The Taoist examination is not like the Prefectural Examination where admission is required in the middle of the night, but it is earlier than the County Examination. At five o'clock in the morning, you have to arrive at Wumen, just north of the examination room, to wait for roll call. Zhang Yuan has the advantage of the location and heard that the Prefectural Examination is over there.
There was a buzz of people and they just went out. Wu Ling was holding a long-ear examination basket, and Mu Jingyan and Mu Zhenzhen, their father and daughter, each carried a lantern to shine on the left and right.
It rained lightly at night, and then it stopped. The water stains on the bluestone road reflected the light of the lanterns and seemed to shine like glass. When you step on it, you can’t help but feel dusty. This is Zhang Yuan’s third time to take the exam, and it should be his first time.
After the last major exam in Shaoxing, he will go to Hangzhou and the capital. Zhang Yuan went to the gate of Zhuangyuan to meet up with his eldest brother Zhang Dai, Zhou Monong and Qi Biaojia, and then together they went to the examination shed in the north of Fuxue Palace, but saw "Guang" outside Longmen.
Countless high-legged lamps were as dense as stars. In the weather in Mengxia in April, it was already a bit bright at five o'clock, but when reflected by these lights, the sky turned dark.
Those rushing to take exams, some delivering exams, and many vendors selling various foods. Some candidates who come from the suburbs in the middle of the night eat breakfast at the food stalls. It would be bad if the food is unclean.
With three gunshots, the gantry was opened, and pieces of playing cards were held out. These playing cards are actually rectangular lanterns, hollow, with candles inside. The ink ink and capital letters on the playing cards are particularly eye-catching. Each playing card has twenty-eight people written on it.
The candidates' names and nearly a hundred bright playing cards were lined up in front of the dragon gate. In the night that was about to break, the candidates were guided to follow the cards with their names written on them, and then follow the sign raisers into the dragon gate. Zhang Yuan and Qi
Biao Jia's name was on the same playing card. The two men carried the examination basket and followed the sign holder through the twists and turns of the bamboo guardrail passage and came to the north hall. Wang Bian, the academic officer, personally called the name. Xu Shijin, the prefect of Shaoxing, was the promotion officer.
, Shanyin County Magistrate Hou Zhihan and Sun Jiaoyu, Zhu Xundao and sixty Linbao came in to see them. The master of ceremonies shouted: "The promotion officer comes in." Magistrate Xu went to the hall to bow, and Wang Tixue stood up to answer the ceremony. His solemnity was not the county examination,
It is comparable to the imperial examination. Only by passing the Taoist examination can one be regarded as a member of the lowest level of the imperial examination and be qualified to work hard.
Wang Tixue, who is an old Dutchman, stretched out his hand and took the roll call. The order of roll call was based on the order of admission in the last government examination, and then the previous students were called. Wang Tixue raised his voice and said: "Zhang Yuan.
"
Zhang Yuan, who was in the hall, replied: Go up to the hall and salute the great master.
Wang Tixue looked at Zhang Yuan. He hadn't seen him for half a year. Zhang Yuan had grown a lot taller. He was no longer the young boy with a slightly youthful appearance that he had first seen at Shanyin Confucianism Minglun Hall the year before last.
,
Standing, a handsome adult man,
Wang Tixue nodded and said warmly: "Have a good time writing the questions." He called the two guards to come forward and stamp the seal. Zhang Dai presented the Tao test paper and the result, which was verified by Sun Jiaoyu, and then Zhang Yuan arrived
The paper distribution office received the test paper and scratch paper that he had filled out last time, and he carried the test basket to the inspection office alone.
The road test inspection is extremely strict. The people responsible for the inspection are not the police officers from Shanyin County and Shaoxing Prefecture. They are the police officers brought from Hangzhou by Tixueguan. They are merciless. Zhang Yuan is the first one. They want to take Zhang Yuan.
Yuan set an example for the candidates behind him. He was really stricter than guarding against thieves. He untied his bun, took off his shoes and clothes. A policeman pressed Zhang Yuan's ear hole to see if there was a small paper roll stuffed in it. Zhang Yuan stripped down to nothing but
It wasn't enough to jump around a few times in a pair of shorts. A policeman wanted to touch Zhang Yuan's lower body. Zhang Yuan couldn't bear it anymore and shouted: "Stop." He simply took off his clothes and showed them to them. One by one, several policemen kept a straight face and continued.
I went to check Zhang Yuan's test basket and took it out to look at everything. The six sumi cakes that Mu Zhenzhen had wrapped in lotus leaves were torn open by the police to check whether there was any kidnapping in the cakes. Zhang Yuan was so angry that he just left the cakes after entering the dragon gate.
Those six sumi pancakes were left on the roadside. Is there any way to eat them?
Zhang Yuan awkwardly carried the examination basket to find his own examination room and seat. Only then did he have time to tie his bun and wear a crown. It took him a while to calm down, and thought to himself: "Entering the examination room is a humiliation. All the way to becoming a Jinshi and then becoming an official."
, every one of them is so shameless.”
Qi Biaojia came in and took a seat behind Zhang Yuan on the left side. He said: "Brother Jiezi, just now a candidate hid several essays on the preparation of the topic in his crotch. He was found out. He blasphemed the writings of the sages and was punished.
Kneel at the dragon's gate to show off to the public, and it is said that you will have to kneel for a whole day."
Zhang Yuan laughed loudly, felt a little better, and asked: "Huzi, has the food you brought been broken open and soiled?"
Qi Biaoxi said: "Fortunately, I just looked at it and it didn't get dirty.
Zhang Yuan saw that there were chicken spring cakes, yellow cakes and Ge Lao cakes in Qi Biaojia's examination basket, as well as lotus root candies and sesame candies. It was quite a lot to eat, so he said: "My cakes are dirty and have been thrown away. Can you borrow a few pieces?"
Give me bread to satisfy my hunger, otherwise I won’t be hungry anymore.”
Qi Biaojia gave all the stack of chicken spring cakes to Zhang Yuan, but he refused to give it to Ge Lao Cake. Ge Lao Cake was created by Qiu Rui, a cabinet scholar during the Zhengtong period. Eating Ge Lao Cake during the scientific examination will bring good luck.
It's dawn in the hall, the lanterns in the examination booth are removed, more than 2,600 candidates have entered the venue, the gantry is closed, and Wang Tixue sets out the questions. There are six eight-part questions in total, one of which is a four-book question. This is the first art, all
What candidates must do are the five questions on the meaning of the classics, poems, Yi, books, rituals, and spring and Autumn. Candidates choose one of them according to their own classics. There are scribes who read the test questions aloud, and there are also signs where the guards insist on writing the test questions.
During the inspection, even short-sighted and deaf candidates were able to take care of Qi Biaojia, who was sitting in the row behind Zhang Yuan and to the right. Qi Biaojia's classic was "Shangshu". At this time, he saw the title of the four books "All evils must be observed."
." Then I saw that the title of Shangshu was "Kiming Junde, to be close to the nine tribes" and I was secretly happy. These two sentences came from Shangshu Yaodian, and he had studied it thoroughly. He also saw the title of "Spring and Autumn" was "Zang Xi Bo admonished the fish." This is Zhang
This time he was going to compete with Zhang Yuan to win the title of the Sutra question he was going to write.
Qi Biaojia could have been selected as a scholar three years ago, but the previous academic officer thought that he was only ten years old and too young, so he deliberately wanted to temper him and asked him to take the exam again. He said that if he made progress in his studies, he would be promoted.
As the head of the Taoist examination case, unexpectedly the academic officer passed away at the end of that year. The new Wang Tixue had no impression of him, the number one prodigy in Shanyin, and only admired Zhang Yuan. This made the thirteen-year-old Qi Biao
Jiapo was not convinced. Zhang Yuan still closed his eyes and thought in the morning, making drafts in his mind. About an hour later, a clerk came into Zhang Yuan's examination room with a small stamp issued by the academic officer, and wrote on each paper
The purpose of stamping is to prevent fraud such as hiring someone to catch the knife or exchanging test papers. The stamp is stamped after the broken questions on the test paper. It has been an hour. The broken questions of the four books must have been written out. Unexpectedly, Zhang Yuan
Looking in front of me, I saw that the candidate was taking a nap. The test paper and draft paper were all blank, and he didn't write a word. The clerk said solemnly: "Why don't you write an essay? It's already this time and you haven't even broken down the topic yet. Maybe you just want to wait."
If you plagiarize, hurry up and get rid of the question. I'll stamp it for you later." After saying that, he wrote down Zhang Yuan's name on the top of the paper, and went to stamp a piece of paper for other candidates. He was surprised and thought to himself: "There are such rules in the Taoist examination.
I can't even think about it for a while. No one has told me, why is this clerk writing down my name?" I couldn't ask questions in the examination room, so I had to write down the four questions "What are the consequences of all evils?"
The opening and closing of the topic: "When discussing people's likes and dislikes, we must look at the things that are similar to them, and investigate why they are so. Just because we like good and evil, the whole world sympathizes with them. People may be blinded by their own ears, but can we not investigate why they are so?"
After the clerk stamped all the test papers of other candidates in the examination room, he went to Zhang Yuan again, glanced at Zhang Yuan's test paper and stamped it with a "snap", then left the examination room and came to
In the lobby, he reported what he saw to the academic officer Wang and presented the names of several candidates he had written down.
When Wang Tixue saw the name "Zhang Ji," he frowned and asked, "How did this Zhang Yuan commit a foul?"
The clerk reported: "When the junior official went to stamp the paper, the boy did not write a word in the test paper. The junior official reminded him, so he hurriedly solved the questions, fearing that he was suspected of cheating."
Although such suspected offenders can continue to take the exam, they will be closely watched by the invigilator, and their names will be recorded. Even if they do well in the paper, they will be demoted one grade. This means that there is no hope of entering the top six in the Taoist exam.
——
Hou Zhihan, who was present here, was shocked when he heard this and quickly defended Zhang Yuan: "My lord, this original composition has this habit. I draft it first and then write it in one go. That day when I was studying Confucianism in Shanyin, my lord also gave the title to Zhang Yuan.
When he started talking, his answers were as loud as a bell. It's so rare to get good results, so why couldn't he solve the problem within an hour?"
Xu Shijin also said: "It was the same when I went to Dongfu to test him. He didn't write a word before noon, but after that he picked up the pen and finished it in one go. Please give me a clear opinion."
Zhang Yuan's rank in the Taoist examination is also related to the reputation of County Magistrate Hou and Magistrate Xu. If Zhang Yuan's ranking is too low, Magistrate Hou and Magistrate Xu will not look good on their faces. Wang Tixue chuckled and said: "Old man
I know Zhang Yuan's talent very well, how can he be a cheating person?
"I came to Zhang Yuan's examination booth in person and saw Zhang Yuan writing on the draft with a frown on his face. It was obvious that he was in a bad mood because his name had just been written down. So he walked over and said softly: "Have a good time writing the questions, don't be affected."
Zhang Yuan perked up when he saw it was Wang Tixue. Before he could stand up and salute, Wang Tixue had already turned around and left.
Zhang Yuan knew in his heart that the great master was here to comfort him. Feeling moved in his heart, he immediately concentrated on his composition. Wang Tixue returned to the lobby, sat there for a while, and then the cook came down to announce that lunch was ready and invited several adults to eat.
Wang Tixue, Magistrate Xu, and several officials from County Magistrate Hou were finishing their meal, and the candidates who were rushing to hand in their first papers came to hand in their papers. Then five or six candidates came to hand in their papers. Wang Tixue read a few of them.
There was no good work on the ink scroll. After another half an hour, I saw Zhang Yuan coming out with the examination basket, followed closely by a young man Hou Zhihan who smiled and said: "Zhang Yuan has handed in the paper. The one behind is Qi Biaojia, Shan
Yin prodigy, it’s a coincidence that the two of them submitted the paper at the same time.”
Thank you book friends for your votes. I will strive for a second update tomorrow to repay my book friends for their support. There are three scholar exams, and it is difficult to write something new every time. I can only try my best to write well.