For two days in a row, the four books and five classics were tested first, followed by miscellaneous studies. The third day was about current policy theory.
If you talk about the first two levels, you can just rely on rote memorization, but there is no standard answer for the third level.
On the third day, after two days of torture, many candidates were depressed. Even if they put the written papers aside, they couldn't help but want to read one or two, for fear of writing something bad or wrong.
Wang Xu had enough to eat and sleep, and didn't care about the exams in the previous two days. He knew that the real difficulty lay in the strategy.
There is no standard answer to a policy review. How to write it? Whether it is to cover the topic with a few points, to express the main idea in a subtle way, or to analyze it step by step, each has its own way of writing.
Similarly, the personality of the examiner is also on the one hand. Some people like to be straightforward, but he won't like it if you ramble on to him.
On the other hand, some people like to write in a vague, half-hidden, and explicit way, saying that you have no literary talent.
There are also people who have a simple style and don’t like flowers and colorful articles. They think you are flashy if your articles are too gorgeous.
There are also people who like to be gorgeous. If you write plainly, they will look down on you. What should you do?
Wang Xu is still somewhat confident about policy theory, because current policy theory is to discuss the situation and explain the pros and cons. For example, when Yan Songgang implemented the New Deal, the Jinshi examination was about how the New Deal was.
In terms of policy at that time, those who supported the New Deal and opposed the Old Deal were in all likelihood rising to prominence and boarding the fast ship of reform.
Wang Xu is not worried that he will not win the national examination. The only worry is whether he can win the first prize. There are also rankings in the national examination. The first place in the state examination is called Jieyuan.
If he can get the first place in the imperial examination, according to the practice of scientific examination, Jieyuan cannot be deposed when taking the Jinshi examination, and the worst he can do is be a second-class Jinshi. This is the consensus within the imperial examination, and it is also the face that the Beijing examination gives to the local government.
After all, the Juren Examination is held by a state, and the first place in the Juren Examination is the place of that state, and the first place among the candidates.
When the time comes for the Jinshi examination, the candidates from each state go to the city to take the exam and compete for the qualifications of 3,000 Jinshi.
If even the first place in a state cannot be rated as a Jinshi, isn't this a slap in the face?
Think about it, we Jieyuan from Yangzhou couldn't even pass the Jinshi exam when we arrived in the capital. Is it that we, the examiners, are blind, or do you have a problem with us?
Officialdom is a big cake. Most of the time, you want good things, good things for me, and good things for everyone. This is really good. No one will offend anyone for no reason.
Therefore, as long as he passes the Jie Yuan exam and goes to Beijing to take the exam, he will definitely be a second-class Jinshi. If Wang Xu can win the first place, next year's Jinshi exam will be safe, even if someone wants to suppress him.
Even the emperor has to hold his nose and admit it. Anyone who wants to break this unspoken rule is an enemy of Shilin and Jieyuan of all generations.
"The governor of Yangzhou, named Yang Qinian, is over fifty years old. He is cautious and prudent and pursues governance by doing nothing. He is a conservative and opposes any reform. When the Han Party was in power, he sat on the bench for eight years in the Hanlin Academy. Han
The party lost power and Yang Qinian, who opposed the New Deal, immediately rose to prominence. It didn't take long for him to become a bachelor, and then he was transferred to become the magistrate of Yangzhou.
With such an ambitious examiner, articles that denounce the imperial policies and point out the pros and cons will probably be thrown aside without even being read.
If you want to win his favor, you must think from the perspective of the Conservative Party, otherwise it would be better not to win the first prize but not to be deposed."
Wang Xu thought about the three examiners in his mind and found that each of them had their own characteristics. Among them, Yang Qi, the governor, was old and mature, Zhang Yucai, the political scholar, liked calligraphy, and Zhu Xuanfeng, the censor, was jealous of evil.
No matter what is being tested in today's political debate, reform must not be mentioned first, otherwise we will not be able to pass Yang Qinian's test.
In addition, you can show off your calligraphy. Zhang Yucai likes calligraphy. Regardless of whether the content of the policy is good or bad, if your calligraphy is good, you will be able to win three points of popularity with him.
As for the last Zhu Xuanfeng, he hated corrupt officials the most and was a man who was dedicated to serving the public good.
He should be relatively easy to get along with, and his policies and theories have content and new ideas, rather than empty rhetoric. It shouldn't be difficult to pass this test.
In addition, his teacher Xue Mushan was once the censor of Zuodu. He was a giant in the Inspectorate and was probably Zhu Xuanfeng's old superior.
Because of this relationship, if you don’t look at the monk’s face and look at the Buddha’s face, the teacher is from the Inspectorate. As a disciple, I can be regarded as half a member of the Inspectorate.
Wang Xu didn't ask Zhu Xuanfeng to give him the green light, he just asked him not to embarrass himself. This request was not excessive.
Regardless of reform, the article is gorgeous and meaningful. Wang Xu has set three standards for himself.
The rest of the time is just waiting for the test questions to be released.
At around nine o'clock in the morning, some military men rang the gong and delivered the examination questions from outside.
The question is: change and change.
When he saw this question, Wang Xu knew that it was from Yang Qinian, and only he could deal with changing and unchanging questions.
This topic is very broad. It neither says anything will change nor stays the same. Candidates can freely develop around this topic.
People who value friendship can write about the changes in friendship, see the big from the small, and write about the various situations in the world.
People who care about profits can write about the changes of businessmen, every word of which is a masterpiece, and talk about the pagodas of the world.
If you are not afraid of death, you can also write about political changes, legal changes, and talk about the New Deal and reforms.
Of course, with Yang Qinian’s character, the better you write, the more he will resent you. Talking to the conservative party about the importance of reform and reform is like talking to your girlfriend about the dangers of cosmetics. There is no one who can listen.
If I go in, I lose.
It is true that Yang Qinian is a scholar, but you need to know your identity. If you are a scholar, you may be able to talk to him about these issues.
But you are an examinee, working under Yang Qinian, and you are going against the examiner. Do you want to get along?
When Wang Xu heard this topic, he knew that this year's Cold Party and the scholars who supported the reform were in trouble.
No, Yang Qinian, a conservative, was transferred to Jiangnan to govern, and he gave such a test question. It doesn't look like he did it accidentally.
Wang Xu was shocked. Could it be that the leader of the Zhu Party in the court had sensed the Han Party's desire to restore power and sent Yang Qinian to cut leeks?
What the Han Party relies on to be in power is half the support of the current emperor, and half the power of those scholars who came from poor backgrounds and originally thought that the common people would ask for orders. Strictly speaking, they are those Jinshi and Juren from poor families.
The more such people are killed, the fewer people with weight and voice will be able to support reform. Suppressing potential reform supporters will reduce countless opposition voices in the next ten years.
Thinking of this, Wang Xu's eyes lit up and he found the problem, and the title of this policy paper came up.
"Mo's loyalty lies in observing the rules, and Shang's loyalty lies in observing the rules."
Wang Xu started writing as soon as he started writing, taking legalism and businessman's code as the starting point, and wrote the beginning of "Unchangeable".
If the person who writes the ink changes, the ink will no longer be the ink.
If a businessman changes, the businessman will be a profiteer.
The greatness of Mohism lies in the fact that he abides by the rules and never exceeds them, so Mohists can become the most trustworthy people in the world.
The greatness of a businessman lies in the fact that he protects his own system. Only in this way can prices be stable and people can live and work in peace and contentment.
Therefore, sometimes it is not necessarily good if something changes, and it is not necessarily bad if it doesn’t change.
Wang Xu used the Mohists and merchants as examples to write down the unchangeable principles and effects, and took Chao Cuo of the Han Dynasty's "On Guisu Shu" as an example to write down the mistakes of changing orders from morning to night.
Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes. The most important thing to pay attention to is the heat. If the heat is too strong, the food will become mushy.
Wang Xu also took the farmland water conservancy law of the New Deal as an example, and bluntly stated the harm to the whole world if the farmland water conservancy law has not been implemented.
In the Farmland Water Conservancy Law, the idea of raising funds to build water conservancy is a good idea, but it is not appropriate.
For example, the Farmland Water Conservancy Law states that if local river banks, reservoirs, waterwheels, and canals are in disrepair, the local government will bear 50% of the maintenance costs based on the wealth gap of individual households, and the government will bear the other 50%.
Some local businesses do not rely on water conservancy for their livelihoods, but they have to spend money because they are wealthy households, which causes prices to rise. The lost money will eventually be evenly shared among the people.
Similarly, water conservancy projects in some places are in disrepair but still functional and do not affect their use.
For the sake of political performance, good looks, and corruption, the government also enforces maintenance, which in vain puts pressure on people's livelihood and makes them miserable. What is the use of such reforms except increasing the burden on the people?
There is no reform method in the world that is perfect.
Since Yang Qinian did not want to change, Wang Xu had to conform to his views and criticize the mistakes of the reform and the benefits of the change.
Position determines the head. Facing an examiner who doesn't like reforms, he can't write about the benefits of reforms. He wouldn't do that.