The examination method of the Ming Dynasty examination is basically similar to that of the provincial examination, but there are some differences. Although the exam is still divided into three sessions, on the 9th, 12th, and 15th of February, the seat plan must be posted two days before the exam.
The so-called banquet table diagram is to use pictures to show the number of banquet rooms in the east and west rows, arrange and write in a certain row a certain place where a person is sitting and a person is sitting, and his or her name is posted in the middle to indicate it.
Examiners, whether they are chief examiners, deputy examiners, tribute officials, promotion officers, proctors, or other officials related to the examination, are not allowed to return home after they are appointed by the emperor. Enter the examination courtyard immediately, and immediately seal the internal and external doors. No private entry or exit is allowed. This is commonly known as "locking the courtyard."
In order to prevent cheating, not only were the chief and deputy examiners appointed by the emperor at short notice, but the test questions were not prepared in advance. The test questions for each exam were drafted by the examiners on the day before the exam. After drafting, craftsmen were immediately called in to engrave the questions on the inner curtains all night long. Similarly, these craftsmen cannot leave after engraving the test papers. They must wait in the examination hall until the examination is completely completed before they are allowed to receive the reward and leave.
When Gao Pragmatic came to take the exam this time, he found that the general examination was not necessarily stricter than the provincial examination in all aspects. For example, the body search when entering the examination room, the Taoist examination and the provincial examination were all stripped clean, but there was no need to take off clothes in the general examination. It is "routine personal inspection and inspection" to avoid "damaging morale".
Of course, then again, the provincial examination is in August, and it doesn’t feel cold even if you take off your clothes. The general examination is in February. If you take off your clothes for the examination, it is estimated that a lot of weak scholars may catch colds and fevers first. That is true. Somewhat embarrassing.
Gao Jingshi entered the examination room and found that there was really not much difference between the examination and the provincial examination. If he had to say there was, it was just that there were more people. Even the standard of the Xishe had not been improved. Maybe only Jiangnan Gongyuan The standard of the rooms can be better. Other places, even the Gongyuan of the Capital, are just ordinary examination sheds. They can be protected from wind and rain, which is good. There is nothing else worth mentioning.
However, it may be because most of the examiners are not diligent and their bones may not be strong, so in the spring of February, the court arranged charcoal and coal for heating as usual. Only the examiners could use the charcoal, and the coal was supplied to all candidates. Gao Pingshi was a little dumbfounded when he discovered that the small coal stove at his feet was produced by Jinghua. It was burning briquettes. There was no doubt that it was made by Jinghua.
Of course these are all trivial matters, the most important thing is the exam.
The first session of the general examination is the same as the provincial examination. It also tests seven eight-part essays. The focus is only on the first three essays: the first essay is mainly about breaking the question, the second essay is important in its entirety, and the third essay is mainly about the argument. The last four articles only need to comply with the format and have no obvious errors or omissions. Of course, if you are talented and have already written all over the floor, it doesn't matter if you have to write the last four articles seriously, but... the examiners won't look at it carefully anyway, because the examiners may be more nervous about time than the candidates. They Don't have that spare time.
Gao pragmatically had a large number of academic masters who taught him exam experience, so his exams were different from many ordinary candidates. He knew that although the general examination tested the same seven articles and eight-part essay as the provincial examination, the writing method of these articles was not completely consistent with the provincial examination. The two most critical points are, one is to figure out the atmosphere, and the other is to explore the examiner's meaning.
Why try to figure out the trend? Because the eight-part essay is also called the contemporary essay, its content, format, and style are constantly changing with the changes of the times. Especially in the Ming Dynasty, when the eight-part essay was created and finalized, the changes in the eight-part essay were more obvious. Therefore, Gu Yanwu once said: "Every subject changes in the style of writing."
In the early Ming Dynasty, the people were simple and simple, and their eight-part essays only stated the purpose of the book, which was short and simple. Later, Wei followed Yifa, and the literary style gradually matured. In the Chenghua and Hongzhi periods, the cutting was neat and the mechanism was mature; in the Zhengde and Jiajing periods, Tang Shunzhi, Gui Youguang and others used ancient Chinese as the current style, so that the current style and the ancient style appeared. The trend of integration has become even more troublesome in the Wanli period. Due to the gradual dispute between practical learning and spiritual learning, the essays in the examinations may be about technical matters, talents or rhetoric, and they are changing with each passing day.
This is the most difficult part of Gao Pragmatic's exam. If you write an article that goes against the general trend, it will definitely be difficult to write a Chinese style. In fact, some celebrities in the Ming Dynasty, such as Feng Menglong and Ai Nanying, were originally masters of eight-legged writing, but because they did not follow the trend, they had troubles in the examination.
In fact, the writing style is also related to the overall direction of the court. Generally speaking, there are two types of writing styles in the Ming Dynasty. One is respected by the practical school, which requires that words be meaningful and every word must be to the point. The most taboo is empty words. It's a high-level argument, but if you say it, you haven't said it yet. The other type is highly praised by the Xinxue lineage, which requires gorgeousness, noble intentions, and a faint fairy-like feeling when reading.
These two types of writing styles are very different, but the Chinese style has great hope. The key is to see which marking officer gets your paper and which school he is a supporter of. This is also the main reason why Gao Qingjing feels that he can be Chinese based on his level, but whether he can win or not depends on luck.
So, why should we explore the examiner’s meaning? Because the questions for the Ming Dynasty exam are determined by the examiners who look through the books the day before the exam, and the room officials can also express their own opinions, but the examiner has the power, and he is always the one who makes the final decision, so he will eventually They set the examination questions according to their own wishes, and in the final analysis, the house officers still have to listen to the arrangements of the examiner.
In this examination, the examiner is Shen Shixing. Gao Pragmatic does not have to worry about being ridiculed after the exam, but at the same time he also has a disadvantage, that is, Shen Shixing is likely to use a style that he is not particularly good at.
But fortunately, there was an ancestral system in the Ming Dynasty, which was really beneficial to Gao Pragmatism, that is, he could try to get the middle, which was divided into three rankings: south, north and middle. This ancestral system originated from Zhu Yuanzhang. At that time, because the north had not been recovered for a long time, the academic style was far less strong than that in the south. Therefore, the result of a fair examination was that those who passed the exam in the south were ten times more successful than those in the north.
Of course, this was absolutely unacceptable to Zhu Yuanzhang, because the north would have to rebel in the long run. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang personally selected a group of scholars from the northern examination papers to form a relatively balanced number with the south. For this reason, he also killed a group of people who believed that This is an unfair choice for people.
Zhu Yuanzhang was actually smart on this point, because once the gap between the north and the south in recruiting scholars was too great, sooner or later the court would be full of southern scholars. How could they care about the life and death of the north? Therefore, his approach was gradually institutionalized by later emperors, and the examination papers were divided into three volumes: Southern, Northern and Middle.
Among them, the southern ones include Yingtian and Susong prefectures, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Huguang, and Guangdong; the northern ones include Shuntian, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and Shaanxi; the middle ones include Sichuan, Guangxi, and Yunnan , Guizhou and the two prefectures of Fengyang and Luzhou, and the three prefectures of Chu, Xu, and He.
In other words, because Gao Pragmatic was born in Henan, his examination papers were directly entered into the Northern Examination. He only had to compete with scholars from Shuntian, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan Province, and did not have to compete with Su Song, Shaoxing, etc. A large number of top students in the land compete with each other. It was a blessing among misfortunes. Even if Shen Shixing happened to ask some pragmatic questions, Gao Pragmatic had already made up his mind to do it if he could do it. If he couldn't do it, just write as usual. Anyway, according to the proportion of candidates, if there are 100 people in the whole list, According to the quota, fifty-five people will be taken from the south roll, thirty-five people will be taken from the north roll, and ten people will be taken from the middle roll. He felt that since he was in the Northern Scroll, his chances of winning should be relatively high.
