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Chapter 478: Exam Year

The tenth year of Jingyang is a very important year for the scholars of the Ming Dynasty. The triennial examinations and palace examinations are about to be staged. Reading hard in the cold window is a lifetime pursuit for many people to be named on the gold list.

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, the examination was held on the ninth day of February in the Chou, Chen, Wei, and Xu years. However, in the Gengxu year of the sixth year of Jingyang (1610), the Empress Dowager died and the examination could not be held.

As usual, it should have been moved to the Guichou year (1613), but the emperor did not want the candidates who had been waiting for many years to wait for another three years, so he decreed that the subject should be opened in the seventh year of Jingyang, and three years later it would be the tenth year of Jingyang.

Although this move was opposed by some court officials, everyone was happy and encouraged. In order to participate in this lifelong event on time, students from the two capitals and thirteen provinces bid farewell to their parents, wives and children, invited their classmates and friends according to their distance from the capital, picked up their books and luggage, and walked or rode. Driving aboard the ship, we headed toward the capital from different directions along the rugged post road.

Generally speaking, Northern Juzi, which is relatively close to the capital, will leave after the new year, and it can be reached in two months. Those who live in the northwest, southwest, and south of the Yangtze River have a harder time, and they have to start after the results are obtained in the autumn of the first year.

It takes two to three months or even three or four months to travel thousands of miles to get to the capital. It would be better to find a place to live in the capital one or two months in advance than to delay, otherwise the wait would be at least another three years.

Every year when it comes to the annual examination, the winter capital will usher in batches of candidates rushing to take the exam. The number of candidates ranges from more than 1,000 to more than 5,000. In the early Ming Dynasty, it was less. In the middle and late period, it basically stabilized at About five thousand.

After so many candidates enter Beijing, they don’t take exams immediately and then leave. They all have to stay in the capital for food and accommodation, which can take a month or three or four months. Are there so many hotels to accommodate them?

The answer is not enough, and even if it were enough, not many people would be able to live there, and it would be too expensive. Then you guys can't go camping in the winter, right? Or does the imperial court provide official accommodation services?

No, candidates who come to Beijing to take the exam mainly have three choices in terms of food and accommodation. The first is to stay in a hotel. People from wealthy families often choose a hotel with better hardware facilities and closer to Gongyuan to rent, eat and live in. Although you have to spend a lot of money for room and board, you can enjoy the services of a five-star hotel.

The second is to stay overnight in temples and Taoist temples. There are hundreds of temples and Taoist temples in the capital. Some do not charge money and some only charge nominal room and board fees. Although the software and hardware are not up to star standards, there is no advantage in terms of location. , but it can’t stand the bargain price. Eating steamed buns for free is not too bad, and most people from poor families will choose it.

The third is the guild hall. If you are an official in the court or a businessman in Beijing, when your business becomes big, you will usually buy real estate and build a guild hall as a place for your fellow villagers to stay. Every year during the examination year, these guild halls will become temporary hotels for candidates from various provinces, prefectures and counties.

Choosing a clubhouse not only provides food and accommodation, but also has the advantage of being convenient for socializing. In the guild hall, you can not only study with fellow officials, but also make friends with fellow officials and wealthy businessmen, which will be of great help to your career after becoming a Jinshi.

Officials in the government and wealthy businessmen in Beijing are also willing to support local projects. In addition to doing good deeds, it is also an investment. There must be some people among the candidates who have passed the Jinshi examination. Youdao is that adding icing on the cake is not as good as providing help in times of need. You can show off your face in advance and sell your favors, which will come in handy in the future.

Speaking of being able to take a test, let’s talk a little more about the process of being able to take a test. On the seventh day of February, the emperor decreed the appointment of two chief examiners, called presidents, and eighteen co-examiners, called the eighteenth room.

In addition to invigilating the exam, the two presidents and eighteen fellow examiners also had to mark the exam papers. The general process is that the 18th room will review the papers first, and then select some that are satisfactory and hand them over to the president for review. The president has the authority to select again from the failed exam papers to find qualified candidates who have not been found. The location of the examination is Gongyuan, located in Mingshifang in the east of the city, facing Sitiantai in the north and south. The approximate location is at the northwest corner of Jianguomen Overpass, near the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In later generations, there are still place names such as Gongyuan East Street, Gongyuan Toutiao, and Gongyuan Ertiao.

The Gongyuan is very large, with three floors of walls alone. There are public halls and government offices in the front yard for examiners to work, while the back yard is where candidates answer their papers, called examination booths, with a total of more than 9000 rooms.

What does the examination room look like? As the name suggests, it is a simple shed. It has a wall on one side and is open on the other. It is a hundred meters long and separated by walls inside. Each room is four feet square and less than 2 square meters.

There are row after row of examination sheds. Standing on the watchtower used for surveillance, it looks like a chicken coop in a later generation chicken farm. People can only sit and lean inside, with no extra space for movement.

The examination is divided into three sessions, each lasting three days. If candidates want to complete the exam, they have to stay in the exam booth for three days and two nights. Basically, they enter the Gongyuan and cannot come out again until the end of each exam.

Imagine that in early February of the lunar calendar, which is almost mid-March of the Gregorian calendar, the heating in Beijing has just stopped. If there is sunlight during the day, the maximum temperature will be about 2 degrees. It is a bit hot to wear a down jacket, but a bit cold not to wear it.

At night, the temperature will drop to about 5 degrees, or even zero degrees. Even if you are wearing a down jacket and down pants, what is it like to spend a night in an examination tent with no doors or windows, semi-open air, no room for lying down, and no bedding? The conditions in the prison's solitary confinement room are not that bad.

Not to mention how high the level of knowledge is, just the body has to eliminate the weak and sick ones, at least to the level where they can sleep in the open air for a week and still be alive and kicking, otherwise they will not even be able to get out of the examination room.

In fact, there are not many cases where colds and fevers affect exams. The biggest patient is diarrhea and diarrhea. For three days and two nights, I was not allowed to leave the examination room, and I could only eat, drink, and defecate within less than 2 square meters.

Gongyuan only provides drinking water but not food. If you want to avoid starving to death, you have to bring your own food. What kind of food can last for three days without spoiling in an environment with an average temperature of about ten degrees? This is a big question. You can’t eat pancakes and fried rice every day, but you also have to eat as much as possible.

The ninth day of February is the first exam. The candidates have to write three "Four Books" articles and four "Five Classics" articles in eight-legged prose in three days. The so-called Four Books and Five Classics. After handing in papers at noon on the third day, you can leave the Gongyuan and return to your residence to change clothes, pen and ink, and prepare food and candlesticks.

February 12th is the second exam, which tests "Lun", "Edict" and "Judgment". "Lun" can be understood as an argumentative essay. The topic is taken from the Four Books and Five Classics. When solving the problem, you don't need to be limited to the eight-legged essay, you can use it freely.

"Zhao Gaobiao" is the collective name of "Zhao", "Gao" and "Biao". It generally refers to "Han Zhao", "Tang Gao" and "Song Biao". It can be simply understood as an official document. Candidates are required to imitate their words and deeds after becoming officials and write corresponding court documents.

February 15th is the third exam. The test is "Cewen", which is to give a paragraph of text material and ask the candidates to explain their understanding after reading it. Generally speaking, policy questions are additional questions that are the icing on the cake, and their impact on the final score is not as important as the first and second games.

(End of this chapter)