With a crisp bang, the clerk of the government office began to write questions.
Wei Chen respectfully took the test questions tied into a tube with a red rope from the opponent's hand and tried to calm down his mood.
When I opened the test paper, I saw two questions on the Four Books, one question on the Five Classics, and two questions on five-character and eight-rhyme poems.
Wei Chen first looked at the first Four Books question at the top.
As we all know, the imperial examination has three levels, namely the eight-legged essay, the first session, and the first question.
The first question in the first session is particularly important.
There are 3,000 candidates for the government examination, 3,000 papers for the first exam, and 9,000 essays. How can the examiner have the patience to read each article one by one?
Many examiners only look at the first question and have a general impression of your article. If the first question is not written well, they will simply throw away the paper. No matter how colorful the subsequent writing is, it will be in vain.
Therefore, Wei Chen attaches great importance to this question.
Wei Chen looked at it carefully and saw on the test paper that it said: If there is no big reason for the old, then don't abandon it. There is no need to prepare for one person.
This passage comes from "The Analects of Confucius? Wei Zi Pian" and is the admonishment given by Duke Zhou to his son Boqin.
It means that if old friends are not at fault, don’t abandon them, and don’t seek perfection from a person.
When Wei Chen saw this question, his eyes widened immediately. This question was actually a big and upright question, much simpler than the small questions that were cut off.
What's more important is that he just did this question not long ago!
For more than a month, Wei Chen, Sheng Changbai, and Chen Jun have almost stayed behind closed doors, and have been using question sea tactics to conduct pre-exam assaults.
After the three people finished writing the article, they first evaluated themselves and then evaluated each other to find out their respective shortcomings.
Regarding the article written by Wei Chen, Sheng Changbai and Chen Jun both spoke highly of it. They believed that the article had profound intentions, full of reason, and was quite similar to the Korean and Suhai trends.
However, Wei Chen did not feel proud of the two people's praise. Instead, he thought over his article several times, combined with the information provided by Sheng Changbai that Prefect Shen preferred 46-parallel prose, and became even more picky in the wording.
attitude, and polished the article again.
This final written article is firmly engraved in Wei Chen’s mind, and he will not forget it even if decades pass!
Wei Chen couldn't help but look up to the sky. Before the exam, he was unlucky enough to be stepped on and lost his shoe. During the exam, he was lucky enough to get the original question. Luck is really ethereal and unpredictable... p>
At that moment, Wei Chen was grinding his ink and picking up his pen, and began to write without thinking.
First, let’s break down the topic concisely and concisely.
"Abandoning the old and neglecting it is to be thrifty and righteous."
Then, there is a long paragraph of haiku, eloquent and majestic.
Wei Chen wrote the article of several hundred words in one go, without any sluggishness.
While most candidates in the examination room were still thinking about how to solve the questions, Wei Chen had already finished writing the most important first question!
After writing the first question, Wei Chen composed himself and calmed down his emotions.
Relying on the literary talent of this question alone, my admission to the government examination is basically a certainty.
However, there are still four questions, so don’t take them casually. Although these questions are not as important as the first question, if the level of two people’s first questions is between equals, the next few questions will become the key to determining the ranking.
The second question, not surprisingly, is a combination question.
"Everything is elegant and elegant, Ye Gong"
Wei Chen was really confused at first glance. After thinking about it for a while, he added a dot after the first four words and turned it into "Ji Ya Yan Ye, Mr. Ye".
The former are the last four words of Chapter 15 of "The Analects of Confucius", and the latter are the first two words of Chapter 16.
When the topic reached this point, Wei Chen couldn't help but sigh to himself: "This Magistrate Shen is really a genius!"
Although everyone knows that this is a cross-section question, these six words are clearly connected in terms of the order of the article. There is no punctuation mark at this time, so there is really no way to say that one sentence is wrong.
Ordinary cut-and-answer questions are often criticized because the questions are pieced together. Even the question maker’s own standard answer is far-fetched, and the answerer is even more confused and confused.
But the question asked by Magistrate Shen is different.
As long as you understand the origin of the two sentences before and after, and combine it with Zhu Xi's annotation, you can use the four words "virtue of the saint" to connect it and turn it into a clear and upright question.
To be honest, this was the first time that Wei Chen felt the same sense of security when he was doing the intersection questions as he was when he was doing the big questions.
As Wei Chen began to write and solve the problem, he secretly admired in his heart: He could solve the problem so openly and honestly that it makes people convinced. This shows that Governor Shen's attainments in classics and meanings are so high, compared to the legendary "Yam Luo" is probably not much different!
After solving the topic correctly, the following words started from the topic and started to flow like clouds and flowing water. Wei Chen wrote it heartily and happily.
At this time, the cloud board sounded, and it was the intermission time. Wei Chen just focused on the article and didn't care.
At noon, another cloud sound sounded, and several clerks began to come down to collect the answer sheets for the first question.
This is also one of the benefits enjoyed by candidates who take the exam. As long as they finish writing the first question and submit it to the examiner before noon, the examiner can have enough time to mark the paper in advance.
Otherwise, you will have to wait for the unified submission of the paper. Then the examiner will have to read 9,000 articles in two days. Will he be careful when he sees your article? How serious?
Candidates can only ask for blessings.
At this time, Wei Chen had almost finished writing the second question. When the clerk came to collect the papers, he handed in the answer sheet for the first question, while he continued to ponder the next question on the Five Classics and the final five-character and eight-rhyme poem.
In the courtroom, Shen Du sat on a high-backed chair, picked up the papers collected by the clerk, and read them one by one.
When Shen Du sees an article he is satisfied with, he draws a circle on the paper. This is almost considered a success, which means that the probability of passing the prefectural examination is very high.
If there is a vertical mark on the paper, it means it is temporarily on hold.
If a cross is drawn, then the candidate will be in trouble. This means direct elimination. According to the principle of the first question in the national examination, no matter how well the candidate writes the following questions, it will be in vain.
Shen Du read dozens of papers in a row and couldn't help shaking his head. Except for five or six papers, which were acceptable, most of the rest were difficult for him to detect.
The candidates in the hall raised their heads and glanced furtively, only to see the master of Futai reviewing the papers quickly. They also saw that more than 90% of the dozens of papers were rejected. They were all frightened in their hearts.
In fact, it is completely normal for the government examination to admit 50 people out of 3,000 people.
It's just that the despair in the candidates' hearts as they watch one paper after another being rejected is really hard to express.
Who knows if one of the deposed papers contains his own?
Naturally, Shen Du would not know about the tortured psychology of the candidates in the hall, or in other words, he would not care if he knew.
Shen Du took a sip of Longjing tea, then picked up the next paper with a small stamp stamped with the word "tang", and read a line: "Throwing aside the old and neglecting the old is a way of being frugal."
Shen Du nodded when he saw this: "The topic is well solved, small and exquisite."
Looking at the following text, it turned out to be his favorite four or six parallel essays.
Shen Du perked up, straightened up, and pulled the chair under him a little closer. He tapped his fingers on the table while silently reading the article word by word in his mind.
Suddenly, the candidates who were immersed in writing in the hall heard a burst of laughter, and they all raised their heads in surprise, wondering who was so bold and dared to make noise in the examination room?
After seeing everyone, they realized that the person who laughed was none other than the examiner of this government examination, the prefect of Jiangning, Shen Du.
Shen Du stood up, slapped the desk with a paper in his hands, and laughed loudly: "How can I read this article without drinking? Come on, bring some wine!"