The three articles and four books are related to whether Ji Ning can finally enter Qiuqiu Guibang High School, and they are also the three most important articles in the nine-day exam.

The title of "Analects" is very simple, and people feel that this should be an easy topic at first glance: "Heaven mourns." ”

The title of "Mencius" is: "It is because of the people of the hills that he is the Son of Heaven, because the Son of Heaven is the prince, and because the princes are the doctors." ”

The title of the last article "The Mean" is also a special one among the three questions: "The country has no way to die." Is it tolerable, or is it unbearable? ”

At first glance, Ji Ning must feel that the third question is the most difficult, because the third question is a truncation question, the first half is from "The Mean", and the second half of the "is tolerable or unbearable" This is from the "Analects", the most difficult topic in the feudal imperial examination is precisely the truncation question after this sentence break, because it is not from a sentence, the content discussed is different, and it is easy to be biased to straighten out the way of thinking to compose.

But Ji Ning carefully looked at the question, but found that the third question was the easiest, and the most difficult was the first question with only three words.

The first question, "Heavenly Mourning", is from the Analects? The advanced chapter is Confucius's own emotion, Yu Tongyu, that is, me, explained the meaning of these three words, Confucius sighed and said, "This is God wants my life." What is the reason why the great sage Confucius is so complaining? Through the context of this sentence, we can know one or two, in the Analects? The advanced chapter also pointed out, "Yan Yuan died, Zi said: Oh! Heaven forbid! Heaven forbid! ”

Yan Yuan is Confucius's protégé Yan Hui.

Yan Hui, whose name is Ziyuan, worshiped under the name of Confucius at the age of fourteen, and was the most proud protégé of Confucius in his life. In the Analects? In the Yongye Chapter, there is a lot of space to describe how Yan Hui will be Confucius's proud protégé, saying that Yan Hui "a spoonful of food, a scoop of drink, in the alley, people are unbearable, and they will not change their pleasures", very diligent and studious, humble, "do not get angry, do not offend", which means that never anger others, the same mistake will not be made twice, so Confucius will be after Yan Hui's death, issued a sigh of "heaven mourns".

Yan Hui has always been recognized as the first figure among the seventy-two disciples of Confucius, in the time and space that Ji Ning is familiar with, Tang Taizong respected him as the "first teacher", Tang Xuanzong respected him as "Yan Gong", Song Zhenzong was crowned as "Yan Guo Gong", and Yuan Wenzong was honored as "Yan Guo Fu Shenggong". But in this era, because Yan Hui died early, the world has always been utilitarian, and Yan Hui is inconspicuous among so many disciples of Confucius.

With this background, after seeing the question and carefully calculating, the candidates will inevitably condense the direction of the discussion on the discussion of "views on the death of Yan Hui", discuss why Confucius will express the emotion of "heavenly mourning", summarize the life and deeds of Yan Hui, and express the feelings of the sage for cherishing his disciples, and this topic will be considered complete.

But Ji Ning realized that the topic was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

In Ji Ning's memory, the reason why Confucius admired Yan Hui so much was entirely because Confucius admired Yan Hui's "benevolence", and Yan Hui was very much in line with the standard of "etiquette and music" that Confucius admired. In the Analects? At the beginning of the "Advanced Chapter", he named the title of the opening chapter: "Advanced in Lile, savages also; After entering the courtesy, the gentleman also. If you use it, then I will be advanced. Meaning: "The one who first learns the rites and music and then becomes an official is a commoner; A person who first becomes an official and then learns etiquette and music is a gentleman. If I were asked what kind of talent I would use first, I would first use the "savage" who was "ahead of Liraku".

What is the reason why Confucius will feel that the "savage" should be used first when employing people, that is, because the "savage" first learned etiquette and music before becoming an official, which is very similar to the model of the feudal imperial examination, they are all ordinary people, first learn Confucian thought, then learn etiquette and music, and then become an official through the imperial examination, which is a talent in Confucius's view. And those who first became officials and then learned etiquette and music, that is, hereditary princes and nobles, they first had official positions and then learned etiquette and music, in Confucius's view, even if these people were "pianpian gentlemen", they could not be entrusted with great responsibilities.

And Yan Hui is a "savage" who has never been an official, but just followed Confucius to study tirelessly, and stood on the "benevolence".

So back to this issue, the reason why Confucius was so sad about Yan Hui's death was because he felt that he had lost a talent who stood on the basis of "benevolence". I have cultivated such an excellent disciple, and before I can become an official, the person has already died, and I have to sigh even if I am a saint.

The title of the first article became "On the Significance of Benevolence and Propriety in Confucius's Scholarship and Governance."

This question is a sublimated version of the ordinary candidate's understanding of the theme as "the view on the death of Yan Hui", and only by understanding the mentality of Confucius advocating learning and governing the country can we feel why Confucius felt so sad about Yan Hui's death.

Thinking of this, it was much easier for Ji Ning to put pen to paper, and he began to draw up the beginning of his essay on scratch paper: "The etiquette of benevolence lies in Yingtian, and the benevolence and filial piety of the Tao are dedicated to Anbang." The way to govern the country lies in courtesy, music, benevolence and filial piety......"

Ji Ning has a hill in his heart, when he understands the theme of the topic, he is also very attentive to the pen, the article is also written reasonably, the whole text is eloquent, and before he knows it, it has reached about three hundred words, and it needs to be finished, which is actually a summary of the article. Ji Ning wrote: "The holiness is lost to benevolence, and the sigh of the country is not happy with etiquette." ”

It means that the sorrow of the saint lies in the loss of the righteous person, and if the country dies, it will lament that the country's rituals and pleasures cannot flourish. It not only named the original title of "Heavenly Mourning", but also expressed Ji Ning's view that governing the country requires courtesy, music, benevolence and filial piety.

After writing it, he sighed, this article is also written by him very restrained, after all, it is the first article of the township test, after writing it, you must first check for typos and avoid suspicions, you can't break the ban, after a little modification, his "Analects" question is completed. This is also in Ji Ning's opinion, the most difficult of the three questions, he can relax a little after writing, and at this time, it has only been about half an hour since the exam, and he has already completed a question.

At this time, he put his heart on the second "Mencius" question, which in Ji Ning's opinion, should be regarded as a topic without any outstanding results.

"That's why the people of the hills are the Son of Heaven, the Son of Heaven is the princes, and the princes are the doctors."

Uttering "Mencius? This sentence may not be very famous, but the previous sentence of this sentence is familiar: "The people are precious, the community is secondary, and the monarch is light." In this way, a sentence in the title is brought out, which means: "Therefore, the person who is supported by the people can be the Son of Heaven, the person who is trusted by the Son of Heaven can be the king of the vassal states, and the person who is trusted by the kings of the vassal states can be the doctors." ”

The main argument is also in "the people are noble and the king is light".