After the roll call is completed, the candidates enter the room. At this time, all the candidates took their seats according to the numbers printed on the upper right side of the paper. Numbers were posted every two feet on the long desk. They each found their own seats and sat down. They were not allowed to move casually.
Before Gao Pingshi took his seat, he looked around casually and found that he might be one of the youngest candidates among this year's candidates. This was mainly because there were too many candidates, and what he could see was probably not even a tenth. Not much reference value. But he couldn't help but mutter to himself: If I had known there were so many candidates, I should have discussed it with my third uncle when I was in the capital, and they might as well give me a "prodigy".
The so-called "prodigy examination" is a unique rule of the Ming Dynasty and is a special examination. This means that occasionally there are children around ten years old in a certain place who are extremely intelligent and can be recommended as prodigies by the officials of various counties, states, and prefectures to participate in Taoist examinations. The Supervisor will take special care of such people and treat them differently.
This kind of child prodigy candidate, even if his eight-part essay, arts and sciences are slightly poor, is still passable among adult candidates, and will usually be admitted under special circumstances. In history, Feng Menglong, a great talent during the Wanli period, was promoted as a child prodigy and entered Xiang as a scholar at the age of eleven.
This system of child prodigies is not a fabrication, but a historical fact. It is most likely caused by the fact that there were too many child prodigies in the Ming Dynasty.
The number of child prodigies in the Ming Dynasty has been explained in the previous article, so there is no need to repeat them. But in fact, there are not only many prodigies, but also many stories of directly taking exams recorded in history. For example, Zhao Shichun, a talented scholar who was as famous as Tang Shunzhi and Wang Shenzhong during the Jiajing period, and who was both civil and military, was also a master of eight-legged prose.
Zhao Shichun became a "child prodigy" at the age of nine and went to take the Taoist examination. As a result, because his writing was so outstanding, the school inspector suspected that someone had written it for him, so he called him over for an interview. On the spot, he came up with the most common two characters in the "Four Books": Question: "The Master said" and ask him to write the question.
Zhao Shichun responded: "An ordinary man can be a teacher for hundreds of generations, and one word can be the law of the world."
This breakthrough not only fits the identity of Confucius, but also completely reveals the meaning of the two words, which greatly surprised the inspector. But after being surprised, the inspector wanted to try his talent again, so he asked him to use his name as "Zhao Shichun" to solve the problem.
The child prodigy is worthy of being a child prodigy, and Zhao Shichun still blurted out: "The surname ranks first among hundreds of schools, and the name ranks first among the four orders."
This is... so smart that it makes no sense. The school inspector was also greatly impressed, and he immediately accepted him and became a student member of the school.
Getting back to the subject, Gao Pingshi quietly took a look at it and found that at the outermost edge of each bench, there was an instructor from each county, perched high on the stool to invigilate the exam. In this situation, he had heard Gao Gong tell him before that if anyone was whispering to each other at this time, the instructor invigilating the exam would give orders to stop it, and would even put a red seal on the test paper of the violative candidate as a violation of the rules.
Others such as moving seats, changing papers, throwing papers, making noises, looking around, pushing others, and chanting, will result in a deduction of the test in the lightest case, and a shackle in the serious case.
Shortly after Gao Pangshi sat down, Superintendent Li Yuantai came out. He was here to give questions. It must be added here: there is more than one question in the Taoist examination, but "one test and one question".
In other words, due to the large number of people, the Taoist test is held in batches, and the batches that are held at the same time have the same test questions, and the next wave of candidates will get different questions. This is also to avoid As for situations that lead to suspected fraud such as leaking questions.
Of course, in order to be as fair as possible, the difficulty of the test questions in different batches should be roughly the same. For example, if the first batch of candidates takes small questions, subsequent candidates will definitely take small questions; the first batch of candidates will take big questions, and subsequent candidates will take big questions. Candidates in the first batch will definitely take the big questions; even if the first batch of candidates pass the cut-off questions, the subsequent candidates will also pass the cut-off questions, and so on.
At this time, still due to the large number of candidates, the examination questions were announced in two lines at the same time: one was read out by the instructor to take care of those who were short-sighted; the other was written on a sign at the same time, and the scribes were ordered to hold up the sign to patrol the venue in case of deafness. By.
It was still dark at this time, so the candidates lit the candles they had prepared and placed them on the desks. The candles in the examination room were shining brightly, and the questions were copied on the lamp boards. The clerks and servants walked between the east and west corridors, holding them up for everyone to see. Candidates transcribe.
No one gave Gao pragmatic special care in his seat this time. He sat in a remote corner and couldn't quite hear the instructor's voice. He had to crane his neck to see the clerk's sign, but he saw the nearest clerk holding it. There are five words written on the sign: "Great virtue never exceeds leisure."
Gao Pragmatic immediately knew that this was a relatively easy question.
However, although the big questions are relatively less tricky than the small questions, they test the candidates' skills and background more. For example, Gao Gong had previously speculated that Guo Pu would only ask big questions but not small questions when he asked Gao Jingjing to take the exam. The reason is that if Guo Pu accepts Gao Jingjing as his disciple, he will definitely not go for a mere scholar. His focus is only You can be a Jinshi, and the Jinshi exam must take a test and only test big questions.
During this period of time at the turn of the Long-Long dynasty and the Long-Wan Dynasty, the Taoist examination questions are about half the probability of big questions and small questions. It mainly depends on the meaning of the inspector.
Today's question, "Great virtue does not exceed leisure," is no stranger to high pragmatism. It comes from "The Analects of Confucius·Zi Zhang": "Zixia said: Great virtue does not exceed leisure, and small virtue can go in and out."
Great virtue and small virtue are just like talking about big and small virtues. Xian means "Lan", so it stops things from coming in and out. Zhu Xi's "Collected Commentary" makes it very clear: "If the speaker can first establish the big picture, then the small details may not be completely reasonable, but it is harmless." Zhu Xi's analysis of the purpose of this question is close and thorough.
And "Reflection Record" says this: "When it comes to people and their own place, one should pay attention to their major points. The big ones are acceptable, and the small ones should be omitted. If you are in a place where you have great virtues, you can't have too much leisure, and small virtues can't go in and out. ? Once there is any discrepancy, it means that the mind is careless and the details are not careful, which will eventually lead to great virtue."
This theory is not inconsistent with Zhu's theory. Zhu said it faces ordinary people, while this theory faces saints. Small details are inevitable for saints, how much more so for ordinary people?
Once the meaning is clear, the problem solving will be targeted. Gao Pragmatic still maintains his habit of solving problems very quickly. He is almost the first to write down the problem solving and the following on the draft paper:
"Those who observe people should spend their leisure time debating, and should turn to the great virtues."
"The reason why Gaixian is determined by the person, and the reason why it is not exceeded is determined by the person. Taking into account the whole person, and judging the greatness of his virtue, this is where the debate of Xian is based."
…
The cannon is fired at the opening of the Daoist Examination, and usually there are very few candidates handing in papers at this time, sometimes even none. However, this year, in the first session of the Henan Daoist Examination, there were actually two people who submitted their papers at the top of the list. The crowd waiting outside to see the excitement immediately became a sensation when they saw the examination room open and two candidates, one large and one small, being sent out by the music players. They crowded forward to take a look.
I saw the two people walking along the Kowloon Factory. One of them was only fifteen or sixteen years old, but he was fat. He was a little out of breath after walking a few steps. There was a big gap between the image of a talented person in everyone's mind, which made people wonder. Somewhat disappointed.
When he looked at the other person in a blink of an eye, he was shocked. It turns out that this person is younger, probably only about ten years old. Although he is not short, his face is still childish, but his expression is calm, not like a child.
Everyone was about to inquire about their origins when the clerk happened to roll call to bid farewell to the two first-place candidates. Only then did they know their origins: the fat boy of fifteen or sixteen years old was named Chen Xu. He was originally from Henan Prefecture and had followed him a few years ago. The father changed his native place to Kaifeng, so he came to Kaifeng for reference; the boy, who was about ten years old, was named Gao Pragmatic, and his native place was Xinzheng. Xinzheng was renamed to Kaifeng last year, so he also came to Kaifeng for reference.
Everyone was talking: "If these two people are the only ones who dare to fight against each other this year, I'm afraid that one of them will be the one responsible for the crime!"
Gao Jingshi was not interested in listening to their discussion. Instead, he chatted a few words with the examinee named Chen Xu. Although the two did not communicate for a long time, Gao Jingshi felt that this person had solid knowledge. If he performed normally in the examination room, it would be possible. Take the road test case head.
Although Gao Jingshi didn't think about taking the case earlier, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy at the moment. However, Chen Xu was really too fat. After standing and talking to Gao Jingshi for a while, he actually couldn't stand. Feeling like living there, Gao Pragmatic had no choice but to say goodbye to him and go back by himself.
Three days later, the four Taoist exams were completed. After waiting for another five or six days, the list came out. This time it was not a rotating list, but a normal list. The first column of the Dao case clearly stated: Kaifeng Prefecture’s New Deal County is highly pragmatic. The second place was indeed none other than the fat young man Chen Xu [Note 1].
