The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

The provincial examination questions are obviously much more difficult than those of the examination. Needless to say, the poems and prose tests are for examining the basic skills of Ju Ziping's poetry and prose.As for the style of writing and rhetoric, etc., it is not a one-day effort, and there is no need to rush. Anyone can write five and six on the test paper. As for the judgment of superiority and inferiority, the judges can only scratch their heads.

As for the item of Mo Yi in the test post scriptures, it really reflects what it means to be on the edge of a dead end, and what it means to lift which pot without opening it.

Since the Xia and Shang dynasties, the collection of opinions from various schools of classics and history is vast, and the hard study in just over ten years can only read a fraction of it. Most students will choose to read classics and common theories. In fact, most of the examination questions Out of these classics; but just like the confusing additional questions that often appear in the exams of later generations, there are several uncommon excerpts in the Tie Jing Mo Yi of the Provincial Examination, which makes the second day Painful sighs filled the examination room.

Su Jin is also one of the first and two big. For example, ask: Hunan stone inscription Mo Gu in "Yu Stele", a poem by Han Tui, is famous all over the world.In addition, Tang people still have titles and chants about them, can you cite their chapters?There are also those who foretell the records of the predecessors?How many people have recently interpreted his texts?According to Confucianism, the world thinks that it is a good deal, and the results are credible?

Also: "Han Jiangjun Monument" or Yun Jiang Wan, or Yun Jiang Song, which one is right?There is Cai Yongming's speech in Jiuyi Mountain, who wrote it? In the "Gulang Stele", "feizi" is used as "feizi", and "Liuyang" is used as "Liuyang". Can it be proved that they are collected in other books? "Tanglushan Temple Monument" is known as the Three Wonders in the world, but the world ridicules it, why?

This kind of examination questions is simply a disaster for candidates who stay at home. Except for Hunan Juzi or Juzi who has seen "Yu Bei", they have no idea what they are talking about. The various "Han" below Jiangjun Stele, Gulang Stele, Tanglushan Temple Stele, etc., if you have not been to the local area, how do you know who wrote the inscriptions and what are the contents of the inscriptions?

Su Jin didn't answer at all, but just wrote a doggerel under these topics: It rained in Bashan last night, snowflakes fell in the north of Saibei tomorrow morning, Gudeng's ancient books are not enough, how do you know the cold and heat and winter and summer?

It means that the students who study hard in the cold window can't read the books in order to take the exam, and they forget the cold, heat, winter and summer, let alone the trivial matters of the inscriptions in the south and the sea.

On the third day, the test strategy theory topic was distributed; Su Jin suffered a big blow in Tie Jing Moyi, and all his hopes were pinned on the test strategy theory session; originally the test strategy theory was the focus of the three scientific examinations, It occupies the largest proportion. Originally, Su Jin hoped to write a policy paper based on his real ability to see how his level is, but after experiencing the failure of Tie Jing Mo Yi, he was a little nervous.

According to the rules I have summarized, if one of the policy theory is based on the penalty category, then the provincial examination will definitely not have a penalty category, and then remove the types of the two provincial examinations. During the class, Su Jin couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief after pulling out the topic from the envelope.

The topic is indeed about the administration of officials, but the difference is that this time it lists various examples of corruption and corruption by officials from various places. It only narrates the process of the incident, and does not clearly give a topic. The candidates are required to draw up according to the above content. Policy theory topic, write a policy theory.

After Su Jin was overjoyed, he was worried. Even if he guessed the type right this time, it would not be of much help. He had to draw up questions based on these things and write them out. It takes a lot of effort to cut down the choices.

The first thing Su Jin thought of was the theory of redundant officials. Redundant officials are actually the culprit. There are seven or eight candidates for an official position. Some people get the chance to take office after being unemployed for seven or eight years after high school, just like hungry wolves who have been hungry for a long time. , Is there any reason not to hurry up and make a fortune.

But Su Jin immediately vetoed this argument. As early as Tiansheng's reign, he put forward the theory of "three redundant and three fees". Rectification; once this kind of topic comes out, more than half of the more than 2000 exams will probably think of making a fuss on redundant officials. Writing it yourself is like chewing sugarcane dregs. Unless you can chew out the taste of chicken legs, it will definitely be difficult to become an examiner Dharma eye.

On the morning of the third day, Su Jin didn't start writing, but kept pacing and thinking in the low and stuffy dormitory; at noon, after eating two small pieces of shortbread and drinking a cup of new tea, Su Jin directly set up the bed Lie down and fell asleep.

The third exam was being closed at [-]:[-] p.m., and Su Jin fell asleep until the end of Shen Shi. He could hear noises from the front, back, left, and right dorms. Su Jin knew it was because everyone had finished writing their theories and were packing up for the exam. Lan left after an hour of preparations.

Su Jin washed his face, lit a piece of rose fragrance, stuffed two balls of cotton wool into his ears and eyes to block the noise from outside, and sat down at the premise of the examination to write down the topic "On the Balance between Officials and Officials"

"The husband uses officials to listen to officials. In the name of cowardice, human feelings avoid it, but it is inevitable. Why? There is no decision, there is no rule and there is no action....Knowing one thing and not knowing the other, it is not as good as the official's knowledge, so I have to go back to the official....Now the next edict, and the evening change, there is no record. In addition, there are regulations outside the law; and it is promulgated at the rate, which is ignorant and often changed immediately, annoying and untrustworthy... Therefore, the officials do not know the laws, but the officials know the laws, and the officials have to rely more on the officials..."

"From the imperial court down to the prefectures and counties, there are only a few officials for each position, and there are too many subordinate officials. Although there are strong and diligent officials, they may not be able to read them all. And it must be done.”

"Thus, officials rely heavily on officials, and when decisions are unclear, officials are not responsible, and officials are innocent, so that the abuses flourish; officials are mediocre, and officials are always in charge of real power, and because of the lack of education of subordinate officials, they run amok. , breeding rot..."

"..."

"..."

Su Jin wrote more than a thousand words in one go, with extremely clear thinking in his mind, integrated the known points of view into the arguments, and found a new way to change the normal thinking of blindly accusing officials of malfeasance and corruption. Various decrees and provisions began to point out the predicament most officials were in.

In order to solve the problem of redundant officials, the imperial court greatly shortened the term of office of officials and carried out frequent promotions, which resulted in most of the officials not doing anything or being unable to do anything at the local level; but the small officials who were not considered officials were able to pass their duties from father to son Sun, in the eyes of the local people, the promises of the subordinate officials are more credible than those of the chief officer; so there is a strange phenomenon that the words of the subordinate staff are often more effective than the words of the chief officer.

Moreover, there are a large number of small officials, each of whom is in charge of a piece, so the understanding of the government's decrees is more proficient than those of the chief officials who have to make overall decisions, so that the decisions of the chief officials often depend on the judgment of the small officials, which leads to The rights of petty officials within the scope of their duties play an actual decision-making power.

Most of the petty officials are from the people, have not passed the imperial examination, and their morals are mixed. In addition, their salaries are extremely contemptible. They will use the decision-making power they actually hold in their hands to seek personal gain. The greedy behavior of ink; once in the water, everyone uses each other and becomes unscrupulous.

Su Jin also proposed a solution, such as continuous sitting in punishment, such as Jingjian in the decree, and even proposed that small officials should also become officials, abolish their hereditary system, and expand official positions from seventh rank to tenth rank. A large number of redundant officials can be placed, and the overall quality of low-level officials can be improved. At the same time, it is recommended to increase the term of office of officials, maintain a long-term dynamic balance, etc...

Su Jin didn't know whether this point of view would be accepted by the examiners, but he believed that in this ancient exam, picking up people's wisdom is not the way to win, but to find a unique way and have your own point of view in order to catch people's attention.

This is actually a gamble.

When Su Jin carefully dried the test paper, pasted his name on it, straightened his waist and let out a long sigh of relief, there was a loud gong outside, and the invigilator outside the examination room shouted loudly: "Open the room, collect the test paper, stop answering the questions, violate the law." shall be disqualified."

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