Chapter 917 How to correctly understand the meaning of the questioner (4,000-word chapter)
"Speaking of which, I didn't grant you ten days' leave and allow you to come back to the palace on the first day of April. So what are you doing when you return to the palace today?" Yunxi suddenly asked Wang Xidao.
"In the official family, the slave was driven back by his mother." Wang Xi smiled bitterly and said: "The slave's mother thinks this is not a new year or a festival. How can a slave not serve his master? The slave barely stayed at home for two days, and his mother was very angry.
Let the servants return to the palace to serve the officials."
Yunxi was not sure whether he was telling the truth, trying to make himself happy, or something else, but even if he was making himself happy, it didn't matter as long as he set limits on the eunuch's power.
"The so-called Jun has no joke. Since I gave you leave, you can rest assured and go back to rest and serve the old lady. When the old lady asks, just say it was me and let you go home." After saying this,
Yunxi thought for a while and then said: "Go to the pharmacy, get another ginseng, and bring it to the old lady."
"Thank you so much for your grace." Wang Xi immediately knelt down and said.
"Okay, you can go back and serve your mother well," Yunxi said.
Wang Xi stood up and bowed again, then bowed and left.
After saying this, Yunxi stood up and stretched, thinking of the memorial he had just seen before meeting Yang Feng and Cao Xing. Just as he was about to announce Cao Zheng's visit, a young eunuch suddenly sent a message: "The official family, Dong Auxiliary Officer Xie Jin is asking for an audience.
"
"Let him come in." After hearing Xie Jin's request for an audience, Yunxi immediately knew why he came and ordered.
Xie Jin then walked in with Yang Shiqi, Yang Pu and Jin Shan from Zhongshushe, holding many documents in their hands. When he saw Yun Xi, he immediately bent down and saluted: "Your Majesty Xie Jin (Yang Shiqi, Yang Pu, Jin Shan)
Shan) has met His Majesty, but I have a lot of papers on my body, so I apologize for not being able to pay full respect."
Yunxi didn't care about their salutes and asked directly: "Is this the test paper that will be tested this year?"
"Your Majesty, here are the three subject examination papers for the 107 tribute scholars who have been admitted to the examination this year. Among them, there are 100 people from 14 provinces, one from Min Fan, one from Ying Fan, and one from Qin Fan.
There is one person from Su Fan and one person from Song Dynasty. Yong Fan, Luo Fan and Pu Fan did not send anyone to take the exam due to the scarcity of local scholars. In addition, North Korea, Ryukyu, Fusang and other foreign countries were listed on the same list, and their literary talents were comparable to those of tribute scholars admitted by each province.
There are two people in the last place, one from North Korea and one from Ryukyu." Xie Jin said.
The Ming Dynasty now adopts a provincial admission system for the imperial examination. Each province has a certain number of places, a total of 100. If there are ties for the last place admitted in a province, and the marking officials can't argue, they can all be admitted.
In addition, each of the several canonized vassal states has a fixed quota of tribute scholars every year, which can also be tied; people from overseas countries can also come to participate in the Ming Dynasty's examination. The person with the lowest literary talent among the tribute scholars admitted in the Ming Dynasty
Those above can be admitted, but the number is limited to five.
Yunxi asked the young eunuch to take the test papers and put them on the table. He walked over and sat down and read them one by one.
Yunxi opened the first test paper and briefly read a few articles on Jingyi. He mainly read the comments of the marking officer. Then he put the Jingyi test paper aside and read the policy theory. When he opened the test paper, he only saw the first one.
The first line of the page clearly read: "If Heaven did not give birth to Taizu, all the people would be blind." Yunxi continued to look down, and saw that most of the text in this article of more than a thousand words was flattering Zhu Yuanzhang.
, frowned unconsciously.
After reading this article, he opened the second policy article and saw that the first line read: "Those who are not from my race must have different minds." He continued to read and read an article describing the Husbands who entered the Central Plains in the past dynasties.
The article about what people do finally comes to the conclusion: Hu people are not trustworthy and should be used with caution.
After reading this article, Yunxi relaxed his frown, but judging from his expression, he was still not satisfied.
Although Jie Jin stood aside while Yunxi was reviewing the test papers, he kept secretly watching his expression. When he saw that Yunxi's expression was not very good, he thought in his heart: 'Don't I understand what your majesty means?'
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At the same time that Yunxi was reviewing the exam papers, in the Yamen of Suzhou Industrial Park, hundreds of miles away from the capital, a man wearing commoner clothes hurriedly walked into a house and said to someone in the house: "Master,
The official has already given me the questions for this year’s general examination.”
A man in his thirties, wearing a sixth-grade official uniform, stood up and took the document from his hand. Before he had time to say anything, he put the document on the table and spread it out to read.
He hastily skipped the previous pages, and quickly turned to the policy page, only to see it read:
Policy topic one: According to historical data, there were 7.68 million households in the seventh year of Taihe in the Jin Dynasty (1207 AD). After the Mongols raised their troops, there were only 80 households in the third year of Tianxing (1234 AD) when the Jin Dynasty died.
70,000; in the 16th year of Jiading in the Song Dynasty (AD 1223), there were 12.67 million households. By the second year of Xiangxing (AD 1279), when the Song Dynasty died, there were only 9.37 million households left.
In the fourth year of Zhizheng (AD 1344), the Yellow River burst its banks, and the imperial court conscripted people to control the water. It was extremely harsh and many people died from exhaustion.
That year, there was drought and locusts in the Jianghuai River, and there was a great famine and epidemic. When Taizu was seventeen years old, his parents and brother died one after another, and he was too poor to be buried.
The second topic of the policy discussion: Also thinking about the Baxi Rebellion. There are many people from the Western Regions in Quanzhou. In the Song Dynasty, there were Pu Shougeng and others who gained official positions by pacifying the sea raiders. During Jingyan, King Yi visited the south and stationed at Quanzhou Port. Zhang Shijie sent three thousand Huai soldiers
Five hundred were awarded to Shougeng. King Yi came to the city duly, but Shougeng closed the door and refused to accept him. He killed more than 30 people from the Song Dynasty in Quanzhou, and none of the Huai River Army. He went to Hangzhou with the state's Sima Tianzhenzi and instigated the capital to surrender. Zhang Shijie
The counterattack could not be defeated in ninety days. The Yuan Dynasty ruled the world and awarded the longevity Geng Ping Zhang for his merits. He opened Pinghai Province in Quanzhou. For a time, his descendants were prominent in the world, and the people of Quan were inflicted by him for ninety years.
.... At the end of the day, the Yuan Dynasty declined, armies from all directions rose up, and the country's fate failed. His son-in-law Na Chui Wu Na from the Western Regions attacked and caused chaos.
Join forces to fight against them... This is a campaign. All the people from the Western Regions will be wiped out. Those with beards and tall noses will be killed accidentally. They will be executed behind closed doors for three days, and no one will commit any crime in the autumn of the people.
All the corpses of Pu thieves were found in the tombs of the Pu thieves, facing the west. Yi Jixi ordered him to be executed with five punishments, and his body was thrown into a pig trough as punishment for the Song Dynasty's rebellion. In the seventh year of Hongwu, Emperor Gao gave the world a general amnesty.
Imperial decree: All the remnants of the Dupu family are sent to the army and imprisoned. They will not be able to hold official positions for the rest of their lives, and they will be punished for their misfortunes. Du Zimi's poem says: "The owner of Jiehu has no choice in the end." This is a sincere statement.
This person read the two questions carefully three times, thought about it for a while, and said, "This year's questions should be like this."
"What kind of topic is this?" A person walked in from the door and said to him with a smile.
When the sixth-rank official saw him before, he immediately saluted and said: "Suzhou Prefecture General Magistrate Titiao Industrial Park Affairs, and concurrently the magistrate of Wu County Yang Zirong, I have met the magistrate."
Xiang Bao, the prefect of Suzhou, immediately returned the gift. After the gift was completed, Xiang Bao glanced at Yang Zirong's papers spread out on the table and said with a smile: "As expected, Yang Tongpan is also looking at this year's examination paper."
"Your Majesty is also a Jinshi, so naturally you have to take a look at this year's examination papers every year. What's more, since the 2nd year of Jianye has passed, His Majesty has personally proposed and discussed the topics. From this, we can see what His Majesty is most concerned about at the moment, so I
Let someone copy the test questions and come over to read them," Yang Zirong said.
"You also want to use these to figure out His Majesty's meaning?" Xiang Bao wanted to say this, but in the end he didn't say it. This is quite ironic. Yang Zirong was sent to Suzhou Mansion and seemed to be highly employed but stayed away from the court.
, he and Yang Zirong don’t have much conflict, so they should say less.
"I also ordered someone to copy the topics for this year's examination. I have thought about it, but I am not sure. I came here this time just to ask Yang Tongpan, what does your majesty mean by the topic for this year's examination?" Xiang
Bao said.
Yang Zirong thought for a moment and felt that he relied on him for many things in the industrial park, so it was better not to offend him. But he said: "Xiang Zhifu, although I have some guesses, I can't guarantee it."
"I also know this. Just say what you want, even if it is different from His Majesty's original intention, it doesn't matter." Xiang Bao said.
5 repeatedly said that his guess may not be accurate, and after receiving repeated assurances from Xiang Bao, he said: "Xiang Zhifu, if ordinary people were to ask these two questions, the first article would probably praise Emperor Taizu, and the second article would probably say
Words such as 'Those who are not of my race will have different hearts'."
"So, is it wrong to write it this way?" Xiang Bao asked. He also understood it this way.
"It seems to me, the magistrate, that if you want to win your majesty's favor, you must make this decision."
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Yunxi read the twelve test papers and saw that they were quite different from what he thought. He put down the test papers and said to Xie Jin and others: "I won't read these test papers for now. You can go back and evaluate the strategy theory."
Xie Jin immediately bowed and said: "I am too stupid to understand the emperor's meaning. Please clarify." Behind him, Yang Shiqi, Yang Pu and Jin Shan also bowed and said the same.
Yunxi glanced at them, and suddenly thought of one person, and thought to himself: 'If Yang Zirong were here, he would definitely understand what I mean. Although Xie Jin is smart, he has no political acumen.'
"Xie Qing, in this first policy question, those who use too many words to praise the late emperor will be ranked in the middle. This question does not require the candidates to elaborate too much, as long as they talk about how cruel the Mongols are."
"Second question, don't talk about people who are not from my race. They must have different minds. Who are the barbarians who have caused trouble many times in the past few years, and their intentions are against the Ming Dynasty and even against me? They are Tianfang believers!"
"First, at the end of the Hongwu period, Boyi, who had reached his maturity, ignored the orders of the Ming Dynasty and invaded Srivijaya. Later, spies from the Samarkand Kingdom colluded with people from the Majapahit Kingdom to assassinate me in Guangzhou. Among them, there were domestic semu people who rebelled in Annan, not to mention
What is written in the title is also Tianfang believer. Do you still need me to remind you of such a clear and obvious thing?"
The purpose of Yunxi's first question is very simple. It is to tell the people and gentry that barbarians invade the Central Plains, but if they want to carry out a large-scale massacre of the Han people, nine out of ten people will be killed. So everyone will face the barbarian invasion again.
At that time, we must not think that we can live as obedient people, but we can’t live as obedient people! So the person who answers the question only needs to stick to this theme. If the second point cannot be extended, just talk about how cruel the Mongols are. No.
Need to flatter Zhu Yuanzhang.
The second question is to prepare public opinion for the war with Samarkand. Confucianism is traditionally opposed to war. Even Confucius’ original intention was against unjust wars, so in order to eliminate as much opposition as possible in the court,
You need to prepare more for public opinion.
The two questions are combined together to tell the gentry and the people what kind of genocidal massacre the people will suffer if the Kingdom of Samarkand is allowed to invade the Central Plains, so that they will fear the Kingdom of Samarkand and support the court to fight against it. However,
This extended implication is that since there has never been any precedent of combining the two questions together, I am afraid that there is no example that can be answered, so he will not make the request.
After Yunxi's explanation, Xie Jin understood what he meant and immediately said that he was stupid. Then he stepped forward, picked up all the test papers, bowed and bowed, and left with Yang Shiqi and others.
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Yang Zirong explained clearly to Xiang Bao how to answer these two questions. Xiang Bao brushed his beard and said: "It turns out that there are still these questions in this question. If I were to take the exam this year, I would probably not be able to get a tribute."
Yang Zirong opened his mouth, but said nothing in the end. Xiang Bao had already become an official, and there was no need to take part in the imperial examination, and there was no need to comfort him.
Xiang Bao asked a few more questions that he didn't quite understand. After getting Yang Zirong's answers, he thought of something, thought about it for a while, sighed, and whispered to Yang Zirong: "Yang Tongpan, you'd better be careful these days.
Zheng Yingcha, who is patrolling Su Song, has gotten some rumors recently."
'Logically speaking, I shouldn't remind him. But he managed the park and Wuxian County very well in Suzhou. It would be a pity if he was dismissed from office because of this. I only hope he can repent.'
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In the afternoon, Yunxi just woke up, got up and put on his coat, and was about to go to the front hall to review the memorial. Xie Jin came to the Qianqing Palace with another 107 test papers and asked Yunxi to review them.
Yunxi said with some surprise: "There were nearly 3,000 test papers. How did you re-select 107 of them in just two hours? And also arrange the rankings?" He then stared at Xie Jin suspiciously and asked
He said: "Xie Aiqing, could it be that you just rearranged the rankings according to the purpose of the article?" If Xie Jin really did this, it is not possible. Although the purpose is important, the literary talent and the logic of the article are equally important.
"Your Majesty," Xie Jin said: "As the promotion officer and policy reviewer for this examination, I remember what the policy reviews of more than 3,000 examination papers are about, so I can complete it within two hours.
These one hundred and seven test papers were selected."
"If your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can send someone to select a few test papers that have been judged as failed by the ministers. Compared with these test papers, the literary talent can be comparable."
"That's not necessary. Of course I can trust you, my beloved." Although Yunxi had doubts in his heart, he would not express them to his face. Anyway, after the results are announced, all the test papers can be consulted by the scholars at will, so there is no rush.
Yunxi then read all the 107 test papers, and picked out a few that he was not satisfied with. He asked the test papers that ranked this province later to be taken over, and after comparison, the people on the list were selected side by side.
Ranked.
"This one is called Zhou Shu. He is Huiyuan himself, and his younger brother is also on the list. This family must have a good family tradition. Zhou Shu is also the Jieyuan of Jiangxi. If he can win the top prize again, it will be a good story." Yunxi suddenly
He noticed a pair of brothers on the list and said this.
"This is only possible because of His Majesty's kindness." Xie Jin said flatteringly.
Yunxi didn't answer. He just said it casually. Even if there was another person who won three yuan in a row, it would mean nothing to him. But he still remembered Brother Zhou Shu because of this.
