In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

The night was as cold as water and the sky became dark.

The princes left.

Yan Shu was the last to leave.

Zhao Jun saw that he was hesitant to speak before leaving, and seemed to have something to say to himself, so he offered to see him off.

When you walk out of Guanjia Hall, the fragrance of rice hits your nostrils.

The ears of rice swayed gently in the wind. Under the moonlight, the two people strolled on the lawn outside the palace.

The bamboo forest whirling around them, the fragrance of flowers filled their nostrils, and the reflection of the rockery covered them, hiding both of them in the shadows.

"Zhao Jun."

"Um?"

"The official said you can leave the palace tomorrow."

"Um."

"What are your plans after leaving the palace?"

"You must settle down first, then read carefully and master the meaning of the scriptures, and then go for a walk inside and outside Bianliang City to take a look."

"Well, this is the best. There is no shortcut to learning. The only way to learn is to take it one step at a time."

After Yan Shu finished speaking, Zhao Jun did not continue.

The two of them fell into a brief silence as they walked.

After a while, Yan Shu continued: "There are only more than twenty days until the provincial examination. Is it too late?"

"How will you know if you don't give it a try? The provincial examination shouldn't be that difficult."

"It's really not that difficult. You previously used the eight-legged essay of the Ming Dynasty to take the title from the Four Books and Five Classics. The Song Dynasty is not that complicated. You only need to memorize it."

"Rote memorization is my strong point. Later generations of liberal arts students will also emphasize rote memorization. This should not be a problem for me."

"Don't be discouraged even if you don't pass the exam. The worst thing you can do is ask your Majesty to take the Enke exam again next year. The Enke exam is to change the imperial examination that was originally held every two or three years to once a year. This does not violate the regulations."

"Haha, I don't want to waste a year. I have a lot of things to do."

Zhao Jun smiled.

"That being the case, that's for the best."

Yan Shu's lips twitched twice before he said: "Zhao Jun, don't blame us. We came here the same way back then. It's very gracious for the officials to define this year's scripture as the "Book of Filial Piety", which greatly reduces the difficulty. , You have to work hard.”

"I know."

Zhao Jun said: "I don't blame you, I just think that I should be qualified to let you open a door for convenience. I don't ask you to help me cheat and write answers directly. I just adjust the test difficulty and the proportion of scriptures and meanings. I didn't expect that this would not work." , It just makes me feel a little disappointed. It seems that I am not that important."

"No."

Yan Shu shook his head seriously: "You are very important, more important than our lives. But there are some examples that cannot be used. If you do, it will break the rules. This is something that cannot be changed."

"Okay, I also know that special treatment is not a good thing. I'm not that petty."

Zhao Jun shrugged: "I hope you can pass on your examination experience to me seriously in the future. The provincial examination is still more than twenty days away, and Spring Festival is still half a year away. During this half year, I will be troublesome for you."

The examination of candidates is actually quite simple, consisting of policy analysis, poems, and classic meanings.

Among them, Jingyi only requires memorizing one of the seven classics, and you can choose to apply for it when the time comes.

The key is the Jinshi Department.

The reason why he insisted on taking the Jinshi examination was because the status of other Mingfa subjects, Mingjingjing subjects, and system subjects in the officialdom was lower than that of Gitong Jinshi, and they were more severely discriminated against, and it was basically difficult to be promoted to high positions.

Only Jinshi Ke Yijia can be promoted quickly, have a stable status, and have the possibility of becoming prime minister.

Therefore, there were situations like Zhang Dun in the Northern Song Dynasty. Even though he was admitted to the top three Jinshi, his ranking was relatively low. Because his nephew Zhang Heng won the first place in the exam, he was ashamed of his low ranking and angrily refused to take the exam again.

The content of the Jinshi subject is still mainly poetry, poetry, and essays, including one poem, one poem, and one essay each, five essays, ten essays on the Analects of Confucius, and ten selections of Mo Yi from the Six Classics. It is the "Spring and Autumn" and "Book of Rites" with the largest number of words.

Therefore, even if you choose the relatively simple "Filial Piety Classic" as the test content during the examination, when it comes to the Jinshi examination, you will still have to test the other six classics, and you will still be required to memorize the other six classics by heart.

According to the statistics of Southern Song Dynasty scholar Zheng Genglao, the total number of words in the Song Dynasty version of the Seven Classics at that time was more than 800,000 words, and this was only the content. In addition, all the annotations, interpretations, and explanations of the major Confucian scholars must be memorized. Added up, it may be necessary to memorize at least several million words of scriptures to pass the Jinshi examination.

This is why it is said that the thirty-year-old Ming Jing and the fifty-year-old Jinshi are said to be the same.

Since Zhao Jun understands the history of ancient imperial examinations, he naturally understands this, so he hopes to lower the proportion of classics and meanings and increase the proportion of policies and poems. This request is not excessive in his opinion. After all, his importance is far greater than The entire imperial examination must be high.

But for these Jinshi scholars who have studied hard for decades and memorized countless scriptures before passing the exam, it is completely unacceptable because it involves their principles.

This is where the differences exist.

However, their differences were finally resolved by Zhao Zhen. Zhao Zhen was the emperor and decided that the subject of this year's examination would be "The Classic of Filial Piety", which would not violate the principles and regulations.

After all, "The Classic of Filial Piety" is also one of the seven classics that must be tested, but because of its small number of words and low difficulty, it was basically not tested in the past.

Yan Shu was worried that they had not agreed to Zhao Jun's request, and Zhao Jun was a little dissatisfied, so he came up with an explanation to calm him down.

But Zhao Jun is not a person who cares so much. Since they have their own principles, they should just follow their principles. Now Zhao Zhen can come up with a solution that has the best of both worlds, which is great.

"Yeah."

Yan Shu felt relieved when he heard what Zhao Jun said, and agreed: "Don't worry about these. You can recite the classics first. Let us prepare for what we want to teach you."

At the end, he thought about it and said: "The classics are actually fixed. It's mainly policy essays and poems. These things seem to be your strengths, but the exam content is within the prescribed scope. Whether it is the format of the writing or the prosody of the poems, there are restrictions. You can't just copy any poem you want to pass. No matter how good the copy is, it still has to follow the regulations."

This statement is also a tacit consent that Zhao Jun can copy policy essays and poems in the exam.

After all, is copying future policy essays and poems considered copying? It's hard for you to define this kind of thing, so everyone can only turn a blind eye.

But even if you copy, you have to pay attention to the format, for example, this year's college entrance examination topic is spring, and next year's college entrance examination topic is summer.

If you copy a composition that will get full marks in next year's college entrance examination, even if the writing is good and the meaning is beautiful, it will not be relevant to the topic this year and will still get zero points.

Therefore, they think that the meaning of the classics can be memorized by rote if the memory is good. But the writing format, the rhythm of poetry, and even the brush calligraphy need to be practiced, at least to learn to meet the prescribed topic.

"I know."

Zhao Jun agreed. Although his strengths in the Song Dynasty imperial examination were mainly policy essays and poetry, he could not take it lightly. These are the experiences of Yan Shu and others as experienced people, which are still worth referring to.

The two chatted for a while until they reached the gate of the Chen Gong Gate at the north gate. After saying goodbye to each other, Yan Shu got on the sedan chair waiting outside the gate and left.

"Xiao Lang."

Zhao Jun sent Yan Shu all the way to the palace gate, and a voice suddenly appeared behind him and scared him.

Looking back, Wang Shouzhong had appeared behind him like a shadow, bending over and bowing to him humbly.

Zhao Jun said speechlessly: "Old Wang, do you eunuchs walk without making any sound? It's a bit scary."

Wang Shouzhong kept a smile on his face and said: "The emperor is waiting for Xiaolang to come back."

"Are you monitoring me?"

Zhao Jun walked back and said dissatisfiedly: "I can leave the palace openly tomorrow, and I won't run away."

Wang Shouzhong followed closely behind him, crouching and said: "I am not monitoring Xiaolang, but the emperor said that Xiaolang is the lifeline of the Song Dynasty, and we must protect Xiaolang's safety at all times."

"Isn't that still monitoring me in disguise?"

Zhao Jun didn't hate the feeling of being followed all the time, which made him feel safer, but he still asked a question.

Wang Shouzhong shook his head stubbornly and said, "It's not surveillance, it's protection. The emperor said that Xiaolang can travel all over Bianliang, and even all over the Song Dynasty, but no matter where he goes, even if it's through mountains of swords and seas of fire, he must protect Xiaolang, even if it costs the lives of the little people, or even the emperor's own life."

"Is that so?"

After a little thought, Zhao Jun couldn't help but feel a little moved. He looked up at the dark night sky and whispered, "This brother is not recognized in vain."

The sky was getting darker and darker. When he returned to the wooden house where he lived, he could see Zhao Zhen standing there from a distance. There were palace maids holding lanterns around him to illuminate. When he came over, Wang Shouzhong and the palace maids withdrew by themselves, leaving only him and Zhao Zhen.

"Grandson, what did Tongshugong say to you?"

"Nothing, I just feel a little embarrassed that I can't open a back door for me. I can understand that although it's not blatant cheating, it's not good to be too partial to me."

"I'm glad you think so."

Zhao Zhen smiled and turned his head to see that the house had been cleaned up.

In fact, there is not much stuff, just a big suitcase and a backpack. In addition to clothes and laptops, Zhao Jun will leave the books behind.

At that time, Zhao Zhen will find some people to study those elementary school textbooks. Although the content in them is only related to junior high school, as long as they can be well organized and printed into books, there will be no problem in providing elementary school basic education for the Song Dynasty in the future.

"It's not a good thing to stay in the palace all the time. Since you have the idea of ​​changing the Song Dynasty, you naturally have to go out and walk around. However, the palace will always be your home. Anyway, you live outside Xihua Gate and come back whenever you want."

Zhao Zhen patted Zhao Jun on the shoulder and said with a smile.

Zhao Jun nodded.

He could feel the sincerity of his ancestor.

Compared with those scholar-officials, Zhao Zhen actually has more intention to change the Song Dynasty and keep his Zhao family.

"Okay, rest early."

Zhao Zhen said.

Seeing that he was about to leave, Zhao Jun also smiled and replied: "Brother, remember to abstain from sex and take more Liuwei Dihuang Pills! Give me more little ancestors as soon as possible."

Zhao Zhen staggered and almost fell when he turned his head. Before leaving, he only left a sentence: "Take care of yourself."

Looking at Zhao Zhen's back as he left, Zhao Jun smiled and went back to the house to rest.

Zhao Zhen had bought him a house in Qingtai Street, Changqingfang some time ago, just outside Xihua Gate.

It is definitely not possible to stay in the palace all the time. First, the back garden has been closed for a long time, and the concubines in the harem must be resentful. Second, he must go out for a walk to see the situation of the Song Dynasty before formulating reform opportunities. It is not right to stay in the palace all the time.

So it is time to go out for a walk.

This night, his mood was stable.

Although he was full of expectations for the world outside the palace, this expectation was at most curiosity about ancient society, architecture, and humanities.

As for yearning, it was not.

There is the prosperity of the modern motherland and the convenient environment of the new era.

No one would yearn for a backward and feudal country, even if it was the country where their ancestors lived thousands of years ago.

The next day, early in the morning.

Zhao Zhen and his men got up early to attend the court meeting.

Renzong was very diligent in the early days of his reign. Recently, Zhao Jun had been meeting with them for seven or eight days, which had been too long and could not be delayed any longer.

He got up in the morning and glanced at Zhao Jun. The two talked for a while, and then asked Wang Shouzhong to settle everything and leave.

After washing up, Zhao Jun had a breakfast sent by the imperial room, which was still ordinary porridge and steamed buns. He pulled his suitcase and carried his schoolbag, and followed Wang Shouzhong to Xihuamen like a college student.

Xihuamen is on the left side of Chuigong Hall in Yanfu Palace, separated by Jiying Hall and Huangyi Hall, not far from where Zhao Zhen attended the court. However, he walked along the corridor on the west side of Yeonbok Palace, passing by Longtu Pavilion, but could not see Chuigong Hall.

Under the leadership of Wang Shouzhong, the eunuchs and palace maids passing by the corridor were surprised to see a young man in strange clothes walking on the corridor of Yeonbok Palace.

In a moment, he arrived at the gate of Xihua Gate.

There were a large number of guards standing guard at the gate, and several young people stood under the gate, looking at him eagerly.

One of them was about thirty years old, with a burly figure and a resolute face.

There were three words tattooed on his face - Gongsheng Army!