Gao Pragmatic, a student student from Xinzheng, came to Kaifeng again to prepare to participate in this year's Henan Provincial Examination.
The rural examination was also called Qiu Wei, because the imperial examination was a national talent promotion ceremony, and the examination room was tightly guarded, commonly known as Suo Wei, or Wei for short. In the imperial examination era, the rural examination was held in autumn, so the provincial examination was called Qiu Wei.
The rural examination is divided into one subject every three years, and is held in the year of Zi, Wu, Mao and You. The location of the rural examination, if it is Zhili (south and north), is in the capital (north and south); if it is in a province, it is where the Chief Secretary is, that is
The provincial capital, so Henan is located in Kaifeng.
The specific date of the provincial examination is generally fixed. From the ninth day of August to the seventeenth day of August, there are three examinations in total. After completing the examination and handing in the papers on the same day, you will go out and enter the next day on the third day to take the next examination. That is, the person who ranks first in the ninth examination will
There will be a second test on the 12th and a third test on the 15th.
As for the examiners, the chief examiner who presides over the provincial examination is called the chief examiner, and the one who participates in grading is called the co-examiner.
The chief examiner, also known as the president, has been developing and changing its appointment principles from Hongwu to Wanli. By now, in the seventh year of Wanli, it has basically been customized:
Shuntian and Yingtian used two academic officials from Hanlin Academy. Their ranks were usually bachelor's degree, Chunfang concubine, Yude, etc.
Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian have one member of the Hanlin Officials responsible for compilation, editing, review, etc.; Huguang has one member of the Hanlin Editor and one subordinate officer. This is because these provinces have always been places with excellent academic styles, so they are specially designated
grand.
The rest of Sichuan, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places are either under general subordinates, or appointed as a member of Zhongshu Pingbo, or demoted from other temples.
The co-examiner is also called the sub-examiner, the room examiner, and the classics examiner, which is also the so-called Five Classics examiner. They usually serve as officials, magistrates, edicts, and professors.
In addition to examiners, there are also deacons, mainly promotion officers, supervisors, and examiners. Especially promotion officers and supervisors must use senior officials to invigilate examinations to monitor security and take charge of examination room affairs. For example, promotion officers generally have
Both of them served as the chief envoys of the left and right in Henan; the supervisory officer was also called the Zhigongju, for example, he was appointed by the patrol censor.
To make a rough comparison, it is roughly equivalent to a senior official serving as a promotion officer, and a senior provincial official serving as an outside invigilator. This shows that the imperial court attaches great importance to the provincial examination.
As for the sealing officer, the receiving officer, the enclosing officer, the copying officer, the reading officer, the patrol officer, the gate officer, the inspection officer, the supply officer, the examination paper collecting officer, etc., I will not introduce them one by one.
.
The provincial examination in the Ming Dynasty is not determined by one article. As mentioned just now, the rule is to take three consecutive examinations.
Specifically, the first test examines the seven chapters of classics and meanings, which are the current affairs; the second test examines the essays, edicts, imperial edicts, expressions, and judgments, which can be regarded as official document writing; the third test examines the current affairs policy of classics and history, which can be roughly regarded as
Doing is "how to do specific things", but this actually becomes more and more formal in the later stages. Generally speaking, it is just "blowing" to see who can blow more fresh and refined.
Each of the above styles has very specific writing requirements and writing formats, which must not be wrong, otherwise the test paper will be posted due to violations, and there will be no hope of Chinese style.
But having said that, if you look at the weight of the three exams, naturally the Shiwen in the first one is the most important. Generally speaking, if the Shiwen is very well written, as long as there are no major mistakes or omissions in the next two tests, it is basically certain
Otherwise, no matter how good your other writing is, but your writing is a mess, then just go home, there is no chance of winning.
The Provincial Examination is similar to the Dao Examination. Candidates bring pens, ink, inkstones and other examination tools in front of the dragon gate before the fourth watch of each session. They are called at three doors and enter. Even which county the candidates are called and when they are called will be known in advance.
Announcement.
Being able to come to the provincial examination means that everyone has experience with this process, so everyone is in good order. After Gao Pragmatic entered the venue, he went to pick up the house number cards in the order of his roll call. When he got it, he saw that it was "Xuan"
"No. 49" - the name of the house is named according to the order of the words "Xuanhuang of heaven and earth, the vastness of the universe" in "The Thousand Character Classic". "Xuan No. 49" is the 49th room of the house with the word "Xuan"
.
"Dayan's number is fifty, and its use is ninety-nine." Gao pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly: "This number is not bad."
After Gao pragmatically found his exam room number and entered, he began to nail the tarpaulin to protect him from rain and wind. At this time, a bugler came and stood next to his exam room - this was to prevent cheating. Each room was guarded by one person.
Stricter than a prison cell.
Of course, Gao Pragmatic had no intention of cheating, so he turned off the lights without even looking at the trumpet troops, and took the time to lie down on the wooden board in the banquet room and start sleeping.
It's not that he despises the exam, but that experienced candidates would do this. Because the candidates called at four o'clock, they couldn't sleep well before. Since they didn't sleep in the middle of the night, if they don't take the time to rest and stay up all night, then the time will come.
You must be tired during the exam during the day. Especially in this first exam, seven eight-part essays are tested, and the exam is required to be completed in one day. If you are not in good spirits, what else is there to take? It is better to go home and wait a few years before coming back.
I don’t know how long I had been asleep, but Gao Pingshi heard the trumpet call: "Mr. sir, get up, the question paper is here!" - Mr. Xian used it on the candidates, which was a "beautiful blessing".
Gao pragmatic sat up suddenly, stretched out his hand to wipe his face, and went to pick up the question paper.
After getting the question paper, I didn’t read the questions first, but went to get the ink scroll. The ink scroll is a serious examination paper, which needs to be written with an ink pen, so it is called an ink scroll. The one I got today is naturally only the first ink scroll.
Gao pragmatic didn't look anywhere else, so he stamped a few lines of words in ink:
Linsheng Gao pragmatic, Xuanzi No. 49, from Xinzheng County, Kaifeng Prefecture.
Then turn to the inner page and write down your name, age, appearance, place of origin, the fact that I have done nothing illegal, etc. Finally, write: The qualification of a Linsheng should be taken in the Henan Provincial Rural Examination of Ji Mao Ke in the seventh year of Wanli.
This is not over yet. We also need to list the names of the three generations of great-grandfather, ancestor, and father at the end. Below, we will note "Gu" or "Existence". This is a resume. Of course, these records cannot be seen by the examiner, and they will be sealed.
Seal. But you must write the test paper as soon as you get it, so as not to make you dizzy and hand cramped while writing the article. In the end, you forget all this, and that's the end of it.
After finishing all the preparation work, Gao Pragmatic began to read the questions, but he did not read them all at once, but only one question at a time.
This is a sign of confidence, because generally speaking, candidates will read all the questions and then choose the easiest one to write first. In this way, firstly, they can build self-confidence, and secondly, it can be used as a warm-up (brain-warming?)
, so you can write more and more smoothly later.
But Gao pragmatically is more confident about the exam. Which official he dealt with when he was in the capital was not a Jinshi? Even if he occasionally chatted a few words about the exam or a few small talk in his spare time, he would benefit a lot. What's more, he
His third uncle, teacher, uncle, and other close people are still the imperial ministers. Who can't be a great scholar in the world? So he didn't pick a topic at all, and he was ready to start writing after taking the first question.
After getting the first question, Gao pragmatically looked at the question and found that it was a combined question, but it was indeed a big question rather than a small question:
"The way of learning, destiny is called nature, learn and practice it from time to time, Mencius meets King Hui of Liang"
When Gao Pingshi saw it, he snorted softly in his nostrils and thought to himself: Should I take the first sentences from each of the four books and write a question?
