In the seventh year of Wanli, Ji Mao, autumn.
Gao Pragmatic, a student from Xinzheng, came to Kaifeng again to prepare to participate in this year's Henan Provincial Examination.
The rural examination is also called Qiu Wei, because the imperial examination is a national talent promotion ceremony, and the examination room is tightly guarded, commonly known as Suo Wei, or Wei for short. In the imperial examination era, the rural examination was held in autumn, so the rural examination was called Qiuwei.
The rural examination is divided into one subject every three years and is held in the years of Zi, Wu, Mao and You. The location of the rural examination, if it is Zhili Province, is in the capital; if it is in a province, it is where the Chief Secretary is, that is, the provincial capital. Therefore, the Henan examination is in Kaifeng.
The specific date of the rural examination is generally fixed. There are three examinations from August 9th to August 17th. After completing the examination and handing in the papers on the same day, you will go out and enter again on the third day to take the next examination. That is, the first test is on the ninth day of the ninth grade, the second test is on the 12th, and the third test is on the 15th.
As for the examiners, the chief examiner who presides over the township examination is called the chief examiner, and the one who participates in grading is called the co-examiner.
The chief examiner, also known as the president, has been developing and changing its appointment principles from Hongwu to Wanli. By now, in the seventh year of Wanli, it has basically been customized:
Shuntian and Yingtian were two academic officials of the Hanlin Academy, and their ranks were usually Shishishishishi, Chunfang Shuzi, Yude, etc.
Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian have one member of the Imperial Academy, who is responsible for compilation, editing, review, etc.; Huguang has one member of the Imperial Academy, one member of the editorial staff and one subordinate officer. This is because these provinces have always been places with excellent academic styles, so they are specially honored.
The rest of Sichuan, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places are either under general subordinates, or appointed as a member of Zhongshu Pingbo, or demoted from other temples.
The same examiner is also called the branch examination, room examination, and classics room, which is also the so-called Five Classics room. Usually they serve as officials, magistrates, edicts, and professors.
In addition to examiners, there are also deacons, mainly promotion officers, supervisors, and examination supervisors. Especially promotion officers and supervisors must use senior officials to invigilate examinations to monitor customs and security and take charge of examination room affairs. For example, there are generally two members of the promotion and transfer officer, and in Henan, they are all served by the left and right chief envoys; the supervisory officer is also called the Zhigongju, and for example, the patrol official is the censor.
To make a rough comparison, it is roughly equivalent to a senior official serving as a promotion officer, and a senior provincial official serving as an outside invigilator. This shows that the imperial court attaches great importance to the provincial examination.
As for the sealing officer, the receiving officer, the enclosing officer, the transcriber officer, the reading officer, the inspection officer, the gate officer, the inspection officer, the supply officer, the examination paper collecting officer, etc., I will not introduce them one by one. .
The provincial examination in the Ming Dynasty is not determined by one article. As mentioned just now, the rule is three consecutive examinations.
Specifically, the first session examines the seven chapters of classics and meanings, which are the current affairs; the second session examines treatises, edicts, edicts, expressions, and judgments, which can be regarded as official document writing; the third session examines the current affairs policy of classics and history, which can be roughly regarded as Doing is about "how to do specific things", but in fact, this becomes more and more formal in the later stages. Overall, it is just "blowing" to see who can blow more fresh and refined.
Each of the above styles has very specific writing requirements and writing formats, which must not be wrong, otherwise the test paper will be posted due to violations, and there will be no hope of Chinese style.
But having said that, if you look at the weight of the three exams, naturally the time and essay in the first one are the most important. Generally speaking, if the writing is very good, as long as there are no major mistakes or omissions in the next two games, it is almost certain to be selected; on the other hand, no matter how good the other writing is, but the writing is a mess, then just go home, yes There is no chance of success.
The Provincial Examination is similar to the Taoist Examination. Candidates bring pens, ink, inkstones and other examination tools in front of the Longmen before the fourth watch of each session. They are called at three gates and enter. Even which county the candidates will be called at and when and which gate will be called in advance. announced.
Being able to come to the provincial examination means that everyone is experienced in this process, so everyone is still in good order. After Gao Pingshi entered the venue, he went to pick up the number card according to his roll call order. When he got it, he saw that it was "Xuan No. 49" - the number card was based on the "Xuanhuang of the sky and the earth, the prehistoric universe" in "The Thousand-Character Classic". In other words, "Xuan No. 49" is the 49th room of the house named "Xuan".
"Dayan's number is fifty, and its use is ninety-nine times forty." Gao Jingshi raised his eyebrows slightly: "This number is not bad."
After Gao pragmatically found his exam room number and entered, he began to nail the tarpaulin to protect him from rain and wind. At this time, a bugler came and stood next to his exam room - this was to prevent cheating. Each room was guarded by one person. Stricter than a prison cell.
Of course, Gao Pragmatic had no intention of cheating, so he turned off the lights without even looking at the trumpet troops, and took the time to lie down on the wooden board in the banquet and start sleeping.
This is not because he despises the exam, but it is what experienced candidates do. Because the candidates called at four o'clock, I couldn't sleep well before. Since I didn't sleep in the middle of the night, if I didn't take the time to rest and stay up all night, I would definitely feel tired during the daytime exam. Especially in this first exam, there are seven eight-part essays to be tested, and the test is required to be completed in one day. If you are not in good spirits, what else is there to test? It's better to go home and wait a few years before coming back.
I don’t know how long I had been sleeping in a daze, but Gao Pingshi heard the trumpet call: "Mr. sir, get up, the question paper is here!" - Mr. Xian used it on the candidates, which was a "beautiful blessing".
Gao pragmatic sat up suddenly, stretched out his hand to wipe his face, and went to pick up the question paper.
After getting the question paper, instead of reading the questions, go get the ink roll. The ink scroll is a serious examination paper, which must be written with an ink pen, so it is called the ink scroll. Naturally, what I got today was only the first ink scroll. Gao Pragmatic didn’t look anywhere else, so he wrote a few lines on the ink stamp first:
Linsheng Gao pragmatism, Xuanzi No. 49, was born in Xinzheng County, Kaifeng Prefecture.
Then turn to the inner page and write down your name, age, description, place of origin, the fact that you have not broken any laws, etc., and finally write: The qualifications of a Linsheng should be taken in the Henan Provincial Rural Examination of Jimaoke in the seventh year of Wanli.
This is not over yet. We also need to list the names of the three generations of great-grandfather, ancestor, and father at the back, with the words "gu" or "cun" written next to them. This is the resume. Of course, these records cannot be seen by the examiner and will be sealed by the sealing official. But you must write the test paper as soon as you get it, so as not to get dizzy and hand cramped while writing the article, and forget all about it in the end, and that's all.
After finishing all the preparation work, Gao Pragmatic began to read the questions, but he did not read them all at once, but only one question at a time.
This is a sign of confidence, because generally speaking, candidates will read all the questions and then pick the easiest one to write first. In this way, firstly, it can build up self-confidence, and secondly, it can be used as a warm-up, so that you can write more and more smoothly later.
But Gao Pragmatic was more confident in the exam. Which official he dealt with when he was in the capital was not a Jinshi? Even if you occasionally chat about exams or small talk in your spare time, you can still benefit a lot. What's more, his third uncle, teacher, uncle and other close people are still the officials of the imperial court. Who can't be regarded as a great scholar in the world? Therefore, he did not pick any questions at all and was ready to start writing after taking the first question.
After getting the first question, Gao pragmatically looked at the question and found that it was a combination question, but it was indeed a big question rather than a small question:
"The way of learning, destiny is called nature, learn and practice it from time to time, Mencius meets King Hui of Liang"
When Gao Pingshi saw it, he snorted softly in his nostrils and said to himself: "Would you like to take the first sentences from each of the four books and write a question?"
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