Poet Immortal, Poet Sage, Duke of the State!

Scholar Lin was the first to step forward, his gaze falling on the exam paper.

He habitually glanced at the opening first.

A wise man said: Learning should never cease...

As the saying goes, learning should never stop. This opening is safe and nothing particularly surprising.

But when he read the lines, "Indigo is extracted from the indigo plant, yet it is bluer than the plant itself; ice is made from water, yet it is colder than water," his brow twitched slightly, his body unconsciously leaned forward slightly, and his gaze gradually became fixed.

He actually discerned profound philosophical insights from these two sentences.

Anyone can make progress through diligent study; I can be better today than I was yesterday, and students can surpass their teachers.

The candidate used these two brilliant metaphors to achieve the goal of encouraging learning. To surpass one's teacher and be as cold as ice, one must learn continuously, which is to say, "learning should never cease," echoing the first sentence of the article.

"I have pondered all day long, but it is not as good as a moment of learning... The superior man is not born different, but he is good at making use of things."

Upon reading this, Grand Scholar Lin opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

"A mountain is formed by accumulating soil, where wind and rain arise; a deep pool is formed by accumulating water, where dragons dwell... Without accumulating small steps, one cannot reach a thousand miles; without accumulating small streams, one cannot form a great river or sea."

Upon reading this, his breathing became noticeably more rapid.

Beside him, Grand Scholar Zhao leaned forward, almost touching Grand Scholar Lin's shoulder, and whispered, "If you give up halfway, even rotten wood won't break; if you persevere, even metal and stone can be carved..."

After reading it aloud, he remained silent for a moment, then a strange light shone in his old eyes as he murmured, "Such extraordinary writing..."

The other two scholars also stared intently at the exam paper, their breathing becoming increasingly rapid.

This article uses concrete and vivid things to illustrate abstract and profound principles, and the metaphors contain profound insights.

These metaphors are all drawn from daily life, and even young children can easily understand them.

The entire article is structured in parallel and elaborate style, with a powerful momentum, vivid contrasts, clear distinctions between praise and criticism, perfect antithesis, and easy to recite. It not only fulfills the purpose of "Exhortation to Learning" in terms of content, but is also very suitable as an introductory text for children, thus achieving the true purpose of "Exhortation to Learning".

"The heavens see its brightness, the earth sees its light, and the wise man values ​​its completeness..."

After reading the article, the hall fell into a long silence.

The scholars stood there like statues, still immersed in the shock this article had brought them.

The numbness and fatigue caused by watching too many mediocre works were swept away without me even realizing it.

For them, reading a good article is like drinking fine wine, making them unconsciously intoxicated by it.

After an unknown amount of time, Grand Scholar Lin let out a long sigh and exclaimed, "In my more than thirty years of reviewing imperial examination essays, I have never seen anyone write about the examination questions with such depth. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought it was the posthumous work of some sage..."

Grand Scholar Zhao stroked his beard and praised, "A masterpiece, truly a masterpiece! I dare say, even if he fails the imperial examination, this article alone is enough to secure his place in history..."

Grand Secretary Zhou took a deep breath, looked at the crowd, and asked, "In your opinion, what grade should this article be given?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the other four Grand Secretaries spoke up without hesitation.

"Above."

"Above."

"Above."

"Above."

The four spoke in unison, without the slightest hesitation.

In their view, even the highest grade was merely the upper limit of the score for an imperial examination essay, not the upper limit of the essay itself.

This essay, "Exhortation to Learning," is destined to be passed down through the ages.

Grand Secretary Zhou nodded and solemnly wrote "A" in the upper right corner of the exam paper with a vermilion pen.

This is the first "Top Grade" essay in this imperial examination, and also the first "Top Grade" essay in the history of the imperial examination.

Scholar Zhao's face showed curiosity as he asked, "Who wrote this article? Could it be Zhang Huaiyu, Shen Shuyan, Du Yunfei...?"

The three he mentioned are all outstanding young talents in Da Ning, especially skilled in writing.

Grand Secretary Zhou shook his head and said, "Impossible. I know their abilities; this is not an article they could write..."

Not only these three candidates couldn't write it, but even the scholars present couldn't write such an essay.

The scholars were extremely curious: who was this extraordinary person who could write such a timeless masterpiece?

With such literary talent, he should have been famous long ago, so why did he need to take the imperial examination?

Everyone's eyes turned to the top left corner of the exam paper.

The exam papers they received were not the originals, but copies made by a scribe. They did not have the candidates' names on them, only a number.

9527.

This is the candidate number who wrote this article.

The scholars silently memorized the number, then returned to their positions to continue grading the papers.

The time allotted to them for reviewing papers is limited, and even if they encounter a truly exceptional piece, they cannot remain engrossed in it for too long.

However, even as they sat in their chairs, their emotions remained unsettled for a long time.

The article I just read was like a fine cup of tea; after drinking it, my mouth felt refreshed and my mouth was filled with sweetness. But after reading that article, all other articles suddenly seemed bland and tasteless…

Although thousands of essays remained unread, the Grand Secretaries all knew that the winner of this year's imperial examination in the essay category was already a foregone conclusion...

at the same time.

The west wing of the first floor of Wenhua Pavilion.

In stark contrast to the somber and apathetic atmosphere of the scholars upstairs, the atmosphere in this side hall was noticeably more lively.

An article is at least a thousand words long; after reading just a few, you'll feel dizzy and your head will be spinning.

However, a poem only has a few dozen characters; after a quick glance, the examiner already has a rating in mind.

The ten examiners sat in two rows, each with a thick stack of exam papers spread out in front of them.

They graded the papers very quickly, and every now and then someone would whisper a line or two of poetry, prompting comments from those around them.

Li Yannian, the former Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy, sat in the center. As the chief examiner, he did not need to grade as many exam papers as the other examiners.

The initial evaluation panel will select the best entries from nearly ten thousand submissions, and he will then give the final rating.

He would also look at the papers that the preliminary examiners had already graded to see if there were any outstanding works that had been overlooked.

On the first day, only about thirty candidate papers were delivered to Li Yannian's desk.

This number is one in a hundred out of nearly ten thousand exam papers.

Li Yannian picked up the first candidate paper, unfolded it, and scanned it. The paper contained a seven-character quatrain about "willow".

The poem mentions the old story of parting with willow branches and the wording is quite elegant, but overall it is just a retelling of the same idea that predecessors have written about countless times, with a few words changed, and it has nothing new.

He picked up his pen and wrote the character "乙上" on the edge of the scroll, then put it aside.

The second one was about "snow," and it used several rather novel metaphors. Li Yannian was somewhat pleased and gave it a "Grade A" after reading it carefully.

The third essay was about the "moon." The first two lines were quite elegant, but the last two lines fell into clichés. Li Yannian sighed and reluctantly gave it a "B" grade.

Several examiners not far away chatted as they graded the papers.

"This candidate wrote three poems, and they were all quite good."

"I just got someone here who wrote five poems. It seems he guessed quite a few of the images correctly, but unfortunately they were all poorly written. None of them were worthy of my attention."

"I have another one here with six poems. Although none of them are masterpieces, every single one of them is a gem. It's really hard to choose between them."

"In my opinion, the poetry section of the imperial examination should also be changed. The imagery is too easy to predict. Some candidates spend a lot of money to buy a lot of poems and can predict more than three correctly. What's the difference between that and cheating?"

……

Listening to the discussions of the crowd, Gu Huaiyuan, the former Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, picked up a new exam paper.

Upon handling the test roll, he was slightly taken aback.

For the poetry subject, you only need to choose one image from ten.

Some candidates chose two or three options, hoping to seize the opportunity, which is understandable.

Poems are not as long as articles; they range from twenty to forty or fifty characters, and when written on paper, they are only two or three lines long.

But this exam paper was covered with dense handwriting, filling the entire paper.

Gu Huaiyuan counted them; this candidate had actually written ten poems, using every single imagery imaginable…

He had read through the examination papers of several imperial examinations, but this was the first time he had encountered one that required writing ten poems. He couldn't help but gasp.

One of the examiners glanced at it and asked with a smile, "Lord Gu, what's wrong? Have you read some excellent works?"

Gu Huaiyuan shook his head and said, "No, I haven't read the contents yet, but this candidate actually wrote ten poems, describing all the imagery..."