On the ninth day of the second month of the first year of Zhengde in 1727, the Ministry of Rites presided over the examination of the Spring Enke Examination in the Gongyuan in the southeast of Beijing as scheduled, and more than 3,000 people lined up in a long line to enter the Gongyuan room after a long body search, preparing for the next day's examination. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThe two examiners of this Enke examination are the Rite Department Shangshu, the Wuyingdian University Scholar Wang Jing, and the Wenyuan Pavilion University Scholar Wang Wei.

Due to the implementation of the 100-point system, this examination can also be said to be full of great uncertainty, especially after the emperor abolished the mandatory eight-strand essay format, it is a major blow to the scholars who use ******** on how to write eight-strand essays, even Yang Shen, the number one favorite who is the champion, does not dare to play any more in this situation.

Of course, it is also because of the 100-point system that the scoring of the other two exams can no longer be as perfunctory as before, resulting in an unprecedented number of 30 examiners in the Enke examination this time. Even so, the pressure of marking the paper can be said to be a lot of pressure. Therefore, in the end, after the request of the four cabinet elders such as Li Dongyang, the first assistant of the cabinet, the release time of the Enke examination was finally postponed to the beginning of March.

On the first day of the scientific examination, Zheng De once came to the Southeast Gongyuan to watch from afar, looking at the crowds of scholars preparing to enter the examination. He suddenly thought that of course when he took the college entrance examination, he would also enter with a vision of tomorrow like them, and he felt infinite emotion for a while.

On the second day after the end of the third examination on February 15, all the more than 3,000 scholars who participated in the Enke examination walked out with sad faces, obviously the questions of the third examination were simply the strangest questions they had never seen since they participated in the imperial examination, and many people did not know where to answer, and even fainted and were carried out in the past.

Because he finally decided that his son would also participate in this Enke, in line with the principle of avoiding suspicion, Yang Tinghe still did not participate in the exam in the end. However, for the third test question personally issued by the emperor, he still got a lot of noise. So when his son returned home with a frown, he couldn't help but ask, "How about the third exam?" ”

Yang Shen shook his head, "This question is really outrageous, and I don't know how to start answering." ”

Seeing his father looking at him with a puzzled expression, he explained, "There are four questions in total, the first three questions are 30 points each, and the last question is 10 points, and the first question is 'How to position and evaluate Confucius in history'." ”

Yang Tinghe also didn't expect the emperor to come up with such a test question, and frowned slightly, "Then how did you answer?" ”

Yang Shen replied without thinking, "Confucius is the most holy Wenxuan King of Dacheng, the founder of Confucianism, and a saint who has not been born through the ages, so he is naturally full of praise." ”

"Then do you think this is the emperor's intention to ask this question?"

"Father, don't you think so?"

Regarding his father's question, he seemed a little unimpressed, after all, the name "Confucian Sage" was not made in vain, could it be possible that the saint was also at fault?

Yang Tinghe stroked his beard, glanced at him and said, "You still think things are too simple, if you just let you praise Confucius, then what is the point of this question?" ”

Yang Shen thought about it for a moment when he heard this, and he also felt that he had thought about this question too simply. If the debut question is to make you sycophants, this is simply an even more bizarre thing, and it is estimated that no emperor will do this.

"Then the thirty points of this question are probably gone." Yang Shen said this, and he was also sorry. After all, the total score of the three exams is 300 points, which is less than one-tenth of the score, which is a big blow to him who is aiming for the top prize.

"The titles of Huiyuan and champion are all false names, if you can finally choose the hall to enter the Hanlin Academy, even if you are not on the official career, it will not be bad."

As if he had guessed what his son was thinking, Yang Tinghe said with relief.

Yang Shen quickly came back to his senses and no longer dwelled on this matter. After all, his father is not a living example. Even if you don't win the champion, you can choose the hall to enter the Hanlin Academy, and in the end, don't you become an emperor?

"The child's own!"

Seeing that his son really saw it, he bowed his head slightly with satisfaction.

……

Wang Wei, who was reading the papers in each room in the curtain of the Gongyuan, held a paper recommended by the same examiner, that is, Wang Tingxiang, with a hesitant look. In the end, after thinking about it again, I took the paper and ran to the next room.

"Jizhi, why are you here?"

Wang Jing looked at Wang Wei who came over, a little unclear. However, looking at the scroll he was holding in his hand, I somewhat understood his intention.

"Lord Ministry, take a look at this scroll first, this candidate named Zhang Xuan has a lot of words for the sage Confucius. But with the examiner Wang Tingxiang gave a full score of thirty, a certain felt that something was wrong, so he wanted the ministry to take a look. ”

Listening to Wang Wei's words, Wang Jing also took the test paper in his hand with some curiosity and looked at it carefully. After a long time, he raised his head with a thoughtful face, looked at him and said slowly, "This official thinks that what this candidate said is not bad, although Confucius was called a saint by later generations, he was only a saint. There was no king title during his lifetime, and if it is indeed unjustifiable to call him king again, it is more appropriate to call him 'the most holy master' according to what Zhang Xuan said. ”

Wang Wei nodded, but he was still a little worried, "But will this cause dissatisfaction among the world's scholars?" ”

"Confucius did not posthumously bestow the title of king before, but it was repeatedly awarded by successive dynasties. Now it's just a return to the past, but I just think that the title of 'Holy Master' is more appropriate than the posthumous title of the king. Of course, we are just talking about this, and it is up to Your Majesty to decide everything in the end. ”

After listening to Wang Jing's words, Wang Wei also felt that what he said was quite reasonable, "Then I will submit this matter to Your Majesty for ruling." ”

Wang Jing agreed with his head, and seemed to find something funny under the scroll, and suddenly said, "I didn't expect this person to answer the last question." ”

Wang Wei was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then understood what he was talking about, and couldn't help but say, "This is a wonderful person, and this kind of answer is probably only he can think of." ”

Wang Jing also nodded with a smile, and asked again, "By the way, this time Enke will take the exam, what did Jizhi find that the amazing scholar candidates?" ”

Wang Wei said with great interest when he heard this, "Yang Shenzi, the son of Yang Tinghe, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, does not need to say much, but Huang Fang, a Lingnan scholar, is another Nanming genius after Qiu Wenzhuang, and he is the most outstanding person in this imperial examination. ”

"Oh?"

Wang Jing was also shocked when he heard this, he didn't expect this person to give such a high evaluation, you must know who Qiu Wenzhuang is?

Qiu Jun, a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion in the Ming Dynasty. After the tired officials went to the Ministry of Rites, they added the prince and the Taibao. After his death, he was posthumously named Taifu Zuozhuguo, nicknamed "Wenzhuang", and the world called it Qiu Wenzhuang. Being able to be an official under Ming Xiaozong, known as the lord of Zhongxing, can do this to this extent, it can be seen that the ability is indeed very good.

And this Huang Fang can be so evaluated by Wang Wei, which shows how much he values this person.

Wang Jing asked in a deep voice, "Then who do you think can be among the top three in this Enke examination, and who is suitable to be the first place in this Enke examination?" ”

Wang Wei thought for a while, "If only the results of the first exam were valued in the past, the name of Huiyuan would undoubtedly belong to Yang Shen." It's just that this time Enko will try. The scores of the three exams need to be combined in terms of the total score, and the current highest score is 208 points, which is obtained by Huang Fang, a Lingnan elite. But is it really necessary to judge the ranking of this Enke examination according to the score? ”

"Do you think it's fair to talk about rankings like this?" Wang Jing asked rhetorically.

Wang Wei understood the meaning of his words when he heard this, "Emperor Taizu chose to divide the scientific examination into three exams, the original intention was to select the best, but in the end, due to the tight time for grading, in order to save the time for grading, a certain and Xie Ge Lao Cai limited the format of the first exam to eight strands of text to facilitate marking, and it is indeed a bit biased to just roughly browse the last two exams." In this way, the implementation of the score system is a better choice than before, although it is still inevitably mixed with the personal ideas of the marking officer, but especially the score of each question is limited, but the impact is not as great as before. ”

After this period of grading, he has also figured out a lot, and he is no longer entangled in the problem of Baguwen.

Seeing that he understood a little, Wang Jing also stroked his beard with satisfaction, "That's true, let's count the scores first, and then arrange the ranking and submit it to Your Majesty." ”

Wang Wei nodded approvingly.

……

At this moment, the scholars who had just finished the exam were still staying in the inns of all sizes in the capital, waiting for the day when the list would be released. Of course, the discussion of this Enke examination must be inevitable. In particular, the policy of the third exam has caused countless controversies. And the most controversial is the last question: how can five people and seven apples be distributed fairly without cutting?

When each scholar met, he subconsciously asked each other this question, and then revealed a wry smile. It is also because this problem is so strange that it has even spread throughout the government and the opposition, many people have not figured out how to divide it after thinking and meditating, and some people think that the emperor is deliberately embarrassing these scholars who participated in the scientific examination, which is simply an unsolvable problem.

"Who said that this problem is unsolvable, isn't it fair that five people share five apples?" A scholar suddenly walked in and said something loudly.

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and one of them subconsciously asked, "What about the two apples?" ”

"Isn't one apple for each of the five things to be distributed the fairest? As for the remaining two, this topic has not said that there can be no left? The scholar replied lightly.

All the scholars present also realized instantly when they heard this, yes, why didn't they think of such a simple answer?

For a while, everyone's faces invariably showed a look of annoyance, which is a very topical question. And it's so easy to get ten points, I didn't get it like this, it's like my intestines are repentant, why didn't I think of it at the time?

But there is a saying about it, the authorities are fans! Something

It seems very simple, but how could you have thought of it at the time?