Gongyuan.
A civil service examination representing the highest level of Ming Dynasty is underway.
The first session is about the text of the four books and the meaning of the scriptures.
In the examination booth, a soldier who was invigilating the examination walked in from the area near the gate and saw a man holding his hair in his hands in a daze. When he came back, he found that the man was still there in a daze, with his eyes motionless.
"It's weird!"
The soldier whispered.
When entering the venue, both the officials and the soldiers clearly saw that the examinee relied on the guards to clear the way and occupied the dormitory. He had the best position. He was the second one to the side. If he didn't occupy the first one, he would not be able to get ahead. This way at night The wind wasn't too strong when we were resting.
The soldier was puzzled, thinking that this candidate had something to do with the Jin Yiwei, or that he was a military household, and someone in his family came to take a seat.
Then the soldiers went inside to patrol again.
This person is naturally Zhang Zhou.
Outside the Gongyuan, people inside and outside the court were making plans for the war in the northwest. The emperor was worried, and the ministers had to share their worries.
Zhang Zhou, on the other hand, was studying... the questions he was facing, which questions might involve "Vend questions."
His focus is obviously different from that of ordinary candidates.
There was plenty of time for this exam. The first exam lasted three days. The "resources" I brought were very complete. Not only was the food the best, I also brought charcoal, which was red charcoal used in the palace. , absolutely smoke-free and odorless, with first-class heating effect. Even the porridge here comes with longan and lotus seeds... Just ask who can compare with this condition!
The conditions were good, but when I was doing the questions, I was obviously a little distracted.
He didn't write a word all morning.
In front of me are three major topics on four books, one each on "The Analects" and "Mencius", and one on "The Doctrine of the Mean".
The title of "The Analects of Confucius" seems to be relatively simple: "The Master said: Recite three hundred poems and teach them how to govern, which is not enough. They can be used in all directions and cannot be targeted. Even though there are many, is it still a joke?"
Meaning, Confucius said that if he could recite three hundred poems proficiently, he would be given an official position and asked to handle government affairs, but the result was that he would not be able to do it, and he would be sent as envoys to all directions, and he would not be able to handle diplomatic matters independently. The question then arises. Although I read a lot, what is the use?
This is about applying what you have learned.
Zhang Zhou thought about it for a while and found that this question didn't look like Cheng Minzheng's style of asking questions.
It sounds like Li Dongyang is mocking Cheng Minzheng because he only knows how to study and cannot be an official. Unless Cheng Minzheng is naive and thinks that he is good at handling official affairs, he will not use his shortcomings to ask questions. This question involves The question... is unrealistic.
The second question is from "Mencius": "Confucius said: 'Listen, boy! It is enough to wash the tassels of the pure ones, and the tassels of the turbid ones. Take it for yourself.' The wife will insult herself, and then others will insult her; the family will destroy itself. Then later generations will destroy it; the country will attack itself, and then later generations will attack it. "Taijia" says: "If Heaven commits evil, you can still disobey it; if you commit evil by yourself, you will not live." This is what it means."
This means.
Confucius said: "Disciples, listen up! If the water is clear, wash your hat and tassels; if the water is turbid, wash your feet. It actually depends on each person." Therefore, a person must first humiliate himself before others insult him; There must be factors for self-destruction before others can destroy it; a country must have reasons for self-destruction before others can attack it. "Shang Shu Taijia" says: "Sins committed by heaven can still be escaped; sins committed by oneself have nowhere to escape." This is exactly what it means.
Zhang Zhou carefully analyzed the purpose of this question.
This question is obviously a bit "off".
Generally speaking, the imperial examination questions of the Ming Dynasty were basically based on "benevolence, justice, etiquette, wisdom, trustworthiness", with the most questions on benevolence and etiquette, because the two classics "The Analects" and "Mencius" discussed benevolence and etiquette most extensively. , and also the most emphasis on pen and ink.
The first question may also have the meaning of encouraging students to apply their knowledge, so it can be relatively conservative.
The second question began to go against the principle of cultivating the mind, involving the issue of God's sins and self-inflicted sins. Zhang Zhou thought for a moment, could this be a hint that the Zhang brothers would not survive if they committed their own sins? Are you still talking about me?
Even Zhu Xi's "Annotations to the Collection of Mencius" explains its meaning: "This chapter says that if the mind is present, it can be used to judge the gains and losses of the husband. If it is not present, there is no way to distinguish between survival and death. Misfortunes and blessings that come are all brought about by oneself."
Probably a bit fatalistic.
Analyze it from the perspective of the questioner.
Zhang Zhou felt that the discussion direction of the second question was still Li Dongyang’s style of criticizing the current ills.
…
…
There are three examinations in the general examination, with the four essay questions in the first examination being the most important and having the highest weight in the final admission.
As for the three major questions on four texts, "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" are the most important ones. Zhang Zhou felt that these two questions were written by Li Dongyang. In fact, Cheng Minzheng had already won the first place in the two main examinations of this examination. Being on a very weak side is not a good thing for Cheng Minzheng.
As the same examiner, Cheng Minzheng did not take the initiative in setting the questions. On the two most important questions, it was Li Dongyang.
But once those little issues come up in a biased way, people with ulterior motives will target him...
From these two questions alone, even ignoring the Five Classics questions and the questions to be asked in the next two games, especially the policy questions in the third game, Zhang Zhou could feel that the possibility of Cheng Minzheng being involved in the vendetta question was still very high. big.
The main reason is that Cheng Minzheng has a high reputation for knowledge, but he has not integrated into the inner circle of official circles.
This can be reflected by just looking at this question setting. Li Dongyang was responsible for all the important questions, while he was only responsible for some trivial questions.
The third question of the four essays.
The title of "The Doctrine of the Mean": "There are five great ways in the world, so there are three ways to practice them. They are: monarch and minister, father and son, husband and wife, brothers and sisters, and friendship. The five are the great ways in the world. Knowledge and benevolence. , bravery are the most eminent virtues in the world. So the one who practices them is the same. Either you know it from birth, you know it from learning, you know it from being trapped, and you know it from time to time. Either you do it safely, or you do it profitably. Or do it reluctantly, and it will be successful."
This topic, Zhang Zhouyi knew it was Cheng Minzheng's style.
Talk about "wisdom, kindness, courage", and then talk about honesty and single-mindedness, and discuss this as a virtue...
Probably only an optimist like Cheng Minzheng, who likes to study knowledge when he has nothing to do, would ask questions in the examination to discuss how to achieve the standard of virtue. Professional politicians like Li Dongyang are too lazy to pay attention to such things.
At first glance, the second question on "Mencius" is a partial question.
But look carefully, this kind of question... is called unnutritious.
It is estimated that those selected by Cheng Minzheng's criteria for selecting officials were Tang Yin's kind of scholars who only valued the understanding of classics and meanings and were completely incompetent in governing the country and discussing important court affairs.
This is just as discussed in the first question "The Analects of Confucius". If you only know how to read, no matter how thorough your knowledge is, you will not be able to be an official or a good person to govern the world.
Zhang Zhou wanted to say it.
You Cheng Minzheng are such a nerd!
…
…
Questions from the Five Classics.
Zhang Zhou's canon is "Book of Songs", and among the imperial examinations, the number of candidates who chose "Book of Songs" as his canon was actually the most, but the difference is not big.
Everyone's classics are different, so the questions they answer are different, and the discussion directions in the Five Classics are also different, making it difficult to distinguish between high and low knowledge based on the Five Classics examination questions.
Some people take paper A, and some people take paper B. Even if there is a standard scoring system, can we say that people who score high in paper A must be more knowledgeable than people who score low in paper B?
not to mention……
Those who take the classics and righteousness test are articles, that is, writing essays.
Unless the difference is really big, the scoring of the last five verses still depends on the marking officer's preference.
From the examination questions of the Five Classics, Zhang Zhou discovered a lot of Cheng Minzheng's style of writing questions, that is, he talks about scholarship rather than governing the country. When he occasionally mentions governing the country, he also mentions benevolence, righteousness and moral standards in general, and uses this as the standard for good candidates for governing the country... It seems very biased.
Titles of the Four Books and Five Classics.
Zhang Zhou took a closer look and found that there should be none that could involve vendetta.
In other words... Cheng Minzheng is not qualified yet.
Unless someone made a false accusation after the exam, saying that someone had taken the corresponding questions to spread the word outside the exam before the exam, and they just got stuck on the idea and the person who asked the questions was Cheng Minzheng, this pair of candidates analyzed Li Dongyang and Cheng Minzheng's way of doing things and their status in the government also have high requirements.
Zhang Zhou is a time traveler, someone who has summarized historical figures. It is very easy to analyze Li Dongyang and Cheng Minzheng.
Most of the candidates in Kegong Academy are "fans of the authorities." In the eyes of ordinary people, Li Dongyang is a senior scholar, and Cheng Minzheng is a Hanlin bachelor. Why do they think that some questions can be answered by a senior scholar rather than a Hanlin bachelor? Even in the hearts of most people, Cheng Minzheng is more highly regarded than the two examiners.
But I'm afraid...
A caring person.
Those who are familiar with the political structure of the DPRK and China will only think that once they encounter setbacks in an exam, such as in the historical exam for the twelfth year of Hongzhi, when they encountered a question as difficult as "The Achievements of Four Sons", they would think that the question must be It was Cheng Minzheng who was responsible. When he was angry, he thought about the structure of the court and knew that Cheng Minzheng was suppressed, and then the dirty water could be poured out.
Of course, we also need to rely on people with arrogant teeth and claws to attract hatred...
For example, Xu Jing and Tang Yin are two scholars who don't know how high the sky is.
But the reality that Zhang Zhou faced was that he had filled in the pitfalls of the historical exam questions for the 12th year of Hongzhi.
It is impossible for the fourth son's attainment test question to appear again, but who knows whether Cheng Minzheng will show off his talent and knowledge in the third policy test, especially the economics and history policy, and come up with a test question that will make all the candidates vomit blood. ?
…
…
first day.
Zhang Zhou didn't even study the ink, so he wasn't in a hurry. He had read the questions and already had a rough draft of the article in his mind. There was no need to answer the questions directly on the exam paper. There was still a draft when it should have been.
In fact, in the imperial examination, even if there is no draft, no one will care. After all, this is writing an article. It is not necessary to have calculation formulas to do arithmetic questions. Especially for all levels of examinations before the provincial examination, there are those who are confident and answer directly on the paper. 's abound.
What scholars these days practice is "reading thousands of volumes and writing like a god", and some even use this as a way to show off their talents.
Zhang Zhou didn't need to show off.
Just finish the examination in a down-to-earth manner, no matter whether he takes it or not, as long as he has an official position after the examination is over.
"It smells so good..."
After dark, some candidates were still answering with candles.
Zhang Zhou, on the other hand, was already eating the bacon grilled with red charcoal... The bacon was still made by Master Shang... The aroma that spread out when it was half-baked made the candidates around him feel less worried about the exam.
Although they are all candidates.
But the focus of my mind is different.
(End of chapter)
