When Gao entered the palace, Shao Shude was discussing with the prime ministers a new imperial examination plan, which was the second imperial examination reform in this dynasty. In the fourth year of Jianji, the imperial examination in Daxia was reformed for the first time, and there were three main reforms.
The first item is to copy the test paper, which is mainly to prevent the examiner from identifying the candidate through the handwriting and special marks on the paper. The second item is to cover the name, that is, to cover the name so that the examiner cannot see it.
The third item is to reduce the proportion of poems and poems. To put it simply, in the first essay examination, if the candidates' poems and poems contain rhymes or typos, they can still be considered passed.
For example, in the six-rhyme twelve-line poem written by an examinee back then, there were three rhyme violations, but he was also given a passing grade.
The so-called essays are the first part of the imperial examination. They test the candidates' writing ability, including propositional compositions in different genres and formats, including poems, poems, essays, songs, tables, notes, etc. Articles in each genre must be qualified.
Only then.
In recent decades, the importance of poems and poems has become much lower. After all, the country is troubled, and examiners pay more attention to the third policy discussion. Poems and poems only need to be written in a fair and balanced manner without making mistakes. Literary talent is no longer particularly important.
Even papers that were not highly valued in the past have become popular, and some candidates have won the favor of examiners with their "Speeches".
There is no doubt that this reform in the fourth year of Jianji further reduced the importance of poems and poems. All three rhyme errors were passed, which obviously benefited poor candidates, old, young, and poor, whose writing styles were not strong.
"The scientific examination for the tenth year of Jianji is scheduled for the end of March." Shao Shude drank the purple bamboo shoot tea he had just given to Dacheng and said: "Essays and poems are no longer required, and the genre is not limited."
"Yes." Chen Cheng, Zhao Guangfeng, Xiao Lian, Pei Zhi, Lu Siye, Pei Yuchang and others all agreed.
The essay examination was not actually a compulsory examination of poetry and prose at the beginning, but it became custom-made until Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. After the An-Shi Rebellion, poetry and prose were sometimes a compulsory examination, and sometimes were not. Shao Shude decided that poetry and prose were no longer a compulsory examination this time.
project.
Of course, you still have to learn, but what if you pass the exam? When other people's poems are shocking, but you write well, that's a bonus.
"The second scripture examination, how many are it now?" Shao Shude asked. "Five." Pei Yuchang, the Minister of Rites, replied.
Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been five, ten or even twenty Tie Jing examinations, but today there are only five.
Tie-jing is equivalent to filling in the blanks. That is, turn the scripture to a certain page, cover up the left and right sides, leaving only the middle column, cover any three words in this column, and ask the examinee to write the three covered words.
Three characters make one post.
This item tests recitation ability and memory.
In the beginning, only five subjects were tested, and the requirement was to be "compassionate in three of the Five Classics", that is, to pass at least three subjects. Shao Shude knew that in recent years, many candidates have been rejected by this test.
"In recent years, this path has declined slightly." He said: "From Yuan Fu to the common officials, although there are many people who are incompetent in art, there are very few who can follow the scriptures. I am afraid that this section may lag behind the group of talents."
What Shao Shude means is that if you, the prime ministers, are asked to take the Tijing test, you may not be able to get 60 points.
Some candidates may be affected by the war or have difficulty in making a living, so their time for reading and reciting is greatly reduced. This item should not be too difficult, because it is easy to brush off some hard-working people who have real materials and are good at practice.
"If you can understand two of the Five Classics, you can understand all three." Shao Shude made direct decisions about the universe and reduced the difficulty.
It used to be 60 points, but now 40 points is enough. This has brought good news to some candidates who are partial to subjects - some people are really unable to fill in the blanks silently, but they write extremely brilliant strategies and have unique insights into national affairs. After such reforms, their chances
More.
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rites has proposed increasing the examination of Duiyi, but I don't know about it..." Not only Shao Shude suggested, but the prime ministers were also thinking of ways to reform. At this time, Chen Cheng made suggestions.
The "Duyi" test is to explain the understanding of the original meaning of a certain scripture.
This exam has only been slowly proposed in recent years. In the history of the Five Dynasties, it was once included in the exam. It was placed after the scriptures, that is, after the essays were tested, and after the scriptures, the antithesis was tested. After all three exams were completed, the policy theory was tested - the order of the exam
, in fact, there have been changes. Sometimes the first examination is essays on scriptures, but in the late Tang and Five Dynasties, the order was essays, essays on scriptures, and policy discussions.
After listening to Chen Cheng
If so, Shao Shude thought about it carefully.
"You can add it and give it a try." I heard him say: "Take five exams and pass three."
In fact, there are opinions on how many questions to pass. After all, the admission quota is limited. Passing three questions means passing, and passing five questions correctly also means passing. However, there is still a difference during the selection. Correcting three questions from five questions only means that you are not qualified.
He will be dismissed on the spot, and it is not certain whether he can pass the exam.
"There is no need to change the policy and theory, but the exam questions need to be more realistic, such as Yellow River management, grassland trade, etc. The questions from the past two years are very good." Shao Shude said: "In this way, essays, scriptures, commentaries, and policy theory, in total
There are four exams with not many questions and can be completed in two or three days.”
"Yes." The ministers responded in unison.
"Finally, I decided to change the exam once a year to once every three years, and the number of admissions remains unchanged." Shao Shude said again.
As soon as these words came out, everyone was a little shocked, but in fact they expected it. The main reason is that Daxia no longer needs so many officials.
At the very beginning, in order to win over the literati, Shao Shude asked Xiao Yun and others who were dependent on him to collect papers, accept the candidates' support, and increased the number of admissions, which severely affected the favor of the literati.
Generally speaking, these are our own people.
In the imperial examinations held after the founding of the Xia Dynasty, the Jinshi admitted were our own people.
But now a problem has arisen, that is, the territory controlled by the imperial court is getting larger and larger, and the remaining prefectures and counties that are not under control are getting smaller and smaller. The demand for officials is no longer that great, so it is inevitable to appropriately reduce the number of admissions.
There is a threefold difference between taking the exam once a year and taking the exam every three years.
Of course, you can also lower the number of admissions. For example, last year, you admitted 70 people, and you could reduce it to more than 20. But Shao Shude thinks this is too troublesome. You have to take the exam every year, and students who fail the exam in the first year will live in the capital.
Instead of going home, there are even foreign scholars who have lived in Luoyang and Peiping for ten years. This is really an exaggeration.
It is better to change the exam to one every three years. Those who fail the exam in March next year can go home quickly and come back in more than two years. "Do you have any opinions, teachers?" After Shao Shude finished speaking, he looked at everyone and asked.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty," Chen Cheng took the lead and replied.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty," the others replied one after another.
Disappointed? It must be disappointing. Fortunately for them, the world's scholars must be even more disappointed. But to be honest, there are only some places in the south and western regions left that have not been conquered. I want you to be an official there. Do you want to go? Many people are afraid of death.
Most likely I won’t go.
Then stop chirping!
Shao Shude only paid attention to the emotions of the warriors. At present, the united front value of the literati was far inferior to that of the warriors. After today's discussion, the content and process of the examination have been roughly determined:
In the first essay test, two questions are randomly selected from various genres such as poems, poems, songs, essays, and notes to test your writing ability. Among them, lists, notes, etc. are the standard official document writing formats. As a reserve official, it is definitely
It is necessary to be proficient.
It's enough to write fluently, but you'd better have some literary talent. Examiners are also human beings. When the admission quota is certain, good literary talent will definitely gain a better impression, and it may come into play at critical moments.
In the second session, Shao Shude was a little hesitant about adding a few more questions. After all, the fewer the questions, the greater the chance of chance. But he finally decided to take the test next year with five questions, and just two of them would be enough - these are objective questions with standard answers.
In the third session, the interpretation of the meanings of the Five Ways is tested. It is a semi-subjective and semi-objective question. Only three answers are qualified.
The fourth strategy session is usually about writing down your opinions, analysis, inferences or solutions on actual matters.
Is the exam difficult? It doesn't seem difficult. However, the Ministry of Rites of Daxia gives one hundred places every year, but they are really not satisfied with the recruitment. The one that has been canceled the most is Tie Jing, that is, the five fill-in-the-blank questions stump at least 20 to 30% of the people.
My parents are not doing enough.
Of course, this may have something to do with culture.
Even during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, scholars liked to go out for fun, and few stayed at home studying. After the late Tang Dynasty, due to the current situation, many literati still had to spend time practicing martial arts.
For example, Liu Qufei, the chief registrar of the Lifan Academy, was obviously a scholar and served as a county official.
But he is "vulgar in nature", is familiar with horseback riding and archery, and has the courage to fight in close combat.
This kind of scholar is completely different from a question-answer. If you ask him to fill in the blanks silently, it is no longer easy to answer two of the five questions. But if you switch to a scholar in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the accuracy rate will definitely increase significantly, even five questions.
It’s easy to get them all right because you won’t choose particularly biased or weird questions during the exam.
To put it simply, compared with the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the literati at this time had more outstanding martial arts skills and read more miscellaneous books. Some people even liked to read military books. Moreover, because they had to examine poems and poems, their literary talent was also more gorgeous, and this
This kind of gorgeous literary talent also brings about detachment and casualness in character and temperament.
For example, when Zu Yong was admitted to the Jinshi Examination, he was required to write five words and twelve sentences. He wrote four sentences of "Watching the Yuxue in the South" and then handed in the paper. The examiner was shocked and said that you are not good at this. Zu Yong replied, "Your eloquence is exhausted."
There was no need to add any unnecessary extravagance and it was later recognized.
It is not as rigid as in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and personal will and characteristics are more important.
All in all, as the second imperial examination reform in the Xia Dynasty, the intensity was relatively large. In addition, in view of the actual situation, such as the weak rote memorization ability of the candidates, the gradually sufficient number of officials, and the excessive pursuit of flashy rhetoric by scholars, a certain degree of reform was carried out
Adjustment.
Reform is not about making random changes however you want, or copying the systems of other dynasties in one step. You have to understand the actual situation at the time and slowly make targeted reforms. Small steps are the best strategy.
.
Of course, the reform has not yet been completed so far -
"I'm interested in the rankings for each channel. The news has been released. Have all the teachers come up with a practical plan?" Shao Shude asked.
"Your Majesty." Chen Cheng stepped forward and said: "The Imperial Xia currently has Zhili, Henan, Huaihai, Guannai, Guanbei, Hexi, Longyou, Jiannan, Hedong, Hebei, Liaodong, Hubei, Qianzhong, Jiangxi, and Fujian.
Dao, there are a number of vassal towns, and there are also a large number of scholars from Hunan and Huainan who come to take the exam, so it is really difficult to determine. In addition, if the determination is based on household registration, then Hebei, which is densely populated, should be given a considerable number of places. However, after reading the articles of talented scholars in Hebei,
There are so many fallacies..."
Chen Cheng's meaning is very clear. Now that the world has not yet been unified, and some places are still in the vassal and town mode, how can you give quotas? There are also Hunan, Huainan, Qinghaijun and other towns that are not convinced by Wang Hua. There are also scholars who come to Beijing to take exams, and there are quite a lot of them.
How do you calculate the quota?
In addition, in terms of population and economy, Hebei is well-deserved to be number one. However, due to historical issues, the level of candidates in Hebei is hard to describe. You just give them ten places, and the two hard targets of Tie Jing and Yi are brushed.
After going on, if only one or two are admitted in the end, wouldn't it make people laugh out loud - the exam is not based on the number of people from high to low. Each exam has hard targets, such as "The Five Classics Comprehensive Three" in The Book of Tie Jing.
.
"I also ask that after the world is unified, we will divide the rankings." Zhao Guangfeng also stepped forward and said. Shao Shude also felt that it made sense.
After walking around the hall with his hands behind his back, he sighed: "Forget it, just do what Chen Qing and Zhao Qing said. But this matter cannot be delayed for too long, and it must be clarified as soon as possible."
In the past, he was mostly engaged in fighting, or planning various ways of uniting the war or even making money. He only paid attention to whether the imperial examination was fair.
In the seventh year of Jianji's reign, he personally presided over a palace examination, which was the closest to the scientific examination. However, those who could participate in the palace examination were all candidates who had already won Jinshi, so their level was naturally acceptable.
It was also last month that he learned for the first time that there were so many candidates who failed to pass the Tijing exam, which surprised him. Question-answers in the Ming and Qing Dynasties even boasted of "memorizing it backwards and forwards". Why is this behavior happening now?
It's obviously the simplest objective test, but I can't do it!
After all, the 150-year separation of vassal towns had a great impact on literati!