Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination

Cui Xie's case leader was indeed tested by himself.

On February 13th county exam, at the beginning of the month, he took out twelve sheets of check paper and draft paper each prepared by him, and went to the county courthouse to fill in the names of the three generations of ancestors, birth, birthplace, original scriptures, and insurers... Later, it was handed over to the book office to print the riding seal on the registration form, which was collected by the concierge.

The Zhao family next door knew that he was going to take the county exam. Grandma Zhao asked someone to prepare a basket of things for him in advance based on the experience of her grandson. There are roll bags in the basket, a bamboo box containing the four treasures of the study, arm rests, paperweights, copper grids and other small objects, and a small bench folded in half. You can sit outside the examination room and wait for entry.

She also asked someone to bring a few snacks, let him taste which taste, and waited for the day of the exam to make them for him: there are delicate rice cakes like cakes, white pancakes like tuckahoe cakes, bean paste and The jujube puff pastry, as well as the soft savory food and egg patties, are delicious and easy to digest.

Cui Xie took a few sips of the dim sum, and felt that it tasted very good and praised again and again. Grandma Zhao was happy to hear that, and smiled and said that he would make snacks for him on the day of the exam. He quickly stopped the old lady: "I will get up in the middle of the night on the day of the exam. Why is it so troublesome for my grandma to follow along? The newly hired chef is also quite capable. Yes, if Zhao Nai doesn't dislike it, just ask someone to point him up and let him do it for me."

Grandma Zhao sighed and sighed: "What's the problem with this, you guys are very polite...nothing, nothing else is rare. I will turn around and give you the round-headed copper clippers. Teach your chef to make flying noodle cakes."

What do you need to eat a pancake? Cui Xie, a big man who doesn't like dessert very much, persuades Grandma Zhao not to send her home, she can tell his chef to make some soft steamed cakes.

A few days before the test, Cui Xie bored his head and did a few questions that Mencius could produce during the period. Cui Yuan, father and son, and the hired chefs and long-time workers helped him prepare for the test. The days passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye. It was the day of the first scene.

On the day of the exam, the chef entered the venue in the early hours of the morning. Chef Niu got up in the middle of the night and steamed the steamed rice cakes and steamed cakes, and put them into the food box with the steamed sausage and dried preserved in small pieces. Cui Yuan and his son stayed up all night, listening to the clapper getting up early at night, urging him to get up to wash, and put him on a six-layer unsealed coat, a thin-soled shoe, and a large piece of fur on the outside. clothes.

This time Mr. Lin took Cui Xie to the past. Because he himself was a deceased student, he wanted to act as a guarantor for the candidates. By the way, he also found a few elementary school students who were familiar with the scholars to guarantee each other. When the students are taking exams, he also has to stand outside the dragon gate, waiting for the clerk to guarantee when he is called by the clerk.

The cold wind was blowing in the early morning, and the candidates were trembling in the wind. Fortunately, there were human flesh formations before and after, and they could block the wind a little bit, but their ears and nose were so cold that they hurt.

After waiting for a while, Zaoli, who was on the tour, recognized him, and said, "Young Master Cui, don't stay here anymore. Come to the examination room with me to be warm."

The person above is different after all.

He and the few elementary school students who had been insured received the treatment first. The security check Zaoli treated him very tenderly. He only asked him to take off his clothes, shoes and socks, and his hair, and then flipped through the test basket and put him in the arena. He didn't want to check into the chrysanthemum like he did to others. . Mr. Lin stood by to prove their identities, the book office turned out the papers and handed them to him, asking him to go in and find a seat according to the number printed on it.

The examination shed in the Confucian Temple was built temporarily, but the shed was two to three feet high, extremely transparent and wide, and it was tightly towed on all sides. At this time, the test has not yet started, and the windows of the test shed are closed, and coming in from the outside feels warm as spring. Inside the test shed are rows of tables and chairs connected by bamboo poles. You can't move even if you sit in it to prevent cheating.

The exam numbers are posted on the corners of the table in the order of "A, B, C, D", "One, Two, Three, and Four". Cui Xie opened the paper, found a seat according to the "A-4" number written in a Zhubi at the beginning of the paper, sat in and set up the four treasures of the study, and fell asleep on the table for a while. After that, people entered one after another, and Zaoli visited the field, carrying hot water and holding cooking cakes to sell to this group of candidates.

When he visited Cui Xie, he had cleared his mind and took out some snacks to eat. Then Zaoli poured him a cup of tea, smiled and left. Cui Xie also smiled at him gratefully, and ate two pieces of steamed cake and a few pieces of dried pork with hot water, and wiped his hands to prepare for the exam.

The sky will be clear, a government officer came in and opened the examination shed window. The sun and cold poured in at the same time, and the sentient beings shivered, and the sleepiness of the morning caused the wind to blow away. The county magistrate Qi walked into the examination shed under the sun, and dignifiedly scanned the crowd of boys, took out the new questions from his sleeves, and told Zaoli: "Take the questions down and have them copy them."

Several Zaoli walked back and forth between the candidates holding the wooden boards and asked them to copy the test questions.

On the first day of the county exam, there were only two questions, one with four book meanings and one with five classics. There is only one of the four book meanings, and it is indeed the "people under the world" that he has practiced many times in a tricky way; the five classics are five questions on one question board, and the students answer according to their own scripts. The title of the Book of Songs is the phrase "Happy gentlemen, parents of the people" in "Nanshan There is a Terrace".

When he did the simulation questions himself, he also cut off, cut off, passed on, conceived, set up chapters, and set up a lot of small questions. Unexpectedly, the county magistrate Qi gave a simple one-sentence question, which is really a clear stream of the children's test world full of small questions. The title of the Book of Songs is also a whole sentence, and I have introduced the scriptures of the "Four Books". Even if the "The Book of Songs" is not well studied, I must have remembered Zhu Zi's explanation of this sentence when reading the Four Books.

Take a closer look. The Book of Changes, the Book of Rites, and Shangshu are all familiar sentences in the four books. The only one used in the Spring and Autumn Period is "Gong Ru Jin".

He transcribed the title on the draft paper first, and first wrote the "People's Work in the World" that he was so familiar with.

In this section of Mencius Going to Qi, the core of Mencius's argument is that he meets the king for the sake of peace in the country and the world. Even if King Qi is not the Ming Master, he hoped that the King would repent and use him again, so he had to stay in Qi for three days, and then walk in white, so that King Qi had room for repentance and used him to secure the country and the people.

In his mind, he imagined what Qi county magistrate said that day, "Only by staying in the court and exercising authority can the people of the world live and work in peace", so when writing the article, he unconsciously chose Mencius in this chapter to make Qi Wang use himself. Instead of just starting with the “safe world” on the surface of the title.

If you want to rest the world, the most important thing is the virtuous king and the bright master, and the monarch and his ministers get together. The great sage has the world in his heart, and must first be used by the king, so that the holy way can help the people. If there are talents and virtues and cannot stand in the court, even if there are sub-sages, they will not be able to be born.

He wrote neatly on the draft, "The great sages are in peace in the world, and his hope is the king!"

After breaking the topic, the word "Tian Xia An" in the topic and the beginning of the topic are closely linked, from the safety of the common people to the "Mencius Going Together" section Mencius expects King Qi.

"Qi Wang is simple in talent, courageous, good goods, lustful, good worldly pleasures", he does not have the qualifications to settle the world, but Mencius is still willing to stay in Qi for the livelihood of the people, to restrain Qi Wang's desires and grow his benevolence. Happy heart.

If the king of Qi didn't use Mencius, he was just a mediocre monarch; if Mencius was useless, he could not help the common people. Only by making the king of Qi use good, the king and his ministers, and rule by the rule of the king, can all the talents of the world want to join the Qi, the people of the world will be happy to be the people of the Qi, and the Qi country will be used by the world, and all countries will be able to overcome the violent heart. "Qi people are safe, the people of the world will be safe" to govern the world.

So if Mencius was not used by King Qi, and then stayed for three days without going, would it be for his own power? It was the heavy responsibility of Qi and the people of the world, and had to let go of the awe-inspiring spirit in his chest, hoping that the king would use it.

Because the energy in the examination room was extremely concentrated, and his brain was more active under pressure, he got two more precise dialogues in the second grade. So he added those two sentences into the original two-part pairings, and merged them into two longer parallel sentences, and read them up and down several times. After adding them, he felt that his speech was more smooth and cohesive. Copy the title with text onto the examination paper.

A four-book essay is only three hundred words, and it is a familiar question that has been written rather than a new one. Although there are slight additions and subtractions in the middle, I repeatedly checked typos, taboos, and spaces. Finally, the transcription was completed and it took only over an hour. .

At this time, many students hadn't even typed a few words in the draft. Cui Xie glanced around, took a sip of tea with peace of mind, and lowered his head to continue working on the question.

The second question is "Happy gentlemen are the parents of the people".

The poem said: "Love benefits the people, so they are the parents of the people." "Le only gentleman" appears repeatedly in the poem "Nanshan Youtai", only praising the gentleman, you can ignore it. The key to this question lies in the four characters "the parents of the people". As long as the "gentleman" is governed, he can be regarded as " "Parents of the People" are not afraid that the article is not relevant to the topic.

But for the people's parents... do you want to write "love for the people"? "Preserve what he loves"? Or should the "Four Books" say "what the people do well and what the people hate" prevail?

The essay needs to tolerate these meanings, but at the same time it has a higher intention, and it also needs to hold onto the entire "Nanshan There are Taiwan". Then the gentleman not only needs to be the parents of the people, but also the foundation of the state family. You can't blindly write from the perspective of benevolence and forgiveness and the protection of the people. Instead, you should treat the people from a higher position from the perspective of the Korean gentleman.

Cui Xie thinks over and over again, and writes that "the parents of the people do not regard the people as the people". In the previous paragraph, write that people’s will be their own minds, just like parents raising children, regardless of their own interests, loving the people’s love and benefiting the people. Rather than reiterating the meaning of preserving the people and ordering the people under the rule to live and work in peace, and from this, it is derived that if the people are to live in peace, the gentleman must "policy in the dynasty and be in the position of beauty" and become the pillars of the imperial court.

At this point, I introduce the whole poem from the sentence of the title. From the positive and negative contrast between the virtue of the gentleman nurturing the people and the people's respect and love for the gentleman, the final return is to regard the people as their own heart and the people as their children, echoing the previous part. , Close to the topic.

Although this article was written on the spot, this kind of main theme article is his specialty, and coupled with the sentence that Qi county magistrate mentioned earlier, he has also thought about it over and over again. The meaning of the article is in my heart, as long as the article is laid out and the syntax is carved, it will not take much time.

By the time Zaoli came to visit the venue at noon to deliver water and meals, he had already finished the draft and revised it several times. I took a short break at noon and checked it a few times. When the official transcription was completed, it was not too long. There are already a few elementary school students who have handed in their papers next to the dragon gate, waiting to make up enough people to go out together.

Cui Xie checked that it was correct, and took the papers to the county hall and handed them in person. The county magistrate Qi didn't look up at him. He first took the paper and read it again. His face gradually stretched. He lifted the pen and drew a circle on the surface of the paper. He raised his eyelids and glanced at him approvingly.

County magistrate Qi also knew that he could not write poems, and did not test a poem antithesis like other elementary school students did. He waved his hand and said, "Go, I will come for the next two exams too. Don't think I can circle you afterwards. Abandoned the exam!"

Cui Xie's hanging heart suddenly relaxed, and he took a soft breath and listened to a few words from the county lord, before walking to the dragon gate and queuing.

One day later, a circle was posted outside the county office, and the first fifty lines were taken to form two concentric circles. There were 30 people in the outer circle and 20 people in the circle. The candidates who did not enter the circle were placed on another sheet of paper. Zhao Yinglin followed him over to look at the rankings. As soon as he looked up, he saw the "A-4" exam number at the top of the big circle. He hurriedly pulled his clothes and exclaimed excitedly: "Look! Your exam." Isn't it over there!"

Choi Xie looked up and saw that he was the first one.

He didn't know if this was because he really wrote well, or because the county magistrate Qi deliberately gave him a bias, and he didn't dare to be too high-profile. He rolled Zhao Yinglin's sleeve and said, "I have seen it all. Let's go home first. There are two more games. ."

Zhao Yinglin was so excited that he almost took him to the street for a drink. Seeing that he was addicted to studying and unwilling to wish, he had to shook his head: "Then you review well, and try to get a county case leader. You really passed the exam. , Let's go to Fucheng and have a meal at the best Yunxiang Tower!"

Cui Xie promised him that he would take the exam well, and went back home to watch the "Law of Daming" and "Memorials of Famous Officials of the Past Dynasties."

The county test is three days, the first day is the test of Confucianism, the second day is also the test of the practical texts, and the third day is the current affairs policy. In the few days before the test, Mr. Lin held him on the topic of the policy, and he had done all the affairs of the history, history, and current affairs, and the edict form should only be in the correct format. You don't need to be too nervous. However, he "sent" him a little less, so he had to hug Buddha's feet temporarily in the past two days.

Two days have passed in a blink of an eye, and it's time for the second game.

The treatment of their top ten students is different from ordinary candidates. The top ten should be able to sit in the Confucian Temple, have a more comfortable single table and single chair, and drink free hot tea, just to write under the eyes of the county magistrate.

The county magistrate Qi had a solemn expression, and first taught them not to cheat, and not to be arrogant because they did well in the exam...The students were so hard to lift their heads, which caused people to pass down the topic that was just drawn in the morning. .

If in other counties, two or three games will be over. However, three jinshis just came out under Qi County’s rule, and this year’s plan has passed. It is estimated that they can stay for another term. It is precisely when they are ambitious to teach a good style of study, so Jiayi seriously drafted two judgments, one argument:

One sentence was for the underpayment of the tea and salt merchants' tax. The stick for one-tenth of the tax was 40, and the maximum stick was 80. The tax and silver were paid at the end of the year; the tax was paid at the end of the year; for the hajj, the salary should be fined for half a month, the picket Failed to discover, the same crime.

The discussion is about Empress Zhang Xian Liu in the Song Dynasty, also the Empress of Song Zhenzong, the protagonist of the famous "Rain Cat for the Crown Prince". The records in the history books are not as interesting as those on TV, and the writing of historical theory is more boring. Basically, it is to write in the translation of Song Shizhong, first narrate that she was born in a silversmith, and inherited her luck with a humble body, and finally came to the back of the world. experience. Then praised her for raising Renzong's kindness, not ruling the palace, listening to the virtuous officials to advise the virtuous, and finally stabbing her for the fault of Li Chen concubine.

This test was much easier than the first one, and in the final three days later, only one policy question was tested, and the topic was "Hing water conservancy".

Although it is not the disaster relief Cui Xie prepared these days, he is not the kind of scholar who knows nothing except the classics, and he usually watches a lot of TV related to water treatment. Modern technology dare not write, so he wrote about building waterwheels, digging canals, diverting water to irrigate saline-alkali land and planting rice, and other techniques that existed in the Song and Ming Dynasties. According to the style of Mr. Liu’s essays, he wrote about the text. The above words are clear and clear, and there is something to say.

After the three exams, the county government's rankings were hung up, and his exam number always hangs high in the circle. When he officially appeared on the list, his name was written separately at the highest point outside the circle—he actually won the top case.

The family cried fiercely, and the little classmates also came to congratulate. Mr. Lin proudly took him out and drank a few drinks. He said without a low profile that he taught a child prodigy. Xinjuren Tangning and the scholars said that at the Chongyang Poetry Conference, he knew that he would have a great future. of.

Only Cui Xie felt a little frightened.

As a traveler, can he really write better articles than these students who were born in the Ming Dynasty and grew up reading the Four Books and Five Classics? Or was the county magistrate Qi specifically promoting Su Ri based on his face?

After the county was out of the rankings and before going to Yongping Mansion, he alone asked the county magistrate Qi to ask this question. The county magistrate Qi is now all things going well and his face is radiant, and he doesn't rely on human flesh to retouch the picture, and he has the meaning of the beautiful man in the picture. But listening to Cui Xie’s question, the corners of his mouth suddenly tightened, and he said with a calm face: "How can you have such an idea! This is the royal ceremony of the court, how can this county provide you with a small scholar? Child cheating!"

He was righteous and confident, and he couldn't remember why he said "being in the middle of the court, so that the people of the world can live and work in peace".

However, Cui Xie didn't care about his attitude at all, and even liked it very much. The hidden worries that had been pressed on his chest for a few days disappeared all at once, the smile came out from the bottom of his heart, and the whole face was bright.

He felt that he might lose his dignity, and quickly bowed his head to admit his mistake: "The student was wrong. The student was only conscious of his lack of virtue, and he didn't expect to be so loved by adults..."

Although county magistrate Qi had a straight face, he was not really angry. He only snorted slightly, then called him up, and taught him: "I love your semester articles, not you. I need you. Are you self-effacing here? Since ancient times, "I don't want the article to be in the world, I hope the article is in the examiner." You have the ability to write an article that suits my examiner's wishes. You should be the head of this county. I am not afraid of future bosses. Exam paper, what are you afraid of?!"

Cui Xie listened "only Wei". Seeing that his attitude was acceptable, the county magistrate Qi reminded him after he was taught: "Where are the test papers that Mr. Fu Zun gave you a few days ago? Take it out and carefully copy his writing technique. Mr. Wang is different from this county. , I don’t like the indifferent style that is biased towards the ancient prose, I love the strict, noble and solemn.

The author has something to say: I forgot to write, "Le Only Gentleman" was changed from the four books titled "The Poetry Yun Le Only Gentleman" by Xiong Kaiyuan in the Chongzhen year. "The People's Judgment in the World" was written by Jin Sheng in the first year of Chongzhen.