After the roll call, the candidates entered. At this time, the candidates all sat down according to the number printed on the upper right side of the paper, and the number was pasted on the long bookcase every two feet, and each found their own seat and sat down, and was not allowed to move casually.

Gao Shishi looked around casually before taking his seat, and found that he might be one of the youngest candidates this year, mainly because there were too many candidates, and he was afraid that what he could see was not even one-tenth, and the reference value was not great. But he couldn't help muttering in his heart: I knew that there were so many candidates, and I should have discussed with the third uncle when I was in Jingshi, and simply gave me a "prodigy".

The so-called "raising prodigies" is a unique rule in the Ming Dynasty and belongs to a special examination. This means that a child of about 10 years old may be abnormally intelligent in a certain place, and can be recommended by the magistrates of each county, prefecture, or prefecture to participate in the Taoist examination as a prodigy. The Inspectorate takes special care of such people and treats them differently.

This kind of prodigy candidate, even if his eight-strand literature and science are slightly worse, as long as they are still passable among adult candidates, they will usually be admitted exceptionally. In history, Feng Menglong, a talented man in Wanli, was once recommended as a prodigy, and he entered the city at the age of eleven as a showman.

This prodigy system is not a fabrication, but a historical fact, and it is likely that there were too many prodigies in the Ming Dynasty.

The number of prodigies in the Ming Dynasty has been explained above, so there is no need to repeat them. But in fact, there are not only many prodigies, but there are even many direct test-taking stories recorded in history. For example, Jiajingshi, Tang Shunzhi, Wang Shenzhong, a talented man with the same name, and Zhao Shichun, who is both civil and military, is also a master of eight-strand literature.

Zhao Shichun was nine years old to "raise a prodigy" to participate in the Taoist examination, but because the essay was too good, the inspector suspected that someone was doing it on his behalf, so he called him over for an interview, and on the spot came up with a "Four Books" The most common two words are the title: "Zi Yue", asking him to solve the problem.

Zhao Shichun responded: "Pifu is the master of the world, and in a word, it is the law of the world." ”

This problem is not only in line with the identity of Confucius, but also completely breaks the meaning of the two words, which greatly surprises the superintendent. But after being surprised, the inspector wanted to try his talent again, so he asked him to use his name "Zhao Shichun" as the title to solve the problem.

The prodigy is worthy of being a prodigy, and Zhao Shichun still blurted out: "The surname is the first of the hundred schools, and the name is the first of the four orders." ”

That's ...... It's so clever that it doesn't make sense. The inspector was also greatly impressed, and immediately took the middle school and became a student.

Getting back to the point, Gao Pragmatic quietly looked at this time and found that at the outermost end of each bench, there was an instructor from each county, standing on the high bench for invigilation. In this case, he had heard Gao Gong tell him before, and if someone exchanged heads and ears at this time, the instructor who invigilated the examination would order a ban, and even put a seal on the test paper of the candidate who violated discipline, which was regarded as a violation.

Others, such as shifting seats, changing papers, throwing papers, making noise, looking forward to, crossing, and groaning, will be deducted from the exam, and the heavy will be flailed.

Soon after Gao Shishi sat down, the superintendent Li Yuantai came out, and he came to ask the question. It must be added here that there is not only one question in the Tao test, but "one test at a time".

That is to say, due to the large number of people, the road test is held in batches, and the batch of exams held at the same time is the same exam question, and the next wave of candidates will get another question, which is also to avoid suspected fraud such as leaking questions.

Of course, in order to show fairness as much as possible, the difficulty of the questions in different batches before and after should be roughly the same. The first batch of candidates will take the big questions, and the subsequent candidates will definitely take the big questions; Even if the first batch of candidates are admitted to the cut-off question, the later candidates will inevitably be admitted to the cut-off question, and so on.

At this time, still due to the large number of candidates, the announcement of the exam questions is also two lines at the same time: one is read by the instructor to take care of those who are short-sighted; The second is to write on the sign at the same time, and order the scribe to hold the sign to patrol the field, so that those who can carry the ear.

At this time, the sky is not yet bright, the candidates each light the candle prepared and put it on the bookcase, the candle in the examination booth is shining, and the question is also copied on the lamp board, and the scribe is carrying it and walking between the east and west corridors, so that the candidates can copy it.

Gao Shishi's seat position this time no one gave him special care, sat in a remote corner, couldn't hear the instructor's voice clearly, so he had to stretch his neck to look at the scribe's sign, but saw the nearest scribe holding up the sign with five words written on it: "Dade is not more than idle."

Gao Pragmatic immediately knew that this was a relatively less tricky question.

However, although the big questions are relatively less tricky than the small ones, they test the candidates' skills and heritage more. For example, Gao Gong guessed that Guo Pu would only make big questions and not small questions, the reason is that if Guo Pu accepts Gao Pragmatic as a disciple, he will definitely not go to a mere show, his focus can only be Jinshi, and the Jinshi exam must be tested and only big questions.

At this time of the turn of Longwan, the Dao test questions are about half of the probability of each of the big and small questions, mainly depending on the meaning of the superintendent.

Today's question "Great virtue is not more than idle", high pragmatism is no stranger, it is from "Analects Zizhang": "Zi Xia said: Great virtue is not more than leisure, and small virtue can also go in and out." ”

Great virtue, small virtue, still talk about big festivals, small sections. Idle, but also, so stop the entry and exit of things. Zhu Xi's "Collected Notes" makes it very clear: "If the speaker can first establish his greatness, then the subsection may not be fully reasonable, but it is also harmless." Zhu Xi's analysis of the purpose of this question is close and reasonable.

And "Reflexive Record" says: "On the difference between people and themselves, people should look at their major sections, the big sections are desirable, and the small differences are omitted; If you are in a good place, you can't be idle, and how can you go in and out of small virtues? As soon as there is a discrepancy, it is a heart-to-heart, meticulous and careless, and eventually a great virtue. ”

This statement does not contradict Zhu's statement, Zhu said that he faced ordinary people, and this theory faced saints. The subtleties are also inevitable for saints, but ordinary people?

Gao Pragmatism still maintains his habit of solving problems very quickly, and is almost the first to write down the problem and the topic on scratch paper:

"Those who watch people argue at their leisure, and they should turn to the great virtues."

"Cover the idle so it depends on its people, and if it does not exceed it, it depends on its idleness. To sum up the integrity of his person, and the rule of his virtue is great, the argument is here. ”

……

The road test in the Shen Shi only opened the door to put the first card, generally at this time there are very few candidates, sometimes not even one, but this year's Henan Road test in the first two people in the first card to hand in the paper. The crowd waiting outside to see the lively crowd saw that after the examination booth opened, two candidates, one big and one small, were sent out by the blowing and beating, and they suddenly caused a sensation and crowded forward to take a look.

I saw the two people walking out of the Kowloon Factory, one of them was only fifteen or sixteen years old, but he was obese, and he was a little out of breath after walking a few steps, and the gap between him and the image of the talent in the minds of the big guys was a bit big, which made people a little disappointed.

When I looked at another person in a blink of an eye, I was surprised. It turns out that this one is even younger, and he looks like he is only about ten years old, although he is not short, but he has not taken off the childishness between his eyebrows, but his expression is calm, not like a child.

Everyone was about to inquire about the origin of the two, and it happened that the scribe was rolling his name and sending off the two candidates who handed in the papers, and they knew the origin of the two: the fifteen or sixteen-year-old fat boy was named Chen Miao, originally from Henan Mansion, and changed his nationality to Kaifeng with his father a few years ago, so he was referred to in Kaifeng; The ten-year-old boy is named Gao Pragmatic, originally from Xinzheng, because Xinzheng changed to Kaifeng last year, so he also came to Kaifeng for reference.

Everyone discussed: "If only these two people dare to hand over the first card this year, I am afraid that the head of the case will be one of the two of them!" ”

Gao Pragmatic was not interested in listening to their discussions, but instead chatted with the candidate named Chen Miao, although the two did not communicate for a long time, but Gao Pragmatic felt that this person had solid knowledge, and if he played normally in the examination room, it was really possible to win the first place in the next exam.

Although Gao Pragmatic didn't think about taking this case earlier, he couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive in his heart at this moment, but this Chen Miao was too fat, and after standing and talking to Gao Pragmatic for a while, he actually felt a little untenable, so Gao Pragmatic had to say goodbye to him and go back by himself.

Three days later, the four tests were completed. After waiting for another five or six days, the list came out, this time it was not a round list, but a normal list, and the first column of the Taoist case was clearly written: Kaifeng Prefecture Xinzheng County is highly pragmatic. The second place is really none other than the fat boy Chen Miao [Note 1].