Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 516: The Second Imperial Examination
November 15th is the day when the imperial examination results are announced.
In addition, it was the fifteenth day of the lunar month, and many ordinary people in Jinling also came to watch the "Golden List" announcement.
Although there are three lists of imperial examinations, the one that everyone pays most attention to is naturally the most elite "Golden List".
The second imperial examination did not have the flood-discharging effect of the first one, and the gold content of the gold list decreased slightly, but the number of participants increased significantly...
After all, for the scholars in Jing and Yang states, the truly talented ones had already participated in the first imperial examination three years ago.
The second session...most of them were those who failed the previous session, or those who did not perform well, as well as those from outside the State of Chu. They were inspired by the first session of the imperial examination, or attracted by the growing national strength of Chu and Chu learning, and rushed to Chu to seek a career!
Top talents like Fa Zheng and Zhuge Jin would appear in the imperial examination in the first session for the sake of gimmick and support, but there were no talents of this level in the second session.
However, even so, many heroes emerged, some of whom were familiar to Bai Tu...
For example, Zhuge Jun, the brother of Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang; Yin Mo, who was born in Yizhou, studied in Jingzhou, and was recommended by Sima Hui to take the imperial examination; Ma Su, the younger brother of Ma Liang and the fifth brother of the Ma family; Jiang Ji, who was born in Huainan and became one of the three highest officials of the Cao Wei Dynasty in history...
Although their reputations are not very big, if we look at the entire history, none of them are outside the "Three Kingdoms circle", and even Ma Su's reputation is a bit shameful... But during the Three Kingdoms period, they were all the best of the time, talented people who were able to leave a chapter in history books, or even write their own biographies!
After the seven subjects, the one that surprised Bai Tu the most was the military subject. Hao Zhao, a fellow villager of Guo Huai who had passed the imperial examination last year, came from Taiyuan after seeing Guo Huai's situation and won the top spot in this year's military subject.
Hao Zhao's most famous battle in history was the one at Chencang, where he led more than a thousand defenders to fight against Zhuge Liang's 30,000 troops and held out for more than 20 days, causing Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition to fail!
At that time, Wei and Wu were fighting for the control of Huainan at Shiting. Wei had just been defeated and its main forces were concentrated in the Jianghuai area, so Zhuge Liang saw the opportunity and marched out of Chencang, aiming at Guanzhong...
However, Hao Zhao had stationed troops in Chencang a year ago and worked hard to reinforce the city. In the end, with more than a thousand people, he held out for more than twenty days until Zhang He led his troops to rescue and Zhuge Liang retreated.
To a certain extent, this also dampened the morale of the radical faction headed by Wei Yan. Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition had always tended to take Longyou, that is, Yongliang west of Guanzhong area, as its strategic target, while Wei Yan advocated taking advantage of the situation and advancing directly into Guanzhong.
Just like Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, who "openly repaired the plank road and secretly crossed Chencang", he directly attacked Guanzhong from Chencang, first destroyed the Three Qins and then fought in Guandong.
If we win, we will win Chang'an Fuhan, but if we lose, we will sell our first prize...
Hao Zhao's battle record in Chencang proves that it is not so easy to enter Guanzhong!
Unfortunately, after this great achievement, when Cao Pi was about to important Hao Zhao, he fell seriously ill and died.
Although they were able to hold out for more than 20 days against Zhuge Liang with “1000 vs 200,000”, a big part of the reason was because of the solidity of Chencang itself, but... the reinforcement of Chencang itself was supervised by Hao Zhao.
Even in the "Three Kingdoms", only the word "by order" was added, that is, it was ordered by Cao Zhen to reinforce Chencang, which invisibly praised the movements of Shu Kingdom in Cao Zhen's prediction. However, other historical materials only wrote that Hao Zhao and Wang Shuang stationed troops here...
If they did not "follow orders" but reinforced Chencang on their own, it would further demonstrate Hao Zhao's caution and ability to defend. Moreover...it is hard to say that Wei's performance at that time predicted Zhuge Liang's moves, otherwise why would they go to Huainan and fight desperately with Wu?
In any case, Hao Zhao was a good general in battle, and like his fellow countryman Guo Huai, he was also good at defense!
Hao Zhao is now about the same age as Guo Huai, only about twenty-one, which is just the right age for him to integrate the new strategic thinking with reality and gradually accept the application of Qi crossbows and artillery.
Quan Cong, who ranked second in the military subject, was a "piece of meat in the bowl", but his demonstrated talent also attracted the attention of many high-ranking generals in the Privy Council. Quan Cong's father Quan Rou was a general under Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu specifically let Quan Cong take the imperial examination route without any internal recommendation.
Historically, Quan Cong, as a general of the State of Wu, should have never met Hao Zhao, but the two had some indirect connections, that is... In the Battle of Shiting mentioned earlier, the commander-in-chief of the State of Wu was Lu Xun, and one of the left and right deputy commanders was Quan Cong.
Moreover, Quan Cong was very good at "taking advantage" in history when there was no white rabbit effect - from Lu Meng's attack on Jingzhou, to Lu Xun's command of the Battle of Yiling, to the later Battle of Shiting, Quan Cong took advantage of the military merits.
Especially when Lu Meng attacked Jingzhou...
At that time, Lu Meng and Sun Quan had already planned to take down Guan Yu, but in order to keep it secret, they did not tell anyone else. Quan Cong also wrote a letter suggesting to capture Jingzhou, but naturally did not receive a response from Sun Quan.
However, after Lu Meng won a great victory, Sun Quan specifically mentioned this matter and believed that Quan Cong also had a contribution. He conferred the title of Tinghou on Quan Cong, who had been completely unaware of the matter!
Later, when Quan Cong was a deputy general, he was able to make many achievements and not only assisted the commander-in-chief, but also played a significant role. However... when Quan Cong began to serve as the commander-in-chief in the middle and late period of the Wu Kingdom, especially after he became the Grand Commander of Eastern Wu because of his rich qualifications, his record was rather lackluster.
The fact that he was able to take second place in the military science competition this time proves that Quan Cong’s foundation in military competition is still very solid, and he has a clean background, so he can be considered a useful person.
What also caught Bai Tu's attention was that among the Sima family of Henei and the eight Sima clans, Sima Fu, the third oldest after Sima Lang and Sima Yi, actually participated in the imperial examination of Chu.
Unlike Zhuge Jun, Sima Fu's move should be regarded as a signal from the Sima clan of Henei that they have chosen to formally allocate a part of their forces to the State of Chu!
Sima Fu took first place in the household subject and also got A in the ritual subject. If he had not been given a backdoor by Shi Kuang, he might have been able to get into the top three in both subjects.
Historically, Sima Fu was considered to be the more honest among the Sima family... or rather, the more cautious and self-respecting one. Compared to Sima Lang and Sima Yi, Sima Fu's character was actually more in line with the concept of a "aristocratic family."
In history without the White Rabbit Effect, when the Gaopingling Incident just happened, Sima Fu could be said to be the backbone of the Sima family, and he had a strong presence before that.
However, after Sima Yi gradually took control of the Wei government, Sima Fu began to fade out of the core decision-making level, and even after his nephew Sima Yan officially usurped the throne, Sima Fu still regarded himself as a minister of Wei.
It is hard to say that Sima Fu was a loyal minister of the Wei State. After all, he did not do anything except verbally. It was just that when Sima Yi and Sima Zhao were in power, Sima Fu restrained himself and did not do some things.
Sima Yi lived to be seventy-two years old, which, considering his time, was considered to have a very good longevity gene. And Sima Fu... obviously inherited the longevity gene more obviously than him, and lived to be over ninety years old!
For Sima Fu, there was no harm in calling himself a minister of Wei - could his nephew Sima Yan be blamed for this? He was still promoted to , and every time Sima Fu entered the palace, he was greeted by cars and treated like a family member.
At the same time, Sima Fu did have talent, but... he was no match for Sima Yi.
However, in terms of temperament, Bai Tu can be more at ease. If Sima Yi abandons Zheng Hou Zhang Yan and defect to the State of Chu now, Bai Tu will probably be very conflicted and will be a little wary of him!
Of course, Sima Yi did not dare to come - not to mention that the State of Chu did not give him room to maneuver, and... there was also Zhang Chunhua!
Who among the "outsiders" didn't know about the relationship between Zhang Chunhua and the King of Chu? Sima Yi was even worried about being blown to death by pillow talk!
Moreover, even if the "rumors" spread outside were not based on facts, how could Sima Yi not know Zhang Chunhua's personality?
Now that he really came to the State of Chu, he would be plotted against every step of the way - in terms of talent, Sima Yi would naturally not be afraid of Zhang Chunhua, but in terms of plotting... Zhang Chunhua was at least an opponent that Sima Yi could be careful of.
Besides, Zhang Chunhua is now in the State of Chu, and is already a Shangshu Lang, and behind her is the old poisonous Jia Xu who is the Grand Secretary of the Palace. Sima Yi will not come to make trouble for this...
Moreover, under Zhang Yan's command, Sima Yi felt that he had plenty of room to perform!
Although Zhang Yan was weaker than the King of Wei and the King of Chu, and even inferior to the Marquis of Qi within the Fu Han forces, at least Zhang Yan was easy to control.
How easy is it?
Sima Yi has now stood up to facilitate his movements - Zhang Yan is convinced that this is a medical miracle.
Moreover, Zhang Yan's power was mainly in Guanzhong, and he was the closest to Chang'an among the princes who assisted the Han Dynasty...
Although the Han emperor now has his own army in Chang'an, and the six marquises who assist the Han Dynasty each have 3,000 men stationed in the cities around Chang'an, which can be regarded as a mutual restraint, Zhang Yan's control area is closest to Chang'an, but it does not mean that he can have such a great influence on the court like Li Jue, Guo Si, or Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo.
But for Sima Yi, he saw a lot of operability in it...
However, it can be seen from the moment Sima Fu arrived in Jinling that the Sima family does not want to go all in with Sima Yi at all.
The most eye-catching person now is not Sima Fu or Hao Zhao, but...
Second in the etiquette subject, Shi Kuang!
This "second" relaxation is very serious, and it is reflected in the interpretation of the "meaning of the classics" in the Like department. In theory, its actual value is not high.
The biggest role is probably to come out and support Wang Su's new learning. I am a Confucian scholar who lives in Jiaozhou. I saw that you are so enthusiastic about the new learning, so I paid special attention to it. As a result, I have become a fan of the new learning! I bought many books by Wang Su!
In fact, everyone knows what happened.
The reason why he is so "eye-catching" is because of Shi Kuang's identity...
As the son of the second most important person in Jiaozhou, Shi Kuang's coming to Chu to serve as an official undoubtedly meant that Jiaozhou would be closer to Chu.
Even though the other princes were not happy to see this happen, they found it difficult to stop it.
After all, Jiaozhou's location destined it to be a vassal of Chu, and others were powerless to intervene, unless... they could interfere in Jiaozhou directly by sea, just like Chu landed in Liaodong.
Unfortunately, neither the Duke of Qi nor the King of Wei had such perfect navigation skills. Even though the shipbuilding technology had improved rapidly under the leadership of the State of Chu, the navigation skills could not be eliminated in a short period of time.
More importantly, when the Chu Navy was "paying tuition", it at least had "textbooks" and faced a pure sea. But now in the Bohai Sea and the East China Sea, there are Bohai Port, Donglai Port, Liaodong Port, Zhouhu Port... and the Danzhou Port further east, and the Yizhou Port further south...
There are Chu warships roaming around in each of them!
Even if they had the ability to come to Jiaozhou by sea, they did not have the confidence to fight against the Chu navy. They were even cautiously on guard, fearing that the 20,000 navy that Gan Ning had brought with him were actually planning a sneak attack on them.
On the contrary, if Wei had any ideas about the Marquis of Yan, Chu could intervene by sea and take the initiative...
It is also worth noting that this year, not only the imperial examinations and academic examinations, but also the pure martial arts examinations have seen a large number of women signing up to participate - after all, there are a large number of qigong practitioners in the community, and there are many women among them.
The cultivation benefits offered by the State of Chu were equally applicable to both men and women, and those Qi tools actually narrowed the labor gap between men and women after they had practiced the same cultivation.
And there was actually a woman who won the third place in the martial arts test...
Different from the theoretical assessment of military science, the military examination is organized by the Privy Council itself and is a punitive assessment that only focuses on personal martial arts and physical fitness.
It is difficult to become a commander-in-chief if one is only strong in military force, so naturally, the martial arts test is not taken that seriously.
However, warriors who pass the martial arts examination can be incorporated into some special elite troops to serve as basic armor, or sent to martial arts halls for training in military science - after all, at present, the role of armor on the battlefield will not be greatly weakened.
For a warrior from the common people, this is a great opportunity.
However, the woman who ranked third in the martial arts test this year was not of common origin, but Sun Shangxiang, whom Bai Tu had known for a long time and who had often treated her to candy in the past!
Compared to her scheming second brother Sun Quan, Sun Shangxiang's personality is closer to Sun Ce.
Not only was she careless in character, but she was also not very interested in studying. It was only when the Chu State first began to promote the use of female officials that Sun Shangxiang patiently studied for a period of time because of her "ambition".
But in the end, I just wasn’t cut out for it, so I gave up after a few months…
Although the Sun family is a prominent family in Wu County, the tradition of Sun Jian's family is still very relaxed, especially considering Sun Ce's special status in the State of Chu... The other elders of the Sun family not only did not restrict them, but sometimes even kept their distance to avoid suspicion.
Although in name every Chu army, whether it was a grassroots general or a Jizao soldier, was a soldier of the Chu State, not a soldier of a family, the team under Sun Ce was the one left by Sun Jian, from grassroots generals to high-level commanders, everything was available...
Although Bai Tu made occasional dispatches to Sun Ce's army, he did not deliberately break up the organization of Sun Ce's generals, so Sun Ce's army still had some shadows of a "private army".
It would be fine if Sun Ce really wanted to form a small circle, but the problem is... Sun Ce himself did not use it to gain any extra benefits. For example, in the case of Quan Cong this time, Sun Ce's army did not recommend him internally or absorb him on its own, but went through the court channel of imperial examinations. The shadow of the so-called "private army" is becoming increasingly faint.
In this case, Sun naturally didn't want to get involved with him, lest she miss out on good things and be suspected for no reason.
Therefore, after Sun Ce agreed to Sun Shangxiang's martial arts training, other people's objections were of no avail.
Even the two Madam Wus usually doted on the youngest, Sun Shangxiang...
Sun Shangxiang's talent in martial arts is somewhat similar to that of her older brother Sun Ce. Moreover, as the war situation was not intense, the high-ranking generals of the Chu army often had the opportunity to return to Nanjing in the past year. Sun Ce also gave her instructions several times. Sun Shangxiang, who was still a six-year-old kid eight years ago, is now wearing gilded armor!
Sun Ce even went to Bai Tu in private to discuss the issue of Sun Shangxiang's allocation - he even kept it secret from Sun Shangxiang. After all, Sun Ce knew his sister's personality and didn't want her to know that he was helping her through the back door...
