Xiangye

Chapter 214 Du Shenghui's First Time

In fact, on the third day of the official exam in Qiuwei, Shaanxi, that is, after the first exam, the Zhu Juan of the first "Four Books" was distributed to the desk of the examiner in Shibafang.

The so-called Zhujuan refers to the fact that the original examination papers are written in ink and brush.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, after the examination papers were completed, the original papers, that is, the ink papers, could not be sent directly to the examiners for review.First, the name must be pasted on paper, handed over to the transcription officer to use a pen dipped in cinnabar to transcribe it again, and then send it to the examiner for approval.Because they are all written in red, they are also called Zhujuan.

Seeing the papers in hand, Du Shenghui, the same examiner in the yellow test booth, expressed joy on the one hand and worries on the other.

When I was happy, this was my first time as an examiner.From his hands, at least four to five candidates must be sent out. These people are all outstanding talents in Shaanxi Province for a while, and they will all be his disciples in the future.Of course, when he presided over the county seat, he also accepted many students.However, many of those Tongsheng students are just here to meet the occasion. Maybe they will not be selected as scholars in their lifetime, they will not be able to become famous teachers, and they will not be able to do so.

He is young and promising, since he made his way in the examination room and became the magistrate of the seventh rank, he does not know how many teachers he has worshiped.Now finally waiting for someone to call him a mentor, it really feels like a ten-year-old daughter-in-law has turned into a mother-in-law, but it makes people happy and inexplicable.

Being an examiner not only allows you to cultivate contacts, but also has many economic benefits.When the list comes out, every student will give a sum of money to thank the teacher, ranging from three to fifty taels to a few hundred taels more, which is not without merit.

Many officials may only have one bad turn in the exam in their lifetime. The opportunity to be an examiner, I have only been in office for one year, and I have fallen into this benefit. I think it is because of the face of my mentor, the official minister Wang Shangshu, right?
When I was worried, there were about 2000 examinees in the Huangzihao shed.Each person has three "Four Books" essays, each with [-] characters, which is more than [-] characters, and almost [-] characters for three hundred people. After the "Four Books" article, there are also "Five Classics" questions, policy theory and test post poems, how can we understand it?This thing is not a storybook novel, it is extremely boring, and it will make my head hurt after reading it.

However, how important is the National Talent Promotion Ceremony, we must raise our spirits, and don't miss a talent, but discredit the face of our mentor.

Thinking of this, Du Shenghui lifted his spirits, and without taking a break, he turned on the lamp and stayed up all night to mark the papers.

After reading only two papers, Du Zhixian felt restless.

The questions given by Li Zhen and Li Changqi, the main examiners of Jinke Township Examination, were too simple, and all three questions were famous sentences from the book.Generally speaking, it is used by the master to give students an introduction to stereotyped writing when they are teaching.

When he was enlightened, he had to do these three questions almost every year.Thinking back to this day, I can still clearly remember the words and sentences I wrote and the teacher's comments, as well as... the ruler that the teacher pulled down fiercely and the stern scolding.

Yes, these three topics are simply childhood shadows for him.Now, when I see the candidates' articles, unpleasant memories come to my mind, and there is an indescribable feeling.

That's all, the key is that the articles written by the Shaanxi candidates are really not very good.It can be seen that what they copied was also their own old work.Because after the teacher's revisions, additions, deletions and polishes, it has been polished to an extremely rounded shape, and no one can pick out the slightest flaw.But because of this, all articles seem to be the same.

If you read the last sentence, you can guess the next sentence.

In this way, his examiner is simply a display.Moreover, it is too difficult to pick out the outstanding ones.Because, to stand out from the cliches, you have to write the highlights.But this is not easy.

After reading the papers of several people in one breath, Du Shenghui's head became dizzy.

Until a "crack" woke him up, and when he looked up, he found that the candle had burned to the end.

The sky outside was also so dark that you couldn't see your fingers. Hearing the sound of the clock, it was already [-] o'clock. I was so dazed just now that I accidentally fell asleep.

Du Shenghui couldn't help but wryly smiled, knowing that in his own state, he couldn't read this paper anymore.Simply put on clothes and go to bed, and prepare to gather strength for tomorrow.

I got up the next day, finished washing, had breakfast, and read the papers all morning.By noon, someone had already recommended the papers and submitted them to the two chief examiners for review.

According to the rules of the imperial examination, the house officer will submit the qualified papers to the chief examiner after the preliminary examination.In the next few days, the examiner will read the recommendation paper carefully, and if there are no major problems, he will let it go.Wait until the papers of the [-]th room and the examiner have all been reviewed, and then the table-turning joint review will be held.

The same examiner who recommended the paper was the magistrate of Tongzhou, Xi'an Prefecture, surnamed Feng, an old official in his 50s.Speaking of it, it has some origins with Du Shenghui's mentor, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Wang Zhi.Tongzhou is only one or two hundred miles away from Hancheng, and Du Shenghui has dealt with him and has some personal acquaintances.

Hearing this, Du Zhixian was shocked.A room teacher has to handle three or four hundred examination papers, and recommend ten papers.I am in the prime of life, and I have only seen a dozen or so candidates so far. It is incredible that Feng Zhizhou has finished the errands at hand because of his age.

Curious in his heart, coupled with a headache from reading the papers, Du Shenghui simply walked into Feng Zhizhou's room.But he saw the old magistrate sitting on a chair, drinking tea leisurely while reading the books on the table.

Seeing him so relaxed, Du Shenghui envied him: "Feng Zhizhou is very happy, I heard that you have already recommended the test paper. It's so fast, it's really enviable."

Feng Zhizhou: "So it's Du Zhi County, please sit down quickly, but I don't know how your paper is going?"

Hearing his question, Du Shenghui smiled wryly: "Ashamed, when the papers were delivered at the beginning, there were only a dozen or so volumes, and I could still read them seriously. Later, the papers handed in became more and more overwhelming, and I couldn't keep up. I also had a headache reading it. Just come over and do it, ask for tea, and then go back to the room to continue torturing the machine when you have enough strength. It is still Feng Zhizhou who has a profound knowledge and quality, and he finished the paper so quickly."

"After reading it, how can I finish it?" Feng Zhizhou chuckled: "Your question is too serious, it's just a rural test, so don't pay too much attention to it. If you read it one by one, who can stand it."

Du Shenghui was amazed: "I don't know."

Feng Zhizhou said: "Only read one of the first lectures in each volume, and keep the ones you want to read later. In this way, there will be more than half of the papers; if you don't need them, you will put them together. In this way, more than half of the papers will not be read. If you pick a good one, look at it again; if you are sure, then recommend it.”

Du Zhixian was dumbfounded: "This...how important is the National Talent Award Ceremony. If you only read the lectures and missed the good papers, isn't it unfair to the candidates?" After all, he is a young man, and he still has some obsessions with scholars in his heart.I feel that it is hard work for a scholar to be poor for ten years. If it is because he did not do a good job before he started to give lectures, he will lose his name, which is really miserable.

Feng Zhizhou still chuckled: "Mr. Du, you said that you only read the first lecture, and that missing a good test paper is unfair to the candidates. I don't agree with this statement."

Du Shenghui didn't bully, and looked at Feng Zhizhou with burning eyes: "I still ask for advice."

Feng Zhizhou said: "If you really want to be fair, you have to review the "Four Books" questions, "Five Classics" questions, and the following policies and test post poems together for comprehensive consideration. Some scholars do well on the "Four Books" questions , and some people are good at policy theory. However, when the imperial court goes to the Scholars University, the first round must recommend papers. After the first round, the scriptures for the second round will come again; It's ridiculous that nine out of ten papers for the third round are empty strategies, because the stereotyped papers in the first round were recommended. This is empty strategy, and I have to recommend it. It can be said that the first exam can determine a candidate's future .It is certainly a good thing if someone has done a brilliant job in four books and can pick a good policy from his paper. No, it doesn’t matter. Do you think it’s fair?”

Du Shenghui was speechless.

Feng Zhizhou said again: "Du Zhi County, the exam questions are too simple. As long as you are a scholar, whoever has not done these three questions dozens or hundreds of times, they probably do the same. If you want to pick out the best papers , It depends on whether he can write new tricks. If the article is novel, the key to solving the problem and inheriting the problem can be distinguished at a glance. Therefore, it is enough to read it. Read the following, it is purely Waste of effort."

This is simply a bastard talk, but when you think about it carefully, there is some truth in what old man Feng said, and Du Zhixian has to admit it.

Presumably, other fellow examiners did the same!
Sure enough, in the evening, two other examiners recommended the papers, and the action was quick.

Du Shenghui originally intended to follow Feng Zhizhou's example, so that he would not violate the rules, and he would be at ease.

However, I thought about it again, if I was lazy, it would be fine if nothing happened, but if something happened, how would I face my mentor in the future.Mentors look down on those who are lazy and slack in politics.

Moreover, Huang Wei and Gao Wen...

Thinking of these two people, Du Shenghui's heart shuddered.

That's all for Gao Wen, Huang Wei used money from him.He was held hostage by his subordinates, so he couldn't accept his money.With short hands, I have to do things for others anyway.

It would be fine if Huang Wei's papers were not in hand, but no wonder I, Du Shenghui.If you happen to live with me, take the money and do nothing, and ruin your reputation, who will trust me in the future, Du Shenghui?

No, I have to read this paper carefully one by one.

Looking at it, I really found it.

On the second day, Du Shenghui suddenly found that there was something wrong with the paper he was reading.

To be honest, the three articles in this paper are so-so, and they can be considered to be somewhat insightful in terms of the meaning of the scriptures.But it's no problem to get a scholar's fame. If you want to win the exam, you still need to study for another ten years.Generally speaking, once this kind of high-end goods fall into the examiner's hands, they will be thrown directly into the wastebasket.

However, all the places in this article that should use interrogative sentences end with the word "hu".

(End of this chapter)