Chapter 344

The great purge continued, and the metropolitan examination advanced in tandem.

On the twenty-eighth day of the second month, the results of the Gengchen metropolitan examination were posted on schedule.

The long street before the examination hall gates could no longer be called a street.

It had become a pot of boiling porridge.

Six thousand candidates, along with their respective page boys and servants, plus countless idlers and onlookers — nearly ten thousand people pressed together in a dense mass, heads bobbing, shoulders rubbing.

The stench of sweat, the dust, and the almost tangible anticipation and anxiety mingled together, nearly suffocating.

"Make way! Make way!"

"Stop shoving! You're stepping on my foot!"

"My examination shoes!!! Who stepped on my examination shoes!"

The clamor, shouts, and quarrels merged into a colossal wave of noise, surging skyward.

Zhang Pu and his party were blocked beyond the long street, halting at the sight.

Xia Yunyi was squeezed until his face was bright red and his headscarf had gone askew; he shouted at the top of his lungs to Zhang Pu ahead of him:

"Brother Gandu! At this rate, never mind seeing the list — we won't even get near the examination hall's outer wall!"

Though Zhang Pu was equally disheveled, his expression remained fairly composed.

He turned his head slightly and said, his breathing somewhat unsteady:

"Keep calm."

"The essays are already finalized, and the ranks have already been marked in vermilion ink."

"If one's name is there, it is there. What difference does it make to learn of it a moment earlier or later?"

So he said, yet his gaze remained fixed intently on the distant spirit screen where the imperial notice was hung.

Zhang Cai beside him heard this, let out a great laugh, and punctured his pretense without mercy.

"Nicely said! If you truly weren't anxious, you'd be sitting comfortably in the guild hall drinking tea, waiting for the guild servants to report the results. Why drag us all out here before dawn to suffer?"

At these words, Xia Yunyi, Xu Qian, Jiang Can, and the others around them all burst out laughing.

Just as the group jested among themselves, a voice interjected from the side.

"Gentlemen, might you be here to view the results?"

The group turned to look and saw a middle-aged man, his face wreathed in smiles, watching them.

"Our establishment's second floor has a superb vantage point for viewing the list — one tael of silver per person, an unmatched view!"

Zhang Cai frowned and said:

"You scoundrel, what nonsense are you spouting? The area around the examination hall is strictly off-limits for spying. What second-floor shop could there possibly be?"

The middle-aged man took no offense; he chuckled and pointed toward a distant two-story building facing the street.

"Sir, do you see it? The second floor of my humble shop has a window opened up, directly facing the imperial notice — perfectly clear!"

The group followed the direction of his finger and indeed saw a small shopfront situated on the neighboring street, its second-floor window wide open.

Zhang Cai rolled his eyes and said bluntly:

"It's so far away — even if you can see the list, how could you possibly make out the names on it?"

"That's no list-viewing spot — it's clearly a theater seat."

The middle-aged man's smile did not waver:

"To be honest with you gentlemen, this humble one has a relative who works at the Wensi Institute. A few days ago, he gave me a rare little trinket."

He raised both hands to mime its shape.

"A brass telescope!"

"The electric kind!"

"Though it's a cast-off defective piece, within a hundred-odd paces, reading the names on the imperial notice is more than sufficient!"

A telescope!

Everyone's eyes lit up at once.

Seeing their interest, the middle-aged man added more fuel to the fire.

"All you sirs are dragons among men. This humble one will add one more word: if any of you sirs has his name inscribed on the golden roster today, I shall take not a single copper for viewing the list!" He rubbed his hands together and said with a fawning grin:

"All I ask... all I ask is that you leave a sample of your calligraphy for this humble shop, so that we too may catch a whiff of the Star of Literature's immortal aura!"

Zhang Pu, hearing this, could not help but laugh.

"You certainly know how to dream. Where in the world does a few taels of silver buy a jinshi's calligraphy?"

"No need for such trouble. Today, I'll cover the viewing fee for all my brothers here."

"Come, lead the way!"

The attic was not large, but it was tidied up very cleanly.

A square table, a few high-backed armchairs, and a small desk set by the window — upon the desk stood a brass monocular telescope. The window was wide open, and the imperial notice on the distant spirit screen was indeed within the field of view.

Zhang Pu, as the exclusive sponsor of this outing, took it upon himself without hesitation, picked up the telescope, and after only a brief adjustment, let out a cry of wonder. "What a fine telescope! The names on the imperial notice are indeed perfectly clear."

He adjusted the angle, starting from the top of the list and slowly moving downward, reciting aloud:

"The Gengchen metropolitan examination. First place, Huiyuan..."

His voice paused slightly.

"Cao Xun, of Jiashan County, Jiaxing Prefecture, Zhejiang."

As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone's gaze turned to Xia Yunyi.

Jiashan County was precisely Xia Yunyi's hometown.

Xia Yunyi was also greatly surprised, and then exclaimed in admiration:

"I never expected it would be him."

"But Cao Xun's essay — its momentum opens and closes with power, its reasoning profound — was already quite famous in the county school. His taking this top conference honor is perfectly reasonable." The others nearby chimed in one after another, saying they must seek out the Metropolitan Graduate Exemplar's essay later and study it thoroughly.

Only Zhang Cai was the most impatient. He grabbed Zhang Pu by the shoulder. "Forget the top honors — hurry and look for our names! Quick, quick, quick!"

Zhang Pu, shaken by him until he was somewhat helpless, rolled his eyes.

"What's the rush? If it's yours, it's yours in the end. If it's not, rushing won't help."

Despite his words, he still skipped straight past the names of the Five Classics Champions and began scanning carefully downward.

At this, the entire loft fell utterly silent.

Everyone held their breath, their hearts in their throats.

Time seemed to stretch unbearably long.

At last, Zhang Pu's voice rang out again, tinged with a trace of joy.

"Sixty-seventh: Shi Kefa, Xiangfu County, Kaifeng Prefecture!"

Shi Kefa, standing at the back, instantly flushed crimson. His fists clenched, unable to contain his excitement, he swung them fiercely downward!

"I passed!"

"Congratulations, Xianzhi!"

Everyone offered their congratulations, and the atmosphere immediately grew warm.

After the congratulations, all eyes returned once more to Zhang Pu, awaiting the next name.

At this, even Zhang Pu himself felt a thread of anxiety. The hand holding the telescope grew faintly damp with sweat.

His gaze swept rapidly across the list.

After another moment, his voice rang out again.

"One hundred and thirty-second: Xu Qian!"

"One hundred and seventy-second: Jiang Can!"

"Three hundred and twenty-fourth: Zhang Cai!"

With every name he read, a burst of cheers erupted from the crowd.

Zhang Cai, in particular, broke out in a hot sweat from the shock.

Three hundred and twenty-fourth!

That meant that without the hundred extra places from the special grace examination, this session would not have had him.

How could such a feeling not stir the heart?

He could not help but slap Zhang Pu on the back. "You rascal Zhang Gandu, how dare you hide my name so deep!"

Six had come together, and four had actually ascended the dragon gate — a probability that already exceeded everyone's expectations.

For a time, the loft was brimming with joy.

Yet within this joy, the atmosphere was gradually growing subtle.

Because the names of the last two had still not appeared.

Zhang Pu, and Xia Yunyi.

Everyone fell silent, watching Zhang Pu.

Fine beads of sweat had already seeped from Zhang Pu's temples. The hand holding the telescope was perfectly still, his gaze nailed dead to that yellow paper that decided countless men's fates — scanning it once, and again.

Time slipped by, minute by minute, second by second.

The air in the loft seemed to solidify.

The sky-shaking cheers and wails from downstairs now sounded impossibly distant.

At last, Zhang Pu slowly, very slowly, lowered the telescope in his hand.

He was silent for a moment, then smiled with release.

"It seems… in this session, I, Zhang Pu, have no name on the list."

He looked toward Xia Yunyi, hesitated a moment, then spoke.

"Brother Xia… you—"

Xia Yunyi said nothing. He only silently took the telescope from Zhang Pu's hand and raised it to his eye.

A long while later, he too lowered the telescope, let out a long sigh, and said no more.

At the same moment, at the other end of the long street.

The brothers Song Yingsheng and Song Yingxing had finally squeezed their way out of that suffocating tide of people.

Their clothes, soaked through with sweat and stained with countless layers of dust, clung to their bodies in crumpled disarray, making them look utterly bedraggled.

Yet more bedraggled than their attire was Song Yingsheng's mood.

He had not passed.

Once again, yet again, he had not passed.

He was already fifty years old.

His half a lifetime, it seemed, had been lived solely for that thin sheet of yellow paper.

From binding up his hair to receive instruction, to now, with both temples streaked white, he had poured all his years, all his energy, into this bottomless pit. He had once been a famed child prodigy in his village, once full of high spirit, believing that plucking the cassia branch from the moon palace was but a turn of the hand away.

Yet reality had trampled him underfoot again and again.

Now, it was not merely that he could not out-compete the others in the same examination.

He could not even out-compete the self he had been thirty years ago.

Where exactly should the road ahead lead?

Should he try one more session, or enter the Imperial Academy to study, and then simply wait for selection by the Ministry of Personnel?

The two walked forward in the deepest silence.

On both sides of the street, it was nothing but the myriad faces of those who had failed the examinations or those who had seen their names on the list.

Acquaintances among the juren were bowing to each other and exchanging congratulations, their faces glowing with delight, their laughter so hearty and bright it grated on the ears.

There were others like them, heads hung low, walking away in silence like the walking dead.

Still others, without the slightest regard for appearances, slumped to the ground, beating their chests and stamping their feet, wailing and sobbing — these were, almost without exception, men whose hair had already gone white. All the myriad faces of human life, played out to the extreme on this one short street.

Without realizing it, the two brothers had reached the mouth of the street.

Here, at some unknown moment, a crude little stall had appeared — it certainly had not been there when the brothers first passed through.

A young man in short fighting garb stood atop a long bench, a sheaf of papers waving in his hand, shouting at the top of his lungs:

"The latest edition of the Great Ming Times, hey!"

"Blockbuster news! Blockbuster news the juren masters absolutely must read!"

"An imperial decree has come down from the court! It concerns the future prospects of every juren master here!"

"Official price five coppers — your humble servant here does the legwork and earns a bit of hardship money, just twenty coppers, hey! Last fifty copies, first come, first served!" Song Yingxing, originally filled with frustration, stopped dead in his tracks the moment he heard the words "concerns the future prospects of juren."

He glanced at his elder brother, whose spirit had wandered off somewhere, then turned and squeezed his way to the front of the stall.

"You there, young fellow, what nonsense are you shouting? The examination results were just posted — what blockbuster news could there possibly be?"

The young man, seeing a customer approach, gave a cheeky grin, jumped down from the bench, and held up a newspaper with a smile:

"This gentleman here, your humble servant wouldn't dare spout nonsense. What's printed on this — this is a memorial submitted by a Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, with an edict personally endorsed in red by His Majesty! The juren masters truly cannot afford not to read it! It concerns their future prospects!"

Song Yingxing reached out to take it, but the young man stepped back, rustling the newspaper in his hand noisily, smiling without a word.

Song Yingxing was angered to the point of amusement by this mercenary display, but could not be bothered to argue. He simply counted out twenty copper coins from his sleeve and slapped them onto the stall. "Hand one over, quickly!"

"Right away! Master, take it and hold it well — may you soar ten thousand miles!" The young man, nimble and deft, pocketed the money and handed over a copy of the newspaper.

Newspaper in hand, Song Yingxing strode quickly back to Song Yingsheng's side.

"Elder Brother, take a look at this."

Song Yingsheng came back to himself, his gaze falling onto the coarse paper.

The two brothers leaned in together and looked at the front page of the newspaper.

It was a memorial from Li Guopu, Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat: Memorial Requesting the Rectification of Corrupt Practices Among Newly Selected Jinshi.

"... The civil examinations are the great rite by which the state selects talent; the recommended scholars and tribute students are all the finest blossoms of the realm, and those who attain the highest rank are the very crown of those blossoms. Yet of late, corrupt practices have proliferated in the examination halls, causing deep and lasting harm."

"Once a candidate passes the examination, instead of thinking how to serve the nation, his first concern is to curry favor. He pays obeisance to his chief examiner and section examiners, currying attachment to each in turn, amassing lavish gifts. The expenses of a single year easily run to six or seven hundred taels of silver."

"He then dispatches idlers to race back home day and night to carry the news, demanding rewards without limit — lavish gratuities that again easily run to several hundred taels."

"Reckoned thus, at the very beginning of his career, before he has even been appointed to office, a thousand taels have already been thrown away like water..."

"... Now, a newly selected jinshi's annual salary is less than a hundred taels."

"To be saddled with enormous debts before even taking office — when he arrives at his post, in order to repay his private debts, how can he not ruthlessly exploit the common people? How can he not engage in graft and rot the administration?"

"When the very source is foul, to seek a clear stream is like climbing a tree to catch a fish!"

"This subject prostrates himself and begs that, beginning with the wuchen examination of the first year of the Yongchang era, the statutes be strictly reinforced and these accumulated abuses be thoroughly eradicated!"

"First: In all matters of paying obeisance to chief examiners and section examiners, the old precedents of the dynasty shall be restored. Only a square of plain silk and one volume of books shall be permitted as tokens. Any who dare to lavish costly gifts or engage in private transactions — upon discovery, their degrees shall be stripped and they shall never again be employed!"

"Second: In all matters of the metropolitan examination results, they shall be transmitted to the prefectures and counties solely through the Capital Gazette. The private dispatch of runners to carry the news is strictly forbidden. Any marketplace idlers who dare to use this as a pretext to demand lavish rewards — once verified, they shall immediately be placed in the cangue, the reward silver recovered, and they shall be banished to military service beyond the passes, with no leniency whatsoever..."

"Third..."

The two brothers finished reading the memorial and for a moment were utterly speechless.

Song Yingsheng's mood had already shifted from dejection to fury!

Song Yingxing was so angry his whole body trembled. He pointed at the newspaper-selling youth and roared:

"You scoundrel! What does a memorial like this — forbidding obeisance gifts to examiners, banning the good-news gratuities — what does it have to do with us, juren who have failed the examination!"

"You wretch... this is truly... truly going too far in bullying people!"

Damn his mother!

Song Yingsheng had not even made the list — what qualification did he have to send gifts to an examiner? What good-news announcement was there to reward?

Reading this memorial, in their eyes, was nothing less than rubbing salt into a wound!

The young man, who had been happily counting his copper coins, was startled by Song Yingxing's roar.

But he did not take offense. He merely gave a couple of dry laughs and pointed at the newspaper in Song Yingxing's hand.

"Master, why are you in such a hurry?"

"If your humble servant dares to do business here without some truly explosive material, wouldn't I be afraid of getting beaten to death by all you masters?"

"Turn it over and look — this front page is for the newly selected jinshi to read. This second page, now... that is for you to read!"

"Finish reading it first. If the goods truly don't match the description, then you can curse me out — it won't be too late!"

Song Yingxing forcibly suppressed the wicked fire rising in his heart, drew a deep breath, and flipped the newspaper over to the back.

Song Yingsheng's gaze unconsciously followed.

This page was a memorial jointly submitted by Yang Jingchen, Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Wen Tiren, Chancellor of the Imperial Academy: Memorial Proposing the Selection of Juren to Fill Posts in the New Policies. "The scholars recommended by the provinces are all outstanding talents selected by the court. They have studied by the light of the snow and the glow of fireflies, toiling bitterly for over a decade. Many harbor grand designs within their breasts and aspire to serve the age." "Yet the spring examinations are narrow, the quotas fixed. Many men of talent have repeatedly stumbled in the arena of fame, wasting year after year, until their hair turns white from poring over the classics, returning home white-haired and empty-handed — truly a matter for profound lament..." "The court has nurtured scholars for a hundred years, yet allows men of ability to languish trapped within the examination system — this is indeed a great regret of the realm..."

"Now that His Majesty has renewed the governance, a hundred undertakings are being revived. Everywhere there is an urgent need for capable ministers who understand the principles of statecraft and are seasoned and decisive. How can we sit by and watch the pillars of the state grow old and die among the weeds, possessing talent yet unable to serve their sovereign and father in the field..."

"... Your subjects, at the risk of death, make this request, begging His Majesty to open wide the gates of recruitment! All juren of the current and past examinations who are willing to devote themselves to the new policies and serve the nation — permit them to register their names at the Ministry of Rites and be assigned to the Imperial Academy for study."

"The Imperial Academy shall also adapt its teaching regulations, examining and assessing students solely on practical matters of statecraft and governance. After a period of three months, their strengths and weaknesses shall be tested. Those who prove to be talents well-versed in practical affairs shall be sent to the Ministry of Personnel for selection and directly appointed to substantive assistant posts in the various new policy offices..."

Reading to this point, the breathing of both brothers quickened.

Juren of this examination... entering the Imperial Academy meant entering the new policies???

What kind of heaven-sent opening was this!

Yet what shocked them even more was still to come.

"... Further considering that there are scholars of talent and ambition unwilling to thus abandon their studies, your subjects earnestly beseech His Majesty to extend grace beyond the law: All juren selected to fill substantive posts in the new policies shall, without exception, be treated under the precedent of Confucian instructors."

"Provided that they pass their performance evaluations and are ranked 'superior,' they shall still be permitted to enter the examination hall while holding their posts and sit for one further examination. Should they render outstanding service in the new policies and achieve exceptional merit, receiving from His Majesty's own hand an imperial endorsement in red, we further beg for the special bestowal of grace, allowing them to sit for three further examinations!"

Madness!

Song Yingxing and Song Yingsheng exchanged a look, their eyes filled with utter disbelief.

Under the Great Ming's regulations, a juren who failed the metropolitan examination faced only two situations.

Making the supplementary list, or not making the supplementary list.

The so-called supplementary list meant one had not formally passed, but the quality was decent. When examiners graded papers, besides the fixed quota, they would also keep some reserve papers, in case any of the originally accepted ones had problems.

These reserve papers were what they called supplementary-list juren.

For supplementary-list juren, the Ministry of Rites would grant them the post of instructor.

And the key point of this post was that even after accepting the instructor's office, juren could still participate in the metropolitan examination again.

To put it plainly — hold office while retaining one's current-examinee status!

And if one did not make the supplementary list, then there were again two situations.

One was to continue preparing and wait to take the examination again three years later.

The other was to enter the Imperial Academy to study, wait for the Ministry of Personnel's grand selection, and then be assigned as a vice magistrate, registrar, or some such assistant official.

But those who took the second path were in fact voluntarily giving up their current-examinee status; henceforth they could only climb upward starting from assistant posts.

The truly outstanding could rise to the post of Minister, but for most, reaching Prefect was generally considered a very impressive endpoint.

Therefore, as a rule, so long as there was still some hope,

most juren who failed the metropolitan examination would only take the two paths of instructor or returning home.

Only those truly old and hopeless would take the path of the Imperial Academy and the Ministry of Personnel's grand selection.

This also meant that the Great Ming's assistant officials were filled with many juren-background officials who were aged and had little time left.

In fact, the post of instructor had also been ignored by everyone at first.

This led to official schools throughout the realm falling into neglect, and cultural and educational endeavors suffering greatly.

Where there was a problem, there was a solution.

And so the treatment of instructors began to rise continuously.

In the eighth year of Tianshun, an edict ordered that instructors serving in an acting capacity, whose term was complete and due for promotion, and who were under forty years of age, could, if they wished to take the metropolitan examination, be permitted to do so.

That is, if one had served out the term and was still young, then one could continue with the metropolitan examination.

In the twenty-third year of Chenghua, those who had served as instructors for six years and had meritorious records were permitted to take the metropolitan examination.

This time, the "young in age" clause was directly removed — so long as one's performance evaluation was decent, one could continue with the metropolitan examination.

By the Hongzhi era, they simply made it so that after serving a full nine years, regardless of whether one had any merit, one was directly permitted to take the metropolitan examination.

It was through this whole series of reforms that the instructor's post, originally a cold bench, became the hot commodity it was today.

And now, the court was actually extending this privilege of retaining one's examination qualification to those failed juren willing to devote themselves to the "New Policies practical affairs"! "Elder Brother! Elder Brother!"

Song Yingxing's hand suddenly clenched tight, nearly tearing Song Yingsheng's sleeve.

"This is simply an immense act of grace!"

"To be able to draw a salary while devoting oneself to the New Policies, and still sit the examinations again — is this not killing two birds with one stone?"

"If the examinations succeed, one walks the path to the clouds; if they do not, then settling down solidly in a New Policies substantive post cannot be said to disgrace a lifetime of learning!" At this point, he suddenly choked.

No! There was a problem!

"Wait..."

He swallowed and looked at his elder brother with extreme uncertainty.

"This newly established Academy of Sciences... does it count as a New Policies yamen?"

"If it does, can I receive this treatment of being allowed to re-sit the examination based on merit?"

Song Yingsheng watched his younger brother's anxious, wavering expression, and the gloom in his eyes suddenly dispersed considerably; he shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

This foolish younger brother of his.

Ever since entering the Academy of Sciences, apart from these past few days accompanying him to prepare for the examination, which day had he not left before dawn and returned only in the dead of night?

Once in a New Policies substantive post, one had to both fulfill the performance assessments and have surplus energy to refine one's examination studies... how could an ordinary person manage that? This court decree sounded fine, but to be honest, it smacked somewhat of painting a cake to stave off hunger.

Substantive posts were not the same as instructor posts; once truly entangled in complicated administrative affairs, one's examination career was in fact at its end.

Only... why think so much?

Swish.

Song Yingsheng turned the tables, seized his younger brother's arm in one motion, and spun around abruptly.

"Elder Brother?"

Song Yingxing was yanked off balance, his face full of astonishment.

Song Yingsheng did not look back.

His back was ramrod straight; the walking-dead despondency from when they had just squeezed out of the crowd moments ago was swept clean away.

He strode forward, walking so fast there was almost a tiger's roar in the wind of his passage.

"What are you standing there dazed for!"

His beard quivered in the wind.

"Hurry to the Ministry of Rites!"

"Register first, talk later!"

"Who cares whether he's actually qualified, who cares whether he can pass the exam later or not!"

"Staking this claim first — that's the right way!"

And so the two brothers, going against the flow of the crowd, strode swiftly forward.

Their pace grew faster and faster, until at last they vanished into the thin morning mist and dust of the capital.

And behind them,

the line of sight passed over countless bobbing heads, past the towering examination hall archway.

That long street still resembled a seething iron cauldron.

Some threw back their heads and laughed wildly at the sky, some pounded the ground in bitter weeping, some looked utterly deranged.

Yet all this boundless clamor, joy and sorrow, was forcibly split apart by a single young, sharp, piercingly penetrating voice.

The newsboy standing on a bench brandished the thin sheets of paper in his hand with all his might, shouting at every anguished soul: "Blockbuster news!"

"Your chance to turn things around is here!"

"Failed juren who don't read this will regret it for life!!!"

"Only twenty wen a copy!!"