After the roll call, the candidates entered the room. At this time, all candidates took their seats according to the numbers printed on the upper right corner of the paper. Numbers were posted every two feet on the long desk. They each found their own seats and sat down. They were not allowed to move casually.
Before Gao Pingshi took his seat, he looked around casually and found that he might be one of the youngest candidates among this year's candidates. This was mainly because there were too many candidates, and what he could see was probably not even a tenth.
The reference value was not great. But he couldn't help but mutter to himself: If I had known there were so many candidates, I should have discussed it with my third uncle when I was in the capital, and they might as well give me a "prodigy".
The so-called "prodigy promotion" is a unique rule of the Ming Dynasty, which is a special examination. It means that there may be children around ten years old in a certain place who are extremely intelligent, and they can be recommended by the officials of various counties, states, and governments as prodigies to participate in the Taoist examination.
The Supervisor will take special care of such people and treat them differently.
Such young candidates who are regarded as child prodigies, even if their eight-part essay, arts and sciences are slightly poor, as long as they are still passable among adult candidates, they will usually be admitted under the exception. In history, Feng Menglong, a great talent during the Wanli period, was once recommended as a child prodigy.
At the age of 18, he entered Xiang and became a scholar.
This system of prodigies is not a fabrication, but a historical fact. It was probably caused by the fact that there were too many prodigies in the Ming Dynasty.
The number of prodigies in the Ming Dynasty has been explained in the previous article, so there is no need to go into details. But in fact, there were not only many prodigies, but also many stories of direct examinations recorded in history. For example, during the Jiajing period, there were as famous talents as Tang Shunzhi and Wang Shenzhong, and Zhao Shichun, who was both civil and military, was also an eight-legged essayist.
Master.
Zhao Shichun became a "child prodigy" at the age of nine and went to take the Taoist examination. As a result, the essay he wrote was so outstanding that the school inspector suspected that someone had written it for him, so he called him over for an interview. On the spot, he came up with the most common two characters in the "Four Books":
Question: "The Master said" and ask him to write a broken question.
Zhao Shichun responded: "An ordinary man can be a teacher for hundreds of generations, and a single word can become a law for the world."
This title not only fit the identity of Confucius, but also completely revealed the meaning of the two words, which greatly surprised the inspector. However, after being surprised, the inspector wanted to try his talent again, so he asked him to use his name as "Zhao Shichun" as the title.
Come and solve the problem.
The child prodigy is worthy of being a child prodigy, and Zhao Shichun still blurted out: "The surname ranks first among hundreds of schools, and the name ranks first in the Four Orders."
This is... so smart that it's almost unreasonable. The school inspector was also impressed and immediately accepted him and became a student member of the school.
Getting back to the topic, Gao Pragmatic took a look at it quietly at this time and found that at the outermost edge of each bench, there was an instructor from each county, sitting high on the bench to invigilate the exam. He had heard Gao Gong tell him about this situation before
, if someone is whispering to each other at this time, the invigilator will give an order to stop it, and even put a red seal on the violator's test paper to mark the violation.
Others, such as moving seats, changing papers, throwing papers, making noises, looking around, pushing others, and chanting, will be deducted from the test in the lightest case, and will be shackled in the serious case.
Shortly after Gao pragmatic sat down, Superintendent Li Yuantai came out. He was here to give questions. It must be added here: there is more than one question in the Taoist examination, but "one question per test."
That is to say, due to the large number of people, the Taoist test is held in batches, and the batches that are held at the same time have the same test questions, and the next wave of candidates will get different questions. This is also to avoid
As for situations that lead to suspected fraud such as leaking questions.
Of course, in order to be as fair as possible, the difficulty of the test questions in different batches should be roughly the same. For example, if the first batch of candidates takes small questions, the subsequent candidates will definitely take small questions; the first batch of candidates will take big questions, and subsequent candidates will take big questions.
Candidates in the first batch will definitely take the big questions; even if the first batch of candidates pass the short-term questions, the subsequent candidates will definitely pass the short-cut questions, and so on.
At this time, due to the large number of candidates, the examination questions were also announced in two lines: one was read out by the instructor to take care of those who were short-sighted; the other was written on a sign at the same time, and the scribes were ordered to hold up the sign to patrol the venue in case of deafness.
By.
It was still dark at this time, so the candidates lit the candles they had prepared and placed them on their desks. The candles in the examination room were shining brightly, and the questions were copied on the lamp boards. The clerks and servants walked between the east and west corridors, holding them up for everyone to see.
Candidates copy.
No one gave Gao pragmatic special care in his seat this time. He sat in a remote corner and couldn't quite hear the instructor's voice, so he had to crane his neck to see the clerk holding a placard. However, he saw the nearest clerk holding a placard.
There are five words written on the sign: "Great virtue never exceeds leisure."
Gao Pragmatic immediately knew that this was a relatively easy question.
Although the big questions are relatively less tricky than the small questions, they test the candidates' skills and background more. For example, Gao Gong previously speculated that Guo Pu was pragmatic in setting questions for the college entrance examination, and would only ask big questions but not small questions. The reason is that if Guo Pu takes high questions
Being pragmatic and becoming a disciple is definitely not for a mere scholar. His focus can only be on Jinshi, and the Jinshi examination must take a test and only test big questions.
During this period of time between Long and Wan, the Taoist examination questions are about half the probability of big questions and small questions, mainly depending on the meaning of the inspector.
Today's topic "Great virtue does not exceed leisure", which is no stranger to high pragmatism. It comes from "The Analects of Confucius·Zi Zhang": "Zixia said: Great virtue does not exceed leisure, and small virtue can go in and out."
Great Virtue and Small Virtue are still talking about big sections and small sections. Leisure means stopping things from coming in and out. Zhu Xi's "Collected Commentary" makes it very clear: "The speaker can first establish the big ones, then even if the small sections are
If it is not completely reasonable, it is harmless." Zhu Xi's analysis of the purpose of this question is close and thorough.
And "Reflection Record" says this: "When it comes to people and their own place, one should pay attention to their major points. The big ones are acceptable, and the small ones should be omitted. If one is in one's own place, great virtues cannot be spared, and small virtues cannot go in and out.
?As soon as there is any discrepancy, your mind will be careless and your actions will be careless, which will eventually lead to great virtue."
This theory is not inconsistent with Zhu's theory. Zhu said it faced ordinary people, while this theory faced saints. Small details are also inevitable for saints, let alone ordinary people?
Once the meaning is clear, the problem solving will be targeted. Gao Pragmatic still maintains his habit of solving problems very quickly. He is almost the first to write down the problem solving and the following on the draft paper:
"Those who observe people should spend their leisure time debating, and should turn to the great virtues."
"The reason why Gai Xian is determined by the person is not more than the reason why it is determined by the person's leisure. To sum up the whole person and determine the greatness of his virtue, this is where the debate of Xian is based."
…
The cannon is fired at the opening of the Daoist Examination. Usually, there are very few candidates submitting papers at this time, sometimes even none. But this year, in the first session of the Henan Daoist Examination, there were actually two people who submitted their papers at the top of the list. Wait and see outside.
When the lively crowd saw the examination booth open and two candidates, one large and one small, were sent out by the music and music players, they immediately became excited and crowded forward to take a look.
I saw the two people walking along the Kowloon Factory. One of them was only fifteen or sixteen years old, but he was fat. He was a little out of breath after walking a few steps. There was a big gap between the image of a talented man in everyone's mind, which made people wonder.
Somewhat disappointed.
Looking at the other person in a blink of an eye, I was shocked. It turned out that this person was younger, probably only about ten years old. Although he was not short, his face was still childish, but his expression was calm, not like a child.
Everyone was about to inquire about their origins when the scribe happened to roll call and bid farewell to the two top candidates. Only then did they know their origins: the fat boy of fifteen or sixteen years old was named Chen Xu. He was originally from Henan Prefecture and had followed him a few years ago.
The father changed his native place to Kaifeng, so he came to Kaifeng for reference; the boy, who was about ten years old, was named Gao Pragmatic, and his native place was Xinzheng. Xinzheng was renamed to Kaifeng last year, so he also came to Kaifeng for reference.
Everyone was talking: "If these two people are the only ones who dare to fight against each other this year, I'm afraid that one of them will be the one responsible for the crime!"
Gao Pragmatic was not interested in listening to their discussion. Instead, he chatted a few words with the examinee named Chen Xu. Although the two did not communicate for a long time, Gao Pragmatic felt that this person had solid knowledge. If he performed normally in the examination room, it would be possible.
Get the Road Trial Case Head.
Although Gao Jingshi didn't think about taking this case earlier, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy at the moment. However, Chen Xu was really too fat. After standing and talking to Gao Jingshi for a while, he actually couldn't stand.
Feeling like he was staying there, Gao Qingjing had no choice but to say goodbye to him and go back on his own.
Three days later, the four Taoist examinations were completed. After waiting for another five or six days, the list came out. This time it was not a rotating list, but a normal list. The first column of the Taoist case clearly stated: Kaifeng Prefecture Xinzheng County High School
Pragmatic. The second place is really none other than the fat boy Chen Xu [Note 1].