The champion of the Ming Dynasty needs to be divorced from the surface value of the chart.

"Next year, the champion will take it first, and Tianjie will listen to the champion." Standing at the top of the imperial examination pyramid, the champion is noble and honorable. The number one scholar is called "the best in the world", which is the highest honor for candidates. From the children's examination to the palace examination, the top scholar needs to go through layers of selection. In the fierce competition, deus ex is the best. The champion is one in a million, and laughs last. So it's hard to win the first prize. Especially in the Ming Dynasty, the top scholar needed not only profound knowledge, but also extraordinary superficial value.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang is plain-looking, but he is determined to make the champion the image spokesman of the empire. To be worthy of the face of the dynasty, Yan value is naturally extremely important. The court examination set an example as early as four years in Hongwu. Guo, who should have been the number one scholar, was relegated to the second place because of his ugly appearance, and the handsome Wu Zongbo was pulled out as the number one scholar. This really surprised historians and candidates. The top scholar climbed to the top because of his talent. After all, the palace exam is not a beauty contest. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, there have been many people who are not handsome or even disabled, and there is no precedent for judging people by their appearances. For example, Li Feng, the number one scholar in the 12th year of Tang Daizong Dali, looks like Shan Ye and is rustic, so he can be the number one scholar. Fang Mengkui, the champion of the Song Dynasty, was lame in his right foot and blind in his left eye. Chen Zuren, the top scholar in Yuan Dynasty, was short, blind and ugly. However, Mao showed the same courage as establishing stereotyped writing and abolishing the prime minister system, and was determined to let the handsome top scholars live up to the face of the Ming Dynasty and the eyes of the audience when they paraded the streets.

Taizu's example made many emperors in the Ming Dynasty have to measure their own face value before appointing the number one scholar. Many handsome guys have become the number one scholar because of this counterattack. Here are a few examples: In the second year of Wen Jian, Hu Guang replaced Wang Gen, who had originally planned to be the number one scholar, with extraordinary handsomeness. In the first year of orthodoxy, I actually made a joke about taking the top scholar by mistake. Yang Shiqi, the examiner, is a college student. He wants to confirm Zhou Huan's appearance in advance so as to draw up a candidate for the first place. Because Zhou Huan's pronunciation is very similar to that of Zhou U, their fellow villagers mistakenly thought that he was asking Zhou U and replied that he was white and tall. Yang Shiqi then listed this tactic as the first and presented it to the emperor. On the day of the biography, everyone found that Zhou Huan looked ugly, but everything had been done, so people felt "disappointed" that it was a pity not to choose a handsome guy. In the fourth year of orthodoxy, palace examination initially proposed Zhang He as the top scholar, but Ming Yingzong learned the lesson three years ago and no longer trusted the examiner's judgment. Instead, he sent a personal eunuch to meet him at Zhang He's residence. Sure enough, he found that his eyes were long and dim, so he was reduced to dimethyl one and the other was the champion. In the twelfth year of Hongzhi, Zhejiang talented scholar was selected as the top scholar because of his extraordinary strategy. However, he is lame and has a poor appearance. When Xiaozong learned about it, he regretted to drop him to the second place, and named Guangdong Renlun Wen, who was originally ranked fourth, but was "big-faced, white and dignified" as the champion. Zhu Guozhen, a scholar in the seventeenth year of Wanli, later served as the minister of the Ministry of Housing, said: "Where is Dingjia, the holy one will visit and decide." Talent can be measured by examination, and the examiner is responsible. The emperor's secret visit mainly depends on the face value, cares about the image spokesperson, and tells the truth.

The popularity of appearance-oriented enrollment of top scholars in Ming Dynasty made a large number of handsome top scholars appear in popular novels that people loved, and even showed distinctive feminine characteristics, such as Di's "handsome appearance" in Love History. Even Huang, the champion of the martial arts in The Match between Dragon and Phoenix, is also "beautiful" and "beautiful". These beautiful champions were extremely lethal in the court examination and immediately won the favor of the emperor. Zhong Kui in The Complete Biography of Tang Zhongkui and Huang Chao in The Romance of Tang and Five Dynasties also lost the upcoming champion because of their ugly appearance.