When the bell rang in the examination hall, in a dormitory of the administrative school that was temporarily used as an examination room, Xi Peilan, who was informed by the invigilator that it was time to start, opened the brown paper bag in front of him and took out the contents.
With a feeling of uneasiness, when I opened the piece of paper with the titles of the Four Books written on it, I saw the five characters "Don't show mercy to the poor" printed on it. Xi Peilan thought for a moment, then pursed his lips and smiled, patting his chest and letting out a long sigh of relief.
This question comes from "Mencius. Gongsun Chou Part 1", and the same words are found in "Mencius. Wan Zhang Part 2". The original text is: "Liu Xiahui will not be ashamed to insult the king, nor will he be humble to a small official; he will not hide the virtuous when he enters, but will follow his own way; he will not complain when something is lost, and he will not pity the poor."
It means that when a person encounters a difficult situation, how should he maintain his mental integrity and not be pitiful. Candidates must write an eight-legged essay of no more than 700 words based on the above meaning, and the time limit is three days and two nights.
As for the policy topic, it is about the "land reform" implemented in Beihai Town. It quotes a section of the "Land Management and Private Lending Regulations" on "rent and interest reduction" and requires candidates to explain their own understanding. The number of words is Within one thousand.
Xi Peilan frowned when he saw this. There was an explanation of the land reform law in the training materials distributed before, but due to time constraints, she only looked at it in general.
After thinking for a moment, she decided to put it aside and finish the four book questions before talking about it.
Soon after, Lin Qizong and most of the candidates who were in the examination hall spent half an hour to an hour after seeing the question, and they also thought about the source of the question, and their hearts that had been hanging around finally settled down.
The policy theory has confused many people, but in Lin Qizong's view, rent reduction for the poor is always a good thing. In addition, after he saw the endless fertile fields in Beihai Town, he also had concerns in his mind.
Because there were less than 200 students in total who came to take the exam, Wang Zhong and the others did not think about increasing the difficulty too much when setting the questions; anyway, even if the imperial examination was passed, there would still be one year of professional study, and Beihai Town would also The world cannot be governed by the Four Books and Five Classics.
Just give an upright question and answer it honestly. The main purpose is to test the candidate's mastery and understanding of the Four Books and Five Classics, as well as their understanding of Beihai Town's policies.
To be honest, the total amount of content in the four books is not much, and the content suitable for the topic of the eight-legged essay is even more limited. Nowadays, in areas with developed culture and education, well-qualified and diligent candidates may even be able to master all the most commonly used test questions in the four books and recite them silently.
Why is it said that the three tests for children in the Qing Dynasty were more difficult than the examination for civil servants?
If an ordinary person started studying at the age of six or seven, it would be difficult to read the Four Books and study Zhu Xi's various annotations at the same time. It would be very difficult to do so in less than six or seven years. The Five Classics would be even longer, at least seven or eight years. In addition, there are the first four histories - "Historical Records", "Hanshu", "Later Hanshu" and "Three Kingdoms".
Basically, if a 20-year-old scholar wants to master the above content, except for geniuses and super academics, it is difficult to do so. So you understand why any scholar in the Qing Dynasty will be a full-fledged master of Chinese studies in later generations, right? They are more than qualified to be professors of the Chinese Department! Of course, donating children is not included in this list.
I would like to ask which professor today can recite the entire Four Books and Five Classics, or even write an eight-legged essay on a random topic from among them?
To put it bluntly, the Tongsheng Examination is based on the candidate's mastery of the Four Books and Five Classics and whether the meaning and theory in the writing are smooth, so as to select reading seeds.
In addition, the second difficulty of the children's examination is the interception and matching questions. Starting from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, basically all the questions in the four books that can be used to formulate questions have been published. In order to test the strength of the students and ensure a low admission rate, the examiners played tricks and made countless candidates suffer from sexual desire. The spiritual ravages of death.
In the third year of Qianlong's reign, the Qing government explicitly stipulated that more difficult questions could be included in the children's examination. For example, the title "Learning to be strong" is a truncated question, which comes from "Mencius. King Hui of Liang". The full text is "The lady learned it when she was young, and she wanted to practice it when she was strong."
Although the Qing court required that the two sentences involved in the question must be coherent in meaning and cannot separate the meaning of the text. However, it is too difficult not to separate the meaning of the original text, so there will be some strange and even obviously problematic questions in the children's examination. The reason is either that the examiner dealt with it carelessly, or deliberately showed off, or deliberately made things difficult.
For example, during the Guangxu period, a prefect used the proposition "turtle, turtle, dragon, dragon, fish, turtle" and asked each of the six counties under his jurisdiction to use one word as a test question. The vast majority of candidates were immediately confused when they saw the questions and did not know where to start, so many were dismissed.
In fact, this question comes from a passage in "The Doctrine of the Mean": "Today's water is as much as a spoonful, and unexpectedly, turtles, dragons, fish and turtles will be born, and goods and wealth will be produced."
However, taking out the names of animals and using them as test questions is no longer a strange thing, it is simply a bastard.
There is also a certain government with the theme of "Being a King, a Father, a Minister, and a Son", and assigned it to four counties under its control, and each chose "Being a Man" as the topic. This kind of question is really terrible for candidates!
Because according to the rules of answering questions, not only are the four words "lord, minister, father and son" not allowed in the composition, but also the following words "stop at respect" and "stop at compassion" and other words must not be written, but they cannot be left out of every sentence in the composition. The above meaning. This kind of question will be inconsistent with etiquette if you are not careful, and the eight-part essay is the most important thing about etiquette. If you write it wrong, you will be dismissed.
What's more, some examiners couldn't find the topic in the Four Books, so they looked for it in the "Book of Han". Let me go for it~~ I haven’t learned the Four Books and Five Classics proficiently yet! However, candidates cannot say that the examiner is wrong, because "Hanshu" belongs to the first four histories and is also the knowledge content that young students need to master.
Therefore, for students like Lin Qizong, a serious four-book question from the Eight Classics is just like an open-book exam, completely free of charge! What everyone is competing for is their writing skills and calligraphy skills.
As for the scholars, the exam was also reduced to two tests. The first test consisted of four book questions, and the second test consisted of two questions on current affairs and policy.
The four books obtained by Sun Yuanxiang's people have three titles, namely "The use of etiquette, harmony is precious. The way of the ancient kings, this is the beauty. If you follow it, you will not be able to do something. Know how to be harmonious, and do not use etiquette." It is also impossible.", "The world can be equalized, the rank and rank can be dismissed, the sword can be cut, but moderation is impossible.", and "It is okay to praise his poems and read his books without knowing his person? That's why Talk about the world."
Among these three questions, the first question comes from "The Analects", the second question comes from "The Doctrine of the Mean", and the third question comes from "Mencius". The requirement to answer the question is to write three eight-part essays based on these three paragraphs, each of which should not exceed 700 words.
The rules for the Four Books questions in the first provincial examination in the Qing Dynasty were basically the same. Three questions were asked from the Four Books; "The Analects" and "Mencius" were must-haves, and then one was chosen from "The Doctrine of the Mean" or "The Great Learning". For scholars who have read the Four Books and Five Classics well, the routine game of cutting and setting questions cannot be used.
Because the purpose of the examination is to speak for the sages and sages, the emphasis is on "purity, elegance and integrity". Furthermore, it is necessary to cite scriptures and allusions, and to absorb the essence of various schools of thought, and not to interfere with miscellaneous theories, in order to achieve the state of vertical and horizontal integration.
As for the second session, there are two policy topics. The first one is about river control. It explains how to fundamentally solve the problem of annual floods in the Huanghuai River. The second one requires candidates to express their views on the "land reform" in Beihai Town. opinion.
That's right, Beihai Town is preparing to cultivate its own water conservancy talents. Zhao Xin and Chen Qingsong plan to select a few candidates from this session to build Beihai Town's anti-pornography team.
Since the late Northern Song Dynasty, the Yellow River has been in trouble every year. If we relax even a little bit, natural and man-made disasters will occur. Of course, there was corruption in the administration and cutting corners, but the most critical reason was that during the Jingkang Incident, Du Chong, the privy scholar who guarded Daming Mansion, ordered the digging of a dyke in order to stop the Jin soldiers, thus allowing the Yellow River to divert the Huai River into the sea. The 800-mile water bank of Liangshan disappeared. Since then, the Huanghuai area has been overflowing and floods have continued, and Shandong has also become a drought area.
In the history of another time and space, it was not until the fifth year of Xianfeng that the Yellow River burst again, but this time it miraculously separated from the Huaihe River and took the Jishui waterway from Shandong to the sea. Although the Huaihe River still suffers from frequent floods, the Yellow River has finally subsided since then.
The problem is that for Zhao Xin and others, after they enter the customs, they can't wait for decades for the Yellow River to change its course, right? In addition, investing large sums of money every year to strengthen river embankments cannot completely solve the problem. Solutions must be found at the root. The plan given by Chen Qingsong is not only to build a dam on the Huaihe River, but also to open a canal on the Yellow River and force it to change its course through Shandong and into the sea.
Speaking of which, when it comes to the provincial examination level, scholars must not only memorize the Four Books and Five Classics, but also study the first four historical records, hundreds of schools of thought, and even "Li Sao" and "Selected Works" of past dynasties, and have an understanding of government affairs; Because starting from the second and third sessions, the exam content will involve astronomy, geography, history, literature, government, wealth, water conservancy, diplomacy, military and other aspects. This is what a rotten scholar who only reads books from sages and sages can answer.
Without these two brushes, let alone being admitted to the Jinshi Examination, he is not even qualified to be a master or a staff member, and he will die as a private school teacher!
Therefore, it is not that there is a problem with China's traditional reading and education methods, but that there is a problem with the Neo-Confucian theory of "achievement equals success in virtue" under the feudal autocracy, the talent selection system that only focuses on the Four Books, and the resulting institutional corruption in the officialdom. . Even those top figures who can deal with the world can only struggle to move forward in the cracks of officialdom.
Take a look at the "Eight Eccentrics of New Yangzhou" in Beihai Town. None of them are experts in Confucian classics who have extensive knowledge, but each has a different emphasis in their knowledge. Think again about Hong Liangji, Lin Zexu, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, and even Liang Qichao in another time and space
Sun Yuanxiang sighed slightly after reading the question. Although he already knew when he took the training class that there would be no rhythmic poetry questions in this exam, he still felt a little regretful that he couldn't use his greatest strength!
Originally, Wang Zhong and the others had drafted a title for the verse, but Zhao Xin rejected it. In his opinion, writing poetry is purely a personal hobby. Even if it reaches Li Du's level, it will have no use in the economy and people's livelihood. Besides, good poetry in the Qing Dynasty never came from the imperial examination.
Although Sun Yuanxiang was thinking about how to solve the problem, his wife always appeared in his mind.
"I don't know what questions will be asked in the Tongsheng test. If there are cross-cut questions, I think Yunfen will also have a headache."
But what he didn't expect was that when four o'clock came in the afternoon, Xi Peilan had already finished typing up the draft of the four book questions. She decided to have a good sleep after eating and start copying the questions onto the answer sheet tomorrow morning. . But she didn't know at this time that she would be the first candidate to hand in the paper in the first session of this year's children's examination.
The first day of exams passed like this. At dusk, bright lights lit up in each room, and the two examination buildings also became brightly lit. Fortunately, all the candidates had seen the electric lights in Beihai Town, and the previous training classes had only ended at night, so no one would make a fuss.
You must know that in the examination rooms under the Manchu Qing Dynasty, you had to bring your own candles at night because the quality of the candles provided by the government was really bad.
Lin Qizong put down his brush, stretched his arms unconsciously, and rubbed his sore wrists. He picked up the cup and took a sip of water. He felt a little hungry, and then he raised his head and looked at the hanging hanging in front of the room. "Western clock".
The lunch prepared for the candidates at the Beihai Town cafeteria included a piece of fried salmon, two shrimps, a vegetable, a small bowl of tofu soup, and the staple food was rice or steamed buns. It tasted very good, which made him look forward to the meeting in the evening. What to eat. When the long and short hands on the dial pointed to five o'clock, the tip of Lin Qizong's nose suddenly moved, and he thought!
More than twenty minutes later, two young men wearing white aprons delivered pine food boxes into the examination room. Lin Qizong opened the box and saw that it was filled with fat braised pork vermicelli and potato shreds. He was so disappointed that his saliva suddenly secreted. He couldn't wait to pick up a piece of meat with chopsticks and stuff it into his mouth.
Tsk tsk~~Satisfied!
Because the examination room in Beihai Town was not the kind of examination room in the Qing Dynasty, as soon as Lin Qizong started moving, everyone else in the room had to put down their pens, clear the table and prepare to eat.
At this moment, there was a sudden commotion outside the door, and accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps, two people in white coats flashed past the door. Lin Qizong and others did not dare to get up and look around, so they pricked up their ears and listened carefully.
After a while, I saw two people in "white coats" passing by carrying a stretcher with a person lying on it, and a person in charge of invigilating the exam.
Afterwards, Lin Qizong found out that the person who was carried out was really poor, and he was nervous when he took the exam. Even after being tutored in the training class, he still couldn't do it.
This candidate named Wu Yun is from Wendeng. He sat in front of the exam questions from 8:30 in the morning until about 5:00 in the afternoon, and he didn't even bother to eat lunch. In the end, he anxiously wrote a four-character poem with a brush on the desk, then fell to the ground and fainted. His poem goes: "It's just like this, that's why it's like this. I knew it was like this, but I regret not doing it like this."
Thanks to Beihai Town Hospital, two doctors and several medical staff were arranged in the examination room, and all the necessary medicines were available. After Wu Yun was carried to the temporary emergency room, he was given glucose and given some oxygen. Only then did he wake up. Then he looked ashamed and said he was sorry to his parents, wife and children. He thought he would be deposed now, but the invigilator who accompanied him came over to ask him if he still wanted to take the exam after hearing that he was fine.
Wu Yun's eyes widened in disbelief and said, "Can students continue to take the exam?"
"Of course! You didn't violate the rules of the examination room, you just fainted. It's not easy after ten years of cold weather. If you still want to continue, just calm down and go back in a while. By the way, I'll ask someone to bring you a bowl of porridge. Let's not If you’re just taking care of the exam, you have to eat too!”
Wu Yun's tears burst out. He took the exam from the age of fifteen to thirty-five, but he failed every time because he was under great pressure and fainted as soon as he entered the examination room. Moreover, there was a rule in the examination room during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. If a candidate fainted and was carried out of the examination room for treatment, he would be disqualified even if he recovered. More about that next time.
Who knew that Beihai Town didn't have such rules and could continue, Wu Yun couldn't help but feel extremely excited. He also forgot that he was getting an injection and infusion. Although he couldn't get up, he was ready to raise his hand to say thank you, but then he felt a sharp pain on the back of his hand. When he lowered his head and looked again, he couldn't help but scream: "Ouch! He's bleeding!"
Because the examination hall was completely closed during the exam, Zhao Xin could only ask Wang Zhong about the situation over the phone. When he learned that only one candidate fainted and everything else went smoothly, he, Chen Qingsong, and Yu Deli finally felt relieved.
It is said that in the imperial examinations of the Qing Dynasty, it was not a big deal to faint due to psychological pressure. There were also people who committed suicide in the examination room due to mental and physical torture. During the Guangxu period in another time and space, there were many candidates for the Zhejiang Provincial Examination who committed suicide. For example, they made more than a dozen cuts on their belly and had a caesarean section. They stabbed themselves in the neck with candle sticks. The most violent case was that one student actually cut his testicles and died. .
It hurts to think about it.
