After the first paper handover, the test paper was gathered by the collector, and went north from the hall along the corridor to a separate courtyard behind Mingyuan Building, which was the outer curtain part of the paper marking place. The core building was the majestic court, where the outer curtain officer responsible for the discipline of the examination room was in charge of the pre-processing of the test papers.

Under the head of the supervisor, the test papers were first sent to the collection room on the east side of the court, where they were sorted and placed, counted, and preliminary selection... Any damaged and stained test papers would be taken out directly and sent back to the court. After review by the supervisor, they would be copied by a blue pen. The other qualified test papers were stamped with seals, and then ordered to transfer them to the seal room on the left, and they would cover the candidate information on the test papers tightly with thick paper... Before the admission list was announced, no one was allowed to dismantle them and read them privately.

After completion, it is handed over to the largest copying center, and more than a hundred good-book clerks will copy the candidate's test papers in red pens. If there are typos in the candidate's papers, these clerks must write them accordingly and mark them at the top of the page.

After the transcription is completed, it must be handed over to the reading center next door. The clerk in charge of the reading checks whether the copied "red scroll" is consistent with the "ink scroll" written by the candidate and whether the mark is correct. After the verification is correct, it will be sent to the palm scroll located next to the court. The clerk in it will number the red scroll and ink scrolls and then send it back to the court.

The supervisor left the ink scroll to seal it, and then divided the red scroll into corresponding bundles according to the number of examiners in the inner curtain. In this provincial examination, there were eight examiners in the same township examination, so they were divided into eight bundles, and the "first bundle" and "second bundle" were written on it until the "eighth bundle" was stamped with a seal, and then they were personally sent into the inner curtain.

The supervisor came out of the outer curtain door, walked straight north, and stopped in front of a Feihong Bridge. The inner curtain opposite was notified. The examiner and the supervisor came to the other end of the bridge. Both sides did not go to the bridge, but a team of sergeants sent the test papers, and the sergeants on the opposite side took them over. Both sides gave a gift to each other and went back, without saying a word from beginning to end.

Of course, this is not that both parties are rude, but to prevent collusion and fraud by exam personnel who undertake different tasks, it is strictly forbidden to contact each other between the front and rear curtains. The back curtain courtyard responsible for the review of the papers is absolutely independent of the entire tribute courtyard. Except for receiving the papers, no one is allowed to enter and exit.

The central building of the Houjian Courtyard is Hengjian Hall, which is on the same central axis as Zhigong Hall, Mingyuan Tower, main gate, and gantry gate. It is the place where the chief examiner and the same examiner divide the room and mark the papers. In addition to the admission of the papers, the rear curtain also has a very important role, which is to set the questions by the chief examiner the day before each exam, and carve it out in the engraving room and printing room, and send it to the outer curtain early the next morning.

When the test paper was sent into the inner curtain, the examiner Ruan E said to the eight examiners: "Everyone, draw lots." Several examiners stepped forward to draw lots, and took away the bundle of papers when they got a few draws.

But you cannot take the room to the meeting, you must mark the papers in Jianheng Hall. The main and deputy examiners sat in the hall, and eight fellow examiners sat on the left and right. The internal supervisor who was responsible for monitoring the marking of the papers was taken by a group of surveillance officers, sitting next to the examiners, staring at the edge of the examiners, and staring at the wide eyes to monitor the examiners' marking process.

Under the surveillance officer's eye, the entire Jianheng Hall was quiet. Because these surveillance officers are usually served by Jinyiwei, the custodial guards keep the examiner's eyes terrified and dare not have any distracting thoughts. Of course, as long as the examiner does not whisper or wink, the surveillance officers cannot make a sound to interfere with the review of the papers.

The examiners are all from Jinshi, under the age of 40, and are very strong in their youth and have a very good look. They must first carefully add punctuation to each article, and at the same time see whether the article is smooth. If it is stumbling and has no rhythm at all, put it aside and sentence it to death.

Only those papers with smooth writing styles and no more than three typos are qualified to be read by the examiner for the second time. In this process, the examiner mainly judges the pros and cons of an article from the four aspects of "reason, law, divination, and qi" - "reason" is the mastery of the scriptures and the understanding of Cheng and Zhu's annotations. "law" is the article structure of the eight-legged essay. "ci" is the candidate's writing organization and expression ability, and "qi" is the concentration of the ideological nature of the article.

The measurement criteria for these four aspects is "halal and elegant", which means that a good eight-legged essay should use concise, elegant and smooth language to positively explain the ways of Confucius and Mencius and the learning of Cheng and Zhu.

The examiner used this standard to determine the pros and cons of the candidate's articles, and wrote a comment on each paper, stating the reasons for whether to recommend the paper. Whether it is taken or not, he was responsible for his decision.

The examiners will write down the recommendation reasons for the papers that they think are qualified to hold, and hand them over to the clerk next to them, and submit them to the chief examiner in the top. If there are particularly outstanding ones, they will also be "highly recommended", which means they are highly recommended.

In fact, the two main examination papers are weighed, which means that whether to accept or not is the final decision is made by the chief and deputy chief examiners. If the test paper recommended by the same examiner is recognized by the deputy chief examiner, then he will write a big word "take" in a black pen on the paper, and then write the reason for the recommendation and give it to the chief examiner.

If the main examination candidate also agrees, he will write another word "Zhong" and put it together to get it. At the same time, it must also state the reason for getting it so that it can be sent to the Ministry of Education for investigation.

Although the examiner has the right to get the test papers rejected by the deputy examiner, it would be too disrespectful to the face of the deputy examiner, so the examiner generally would not exercise this power unless he particularly appreciated it... But an article that can be particularly appreciated is at least at a high level in the eyes of others and will not fail to accept it, so this situation generally does not happen.

As for the papers that were recommended by the same examiner but were not adopted, the chief examiner also needs to add annotations to indicate that there is no reason for admission.

The time for marking the papers is during the day, and it is stopped to rest in the evening. At this time, the two examiners and the internal supervisor will count the red papers together. After confirming that the error is correct, they will use three locks to lock the Jianheng Hall together. They will come together early the next morning, and the three of them will be present to unlock the locks and continue to mark the papers.

Generally, the marking time is less than twenty days, and most of the time is used to mark the first part. Although both the examiners can continue to recommend it when they are marking the second and third part. However, in the actual process, the examiners only focus on the first part, especially the Four Books, and basically ignore the level of the second and third part. In other words, if the first part is selected, the second and third part only requires smooth literature and science to pass... On the one hand, this is because the time is tight and the task is heavy, and the examiners cannot review them carefully anyway, so the more objective eight-legged essays have become the first choice for marking the papers; on the other hand, it is also because this dynasty attaches the most importance to the Four Books, Five Classics and Cheng-Zhu annotations, and it is reasonable to choose eight-legged essays as the key points.

After half a month of marking the papers, all the first papers of all candidates were finally reviewed. After recommendation from the same examiner, the two examiners won the papers, and a total of 89 papers were won. However, the number of answers to the Zhejiang provincial examination was 95. This number is certain, and it cannot be more or less. If you change to other places and experience the marking papers that can torture people to death, the examiners will relax in the end and get the answers.

But here, don't think about it. Because the examiner this time was Ruan E, the right assistant censor. This person was as famous as his name, thin and sharp as an eagle, and he was not easy to mess with. At least the examiners below all experienced this person's seriousness... During the review process, he repeatedly reiterated that he asked the examiners to take the exam papers of each candidate seriously, and strive to select candidates with real talents and skills to make them stand out.

He not only urged the examiners to carefully mark the papers, but also strictly checked the advantages and disadvantages of each test paper. He never allowed the bad test papers to fill in the numbers. As a result, when the marking was over, there were still six unsuccessful ones that were not admitted.

In order to ensure that the good test papers are not missed, he carefully reviewed each of the lost papers. It was not until the day before the list was published that he found six of the best test papers and gathered 95 people.

The rest of the job is to rank rankings, because examiners are temporarily selected and disbanded after the matter is disbanded and there is no affiliation in the establishment, so no one is afraid of anyone, and there are often fierce quarrels and debates due to differences of opinion.

But I won't be here, because Ruan E knows the pros and cons of all the articles, and when he judges, everyone has no way to argue. It took only half a day to arrange the admission ranking, which makes the inner supervisor on the side breathe a sigh of relief, and she wiggles sweat and smiles: "I thought it will be delayed."

Ruan E smiled, holding the ranked ranking, stood up and said, "Let's go, everyone, let's go to the court." Then he stood shoulder to shoulder with the internal supervisor, led all the examiners out of the inner curtain door, passed the Feihong Bridge, entered the outer curtain, entered the court, and joined the outer curtain officer to dismantle the number and fill in the list.

One hour later, all ninety-five juren showed their true faces. Looking at the native place of the candidates, the Jinyiwei Qianhu, who served as the supervisor of the Zhejiang Provincial Office, said to Ruan E: "We have a saying in Zhejiang that says 'Get good, look at Shaoxing'. Shaoxing's literary atmosphere is overwhelming the whole province. Now, when you look at the candidates in Shanyin, Kuaiji and Yuyao, most of your admission this time shows that your admission is fair."
Chapter completed!