When Zhao Cheng was searched and put in, he found that the people who had passed before him were all standing together, quietly waiting for something.
At this time, Magistrate Pan of Qinghe County was already in the classroom of the county school. There were more than a dozen candles lit in the room, illuminating the surrounding area.
Pan Zhuo took a sip of tea to dispel a little sleepiness. He had stayed up all night for this county examination. He couldn't sleep in the first half of the night and couldn't sleep in the second half of the night.
"Have all the candidates entered the venue?" Pan Zhuo saw Mr. Hong coming in a hurry and knew that it was almost time.
At this time, the sky was gradually getting brighter and whiter, and the color of people's clothes could be seen clearly.
Chief Hong said quickly: "Reporting to the master, all the candidates have been searched, and no one was found to have been detained."
Pan Zhuo nodded and said to Jiao Yu and the county lieutenant sitting next to him: "It's time to start."
He ordered Feng Guannian to serve as the instructor for this county examination, and the county captain Chang Xiaoman to serve as the examiner.
At this time, light signs with pasted characters have been erected in the examination room according to the order of the examination number. You can clearly see which row your examination number is in.
County Lieutenant Chang Xiaoman cleared his throat, and the whole place immediately fell silent, and it was almost audible.
"There are three county examinations in total. Each one is entered at dawn and the papers are completed on the same day."
"It is not allowed to whisper to each other during the exam, or to copy or copy others. Violators will not only have their honors revoked, but the county captain will also hold them responsible for their crimes! Don't make mistakes, be careful, be careful!"
"Next, we will enter the hall to collect papers. Scholars are not allowed to talk noisily."
At this point, County Lieutenant Chang Xiaoman's routine explanation is completed. Next, County Instructor Feng Guannian leads the candidates to salute to the examiner to show respect.
After the ceremony, a yamen official stood at the door of the classroom and called the candidates' names and examination numbers. All candidates who were called went to the county magistrate in the classroom to collect their examination papers.
In the morning light of the rising sun, the yamen officials began to roll call. Each scholar who was called would take his own pen and ink belongings, enter the classroom to receive the test paper, and answer who his recommender was. After receiving the test paper, he would Go looking for the lantern row with pasted characters.
Zhao Cheng was very fortunate that Zhang Dashun had found a teacher from Yanzhou Confucian Studies for him. The rules and practices in the county examination and the prefecture examination had been clearly explained to him.
For example, there are no chairs in the examination room, so you have to sit on the floor. In this February weather, if you sit on the floor and take the exam for three consecutive days, you may develop hemorrhoids.
So Zhao Cheng prepared a straw mat early with duck down in the middle. He tried it in the yard and found that even if he sat on it for a day, he would never get cold.
In addition, in order to warm my hands, I also brought a hot water bottle, which is a hot water bottle made of tin or copper. It is a flat kettle. The mouth of the pot is tightly plugged, and a fur cover is wrapped around the pot to prevent cold hands. When the time comes, insert your hands and you will feel warm immediately.
After hearing his name and exam number called by the yamen officer, Zhao Cheng said yes and then carried his belongings into the classroom. This was the first time he saw Magistrate Pan up close.
The parent officer of Qinghe County was already in his fifties, with gray hair on his temples, but he was in good spirits. After asking about Zhao Cheng's recommender, he asked a special question.
"Zheng Yucheng is your teacher?"
Zhao Cheng answered truthfully: "I am studying with Mr. Zheng, but he does not accept disciples, so there is no master-disciple status."
Pan Zhuo nodded and handed the test paper to Zhao Cheng: "Be sure to answer well so as not to ruin Mr. Zheng's reputation."
Zhao Cheng nodded in agreement, took the paper, and turned around and rushed to the examination room.
It was now bright and bright, and with the sticky sign, it was easy to find his seat. Zhao Cheng put down the test paper and sat down. He was not in a hurry to mark the paper and answer, but took a deep breath.
The slightly cold air entered his lungs in the early morning in February, which cheered him up slightly. He threw away all the distracting thoughts in his mind and kept himself in a relaxed and ethereal state. He slowly unfolded the paper and began to read the questions.
"——————————, the sun and the moon are like water and fire, the light outside the fire and the water contain the scenery,——————————."
This is a typical scripture question. The two ends are covered, leaving only the middle, and the candidates are required to fill in the remaining spaces.
In fact, it is to test the scholars' familiarity with the classics. Zhao Cheng has been trained specifically by Zheng Yucheng during this period, and he has firmly remembered the contents of the Five Classics and commentaries. When he saw this question, the corresponding sentences were immediately generated in his mind, so he asked The pen fills in the blanks.
"Zhongxing Tianwen Zhi may say that the sun and the moon are like water and fire, and the light outside the fire contains the scenery. Therefore, the light of the moon is born from what the sun shines on."
Perhaps it was the slightly cold weather in February that made people more clear-headed. Every time Zhao Cheng saw a question, he could answer it without thinking. His writing skills were as fast as flying, and he quickly finished answering the scriptures part of the paper.
Zhao Cheng was not in a hurry to read the second part, but re-checked the scripture questions from the beginning.
Because in the imperial examination, there are several points that need to be paid attention to. One is to avoid taboos. Temple taboos are the name of the deceased emperor of this dynasty. Imperial taboos are the name of the current emperor. There are also holy taboos, which are the names of saints. .
When encountering a word that needs to be avoided, it is either replaced with another synonymous word, or the pen is missing, or it is deliberately written with a typo.
Zhao Cheng also heard Zheng Yucheng specifically mention these points to him, and then he realized that Chen Chao's avoidance was quite fair.
For example, in the temple taboo, Chen Taizu's name was He Chan. When avoiding the taboo, writing the character "悂" alone does not constitute a taboo, nor does it constitute a taboo when combined with other characters. If only the full name is written, "He Chan" can be directly written. Two words, that would be considered a taboo.
The same is true for royal names and sacred taboos. As long as you don't write Confucius or the name of the current emperor, He Zhao, it won't be considered a taboo.
Otherwise, there would be too many words related to "Zhao Zhao" in Confucian classics. If all of them were to be avoided, many classics would need to be overhauled.
For example, in Xunzi's "Encouragement to Learning", "Therefore, those who have no deep ambitions have no clear understanding; those who have no shameful things have no great merits."
There is also "Mencius. Chapter 2 of the wholeheartedness", Section 20: "The sage uses his enlightenment to make others enlighten; now he uses his faintness to make others enlighten."
Of course, taboo only refers to writing in public, not in private. You can write the imperial name a hundred times on a piece of straw at home and no one will care about you, but that won't work if you take it to a public place.
This rule is actually quite reasonable. In addition, you need to pay attention to the fact that there should be no ink drips or smeared outlines on the test paper. A paper should be answered from beginning to end. The handwriting should be arranged left and right, and the character spacing should be just like printing.
After checking the scriptures and confirming that there were no problems mentioned above, Zhao Chengcai turned his attention to the second part, poetry.
In the Jinshi examination of the Chen Dynasty, poetry and prose were still tested, but the requirements were not strict. Perhaps because everyone thought that the brilliance of Tang poetry was unsurpassed, so the poetry and prose were relaxed a lot.
