Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 139 The Imperial Examination Month Comes

After Bailu passed, the weather became cooler day by day.

Entering September means the coming of the imperial examination month. This year's examination is scheduled for the eighth day of September. At that time, more than [-] prefectures, prefectures, and armies in the Song Dynasty will conduct the examination at the same time.

The chief examiner for the examination is determined by the Ministry of Rites of the imperial court, and is mainly transferred from another place.

Although the government did not announce the chief examiner of this year's Pingjiang Mansion, everyone still learned from various sources that this year's chief examiner of Pingjiang Mansion is Qizhou Governor Shi Zhouzhen.

For a while, various news about Zhou Zhen spread among the scholars. Some said that he was partial to "Mencius", some said that he liked fresh and light poems, and some said that he paid special attention to calligraphy.

All kinds of rumors stirred up the mood of the scholars. Three days before the imperial examination, scholars from the five counties gathered in Changzhou County, making Changzhou County extremely lively.

At noon that day, the Fubei restaurant in Changzhou County was full of guests. This place was closer to the examination institute, and most of the drinkers were candidates from various counties.

They were in groups of three or four, or sitting opposite each other, all whispering about this year's test, which made the restaurant extremely noisy.

"I heard that there are 300 more candidates this year than last year, which actually exceeded 700. This year's situation is serious!"

In the corner by the window on the second floor sat seven or eight young scholars, all of whom were students of the government school.

According to regulations, prefectural school students can also participate in the imperial examination, and they can directly participate in the examination without a recommendation.

"It's normal. There are new candidates joining every year, but very few people pass the test. Of course, the number of candidates will increase every year."

"Hey! The imperial court only gave us 50 places in Pingjiang Prefecture. Although it is quite a lot compared to other prefectures, it is still too fierce for almost [-] people to compete for one candidate."

"Brother Xie, you can change your age to a few years younger and take part in the boy's test! There are only ten people competing for one spot in the boy's test, brother Xie has a great chance."

Everyone burst into laughter, the scholar surnamed Xie chuckled a few times, and he turned the topic to another scholar beside him, "Tong Zhong, I heard that your nephew is also participating in this year's boy's test?"

This brother Fan is Fan Ning's fourth uncle, Fan Tongzhong. He got Zhu Yuanfu's help to study in a government school. His father-in-law happened to have a small courtyard in Changzhou County, so he asked him to take his wife to live with him.

Fan Tongzhong was supported by Zhu's bursary, and he could receive three pennies per month. In addition, the tuition fee was completely waived, and his father-in-law, who was from a wealthy family, continued to help his daughter, which made Fan Tongzhong's past two years very nourishing.

He picked up his wine glass and said with a smile: "I think it's even more difficult for a boy to take the test. To be selected as a county magistrate is already a thousand troops crossing the single-plank bridge. Unlike the imperial examination for adults, who spend two small money to find a few referees to get the qualifications. Their qualifications are determined by real swords and guns."

"Old Fan is right!"

Another scholar said: "I have a distant relative who is also a Wujiang county magistrate. I heard from his father that more than 2000 children in Wujiang County signed up for the county magistrate selection competition. In the end, only ten were selected. The other counties are similar."

Fan Tongzhong smiled, "Actually, we have all experienced it, have you forgotten?"

At this time, a scholar went up to the second floor and walked quickly, "Sorry! I'm late."

"A Tao is here, please sit down!"

The crowd invited this scholar named A Tao to sit down like stars holding the moon, and then surrounded him and asked, "What's the latest news?"

This A Tao is obviously a well-informed person, he smiled mysteriously, "The news from Qizhou has come, do you want to hear it?"

Since it was confirmed that the chief examiner of Pingjiang Mansion was Zhou Zhen, the instructor of Qizhou Zhouxue, many people asked Qizhou for news through various channels, and the first to get the news were some big booksellers.

Everyone cheered up. The chief examiner's preference is the key to being admitted to the test. According to the usual practice, the two deputy chief examiners will each produce a hundred test papers, and the chief examiner will pick fifty out of the two hundred test papers. as the last admission.

Although it still needs to be approved by Pingjiang Prefecture, the possibility of being rejected is actually very small.

Therefore, it is extremely important to understand the examiner's preferences, especially his political bias, otherwise, even if the test paper is full of flowers, but the political bias is contrary to the chief examiner's, he will lose his reputation.

Especially after the Qingli Reform, the contest between the enlightened faction and the conservative faction in the imperial court has never stopped. Which faction the chief examiner Zhou Zhen favors has become the focus of everyone's attention.

A Tao looked at both sides, and whispered: "This Zhou Jiaoyu is said to have a close relationship with Fu Bi. When Fu Bi was demoted to Qingzhou, they often drank tea together."

Everyone suddenly realized that this Zhou Zhen belonged to the Enlightened School.

However, Fan Tongzhong was secretly thinking whether he should reveal this news to his nephew Fan Ning.

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Ten days ago, Fan Ning and other ten county officials from Wu County moved into the Qiulin Temple near Changmen.

Although Wu County and Changzhou County are very close, if you wait for Changzhou County to open the city gate, and then rush to the Examination Institute, it will be too late in time.

Therefore, candidates from Wu County will go to Changzhou County in advance to seek refuge with relatives, rent private houses, or live in inns. Changzhou County, with a population of 20, can digest a mere two to three thousand candidates, which is still more than enough.

The land of Qiulin Temple originally belonged to the county government of Wu county, but later it was donated to the temple.

All the county magistrates of Wu County in the previous imperial examinations lived here.

In the back garden pavilion of the Zen temple, Fan Ning was drinking tea with Su Liang and Duan Yu.

After more than two years of studying in the county school's tea house, Fan Ning learned to order tea, which is a basic social skill for literati in the Song Dynasty.

Generally speaking, students from a scholarly family usually learn to order tea at the age of seven or eight.

Su Liang lowered his head and sniffed the teapot, and said with a smile, "It's Fengcha, where did you get it?"

Dragon tea and phoenix tea are the top teas. The pros and cons of tea cakes in the Song Dynasty are not just as simple as the place of origin. Subsequent production and even maintenance are also extremely important.

Like dragon tea and phoenix tea, they are also Jianzhou teas. If they are made carefully, they can be called milk, stone milk, and white milk, which are the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of tea cakes.

The key is to grow the tea. After three years of tea cultivation, the color, fragrance and quality of the tea will remain unchanged. At this time, the tea will be upgraded to the third grade, Jingting.

As for dragon tea and phoenix tea, they must be cultivated carefully for at least ten years, and the rich tea fragrance will settle down, so that after soaking in water for ten times, the tea fragrance is still endless. This is the best tea.

Before entering Beijing, Zhu Pei gave Fan Ning three tea cakes. Fan Ning only found out later that Zhu Pei gave him Fengcha. This is a tribute from the imperial palace, and only the dignitaries in the capital have the opportunity to enjoy it. .

The top teahouses only use Jingting at most, while you can drink Fengcha in Fanlou in Beijing, but a cup of Fengcha will cost at least 20 taels of silver.

Many wealthy businessmen go to Fanlou to drink tea, largely to taste the taste of Fengcha.

Fanning smiled, and scooped up a level spoonful of tea with a teaspoon.

Scooping tea is a very important part of ordering tea. If there is less tea and more soup, it will not reach the level of water and milk blending, and the surface of the tea will not foam, which is called "Yunjiaosan".

On the contrary, if you scoop up too much tea, the surface of the tea soup will be as thick as porridge, and there will be no white foam on the surface of the tea. This is called "congee noodles gathering".

There must be no more or less tea, and grasping the right amount depends on experience. Fan Ning also failed many times before he gradually found the feeling.

Put the tea powder into the rabbit hair black cup, then pour a small amount of boiling water to make the tea powder into a thick paste, be sure to stir evenly, this is the key to whether the tea soup can be fine or not.

The next step is the climax of ordering tea, pouring water.

Generally, the soup bottle is held in the left hand and the tea whisk in the right hand.

Fanning picked up the soup bottle and poured water into the teacup, and a thin stream of steaming sprayed out from the tea spout.

The main point of pouring water is to keep your hand steady, the point of landing must be accurate, and there must be a rhythm. The boiling water must be poured into the teacup at one point, so that the tea noodles will not be damaged.

The tea whisk in the right hand should quickly rotate and beat and flick the tea soup in the teacup to make it foam, that is, foam. A real master tea orderer will make the soup flower into various forms, such as animals, birds, or flowers.

'The genus of animals, fish, insects, flowers and plants is delicate and picturesque, and it will disappear in a moment. '

This is called tea distribution, and only a master tea orderer can do it.

The first tea master in the Northern Song Dynasty, Master Nanping Qian of the Jingci Temple in the West Hunan Mountain, is said to be able to draw the landscape of the West Lake on the tea surface, known as the "Sanmai Hand".

Su Dongpo wrote a poem specially for him:

The Taoist came out of Nanping Mountain at dawn to try tea samadhi.Suddenly, at noon, there are rabbit hair spots, which are used as spring urn goose wine. '

Of course, Fan Ning is still far from reaching the level of tea distribution. Most scholars can't do it, but the top tea prostitutes in top teahouses can do it.

Literati fight tea, one bucket of soup color, two buckets of water marks, the soup color refers to who ordered the stronger and whiter tea.

And bucket water marks are actually better than foam,
The more bubbles that are tapped, the longer the time will be, and the later the water marks will appear.

Soon, the foam in the teacup came out, and it surged higher and higher, just like beer foaming. a hemisphere.

Duan Yu and Su Liang clapped their hands together and praised, "What a ball of snow foam, no wonder Zhang Jiaoyu praised you for making the most progress in ordering tea."

"Amitabha, the tea ordered by the little official!"

The three turned their heads, but it was Dharma Master Dazang, the abbot of Qiulin Temple.

The three quickly got up and saluted, and Fan Ning said modestly, "Master, I'm overwhelmed!"

Master Dazang smiled and said: "I just passed by here, and I told Fan Xiaoguan that there are guests visiting in the front yard!"

(End of this chapter)