Do you know that it starts with Meng Tong?

The students didn't understand it at first, but after hearing Shi Kai's explanation, they all understood what Mr. Shi Kai meant and expressed their sincere blessings to him one after another.

Shi Kai taught the students the last lesson seriously, and also assigned everyone their own homework for the next half month.

Finally, the students all solemnly bid farewell to Shi Kai, and everyone said goodbye reluctantly.

Chapter 20 Craftsmanship is difficult!

Shi Kai missed the students of the Free School. Before leaving the Free School, he went to Sheng Wei and recommended to him a candidate to succeed him as a private school teacher.

This person's name is Lin Yan, a native of Jiangning. He is a close friend of Shi Kai. He and Shi Kai participated in the government examination together. Shi Kai came in second place, and Lin Yan was the leader of the case.

Unlike Shi Kai, Lin Yan successfully passed the college examination and became a student member. Later, because of his excellent academic performance, he was selected as a tribute supervisor, and then entered the Imperial College to study.

Wei Chen's father, Wei Mingzhao, was once a junior student in the county and was already the best among the students. As for the tribute supervisor, only junior students were eligible to participate in the selection. It can be said that the best of the best were selected. They are all the best among men.

As a tribute supervisor, Lin Yan was able to crush everyone below him in terms of academic qualifications.

After Lin Yan graduated from the Imperial College, he once worked as a county professor and focused on teaching students. Later, he resigned because he could not stand the dirty officialdom.

Sheng Wei was overjoyed when Shi Kai recommended this person. He also learned from Shi Kai that Lin Yan was currently at home, so he immediately put aside the business of the fruit wine workshop and prepared a generous gift to invite him in person.

Due to the relationship with Shikai and the fact that Sheng's Yi Xue is now quite famous in Jiangning Mansion, Lin Yan is still very interested in this job as a private school teacher. However, he also made two requests, and Sheng Wei must agree to them all. , he will go to Youyang.

The first point is that after Lin Yan became the tutor, he was solely responsible for the management of Sheng's free school, and Sheng Wei was not allowed to interfere.

The second point is to ask Sheng Wei to build a library in Yi Xue to collect collections of classics and history for the convenience of students.

Sheng Wei knew very well that a master like Lin Yan would either go to a county school to be a professor or a lecturer in a large academy, and it was almost impossible for him to live in a small temple like Shengshi Yixue.

And if Lin Yan can really be hired as a private school teacher, it will be an opportunity for Shengshi Yixue to reinvent itself.

Therefore, even though Lin Yan acted a bit domineering, Sheng Wei still agreed to all his requests.

After receiving Sheng Wei's guarantee, Lin Yan happily went to Youyang and served as a private tutor at Sheng's Yi School. Sheng Wei also found two assistants for him, both of whom had passed the government examination.

As soon as Lin Yan took office, he began drastic reforms.

Today, after several expansions, Sheng's Free School has more than 120 students, ranging from seven or eight to fifteen or sixteen years old.

Some have just started to read, while others are already studying the scriptures and meanings. There is a huge gap in their coursework, which is very unfavorable for teaching.

So Lin Yan followed the regulations of the Imperial College and divided the students of Sheng's Free School into three grades: outer house, inner house, and upper house. They were ranked according to their examination results every month. Those who were outstanding were promoted and those who were insufficient were demoted.

In the end, there were more than [-] people born in the outer house, more than [-] people born in the inner house, and the smallest number in the upper house, only seven, and Wei Chen was among them.

The outer and inner rooms are mainly taught by two sitting boys. Lin Yan only teaches once every three days.

Lin Yan's main focus was still on the seven students in Shangshe.

They are all the most outstanding students in the volunteer school. Lin Yan's goal for them is to enter school and become a scholar.

The first lesson Lin Yan taught to Shang Shisheng was the most important craftsmanship in the imperial examination.

The so-called craftsmanship refers to the eight-legged essay that frightened future generations.

, also called Shiwen.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, the examinations, imperial edicts, imperial edicts, and current affairs policy discussions were all side effects. Only the eight-legged essay was the most important basis for admission.

In this regard, Lin Yan did not mince words: "Although it is said that studying is for learning and does not need to be limited to career, but which scholar can really see clearly? In the end, we scholars produce art and literature just for the sake of middle school. try!"

Lin Yan spoke with great devotion and passion, which made Wei Chen and other students in the hall secretly excited.

Lin Yan glanced at the students and said solemnly: "The first step in this craft is to solve the problem. It often only takes two or three sentences to solve the problem. It seems simple, but in fact it is the most difficult. You have a deep intention, a lot of talent and learning, and a high writing ability. Next, just break the question with these few sentences, and the examiner will be able to see everything at a glance."

Wei Chen nodded repeatedly as he listened below, thinking that the way he wrote argumentative essays in his previous life was not to state the title at the beginning of the article. The two have quite a bit in common.

No wonder the ancients said that if the eight-part article is well done, no matter what you do, it will be a mark with a whip and a slap with blood.

However, as Lin Yan continued to talk, Wei Chen soon understood why so many people hated these eight-part essays.

First of all, when solving the problem, the original names of people and objects cannot be written.

For example, King Wen, Duke of Zhou, and Confucius are all called "sages", Mencius is called "sub-sage", and all the disciples are called "sages". All other plants, trees, flowers, birds and utensils are also replaced by "things".

This alone made Wei Chen feel extremely troubled.

But there are far more taboos than this.

For example, in the question "Zhou Gongsi united three kings to implement four things", when reading the question, you must first remember which chapter and sentence of "Mencius" this sentence appears in, and then combine it with the context to understand the meaning of this sentence.

The most damning thing is that you can understand the meaning of the question based on the context, but you must not involve the text in the context when solving the question!

If the upper sentence of the title is mentioned, it is called "continuing"; if the lower sentence of the title is mentioned, it is called "invading the lower part".

When the examiner is marking the paper, as soon as he sees that you have broken the question, he does not need to read the following articles anymore, and he will be dismissed immediately.

After talking about the mistakes in the series, Lin Yan went on to talk about missing questions, swearing in questions, and other taboos when solving questions. This lecture lasted more than an hour.

Wei Chen was secretly speechless when he heard it below.

You must know that breaking the question is just the first step in writing an eight-legged essay. Just one broken question already has so many taboos. You can imagine how difficult it is to write a qualified eight-legged essay.

After explaining the precautions, Lin Yan began to explain the problem solving methods.

"There are many ways to solve the problem. If we talk about it in terms of grammar, there are six types in total, which are divided into clear break, dark break, shun break, reverse break, positive break, and reverse break. If we talk about it in perspective, it can also be divided into break meaning, break. There are three types of sentences and broken characters. The difference between them is mysterious. Please listen to my teacher explain it in detail..."

Lin Yan spoke impassionedly for more than an hour, and suddenly found that although the students below were all listening attentively, their faces were full of confusion, and they obviously didn't understand.

Lin Yan couldn't help but secretly curse himself for being so confused. He actually forgot that these students had just come into contact with the art of craftsmanship, and their academic ability was still shallow. He talked too much, and they might not be able to digest it.

He stopped talking at that moment and said, "I will stop here today on how to solve the problem."

Hearing Lin Yan say this, the students below all breathed a sigh of relief.

But then, Lin Yan continued to say: "Here are three art-making questions that have been tested in previous years. Take them back and understand how to solve the questions in the sample essays. Then you can solve them again according to the six methods of solving the questions."

The students below were all shocked by Mr. Lin's cruelty, and they all counted on their fingers.

There are three questions, and each question needs to be solved from six different angles. Wouldn’t that mean eighteen questions?

My goodness!

His classmates were in mourning, and Wei Chen couldn't help but secretly sigh: Sure enough, there is a price to pay for staying in the fast class and being a top student. At least the amount of homework is several times more than others...

Chapter 21: Memorize the question bank?I think it works!

During the evening class, seven students from the upper house sat in the small lecture hall dedicated to the upper house and burned the midnight oil, studying the three art-making questions assigned by Lin Yan during the day.

Wei Chen spread out a large piece of paper and neatly copied down the title and the broken questions in the sample essay. Next to the title, he silently wrote down the sentences before and after the source of the title, as well as Cheng Zhu's comments.

The first question came from the joint examination 20 years ago. The title was "The Duke of Zhou and the barbarians and the Di drove away the ferocious beasts and the people were at peace."

The author of the model essay is named He Shao. He was one of the top five classics in the imperial examination that year and a former lecturer of the Hanlin Academy.

He Shao used only two sentences to solve the problem: "On the ancient saints, they eliminated the great harm in the world and achieved great success in the world."

Wei Chen read the essay's essay several times, trying to figure out its subtleties, and then began to work on his own essay.

An hour later, Wei Chen found Lin Yan and said with a grimace: "Sir, the broken questions in this model essay are really perfect. Students feel that they can't surpass it no matter how they write, and they don't know how to write."

When Lin Yan heard Wei Chen's question, his expression was extremely strange, as if he was suppressing a smile: "Idiot, if you can write a better essay than this essay, you will be a Jinshi by now!"

Wei Chen was stunned when he heard this. Yes, this model essay was written by He Shao, one of the top five classics candidates in the past. If he could just write a broken question and be better than He Shao, wouldn't he be able to get a Jinshi immediately?

Seeing Wei Chen covering his face in embarrassment, Lin Yan couldn't help but laugh and said: "The art of craftsmanship is not urgent. It is like poetry and poetry. It relies on both your own understanding and daily accumulation. You are in Shangshezhong You are the youngest, but your understanding is the highest. As long as you take it step by step, you will eventually achieve something."

Wei Chen asked tentatively: "Sir, isn't there any quick way?"

Lin Yan had a serious face when he heard this. What he hated most in his life were people who took shortcuts and took advantage of opportunities.

He immediately wanted to reprimand Wei Chen and tell him that haste makes waste, but then he thought about it, others have said it ten times, it is better to experience it yourself. Only by letting Wei Chen experience the pain, will he know that there is a shortcut. It’s not that easy to walk!

Lin Yan had made up his mind, so he stopped thinking about scolding Wei Chen and said calmly: "Of course there is a quick way, just follow me."

After saying that, Lin Yan led Wei Chen out of the lecture hall and to the door of the newly built library in Yi Xue.

The so-called three major affairs of the academy are: one is giving lectures, the other is offering sacrifices, and the third is collecting books.

The reason why Lin Yan asked Sheng Wei to build a library in the free school was to slowly move Sheng's free school from the Caotai team to the right track and gradually accumulate his own heritage.

At first, Sheng Wei reluctantly built the library because of Lin Yan's request, and was not very willing to spend the money. Later, after understanding Lin Yan's good intentions, Sheng Wei began to do his best to buy books and collect them. He even went to provincial capitals and spent a lot of money to collect rare ancient books.

Up to now, the collection of books in the Yixue Library has been small in scale. Although it is not as good as those of the large academies with thousands of years of history, it is still quite impressive.

Lin Yan led Wei Chen into the library, pointed to a bookcase on the wall and said: "Most of the books I have read before are here. If you really want to find a quick fix, it's easy. Just put Read these books thoroughly, and I guarantee you will at least be a scholar!"

Wei Chen saw

I secretly admired the overcrowded bookcase. Mr. Lin was indeed a tribute prisoner, he was really well-read!

Lin Yan was very satisfied when he saw Wei Chen's surprise. He thought that his beating on Wei Chen was quite effective. He must have given up the idea of ​​taking shortcuts after seeing so many books. .

Just when Lin Yan was about to strike while the iron was hot and teach Wei Chen that he must be down-to-earth when studying, he suddenly heard Wei Chen ask innocently: "Sir, if I memorize all these books, will I be able to become a scholar?"

Lin Yan's face suddenly froze, and an unknown fire surged in his heart: This kid is too ungrateful, and all his hard work as a teacher has been wasted!

Lin Yan did not get angry on the spot, but restrained his anger, pulled out a book from the bookcase and handed it to Wei Chen.

Wei Chen took it and turned a page, his eyes widening immediately.

It's not that there is anything shocking in this book, but that everything used in it is in small print, so densely packed together that you have to open your eyes wide to see it clearly.

Wei Chen compared the thickness of the book with his hands. It was at least two hundred pages, and any page contained thousands of words. This book alone may have more than 20 words.

Lin Yan said coldly: "This is the "Four Books on Major Titles and Small Titles". All the major and minor essays in the period articles are here. There are fifty volumes in total!"

Lin Yan deliberately emphasized the words "fifty volumes", almost gritting his teeth.

Sure enough, as Lin Yan hoped, Wei Chen had a look of shock on his face.

Lin Yan sneered secretly: Now you know how powerful it is. Even if you memorize so many words sleeplessly and until you are a young man, you still can't memorize them!

This "Four Books, Big Questions and Small Questions, Wenfu" is equivalent to the question bank of the college entrance examination in later generations. If the imperial examination is an open-book examination, no one may necessarily carry the Four Books and Five Classics, but everyone must have a copy of this Wenfu.

Lin Yan once heard that some old boys who failed in many tests relied on the Wenfu government to get through the imperial examinations.

But this is also a matter of good luck. Many old boys have memorized literature all their lives, and they can only memorize a few volumes. Moreover, they still remember the back and forget the front, remember the front but forget the back, and continue to memorize it until they die of old age. , and I can’t memorize the entire text.

What Lin Yan didn't know was that instead of retreating despite the difficulties, Wei Chen had already begun to memorize the book in his hand.

In fact, Wei Chen didn't think much about it before memorizing it. This was just a habitual action for him. He would just memorize whatever book he got. It didn't take much effort anyway.

This time, Wei Chen discovered a problem.