On October 20th of the second year of Wanli, in the west wing of Yangxin Hall, several new guest Jinshi who were admitted to the Hanlin Academy this spring and were later awarded the official title of "Secretary Lang" newly established by the imperial court were sitting around.
Chat together.
In the small side room, there are four sets of tables and chairs facing the door. Sitting inside are Yu Menglin and Lei Yingzhi, the two young men who came to study in spring this year. The two in front are Yu Menglin and Wu Zhongqian, both of whom are second-level Jinshi. As for them,
Yin Yingyuan, the number one scholar in the same subject, was selected by Zhang Juzheng to compile "Records of Emperor Shizong" because he was awarded the Imperial Academy's Compilation Award.
In the Spring Festival of Jiaxu, which started on February 19th of the second year of Wanli, there were three major questions, all written by Zhu Yijun. The three questions were: "It's difficult to have sex, something is wrong", "The great honor is to honor relatives, the second is shame, and the following are
"Be able to nourish", "In the beginning I was with people, listening to their words and trusting their actions; now I am with people, listening to their words and observing their actions."
There are thousands of people in the world, and 90% of them said after the exam that this question was too easy. Moreover, the first and second questions are all about filial piety. If you don’t practice a hundred questions like this, you won’t be able to go out.
I am embarrassed to say that I am a scholar. - It seems that this year’s examiners are not good at it.
Before the results were released, word spread that the three questions were all written by Zhu Yijun. Now the scholars no longer said that the questions were not good, but instead said that today's emperor "rules the world according to benevolence and filial piety, and the rule of Wen and Jing can be expected."
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Today, the six scholars in Yangxin Hall, two are top-notch students and four are top-notch, but they are all smart people. When they reviewed the questions in the examination room, they all saw that the thoughts of the question maker were hidden in this simple question - let
Candidates should connect the answers and there must be an organic connection between the three articles.
This method of writing questions is the first of its kind in the world since the Eight-part Examination. It seems simple, but if you follow the previous method of answering questions and write three unrelated papers, you will basically not get on the list. The writing is really good
For example, Sun Jigao, the number one scholar in the original time and space, was ranked at the bottom of the top three, which shocked those who knew his literary name in the same year.
The first two questions asked by Zhu Yijun are translated as "Serve your parents? You should be happy from the bottom of your heart"; "Be filial to your parents? The best is to respect and obey, the second is to not insult your parents; the third is to provide food and clothing.
Serve”.
If the examinee can think deeply, and by extension, connect these three questions, he will find that the core of the last question is "Be filial to your parents and seek truth from facts when doing things, and you can't be superficial."
It's a pity that not one of the ten people really understood the questions clearly. Of the six in this room, Yu Menglin, the prostitute, performed the best. He directly connected the three questions and wrote three good articles.
The No. 1 scholar Yin Yingyuan was even more powerful. He directly pointed out in the third article that parents should be cared for and buried well, and should not stick to pillars and drums and engage in formalism.
When Zhu Yijun was nominating the No. 1 scholar, he saw a sentence in his third volume: "It is an act of filial piety to rest on a brick in the morning, but it is not as good as the time when we are related to my heart." He directly selected him as the No. 1 scholar.
As a rule, when the gold list is posted, the Jinshi rolls are also printed and spread throughout the world. Especially the No. 1 scholar rolls are posted next to the imperial list to show the court's sincerity in selecting scholars.
Of course, the writing style of the top candidate is excellent. The unsuccessful candidates were surprised at first. They all asked how they posted all the three major questions in this exam. In the past, admission only focused on the first paper.
After taking a closer look at the content, I found that there was an organic connection between the three articles of the No. 1 Scholar. They all discussed filial piety from different angles. When they all talked about filial piety, they all slapped their thighs in annoyance. There was a hot-tempered one who looked around for those who had previously promoted that the test questions were easy.
You can't beat him up.
Regardless of the fact that the failed candidates secretly scolded the emperor for giving the question, the emperor's hand opened the door to a new world. Oh, how could the question be asked like this?! Get rid of the examiner who has thoroughly read the Four Books and Five Classics.
Tears filled our eyes - finally, we can get to the point!
As an examiner in the country with the largest examination power in the world, and the scope of the examination is very narrow, the examiner cannot be compared to an examination expert who has studied the "craftsmanship" of eight-legged writing.
The eight-part format developed maturely during the Chenghua period, and by the early Jiajing period, every question that could be asked in the world had dozens of sample essays and thousands of tutorial materials. It was impossible for the examiner to read them all one by one. Almost every time
In the exam, a certain candidate who got the right answer can use the model essay to steal the success.
Later, the examiners were forced to invent the tangential question, that is, first select a sentence from a certain paragraph in the Four Books and Five Classics, and then choose another sentence from another place that has nothing to do with this sentence. The two sentences are connected to form a question, which is called a tangential question.
Also called a small question.
Although these two sentences have completely different meanings, they can test the candidate's adaptability or blind connection ability - these permutations and combinations are endless, and they immediately became popular all over the world.
However, this method can be used for quizzes. In the Spring and Autumn Periods, the imperial court did not allow examiners to ask such questions that "separate the meaning of the classics." Therefore, it was not easy to be a teacher in the Ming Dynasty, at least in the question setting stage, which required a lot of effort.
Hair loss.
Now these examiners have discovered that if the emperor's method is used to set questions, the permutations and combinations are not endless, but they are not many! Although it increases the burden of marking, the first three major questions originally had to be read carefully, but there is no
Reading the first volume is just as troublesome.
If you follow this method, the difficulty of the test questions will rise sharply. There are three questions about politics and one topic. Candidates who can exhaust all the arguments in the second paper are basically elementary school students. If they can still write brilliantly on the third question
, there is no problem in getting on the list - the grading workload actually does not increase much.
...
The turbulent discussions have lasted for more than half a year. The changes in the test questions in the spring of Jiaxu have not only affected scholars. Major bookstores have already hired famous teachers to study the imperial court's next question ideas and began to write model essays-it is estimated that they
You can make a lot of money again.
Only a very small number of very smart people in this world can see the emperor's intention of first setting out the rural examination questions for two years, and then the general examination questions. When the emperor set the questions, he had to express his inclination and intention towards certain major policies to the scholars.
, at this time, the first signs have begun to appear.
...
Even though these new Hanlin recruits at Yangxin Hall have been employed for more than half a year, they have never done much. When they were in the Hanlin Academy, they could spend half a day studying leisurely.
Although they entered the Attendant's Room this month, the shelves in the Attendant's Room have not been finished yet, and there are fewer things to do than when they were in the Hanlin Academy. As a result, these six people can't help but sit together after work, just like when they were studying.
I can usually do some poetry or discuss current affairs.
Zhang Guofu, the second-class Jinshi, is a descendant of Zhang Shi and Zhang Qinfu, one of the "Seven Sages of Stone Drum" in the Southern Song Dynasty. He was from Mianzhu, Sichuan. He is now forty-five years old, but he still calls Yu Menglin, who is eight years younger than him, his brother.
He asked Yu Menglin: "Brother Boxiang, in my undergraduate course, I heard that Xu Huating's grandson Xu Yuanchun was ranked among the top three, but he was removed from the list by the emperor. Is this true?"
Yu Menglin shook his head to express his ignorance. Lei Yingzhi next to him heard this and said: "This is true. What I heard is that the prince was not selected as the assistant minister, but the teacher Yu was selected when the official investigation was unsuccessful."
Another secretary called Wu Zhongqian and said: "Before the imperial examination, the emperor usually doesn't read the paper. How could he cross it out? It's a rumor."
Lei Yingzhi listened and said with a smile: "I heard that when the teacher presented the list of candidates for the examination, the emperor saw Xu Yuanchun's name and dismissed him without asking for the paper. It seems like -" said
After finishing this sentence, he showed a playful expression and looked at the other three people with a half-smile.
Wu Zhongqian took a breath of cold air and said: "How can the emperor embarrass Yuan Fu by doing this? Is this...this...is there going to be a court dispute?"
After hearing this, Yu Menglin chuckled and said: "After such a long time, why are we still talking about dynasty disputes? Although Xu Jie is the master of Yuan Fu, his family is rampant in the countryside. It's not just for one day. How can Yuan Fu protect his family for a lifetime?"
After hearing this, Lei Yingzhi showed curiosity and asked: "Hearing what Brother Boxiang said, is the Xu Huating family going to be in bad shape?"
Yu Menglin sneered and said: "I don't know the details, but I heard yesterday that Cai Guoxi has been restored by the emperor and appointed Songjiang to prepare troops for the road!"