When Zhuge Jin first became an official, he worked in a collective farm. Later, he was transferred to the county government to engage in engineering work. Then because he did a good job, he was transferred to the county government to engage in more important tasks.
During the previous construction period in Xuzhou, Zhuge Jin had to rush back and forth because of the problem of arranging the daily necessities needed by civilian husbands and official slaves. During the busiest period, he did not return home for half a month.
Even when he went home occasionally, he always came back with a lot of official business to handle. Zhuge Liang felt sorry for his brother's busy schedule, so he went to help with some simple calculations.
So when Zhuge Jin was resting, he would also vent his bitterness to Zhuge Liang and talk about the weird things he encountered while working.
One of the things that Zhuge Liang remembers most clearly is that when Donghai County was building roads, two civilians got into trouble in front of the officials because they had insufficient food rations, which made Zhuge Jin extremely embarrassed.
Because at that time, a scandal broke out in Langya County that officials from several counties had embezzled people's rations to line their own pockets, which attracted strict supervision and vigorous crackdowns from the Yushitai. The officials of the Yushitai were like wild wolves smelling the smell of blood. A large group of people went directly to Langya County.
At that time, Yushitai captured four county magistrates and six county magistrates in Langya County in one fell swoop, uncovered more than a hundred gang officials, chopped off the heads of more than thirty people, and exiled seven to eight hundred people. The matter is settled.
Then, the entire Xuzhou bureaucratic team became the key target of Yushitai and was heavily suspected.
Zhuge Jin happened to hit the muzzle of the gun at that time, so he was suspected of cutting corners and enriching himself. He was taken away for investigation by the Yushitai official responsible for supervising the project.
Fortunately, because only two people complained, the Yushitai officials found it strange. After investigation, they found out that these two guys had too much food and could eat too much. The other civilians were doing well, but they were the only two who finished their rations in advance. As a result, he was hungry and angry, so he started to make trouble.
Subsequent investigations also proved Zhuge Jin's innocence.
Zhuge Jin did his duty and worked conscientiously, but when he got into trouble like this, he suddenly felt that life is impermanent, so he told Zhuge Liang about this matter as a complaint during rest.
The speaker has no intention, but the listener has intention. From then on, Zhuge Liang understood that we cannot use pure mathematical thinking to deal with government affairs, but need to fill in some human thinking appropriately. In other words, any matter that deals with people cannot be solved purely with mathematical thinking. treat.
However, this is an examination room, and scores speak for themselves, so Zhuge Liang used pure mathematical thinking to clarify this seemingly complicated question. Within a stick of incense, he gave a standard and correct answer and calculated all the data.
In this way, Zhuge Liang felt that this exam was somewhat interesting. Although it could not simulate the real work of an official, it was really a test of people and everyone's basic skills.
He heard from the teacher of Zhouxue that once he passed the imperial examination, he would be awarded the position of a ninth-rank official in accordance with the provisions of the ninth-rank official law.
The first job for most people is to be the court representative of a collective farm. They are responsible for managing the agricultural affairs of a collective farm, dealing with dozens or hundreds of farmers, eating and living together, and connecting with the county government to complete a series of tasks for the county government. Taxation and labor needs.
Because there are relatively few people in charge, this job does not seem to be that important, but in Zhuge Liang's view, this is indeed the starting point of an official career.
If you can't manage dozens or hundreds of farmers well and deal with them well, how can you be promoted to manage a county, a county, or even a state?
Similarly, if an official has no understanding of how farmers at the grassroots level in the country live and understand the world, how can they formulate policies when they later become high-ranking officials?
Zhuge Liang used to read history books during his studies and saw that many people in high positions formulated some incredible policies and implemented them with extremely abstract means. In the end, they got disastrous consequences and even the country fell.
At that time, he still didn't understand why a person in a high position would do such a stupid thing. Is there any hidden secret behind it? Are you making a big move but falling short?
Later, after Zhuge Jin entered the official career and started working, Zhuge Liang gradually figured it out.
What a secret.
They just lose touch with the masses and cannot be down-to-earth. The policies they come up with are just castles in the air and are not realistic at all. They think well, but end up doing stupid things. In the end, the ruling group is not satisfied, and the people at the bottom are not satisfied either.
What the old farmer needs is a handy farm tool, but you give him a wooden spoon for drinking soup and ask for the price of the farm tool.
It would be strange if people don't slap you.
It is precisely because there are more and more insects like this that the rise and fall of dynasties has occurred, and the Second Empire has come to an end.
If these insects occupying high positions are not cleansed away, how can the world be restored?
Shaking his head, Zhuge Liang gathered his thoughts and began to calculate and answer seriously from the first test paper.
The morning passed quickly. Zhuge Liang successfully completed the first test paper and was about to start answering the second test paper. Suddenly he heard some noises. He turned his head and saw the patrol examiner putting two lacquer boxes in his On the table, then dropped a pair of chopsticks, a spoon and a cloth towel.
"It's lunch time. Let's eat something first and then answer. There's no rush."
After the inspection official finished speaking, he turned and left. Zhuge Liang looked up and saw many inspection examiners serving meals to the candidates. The aroma of the food was slowly filling the examination room.
Zhuge Liang sniffed and swallowed uncontrollably, a feeling of hunger welling up in his heart.
He took the two lacquer boxes, opened the larger one, and was surprised to find that it was actually a complete meal. The box was divided into several compartments, including meat, vegetables, rice, and pickles. The dishes are well presented, the portions are generous, and the aroma is fragrant.
He opened another box and found a soup inside. He tasted it a little... sweet?
He originally thought that the food for the exam paper would be food such as cakes, with at most a glass of water, but he did not expect that it would be such a complete meal, as well as sweet soup. The standard of this meal was not even better than what he eats at home. Those meals are worse.
Delicious sweets are not common even for officials like Zhuge.
In the past, only some elderly people could eat it, and they, the younger generation, could only shamelessly go to their elders’ knees to be cute in exchange for candy when they were very young. When they got older, they didn’t even have the opportunity to be cute in exchange for candy. I can only watch other naughty children showing off their cuteness in exchange for candy.
Unexpectedly, I can taste the sweetness in the examination room now.
Zhuge Liang ate a lot in the morning, but answering questions intensively all morning consumed a lot of energy. Now he was very hungry, so he raised his chopsticks and started to eat.
As soon as the food entered his mouth, he was surprised.
Isn’t this delicious?
It feels even more delicious than the meals we had at the inn! So delicious!
Unable to help himself, Zhuge Liang began to cook, not caring much about his appearance.
Not only him, but all the candidates in the examination room began to feast and eat. Some candidates even begged the examiner for another portion because they felt that they were eating too much.
Their request was naturally included in the examination room's plan, so under the premise of Operation CD, some candidates with big appetites got a second meal.
After eating, the empty food boxes are taken away, and candidates can choose to take a lunch break, or they can choose not to take a lunch break and continue answering questions.
Zhuge Liang was confident and had full confidence in this exam, so he reported it to the examiner, pulled up the curtains and took a comfortable nap. When he got up, he was full of energy and started answering questions all afternoon.
At sunset, another meal similar to the one at noon was delivered to the candidates. The dishes were slightly different from those at noon. The content was just as rich, with a combination of meat and vegetables, and the soup was an egg custard.
Zhuge Liang, who had been writing furiously all afternoon, felt hungry. When he saw the delicious food, he moved his index fingers and ate with his lunch box.
Not long after, the entire examination room was filled with the sound of chewing.
After dinner, Zhuge Liang took a short rest, lit the lamp, and completed two questions about weather and agricultural production that required a lot of space to answer.
It took him more than half an hour to answer these two questions. After he finished writing, he looked up and saw that a long line of fellow candidates opposite him had also lit up their lamps and were writing furiously. No one saw anyone. Who turns off the lights and rests.
Zhuge Liang looked at the sky, then lowered his head and answered two astronomical questions. More than half an hour passed. When he looked up again, he found that his fellow candidates were still writing hard.
He checked his exam paper and found that he had completed about half of the questions at the end of the day, and only one-third of the three-day exam had passed. He knew the remaining questions and was confident, so he clicked with confidence. He nodded, reported to the examiner, turned off the lights and rested.
The examiner approved his report, watched him turn off the lights, close the curtain, then turned and left, walked a few steps, looked around the entire alley of candidates, and found that only Zhuge Liang was resting, and the others were still there. Fighting at night.
And basically everyone's face is not relaxed. Although there are a few people who are writing, they always feel that something is wrong with their faces and their hands are shaking. I don't know whether it is because it is cold in the night or because they know what they are writing. Something is wrong.
From this point of view, the candidate who was also the first to report for a lunch break during the lunch break was really not an easy candidate. Regardless of the content of his answers, he was mentally good enough.
If you don't have a strong psychological quality, how can you relax and sleep in such an examination room?
When I was getting ready to go to bed, I saw that other candidates were still busy writing, and I felt a sense of urgency. I had to ask others to go to bed first, and I went to bed last, so that I could relax. This kind of scene is normal.
For example, there are two rows of candidates in this alley. Each one of them is answering questions with eyes as big as cow's eggs. They all seem to be competing for who can sleep first. It seems that whoever sleeps first loses.
But, this is not a one-day battle, it is a three-day battle.
If you don’t get a good rest, your energy will be sluggish starting the next day. Will you still have enough energy to support the exam on the third day?
And that candidate... his name is Zhuge Liang, right?
It seems like he doesn't care about this secret competition at all.
Go to bed early so that you can be in good spirits the next day, right?
After stretching and yawning, the examiner looked at the sky, walked to the end of the alley, handed his invigilation token to the guarding soldier, and ended his day's work.
The next work belongs to the Central Forbidden Army directly under the emperor who is on duty here at night.
They, the examiners, all have serious jobs. Today they will be invigilating the exam for one day, and they will resume their normal work tomorrow. Others will take their place as the patrol examiners for the next day.
According to the requirements of the school department, they can only serve as inspection examiners for one day, and three batches of inspection examiners must be rotated in three days. And until something happens, no one knows who will be the inspection examiner for the next day.
It was calm all day today, and no cheating occurred. Isn't it a bit too much for the school department to be so strict on guarding against others, just like guarding against thieves?
The exam on the second day was still calm overall.
At four o'clock in the morning, all the candidates had woken up. The examination room organized a breakfast, mainly steamed buns, dumplings and wontons, which was light and easy to digest and helped the candidates replenish the energy they needed for the morning.
Then came a whole morning of exams.
Zhuge Liang successfully completed the fourth and fifth test papers, answering all the questions perfectly. With the addition of rich food, he felt that he was writing with great energy, like the god of exams. , like a god of answering questions, the thinking is extremely clear and broad.
In one morning, he completed the task that was expected to take a whole day to complete, and solved all the math problems without missing a single question.
So much so that when eating at noon, Zhuge Liang was thinking about slowing down a little and taking a good rest in the afternoon and not answering questions, in case there was really nothing to do tomorrow.
Because the selection requirements are very strict, candidates cannot hand in papers in advance. Even if they finish all the papers in advance, they must wait until the exam is over before they can leave. Therefore, if he completes all the papers today, he will have to spend the whole day tomorrow Fell asleep in the cubicle.
Although he has the demeanor of a sleep god at home, he can't fall asleep at any time. After thinking about it, Zhuge Liang decided to take a good sleep in the afternoon and then answer these questions slowly and carefully.
The remaining papers were all questions related to practical matters, which Zhuge Liang deliberately left to answer at the end. He wanted to straighten his thinking and answer these questions with the most careful thinking, and did not want to make some low-level mistakes.
Fortunately, now that time has suddenly eased, Zhuge Liang can think seriously and answer cautiously.
(End of chapter)
