Chapter 130 Grading
"All right!"
Zhao Xing shouted, "It's getting late. Let's fight again next time when we have the chance."
Zhang Guifen took a look at the sky and had to give up. She called a few people to ride their horses to the stable together.
After arriving at the stable and handing the horse over to the groom, Zhang Guifen excitedly pulled Minglan aside and asked, "Who did you learn polo from? Why are you so good at it?"
"I learned it from my grandmother," Minglan said.
"No wonder!"
Although the customs in the Song Dynasty had not yet been influenced by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and became so strict.
However, due to the flourishing literary style, scholars did not like polo and other things very much, and thought they were very vulgar.
Not to mention women.
Even noble families gradually try to educate their children like scholarly families.
However, Old Lady Sheng was the only daughter of Marquis Yongyi and was deeply loved. Her situation at home was similar to that of Zhang Guifen.
Even though few women played polo, Marquis Yongyi did not stop Old Lady Sheng.
When Mrs. Sheng was a girl, she also left a legend on the polo field.
Zhang Guifen also heard some legends about Old Lady Sheng when she was a child, but as time passed, fewer and fewer people talked about it, and she almost forgot about it.
Now she was not surprised to hear Minglan say that she learned polo from Old Madam Sheng.
"When we have time in the future, let's make an appointment to play polo together." Zhang Guifen said with a smile.
Mrs. Wu’s polo field is not only open during polo matches, but is open all year round.
You can come and play anytime.
In Zhang Guifen's opinion, Minglan must like polo since she is so good at it.
If a woman likes polo, she must not be a spoiled person, and her liking for Minglan increases sharply.
"Yeah." Minglan nodded.
The four girls chatted all the way to the stands, and Zhao Xing asked them to sit down and rest.
"Your Highness, the Sixth Miss and the others have made an appointment with me to play polo together when we have time in the future." Zhang Guifen said with a smile.
"Okay, I'll let them know later. If you want to play polo in the future, just come here directly." Zhao Xing said.
His father was frugal and usually never left the palace, let alone came here.
Jinmingchi has almost become his villa.
Zhao Xing wished that Zhang Guifen and the others could get together often to play and keep in touch with each other.
In his opinion, the harem struggles and vying for favor are one aspect, but the other is just too much boredom.
Don't they just like to fight each other?
By the way, I’ll invent mahjong or something like that later, so that they can get together and play mahjong when they have nothing to do, or play polo or something like that occasionally, to promote harmony.
Zhao Xing remembered that there was a royal villa with hot springs outside the city, so he decided to take them there to soak in the hot springs.
But this plan will have to wait. If I take them to the hot springs now, they can’t do it together.
Taking a bath is more fun when you take it together. Haven’t you seen that many people in later generations like to take a bath in a big bathhouse in winter?
Ahem...don't think too much.
"It's getting late, let's go take a shower, change clothes and go back." Zhao Xing said.
It was almost dusk, and we couldn't stay here overnight.
Zhao Xing doesn't care, but Zhang Guifen and the others certainly don't.
……
Zhao Xing rested for a few days, and then the palace continued to send him gifts.
But he doesn't have to study now. He only needs to listen to a lecture by a Hanlin scholar every few days. It's quite leisurely.
After that, the relationship between the four girls improved a lot. A few days later, Zhang Guifen organized a group and went to Jinming Lake for a day.
Zhao Xing did not go this time. Most of the time, he still had to let them be alone together. It was not convenient for them to talk if he was there alone.
In the evening, Zhao Xing asked Yu Yanran and was relieved to learn that they got along well.
The four people have different personalities, but Zhang Guifen is tolerant and Yu Yanran is not a competitive person.
Although Minglan is very resourceful and scheming, she is a smart person with a clear mind.
Although some people are smart, they may end up being too smart for their own good.
Minglan is smart but also very clear-headed. As for Rulan, although she is a bit spoiled, she has become much more restrained after being trained by Old Lady Sheng.
Although Rulan is spoiled, she is not stupid and is very honest in front of Zhang Guifen.
After learning this, Zhao Xing felt relieved.
Early that morning, Zhao Xing arrived at the Ministry of Rites by car.
The Minister of Rites personally waited at the door to greet him, led Zhao Xing to a heavily guarded courtyard, and then took his leave.
This is where the test papers will be marked.
According to regulations, examiners must remain in isolation during the entire process of marking answer papers and are not allowed to contact outsiders, who are not allowed to enter.
The Minister of Rites did not participate in the work of marking examination papers, so naturally he was not qualified to enter.
Zhao Xing only brought Sanshui and Gu Tingye into the yard, and the rest of them stayed outside.
"Your Highness is welcome!"
Hai Wenyou was waiting in the yard with dozens of examiners. When he saw Zhao Xing come in, he bowed to him.
"No need for formalities. Thank you all for your hard work." Zhao Xing said with a smile.
"These are our duties. It's not hard!" everyone shouted.
"I heard that all the test papers have been marked?" Zhao Xing asked.
The reason he came here was because Hai Wenyou asked the guard to pass on a message that all the test papers had been marked.
Now, thirteen days have passed since the end of the imperial examination, and the results will be announced in two days.
"Your Highness, we have finished marking them. I and the other examiners have selected a total of 273 answer sheets, and would like Your Highness to review them. If Your Highness has no objection, the names will be announced and listed on the list." Hai Wenyou said.
"Take me to have a look." Zhao Xing said.
"Your Highness, please!"
Hai Wenyou brought Zhao Xing to a public housing unit where a large box was placed.
"Your Highness, here are the answer sheets of the 273 selected candidates." Hai Wenyou said.
"Open the box." Zhao Xing said.
Upon hearing this, Sanshui hurried forward and opened the box. Zhao Xing took out a copy at random, but without looking at the poems and classics, he directly found the policy essay answer sheet and started reading it.
Although there were only a few thousand people taking the imperial examination, if we count from the county examination, there were hundreds of thousands of people taking part in each examination.
More than two hundred people, basically one picked out of thousands of people.
Although the test questions set by Zhao Xing were a bit strange, the answers and essays that were carefully selected were still very well written.
The document in his hand tells how to control the floods of the Yellow River.
The Yangtze River and the Yellow River are both mother rivers, but in the hearts of ancient people, the Yellow River, the mother river, was not popular.
Because in ancient times the Yellow River would flood once every two or three years on average.
The management of the Yellow River has been a huge headache for every dynasty.
Zhao Xing didn't know much about water conservancy and couldn't tell whether some of the methods mentioned in this article were feasible.
But he felt very relieved, at least the article talked about facts and was not empty talk.
Zhao Xing spent the entire morning in the Ministry of Rites, looking at the selected answer papers, and only read the policy essays.
These articles covered all aspects, and Zhao Xing even saw several that stated the pros and cons of the court and proposed how to solve them.
Zhao Xing agrees with many of the viewpoints raised in some articles.
It seems that the questions I set this time have selected quite a few talented people.
However, Zhao Xing did not think that it was possible to tell whether these people were talented or not just by looking at their articles.
Even if it is, it only shows that he is talented.
Many people are talented, but talent is only the means for their advancement.
Some articles propose how to treat the people well, but when the person who wrote the article becomes an official, he may still exploit the people.
Just like the author of "Song of the Peasants", Zhao Xing had always been curious when he learned "Song of the Peasants" in his previous life, why teachers of other poems would tell some stories related to the authors, or at the very least give a brief introduction to the authors.
But when teaching Minnong, it was not even mentioned.
Only when I grew up did I realize that the author of "Pity the Farmers" did not feel pity for the farmers at all.
Therefore, a person's ability has no direct relationship with whether he is a good official.
(End of this chapter)