"My lord, it's almost time, so you might as well rest. In another hour and a half, it's time for you to go to the Imperial City to preside over the Lantern Festival. ”

In a mansion at the end of Hundred Flowers Lane, an old servant had just replaced the candle that was about to burn out. looked at the middle-aged man lying in front of the desk and reminded him gently.

"Fauber, you can just let someone else do this kind of thing. You're old, so don't stay up late with me. The middle-aged man raised his head, took the hot towel from Fauber's hand, wiped his face, and said.

"More adults, this man is old, and he always wants to do something. I've been busy for most of my life. Can't be idle. Fu Bo smiled kindly and walked out gently.

There are many books neatly arranged on the shelves in the house. And the files in front of the case are piled up. In front of the man was a test paper for today's preliminary examination in Dali Temple. The name on the test paper is impressively written-Li Fu.

"Senior brother, senior brother, it's been fifteen years since you go, and you still can't let go?" The man looked at the breath revealed between the lines on the scroll and let out a long sigh.

…………………

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, the eastern capital on this day is much more lively than yesterday, thousands of people poured into the streets, not only to welcome the Lantern Festival, but also to celebrate the Lantern Festival, the most important thing today is the annual Lantern Festival.

At ten o'clock in the morning, a light rain fell in the eastern capital, and the cold breath could not stop the tsunami-like enthusiasm of the people in the eastern capital.

Carriages with the logo of the student supervisor entered the Daming Palace from the Chengtian Gate. After going through layers of inspections, I finally came to the destination of this year's Lantern Festival test - Hanguang Palace.

Hanguang Hall is composed of one main and two subordinate palaces, the west side is the Chaoyang Hall of the Wen Test, and the east side is the Wuqu Hall of the Wu Test. The main hall in the middle is the Hanguang Hall that is tested once every three years.

On both sides of the square in front of the Hanguang Palace, there are many dragon guards in red armor, and they are heavily guarded.

In front of the eighty-first rank of Shinto in the main hall, there was a great Confucian with an expressionless face, and he waited silently.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please stand on both sides of the Shinto in the order of the civil and military examinations, and the students of the literary examination should follow the adults of the student supervisor into the Chaoyang Hall. The students of the martial arts test followed Commander Xie into the corridor of His Royal Highness Wuqu to rest for a while.........

After the text test is closed, the martial arts test selection will be held. “

An adult of the Ministry of Rites stood up and read out aloud the rules of the Lantern Festival test

Far away, Li Fu saw that in the northeast of the imperial city, there was a brightly lit hall. Far away, you can feel a wave of heat coming.

The Lantern Festival is one of the most important ceremonies in Datang. The emperor of the Tang Dynasty will issue the imperial list after the examination and announce it to the world. Moreover, the top three royal families in the Lantern Festival examination will send out rewards every year to encourage them.

This is just one of the benefits, and the most anticipated thing is that after the Lantern Festival examination, you can choose to enter the six universities in the Eastern Capital according to your ranking in the examination. So as to participate in the triennial court examination and embark on the road of official career.

"This year's Lantern Festival will be judged by Dazai and Taibo-sama.

For those who win the top three, His Majesty the Emperor will select the royal relics from the royal treasury and encourage students from all over the world to study diligently

Students, let's do what you want. “

Just before starting, a father-in-law came from the direction of Daming Palace, whispered in the ear of the Ministry of Rites for a moment, and it could be clearly seen that a trace of shock flashed on the face of the Ministry of Rites. It seems that this year's royal rewards are much richer than in previous years, and even the Ministry of Rites Shangshu did not expect it.

As soon as the voice fell, all the students in front of the hall looked at each other, and they were all very surprised.

In the Lantern Festival held by Datang over the years, the Ministry of Rites has always distributed prizes to the top three every year in the name of the emperor, and I have never heard of the royal family selecting prizes from the royal treasury.

Many students began to gear up and were eager to try. For the royal reward, it is very expected.

"Literature test students, please."

The great Confucian of the student prison also reacted from the shock, in his impression, the royal family has not participated in the Lantern Festival examination since the period of the Holy Queen, why is His Majesty the Emperor interested in this year?

As soon as the words fell, the students of the literary examination followed the great Confucian of the student supervisor into the Chaoyang Palace.

When Li Fu passed by Yang Zixu, the two glanced at each other and understood what each other meant.

"To get the ranking, I'll wait for you in the Wuqu Palace."

"Don't worry."

…………………………

Entering the Chaoyang Palace, it is not the appearance of yesterday in Dali Temple, but three rows of huge red curtains divide the entire Chaoyang Hall into three areas.

In the first area, nearly 100 chessboards are placed.

In front of each chessboard, there is a great Confucian who is a student supervisor. If you look closely, you can see that every chess board has already landed a good piece, and it is not a complete game of chess, but an endgame.

This level is a chess test.

"The rules of this year's Lantern Festival test are relatively simple, whoever can pass the three levels the fastest and walk out of the hall will win. And the time of each level shall not exceed the time of three incense sticks, students, please. “

As the first pillar of incense was lit, the students in the Chaoyang Hall began to choose their opponents.

In the Chaoyang Palace, after a short noise, only the crisp sound of falling children remained in the hall.

This year's examination is indeed very different from previous years, and this is only the first level, and it has already stumped many students. Most of the games on the chessboard are endgames played by Da Ru during the day, and the difficulty is quite high. Fortunately, you don't have to win a game to advance. As long as the difference between the two sides is less than fifteen hands, they are all qualified, and if you think about it carefully, this is not too demanding.

Among the students in the Chaoyang Palace, there are many chess geniuses, and some of them break the chess game and enter the next game after sitting down in less than five breaths. And some people need to spend half a column of incense or even a stick of incense to unravel.

"Town, teacher, you lost."

On the chessboard in front of Li Fu, the big Confucian holding the sunspot looked at the white characters that were almost covered with the chessboard, and shook his head helplessly, but there was no displeasure on his face. It's very gratifying to see where the white son falls.

"Not bad, not bad. I didn't think it would be until the seventy-sixth move, but I didn't expect you to break the game on the sixty-fourth. Everywhere the son falls, there is a hidden way of the art of war. The afterlife is terrifying. Da Ru looked at Li Fu with satisfaction and nodded, and said with a smile.

Li Fu bowed respectfully to the Great Confucian and walked to the next curtain

In the second row of curtains, rows of octagonal lanterns are hung, and on each side is a sentence or poem written by a small seal. This is a lantern riddle.

And under each octagonal lantern stands a Confucian scholar, who is responsible for unraveling the mystery.

The rules are simple, but you have to guess the eight-sided riddle on the lantern to get it right.

Li Fu randomly chose a lantern and saluted the Confucian scholar in front of him.

"Childe doesn't have to be polite, please." Confucian was expressionless, bowed slightly, and bowed back.

On the octagonal lanterns, Li Fu picked one side casually. It reads, 'The mountains are like sleeping', and the words 'Guess a word' are written in Lishu below.

"The mountains are like sleep, this is the word snow, sir, I don't know if the student guessed right?"

Li Fu said with a smile

"Yes, the riddle is indeed a 'snow' character, please see below."

Confucius nodded, tore the colored paper on the lamp, and wrote the word "snow" on his back

Li Fu glanced at this place and found that the lantern riddles here were not simple, far more difficult to guess than those at the Lantern Festival rally. But for myself, it's not too much of a problem.

"Few talented veterans must be, and the riddle is 'moderation'"

……………………..

"The left is green, the right is red, the left and right meet the cool breeze, the green likes the rain in time, and the red is most afraid of the water attack. It's an autumn word."

…………………….

In a short time, Li Fu guessed all the seven lantern riddles, but on the last side, he thought about the time of half a pillar of incense.

"Wenjun should be in charge, and Ziya is in the river."

• These are two passages recorded in the "Spring and Autumn Dew", which have been commented on four times by later generations, but have two different views. One is to seek common ground while reserving differences, and the other is to pretend to be deep. But Li Fu remembered that he once asked the master which of the two annotations was true, and the master did not answer Li Fu at that time, but just scoffed at him, and said lightly "selling fame and reputation" Li Fu was puzzled at the time, and the master did not interpret it later.

Li Fu thought about it for a while, and said that it was 'selling fame and reputation'"

Confucian Sheng looked at Li Fu in surprise, took off the material on the lantern riddle, and reversed it, which was written with the words "selling fame and reputation".

"Childe is really smart, the annotations on these two classics in "Spring and Autumn Dew" are all wrong, and Dazai-sama himself revised them a few years ago, and the sample has not yet been released. I didn't expect Childe to be able to guess this riddle. It seems that the next level will not be difficult for Childe. ”

There was a strange look in Confucian Sheng's eyes.