Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Bai Chongyan was chatting with Ju Ming when he saw a female family member suddenly arrived. He quickly stood up and bowed to greet her, but he didn't know who the other party was.

Zhu Ming also had to help introduce: "Sanlang, this is Zheng Erlang's younger sister Zheng Youniang."

Bai Chongyan immediately bowed and saluted, and Zheng Yuanyi bowed in return.

The girls were so down-to-earth and generous, so it was impossible for Ju Ming to be shy. He smiled and said, "It's been a long time, sister Zheng. Come and sit down."

The girl was sitting on a low chair and it was indecent. Zhu Ming went into the room and came out with a embroidered baby in his arms.

Zheng Yuanyi liked it even more for being so careful and thoughtful: "Thank you for taking care of me, brother."

There was nothing to talk about between men and women. Bai Chongyan couldn't find a topic, so he just sat beside him and took off the lantern cover to play with lights.

Ju Ming was also at a loss for words: "Is my sister studying?"

"Study has always been there," Zheng Yuanyi said. "The Wang family hired a female teacher to teach girls how to read. The Min family also hired a female teacher later to not only teach girls how to read, but also provided meals."

"Interesting." Zhu Ming couldn't help but laugh.

The Min family and the Wang family are both scholarly families, and they probably compete with each other quite a lot, even competing for students in private schools for girls.

Zheng Yuanyi asked: "I made an extra sachet last time, did my brother receive it?"

Ju Ming replied: "I received it and wore it for a few days. When the fragrance wore off, I didn't replace it with a new one. Keep it properly at home."

"That's good." Zheng Yuanyi was a little disappointed because Ju Ming didn't carry it with him. She forced a smile and added, "There is also a talisman in the sachet. I burned incense in the temple to get it. It can bless scholars and get inscribed on the gold list." "

"Then I really should wear it," Ju Ming said.

Bai Chongyan sat next to him and finally understood.

This girl from the Zheng family was interested in Zhu Dalang. Not only did she give him a sachet, but she also specially asked for a talisman.

When others are in love with you, why should you be a lightbulb?

Bai Chongyan stood up and said, "I still have some books to read, so I'm going back to my room to review. Farewell!"

Zheng Yuanyi hurriedly sent her off respectfully: "Brother Bai, go slowly."

Ju Ming scratched his forehead and reminded: "Take the chair with you."

Bai Chongyan bent down to pick up the chair and secretly winked at Ju Ming, meaning to let him seize the opportunity.

After Bai Erlang left, Zheng Yuanyi became more cheerful and spoke a little louder: "Our female gentleman admires my brother so much that she explained eight of his poems many times. The husband also said that my brother He is broad-minded and talented, and is comparable to ordinary scholars."

Ju Ming was a little interested in the female gentleman: "Who is your master?"

Zheng Yuanyi said: "My husband's name is Huang Shu. She is the daughter of the Huang family of Xingyuan Prefecture. She is in her forties this year. Unfortunately, her husband was married three times and her husband died young. My husband simply became a monk and became a sister-in-law. Later, my sister-in-law also If she doesn’t do it anymore, she will return to secular life and teach girls to study. The Wang family invited her to come with a monthly salary of eight guan.”

"It's true that he has a hard life." Zhu Ming expressed sympathy.

Zheng Yuanyi said: "Sir, he also said that it is a pity that poetry and poetry are not tested in the imperial examination, otherwise my brother's talent and learning would definitely lead to a spot in the Junior Gold List. In our private school, many women admire my brother's talent. If they knew that I could talk to him, they would be envious. Kill them."

Ju Ming changed the subject and asked: "What do girls learn in private schools?"

"We need to learn "Nv Jie", "The Analects of Confucius", "Mencius", "Book of Rhymes", poetry, female workers, calligraphy, painting, music..." Zheng Yuanyi mentioned a lot of courses and suddenly took out a book from her sleeve. A piece of paper said, "I wrote a poem two days ago, and I just happened to have it with me. Please ask my brother to correct it."

"Don't dare to take it seriously."

Zhu Ming took it and took a look. The rhymes and rhymes were very neat, and the writing was also somewhat interesting. But due to talent, knowledge and vision, they are just ordinary poems written by women in a boudoir.

Considering her age as a junior high school student, she is already quite rare. In future generations, she will definitely be called a talented woman.

Ju Ming nodded in approval: "Excellent writing, keep up the hard work."

"Sir, you also praised me." Zheng Yuanyi was very happy.

After chatting for a while, not knowing what to say, Zheng Yuanyi asked: "Brother, can I fight Shuanglu?"

Ju Ming said: "I have never played before."

"It's very simple. Brother, wait a moment." Zheng Yuanyi immediately asked the maid to bring the backgammon.

This thing was very popular in the Song Dynasty, especially in teahouses. You can play chess and gamble while drinking tea. It can be called the chess and card room of the Northern Song Dynasty.

After bringing back the backgammon chess, Zheng Yuanyi placed the chess pieces and began to explain the rules to Ju Ming.

Each side has fifteen chess pieces, distributed crosswise on the chessboard. There are also grids on the chessboard. The points of the two dice are used to determine how many steps can be taken each time. You can also attack the opponent's chess pieces in the middle. The side that removes all the pieces from the board wins.

It's a bit like two armies confronting each other. It also depends on strategy and luck. It's not complicated to play.

In the first game, Ju Ming was not very familiar with the gameplay and lost very cleanly.

Zheng Yuanyi was very happy to win and pointed out Ju Ming's mistakes. Unfortunately, she lost three games in a row.

In the fourth game, Ju Ming planned to let go and give the little girl some face.

Unexpectedly, Zheng Yuanyi was so unlucky that he didn't need to let him go. He made several key dice rolls and got the desired points, killing Ju Ming to pieces.

It’s quite interesting. The setting of rolling the dice can bring surprises similar to the Monopoly game.

After playing for more than twenty games, the maid reminded: "My dear lady, it's getting late, and the husband of the Zhu family still needs to rest."

Zheng Yuanyi stood up quickly: "Brother, please rest early. Don't delay your preparation for the exam. We can play again after the exam is over."

Zhu Ming sent her out of the yard. Zheng Yuanyi's steps were brisk and she seemed to be able to fly off the ground when she walked. After running far away, he turned around and waved: "Brother, don't send me away. Go back and have a rest."

Returning to the corridor, I suddenly bumped into Bai Chongyan.

Bai Sanlang stood there like a ghost and said with a smile: "This girl is very good, innocent and innocent, and she is really a good match."

Ju Ming yawned, took a shower and went to bed.

Perhaps because he was afraid of delaying Ju Ming's exam, Zheng Yuanyi did not bring backgammon chess in the next few days, but only sent some pastries made by himself every day.

After staying at Zheng's house for eight days, it was finally time for the exam.

In the middle of the night, Zhu Ming, Zheng Hong, and Bai Chongyan got up and headed to Yangzhou Gongyuan with lanterns.

Zheng Yuanyi also didn't sleep. She put on her makeup early and took her maid to see them off. She didn't leave until they entered the Gongyuan.

The inspection procedures were very lax. If it were the Ming Dynasty, you would have to strip off your clothes for inspection before entering the examination room. I just touched it casually at this time. It is very easy to bring cheat sheets. I guess there are many cheaters.

The chain courtyards are not tightly locked. If the examiner has something to do at home, he can leave the Gongyuan in the middle and leak the questions easily.

There is also a copying system, but the examiner can enter the copying room and it is easy to see the candidates' handwriting (local examinations are relatively loose, while central examinations are more stringent).

There are not many candidates in the three counties of Yangzhou, only a few hundred in total.

However, the admission rate is extremely low, and there are less than ten candidates in Yangzhou.

Serving officials can also take the exam, but they must go to Xingyuan Mansion to take the exam with officials and officials like Li Hanzhang. After Wang Anshi's reform, new Jinshi were not allowed to take the exam again. Previous Jinshi were too lazy to take the exam again, and most of the officials who took the exam were local miscellaneous officials.

The examination shed was similar to the one in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, very simple, and you had to nail the tarpaulin yourself to prevent it from raining.

On the first day, I took a test on the Great Classics, namely The Analects of Confucius and Mencius.

There are ten questions in total, each question has between 200 and 300 words.

Compared to the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were too many exam questions. Even if you brought cheat sheets with you, you would only get one or two questions right. It's harmless.

Zhu Ming finished writing early. After revising it repeatedly, he copied it cleanly on the answer sheet, and then lay down in the examination room to sleep.

When the invigilator reminded him to collect the papers, Zhu Ming started to yawn.

If you say you have to hand in the paper, you must hand it in. If you don’t give me a candle, continue writing.

Ju Ming only ate two pieces of cake at noon and was a little hungry. He met many acquaintances outside the Gongyuan.

Bai Chongyan said excitedly: "I have practiced three of the ten questions today!"

"You're lucky." Zhu Ming encouraged with a smile.

Zheng Hong, on the other hand, is not afraid of boiling water. He answered all ten questions, but he didn't even know what he wrote.

The Zheng family cooked a feast for them. Zheng Yuanyi cooked the pastries by herself, and even Bai Chongyan had a share.

The second day's test also included ten questions.

On the third day, there will be one question on the examination and three questions on economics, history and current affairs.

The content of the test topic is to ask the candidates to evaluate Li Linfu...

When he saw the title, Ju Ming couldn't help but laugh, clearly disgusting Cai Jing.

It is estimated that Wang Anshi was posthumously named King Shu last year, which caused confusion in the rankings of the Confucius Temple. Even Li Tongpan couldn't help but get angry and asked the candidates to criticize the traitor in a special question.

Theory and policy are two different subjects.

The content of the test discussion is to ask the candidates to evaluate a certain character or a certain historical event. For example, Su Xun's "On the Six Kingdoms" falls into this style of writing.

In the past, I wrote parallel prose with neat dialogues, but this changed after Wang Anshi's reforms. There is no requirement to write colorfully, nor is it required to write parallel prose. The more plain and simple the article, the better. It mainly depends on what point of view is written.

For this kind of test question, it is very important to cater to the examiner.

Ju Ming knew that the examiner wanted to insinuate Cai Jing, but he didn't care about the imperial examination results and only wrote the article according to his own wishes.

Therefore, Ju Ming did not scold the traitor, but... scolded the emperor!

The title of the article is "On Kings and Ministers".

The general meaning is that what kind of monarch there is, there will be what kind of ministers. Since ancient times, virtuous ministers are all the same, but treacherous ministers have their own characteristics. Whatever the emperor likes, the treacherous ministers will welcome him. If the emperor is overjoyed at his achievements, his treacherous ministers will instigate war; if the emperor is eager for pleasure, his treacherous ministers will plunder at will...

It's just that he didn't point his finger at Song Huizong and scold him!

The remaining three policy questions are one on classics and history and two on current affairs.

The content of Jing Shi Ce is a bit beyond the outline. In addition to understanding the "Book of Changes", you also need to understand "Shang Shu" and have a brief knowledge of the history books of past dynasties. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t read these two books, but it is inevitable that they are not well written. But if you don’t know the history, you can only fool around.

The difficulty is so high that it beats the Ming and Qing imperial examinations!

Even if Ju Ming had a golden finger, he could only write the article in detail. Fortunately, the history classes in compulsory education provided him with an extraordinary historical perspective, allowing him to avoid the "Book of Documents" and develop grand discussions.

The two current affairs policies are also difficult. One question discusses Yangzhou water conservancy, and the other discusses Yangzhou commerce.

It’s okay to write blindly, but it’s not easy to write.

After handing in the papers and leaving the examination room, Zhu Ming suddenly felt happy. He looked around at all the candidates with sad faces.

"How?" Zhu Ming asked.

Bai Chongyan shook his head and sighed: "Today's economics and history policy can be used to take the Jinshi examination. Li Tongpan's questions are too... casual."

"Just think of it as going to Beijing in advance to take the exam," Zhu Ming said. "If you find it difficult, it will be difficult for others too."

Bai Chongyan nodded and said, "I can only think so."

Ju Ming felt that the imperial examinations in the Song Dynasty were quite interesting and were not as restrictive as those in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

It is also very suitable for keyboard warriors, allowing candidates to criticize current shortcomings and provide guidance on theories and strategies. When they arrive in the capital, two more topics on current affairs will be added, so that candidates can write articles and talk nonsense with great enthusiasm.

Policies after the reform of the imperial examination did not place much emphasis on writing style, but more on ideological viewpoints. Ju Ming is very good at this, and he knows so much about talking about it, which is similar to writing copywriting for videos before.