"Something gained!"
A trace of pride flashed in Du Qi's eyes.
These great scholars like to study the Four Books and Five Classics. As for the imperial examination, something that everyone yearns for and pays attention to, they are naturally more concerned about it.
Just like the college entrance examination in later generations, the teachers with better schools like to study all the college entrance examination questions.
Guo An nodded with a happy face, "Such a big thing has come true!"
"Um?"
Zhu Di, Du Xiao and others could not help but be surprised.
Guo An continued: "Mr. Du, Your Highness, the intellectual knowledge of my peers in Beiping Mansion is not much different from those in the south, and their intelligence is not much different either.
It's just that in the north, there are too few great scholars like Mr. Du.
Many students do not have access to personal teaching and lectures from great Confucian scholars like Mr. Du who are proficient in the Four Books and Five Classics. They do not know the taboos of the words in the imperial examination questions. Some are even not too proficient in the four-paragraph form of the classics. . "
At this time, Lao Zhu's imperial examination still followed the classics and meanings of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and had not yet evolved into the eight-legged essay.
Du Xin couldn't help but ask: "Guo Changshi wants me to tell this year's candidates how to do questions in the examination?"
The imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were divided into four levels: children's examination, rural examination, general examination and palace examination.
The children's examination is an examination in one's own state or county. Those who pass the examination will be considered a scholar.
The rural examination is administered by the provincial level and can only be taken by scholars. Because it is taken around August every year, it is also called Qiuwei.
Entering the admission quota is to recruit people, and the first place is Jieyuan.
Each province stipulates a quota for the number of people to be promoted based on population, wealth, and products.
In some large provinces, there can be fifty, sixty, or even one hundred.
Some small provinces, or those that are too backward, only have thirty or forty.
As for the Beiping Prefecture, it belongs to the Peking Parallel Capital Command and Envoy Department. It does not belong to any province, but it has provincial-level specifications.
Shunde Prefecture, Zhending Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture, Baoding Prefecture... more than a dozen prefectures all belong to the North Parallel Capital Command.
Therefore, there is also a quota of fifty people.
As for the general examination, it is held in the second year of the provincial examination, in February and March of the spring, and can also be called Chunwei.
The examination was sponsored by the Ministry of Rites and held in the Gongyuan of the capital, and was presided over by highly respected officials specially designated by the emperor.
The admitted students are Gongshi, which can also be called Jinshi, but the first one is named Huiyuan.
The fourth level exam is the palace exam.
The emperor personally presided over and participated in the scoring.
This time, the emperor will only determine the ranking, and will not eliminate the tribute scholars, but will arrange the list of Jinshi.
In the first grade, there are three Jinshi, and they are given the first place, the second place, and the third flower respectively.
The second grade is given to a person with a Jinshi background; the third grade is given to a person with the same Jinshi background.
As for the number of people, it is based on the number of Jinshi at that time, or Lao Zhu's needs.
For example, sometimes there are seventeen people in the second class of Jinshi, and only one hundred people in the third class.
Sometimes, 107 people came directly from the second class Jinshi, and 362 people came directly from the third class Jinshi.
Anyway, in Lao Zhu's view, the main purpose of selecting talents through the imperial examination is to govern the world and educate the people. They are required to be able to do practical things and do practical work. They can admit as many as they need.
Otherwise, smart, upright, virtuous and upright people, Confucian scholars, filial piety and integrity, scholars, senior citizens and other people would not be recruited directly from the people to serve as officials in the court.
Although at this time, the Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations had not yet formed a fixed mindset of selecting scholars based on eight-part essays.
However, in any era of examinations, the test questions are always set by people or selected from the Four Books and Five Classics.
Then, there must be a shortcut.
Guo An nodded slightly, "It is exactly what Mr. Du said. I would like to ask Mr. Du and the doctors in the academy who have studied the Four Books and Five Classics intensively to teach the scholars in the academy how to read the Four Books and Five Classics.
Moreover, Mr. Du was also asked to set questions for those candidates based on the imperial examination questions of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, or the questions that may appear in the imperial examination next year, so that they can answer the questions according to the requirements of the imperial examination! "
Du Qi's eyes lit up and he became energetic, "Guo Changshi is talking about the topic?"
On the side, Zhu Di and Dao Yan were also very interested.
"Exactly the title!" Guo An nodded.
Du Wei pondered for a moment, and then he couldn't help but sigh softly, and said helplessly: "What Guo Changshi said is also a good trick.
However, His Majesty has not yet appointed an examiner. There are so many highly respected academics in the imperial court, and it is even possible that His Majesty will do the exams himself.
Even if I bet on more than ten questions, I can't bet accurately! "
Guo An narrowed his eyes slightly and chuckled: "Mr. Du, there are still several months or hundreds of days left to enter next year's imperial examination. Why are you only taking more than ten exams?"
Du Miao frowned slightly and said with some confusion: "What does Guo Changshi mean?..."
Guo An smiled slightly and said: "Juan, go to death Juan!"
"roll?"
Du Ao, Zhu Di and others all looked puzzled.
Guo An nodded affirmatively and said, "Please Mr. Du, as well as the doctors in the academy, come up with a question in two days.
Let those who have done the exam work on the questions, and then Mr. Du and other doctors will review them and guide them how to solve and answer the questions.
Practice makes perfect!
My students from the north have always been weaker than those from the south in terms of success in imperial examinations.
If you can solve more than ten questions, you may not be able to compare with those students from the south.
But what if there are dozens or hundreds of questions? "
Zhu Di, Dao Yan and others opened their eyes wide, then filled with excitement.
Du Xun was also full of surprise, "Guo Changshi is indeed a wonderful man. He can think of such clever ways."
Among the people in this library, he is the only one who has ever been elected.
Therefore, he understands how beneficial this method is to those who participate in the examination!
Guo Andao: "It's just that this matter will require Mr. Du to work hard for several months."
"It doesn't matter!"
At this moment, Du Wei's eyes were shining with excitement, "Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, in these few imperial examinations, my students from the north have been crushed by those from the south. The gap is huge. I and others can see it. , anxious.
As Guo Changshi said, if things continue like this, within a few decades, there will no longer be any northern scholars from the Ming Dynasty in the officialdom.
Now that Guo Changshi has come up with such a clever plan, it is worth risking my life!
Even if the examiners in my Peking Mansion are all stupid people, I can make them familiar with the method of answering questions in the imperial examination! "
On the side, Dao Yan was subconsciously shaken as he looked at Du Xie, who was full of excitement, and Guo An, who was plain.
Guo An was actually able to come up with this method of taking questions purely for the sake of the imperial examination. If this method were to be produced, southern scholars would be shaken.
Guo An didn't know what Yan was thinking, but he bowed his hands and said gratefully with a serious look on his face: "In this case, I'll bother Mr. Du!"
Du Xun nodded slightly, "Guo Changshi, I will definitely need a lot of pen, ink, paper and inkstones to write questions for those scholars!"
Before Guo An could speak, Zhu Di on the side said directly: "Mr. Du, there is no need to worry, our Yan Palace will provide all these."
Guo An opened his mouth and then closed it.
Zhu Laosi is in trouble. Among those who are successful, except for a few children from poor families, which one is in need of such money?
Du Xie added: "Now, there seem to be more than ten candidates in our Beiping Mansion. I and the doctors in the academy alone do not have that much energy to give them so many test questions.
Therefore, I would like to invite a few more old friends to come here. They are all great Confucians who are familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics. They are also proficient in the imperial examination questions of the BC Yuan Dynasty, and they are from the north of me! "
Zhu Di said directly: "Mr. Du, just write a letter, we will personally send someone and a car to pick them up. And we will arrange a house for them in the academy."
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Du Xun said again: "This matter is important. I ask His Highness, King Yan, not to tell anyone about it."
Zhu Di said: "Don't worry, Mr. Du, it would be great luck for us if there could be a few Jinshis in our vassal territory, or if someone came to the top of the list.
We will definitely not tell anyone about this wonderful method! "
Du Jie nodded with relief and looked at Guo An.
"Guo Changshi, this method was proposed by you, so to invite those candidates to come to the academy, Guo Changshi still needs to lobby!"
Guo An said: "Don't worry, Mr. Du, we will definitely invite them all!"
"good!"
…
Soon, Du Jie had written more than ten letters.
Zhu Di also directly sent hundreds of guards from Prince Yan's Palace to various places in Shanxi and Shandong with those letters.
Even Shunde Mansion sent three letters.
at the same time.
Guo An directly invited the more than ten people to be elected to the Palace of Prince Yan.
"Student Huang Boqian meets Guo Changshi!"
"Student Zheng Fan meets Guo Changshi..."
Although they are all candidates, Guo An has not yet had any fame.
But Guo An was a senior official of the fifth rank conferred by His Majesty himself. The most important thing was that Guo An was the chief historian of Prince Yan's palace, and he was a person whom the elders in their family could fawn over these days.
"Everyone, please take a seat!"
Guo An asked these people to sit down with a gentle look.
"You are all elected members of my Beiping Mansion. I wonder if you will go to the capital next year to attend the Spring Festival?"
These people all thought that Guo An came here to persuade them to persuade the elders of the family behind them. Now when they heard Guo An say this, they couldn't help but be slightly startled.
"Back to Guo Changshi, the imperial examination is the goal of all scholars like us, so we will naturally participate."
"Very good!"
Guo An nodded slightly, then seemed to think of something, and a trace of heaviness flashed across his face.
"It's just that after the abuses of the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty, the scholars in the north of our country are weak and there are few great scholars. Regarding the imperial examination and official career, we are often suppressed and ridiculed by the scholars in the south. Are you prepared?"
These more than ten candidates are all young people, and some are enthusiastic scholars.
Being so provoked by Guo An, he immediately looked angry.
"Guo Changshi, don't worry, the southern scholars have a lot of teachings from great Confucian scholars, and the imperial examination will be much smoother than I, the northern scholars.
However, this matter is just a minor setback. Now His Majesty is wise and students do not believe that those southern officials can still facilitate those southern scholars in the spring! "
Guo An sneered and asked with a half-smile: "You have read many history books, and most of them are from gentry families. You think that those southern officials really cannot serve those southern gentry in the spring. convenient?"
"this……"
Huang Boqian and Zheng Fan fell silent immediately.
After a while, a younger Juren stood up with a solemn expression.
"Please rest assured, Guo Changshi. Even so, our determination to take the imperial examination will not be shaken! Even if we are ridiculed by those southern scholars, we will never back down even half a step!"
"Very good!"
Guo applauded and laughed, his face full of relief.
Although among the people present, Guo An was younger than most of the candidates. However, no one felt that Guo An's actions were inconsistent.
…
(End of chapter)
