failed.Let's admit it, there are not enough places, let's not admit it, I can't afford to offend the elders who recommended it, Du Huangshang suffered from insomnia for a few days.

When it came to the third round of the exam, the chief examiner Du couldn't restrain his inner conflict and fear, so he had to ask the candidates for help: "I have a lot of recommendation letters in my hand, but I really can't decide who should be admitted and who should not be admitted. What advice do you guys have? "Yin Shu, an examinee in his seventies, was disrespectful, jumped up and said, "Then I will help you correct the paper!" The more than 500 examinees below actually booed and applauded-people in the Tang Dynasty said, "Jinshi can't do it." ", it seems very reasonable.So after the three exams, Yin Shu checked the papers on the spot, and first decided the second to thirtieth places. Everyone looked at them one by one, but they had nothing to say.Suspense focused on the first person.Du Huangshang asked Yin Shu, we are short of a champion, who are you going to give it to?Old man Yin actually said confidently, I think only Wansheng himself has enough weight!Examiner Du was shocked, there are such unreserved characters in the world?Everyone then passed the paper to read, and sure enough, the article was beautiful and the method was clever, and there was no objection.So old man Yin generously recorded himself as the number one, and another new champion was born.Du Huangshang gratefully pulled old man Yin and said, "Senior, but thanks to you, otherwise I would hardly pass the test!"

In the history of imperial examinations, this is the only case where the chief examiner is grateful to the candidates and calls them "senior".It is said that this play can be regarded as an eternal story. However, such a free and easy and heroic era has also come to an end.In 873 A.D., Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty, a famous Buddhist fanatic, died, and the eunuchs supported a twelve-year-old boy, Xizong, to succeed him.It's time for Wang Gang to untie the knot, the world is in turmoil, and the heroes in the troubled times are eager to try, and it is unknown who will win.

The setting sun at the end of the ninth century slanted on the city of Chang'an.