In the largest tent in the first examination room, a group of Chen Qing's soldiers delivered a sealed gold box. Jiang Yan had given the poem questions to Zhao Fusheng prematurely, so there was a possibility of leaking the questions.
Sex, so Chen Qing made the proposal again, and only ordered the soldiers to be sent at the last moment.
The gold box was placed on the square table. Several major examiners looked at each other. The gaps in the gold box had been sealed by molten silver. How could they open it?
Yan Jun said to Zhao Fusheng: "Please order Zhao to check whether there are any traces of being opened."
Zhao Fusheng picked up the heavy gold box and looked at it carefully. He shook his head. Yan Jun pulled out an extremely sharp dagger, cut it gently along the gap, and finally pried the gold box open. Inside was a wooden box. The wooden box
Here is the question asked by Chen Qing.
Everyone looked at the questions carefully, and the first one was a poem title, "Borrowing objects to express feelings, or borrowing scenery to express feelings, poems or lyrics can be used." The question is not difficult. Basically every scholar can write a few poems to express his ambitions, but the key is to admit
There are only 100 people in the quota. If everyone writes well, then let’s see who writes better.
The second one is Fu title. Fu began in the Han Dynasty. It is a style of writing that has been passed down for thousands of years. It pays attention to literary grace and rhythm, and has the characteristics of poetry and prose. In the Song Dynasty, Fu was written in prose form, which is called "Wen Fu". People like Ouyang Xiu
"Qiu Sheng Fu", Su Shi's "Qian Chibi Fu", etc.
The topic proposed by Chen Qing is, 'With the main theme of resisting the Jin Dynasty and serving the country, you can make up your own topic, about a thousand words.'
The questions are not difficult, it just depends on the students' individual performance.
More than a dozen examiners began to quickly copy the questions and paste them on the wooden frame. After the second drum sounded, the soldiers sent them to each camp to show them to the scholars.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The first drum sounds, the door of the examination room is closed, and all scholars must enter the room to prepare for the examination.
Chao Qing's seat is next to the tent. This seat is not very good. The invigilator will walk around him, which will definitely affect his concentration.
On every scholar's desk there are pens, inks, paper and inkstones, as well as paste, name slips, and a cup of water, which are used to grind ink. The first thing that scholars have to do is grind ink.
, and then test the pen. There are three pieces of paper on the table, but they are not official test papers.
Today's poetry and fu exam lasted for three hours and ended at about 1:30 in the afternoon. I missed the lunch time, but the exam room does not provide lunch or tea, and the paper is only allowed to be submitted half an hour in advance at most, which means
Many people will be hungry if they eat less in the morning.
If anyone wants to relieve himself where it is convenient, the supervisory soldier of this tent will accompany him to the toilet tent at the end.
In fact, the imperial examinations of all dynasties were like this. On the one hand, they tested literary talent, and on the other hand, they tested willpower. In fact, this time the Jingzhao imperial examination was not bad. It only took two days and the time was not long.
‘Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!’ The second tom sounded, and the invigilator shouted at the door: “Everyone, pay attention, the question is coming in.”
All the scholars became nervous. A soldier came in holding a placard with today's question on it. The invigilator read it loudly twice and everyone copied it on the manuscript paper. The soldier then went to a large room below.
If the scholar does not remember the account, he can raise his hand and ask the invigilator.
The topic was very simple, which made all the scholars feel relieved and felt that they could perform well. Who hadn't written a few poems expressing their ambitions?
But many smart scholars began to worry, which means that tomorrow's strategy questions will be difficult, otherwise they will not be able to close the gap. Some people thought of the importance of calligraphy and neatness of the paper, and they were afraid that they would fail if they made slight changes.
At this time, the invigilator began to hand out test papers. He reminded: "It's best for everyone to write down their name, test number, and table number first, and obscure the name, otherwise someone will definitely forget it in the end. But I remind you again, don't forget the table number."
Otherwise, the paper will not be complete."
What does the table number mean? Because the test takes two days, and the test papers for both days are handed in on the same day, so how to combine the two days of test papers? This depends on the table number.
For example, Chao Qing's table number is seven-245, which means he is in the seventh examination room, No. 245. Someone will find two test papers with the same table number and merge them together.
Then some people will definitely say, if you tell the examiner the table number tonight, wouldn't you know whose exam paper it is?
Of course it's impossible. The desk numbers were compiled the day before the exam and posted on the desk the night before the exam. The examiner had long been isolated and could not be contacted at all.
Of course, the wisdom of the examinees is infinite. Maybe someone will have made an agreement with a certain examiner in advance that I will leave three ink dots in the lower left corner of the examination paper. But how do you know that the examiner is just examining your examination paper? And deliberately left them
mark, it will be regarded as a waste paper.
Therefore, since ancient times, the most effective way to cheat is to leak the questions in advance and take the exam for yourself. In fact, taking the exam for a substitute is also very difficult. If the person who takes the exam for a substitute can pass the exam, why doesn't he take the imperial examination himself?
And once discovered, the test taker will be expelled, which is extremely risky, unless he is given a price that no one can refuse.
Chao Qing nominated his name and examination number on the front of the paper, and applied paste on the slip of paper. This is a basic skill that every scholar must train. Those who have certain skills in anonymizing their names cannot stick their names.
Otherwise, the name and examination number will be torn off, and it will become an anonymous examination paper.
The paste can only be applied in a circle along the edge of the paper, and then it is carefully pasted after the ink is completely dry. However, since candidates have been taking the test since they were young, they are already familiar with it, and basically there will be no problems.
It took a long time to confirm the name. When the name was completed, the third drum sounded and the exam officially began.
Chao Qingyongzhi had written an unknown number of poems, but when he was asked to come up with one, he hesitated a little. He suddenly found that every poem he had written could not be used.
He hesitated for a moment, and finally wrote a poem that he had written on the way to Jingzhao half a month ago. It had been ten years since the first year of Jingkang, and that night made him full of emotions.
"The Sapphire Case. Ten Years' Commemoration"
I haven’t seen Tokyo Road in ten years. Don’t go there in a hurry, how can you survive the autumn wind and rain. Have a drink by the open window and talk quietly under the dark light. It’s best to stay here.
Why do we need to be hurt when we meet in old age? We still have swords and hear the chickens dancing. Where are the people with great family style? There are so many letters and passes. There are no heroes to be found. Only the country remains the same.
"Chao Qing, how did you do in the exam?" As soon as they walked out of the examination room gate, Zhong Huan and Su Ce came up to them and asked.
Chao Qing shook his head in frustration, "The lyrics I wrote are too thin and not thick enough. I am still too young to write with the kind of momentum that can swallow up thousands of miles like a tiger."
"Lao Zhong and I are actually the same. If we are hungry, let's go eat first! Let's talk while eating."
The three of them had eaten too little for breakfast, and were all hungry. They couldn't find a bullock cart, so they simply found a tavern on the roadside, ordered a few dishes, and ordered three plates of meat buns.
I want a pot of wine.
The tavern was crowded with hungry scholars, who had difficulty finding a small table.
But they were lucky. As soon as they sat down, the waiter brought three plates of freshly steamed buns. The three of them devoured the three trays of buns. The waiter also brought wine and food, and then the three of them started drinking and talking.
"I found that today's imperial examination question is a trap!"
Su Ce punched the table hard, and countless scholars nearby looked at him in surprise.
"Xiao Su, you didn't drink too much, right?" Zhong Huan said with a smile.
"You will understand after listening to me. The topic of today's poem is very simple. It can be expressed through objects or scenes, either poems or lyrics. We have all written dozens of this kind of lyrical poems since we have been studying. At this time,
, will you still write new poems?”
"No, I must use poems from the past."
"Here's the problem. If we had written good poems in the past, we would have become famous a long time ago. It is precisely because we wrote mediocre poems that we took part in the imperial examination in obscurity. The poems in the final examination paper were still mediocre."
Everyone understood that it was precisely because the topic was too simple that they couldn't come up with anything new, so they all used their previous mediocre works to make up the numbers.
Chao Qing nodded, "What you said makes sense. At least I feel better. What does that mean?"
"It means that the proportion of poems and poems is very low, maybe only 30%. The key is tomorrow's strategy, which is the key to whether we can pass the exam."
At this time, a hearty laughter came from outside the store: "This scholar is right, I might as well tell everyone that poetry accounts for 10%, poems account for 20%, strategies account for 60%, and calligraphy accounts for 10%.
"
Who is this! He spoke so grandly that he was not afraid of flashing his tongue. Everyone looked outside the store and saw a tall man standing outside the store, wearing a blue cloth robe and a gauze hat. He was about 10 years old.
He is about thirty years old, with a short beard under his chin, a square face and sharp eyebrows, sharp eyes, and is not angry but has a strong self-power. He is followed by a large group of cavalry.
No one recognized this man, and Chao Qing's face turned pale.
The man nodded to Chao Qing with a smile, and continued: "Don't indulge tonight, go to bed early, and be energetic for tomorrow's exam. Tomorrow is the real test for you."
After the man finished speaking, he got on his horse and walked away.
Everyone was talking, "Who is this? He's dressed so shabbily and he's still giving us advice."
"Don't talk nonsense. With so many soldiers protecting him, he should be a high-ranking general."
"This is nonsense. What does a military commander know about imperial examinations?"
Zhong Huan saw that Chao Qing's expression was wrong and asked, "Chao Qing, do you know the person just now?"
Chao Qing nodded, sighed, stood up and said loudly: "Everyone, please be polite! The man just now was the Duke of Qin, Chen Qing, the envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and he was the one who asked the imperial examination questions."
There was a sudden silence in the tavern, and everyone was stunned.
