Gui Cai, the actual founder of Yiyi whip method, was as unlucky as Jin Lei. He was ranked among the best in both examinations, but was dropped to the third place after the palace examination.
Jin Lei's writing is too empty, while Gui'e's writing is too detailed.
Wang Yuan talked about horse administration, salt administration, tea administration, land administration, taxation, household registration and many other issues. Due to the limited space, it is difficult to discuss each issue in depth.
Gui E's article specifically talks about land administration and taxation. He believes that refugees are everywhere and rebellions are occurring because land administration is increasingly collapsing and the tax system cannot keep up with the development of the times. What about clearing land and changing physical taxes to money collection? Anyway,
There's a lot of nonsense here, and it makes a lot of sense.
The problem is that, regardless of Wang Yuan or Gui E, the ideas they mentioned have been proposed by many ministers since the Hongzhi Dynasty, and are nothing new - except for the idea of dividing a family into an equal share.
How to write the imperial examination essay?
There are two ways.
One is to put forward practical guiding principles, such as the "Pingrong Policy" written by Huang Guan, the champion of the Hongwu Dynasty, which can be summarized in a few sentences: "The barbarians in the north are very bad, and education alone is useless. Expeditions with laborious troops cannot be eradicated at once. They should be eradicated at once.
Station troops on the frontier, carry out farming and warfare at the same time, and make camp step by step." There are no actual operational details, just a guideline is enough, and what to do is left to the specific executor.
One type is Yang Shen's fancy articles, which use detailed allusions, are erudite and comprehensive, follow the great road, abide by etiquette, and rule from the ground up. They are catchy to read and look like flowers. If you read it carefully, it means that nothing is said, and all practical issues are covered.
evaded it, and I must admit that he wrote it correctly.
If Wang Yuan had not been among the top three in the examination, and the marking officer did not want to disgrace the examiner, he would have been thrown to the third place like Gui E.
Ministry of Rites.
The Enrong Banquet is the Qionglin Banquet.
Gui E was taken to a seat by officials from the Ministry of Rites, and sat down with a depressed look on her face, dejected and not wanting to talk to anyone.
At this moment, about dozens of new scholars suddenly stood up and clasped their fists in congratulations, but it was Wang Yuan, Jin Lei and He Bangxian, three Yungui scholars, who came together.
Wang Yuan was led to the No. 1 scholar's seat and took his seat. Jin Lei was ranked about ten places behind Gui E.
He Bangxian was even more powerful. He was ranked fourth from the bottom in the imperial examination and twenty-first from the bottom in the palace examination. Anyway, no matter how he ranked last, he would be a Jinshi.
In the past, no matter how good the examination was, it was useless. Ma Xinglu, who was sixth in the examination, Wu Hui, who was eleventh in the examination, and Zhu Yin, who was sixteenth in the examination, are now all ranked among the top three Jinshi.
By the way, the fourth person in the second class is named Ma Yinglong. When the roll call was announced, Wang Yuan recalled the unbearable past.
When Tanhua Yuben appeared, many Jinshi also left the table to greet her. Wang Yuan also stood up and clasped his fists and said, "Brother Zihua, you are polite."
"Brother Ruoxu, congratulations!" Yu Ben said with a smile.
Wang Yuan also smiled and said: "Same joy."
If anyone has the least objection to Wang Yuan being the number one scholar, it is undoubtedly Yu Ben.
This gentleman ranked nearly 200 in the national examination, and he was actually able to rank in the first class. He was overjoyed for a long time. Whoever became the top scholar had nothing to do with him.
Yu Ben's imperial examination essays were written in a similar way to Yang Shen's. And his personality was similar to that of Jin Lei. They were both the type who immersed themselves in learning, were not very involved in practical matters, and easily offended others.
In history, this guy was demoted twice, both because of his nonsense. Once, there was a fire in the palace, and the ministers were ordered to explain the current affairs. Yu Ben told a lot of truth and was thrown to Guangdong to serve as deputy envoy to study;
During his tenure in Guangdong, he impeached the censor Mao Feng for corruption and bending the law. Mao Feng framed him back and framed him, and both of them were dismissed from office at the same time.
Interestingly, after Jiajing came to power, the unsociable Yu Ben and Jin Lei were both regarded as opponents of Yang Tinghe and were promoted.
Before the banquet started, the two of them were sitting close to each other. Yu Ben praised: "Brother Ruoxu will try Cheng Mo. I am lucky enough to see it. The first article he wrote is amazing!"
Wang Yuan was surprised and said: "Has the examination Cheng Mo already been published?"
Cheng Mo is the candidate's sample essay, which must be compiled and printed for both the provincial examination and the national examination, but it is absolutely impossible to do it so quickly.
Yu Ben smiled and said: "What I saw was a handwritten scroll."
Wang Yuan thought carefully about it, and found out that the first question of the Four Books on the Aptitude Test seemed to be, "Those who are as thorough as discussing, are practicing Taoism; those who are as thorough as grinding, are self-study." His article was written very normally, and the only highlight was that The "Qiming Shengfu" in "The Doctrine of the Mean" is brought in to unify the discussions of "The Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean".
This method of discussing two-phase corroboration is not mentioned in Zhu Xi's chapters, nor is it mentioned by Shen Fucong. It is mentioned in Wang Yangming's usual lectures.
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "But Qi Ming is in full dress?"
"That's exactly it," Yu Ben said with emotion, "When I studied "Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean", I was only vaguely aware of these two points. I never thought that the two approaches could lead to the same goal by different paths!"
Wang Yuandao: "This is what my mentor said."
"I wonder which great sage is Brother Ruoxu's master?" Yu Ben asked.
Wang Yuan already knew that Wang Yangming was the same examiner. He hesitated for a while and found that he had nothing to hide, so he said: "It is one of the examiners of the "Book of Rites" who was with him this time, Wang Taoshou Ren Gong."
"It turns out that he is a disciple of Yangmingzi, disrespectful, disrespectful!" Yu Ben was from Ningbo Prefecture in Zhejiang Province, which is close to Shaoxing Prefecture where Wang Yangming lived.
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "I am a disciple of Mr. Liu, thanks to the eunuch Liu Jin."
Yu Ben asked with interest: "What do you say?"
Wang Yuan explained: "I am originally a child of a Guizhou peasant family. I have been farming for generations and cannot even afford private education. When I was ten years old, I met Master Meng, who was a scholar in Shaoxing Prefecture. Later, I donated a small official position, but was offended by Shangguan. Liu Jin was implicated and encountered bandits on his way to exile in Yunnan. My father rescued my mentor and brought him home, and I began to read and write."
"Brother Ruoxu didn't know how to read until he was ten years old?" Yu Ben was shocked.
Wang Yuan nodded and said: "That's true. When my mentor Shouren Gong was demoted to Guizhou because he offended Liu Jin, he lived in caves in the barren mountains and taught lessons while farming. Only then did I have the honor to join my mentor's disciples."
Yu Ben suddenly realized it and praised: "This should be a good story!"
Isn’t it a good story?
So positive energy, so determined!
A peasant boy who had no money to study became literate following a scholar who was framed and exiled. He also met a great scholar of the dynasty who was demoted. This great scholar was so miserable that he lived in a cave. Despite such hardship, he still did not forget to educate and give poor children a real chance to go to school. Chance.
Now, the great Confucian was rehabilitated and promoted. And the peasant boy also succeeded in his youth and became the number one scholar appointed by the emperor.
You should simply write an article and publicize it so that scholars all over the world know about it.
Yu Ben suddenly came back to his senses: "Brother Ruoxu, will you be honored this year?"
"Sixteen years old." Wang Yuan said.
Yu Ben was dumbfounded and said in disbelief: "Brother Ruoxu has only studied for six years, he is truly a child prodigy!"
"It's just a fluke." Wang Yuan smiled.
While the two were talking, Yang Shen, who was second in the list, finally arrived, and all the Jinshi stood up to congratulate him.
The host of today's Enrong Banquet, Grand Scholar Fei Hong, who expressed condolences to the new Jinshi on behalf of the emperor, also arrived soon after, and everyone stood up to pay their respects.
In addition, all the examiners and deacons of the palace examination were also present for the banquet.
Only Li Dongyang didn't arrive because the old man had an anal fistula attack and was in excruciating pain for the past two days.
The thirteen marking officers who tried their best to belittle Wang Yuan that night were all smiles now, and they were also gentle and approachable to Wang Yuan, greeting him with greetings.
Who dares to show dissatisfaction with the new No. 1 scholar who has been appointed by the emperor? Anyone who makes a strange statement in public is disrespectful to the emperor and is suspected of suppressing underachievers.
Fei Hong announced the start of the Enrong Banquet. Immediately, officials brought cards and flowers to reward the examiners, deacons and Jinke Jinshi on behalf of the emperor.
The card is the waist card, the flower is the palace flower, and the Jinshi hairpin is this.
The others all had small silk plaques with the words "Enrong Banquet" embroidered on them. Only Wang Yuan, as the number one scholar, received a gold and silver plaque with the words "Enrong Banquet" embroidered on it.
The palace flowers are also different. Other Jinshis wear green leaves and velvet flowers, but only Wang Yuan wears green feathers and silver flowers.
The Enrong Banquet didn't last long. After chatting casually and eating some food and wine, they all went to Honglu Temple to learn the various etiquette of going to court.
At the end of the banquet, Yang Yiqing passed by Wang Yuan and said sincerely: "It is not easy for a scholar to be the number one scholar in a poor family for ten years. You should not associate with those who are lucky enough to be promoted. If you have the opportunity, it is better to be an official outside."
Wang Yuan didn't know what he meant, but he still cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Mr. Zhong, for the tip."
The next day, Wang Yuan received a set of court uniforms with crowns and belts. As for the other Jinshi, they continued to wear the Jinshi uniforms on the day when he was passed on. After going to court to express gratitude to the emperor, they had to return their clothes to the Imperial College.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty waste paper is indispensable... well, it is the Ming Dynasty treasure banknote, and every Jinshi is given a big pile of it.
(It’s Lao Wang’s birthday today, don’t talk about anything else.)