About half an hour after the exam started, Professor Zhang and others, who were the promotion officers, suddenly walked out of the west hall. The invigilators sitting around the examination room were all from the Guizhou Prosecution Department. At this moment, they also entered the room to join the promotion officers.
Each promotion officer is assigned an invigilator to supervise each other.
The invigilator holds a small stamp in his hand and stamps the candidates' ink rolls along the way. This chapter is called "Starting Stamp".
At this time, the candidates have written about a hundred words, which must be copied onto the official answer sheet for the invigilator to stamp it to take effect - to prevent anyone from cheating midway.
The person next to Wang Yuan was holding on to the sleeve of the promotion officer, and said with a sad face: "Sir, give me a little more time, I have already written the introduction, and I will copy it soon!"
The promotion officer immediately shook his sleeves and left, and the candidate suddenly looked ashen. He probably came from an ordinary military family, and it was not easy for him to study, so he hoped to receive rice in the future to reduce the burden on his family.
But if the invigilator didn't poke him, everything would be in vain.
It is true that the Taoist test can take a whole day, and you can stop to eat in the middle, but the first hundred words of the first question must be written within half an hour of the test.
If you haven't written out the introduction when stamping, or if you forget to copy it onto the answer sheet, the invigilator will not stamp you. When the marking officer marks the examination paper, you will be allowed to write in a garish manner, without any
If you stamp the "starting stamp", your score will be lowered by one level, or you may even be directly judged to have failed, because you are suspected of cheating at midfield.
Also, in the Ming Dynasty, there was only one exam, unlike the Qing Dynasty where there were several exams. Unless there was a case of fraud, there was no possibility of re-examination. If the invigilator did not stamp the exam, it was almost equivalent to a death sentence.
"well!"
Wang Yuan shook his head and sighed, feeling sorry for his neighbor.
But if you can’t even write a hundred words in an hour, who can blame you?
Professor Zhang and the invigilator poked randomly all the way. When they poked Wang Yuan, they couldn't help but stop and take a closer look.
"Have you finished writing all four essays?" Professor Zhang asked.
Wang Yuan was designing five scriptures on the draft paper and replied without raising his head: "It's done."
Professor Zhang had no taboos. He bent down to look at the answer sheet carefully and couldn't help but nod in approval: "The article is simple, mature and prudent, and it can serve as a model for all living beings. What is your name?"
"Wang Yuan." Wang Yuan replied.
"After you enter school, I will personally teach you craftsmanship." After Professor Zhang finished speaking, he left, asking the invigilator to poke Wang Yuan, and then went to poke other candidates.
The old professor had been a scholar for decades, but he couldn't even pass the examination. He had to work hard to get a place in the annual tribute. But he still thought very highly of himself. Seeing that the future student was a talented person, he wanted to teach this student personally
Eight-legged essay.
It took more than an hour for Wang Yuan to finish writing all five scriptures.
It’s really that the questions in Xishu are too simple, incomparable to those in Jiangnan, where Jiangnan has already started to have cut-and-answer questions.
Let’s take an example of a truncated question: “You can be a human but not as good as a bird.” Shi Yun Wang Mu Muwen.
The examiner who came up with this question was so bad that even Confucius was confused.
A child student made the following statement: "It would be shameful for a lady to be inferior to a bird." Then he was completely blinded and did not know how to contact King Wen. He repeated this sentence repeatedly, which annoyed the candidates next door, and the person sitting next to him blurted out: "It's shameful."
, Shame on you! If you are ashamed, there is no better way to learn from King Wen."
The boy was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately wrote it down in the paper. Because of this sentence, he was admitted as a scholar.
…
Wang Yuan carefully revised and proofread it, copied it to the answer sheet, packed up the test box and prepared to hand in the paper.
Xi Shu had been sending people to keep an eye on Wang Yuan, and when he saw this, he immediately called him over. There were no red papers for the Taoist examination, let alone anonymity, so he started grading Wang Yuan's papers on the spot.
It was just a matter of answering the questions on the Four Books. When he came to the questions on the Five Classics, Xi Shu suddenly smiled and asked, "Which book are you reading?"
Wang Yuan said: "Study both "Justice" and "The Complete Works"."
Xi Shu warned: "If you want to succeed in the examination, put down "Justice" first. It will not be too late to read "Five Classics of Justice" after you become an official."
"I sincerely follow the teachings of my master." Wang Yuan cupped his hands and said.
The official imperial examination textbooks of the Ming Dynasty were The Complete Collection of Four Books and The Complete Collection of Five Classics.
Regarding these two sets of books, Gu Yanwu commented: "The imperial court was deceived at the top, and the scholars were deceived at the bottom. This is where the abolition of Confucian classics really began."
In a word, the textbook is purely a random compilation.
This originated from Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di. They felt that some contents were not conducive to rule, so they started to mess around.
Zhu Di summoned his ministers to compile books, among which he compiled the "Complete Collection of Four Books" and "The Complete Collection of Five Classics". He abandoned theories other than Neo-Confucianism and arbitrarily tampered with the meaning of Zhu Xi's classics in order to control the minds of scholars.
The "Complete Collection of the Five Classics" was slightly better. It was not abandoned by the mainstream until the end of the Ming Dynasty, and candidates turned to the "Five Classics of Justice" written in the Tang Dynasty.
The "Complete Collection of Four Books" is simply impossible to evaluate. The imperial court was blindly deleting and editing, and private printing was also blindly deleting and editing. It would have made Zhu Xi jump out of the coffin. By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, most students simply read the "Collected Commentary on the Four Books" directly and
The official textbooks are regarded as a piece of waste paper. The same is true for the examiners. The questions are all based on the "Annotations of the Four Books" because the "Complete Four Books" often contradicts itself.
At that time, Shen Fucong accidentally came into contact with the "Five Classics of Justice" and immediately regarded it as a guideline, abandoning the "Complete Collection of the Five Classics" and ignoring it, which led to various deviations from the guidelines during the examination.
Now teaching Wang Yuan, Shen Fucong also warned: "You must master the "Collection of the Five Classics", otherwise the scientific examination will be difficult. But if you study knowledge, the "Collection" is all lies, and you should use "Justice" as the criterion."
This resulted in Wang Yuan having to read two different versions of the "Book of Rites", one for exams and one for academic study.
Professor Zhang seemed to have a good relationship with Xi Shu, so he came over and asked, "How is it?"
Xi Shu drew a circle on Wang Yuan's paper, nodded and said, "If nothing unexpected happens, I will be the head of the case."
This is to recruit Wang Yuan as a student member on the spot, and the academic officer has this right.
"Thank you, Grand Master." Wang Yuan quickly bowed and thanked him.
"No need to thank me," Xi Shu said with a smile, "With your talent and learning, it is enough to pass the imperial examination in Guizhou. But if you want to pass the Jinshi examination, you have to work harder. Guizhou has not produced a Jinshi for ten years."
To be precise, he has not been able to become a Jinshi for twelve years.
This shows the degeneration of Guizhou. When Song Ang was in charge, he promoted culture and education, established social schools extensively, and even exchanged knowledge with health schools and department schools. This encouraged health workers and ordinary people to have a tendency to study.
, often two Jinshi will be awarded in one examination.
As a result, Song Ang died, Song Ran succeeded to the throne, and all social schools were suspended. Corruption was also rampant in the health department, and ordinary military children had no money to study. As a result, Guizhou has not produced Jinshi for twelve consecutive years!
Xi Shu put Wang Yuan's paper aside and warned, "Stand behind me."
"Yes!" Wang Yuan stood calmly.
After about half an hour, someone finally handed in the paper.
Xi Shu glanced at the eight-part essay and said with a smile: "Zong Lu, your article has improved a lot."
The appointment of an academic officer is only for three years. While holding the Taoist examination, previous students must also be assessed. In the first year, the annual examination is taken to check the students' homework; in the second year, the subject examination is taken to determine the list of candidates for the provincial examination;
I did not take the exam for three years and prepared for the provincial exam.
However, Xi Shu is in a special situation. He should stay in office for five years and not leave Guizhou until the end of the next provincial examination.
The student in front of him is called Chen Wenxu, whose courtesy name is Zonglu. He is here to take the annual exam today. To save trouble, Xi Shu took the Taoist exam together with the annual exam. Anyway, the annual exam is equivalent to the final exam.
Xi Shu handed this person's test paper backhand to Wang Yuan: "You can evaluate it."
Wang Yuan read it carefully and said: "Everything is stable."
Xi Shu smiled and said: "You are a very naughty boy. You are obviously not very outstanding, but you insist on saying that everything is stable."
"Ashamed of you, student!" Chen Wenxu quickly bent down and bowed.
Xi Shu encouraged again: "Although it is not outstanding, the succession and transformation are much better than last year. My questions are still too simple and it is not easy to write new ideas. Don't belittle yourself because of this." He picked up Wang Yuan's paper and handed it to Chen.
Literature says, "Please enjoy it."
Chen Wenxue immediately held up his hands and took the test paper with great respect.
Wang Yuan's eight-legged essay is only average in terms of essay writing. But in terms of starting and turning, it is like lubricating oil, and there is no hindrance in reading. The most exciting thing is the argumentation process. There is not a word of nonsense from beginning to end, and the various arguments and arguments are perfectly linked.
.
This article, even if it were written in Jiangnan twenty years ago, would have easily passed the exam!
Of course, it's hard to say now.
In today's Jiangnan Provincial Examination, both examiners and candidates favor literary talents, and they treat answering questions as if they were writing essays. The simple and steady writing style suffers greatly.
Chen Wenxue read Wang Yuan's paper repeatedly, then handed it over and said: "Xueyou is a great talent, I am ashamed of myself."
"I don't dare." Wang Yuan returned the courtesy.
Not long after, two more students submitted their papers, namely: Tang Ji, whose courtesy name was Boyuan; Ye Wu, whose courtesy name was Zicang.
Xi Shu asked them to review each other's articles, and then commented one by one, teaching the four of them completely as his direct disciples.
Finally, Xi Shu said to Zhang Bangchen: "Professor Zhang, after the Taoist examination is completed and the new students enter the school, organize all the students."
"What's important?" Zhang Bangchen did not agree directly, but asked the reason.
Xi Shu explained: "I personally took them to Longgang Mountain to study, and they all became disciples of Mr. Yangming."
Zhang Bangchen was taken aback and immediately surrendered.
Wang Yangming had offended Liu Jin and was demoted. Xi Shu actually led the Guizhou students to join Wang Yangming's sect. The political risks involved were frightening.
To say the least, he is not afraid of powerful people, which makes Professor Zhang admire him greatly.
In fact, Xi Shu didn't have much contact with Wang Yangming, and considering the year of Jinshi, Xi Shu was still Wang Yangming's senior, so there was no reason to do such a thing.
There must be something hidden!
This has to be mentioned, Mao Ke, another deputy envoy of Guizhou.
Mao Ke and Xi Shu were appointed at the same time. Because they were old and frail, they fell ill on the way to Guizhou. He had been recuperating in the past two years, but he and Xi Shu had a close friendship. The two hoped to work together to improve Guizhou's education.
good.
Coincidentally, Mao Ke and Wang Yangming were from the same hometown.
Not long ago, Wang Yangming wrote a letter to Mao Ke, explaining the truth he had just realized, and hoped that Mao Ke would help him promote enrollment.
Mao Ke was convinced by the theory of "mind is reason" and immediately helped Wang Yangming in publicity, which resulted in the banned Song Gongzi receiving the news.
Xi Shu also learned from Mao Ke that Wang Yangming had great talents, so he planned to take all the students to Longgang Mountain to study.
As for Song Jian, the father of Mr. Song, there is not much information about him.
Although Xi Shu was a fellow Sichuan fellow of Yang Tinghe, he had no close relationship at all. Song Jian's attempt to hook up with Yang Tinghe was wrong.
Wang Yuan's advisor is Xi Shu, and his professional advisor is about to be Wang Yangming. Neither of them can deal with Yang Tinghe. Wang Yuan will definitely become a political enemy of Yang Tinghe in the future.
By the way, Yang Tinghe is a strange flower. He successfully ended the Ming Dynasty's century-long conflict between the North and the South as a stir-up stick. If Wang Yuan is added as a stir-up stick, he will probably stir up shit in the Ming Dynasty.