It was late at night, and the entire Yang Mansion had already fallen into darkness, only Yang Cong's study still had some light coming through.

Yang Cong sat at the desk, staring blankly at the several eight-strand essays in front of him, his brows furrowed into a Sichuan shape.

It's not that he can't understand what these articles are about, after all, the original Yang Cong has also "read" the "Four Books and Five Classics" for more than ten years, not to mention that he is talented and rich, and he can still understand the general articles.

Problem, he can't find the law of the eight-strand text!

Of course, if you understand it from the aspects of format and regulations, it would be nonsense to say that the eight-strand text is irregular.

The format and rules of the eight-strand text are quite regular, and it is not an exaggeration to describe these rules as pedantic and rigid.

So, how rigid is Baguwen?

First of all, the title of the Baguwen must come from the "Four Books and Five Classics", that is, you don't have to guess the title of the imperial examination, it must be taken from a certain sentence in the "Four Books and Five Classics".

For example, "Learn and learn, don't you also say?" "Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, and knowing is knowing." "Tianxingjian, a gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement. And so on, these may be used as questions for the imperial examination.

Then, the format requirements of the eight-strand essay are very strict, and the whole article must be divided into eight parts, including the topic, the topic, the starting share, the middle share, the back share, and the bundle of shares, and the last four parts, the starting share, the middle share, the back share, and the bundle share, that is, the body of the formal exposition of your point of view, each part must be composed of two strands of dualized text, a total of eight shares, and the name of the eight-strand text also comes from this.

Of course, these eight strands of text are not divided into eight paragraphs, and then the last four paragraphs are four pairs of dual texts, and the imperial examination has strict rules on the format and content of each paragraph.

For example, to solve the problem, you must use two to three sentences to break the essence of the topic; To undertake the topic, you must use three to five sentences to undertake the problem and further explain the topic.

As a simple example, if you take "learning and learning" as the title, how to write a qualified eight-strand essay at the beginning?

Two sentences to break the problem: learning and progress, the merit is pure.

Three sentences of the subject: cover learning without learning with Buddhism, etc., learning from time to time with Buddhism, etc., and pure scholars do not care.

It's right to write in this way, you can't elaborate your argument at the beginning, and you can't ramble a lot, and the first two paragraphs must be strictly in accordance with the format of the eight-strand essay to break the topic and accept the topic.

As for the beginning, simply put, it is what I am talking about, and I am going to start talking, because the previous topic and the topic are all to explain the meaning of the topic, and there is no own discussion, and you can elaborate your own argument from this point on, so this talk also has the meaning of triggering the discussion.

There is also the following topic, simply put, what is my understanding of the topic, that is, to further explain my argument in combination with the topic and the above explanation, as for why I understand it this way, please see the following discussion of the starting stock, the middle share, the back share, and the bundle of shares, this topic is roughly to play a role in the middle transition.

The final starting shares, middle shares, rear shares, and bundle shares are the main text, that is, elaborating their own arguments.

These four paragraphs are the most examined, because each paragraph must be composed of two rows of dualized words, and it must be like writing poems and couplets, paying attention to mediocrity and rhyme.

For example, you can't simply describe the sea and the octopus, the sea is vast, the blue water is endless, as if connected to the sky, and the octopus in the sea is .......

According to the format of the eight-strand text, it should be roughly written like this.

O sea, you are all water.

Octopus, you're all legs.

Of course, this kind of writing is just barely in terms of format, and the content is seriously out of line with the regulations, because Baguwen also has strict requirements for the content of the article, or the way of description.

There is also one of the most important provisions of the Baguwen, that is, the entire article must speak in the tone of ancient sages such as Confucius and Mencius, that is, the so-called speaking on behalf of the sages, and it is absolutely not allowed to play freely, write as you want, say as you want, and do not blaspheme the saints with allusions to the wind and snow.

This old man is terrible, because the ancient sages basically carried the particles, such as "hu", "who", and "also" when they spoke, and if you want to write something that looks like the tone of the ancient sages, you have to add these particles everywhere, and if you add it well, if you don't add it well, then you have to make a joke.

For example, if the previous description of the sea and the octopus were written exactly according to the requirements of the Bagu text, it would roughly become like this.

The sea is so big that it is endless, and the sea is full of water.

The octopus is absurd and uninhibited, and it is full of legs.

This rigid format and numerous rules are the most criticized aspects of Baguwen.

For example, the first two or three sentences break the topic, three or four sentences inherit the topic, and even the number of sentences is stipulated, how can people play?

For example, the last eight strands of text are the same as writing couplets, you must be neat and tidy, and you must explain your own views like writing couplets, isn't this a waste of everyone's time?

What's more, Baguwen has regulations on the number of words in the entire article, according to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, the test paper of more than 500 words will be abolished, 500 words, and the front must be written according to the format requirements of four paragraphs that are almost nonsense, how can this point of view be clearly discussed?

Also, the whole article has to be written in the tone of the ancient sages, how embarrassing it is, many ancient scholars are like taking the wrong medicine, and they are full of mouths, in fact, it's not that they like to talk like this, but that the imperial examination requires them to use this tone!

All in all, in terms of format and regulations, the eight-strand text is quite regular, so why does Yang Cong think that the eight-strand text can't find a pattern?

The main reason is that all candidates know these formats and regulations!

The law he wanted to find out was a law that all scholars in this era did not know, or rather, what he wanted to find was a shortcut to the imperial examination.

To put it simply, you don't have to be like the nerds of this era to read the "Four Books and Five Classics" to make a good eight-strand text.

Naturally, this method was not so easy to find out, and he took a few eight-strand essays and carefully compared them for a long time, but he still didn't have a clue.

He only felt that these eight-strand essays were rigid and rigid in addition to being pedantic, and they were not interesting at all, and they made people drowsy when they looked at them.

These articles are indeed not very good, because these are all things that he cheekily went to Mr. Yan to ask for after eating, that is to say, these eight-strand essays were written by those poor people who were his classmates.

In fact, the county school not only explains the "Four Books and Five Classics", but Mr. Yan also often asks the following students to write eight-strand essays.

However, he just made the question, rarely explained, and would not teach students to summarize the rules of the eight-strand text, so he asked you to write it yourself and show him after writing.

When he reads it, he will read it in public to show his appreciation if he thinks it is good, and if it is not good, he will criticize it, and that's it.

These so-called well-written ones are naturally written by those poor talents, they can all be admitted to Xiucai, and they must be much better than Yang Cong and their examples.

Yang Cong used to belong to the category of bad writing, but the eight-strand essay he wrote was not so incomprehensible, so Mr. Yan said that his qualifications were okay, as long as he worked hard, there was no problem in being admitted to the students.

It's not that he doesn't want to work hard at this time, he just doesn't want to work hard according to the methods of the scholars of this era, and if he wants to work hard according to the methods of the readers of this era, he may have to study for a few years before he can be admitted to Xiucai.

Moreover, even if he works hard all his life, it is difficult to say whether he can be admitted to the lifting of people.

As for Jinshi, it was really as Mr. Yan said, there was no hope at all.