Three days later, the second exam was held as scheduled.
This time it was easier, at least there was no need to nail the tarpaulin. But the candidates felt even more uneasy, especially those like Li Ying who were kicked out of the examination room and were already on the verge of giving up on themselves.
Because the eight-part essay is so important, as long as the eight-part essay is written well in the first exam, the following exams will be the icing on the cake.
In fact, Wang Yuan is better at the content of the next two exams!
The second exam topic is: one argument, one imperial edict, one imperial edict, one imperial edict, and five judgments. It means writing an argumentative essay, three official documents, and five judicial decisions.
As soon as the candidates got the questions, they collectively let out a wail.
That "Lun" title is out of line. It comes from Zhou Dunyi's "Tai Chi Tu Shuo": "The Zhongzheng Renyi and the Master Jing."
What the fuck is talking about is Tai Chi, Yin and Yang, the relationship between the five elements and people. Except for a few who deal with the "Book of Changes", the other candidates are confused and can't even fully understand the true meaning of the question.
Most candidates start directly from "Benevolence and Righteousness". Although they are not far off track, they certainly cannot impress the examiner and can only be awarded a passing grade.
Wang Yuan was also a little confused, so he chose to leave it alone and finish writing the subsequent official documents before talking about it.
Until noon, while Wang Yuan was slicing ham, he still felt that this topic looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere.
If Wang Yuan was obedient and helped Wang Yangming finish copying the "Collection of Zhou Yuan Gong", he would definitely be able to answer this question easily.
It is very possible that Wen Shu came up with this question inexplicably after talking with Wang Yangming about "Tai Chi Pictures"!
The "On" questions are all asked casually and do not stick to the Four Books and Five Classics, but the discussion must be carried out using Neo-Confucianism. Therefore, there is no need to go beyond the outline, as long as the explanation can be justified, and the marking officer can understand it.
Wang Yuan was halfway through eating his ham sandwich when he suddenly put down the food and wrote the word "Tai Chi" on the scratch paper.
He finally remembered that this sentence was mentioned in "Zhu Xi Yu Lei" and a whole chapter was dedicated to discussing it in detail!
At that time, Mr. Shen blamed Wang Yuan. He should not criticize Zhu Xi unreasonably. He should at least finish reading "Zhu Xi Yu Lei". So Wang Yuan went to read "Zhu Xi Yu Lei". This thing is not a textbook, but he didn't expect it to be used today.
Up.
Thank you Master Shen!
Once you have a clear idea of the theme, you can write the rest casually. "On" questions are easier to express freely than those on the Four Books and Five Classics.
Of the 400 Guizhou scholars who took part in the provincial examination this year, only Wang Yuan answered the questions accurately, while all the others were completely off track. Not one of them had read "Zhu Zi Yu Lei" seriously.
When Wen Shu read Wang Yuan's paper again, he smiled and said to the other reviewers: "This essay must have been written by the first person in the previous session. The writing style is so simple!"
The five questions in the third test are equivalent to current affairs essay questions. In fact, there is nothing to discuss, they are all commonplace.
…
Inside the courtyard.
Li Ying sighed sadly: "I can't survive this time. It's really a shame to travel thousands of miles in vain!"
Zou Mu said calmly: "There is no need for this. If you fail this time, come back in three years. Then I will accompany you for another walk."
"Yes, yes, let's come together next time." Yue Zhen said with a smile.
Wang Yuan wiped his bowstring and said, "I won't comfort you anymore."
"You must have won the election. You must treat him when you return to Guizhou!" Li Ying took the opportunity to kill him.
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "No problem."
Li Ying was originally helping Wang Yuan maintain his steel knife. At this moment, he suddenly stood up and danced the knife in the courtyard, as if he wanted to vent his depression.
The more she danced, the more angry she became, and she actually cut off a branch of the osmanthus tree in the courtyard.
Jin Leiben was sitting in front of the window drinking. When he saw this, he yelled: "Since you failed in the imperial examination, you are just angry. Why did you cut down the osmanthus tree?"
Li Ying pointed his knife at the golden lei: "I'll chop it down. You didn't plant the tree, so it's your turn to teach me a lesson? If the homeowner wants to blame me, I'll pay him a sum of money!"
"Huh, rude barbarian." Jin Lei snorted coldly.
Li Ying became even more angry and shouted: "Come out and practice. Compete with swords, compete with arrows, compete with fists, compete with each other in wrestling, whatever you choose!"
Wang Yuan advised: "Forget it, Li Sanlang, it's you who are in the wrong this time. Why are you cutting down other people's trees?"
"Nothing compares to those of crude and savage warriors," Jin Lei sneered, "You and I are both examination candidates, how dare you compete with me in poetry?"
Li Ying spat: "What a stupid poem, you won't even take the test in pediatrics. Only poor literati can learn it."
Jin Lei smiled and said: "Then compare with Shi Wen."
Li Ying argued: "You are so powerful, why don't you pass the Five Classics examination?"
To pass the examination in the Five Classics means to answer all the questions in the Five Classics during the imperial examination, instead of just answering your own classics. This is equivalent to saying that you have to write twenty-three eight-part essays in one day, and some people actually do this.
Pass!
It was purely an insult, but it actually made Jin Lei stop talking.
This person is very conceited. This time he also thought about passing the examination in the Five Classics, but he only wrote twelve articles on the eight-part essay and couldn't finish it.
In fact, those guys who won the exams in the Five Classics were purely based on quantity. Each article was averagely written, but as long as you answered all the questions in the Five Classics and threw the 23 eight-part essays there, you would be 100% sure to win - the article
No matter how sloppy your writing is, you still need to be familiar with the Five Classics.
Jin Lei strives for excellence in his compositions and is unwilling to write rubbish articles, so it is naturally impossible for him to write twenty-three eight-part essays in one day.
Li Ying cut off the osmanthus branch and realized that he was in the wrong. Seeing that Jin Lei didn't say anything, he also sat down angrily in a daze.
"Hey, let's wait until the results are released." Yue Zhen patted Li Ying on the shoulder.
…
The scholars were busy releasing the results, and the examiners were busy filling out the results.
The day before the list was released, the official behind the curtain took down the number and wrote the list.
In addition to the two examiners, there are sixteen rooms for correcting papers, and each room has an officer. They recommend the papers that they think are good to the examiner from best to worst. The examiner only needs to look at the first few dozen papers.
That's all. Anyway, just fill up the quota of candidates.
If anyone succeeds in the exam, the room officials who recommended the papers will be the candidates' "room masters". At the Luming Banquet, they must meet the "room masters" and give red envelopes.
"Fifth place, He Xing, the hygienist with golden teeth!"
When the roll call came out, a room official stood up immediately and laughed and said, "This is the paper I recommend!"
In other words, this person is the fifth house master, he has face and can get red envelopes.
"Congratulations!" The other house officials immediately congratulated.
It must be written backwards from the fifth to the first, and the classics from the first to the fifth must be different!
Wang Yuan's original classic is the "Book of Rites". If he is selected as the first, then other Guizhou scholars who wrote the "Book of Rites" will not be ranked in the top five. No matter how good the article is, they can only be ranked sixth.
This is called Wu Jing Kui, one Jing Kui.
The first place must be chosen by the chief examiner, and the second place must be chosen by the deputy examiner.
The remaining third to eighteenth places were recommended by sixteen housing officers respectively. If there are several test papers recommended by the housing officers and are selected by the examiner, then he must separate the extra ones and cannot take several copies by one person.
Red envelope.
For those who have successfully recommended Wu Jingkui, each person will put a red candle in front of them and smile crookedly. This is the most glorious thing.
They can go out and brag and say: "The top candidate in the Book of Songs in this provincial examination is exactly the one I recommended!"
The second-place Fang Guan said: "What do you mean? I recommended Ya Kui for this provincial examination!"
The first-place Fang Guan laughed loudly: "You are all scum, I recommend Wu Jing Kui!"
Well, the first place is directly called "Five Classics Kui" without mentioning the name of the classic, and it is also "Jie Yuan".
After the top five completed the list, there was a commotion immediately, and the officials began to compete for the five red candles. It is said that taking home the red candle representing the leader of the Five Classics can let the children and grandchildren get the luck of the leader of the five classics.
This routine program is called "Nao Wu Kui".
It is very cost-effective to fight for Wukui in Yunnan, because there are also Wukui from Guizhou, and there are ten red candles available for grabs.
When Wen Shu was chatting with Wang Yangming, he had heard Wang Yuan's name. When the first place in Guizhou was called, Wen Shu suddenly realized it and laughed to himself: "He is actually a disciple of Wang Bo'an, no wonder he is so talented."
"Mr. Ju'an knows this person?" Professor Zou asked curiously.
Wen Shu said with a smile: "A beloved disciple whom he has been friends with for many years has blown his disciples up to the sky. Only today did he realize that what he said was true."
Professor Zou asked: "What's so strange about it?"
"This student named Wang Yuan has written three poems." Wen Shu immediately picked up his pen and wrote out all three poems that Wang Yuan had plagiarized on a piece of extra paper.
All the reviewers were amazed and called out prodigies, saying that this year's Guizhou Jieyuan was worthy of the name.
Yes, Wang Yuan ranks first, there is no doubt about it.
This is thanks to the fact that he traveled to the right era. During the Zhengde period, civil servants were relatively shameless, and the later they got, the more shameless they became!
During the Chongzhen period, civil servants were extremely shameless.
When they were grading papers, many of them simply read the questions. If you glance at a paper, you will find that the first two sentences are ordinary, and even if you write fancy words at the end, you will not be able to admit them, because the marking officer does not look at the back at all.
This is not bad, but what's worse is that it deliberately suppresses talented people.
For example, Li Lianfang, Shanxi's academic envoy during the Chongzhen Dynasty, deliberately did not enroll Guo Pengxiao, the most famous talent in Shanxi, when he was presiding over the local scientific examination. As a result, Guo Pengxiao was not even qualified to participate in the provincial examination.
Guo Pengxiao was so angry that he quickly found connections to enter the Imperial College. Through this status, he took part in the provincial examination and was awarded the title of Jinshi in succession.
There was another scholar named Bi Zhenji, who was also suppressed by Li Lianfang and was not qualified to take the provincial examination. Bi Zhenji simply faked her nationality and went to another province to take the examination, and she suddenly got the first place in that province!
Xu Guangqi, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel of the Chongzhen Dynasty, a student of Wenyuan Pavilion, and the Second Assistant to the Cabinet, was an outstanding person who failed the provincial examination five times.
It’s not that the knowledge is too poor, it’s that the officials responsible for grading the exams are totally practicing favoritism and making random recommendations!
Xu Guangqi took part in the provincial examination for the sixth time. The examiner was the great scholar Jiao Gong. Jiao Gong found that the papers recommended by the house official were all rubbish, so he ran to look at the answer sheets that were not recommended. When he read Xu Guangqi's test paper, he immediately snapped: "This famous scholar
There is no doubt that he is a great scholar!"
Look, he was directly praised as a "famous scholar" by the examiner. It shows how powerful Xu Guangqi's articles are, and he went from being ranked first in the provincial examination to being ranked first in the provincial examination.
If Wang Yuan was reborn in the Chongzhen Dynasty, it is estimated that the better his answers on the test paper, the less likely he would be successful, and he would simply raise a knife to rebel against the ball counting.