This woman not only has a more beautiful appearance than Lin Wanqing, who is the most beautiful among the women around Huang Qiong. She also has an extremely mature and plump figure, which is no worse than Duan Jin, who has the best figure around her, and is on par with Fan Jian's sister-in-law. Even if she already knew before, Sima Hong's daughter-in-law was pretty.
Otherwise, when she was in Mizhou, the nephew of Concubine De was desperately trying to get his daughter-in-law by any means necessary. Even some official circles and some unspoken rules over the years are ignored. If Huang Qiong hadn't met him, he would have done something that even the evil slaves in Prince Jing's Mansion had not done, and would have taken it away by force.
But when Huang Qiong really took a closer look at the woman in front of him, he was still slightly stunned by the stunning beauty in front of him. Fortunately, Huang Qiong reacted very quickly, and his loss of consciousness was only for a very short period of time. He then concealed the gaffe in his expression and was not noticed by the group of wives at the table, both openly and secretly.
However, Huang Qiong, who did not dare to stay any longer, curtly offered a glass of wine to the woman who was frightened by the appearance of Huang Qiong, the King of England, and immediately withdrew. But when he returned to his position, Huang Qiong spent a lot of effort to suppress some bad thoughts in his heart. He turned around and chatted with Sima Hong and Fan Jian about the imperial examination.
This year is the year of the Great Competition. Although both Jia Quan and Song Zhihuan were unable to take part in the imperial examination because they were still in Ding You period, and Fan Jian did not want to take part in the imperial examination, Sima Hong's younger son had to participate in the Great Competition this year. Originally, after Sima Hong was exiled and his youngest son became a prisoner, he had lost the qualification to participate in the imperial examination.
However, it was only after Sima Hong was pardoned and Huang Qiong came out to say hello to the Ministry of Civil Affairs a year ago that he became eligible to participate in the imperial examination again. And Huang Qiong also heard that Sima Hong was dissatisfied with his eldest son, a so-called heir of poetry and calligraphy, who finally chose to join the army. It means putting more hope on this younger son. For my youngest son, whether he can pass the imperial examination this time is very important.
Hearing Sima Hong's complaint about his eldest son, Huang Qiong just smiled and said nothing. Although military attaches shoulder the important task of protecting the homeland and the country, in the years without wars and chaos, civilian officials have always rejected or looked down upon military attaches. From Sima Hong's tone, Huang Qiong could tell that he originally had high expectations for his eldest son.
But he didn't expect that the eldest son would not take the imperial examination as he asked. But at the right time, he dropped out of the Imperial College and chose to join the army. It would be strange if he wasn't angry. What made him even more irritated was that when his eldest son ran to join the army, it happened to be the time when Sima Hong was making an engagement for his subordinates, and they were going to get married in less than two months.
As a result, his in-laws, who were from a scholarly family, decided to break off the engagement without saying a word after hearing this. In order to save his face, Sima Hong had no choice but to let his one-year-old son marry his future sister-in-law instead of his elder brother, who is now his daughter-in-law. After doing this, Sima Hong, who was so angry that he became seriously ill, directly severed ties with his son.
And he placed all his hopes on his younger son, who had been studying diligently. In fact, Huang Qiong was a little disapproving of the fact that Sima Hong valued this young son so much. His youngest son went to Sima Hong's place years ago, and Huang Qiong had no contact with him. In Huang Qiong's opinion, this talent study is pretty good, at least not worse than Song Zhihuan, but he is a little too bookish.
For such a person, entering officialdom may not be his blessing. Maybe, it might not be impossible to make the same mistake he made again. Even the final result may not be as good as his. Although Sima Hong was unjustly dismissed from office, he was not pedantic. His failure was just that he involuntarily fell into a fight between the princes in that position.
At that time, no one might be able to benefit from it. The fact that Sima Hong was dismissed from office and exiled instead of being abducted, tortured, and executed showed that he had certain skills and had found many ways to protect himself. If it were his younger son, he would probably lose his head and still not know what happened and who he had offended.
The most important thing is that in the imperial examinations of this dynasty, the poetry, poetry and calligraphy content in the imperial examinations of the former Tang Dynasty were abolished, and the Ming Jing Ke and Jin Shi Ke were merged. On the first day of the imperial examination, the test was about classics and meanings, that is to say, the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics. Considering the talent of the young master Sima, this should not be a big problem. It's just that Jingyi does not account for a large proportion in the entire scholarship results.
After Jingyi, the two subjects of policy and theory are the main focus of the imperial examination. In other words, it is not only necessary to read the book, but also to read the book thoroughly. The content involved in the policy theory, although the scope of topics is still mainly the Four Books and Five Classics. However, the scope of the content of the answer is not limited to the Four Books and Five Classics, and hundreds of schools of thought are involved.
When it came to Huang Qiong, the emperor, I felt extremely distrustful of the military attache because Huang Qiong's grandfather rebelled as a military general, and the rebels in previous dynasties had learned from the past that military generals had no masters. Not only has it made major adjustments to the military system, but it has also been trying to find ways to promote the use of civilians to control military affairs, trying to replace military attaches with civilian officials to lead the army. Military attachés are only generals, not commanders.
Therefore, during the imperial examinations, from time to time, there were questions on military literature and tactics. Therefore, the imperial examinations of this dynasty not only had high requirements on candidates' ability to understand books, but also had high requirements on candidates' on-the-spot performance. If the candidates only focus on the Four Books and Five Classics, policy and theory, which account for the majority of the results in the imperial examination, will be ruined.
As for Sima Hong, the younger son, although he cannot be a bookworm, his ability to understand and adapt is not very strong. I am very proficient in reading the Four Books and Five Classics, but my understanding can only be said to be average. Basically, there is no problem if the exam relies entirely on rote memorization of scriptures and meanings. But in this dynasty's imperial examinations, policy theory accounted for the majority. To put it bluntly, even if a candidate who only memorizes the exams succeeds, his ranking may not be very high.
I'm afraid it's difficult to get into the first-class and second-class universities. It would be good to get a third-class student who is also a Jinshi. At least after Liubu observes politics, it will be difficult to stay in Liubu, and there is a high possibility of being transferred to other countries. But let's think on the bright side. If the examiner were more harsh, or if the requirements for understanding and adaptability were higher, Mr. Sima would have a high chance of failing.
Just looking at Sima Hong, he looked very interested when talking about his youngest son Cai Xue. Huang Qiong hesitated for a moment, but in the end he still didn't say some words of persuasion. Sima Hong himself failed in his official career and was unjustly exiled to Longyou where he gnawed on the sand for several years. On the surface, it seems that he is very open to his own experience, but in fact, he is not reconciled to it.
Now that his eldest son has surrendered to the army, all his thoughts and hopes have been put on his younger son, and he can't say anything. In addition, he had already planned to plan a comeback for Sima Hong after the competition, specifically to receive the transfer from the Guilin County Prince's Office to the Shipping Department. After all, for the current court, such officials who are proficient in calculation are scarce.
It is impossible for him to leave such a talented person to live in his own house doing nothing for his old age. What's more, Sima Hong is still under sixty and looks very healthy, so recovery should not be a problem. At this time, it would be a bit unbearable to dampen his enthusiasm. After all, this is the person I plan to reuse in the future.
Especially now that this year’s test is only a little over a month away. Huang Qiong didn't want to give Sima Hong any blow at this time. According to Daqi customs, the imperial examination and provincial examination are held in the autumn of each year, so it is called Qiuwei. The general examination is held in the spring of the second year after the provincial examination, usually in February. The reason why the imperial examination was avoided in summer and winter was because winter was too cold.
Before the imperial examination is completed, you are not allowed to leave the examination room for three days. During these three days, eating, drinking, and eating must be done in the examination room. Jiangnan is easier to talk about, but the capital, Luoyang, is in the north. If the examination is held in winter, the candidates will be unbearably cold. This is to recruit scholars for the country, not for these scholars to participate in any training.
As for the simpler reason for avoiding summer, the imperial examinations of this dynasty were held in a closed tribute courtyard. Hundreds of thousands of examinees were enclosed in a tribute courtyard, and they were not allowed to leave the examination room to eat, drink or have sex. If you take the exam when the weather is hot, it is easy to spread the disease. If a large number of scholars fell ill and several died of illness without timely treatment, how could they pass the imperial examination?
Just because the competition is approaching, Huang Qiong will not be seriously affected in the end, which expresses the enthusiasm of the father and son. He knew very well that if he were to truly evaluate the level of Mr. Sima, with his current status, he might be beaten to a pulp. Huang Qiong knows that the more bookish a person is, the worse his ability to recover once he is hit.
It was precisely because of the bearing capacity of Mr. Sima that Huang Qiong hesitated, but still said a few words in an adult manner, encouraging Mr. Sima to study hard and not to live up to the high expectations of the court and his father's expectations. However, in her heart, Huang Qiong was slightly disappointed that Sima Hong, the youngest son, did not inherit his father's legacy and chose to enter the Jinshi major.
For Huang Qiong, he has always believed that what this dynasty lacks more is talents who are proficient in calculation. As for those things like policy and theory, there are not so many talented people. Especially the younger son Sima Hong, who has an innate family background, but did not choose to make a clear calculation. This is undoubtedly a huge waste. Especially in this dynasty, there is an extremely shortage of talents for calculation.
What's more, given Mr. Sima's personality and personality, if he took the arithmetic exam, the results would be much better. At least based on his family background, he may not be the number one scholar in arithmetic, but entering the top three should not be a big problem. However, Huang Qiong had forgotten that precisely because of the lack of corresponding exams, the Mathematical Sciences Department had not been opened for decades.
If Sima Hong, the youngest son, really inherited the family tradition. Given the current situation where it is almost impossible to pass the Minghuan examination, I am afraid that when he reaches the upper limit of the age limit for the imperial examination, he may not have a chance to pass the imperial examination. Moreover, people like this who study rotely, even though they have a good family background in calculation. But for the Mingshu Department, which requires stronger adaptability, the odds of winning may not be higher than that of the Jinshi Department.
This is not a matter of family origin or not. If you want to learn a science course such as arithmetic well at any time, talent is more important than sweat, and understanding is more important than rote memorization. If a nerd studies science, it will definitely kill him. There are still some questions in the Jinshi subject that require rote memorization, but there are none in the Mingshi subject.
If this Mr. Sima, the real son, inherited his father's business and studied calculation, he would not only have to wait for decades, but he might not be able to collect enough to start the examination. Even Sima Hong, who had high hopes for him based on his understanding abilities. Then you will really be disappointed, and it will still be a complete disappointment.
