In the next few days, the most important thing for both the government and the public was naturally the triennial examination. Since the Song Dynasty used imperial examinations as the main source of officials, the triennial examination has become one of the most important things for the court.
Although there will be a palace examination later, the palace examination does not replace candidates. Even if they fall in the last place in the palace examination, there will still be official seats. Therefore, except for those who are very ambitious and want to take the Three Tripods, others will feel relieved after passing the examination.
Already.
Even Yunxi has been looking forward to it these days.
On the eighth day of the lunar month, Yunxi had just gone to court when he heard the sound of drums coming from a place not far away, and he immediately knew in his heart: the inter-examination was about to begin.
'You guys, historically you were able to pass the exam for tribute, so you should be able to pass the exam now, don't let me down.' Yunxi thought.
…
…
After three drum beats, the officer guarding the gate of Gongyuan began to speak loudly.
There are three sessions in total, and each session lasts for three days. But it is said to be three days, but in fact you can only enter in the evening on the first day, the papers will be handed out in the morning on the second day, and the papers will be handed in in the morning on the last day. There is only less than two days.
.
The first thing to do is to do a roll call, on a provincial basis, to determine who has come to participate in the examination. There are thousands of people, and the roll call alone will take half a day.
At noon, we took a short break to have something to eat, and then we started organizing the admission.
Wang Gen just passed the examination last year. This was the first time he came to take part in the examination. Everything seemed new. When he saw the entrance, he said to Hu Guang, who was leaning against the wall with half-squinted eyes: "Brother Guang (
Hu Guangzi), get up quickly, we are about to enter the venue."
Hu Guang was a candidate for the exam in the 29th year of Hongwu's reign. He had participated in the examination once. Hearing this, he lazily said: "It's still early! These thousands of candidates will not be admitted until after dark."
"I know admissions are based on provinces, but is it possible that our Zhangxi Juzi will be the first to enter?" Wang Gen asked.
"Don't think about it. The first ones to enter must be the people from Zhili. After that, it depends on the promotion officials. Generally, people from the province will be taken care of. This year, the promotion officials are not from Changxi, so the second admission cannot be
Our best luck as a candidate in Changxi is to be the third one to enter the competition."
Wang Gen, Li Guan, and Jin Shan were all elected officials last year and had no experience at all. Upon hearing Hu Guang's words, they calmed down their excitement and leaned on something to rest.
As expected, the first person to enter was the Juren from Zhili. The ones who entered after him were also the Juren from the hometown of the Henan Province. But after the Juren from Henan Province entered, they heard a guard shouting: "The candidates from Changxi are entering.
!”
Wang Gen immediately stood up straight and went to wake up the half-asleep Hu Guang again. However, this time Hu Guang opened his eyes without him and said with a smile: "My luck is not bad this year. Third
We entered the hall as soon as we could. The last time I came to take part in the examination, we Changxi people were the third to last person to enter the hall."
"I heard that there were even more unlucky ones before. In the 15th year of Hongwu's reign, Chang Xi was the last one to enter. It was already dark when he entered. It was difficult to rest immediately after entering, so he suffered a lot."
At this time, Wang Gen couldn't listen to what Hu Guang was mumbling. When he saw him lifting the bamboo basket in front of him, he followed the others towards the gate of Gongyuan without clearing it up. He asked doubtfully: "Brother Guang, why don't you pack it away?"
Packing up, tidy up?"
Hu Guang ignored him and waited until he lined up at the gate of Gongyuan before turning around and saying seriously to Wang Gen: "You have to be patient later. The search for the general examination is more stringent than the provincial examination."
"What? Tougher than the provincial examination?" Wang Gen said in surprise. Thinking about the body search during the provincial examination, Wang Gen still has a nightmare. They have never experienced such humiliation in their lives. Wang Gen still had trouble after passing the examination.
I was glad that I didn't have to be tortured repeatedly by the veterans at the guard station. I didn't expect that the test would be even more severe.
"Of course, after passing the provincial examination, you will almost become an official. Naturally, it is more stringent than the provincial examination. But don't worry, although it is strict, it will not be as humiliating as the provincial examination. After all, we are already candidates, local examination
I am also respectfully called Master."
After a while, the two of them arrived in front of the searcher.
They all had experience in rural examination searches, so they took the initiative to put the bamboo baskets out and let them be searched.
The people who knew how to search were indeed more careful. They searched every place carefully, and carefully touched the clothes they were wearing. The weather was still cold at this time, and the search was slow. Both of them were
Shivering with cold.
After a long while, the veteran who searched through the basket put their things into the basket, gave them their number tags, and let them in.
The positions of Gongyuan's number plates are based on the order of the characters in "The Thousand-Character Classic": "Heaven and Earth are black and yellow, the universe is primitive,...", sorted from east to west. The two looked at their number plates, and one of them was in the 18th century.
No. 2, one was in Zhouzi No. 2. Because the numbers assigned for the professional examination and the provincial examination were similar, they walked to their rooms in a familiar manner.
Wang Gen came to his room, half-crouched and walked in. He first took down two wooden boards, put the bamboo basket on the wooden boards to sort out the messed up things, then put the big wooden boards in place and spread the sheets.
At this time, he heard Hu Guang's voice saying: "Brother Jingzhi, there is no need to put down the sheets so early. There are still many candidates coming to the entrance. Even if you are a student, you won't be able to sleep now."
Wang Gen looked back and saw that not only Hu Guang, Jin Shan, and Li Guan were also coming.
Wang Gen put on the thin quilt he brought into the examination room, left the room and said, "Brother Harada, Brother Youzi, are you coming in too?"
Jin Shan said: "Well, we also came in. As soon as we came in, we met Brother Guang, and then we found out that our rooms are all nearby."
Wang Gen said happily: "That's good. It will be easy to go back together after the exam."
After that, the four of them chatted for a while, and it gradually got dark.
Several people were also hungry, so they took out the special dry food they had prepared for the exam - pancakes, and crowded around in Wang Gen's room to sit down and eat.
Although people in the south are accustomed to eating rice, people from the north and the south basically use pancakes as a special dry food for exams. Pancakes are easy to carry, and they have oil and water after frying, and they are very suitable for carrying hunger. Hu Guang's family is rich, and
I brought some good snacks and gave them to them.
Several people were eating and talking. Hu Guang warned them: "After a while, everyone will enter the venue, and you will not be able to walk around freely in the examination room. Although I have told you some things before, I will say it now."
Once again.”
"You must have a good rest at night, and you must not lose sleep. If anyone can't sleep, I have some medicine to help you sleep."
"Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to get up the next morning after taking the medicine to help you sleep?" Li Guan asked.
"The competent examination is different from the provincial examination. During the provincial examination, those who hand out papers will not wake up the candidates, but those who distribute the papers will wake up the candidates who are still sleeping, so there is no need to worry." Hu Guang explained.
"Then give me one, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep." Li Guan said again. He was very nervous.
"After you finish eating, come to my place to get it. Let me talk about the next thing first." Hu Guang said.
"The people who mark the examination papers are also different from those in the provincial examinations. The rural examinations are just a few county examination marksmen who never pass the examination. How high their standards can be, as long as the articles are gorgeously written, catchy to read, and
If you are organized, you will be able to choose.”
In fact, the provincial examination is not as easy to pass as he said. It's just that they are all masters of writing articles, so they say so.
"But the exams are all judged by well-educated people, and little tricks can't fool them. Moreover, the imperial court advocates a simple style of writing. The late emperor and the current majesty both punished ministers because of the gorgeous memorials written. Therefore, articles must use less gorgeous words.
Be more down-to-earth.”
"When giving examples, try not to give too uncommon examples. Although the examiners will probably not consider an example to be fabricated just because they have never seen it before. However, when marking the paper, there is no time to check the meaning of the example.
Most likely they will be downgraded. If they are downgraded, they will most likely not be able to pass the exam."
…
Hu Guang told them many things that needed attention, some of which were also needed for the provincial examination, and some of which were just for the general examination. The three of them listened attentively and asked questions from time to time.
After saying this, a long time passed. When Hu Guang wanted to say more, he saw the guards starting to drive people away, so he quickly said, "The most important thing is not to be nervous." He hurriedly returned to his cell.
After they all left, Wang Genping calmed down his mood, spread out the sheets, and lay down on the wooden board to sleep.
But he turned over and over but couldn't fall asleep. He kept hearing the sound of midnight, and then he fell asleep in a daze.
‘If I had known better, I should have asked Brother Guang for some medicine to help him sleep.’ He thought.
Before dawn the next morning, he felt his body shaking. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the person handing out test papers was telling him to get up.
Wang Gen hurriedly opened his sleepy eyes, sat up and put on the quilt, took the test paper, rearranged the two wooden boards, lit a candle and started reading the test questions.
The first test was about the meaning of the Classics. Wang Gen thought: 'This year there is only one question on the Four Books. Most people don't study the Five Classics much on weekdays. Most people will write this question on the Four Books. I'm afraid the marking officer will be bored with it.'
'I usually study the Book of Songs, the Book of Rites and the Spring and Autumn Annals among the Five Classics, so I will choose four topics from these topics to write.'
Having made up his mind, he carefully looked at the sixteen questions, selected four and started writing.
It took a day and a night. After Wang Gen finished writing, he checked it carefully several times for fear of typos or using the wrong allusion. He didn't put down the pen until dawn on the third day. But by this time, he had already handed in the paper.
It's time, and there's no time to rest.
Although the four of them got together during the show, they were all exhausted from the two days of torture and had no intention of talking, so they returned to the inn.
A day later, they arrived at the gate of Gongyuan again and lined up to take the second time and literature exam.
In the past, because the Shiwen exam had nothing to do with admission, and the rankings in the general exam were of little use except for the top few, most people didn't care much about this one.
But this year it didn't work. Yunxi ordered to add a math question. If you can't answer it, you will never be admitted, which made many candidates very anxious.
But after seeing the question, they became uneasy. The question that Yun Xi asked this year was not difficult. It was a classic chicken and rabbit in the same cage problem. Now it is only at the level of the fourth grade of elementary school. Even the ancients, as long as they have read "Calculation"
There is no problem in answering this question.
Wang Gen breathed a sigh of relief. He usually didn't like to study mathematics, so he was very nervous before, but he breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the question.
However, after he solved this question, he remembered that according to rumors, math questions would become more difficult year by year, so he couldn't help but think to himself: 'You must pass this subject.'
Although most people didn't care much about the subsequent articles, Wang Gen still finished the article seriously.
After the second exam, they were in much better spirits than after the first exam, but they still didn't speak to each other on the way, and returned to the inn to rest in silence.
Another day passed, and it was the last test. In fact, what most candidates were most worried about this time was not the first test, nor the second test, which was said to be rejected by one question, but the third test.
Although the number of questions on the Four Books was suddenly reduced in the first session, most of the candidates have done some research on one of the Five Classics. They only need to write one question on the Four Books plus three questions on the Five Classics on the same classic, so they are not too worried.
The math questions in the second session were already told that they were not difficult, so although most people were nervous, they were not too nervous.
But the last game is different. Although policy theory was tested before, it did not affect the admission of Gongshi. These people do not have enough time to study the Four Books and Five Classics. They only read some things about the province on weekdays. How can they have time to study national affairs?
?
Those who usually don't pay much attention to it are desperately collecting and researching newspapers these days, but they are still very nervous.
Those who read more newspapers on weekdays are much better off, but they are also worried about what if the exam questions are not the ones they have figured out.
But no matter what they did, the exam started as scheduled.
The next morning, as soon as the papers were handed out, many people lit candles and started reading. Some people were happy and some were depressed. However, there were many more happy people than depressed people.
‘An Meng’s policy? This topic is one of the most likely topics that I discussed with Brother Guangda before.’ Wang Gen thought.
Since it didn't exceed their expectations, Wang Gen of course already had a draft. He thought about it for a moment and then started writing.
However, in a room not far from him, Yang Zirong sneered and said to himself: "I'm afraid most people will be happy. Anmeng's strategy, such a common topic, I guess most people
We have all done some research. Unfortunately, this question is definitely not as simple as you think."
He carefully recalled the various policies towards the foreign countries since Yunxi succeeded to the throne, especially the policies towards the northeast and northwest. He gradually got an idea and started writing with confidence.
‘Among so many candidates, no more than five people can think of this. Even if I don’t get the first prize in this examination, I will definitely be in the top five.’ Yang Zirong thought.
