Why is it that the ancient "alternative" champion is not necessarily the first champion in the exam?

The reason why this happens is mainly because the number one scholar was selected according to the emperor's preference. In history, some champions failed to win the first place in the exam, but because of one of his characteristics, the emperor liked him very much, so he was specially named the champion. Because the emperor has great power, it makes sense to choose the top scholar according to the emperor's preference.

In history, this special champion belongs to Wen Tianxiang and Wang Jie. There are two reasons why these special champions can achieve such results. The first point is that the name is special. At that time, Wen Tianxiang word Song Rui. Although he achieved good results on the way to the imperial examination, he didn't get the first place. By rights, he should not be qualified to be a top scholar. But when Song Lizong saw his name, he thought he was a rare talent in this country. Song Rui wanted to make Song more prosperous, so when he saw his name as a gift, he was immediately promoted to the top scholar.

The second point is the emperor's preference. During the Qianlong period, many top researchers were born in Shandong. This made Emperor Qianlong a little annoyed, because he wanted to give some opportunities to talents from other regions, so Wang Jie was not the top scholar at that time, but the key point was that he was not from Shandong. So Emperor Qianlong immediately appointed him as the top scholar. Although this belongs to the regional discrimination of Emperor Qianlong, if a region is a champion for a long time, it will inevitably threaten the ruling power of Emperor Qianlong.

Although these top scholars didn't win the first place in the science exam at that time, they were also very talented. After they became officials, they made great contributions to the country. It can be said that they are not worse than those who got the first place at that time.