The Dragon Boat Festival is very lively in Bianjing.
The festival objects in Bianjing include Baisuo, moxa flowers, dragon boats, rice dumplings, sachets and so on.
Children in every household wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival. The sachets contain cinnabar, realgar, deer antler slices mixed with fragrant herbs, and then they carry them with them. This not only has the meaning of warding off evil spirits and dispelling plague, but also serves as decoration for the headband.
And on the day before the Dragon Boat Festival,
The markets in Bianjing sell peaches, willows, sunflowers, cattail leaves, and Buddhist moxa. The next day, every family laid it out at the door, along with rice dumplings, five-color water dumplings, tea and wine as offerings, and nailed mugwort on the door, all ready for both scholars and common people.
After the Dragon Boat Festival.
Zhang Yue was not at home after the festival. Instead, he went to Daxingguo Temple and rented three monk rooms to study behind closed doors.
There are too many subjects in the system examination. Although I am familiar with the classics and meanings, I have not read the books on Shi Wuzi and other subjects.
It can be said that the scope of the system examination is unlimited. In short, it covers the entire collection of classics and history. These days, Zhang Yue has to read and recite them all. The time is too tight, even if he fails, he cannot be willful.
In order to find a quiet place to study, Zhang Yue simply moved away from home and moved to Taiping Xingguo Temple to study in seclusion.
Before leaving, through Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang sent Zhang Yue a list of preparation books for the examination and pulled three ox carts to Taiping Xingguo Temple.
The ancients said that learning is rich in five cars.
At that time, books were still made of bamboo slips, but now Zhang Yue hauls three cartloads of books just to take the exam for one major.
Fortunately for Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang Fa and his son were both addicted to collecting books. No one else would have been able to collect so many books. When Fan Zhongyan asked Fu Bi to prepare for the examination, he also asked him to read a room full of books.
As for Zhang Yue's need to finish reading Three Bullock Carts in less than three months, in the eyes of outsiders, it may not even take three years.
However, this is the case for the professional examination.
As for Zhang Yue, Ersu, his biggest rival in Zhike, has been preparing in Huaiyuanyi for half a year. In terms of age, Su Shi is twenty-six years old, Su Che is twenty-four years old, and Zhang Yue is only seventeen years old.
Now Zhang Yue really didn't even have time to drink water, so he entrusted everything to Ouyang Xiu and Ouyang Fa to handle it. Even sending in papers was done by Ouyang Fa for him.
However, Zhang Yue didn't know that although he was studying hard in seclusion, the fact that the emperor declined to sign up because he wrote fifty articles had already spread in Bianjing.
Who can not pay attention to Jiayou's strategy for entering the top 100 in a new subject in six years?
Ouyang Fa got Zhang Yue's entry book and immediately sent it to ministers of more than two systems.
But when Ouyang Fa arrived at Wang Anshi's home, it was Wang Anli who got Zhang Yue's entry book.
Wang Anli and Zhang Yue both became Jinshi in the sixth year of Jiayou. However, Wang Anli's ranking was not good, he was ranked fifth, and as a rule, he had to wait for the selection of the officials.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to stay in Beijing, Wang Anli also got engaged.
It was Ouyang Xiu who arranged the marriage.
Through Ouyang Xiu's help, the sister of Xie Jingwen, the Jiangdong Road transfer judge, married Wang Anli.
Xie Jingwen and Ouyang Xiu are very friendly, not just him. When Xie Jingwen's father, Xie Jiang, was in Xijing with Ouyang Xiu, Mei Shengyu, Yin Zhu, etc., they climbed mountains and rivers, wrote articles and poems with them, and they were also close friends.
I heard that Madam Xie is well-educated, gentle and virtuous. Therefore, Wang Anli was very satisfied, and his elder brother Wang Anshi was also very happy that his younger brother had such a marriage. He also had a good relationship with Xie Jingwen.
Wang Anli met Ouyang Fa and asked him to come in to meet his brother. However, Ouyang Fa noticed that Wang Anshi was a little frightened, so he declined politely.
Wang Anli took Zhang Yue's entry and presented it to Wang Anshi.
When Wang Anshi heard that it was Zhang Yue who entered the paper, he first asked Wang Anli to put it aside and continue talking to his friend Sima Guang. Wang Anli was sitting aside.
Wang Anshi and Sima Guang lived very close to each other. The two of them practiced daily life together again, and they became even more intimate. Now Sima Guang knows how to make imperial edicts.
In Wang Anli's eyes, his brother Wang Anshi is somewhat stubborn and radical in character, while Sima Guang is calm and sophisticated. Therefore, his brother's official career has not been very smooth, and he can't get along with the emperor and Han Qi. In comparison, Sima Guang's career has been much smoother.
And to be honest, he prefers to talk with Sima Guang in private. In his eyes, a scholar like Sima Guang was more consistent with a Confucian scholar than his brother in every aspect.
Now his brother and Sima Guang were sitting together chatting, while Wang Anli was naturally listening. Being able to listen to a few sentences and then use them was of great help to him, and he would not miss this opportunity.
Sima Guangchu didn't care about Zhang Yue's entry. Of course Wang Anli wanted to help remind him, so he said to Sima Guang: "Twelve feet, this is the entry for the current number one scholar."
After hearing that it was Zhang Yue's entry, Sima Guang said: "It turns out that it's Zhang Duzhi's entry. It's really annoying. Why don't Jiefu take a look?"
Wang Anshi became interested after hearing Sima Guang's words.
Wang Anshi said: "The recent selections are not like those selected in the past, and not all of them may be qualified."
Sima Guang said: "Does Jiefu mean the number one scholar in a new subject?"
Wang Anshi said: "It's not him, I'm talking about other people who should be promoted this time, such as Er Su."
Sima Guang was puzzled and said: "Everyone in the world praises Er Su's writing talent, why is it that Jie Fu alone is not pleased?"
Sima Guang had a good friendship with Su Shi and Su Che. When Su Xun's wife died of illness, he still asked Sima Guang to write an epitaph.
Wang Anshi said: "I have met Sansu and his son several times at Ou Gong's house. To be honest, meeting him is not as good as being famous."
"It would be nice to hear the details."
Wang Anshi said: "The father and son are all well-educated Confucian scholars, and their literary talents are unmatched by anyone in the world. But it is a pity... that in their lifetime they will be just like Su Qin and Zhang Yi."
After a pause, Wang Anshi said: "Su Qin and Zhang Yi are good at words and eloquent. Although they can dazzle people for a while, they have no merit in the country or the world. Such knowledge cannot last long."
Sima Guang thought over and over again and said: "Er Su is only over 20 years old. It is difficult to make any achievements in knowledge for a while. It can be avoided by being messy and unprovoked."
As he spoke, Wang Anshi picked up Zhang Yue's paper from the side and said, "This guy is similar to Er Su."
Sima Guang said: "Even if they are similar, Zhang Duzhi and Ersu are both talented people who have emerged once in a century. I was not as good as them back then."
Wang Anshi said: "It only comes out every ten years, not a hundred years, but his articles are still worth reading."
After Wang Anshi took a closer look, he couldn't help but laugh: "It's actually bound into a book, which makes me worry less."
After finishing speaking, Wang Anshi started reading Zhang Yue's book.
Wang Anshi read books very quickly, and he could read ten lines at a time.
But I saw that Zhang Yue was reading the book very quickly, and he quickly turned through ten or twenty pages. But I stopped reading halfway through.
Wang Anshi actually turned to the beginning and read it again. This time, he read much slower.
Sima Guang and Wang Anli knew that Wang Anshi had always been a quick reader, but that was not always the case.
Wang Anshi once talked about his own reading. Just reading the scriptures is not enough to understand the scriptures. Therefore, a certain person has read all the books written by hundreds of schools of thought, including the Difficult Classics, Su Wen, and Materia Medica, etc.; farmers and women workers have asked about everything. Then one can know the general outline of the sutra without any doubt.
That is to say, he also read all kinds of books and used this knowledge to support the meaning of the scriptures.
On weekdays, Wang Anshi reads very quickly when reading leisure books, but very slowly when he reads the meaning of scriptures.
Wang Anshi had a large bookcase with many books in it. He could read wherever he went as an official. Once Sima Guang went to Wang Anshi's home and saw that the bookcases were full of dust. He smiled and asked Wang Anshi how long it had been since he had read.
Wang Anshi took one look and said that I had already memorized these books, so Sima Guang picked them out at will, and Wang Anshi memorized them fluently. But Zhang Yue's book must be very remarkable if it can make Wang Anshi read it again and again.
But I saw Wang Anshi reading for half an hour before he finished reading.
During this period, Sima Guang and Wang Anli did not move, sitting aside and waiting for him.
After Wang Anshi finished reading, he let out a long sigh, closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, and said, "We have been farewell for three days."
Wang Anshi handed Zhang Yue's entry book to Sima Guang without saying a word.
Sima Guang took the book and said to Wang Anli with a smile: "Brother Ling can do this, and this book must be extraordinary. I don't have the talent of brother Ling. I have to read the book he has read once, and I have to read it three times. He has memorized it." I have to memorize a book once, three times."
Wang Anli smiled, but deep down he admired Sima Guang even more.
It is true that Sima Guang seemed inferior to Wang Anshi in terms of talent and learning, but in terms of solid knowledge and step-by-step progress, no one in the world could match him.
Wang Anli couldn't wait to ask: "Brother, what's so good about this article?"
Sima Guang also looked attentive.
Wang Anshi said: "It's not that his articles are good or not, but that he has scriptures and articles, and he has a doctorate and a college degree."
"Before the imperial examination, I read Zhang Du's articles. There were some essays but few classics, some were erudite but not specialized. I did not have the ambition and strength, or lacked spiritual thinking. Maybe others said I was too harsh, but in my eyes it was indeed the shortcomings of his articles. ."
"But now when I read his articles, these fifty articles are integrated into the volume, which can be said to be the application of what I have learned. If you look at Er Su's volume, the fifty policy essays say fifty things, even though the articles are colorfully written. , The views are sharp, but they cannot be unified, and they fall into disgrace as soon as they see each other.”
Sima Guang said: "Jiefu, from the perspective of my family, how can the world's principles be stuck on one end? The right and left prove each other, and the right and wrong attack each other is the way to penetrate."
Wang Anshi nodded and said, "You are right."
Sima Guang talked with Wang Anshi for a while, then Sima Guang stood up and left, going back to read Zhang Yue's masterpiece.
Wang Anli knew that a few days ago, the dowry girl of his brother's eldest daughter Wu met his sister-in-law on the road.
His sister-in-law immediately took the dowry maid to a teahouse and sat down to talk for a long time, asking about Wu's current situation.
The dowry girl was hesitant at first, but then she couldn't stand her sister-in-law's careful questioning before she came to the world.
It turned out that the Wu family had been having a difficult time in her parents' family in the past few months. The reason was that Wang Anshi insisted on taking Zhang Yue as sixth place in the palace examination, and Li Taijun of the Wu family knew about it.
Li Taijun did not give Wu a good look.
The sister-in-law knew that her daughter was not doing well in her parents' family, so she cried for several days after returning home. Her brother couldn't bear the crying anymore.
Now my brother spends all his time studying in the house and does not dare to see his sister-in-law.
Could it be that his brother's sudden change of view towards Zhang Yue today was because of the Wu family?
Wang Anli thought about it carefully and felt that it was not the case.
