What are the interesting stories about imperial examinations in ancient times?

The ancient imperial examination was established by the emperor to select talents, so it was inevitably subjective. Here are a few exams that are unlucky or lucky for various reasons.

Wu Zhaoqian, a native of Wujiang, was a famous poet in the early Qing Dynasty. His literary talent was so outstanding that he became famous when he was a teenager. In the 14th year of Shunzhi, Wu Zhaoqian took part in the provincial examination and won the top prize. However, soon after, someone exposed the fraud in the examination room, and the court was furious. In the following year, it ordered all of them to enter Beijing for a second interview. Originally, Wu Zhaoqian's literary talent didn't care about this. In order to prevent fraud, the Qing court directly sent troops to wait in the examination room, and every candidate stood next to a sergeant with a knife. Candidates are all weak scholars. They have never seen such a scene, and they are all scared. How can they be normal? Wu Zhaoqian is no exception. He was so scared that he didn't even finish the test paper. As a result, he naturally thought it was cheating and was admitted. He was directly removed from the list, beaten 40 boards, and his family was exiled to Ningguta. Ningguta is located in the north, and the environment is harsh. Exiling Ningguta is a narrow escape. Although Wu Zhaoqian was soon appreciated by his literary talent, he got a relaxed teaching position. Later, even Ba Hai, the general of Heilongjiang Province, asked him to teach his children, but he lived a miserable life and wrote many generous and sad poems, so he was called a frontier poet. Later, with the help of his good friend Gu Zhenguan, Wu Zhaoqian stayed in Ningguta for 23 years before he was able to return to his hometown. He died soon, which can be said to be destroyed by an imperial examination.

If there is bad luck, there is luck. Hu Changling, the champion of palace examination in the fifty-fourth year of Qianlong, was originally ranked 10th, but Qianlong saw his name as "Longling". The 79-year-old Gan Long felt that this was just right for his longevity, so he was in a good mood and personally recommended him as the first place and was appointed as the champion. In the late Qing Dynasty, Zhu Ruzhen and Liu Chunlin were both happy and sad because of Cixi's mood of marking papers. In palace examination, Zhu Ruzhen was the first and Liu Chunlin was the second. However, Zhu Ruzhen was from Guangdong. Cixi remembered that Hong Xiuquan, Kang Youwei and Sun Yat-sen, who had caused her trouble in recent years, were all from Guangdong, and suddenly she felt a little more ill. A precious word reminded her of Zhen Fei. Liu Chunlin is a native of Zhili, and there is a drought at this time. The word "spring rain" means rain, which is auspicious. So, with a stroke of a pen, Cixi changed the order of the two, and Liu Chunlin became the top scholar, while Zhu Ruzhen came second. It can be said that some people are lucky and some people are unlucky.