On the occasion of the ninth year of Xiantong, the gold list of Chang'an City was crowded with mixed blessings. A young man examined them one by one from the top to the bottom of the list, and after repeated confirmation, he had to accept the cruel reality that his name was lost to Sun Shan. His heart was full of confusion, his fists clenched, and he quickly fled the bustling city.
This year, Huang Chao once again embarked on the road of the imperial examination, but failed again. Years of hard work came to naught, and the young man, who had come from a salt seller, was indignant with a huge sense of loss. He realized that changing his destiny through the imperial examination seemed unattainable. Although Chang'an City is prosperous, what awaits him is endless bitter rain.
Leaving the Yellow Nest in Chang'an, he turned disappointment, sadness and sorrow into anger and poured it into words: "When autumn comes on September 8, I will kill a hundred flowers after the flowers bloom." The incense of the sky penetrates Chang'an, and the city is full of golden armor. This poem not only expresses Huang Chao's anger, but also shows his endless ambition. It is not difficult for us to get a glimpse of this young talent's literary brilliance. However, why did such a talented and ambitious young man repeatedly fail on the road to the imperial examination?
In fact, Huang Chao's anger is not untargeted. The imperial examination system in the late Tang Dynasty did have many drawbacks. As a selection system in the late Tang Dynasty, Jinshike has become superficial and criticized by the world.
[After Tang Xuanzong's imperial examinations, all kinds of injustices emerged in endlessly, making it extremely difficult for ordinary people to change their fate through the imperial examinations. 】
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Prime Minister Li Deyu tried to create a fair environment for the children of the Han family, but the measures to restrict the children of the family eventually collapsed. A large number of the sons of the gate lords were regained preferential treatment, and they occupied a dominant position in the imperial examination by virtue of their family background and Korea-China relations. At that time, there was also a prevailing trend, that is, to worship the powerful. Figures such as the powerful and eunuchs in the DPRK and China who can influence the career of the imperial examination often become the objects of scramble for candidates.
For the sake of their future, the scholars of the poor family had to drill into the camp and cling to the powerful, and the children of the gate lords and the official eunuchs colluded with each other and took care of each other. This makes those poor children who are unwilling to go through the back door and have low social status see little hope on the road to the imperial examination.
Some people may ask, the test papers of the imperial examination are all the same, even if you go through the back door, if you don't answer well, it will be in vain. However, during the Tang Dynasty, the name on the test paper was not vague, and the examiner could know the candidate's background when he got the test paper. Therefore, the examination paper is no longer simple, it is a complex network of relationships. Exam scores are no longer determined by talent and pen power, but by relationships, money, and family status.
This situation led to the fact that if the scholars of the poor family in the late Tang Dynasty did not go through the back door and did not ask for help in the imperial examination, it was difficult to see hope. And those candidates who have been trapped in the scientific examination for a long time often feel sad and sigh at the darkness of the examination room and the wind of the world. In the year of Qianfu Ding You, the banquet was prosperous all year round, but there was a candidate named Wen Ding who had been trapped in the field for a long time, and he frankly expressed his indignation and dissatisfaction.
Compared with the unpaid ambition of the scholars in the early Tang Dynasty, the scholars in the late Tang Dynasty showed more complaints. They saw the dirty side in the dark imperial examination field, and it was difficult to calm the resentment in their hearts. For example, after Li Shanfu fell to the throne, he angrily vented his anger on Wang Duo, the head of the Ministry of Rites at the time, and finally joined the feudal town and provoked the forces of the feudal town to slaughter Wang Duo's family. This can be described as an extreme consequence of the failure of the imperial examination at the end of the Tang Dynasty.
However, compared with Huang Chao's downfall, Li Shanfu's revenge is only the tip of the iceberg. In the first year of Guangming, when the Tang Emperor fled the imperial capital Chang'an, he may not have imagined that the young man who had come to the imperial capital with a burning heart and aspired to become a courtier of the Tang Dynasty would eventually become a key figure in overthrowing the Tang Dynasty. The root of all this is the tragedy created by the dark and decaying imperial examination system. After Huang Chao ascended the throne, he changed the name of the country to Daqi, and gave the Tang Dynasty a resounding slap in the face.