To understand why Cheng Qingshu laughed like this and died after laughing, we have to go back a quarter of an hour in time.
The first thing He Nan said to Cheng Qingshu when he knelt down was: "Do you think you are the only one who had a miserable childhood?"
This sentence stopped Cheng Qingshu. He coughed twice and then asked He Jianyang: "What do you mean?"
He Nan lowered his voice so low that no one except Cheng Qingshu in front of him could hear him, and said slowly: "Actually, our childhoods seemed to be the same, and I didn't live any better." How can you be better?"
Thirteen years ago, the assassination of Emperor Sheng implicated several counties in the north. In Fuyang County, where the incident occurred, nearly a thousand officials and their family members were implicated and imprisoned. In total, more than 3,000 people in the surrounding seven counties were imprisoned. people involved in the case.
He Nan's father was the magistrate of Qingming County under Fuyang County at the time, so he was naturally not immune. After a thorough investigation of the assassin failed, he and more than a hundred officials from the seven counties asked him to kill him. He Nan's mother also became ill because of the incident. He died in sorrow and anger, leaving only He Nan, who was only six years old at the time.
He Nan has grown up eating the food of hundreds of families since then. Although he is much better off than Cheng Qingshu who was a beggar, after all, he still has his uncle and other relatives to help him. In addition, He Nan's father is fair and honest in dealing with people and has a good reputation. His prestige won the hearts of the local people, but no one tried to bully him. But a phoenix without feathers is not as good as a chicken, and its life is very miserable.
When He Nan was thirteen years old, the teachers at the local school had nothing to teach him, so he planned to leave his hometown to study. His uncle asked someone to take him to Baiyu Capital, hoping that he could find a school in the bustling capital.
The higher schools and colleges in the capital are not comparable to the schools in the remote countryside. Those who can study here are either rich or noble, and the only mountain and river school that can accept students from poor families - the imperial examination is as difficult as climbing to the sky. Ninety percent of the students. What's more, Shanhe Mansion has never been a place to raise idle people. The number of students admitted every three years is also subject to a quota and strict time limit. He Nan has already missed the preliminary and re-examinations during this trip due to the long distance. Think about it again. The exam will have to wait until three years later.
How many three years can there be in life? If he fails to stay this time, I'm afraid there will no longer be a place for He Nan in this capital. He didn't want to wait, and couldn't afford to wait.
Forced by the pressing situation, He Nan made a bold decision - to fight the fish and dragon drum. As the name of the Fish-Dragon Drum suggests, anyone who hits this drum will have the opportunity to skip the written examination and become a dragon. It is called the Fish-Dragon Drum Exam in Shanhe Academy. This Yulonggu Examination is the only special examination of Shanhe Academy, and the examiner is Li Zhanchun, the head of Shanhe Academy.
The normal examination process of Shanhe Academy is three written examinations. The initial examination tests poetry and arithmetic, the second examination tests classics and articles, and the final examination tests laws and current affairs policies. In fact, the subjects of Shengguo's imperial examination are generally the same. Just the order is slightly different. Since Shanhe Prefecture itself is the Judicial Office, the law section was put to the end of the exam, and the candidates who got the first few scores in the final exam would enter the interview.
Different from the normal prefecture examination process, after the battle is followed by a full interview. In the written examination, you still have time to think, revise your answers, and refine your writing; but the difficulty of the interview is different. No matter what the examiner asks, you have to answer quickly, and there is no time to organize your thoughts and modify your words, let alone Yulong The examiner of the drum test has always been Li Zhanchun, the head of Shanhe Prefecture.
Every time the government opens, many people want to face Li Zhanchun by playing the fish-dragon drum, hoping to leave a deep impression in front of this leading official in the imperial court. However, it is difficult to pass the fish-dragon drum test. As you know, those smart people who wanted to win Li Mastiff Chun's favor through some unconventional and unique answers were all eliminated without exception, so in recent years there have been fewer and fewer people who dared to make a fool of themselves. And at that time, no one dared to beat this drum - you could enter Shanhe University and become a disciple by passing the written examination, so why bother looking for those who would not happily cut off your path to study?
Prior to this, dating back to the establishment of Shanhe Academy, there were only thirteen people who passed the Yulonggu Examination, and these people without exception became Li Zhanchun's personal disciples.
He Nan was not very interested in becoming a "personal disciple". His first priority was to stay in Shanhe Mansion to study, so he hit the fish-dragon drum when he was desperate.
A thin and short boy, holding a drumstick bigger than his head, stood in front of the Shanhe Academy and kept beating the huge fish dragon drum while facing the different looks of everyone around him. The deafening drum The voice and inner voice finally attracted Li Zhanchun's arrival.
Li Zhanchun was also surprised when he saw Xiao He Nan, because most of the students recruited by Shanhe Mansion were around seventeen or eighteen years old, who had read a lot of books and even participated in the imperial examination. Children at such a young age were not common, and This little guy actually dares to play the fish dragon drum - it seems to be the first time for someone to play the drum at this age, right?
Li Zhanchun looked at Xiao Henan and asked, "Do you know what beating this drum means?"
He Nan had been dragging him since he was a child, as if someone owed him money. He stared and said: "Of course I know, Shanhe Academy's Yulonggu Examination. I am from Fuyang County in the north. I missed the preliminary examination and the reexamination because of the long distance, so I only I can play the fish-dragon drum." It was only after he arrived at Bai Yujing that he realized that he had missed the imperial examination. He was helpless and listened to others saying that the fish-dragon drum test was a remedy, so he had to bite the bullet no matter how difficult it was. .
Li Zhanchun nodded and asked again: "Then do you know who I am?"
Xiao He Nan nodded: "Captain Li." In fact, He Nan didn't know who he was, but he still had good eyesight. The people around him looked at the old man with awe in their eyes, and the old man's gestures and movements were all in awe. The room is also very charming, so I might as well take a guess at the bigger one.
"Okay, then I will take you to the examination room for the interview now. Are you ready?" Li Zhanchun grabbed Xiao Henan's hand and walked to Shanhe Academy. Shanhe Mansion has one house and two courtyards. The front yard is the Shanhe Mansion of the Judicial Office, and the back yard is the Shanhe Academy where teachers are taught.
After entering the examination room, Li Zhanchun asked He Nan to sit down at the next seat. He sat at the upper seat, and his expression became very serious - Shanhe Academy is the best way for students from poor families in the world to pursue an official career, so naturally they must be treated strictly. He would stick to it unswervingly, even if Xiao Henan was only thirteen years old. Along the way, Li Zhanchun had already asked some basic information about Xiao Henan, and ordered his name to be recorded in the roster of candidates, so that he could be considered a candidate.
The content of the interview is actually the same as the written test, but it is more difficult. Li Zhanchun first asked He Nan a lot of poems, songs and poems, as well as the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics, asking him to recite and interpret them. He Nan had a smart mind, so these things naturally couldn't trouble him, and he could answer whatever he asked. , he can also explain the meaning to some extent, which is not easy for him at his age.
However, the above-mentioned contents are all tested on memorization. The contents memorized by rote are obviously not enough for the candidates to easily get Li Zhanchun's high opinion. At best, it can only be said that the memory is better. Moreover, Li Zhanchun, who could memorize countless books and was eloquent, had seen too many people. If he was asked to tell them something other than what was written in books, it would be easy for them to turn a blind eye.
Immediately afterwards, Li Maschun also took He Nan's "Legal" subject. He originally thought that it was understandable that He Nan only had some vague concepts about the law at his age or did not understand the law at all. However, He Nan told Li Mastiff Chun The laws he was tested on were memorized very clearly. Although he had forgotten some parts, he was generally correct.
The reason why He Nan was so clear about Shengguo's "National Code" was also very simple. He recalled his father's crime read out by the executioner at the execution ground all the time. However, when he later looked through the "National Code", he found that " There is no answer at all in the "National Code" - considering his father's mistakes, removal from office is already an excessive punishment, let alone execution.
It was because of the emperor's anger that the father acted... But could the emperor put his personal emotions, likes and dislikes above the law? This is a question that He Nan has been thinking about for seven years. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little silent, and he didn't know where his thoughts were wandering.
Li Zhanchun knocked on the table, bringing Xiao Henan's wandering thoughts back to the exam: "In your opinion, which one is more important, a person's talent or his character?"
Xiaohe said without hesitation: "They are all important, but I have to choose one - the reason why people are human beings and not beasts is naturally because they have moral character."
Li Zhanchun was about to nod and ask the next question, but Xiao Henan added another sentence: "But if I were asked to choose, there is no doubt that I will choose talent."
Li Zhanchun said softly, "Hey" and asked, "Why is this?"
Xiao Henan puffed up his cheeks and said in a tone that pretended to be vicissitudes of life: "Because in this world, no matter whether they are talented or not, people with high morals have a more tiring life... People with no morals are born with fewer people than them. There are many restrictions, and being unvirtuous means having no scruples. They don't care about the suffering of others, but do harm to everyone. And virtuous people... are grateful for all things in the world. The higher their virtue, the less they care about the suffering of all living beings, and in the end they will I’m trapped in a cage.”
The head of the government nodded, not sure whether he agreed or understood. Then he asked: "Then what do you think of the career development of people with talent but no virtue? What about people with virtue but no talent? What if it was you? If so, how would you use the two?" This question may seem similar to the previous question, but in fact the connotation is completely different. The former question can at best be regarded as the candidate's personal opinions and tendencies on talents and virtues; and this question It has entered the category of "current affairs policy".
This question directly eliminates the two mentally retarded options of "no talent and no virtue" and "talent and virtue". Naturally, there is no need to elaborate on the principle. People without talent or virtue are basically useless. But where can you find so many people with both talent and virtue?
Xiao Henan thought for a while and replied: "If you have to choose between the two, of course you should make the best use of people's talents and materials; as small as shops and restaurants, as large as large as the imperial court, all departments have their own masters and assistants. In my opinion, People with talent but no virtue are suitable for assisting, while people with virtue but no talent are suitable for making decisions. The former are highly talented and can make great contributions, but they will be in serious trouble if no one controls them; the latter, although they lack talent, have no virtue. Being noble can be used to show off the rectification of the atmosphere... But this is an ideal situation. In fact, talented people have more to gain than virtuous people. It is difficult to control only virtuous people. On the contrary, it puts the cart before the horse. .”
"Oh?" Li Zhanchun became somewhat interested in He Nan's opinion. He had also asked other interview candidates similar questions before - among them, officials were used to classify people, such as those with talent but without virtue. At the upper third level, people with virtue but no talent can only succumb to the former; some people use achievements as a discussion, for example, people with talent but no virtue can dominate the world, while people with virtue but no talent are mediocre - but He Nansuo The term "primary and auxiliary" is not often heard.
"Of course, if a person is the emperor, then it doesn't matter whether he has no virtue or talent." Human nature is childish, and He Nan really dares to say anything... He has been like this since he was a child. "Anyway, the world belongs to him. Whatever he says is whatever he wants, and he can do whatever he wants."
You know, talking about the emperor is a serious crime, but Li Zhanchun didn't take it too seriously. Because He Nan is indeed a child, and it is inevitable that he does not understand these worldly things, so there is no need for Li Zhanchun to get involved with a child.
So he didn't even hear He Nan's strange aura.
The more Li Mastiff Chun asked, the more He Nan dared to answer. The question and answer lasted from dusk to dawn the next day, and the result was that Li Mastiff Chun was really fond of this little guy. There are many prodigies who are eloquent, but in addition to this, He Nan also showed his rather strong personal style - the ability to think independently is the most valuable thing at this age.
His last question returned to the original point - if you had a choice, would you choose to be a virtuous person? Even if it's difficult.
The answer given by He Nan was not a straight answer. This time, he did not deliberately try to find a way to make things easier. Instead, it was quite interesting: "My name is He Nan. It is already difficult, so it doesn't hurt to make it even more difficult."
Li Zhanchun said the same words to He Nan before he left Shanhe Mansion, which was a echo of Xiao He Nan.
One more person has passed the Shanhe Academy's Yulonggu Examination.
Congratulations, overnight, the fish jumped over the dragon gate.
