The location of the imperial examination has already been announced, outside the North City of Xianyang. This was agreed upon by Liu Zhen and Li Yan early in the morning, and they had long since set aside a flat, open space to build a specially built examination room. In this area, soldiers have already set up desks for everyone to take exams in the open space.
There is no way around this, and there are actually too many people taking it as a reference.
The final count of the number of scholars came to more than 36,600. Such a number of people roughly represented the entire Qin State, and even some scholars from the other Jin and Qi States came.
Many literate people came to Xianyang to try their luck.
That's why so many people participated.
Fortunately, it is September now, the autumn air is crisp, and the weather is not too hot. Moreover, a ceiling was built above the desk to block the sun. Therefore, even if the sun is shining brightly, it is not dazzling, but the cool breeze is blowing, which is quite comfortable.
As the time approached, more and more scholars entered the area where they would participate in the imperial examination and waited.
The entire area around the examination room was overcrowded.
Fortunately, for such an examination room, twelve examination rooms were planned in advance: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai, dividing the entire 36,000 people equally.
In each examination room, the names of candidates are also announced in advance, so that people can come and find their respective positions in advance.
No, there will be confusion during the exam.
In fact, this is the benefit of building a tent and having people sign up in advance. In this way, arrangements can be made in advance. Otherwise, there would be no location arrangements and no examination points determined. Tens of thousands of people would swarm into the examination room, and the order at the scene would be difficult to control even if there were a large number of soldiers present.
As the time approached, three bells rang around the scene, and the soldiers who blocked the area were released, and groups of soldiers entered their respective areas. Everyone quickly went to the place where they were going to take the assessment, and their expressions were even more nervous.
More than 36,000 people were scattered around this flat area, all with solemn expressions. Everyone knows that this is the first time, and everyone knows that once you pass the assessment this time, you will jump over the dragon gate and be able to work directly from now on.
This is opportunity.
Once you miss it, you miss an opportunity.
When everyone is in place, under each major examination area on site, there are small examination areas divided into groups of 60 people. Ten soldiers were arranged to guard each examination area. At the same time, soldiers were transferred as invigilators to take charge of on-site examinations.
The person invigilating the exam began to read out the exam rules.
There were soldiers invigilating the examination everywhere, announcing the disciplines, which were extremely strict and no one was allowed to cheat.
The atmosphere became increasingly strict.
When all the examination rules were read out and two bells rang, the soldiers in charge of invigilating the exams began to hand out test papers.
The test questions in the assessment are actually not complicated and there are not many. This is the topic given by Lin Feng, Xunzi and Han Qianqiu after careful discussion. Most of the assessment content is the same, including memorizing classics, reciting poems and composing poems, etc.
But Lin Feng didn't. The questions he, Xunzi and Han Qianqiu gave were to assess the ability to govern the local area.
In Lin Feng's view, the knowledge of those in power is not primary at any time. Those who govern must be knowledgeable, that's for sure. However, the knowledge of the rulers does not need to reach the level of a great Confucian, nor does it need to be able to recite things backwards and forwards. As long as they are knowledgeable and have the ability to understand and learn, that is enough.
The key is to govern the place.
How to prevent and control floods when encountering them?
How to prevent and control drought when encountering it?
Or when you encounter local poverty and people’s lives are difficult, how can you change the place?
These seem to be very broad issues, but if you really want to deal with them, you must break them down and deal with them in detail. In fact, in order to answer these questions, you must really understand them before you can answer them.
This is the talent Lin Feng wants.
Therefore, Lin Feng, Xunzi and others discussed only three topics: flood control, drought control, and how to change local poverty?
This is the first assessment and does not involve more levels. If further assessment is required, there will be too much to assess. Even so, when everyone got the test paper and saw the three questions on the test paper, most of them were confused.
Many people were dumbfounded.
What is this topic?
Many people have been studying since they were young, reading various Confucian classics, Taoist principles of governing by doing nothing, and some military strategies. These are all books on Confucian classics, which are methods of scholarship. But such classics are not the way to deal with people, nor are they the means to govern a place.
Therefore, many people were blinded for a while.
Suddenly, there was a lot of noise in the examination room.
The soldiers who immediately invigilated the examination directly scolded them, and even kicked out those who disobeyed.
The noisy situation was quickly contained.
The expressions on the scholars' faces were of bitterness and helplessness. Many children from wealthy families are also confused. They didn't expect that this would be the result. The situation on the test paper is not easy to answer.
Many people study behind closed doors, do not understand farming, do not understand common sense of life, and have no template or concept at all to control floods and droughts.
This also leads to the fact that the way most people govern is to rely on the influence of virtue.
This is the overwhelming answer.
Among the scholars, there was a man named Lu Guang.
This person came from the Lu family in Lujiang, and was from a noble family in the Jin Dynasty. Lu Guang was the legitimate son of the Lu family. He and Lu Yi, whom Lin Feng met in the past, were brothers. It's just that Lu Guang didn't practice martial arts, and followed the route of a scribe.
Lu Guang was a child prodigy in Lujiang County since he was a child, and was praised by many great scholars. Even in Jin State, Lu Guang had some reputation.
However, Lu Guang did not have enough opportunities to display his ambitions. A wealthy family came to power in the Jin State, and Lu Guang wanted to realize his ambitions. He had to follow the rules of the Jin State, first talk with the Jin State's scholars, talk about the mysteries, and gain reputation by brushing up on his qualifications and reputation, and then recruit officials.
This is a trait of Jin State.
Most Jin scholars advocate talking about mysteries.
Lu Guang didn't like this characteristic of Jin. Even he himself comes from the Lu family and is a disciple of a wealthy family.
However, Lu Guang just didn't like it. Lu Guang even believed that a country like Jin would not last long. So this time the Qin State started to recruit scholars, Lu Guang quietly left the Lu family and came to the Qin State. He sat upright and looked at the questions on the test paper, with a smile on his angular face.
interesting!
This test paper is interesting!
Through the questions on the test paper, he can understand the governance strategy of this question. This is the Qin State's emphasis on the ability to govern local areas, that is, its emphasis on merit.
This depends on ability, not on so-called moral character. It is difficult to judge a person's moral character because external factors have so many influences.
Ability is better assessed and quantified.
In the Jin State, one aspect of the assessment was family background, and the other aspect was Tan Xuan. The people of Jin are good at talking. If you want to make a name for yourself in Jin, you need to be able to talk freely, be able to talk about everything and pursue the essence of things, talk about what is and what is not, what is virtual and what is true.
This is a manifestation of the emptiness of every aristocratic family. They have nothing to do but talk about mysteries and pursue the so-called 'life'.
Lu Guang was extremely unhappy.
The Lu family, in particular, values merit. What the family imparts is not only the knowledge of classic books, but also a set of Lu family governance methods and the inheritance of how to deal with people.
This is the foundation of family inheritance.
Merely relying on the inheritance of classic books cannot support the inheritance of a large family. The establishment of a big family requires the support of culture and money, as well as the inheritance of family governance skills.
What if people from poor families have studied? Most people from poor families don't know how to govern a place. Children of big families have their fathers' oral traditions and their fathers' guidance on how to behave in the officialdom.
The inheritance of these unseen secrets is the foundation for the children of the big family to remain standing.
This is how Lu Guang was trained.
When Lu Guang saw the three questions on the test paper, he felt at ease.
He glanced around and saw that many people were already writing in a hurry. It's just that more people looked embarrassed. The three questions were too difficult. Many people don't even know the difference between grains and grains, and they can't even tell the difference between poultry and livestock. How do they understand if they are asked to talk about governing the place?
Most of the people who don't touch the Yangchun water are those who only know the basics and only know how to quote scriptures without any common sense of life. That's why there is such a situation where a lot of people are crying and crying, and everyone is feeling sad.
Lu Guang retracted his thoughts and looked at the first question.
This is to control floods.
In fact, the assessment of flood control is very broad. Because the area covered by the flood, the number of people affected, and the severity of the flood were not revealed in the title.
So, it's a little more complicated.
Fortunately, Lu Guang has enough ability and knowledge, so this problem is not difficult for him. Lu Guang did not rush to write, but continued to read down, reading the two subsequent questions of drought control and local governance, so that he knew it well.
After reading the general test paper questions, he felt at ease. Although the examination questions are broad in content, they all assess management techniques, so they are not difficult.
Lu Guang took out the draft paper on the side and roughly listed what he wanted to write down on the draft paper. He sorted out his ideas clearly and then transcribed them.
After writing about floods, there is another drought, and finally there is the management of the place.
Three big questions, in Lu Guang's writing, are enough to fill thousands of words.
Today's answer time is a full hour and a half. Because Lin Feng had experienced examinations in later generations, he paid attention to the details of the examination process, and specially asked people to ring the bell at the last quarter of an hour to remind them that there was only a quarter of an hour left.
clang! !
The bells echoed.
At the last quarter of an hour, all the scholars who were referring to it began to get nervous.
Only the last quarter of an hour remains.
Time is getting tighter.
Lu Guang's expression became more and more calm. He had just put down his pen and finished transcribing the answers to the three test questions. As for the last question, the content was broader and all aspects had to be considered, so Lu Guang spent more time on it.
Lu Guang waited and reviewed it carefully again, waiting for the final bell.
clang! clang! clang!
The bell rang three times in a row, and the soldier in charge of invigilating the examination shouted for everyone to stand up, and the soldiers stood up one by one.
Some people looked happy.
Some people look serious.
Some people looked solemn.
The people who came to take the exam had different expressions, but most of them were disappointed because the questions were too difficult. The soldiers ignored this and collected the examination papers in an orderly manner, put them into bags, and then ordered all the scholars to leave.
Groups of scholars walked out of the examination room, and Lu Guang followed them away in high spirits.
He looked confident and felt there was no problem.
Although the test questions this time are a bit difficult, they are not difficult for him. He believes in his ability. As the scholars left one after another, all the examination papers were protected by soldiers, and Liu Zhen took everyone to the Duke's Mansion.
All grading work is carried out in the Duke's Mansion.
