The Dragon Boat Festival is very lively in Bianjing.
The festival objects in Bianjing include Bai Suo, moxa flowers, dragon boats, rice dumplings, sachets and so on.
Children in every household wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival. The sachets contain cinnabar, realgar, and deer antler slices mixed with fragrant herbs, and then they are worn with them. This not only has the meaning of warding off evil spirits and pestilence, but also embellishes the headband.
use.
And on the day before the Dragon Boat Festival,
The market in Bianjing sells peaches, willows, sunflowers, cattail leaves, Buddhist and Taoist mugwort. The next day, every house lays it out at the door, makes offerings of rice dumplings, five-color water balls, tea and wine, and nails moxa sticks on the door, regardless of the scholar.
The common people's houses are all ready.
After the Dragon Boat Festival.
Zhang Yue was not at home after the festival. Instead, he went to Daxingguo Temple and rented three monk rooms to study behind closed doors.
There are too many subjects in the system examination. Although I am familiar with the classics and meanings, I have not read the books on Shi Wuzi and other subjects.
The scope of the system examination can be said to be unlimited. In short, it covers the entire collection of classics and history. These days, Zhang Yue has to read and recite them all. The time is really tight, and even if you fail, you can't be willful.
In order to find a quiet place to study, Zhang Yue simply left his home and moved to Taiping Xingguo Temple alone to study in seclusion.
Before leaving, through Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang sent Zhang Yue the preparation books compiled for the examination, and then he pulled three ox carts to Taiping Xingguo Temple.
The ancients said that learning is rich in five cars.
At that time, books were still made of bamboo slips, but now Zhang Yue hauls three cartloads of books just to take the exam for one major.
Fortunately for Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang Fa and his son were obsessed with collecting books, and no one else would have been able to collect so many books. When Fan Zhongyan asked Fu Bi to prepare for the exam, he also asked him to read a room full of books.
As for Zhang Yue's need to finish reading Three Bullock Carts in less than three months, in the eyes of outsiders, it may not take three years.
However, this is the case for the professional examinations.
As for Zhang Yue, Ersu, his biggest rival in Zhike, has been preparing in Huaiyuanyi for half a year. In terms of age, Su Shi is twenty-six years old, Su Che is twenty-four years old, and Zhang Yue is only seventeen years old.
Now Zhang Yuezhen was not even able to get a drink of water, so he entrusted everything to Ouyang Xiu and Ouyang Fa to handle it. Even sending in papers was done by Ouyang Fa for him.
However, Zhang Yue didn't know that even though he was studying hard in seclusion, the fact that the Emperor declined to sign up because he wrote fifty chapters had already spread in Bianjing.
Who can not pay attention to Jiayou's strategy for entering the top 100 in a new subject in six years?
Ouyang Fa immediately sent Zhang Yue's admission letter to ministers with more than two systems.
But it was said that when Ouyang Fa arrived at Wang Anshi's home, it was Wang Anli who got Zhang Yue's entry book.
Wang Anli and Zhang Yue both became Jinshi in the sixth year of Jiayou. However, Wang Anli's ranking was not good and he was ranked fifth. As a rule, he had to wait for selection by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of staying in Beijing, Wang Anli also got engaged.
It was Ouyang Xiu who arranged the marriage.
Through Ouyang Xiu's arrangement, the sister of Xie Jingwen, the Jiangdong Road transfer judge, married Wang Anli.
Xie Jingwen and Ouyang Xiu were very friendly, and not only him. Xie Jingwen's father, Xie Jiang, was also a close friend when he and Ouyang Xiu, Mei Shengyu, Yin Zhu and others were in Xijing.
I heard that Mrs. Xie is well-educated, gentle and virtuous. Therefore, Wang Anli was very satisfied. His elder brother Wang Anshi was also very happy that his younger brother had such a marriage. He also had a good relationship with Xie Jingwen.
Wang Anli met Ouyang Fa and asked him to come in and meet his brother. However, Ouyang Fa saw that Wang Anshi was a little frightened, so he declined politely.
Wang Anli took Zhang Yue's entry and presented it to Wang Anshi.
When Wang Anshi heard that it was Zhang Yue who entered the paper, he asked Wang Anli to put it aside and continued talking to his friend Sima Guang. Wang Anli sat aside.
Wang Anshi and Sima Guang lived very close to each other. The two of them studied together and became even more intimate. Now Sima Guang is known to have made imperial edicts.
In Wang Anli's eyes, his brother Wang Anshi was a bit stubborn and radical in character, while Sima Guang was calm and sophisticated. Therefore, his brother's official career had not been very smooth, and he could not get along with the emperor and Han Qi. In comparison, Sima Guang's career was much smoother.
And to be honest, in private, he preferred to talk about classics and Taoism with Sima Guang. In his eyes, a scholar like Sima Guang was more consistent with a Confucian scholar than his brother in every aspect.
Now his brother and Sima Guang were sitting together chatting, and Wang Anli was listening. Being able to listen to a few words and use them was of great help to him, and he would not miss this opportunity.
Sima Guang initially didn't care about Zhang Yue's entry. Of course Wang Anli wanted to help remind him, so he said to Sima Guang: "Twelve feet, this is the entry of the current number one scholar."
After hearing that it was Zhang Yue's entry, Sima Guang said: "It turns out that it's Zhang Duzhi's entry. It's such a long wait. Why don't Jiefu take a look?"
Wang Anshi became interested after hearing Sima Guang's words.
Wang Anshi said: "The recent selections are not like those selected in the past, and not all of them may be qualified."
Sima Guang said: "Does Jiefu mean the number one scholar in a new subject?"
Wang Anshi said: "It's not him, I'm talking about other people who should be promoted this time, such as Ersu."
Sima Guang was puzzled and said: "Everyone in the world praises Er Su's writing talent. Why is it that Du Jiefu doesn't like it?"
Sima Guang had a good friendship with Su Shi and Su Che. When Su Xun's wife died of illness, he asked Sima Guang to write an epitaph.
Wang Anshi said: "I have met Sansu and his son several times at Ou Gong's house. To be honest, meeting him is not as good as being famous."
"It would be nice to hear the details."
Wang Anshi said: "The father and son are all well-educated Confucian scholars, and their literary talents are unmatched by anyone in the world. But it is a pity... that in their lifetime they will be just like Su Qin and Zhang Yi."
After a pause, Wang Anshi said: "Su Qin and Zhang Yi are good at words and eloquent. Although they can dazzle people for a while, they have no merit in the country or the world. Such knowledge cannot last long."
Sima Guang thought over and over again and said: "Er Su is only over 20 years old. It is difficult to make any achievements in knowledge for a while. It can be avoided if it is mixed and unreasonable."
As he spoke, Wang Anshi picked up Zhang Yue's paper from the side and said, "This guy is almost the same as Er Su."
Sima Guang said: "Even if they are similar, Zhang Duzhi and Ersu are both talented people who have emerged once in a century. I was not as good as them back then."
Wang Anshi said: "It only comes out every ten years, not a hundred years, but his articles are still worth reading."
After Wang Anshi took a closer look, he couldn't help but laugh: "It's actually bound into a book, which makes me worry less."
After saying this, Wang Anshi started reading Zhang Yue's book.
Wang Anshi could read very quickly, and he could read ten lines at a time.
But I saw that Zhang Yue was reading the book very quickly. He quickly flipped through ten or twenty pages. But he stopped again halfway through the book.
Wang Anshi actually turned to the beginning and read it again. This time, he read much slower.
Sima Guang and Wang Anli knew that Wang Anshi had always been a quick reader, but this was not always the case.
Wang Anshi once talked about his own reading, and just reading the classics is not enough to understand the classics. Therefore, a certain person has read all the books of hundreds of scholars, such as "The Difficult Classic", "Su Wen", "Compendium of Materia Medica", and other novels; the farmer has read them all.
A female worker knows everything. Then she can know the general outline of the scriptures without any doubt.
That is to say, he also read novels and other casual books, and used this knowledge to support the meaning of the scriptures.
On weekdays, Wang Anshi reads very quickly when reading leisure books, but very slowly when he reads the meaning of scriptures.
Wang Anshi had a large bookcase with a lot of books in it. He read wherever he went as an official. One time, Sima Guang went to Wang Anshi's home and saw that the bookcase was full of dust. He smiled and asked Wang Anshi how long it had been since he had read.
Wang Anshi took a look and said that I had already memorized these books, so Sima Guang picked them out at will, and Wang Anshi memorized them fluently. But Zhang Yue's entered book must be very remarkable if it can make Wang Anshi read it again and again.
But I saw Wang Anshi reading for half an hour before he finished reading.
During this period, Sima Guang and Wang Anli did not move, sitting aside and waiting for him.
After Wang Anshi finished reading, he let out a long sigh, closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, and said, "I've been farewell for three days."
Wang Anshi handed Zhang Yue's entry book to Sima Guang without saying a word.
Sima Guang took the book and said to Wang Anli with a smile: "Brother Ling can do this, this book must be extraordinary. I don't have the talent of brother Ling. I have to read the book he has read once, and I have to read it three times. He can memorize it."
I have to memorize a book once, three times."
Wang Anli smiled, but deep down he admired Sima Guang even more.
It is true that Sima Guang seemed inferior to Wang Anshi in terms of talent and learning, but in terms of solid knowledge and step-by-step progress, no one in the world could match him.
Wang Anli couldn't wait to ask: "Brother, what's so good about this article?"
Sima Guang also looked attentive.
Wang Anshi said: "It's not about whether his articles are good or not, but it's about whether he has classics and articles, and whether he has a master's degree or a tertiary degree."
"Before the imperial examination, I read Zhang Du's articles. There were some essays but few classics, some were erudite but not specialized. I did not have the ambition and strength to match, or lacked spiritual thinking. Maybe others said I was too harsh, but in my eyes it was indeed the shortcomings of his articles.
."
"But now when I read his articles, these fifty articles are integrated into the volume, which can be said to be the application of what I have learned. If you look at Er Su's volume, the fifty articles cover fifty things, even though the articles are colorfully written.
, The views are sharp, but they cannot be integrated, and everything falls into place at the first sight."
Sima Guang said: "Jiefu, from the perspective of my family, how can the world's principles be clinging to one end? The right and left prove each other, and the right and wrong attack each other is the way to achieve a thorough understanding."
Wang Anshi nodded and said, "You are right."
Sima Guang talked with Wang Anshi for a while, then Sima Guang stood up and left, going back to read Zhang Yue's masterpiece.
Wang Anli knew that a few days ago, the dowry girl of his brother's eldest daughter Wu met his sister-in-law on the road.
My sister-in-law immediately took the dowry girl to a teahouse and sat down to talk for a long time, asking about Wu's current situation.
The dowry girl was hesitant at first, but then she couldn't stand her sister-in-law's careful questioning before she came to the world.
It turned out that the Wu family had been having a difficult time in her parents' family in the past few months. The reason was that Wang Anshi insisted on taking Zhang Yue as the sixth place in the palace examination, and Li Taijun of the Wu family knew about it.
Li Taijun didn't look good on Mrs. Wu.
The sister-in-law knew that her daughter was not doing well in her parents' family, so she cried for several days after returning home. Her brother couldn't bear the crying anymore.
Now my brother spends all his time studying in the house and does not dare to see his sister-in-law.
Could it be that his brother's sudden change of view towards Zhang Yue today was because of the Wu family?
Wang Anli thought about it carefully and felt that it was not the case.
