Chapter 323: A sword coming from the west and thousands of cliffs lined up
The weather is really unfavorable. On the eighth day of August, it was still sunny during the day, but in the evening it began to rain. However, although the rain will cause a lot of inconvenience to the candidates, it is not just for them.
If it is done by one person, it is inconvenient for everyone, so it doesn’t matter. What we want is a fair environment. As long as it is fair, it seems that even if it is worse, it can be tolerated——
Zhang Yuan was not so fair. He was not clean on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. Rumors about bribery of the examiners were still affecting him. Members of the Han Society kept asking about the authenticity of "Once Upon a Time in the Sky". Although Zhang Yuan
He had already taken precautions and wrote a note on the bow to explain, but someone still wanted to ask questions in person. Zhang Yuan asked his senior brother Wang Binglin to go to Zhang Dai's boat to prevent his senior brother from being affected. As for him, well, he just took all this as a matter of course.
Practice hard, God wants to give this man a great responsibility——
In the evening, no one came to disturb them anymore. Dozens of boats moored in the river bend were as quiet as sleeping in the dusk drizzle. Maybe the candidates on the boats were really asleep and recuperating. Zhang Yuan checked the test basket
, stationery, stove, earthenware bowl, food, charcoal, and oilcloth. After checking that there were no errors or omissions, he lay down with his clothes on, closed his eyes and rested. Mu Zhenzhen and others on the boat were all walking on tiptoe. The sky outside the boat was getting dark very quickly.
The raindrops seemed to be like ink, falling continuously, soaking the heaven, earth, mountains and rivers into a deep black color——
After the second drum, Zhang Yuan sat up. Mu Zhenzhen, who had been waiting outside the cabin, heard the noise and immediately came in to light the lamp and asked: "Master, are you resting well?"
Zhang Yuandao: "Very good - Zhenzhen, go prepare some water, I want to take a bath. ""
I took a hot bath and ate a large bowl of meat-stuffed snacks, which were made by Zhenzhen and suited Zhang Yuan’s taste best. While Zhang Yuan was eating the snacks, Mu Zhenzhen helped him comb his hair. Zhang Yuan said, “Take any hair.
Let’s do a bun, I’ll have to undo my hair during the next inspection.”
Mu Zhenzhen refused to take it easy and tied Zhang Yuan's hair tightly into a bun, showing great energy.
Zhang Dai from the neighboring boat was calling: "Jiezi, come over and eat Ge Lao Pancake together -"
Zhang Yuan opened the tent window and said, "Brother, I have eaten, you can eat it yourself." The rain came in, so he quickly closed the window.
At the beginning of the hour, it was drizzling. Zhang Yuan, Zhang Dai, Qi Biaojia, Wang Binglin, Zhou Monong, Huang Zunsu and Ni Yuanlu came to the east gate of Hangzhou Gongyuan. Each of the eight counties of Shaoxing Prefecture had a long lamp with the words "
The names of the candidates were written on the lampshade. Because of the rain, the names on the lampshade were a little blurred. The tall lanterns that could protect against the light rain were held high and low above the heads of the people. There was a sea of lights above the crowd, noisy, arrogant, and shining——
Fortunately, there is only a trace of raindrops now. Zhang Yuan put away the umbrella in his hand and handed it to Mu Zhenzhen. He took the examination basket and the bundled stove bowl and other utensils from Lai Fu and carried them on his back. Qi Biaojia was fourteen years old.
, it is more difficult to carry these things, but there is no one to help him at this time, he is too busy to take care of himself, so he can only rely on himself——
Those rushing to take the exam, those taking the exam, kept squeezing in, as if they were the first to get to high school. If they lined up well, they could enter the venue more quickly, and there was still plenty of time, but even if they were crowded, those taking the exam would not move away.
It was a mess. Zhang Yuan, Zhang Dai, and Zhou Monong protected Qi Biaojia to prevent him from being crowded away. The four of them crowded together under the county magistrate sign outside the east gate. They saw Zhu Xun, the county's Confucian scholar, greeting Shan under the light sign.
The Yin candidates gathered together, and Sun Jiaoyu must have been moved to the inner curtain and assigned to each room to prepare for marking——
After waiting for about a moment, the prison officer opened the east gate, and Zhejiang Chief Envoy He Rushen, who served as the promotion officer, personally called the names. Academic officers from the eight counties of Shaoxing Prefecture stood under several bright lanterns to identify the candidates in their county one by one and called the names.
After confirming that everything was correct, he went in and was inspected. The person in charge of the inspection was a soldier from the Hangzhou camp. He only had the opportunity to be this errand once in his life. He was extremely serious and responsible. He undressed, distributed, and took off his socks. There were many pens and inks for the exam basket.
Inkstone, check the food in the food box one by one, unfold the oilcloth and shine it under the light to see if there is any writing on it——
Zhang Yuan no longer feels humiliated and angry like he did in the county examination. He felt humiliated and angry when he was inspected in the road examination. These exams must be passed through. I have to work hard on my mind and my body, just to get a big job one day. This is the only way.
Self-forgiveness, besides, it won’t work without inspection. The temptation of giving people fame is too great. When people’s desires expand, even the teachings of sages and etiquette, justice and shame cannot be restrained. It’s like a college graduate taking the civil service examination. Once he passes the test, he can become a
The director or even the county magistrate, why don't they use all possible means to do everything possible and strictly search and inspect? Just in front of Zhang Yuan, a Shanyin candidate was searched by the battalion soldiers from under the inkstone.
The gold foil paper was forked out and stood in front of the dragon gate in shackles for public display. Zhang Yuan remembered that an old Confucian scholar also cheated in this way during the government examination the year before last and was caught on the spot. It seems that this cheating method is popular among Shaoxing people -
The two candles Zhang Yuan brought were confiscated. The sergeant said that candles would be distributed in the dormitory and candidates were not allowed to bring them in privately. Zhang Yuan tied up his hair, packed his clothes, picked up the examination basket and the food box, and received the straw.
The volume and the main volume each have twelve pieces. The number plate in my hand is the sixth room of the "Dragon" name. Hangzhou Gongyuan is large in scale and is named after the thousand-character character sequence of "Heaven, Earth, Xuanhuang, Universe, Prehistoric". Each number is
The building has ten rooms and can accommodate up to 10,000 candidates taking the exam at the same time——
Zhang Dai had already gone in first. Qi Biaojia followed Zhang Yuan and also searched. Zhang Yuan asked him: "Huzi, which room are you in?"
Qi Biaojia struggled to carry the examination basket and other utensils, and said in a muffled voice: "I am in Room No. 1. (Holy Hall)"
Zhang Yuan said "Uh" and thought to himself: "Huzi is so miserable. There is a public toilet next to Room 1, so Room 1 is called the 'Shit Room'. It is a bad luck to be assigned to this room. Holy
"Tang" comforted him: "It's cool and rainy now, so the smell won't be too big. You just have to concentrate on the exam. How can you stay in the Abalone House for a long time without smelling its stench?" He added: "I am also in the Dragon Room.
.”
Qi Biaojia said "Yeah", and the young prodigy felt very unhappy.
After passing through the two main gates, you will see the majestic Mingyuan Building with three floors of eaves. This building is condescending. Examiners and inspectors can climb up to have a look, and check whether the candidates have any private contacts and whether the officers have communicated.
Disadvantages of transportation——
After passing the Mingyuan Building, there is the Zhigong Hall in the middle with seven couplets in the lobby. The couplets on both sides say: "The number lines are east and west, and two rays of literary light are fired at each other; the curtains are divided into inside and outside, and there is no ventilation at all joints." This Zhigong Hall is where the examiners work.
There is a special hall dedicated to Kao Shen. It is said that Kao Shen is Zhang Fei from the Three Kingdoms. No one can explain why it is Zhang Fei and not Guan Erge. Before Kao Shen, a big red flag is hoisted with a letter in eight characters: "There is an injustice."
"Revenge an injustice and take revenge." This is to invite the ghosts of the injustice to take revenge. It is said that candidates who have done evil and immoral things will be haunted by the ghosts of the injustice and will write down their sins on the examination paper without knowing it. Of course, this is just a legend.
, in the two hundred years since the Ming Dynasty, I have never seen any candidate write a confession instead of writing an eight-legged essay. However, the atmosphere in the examination room is both strict and gloomy, especially at this time, it is only the third or fourth watch——
When he saw the title, all Zhang Yuan's previous uneasiness, worry, anxiety and anxiety disappeared. The unremitting eight-part training allowed him to quickly enter the composition situation, solve the topic, solve the problem, solve the problem first——
Zhang Yuan first read through the seven test questions, four questions from the Four Books, one question each from "The Analects", "Mencius", "Great Learning", "The Doctrine of the Mean", and three questions from the classic "Spring and Autumn" -
After seeing the question clearly, Zhang Yuan set up the desk and chairs, then went to relieve himself. He saw Qi Biaojia, who was next to the toilet, setting up the desk. Candidates were not allowed to talk to each other. The two looked at each other and nodded with a smile.
Zhang Yuan saw that some candidates were impatiently starting to write their essays. They had to hurry up for the seven eight-part essays, but Zhang Yuan was not in a hurry. He returned to his room and started to turn on the stove. Come to help, he politely declined, borrowed a fire, lit charcoal, and began to cook rice pudding. While cooking rice pudding, he took the time to sharpen his ink. On the surface, he seemed to be doing all this, but his mind was conceiving the first performance "Afraid of the Lord". "Afraid of the words of the sage." The ink was ready to be polished, and the first art was already in my mind. I picked up the pen and wrote on the scroll:
"To conquer what a gentleman is afraid of, it is due to the destiny of heaven and earth -"
This topic is like a sword coming from the west to dominate thousands of cliffs. It is very powerful and has an eye-catching effect. Zhang Yuanbi kept writing, taking up the topic and starting to speak, facing each other. When the eight-treasure porridge was cooked, it was his first performance. It’s finished, with more than 300 words, and a few places have been deliberately altered. The draft paper will be like a draft paper. If one word is good, people will suspect that they have learned the test questions in advance. Although a gentleman is magnanimous, he should pay attention to these small details. Being more sophisticated can avoid unnecessary trouble——
It goes without saying that the first performance is important. Zhang Yuan dare not be rash. His work is elegant and pure, with a sense of purpose and brilliance. Tang Shunzhi's writing style is exactly what Qian Qianyi advocates of "taking ancient prose as contemporary prose". Moreover, Zhang Yuan’s thoughts in this article are also very orthodox, because the examination paper must first be reviewed by the marking officer. The marking officer took a fancy to it, wrote a comment at the end of the paper, and recommended it to the room official. The room official liked it and wrote a comment to recommend it to the deputy examiner. , and then it is up to the examiner Qian Qianyi to make the decision. If you are like Xu Guangqi and focus on studying, you will fail the first time you meet the old-fashioned marking officer. You can't pin your hopes on Qian Qianyi to come to each room to search and reject the papers. , good stories like Teacher Jiao and Senior Brother Xu don’t often happen, but what often happens is that many famous Eight-gut masters have lost their names——
Zhang Yuan saw clearly that the eight-part essay is a stepping stone. The examination room is not a stage for expressing unique opinions and expressing one's own thoughts. If you want to promote unconventional ideas, you can do it outside the court. On other occasions, here, you only need to write the eight-part essay that can pass the test. Writing is enough. In the late Ming Dynasty, human nature developed. Many intelligent people were disgusted with traditional Confucianism and refused to be brainwashed. Therefore, they often had unstoppable talents when composing in the room. Like Xu Guangqi, but most of them are trapped in the house, like Xu Wenchang, like Wen Zhenmeng, like Feng Menglong——
Zhang Yuan, on the other hand, was not so brainwashed by traditional Confucianism that he had no ideas of his own. He was able to get in and get out. He had only one purpose, which was to pass the provincial examination.
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Xiaodao put a lot of thought into writing this first scene of the Provincial Examination. Book friends, can you feel like you are there? If so, please give me a monthly ticket. Thank you, book friends.