Chapter 171 County Examination (asking for monthly votes)
Su Ze looked at the embroidery on the sachet, and it took him a long time to recognize it. This was probably a carp?
The carp leaping over the dragon gate is the most auspicious blessing from the Ming Dynasty to scholars.
People in the Tang Dynasty especially loved carp, which they considered auspicious. High-ranking officials would wear fish bags with fish charms in them.
This trend spread to the Japanese country, and Japanese families with boys would set up carp flags in front of their homes on the Dragon Boat Festival, which also took the meaning of the carp leaping over the dragon gate.
Nowadays, officials in the Ming Dynasty no longer use fish bags, and carp-patterned sachets have become a common thing worn by scholars taking exams to seek good luck. It has a sense of the old kings' swallows flying into the homes of ordinary people.
It’s just that Miss Fang’s embroidery is really beyond words.
He could barely recognize it as a carp, and the stitching was crooked. The style felt a bit like the funny emoticons of later generations. Su Ze couldn't hold back his smile. Although the sachet looked ugly, the smell was fresh and elegant, which was enough to meet the prefect. The eldest daughter of the family is far more accomplished in incense than any female embroidery worker.
Two days before the county examination, Lin Liangjun and the people from Changningwei found Su Ze. The little carrot head took out a sachet from his sleeve and handed it to Su Ze: "
My brother gave this to you."
Another incense. bag?
Su Ze took the sachet, which was also embroidered with a carp.
If Fang Ruolan's embroidery work contains some elements of abstract art, it can be attributed to the expression technique of postmodernism.
Lin Mojun's embroidery work is very open and closed, reaching the height of symbolism. The horizontal and vertical lines are arranged in a simple style of later military products. If it weren't for Su Ze's outstanding understanding, I would not be able to think of this. Only carp.
Su Ze accepted the sachets dumbfounded, and had no choice but to wear both sachets on his body.
On the day of the county examination, the entrance to the examination hall was already full of scholars taking the examination.
Scholars from the entire Nanping County gathered here. Su Ze looked around and saw that most of them had young faces.
There are still mostly boys in the boy examination, and there are not many old boys who are bright and poor. However, after all, there is a strong business atmosphere in Fujian, and they always fail the imperial examination and basically change careers.
The examination hall is located near the southeast gate of the county. The only purpose of this building is to hold the imperial examination.
County and government examinations will be held here. In order to prevent cheating in the exams, the county magistrate and invigilator in charge of the exams, as well as the scribes selected by the ceremony room to copy the papers, will be locked up in the examination hall in advance.
Although it is only a county examination, the procedures are very complete, at least in form there is no room for cheating.
The soldiers responsible for guarding the examination hall and checking the candidates are also guardsmen transferred from other counties.
It's not that you can't cheat, but the cost of cheating is high, which is fair to most people at least.
In the restaurant next to the examination hall, there was also a group of scholars sitting.
Scholars headed by Huang Shixing would also gather upstairs every year during the county and government examinations.
When a candidate comes out, the scholar will ask questions and pass them upstairs. The scholars present will write the questions on the spot, and then a "head of the case upstairs" will be announced.
This kind of behavior is similar to paying attention to the college entrance examination essay questions after the college entrance examination, or taking the practice test after taking the public examination. It belongs to those who have already taken the college entrance examination to "miss" the past hard study time. In fact, it is an act of seeking a sense of self-satisfaction.
Otherwise, why didn’t you do math problems after the college entrance examination? It’s not just the Chinese questions that I can still understand, the math questions have long been incomprehensible.
The protagonist of the party was naturally Huang Shixing. Although he had withstood the blow of "Surprise", Huang Shixing had a reputation as a scholar after all. He was also recognized by Chen Moqun, the director of Yanping Academy, and was the most likely scholar in this class to win the exam.
The circle of scholars also pays attention to a person who would rather be a phoenix tail than a chicken head.
There are generally two options for local candidates in Nanping.
One is to, like Hai Rui, stop taking the imperial examination and go directly to the civil service department in the capital to wait for the appointment.
Even if you are an unqualified academic officer, you are still an official. If you can pass the examination with excellent results, you may not be unable to serve as a county magistrate and become a Bailihou.
As for the remaining candidates, according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, those who failed will have to study in the Imperial College and then participate in the next tribute examination.
Going to the Imperial College to study is called "entering prison" to educate people. Although the literary style of the Imperial College in the northern and southern capitals is not strong today, studying in the Imperial College can avoid the high accommodation and catering expenses in the capital, and you can also study and discuss with your colleagues. It is an ideal choice for ordinary families to educate people. Good choice.
If you do not study in the Imperial College, it is actually illegal under the laws of the Ming Dynasty.
In the fifth year of Jiajing and the twenty-seventh year of Jiajing, the emperor clearly issued an order that those who wanted to continue to participate in the tribute examination must have studied in the Imperial College, otherwise they were not allowed to participate in the tribute examination.
In fact, these edicts had no effect at all. For example, in the tribute examination in the 28th year of Jiajing after the Ming edict was issued, the proportion of invigilators was less than 30%, but in the end the qualifications of these Jinshi were recognized.
And these candidates who are not in prison, as candidates for public officials, can enjoy freedoms that ordinary people do not have.
After becoming a Jinshi, you will definitely have to obey the court's arrangements and serve as an official. You will never have such a free life again.
Therefore, many people will travel around to study at this time, such as studying in famous academies.
There are also those who travel around the world in the name of studying, and there are even those who run business under the pretense of being a scholar.
Some people simply imitated the ancient knights, claiming to be Confucian knights who went around doing chivalry and justice.
For example, Li Zhi, the brother-in-law of the prefect, Fang Ruolan's uncle, after being elected, traveled around giving lectures, writing books and biographies, and was regarded as a guest of honor. He was sponsored wherever he went, just like a star touring the country.
This is also the reason why Su Ze wants to take the exam.
By passing the examination, Su Ze would have freedoms that ordinary people did not have, and Su Ze could leave Nanping, Yanping and even Fujian to accumulate the power of rebellion.
Also because none of the local candidates were in the local area, Huang Shixing, the scholar with the "most hope of winning the examination", became the leader of the younger generation of scholars in Yanping Prefecture.
It's quite a bit like there are no tigers in the mountains and the monkey is called the king.
Huang Shixing was surrounded by everyone and enjoyed the feeling of being sought after.
At this time, candidates were already arriving at the entrance of the examination center carrying test baskets.
This kind of basket is tied with a red rope and contains stationery such as pens, inks and inkstones.
Su Ze got the kaolan from Yu's bookstore. After checking the pen, ink and inkstone, there were no words or cracks on it. He put it together with some food and an oilcloth to cover the kaolan. Su Ze also came. Before the exam.
Zhou Xiucai was Su Ze's guarantor, and a group of scholars gathered around him. These were all scholars guarantored by him.
Su Ze took the marriage certificate and queued up for inspection. However, this inspection was basically just a formality. There were only these scholars in Nanping County, and Su Ze was a famous scholar in Nanping County now, so he passed the inspection quickly.
A burst of firecrackers sounded, which is called "three firecrackers", which is the examination bell when the examination hall opens.
On the day of the exam, firecrackers will be set off three times. At three or four in the morning, the first firecrackers will be set off in the four gates of the county and nearby villages to remind candidates to be prepared.
After an hour, the second artillery fire will be fired, and candidates who are far away from the examination center can start.
The third shot was the sound of firecrackers as the examination room opened. Su Ze said goodbye to Lin Xianyang, who was accompanying him to take the examination, and entered the examination room with the test blue.
The next step is the body search to enter the examination hall. Although the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty was not as abnormal as the buttock examination in the Qing Dynasty, the body search speed of the soldiers was still very slow. Su Ze and Su Ze were all candidates who were guaranteed by Zhou Xiucai. Look at others with wary eyes.
Linsheng is a joint guarantor of ten people, which means that as long as one of them has a problem, the rest will be disqualified from taking the exam. However, the county academic magistrate of Nanping County is Hai Rui, and the academic style in Nanping is relatively upright, and there are no cheaters.
It wasn't until he entered the examination hall that Su Ze realized that what Chen Chaoyuan said was so simple.
The examination booth was smaller than an office cubicle in later generations. It only had a stool made of wooden boards and bricks, and the usable area was about the same as a squat toilet.
With the mottled walls and hollow ceiling, what Chen Chaoyuan said about the light rain outside and heavy rain inside was true.
Su Ze held the number plate. Jia Liu was not only the exam certificate number, but also the mark of the exam location. He quickly found his exam booth.
Only then did Su Ze know why the examination number of the former head of the case could be sold for five taels of silver.
Because it was the examination booth of the former desk leader, it should have been recently repaired. The roof was at least watertight, and the walls were much whiter than other examination booths.
It is indeed an elegant seat worth five taels of silver!
Under the envious eyes of everyone, Su Ze walked into the examination room, hung the wooden sign beside the examination room, and waited for the clerk to verify his identity for the last time.
After distributing three answer sheets and nine draft sheets, Baizhi County led his men to lock the door of the examination room, and the Nanping County Yimaonian County Examination began.
After Baizhi County announced the start of the examination, in each examination room area, a guard soldier held a wooden sign and began to walk around the examination room area.
The first question of "Four Books" is written on this sign. Candidates in the examination room must first copy the questions to the manuscript paper, and then copy them to the marked examination paper after completing the answers.
"It's not surprising, you have friends."
When Su Ze saw this question, he heard sighs one after another in the examination room.
It turns out that the first four-book meaning is a question about cutting and matching!
Interpretation questions are questions that combine two or even multiple sentences from the Four Books and Five Classics.
This sentence is not the original text in the Four Books and Five Classics, so the difficulty is naturally much more difficult than ordinary single-sentence questions or multi-sentence questions!
First of all, you need to read through the four books to know the origin of this question, and then you have to answer the questions based on the excerpts.
In fact, in the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty, there were very few sectional and combined questions in the tribute examinations. However, in the county examinations, many county magistrates who took the examination papers preferred to ask sectional and combined questions in order to be lazy.
Because the questions are difficult to answer, ordinary candidates are eliminated very quickly. Sometimes enough candidates can be eliminated in the first exam, and it is also very easy to correct the papers.
However, when the person who asked the question was happy, the person who made the question would secretly greet the ancestors of Baizhi County.
However, in fact, this kind of cut-and-match questions is not deliberately intended to embarrass candidates.
By the Jiajing year, the Ming court had held so many imperial examinations.
There have been so many issues of Shiwen Selections, and the contents of the four books have basically been published.
If cheating occurs in the examination room, the examiner will lose his head.
For some commonly used questions, candidates who have completed the test to the extreme have memorized all the famous works by famous writers.
The scary thing is that there will be two top test papers in one examination room. If there are two identical test papers, will the examiner still be alive?
However, Su Ze was relieved when he got this question.
Although this kind of interception and matching of questions is clever, as long as you have the correct idea of solving the question, it is basically stable.
Su Ze picked up his pen. This kind of question is actually a bit similar to modern people's intellectual games.
First look at the source of the two sentences.
In fact, basically everyone who has gone to school has read these two sentences.
"It's easy to learn and practice. It's great to have friends from far away."
However, if you follow this original sentence to solve the question, you will fall into the trap of the question maker.
The problem solving of the eight-part essay must be closely linked to the title, that is, it must be solved in response to "I wonder, you have friends".
At this time, Zhu Xi's concentration must be seized to break it.
The interpretation of "shuo" in Zhu Xi's annotations is, "A scholar will practice it. When I practice it, I will learn it, so I will say it."
Zhu Xi's explanation of this sentence is very clever, pointing out the relationship between learning and practice.
Although Su Ze didn't like Zhu Xi, he agreed with this statement.
"After learning, I have to practice it. After I practice the knowledge, it will be transformed into my own knowledge, so I will feel happy."
It means "Yue", which means pleasure.
Su Ze started from the joy of learning and practice. He wrote:
"It is said that learning deeply can determine the number of friends."
This sentence means that if you can enjoy learning and practice, you can learn from everything. If you get happiness from learning, you will naturally have like-minded friends to follow you.
This solution to the topic not only describes the dialectical relationship between reading and practice, but also conforms to the Confucian definition of a gentleman's friend. It can be said that the solution to the problem is quite clever.
There was no problem in solving the topic, and Su Ze began to write his theory of practice in the next part.
[Blue Passive - Quoting from Sideways]
[Gold Passive - Six Classics Note Me]
These two passive skills made Su Ze's mind unprecedentedly clear. He quoted various scriptures and forced this topic to the final argument -
practice is The only way to test the truth is to pursue the truth is the most pleasurable thing in the world, and the truth must become clearer with more debate. Those who can practice the path of truth will definitely have like-minded friends to follow.
After writing an eight-legged essay eloquently, Su Ze checked it again to make sure there were no typos or taboos, and then copied it onto the examination paper.
Half an hour passed like this, and another clerk took a pen and began to check the candidates' progress in answering the questions.
Every half an hour, a clerk came over to check the progress, check the words on the manuscript paper and the number of words on the answer sheet, and record them in the examination book.
This is because the examinee is afraid that the examinee next to him will cheat. If he does not write a word on the draft paper and starts answering directly on the examination paper, it will be suspected that the examinee in charge is helping to answer for him.
By the time Su Ze finished copying, it was already nine o'clock in the morning, and five guardsmen were holding placards. This was the title of the Five Classics.
The Ming Dynasty only asked for the treatment of one classic. You can answer the questions of which classic you treat. Su Ze copied the question of "Spring and Autumn". This question was quite satisfactory and there was no trouble. Su Ze quickly wrote the answer.
The next test poem was also smooth. Su Ze checked it one last time and simply called the clerk to hand in the paper!
The title of this eight-part essay comes from thirty sample essays in the eight-part essay textbook "Quyuan Lesson Sun Cao".
Of course, the latter theory of practice was modified by Fat Bird Mo.
(End of chapter)