The test method of the Daming Examination is basically similar to the Township Examination, but there are some differences. Although the exam is still divided into three sessions, namely the 9th, 12th, and 15th of February, the two days before the exam, the Xishetu must be posted first.

The so-called Xi Shetu is to use a picture to draw the number of seats between the east and west rows, arrange and write a certain line between the lines to lift someone to sit somewhere, and paste his name in the middle of the list to show it.

The examiner, whether it is the chief examiner, deputy examiner, tribute officer, promotion officer, invigilator or other officials related to the examination, after the chief and deputy examiners are appointed by the emperor, they are not allowed to return home, and immediately enter the examination hall after receiving the order, and immediately seal the key inside and outside the door, and are not allowed to enter and exit without permission, commonly known as "locking the courtyard".

In order to prevent cheating, not only the chief and deputy examiners temporarily appointed the emperor, but also the test questions of the exam were not issued in advance. The questions for each exam are drawn up by the examiners on the day before the exam, and craftsmen are immediately summoned to engrave them on the inner curtain all night. In the same way, these craftsmen cannot leave after they have finished printing the examination papers, and must wait in the examination hall until the examination is fully completed before they are allowed to leave.

Gao pragmatic came to the test this time, and found that the examination is not necessarily stricter than the township test in all aspects, such as the body search when entering the examination room, the road test and the township test are all clean and clean, but the test does not need to take off clothes, but "routine body search, scarf to look", so as not to "damage morale".

Of course, then again, the township test is in August, and it's not cold to take it off, and this test is in February, if you take off the check, it is estimated that a large group of weak scholars may have a cold and fever or something, which is indeed a little embarrassing.

Gao pragmatic entered the examination room, and found that this test is really not much different from the township test, if you have to say that there is, it is nothing more than that there are more people, and even the standard of the seat house has not improved, maybe only the room standard of the Jiangnan Gongyuan can be better, and other places even if it is this Jingshi Gongyuan, it is just an ordinary examination shed, it is good to be able to shelter from the wind and rain, and the others are really nothing worth mentioning.

However, it may be that most of the people are not diligent and their bones may not be strong, so in the spring of February, the imperial court arranged charcoal and coal for heating as usual, and the charcoal was only used by the examiners, and the coal was supplied to all the candidates. Gao Shishi was a little crying and laughing and found that the small coal stove at his feet was produced by Jinghua, and there was honeycomb coal burning in it, and there was no doubt that it must have come from Jinghua.

Of course, these are all small things, and the important thing is the exam.

The first session of the examination is the same as the township examination, which is also a test of seven articles and eight shares, and its focus is only on the first three: the first article mainly looks at the questions, the second article is important for the whole text, and the third article mainly looks at the discourse. The last four articles are as long as they conform to the format and there are no obvious errors or omissions. Of course, if you are talented and have already flowed all over the place, it doesn't matter if you have to write the last four articles seriously, but ...... The examiner won't look closely anyway, because the examiner's time may be tighter than the candidate's, and they don't have that time to spare.

Gao Shishi has a large number of top students to teach him exam experience, so his exam is different from many ordinary candidates, he knows that although the Hui Exam is the same as the Township Exam, the writing of these articles is not completely consistent with the Township Exam. Among them, the two most important points are to figure out the atmosphere, and the other is to explore the meaning of the examiner.

Why do we need to figure out the atmosphere? Because Baguwen is also called Shiwen, whether it is content, format, or style, it is constantly changing with the changes of the times. Especially in the Ming Dynasty, the changes of the Bagu Wen were more obvious during the creation and finalization period, so Gu Yanwu once said: "Where the text is, each subject changes."

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the folk customs were simple, and its eight-strand text was only to explain the purpose of the book, which was short and simple. Later, the weft was based on the righteous law, and the style gradually became formed, and in the Chenghua and Hongzhi periods, the cutting was neat and neat, and the machine was rounded and mature; In the time of Zhengde and Jiajing, Tang Shunzhi and Gui Youguang used ancient texts as current texts, so that the current texts and ancient texts appeared to merge; Nowadays, it is even more troublesome in the Wanli years, due to the gradual rise of the dispute between practical learning and mental learning, the examination of the current text or the lecture bureau, or the talent, or the joy of rhetoric, changing with each passing day, endlessly.

This is the most difficult part of Gao Shipra's exam, if you write an essay that is contrary to the atmosphere, it will definitely be difficult to be Chinese. In fact, some celebrities in the Ming Dynasty, such as Feng Menglong and Ai Nanying, were originally masters of the eight stocks, but because they would not follow the trend, they had a rough field.

In general, there are two types of literary styles in the Ming Dynasty, one is respected by the school of practical learning, which requires that there is something to be said, and every word must be to the point. The other type is admired by the study of the mind, which requires a gorgeous atmosphere, a subtle idea, and a faint sense of fairy spirit when reading.

These two styles of writing are very different, but the Chinese style is quite promising, the key is to see which grader got your paper, and which faction he is a supporter. This is also the main reason why Gao Pragmatic feels that he can be Chinese according to his level, but whether he can win or not depends on luck.

So, why do you want to find out what the examiner means? Because Daming will test the questions, of course, it is decided by the examiners who turn the book the day before the exam, and the house officials can also express their opinions, but the examiner is in power, and the person who makes the final decision is always him, so he will eventually set the exam questions according to his own will, and the house officials still have to listen to the examiner's arrangement in the final analysis.

In this exam, the examiner is Shen Shixing, Gao Shixing does not have to worry about being ridiculed after the exam, but at the same time, he also has a disadvantage, that is, Shen Shixing's questions are likely to come out of a style that he is not particularly good at.

But fortunately, there was an ancestral system in the Ming Dynasty, which was really beneficial to Gao Pragmatic, that is, it would try to win the middle, which was divided into three lists: south, north and middle. This ancestral system began with Zhu Yuanzhang, who was far less strong than the south because the north had not recovered for a long time, so the result of the fair examination was that the number of middle lifters in the south was ten times that of those in the north.

Of course, this is absolutely unacceptable to Zhu Yuanzhang, because in the long run, the north must rebel, so Zhu Yuanzhang personally selected a group of scholars from the examination papers of the north, forming a relatively balanced number with the south, and for this reason, he also killed a group of people who thought that it was unfair to take scholars in this way.

Zhu Yuanzhang is actually smart at this point, because once the gap between the north and the south is too big, sooner or later the court will be full of southern scholars, how can they care about the life and death of the north? Therefore, this practice of his was gradually institutionalized by later emperors, who divided the trial volume into three volumes: southern, northern, and middle.

Among them, there are Yingtian and Susong Mansions, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Huguang, and Guangdong; Those who roll in the north include Shuntian, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and Shaanxi; In the middle of the volume, there are Sichuan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Fengyang, Luzhou two prefectures, Chu, Xu, and three prefectures.

That is to say, because Gao Pragmatic was born in Henan, his test papers were directly entered into the northern volume, and he only needed to compete with the scholars of Shuntian, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan Province, instead of competing with a large number of scholars in Susong, Shaoxing and other places. It is a blessing in misfortune, even if he happens to encounter some retreat questions in Shen Shixing, Gao Pragmatic has already made up his mind, he can blow it, and if he can't blow it, he will write it as usual, anyway, according to the proportion of the scholars, if 100 people are the quota for the whole list, then 55 people will be taken from the south volume, 35 people from the north volume, and 10 people from the middle volume. He felt that he was in the northern volume, and the chances of winning should be relatively high.