After Fang Zhongyong arranged the disaster relief, he went to White Horse Mountain for two more days. Watching Zhang Panlong and the others do things, they are also very organized. After everything was on the right track, he let it go to others to do, and he still returned home to read books and practice calligraphy.

The habits of the Chinese, but the Lantern Festival is not the end of the year. The opening time of the county school is also the sixteenth day of the first month. Fang Zhongyong got up early in the morning and came to the school. Mr. Lau has always been strict in management and especially does not like students to be late. If there is a lateness, the punishment will be punishable, and the heavy will be a ruler to serve.

Fang Zhongyong entered the school, and before he could ask about Zhang Panlong and the others, Mr. Liu had already come in. I saw that the gentleman's face was serious, and he said in a low and powerful voice: "According to the practice of previous years, there will be a county test on February 20. If there are excellent results at that time, you can go to Fuzhou, the state capital, to take the state exam in April. If you can pass the state test, you can participate in the road test of Jiangnan West Road. If you can pass, you will be considered to have a reputation for talent. Only those who have shown their talents and fame can participate in the September examination. As for the provincial examination or even the palace examination in the future, I haven't taken the test, sir, so I won't say much. The students burst into laughter.

Mr. Liu waited for the students to laugh enough before he said: "In short, there are less than forty days left for you. Therefore, during this time, you should take half a day off every 10 days so that you can take a bath. No leave, no absenteeism, no tardiness. Do you understand? The students replied sparsely, "Understood."

Fang Zhongyong felt that it was a bit exaggerated, did Xiao Shengchu need to be so serious?

Ladies and gentlemen, if you compare the links of the Northern Song Dynasty scientific examination with later generations, the county examination is about the beginning of the small promotion, the state examination is the high school entrance examination, the road test is equivalent to the college entrance examination (after it is Xiucai, it is equivalent to a college student), the solution test is the postgraduate examination, and the provincial examination (the examination organized by Shangshu Province) is about the examination of the doctorate. As for the palace examination, it is very powerful, and it is worthy of the senior civil service examination.

It is naturally not difficult to go to junior high school, but what if there is only one school enrollment in the entire Fuzhou? Fuzhou is a lower state, which only governs four counties: Linchuan (where the state capital is located), Chongren, Yihuang and Jinxi. There are 65 places to participate, and only 15 places are allocated to Jinxi County. More than 70 percent of the 53 students in the county school will be eliminated. Moreover, the county examination is held in Jinxi, and officials such as the county magistrate, the county lord, the chief bookkeeper, and the canon and history can participate. In this way, it also provides an opportunity for the second generation like Zhang Panlong to cheat. Despite Mr. Liu's strong support, Fang Zhongyong also found it difficult.

Talking tactfully about his worries to Mr., Mr. Liu laughed and said, "You are too worried." Not to mention that the officials of the county government should take care of their face, and they dare not dethrone all the students who are really talented and learned. What's more, they also have the right to recommend, and they can recommend their own children and nephews to participate in the road test directly, without squeezing out the quota of poor students. ”

Without worries, Fang Zhongyong devoted himself to learning. Don't look at it as just a county exam, the rules are the same as the high-level exam.

There are many poems, scriptures, and strategies.

Poems are all propositional poems, and they limit the rhyme. If you can't rhyme the word, it is unqualified. Although there are some defects that limit the way of thinking, the exam may not be about poetry. There are so many test-taking poems in ancient times, except for Qian Qi's "The end of the song is gone, and the peaks on the river are green", there are almost no names.

This problem is not difficult to solve, and the Book of Rhymes is designed to deal with it. Write the poem first and replace it with synonyms that match the rhyme. Although it may be a little less meaningful, it is generally the same.

Also keep in mind the special format requirements: for example, the emperor's name "Zhen" in this dynasty, then you can't use the word "Zhen" in the exam anyway, and the same is true for the names of Taizu and Taizong. Look at how intimate Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, is afraid that it will be difficult for scholars in the world, so he deliberately named his descendants according to the side of gold, wood, water, fire and earth. Originally, the word "zhao" was usually added, and next to the word fire, didn't you have to consider the problem of evasion?

It's even easier to solve the problem of avoidance. Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, there have only been four emperors, namely Zhao Kuangyin, Taizong of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Heng of the Song Zhenzong, and Zhao Zhen of the current official family (Renzong is the temple name, used after death), and the words on their names are not used.

The hardest part is the strategy.

"Policy" is easy to say, that is, a brief discussion of current affairs, which is a short-answer question. The "Commentary" should be answered in detail and in a feasible manner. Because of the "simplicity" of the ancients, they believed that a person's character and pattern could be seen from the articles (especially those of a discursive nature).

They believe that the people who dare to pinpoint the evils of the times are often upright and honest people, such as Wen Tianxiang. Examiner Wang Yinglin commented on Wen Tianxiang's test paper "Gu Yi is like a turtle, and loyal liver is like iron stone". Sure enough, as Wang said, later Wen Tianxiang fought against the Yuan alone, calmly became righteous in Dadu, and left a glorious poem of "Who has not died in life since ancient times, and left Dan to take care of the sweat and green".

If he is an opportunistic person who has no position, his articles are often meaningless and rudderless. Such as the champion Hu Guang when Emperor Wen was established in the Ming Dynasty. In the champion volume, half of his sentences on the issue of "benevolent government" are not realistic, but only empty discussions about "virtuous talents", "etiquette and music", "things are in their order, things are in harmony, then courtesy and happiness are seen and benevolence and righteousness are written", and so on. In response to the second question of the "wicked person" (actually referring to Zhu Di), Hu Ze quoted the scriptures and lashed out, which was in stark contrast to his later betrayal of Emperor Jianwen and welcoming Zhu Di, and also confirmed from the events of his marriage with Xie Jin, and later Xie Jin's misfortune and desire to regret his marriage.

If you don't know the exam questions beforehand, even if you are a seasoned veteran writer, you will inevitably reveal your thoughts and opinions in a long speech. If the examiner analyzes carefully, it is not difficult to find a candidate's governing philosophy - this is the rationality of the ancient imperial examination. Although many people have lost themselves in the ups and downs of the sea and become slaves of money and power, who does not have a red heart when they first enter the career?

"The Book of Rites and the University" has a cloud: those who want to be clear and virtuous in the world will rule the country first; Those who want to rule their country must first gather their families; Those who want to gather their families must first cultivate their bodies; Those who want to cultivate their bodies must first correct their hearts; Those who want to correct their hearts must first be sincere; If you want to be sincere, you must first know it, and you will know it in Gewu.

Translated into this, a person should learn from things, and then cultivate himself with sincerity and righteousness, and finally achieve the perfect goal of governing the country and leveling the world. The former belongs to personal cultivation, and the latter belongs to the governing philosophy.

Mr. Liu thinks that Fang Zhongyong's personal cultivation is very good, and the Qi family is doing well, but he obviously lacks thinking about the problems of the ruling side.

Ladies and gentlemen, don't complain, the scholars in ancient times were often YY, what if they were feudal officials, and what if they ruled the world. In the Analects of Confucius, the ambition of several high-ranking disciples of Confucius is to govern a place, and the difference is only in the size of the place and the short time it takes. Even Huang Chao, who was coarse and ink-coarse, said when he was young, "If I am the Green Emperor in his year", although his tone is a little crazy, it can also be seen that the ancient scholars wanted to "represent the herdsmen of the Son of Heaven".

But Fang Zhongyong has never had the idea of a "herdsman" in his two lifetimes. In his previous life, he was the object of "shepherding", and he didn't need to think about it or dare to think about it; In this life, although he also wants to do something for the country and the people, he always feels far away from himself. Ruling has to be at least considered by officials, right? Aren't you even a showman now?

Mr. Liu was very disdainful of Fang Zhongyong's lack of progress: "The eyes of the rat are inch! If you don't plan ahead, how do you answer that policy? ”

Fang Zhongyong secretly slandered himself: Secretly hiding to the side YY "I want to dominate the world", is it really as justified as you say?

Of course, the YY of the ancients, uh no, there are textbooks for the concept of righteous governance.

One of them is called "Pipe". Written by Guan Zhong under the name of the name, it is actually a compilation of the speeches of various schools of thought in the pre-Qin period, and some people even believe that its content covers some of the expositions of the early Western Han Dynasty (Guo Moruo). In later generations, it is probably a book such as "Orthodox Economics". There are 86 articles in total, of which 10 are only named.

His "Herdsmen", "Situation" and other articles talk about hegemony and political technology; "Extravagance", "Governing the Country" and other articles on economic production, which is also the essence of "Guanzi", can be described as the economic policy of Qi hegemony. Some of the theories about the economy were also very advanced and even radical in the eyes of later generations.

For example, in "Extravagance", "What about the prosperity? Mo is good at extravagance; If you are cheap and real, and if you are useless, you can be punished. ......" and other expressions are simply the ancient version of "stimulating consumption and stimulating domestic demand", and its economic viewpoint has been advanced for 2,000 years. Of course, being too advanced is also a disadvantage. After Guan Zhong's death, the state of Qi quickly indulged in extravagance, forgetting that the purpose of extravagance was to enrich the country. In the end, everyone coveted wealth and became the only great power among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States to surrender directly to Qin.

Fang Zhongyong never dared to underestimate the wisdom of the ancients, but when he listened to Mr. carefully explain Guan Zhong's theory, he was really shocked. Could it be that this goods was crossed by economic experts?

What shocked Fang Zhongyong even more was the fifty-five articles of "Han Feizi". If "Guanzi" is a righteous economics, "Han Feizi" is a textbook for the examination of senior civil servants. Later generations did not explain the book "Han Feizi" very clearly, and Fang Zhongyong's impression still stayed on the general introduction of "Legalist masterpieces", "Han Feizi is the master of Legalist thought" and so on. What kind of "masterpiece" it is, what kind of "masterpiece", like most people, he can't say.

Of course, there are many reasons why the book "Han Feizi" is not respected by later generations. In addition to the overemphasis on strict punishment and the conflict with the slogan of "benevolence and filial piety" advocated by previous dynasties, Han Feizi's big mouth is also an important reason - although Han Feizi himself stutters a little. See what he said? What "literary scholars do not use, and if they use it, they will mess with the law", what "Confucianism uses literature to mess with the law, and chivalry uses martial arts to violate the ban". What do you think of the Confucianists who let later generations dominate the world and "seek defeat alone"? If you don't dig Han Feizi out of the grave and bombard it with cannons for three days, it can be said to be extremely kind.

Then the question arises, why hasn't the book "Han Feizi", which "slandered" Confucianism, been criticized orally or even directly404?

Without him, he knows his own affairs. No matter how much the Confucian scholars admired the Confucian sages, and how noble the benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith were, they knew that it was not enough to rely on benevolence and filial piety to manage or govern the "cattle and sheep" (herding, not herding cattle) in a place—even if there was the so-called "half of the Analects to rule the world" of the virtuous minister Zhao Pu. What should I do if a cow or sheep is sick? Speaking of benevolence? That's what witches do. What should I do if there are disobedient cattle and sheep? It doesn't listen to righteousness, so it can only rely on whips. What's more, what if a jackal comes? Speaking of benevolence? Learn about the story of Mr. Dongguo and the wolf.

All in all, if you want to be a good shepherd, you must not only learn "grass and clear water" such as benevolence and filial piety, but also learn to use whips, and even sticks, knives and guns.

The Legalist writings represented by "Han Feizi" are to provide an arsenal of whips. If you don't want to be a good shepherd, you are not a good reader. As a result, the Confucian scholars denounced Han Feizi who "humiliated my ancestors", and secretly studied the use of whips and sticks.

Mr. Lau is not actually a good shepherd because he has no experience in herding.

Mr. Liu was also very self-aware, and recommended Wu Renli, a pastor who had served as a real worker, to teach Fang Zhongyong's "Han Feizi". Don't look at Mr. Wu's appearance of being a merry man and a dissolute person, when it comes to Legalist theories, there are also a set of theories. Fang Zhongyong deeply suspected that Wang Anshi's single-minded reform was influenced by his uncle.

On this day, Mr. Wu talked about "Six Antis" and asked: "If you must know, you will prepare, and if you must be punished, you will stop; If you don't know, you will be wanton, and if you don't punish you, you will do it. Why? ”

Fang Zhongyong replied in a proper manner: "This sentence means that bad people will only be afraid when they can be detected; If you must be punished, you will not dare to do it again. When he can't be detected, he is presumptuous; Without punishment, he will run amok. ”

Mr. Wu shook his head and said, "Superficial! The meaning of this phrase is not just as simple as it seems, but it also means that a perfect law should be established so that the people will know that the law cannot be broken. If there is a violation, the law should be enforced harshly, so that others who have not yet broken the law will be alerted. ”

Fang Zhongyong was very puzzled: "In this way, wouldn't it fall into the name of a cool official?" ”

"Cool officer? What is Cool Officer? Those who only talk about right and wrong, and don't talk about human feelings are cool officials. If there is a filial son who stabs the enemy in order to avenge his mother's humiliation, how should you decide? Regardless of the reason, it is a cool official who is cut with a knife, and it is the blue sky of benevolence and righteousness that is properly settled by the law and his family. This size, you should think carefully and think carefully. ”