Zhang Yuanmao got up at the beginning of the day, ate half a bowl of meat stuffing plaque, now it is three o'clock, already feel a little hungry, there are six palm-sized crispy honey cakes in the long-eared bamboo basket, fingers touch, there is still residual temperature, then pick up two pieces of crisp honey cakes to eat, drink two sips of water, look at the entire examination shed, the examination shed is rectangular, three sides are ventilated, only one side has a wall, there are twenty-eight long tables in the shed, each table is more than two zhang long, can sit eight people, the whole examination shed can accommodate more than 200 people, there are twelve such examination sheds, arranged in the form of eight trigrams, Around the center is the lobby and the Shenming Pavilion - the candidates are coming one after another, the originally empty examination booth is becoming more and more crowded, Zhang Yuan's long table is soon full of people, these Confucian children grind ink, eat, grab seats, test basket collisions, call friends, for a while the examination booth is very noisy, Zhang Yuan has only read in social studies for half a day, so he doesn't know anyone, sit quietly alone, he doesn't know others, but others know him, a twenty-year-old Confucian boy on his right arched his hand to him, and whispered: "Zhang Gongzi, Please take care of it. ”

There is another one to take care of, it seems that cheating in the county test is very common, Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "In the next is also the heart of the seven up and eight drums, if the brother does it early, how about helping the younger brother to write two articles on his behalf?" ”

The Confucian boy was stunned and said: "Zhang Gongzi is a poet who occupies eight shares and seven steps into a poem, what-?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "That's all rumors, rumors can't be believed, do you know, the little brother will rely on Brother Ren today, wait for you to write a word, I will copy a word, copy it to the end, and never omit it-"

The Confucian boy was stunned for a long time, carrying the examination basket to find another seat to sit on, no longer at the same table as Zhang Yuan, who can stand this person who writes a word and copies a word.

"Ding-ding-" hit the chime six times, 2,523 candidates all entered, the examination shed dragon door closed and locked, this is the first day, it will be three hours before the first card can be put to open the dragon gate.

Hou Zhihan, the commander of Shanyin County, is the chief examiner, and it is the chief examiner's business from the question to the marking, and instructors such as Sun Jiaoyu and Zhu Xundao only help maintain order in the examination room.

Seeing the county lord enter the lobby of the center of the examination shed, more than 2,500 candidates in the twelve examination booths were silent for a moment, waiting for the questions, and a large number of candidates prayed silently in their hearts, hoping to guess the questions -- after about half a moment, the twelve county officials entered the twelve examination booths with twelve question cards, Zhang Yuan's eyesight was not good, and he was far away, and before he could see the words on the question cards, a Confucian boy beside him had already shouted: "One question is 'the way of the state', and the other question is 'if it is useful, I will be used'——"

Then a Confucian boy complained bitterly: "My mother, I only know that there is a way in the state, but I don't know that the country has a way. ”

No one paid any attention to him.

The official said loudly: "The title is on the title card, I can see it clearly, my eyes are not good, I pricked up my ears and listened, one question is 'the country is in the way', and the other is 'if it is useful, I will be'——"

While speaking, while holding a sign around the shed, and then inserting the question card in front of the examination shed on the wooden platform, this Xu official sat on the high wooden platform and looked down on the candidates, and there was a servant at the end of the examination shed to invigilate, seeing the examination shed head to ear, Ying Ying boiling, Xu official shouted: "Each seat, no noise, and then see the head to ear talker, fork out of the examination shed, found the entrained plagiarist, wear a flail to show the public." ”

The examination booth gradually quieted down, and then there was the "rustling" sound of unfolding the rolling paper, the sound of coughing, the sound of shoes grinding the ground, and the sound of sighing and smacking lips, it was difficult to have real silence.

Zhang Yuan poured a little water on the red silk inkstone, pinched the ox tongue ink and grinded it slowly, while thinking about the small question of "the state has the way", this question is from the "Mean", the complete sentence should be "the state has the road to the same blockage, strong and correct", this is the interception of the question, is the county test commonly used small question method, thought about half a moment, an inkstone ink has been ground to a thick glue, Zhang Yuan did not start the pen, continue to think about another question "if I am useful", this question is from the "Analects", the whole sentence is "If you use me, I am the East Zhouhu?" "This is also a truncated question - these two questions are not difficult, Zhang Yuan is sure in his heart, and he is not busy with composition, when he thinks about it for a moment, he has thought about the two eight-strand questions and the topic, his strength is that he is good at playing the abdominal draft, which is the same as playing blind chess, there is a piece of paper in his heart, his mind moves, and the ink is full of paper - he looks at the other candidates in the examination studio coldly, which is very interesting:

There are those who don't even know the source of the topic, scratching their ears and cheeks, and constantly swallowing spit; There is the one who stretched his neck and wanted to peek at the neighbor's seat, but the neighbor was holding the roll paper horizontally to prevent him from looking at it, of course he didn't let him see it, otherwise it would be exactly the same, and the county lord would definitely track it down; The vast majority of the candidates were drafting the draft, thinking and writing at the same time, Zhang Yuan found that there were many candidates who sat down with each other, and secretly passed the scratch paper, and the officials sitting on the wooden platform didn't care much, but when you thought he turned a blind eye, he suddenly jumped off the wooden platform, pulled out a candidate, and pulled the candidate's green gold, which was densely written with light purple handwriting - the back of the official also came to help pull it, and said: "This is written with medicinal juice, with wall mud to seep, I couldn't see it when I searched before, and now I rub it with my hands, The mud powder falls off, and the handwriting is revealed. ”

Xu said: "I only heard that there was this method of cheating during the township test, but I didn't expect that there was also a small county test. He took the crying Confucian boy out of the examination booth.

Killing a hundred people, all the candidates were terrified, each restrained, and the examination shed was suppressed.

After another hour, Zhang Yuan still didn't answer the question, ate a few pieces of crispy honey cakes, and then supported the table with his elbows, his fists against his forehead, closed his eyes and recuperated.

Nearly noon, Hou Zhihan walked to the east of Ertang, and saw Zhang Yuan, other candidates were thinking and composing, Zhang Yuan held his head as if he was asleep, looking at the roll paper and scratch paper in front of Zhang Yuan, there was not a word - Hou Zhihan frowned slightly, thinking: "What's the matter, these two questions stumped him?" He tapped lightly on the table and reminded, "Hurry up and answer the question." ”

Zhang Yuan "ah" sat upright, bowed to Hou County, lifted the pen and wrote on the roll paper, did not draft, Hou County, stood on the side to watch him write, Zhang Yuan's current small Kai has made great progress, although it is not good, but it is decent, it will not feel obstructive to look at it, the first thing to do is "the state is not the way" This question, I saw Zhang Yuan wrote:

"Reach the view of what he guards, and the great courage of the gentleman. Gaida is also fickle, and can not change, and if it is not brave, it is not the same as Yusi. And the harmony does not flow, the middle does not lean, it can be said to be strong, but it is not in the view of what it encounters...... Therefore, it is said to be strong, and I believe that it is not the strongest Buddha in the world. ”

Zhang Yuan put down his pen like the wind, watching the tip of the sheep's hair pen move and jump on the square of the rolling paper, and soon a four-book essay of nearly 400 words was written, and then the next article "If it is useful to me", he broke the topic:

"The sage's views are widely saged, showing the great power of the world. Gai Dong Zhou can be used, and there is a real thing to use. This master is indispensable, and he can not know ...... way."

Zhang Yuan wrote this last article although the eight shares are also on behalf of the sages, but also have their own deep feelings, Confucius traveled around the world to promote his own way of benevolence and righteousness, but in the end he could only return to Lu to teach apprentices, he Zhang Yuan in this last days, want to turn the tide, than Confucius Kuang Fu Zhou Room is a hundred times more difficult, Confucius has an unswerving concept, never willing to change, and he is different, he wants to rise and fall with the world, from which to find all possible opportunities, in the summary of this eight-strand essay he wrote:

"Use it to rejuvenate the Zhou room, the saint deified the unexpected, the sub-road has not yet been known, and the descendants have speculated and ridiculed."

Hou Zhihan saw that Zhang Yuan didn't need to finish writing the two eight-strand essays in one meal, smiled, and said, "Fill in the name, remove the floating lot, and hand it over to the lobby." Shaking his head with a smile while walking, shaking his head is by no means to mean that Zhang Yuan's eight-strand essay is not well written, but to marvel at his talent, only two moments, two eight-strand brushed onto the paper, of course, Zhang Yuan has been thinking about it for a long time, but this does not need a draft, and it can be a good word directly, I'm afraid there is only Zhang Yuan alone.

Zhang Yuan came out of the examination booth with the rolling paper to the central lobby, saluted to Hou County, and saluted Sun Jiaoyu next to him, Sun Jiaoyu smiled and came to pick up his rolling paper, and forwarded it to Hou Zhihan and said: "Zhang Yuan is the first to hand in the papers, and the county respects the papers on the spot." ”

Hou Zhihan had read it before, and at this time, he was holding on to the Zhu pen, reading the paper all the way and circling it all the way, and the two eight-strand texts were full of Zhu pen circles, and then handed it to Sun Jiao and said: "Instructor, take a look, is this volume passing?" ”

Sun Jiaoyu took a closer look at the volume, knocked his knee with his hand from time to time, and read the two articles in a moment, and said: "The Chinese-style ink scroll of the township test is nothing more than that, according to the lower officials, the head of this county case is none other than Zhang Yuan." ”

Hou Zhihan is the chief examiner, of course, he has to be reserved, and he is not willing to promise easily, and said: "There are more than 2,000 candidates behind, and I don't know that there is no better craftsmanship." Said to Zhang Yuan: "In vain Mr. Wang's careful teaching to you, this kind of craftsmanship is a must, three days later, the list will be announced, and the county will also post the top ten ink scrolls to the public, to see who still has gossip." ”

It seems that there are rumors against Zhang Yuan before the exam, which is nothing more than that the Hou County Order will shield Zhang Yuan Yunyun, but in this matter, Hou Zhihan is not afraid of gossip at all, Zhang Yuan is the great master of the school personally said that he would be sent to the Taoist test to take the test, and Zhang Yuan is indeed talented, such an eight-strand system is not impossible to test in the Chinese style, those small rumors, why be afraid!

Hou Zhihan said to Zhang Yuan: "It's only noon, you wait in the Shenming Pavilion, and a few more people will hand in the papers, and let you out." ”

Zhang Yuan went to the examination shed to carry the long-eared bamboo basket to sit on the Shenming Pavilion, and waited for most of the hour, there were twenty or thirty Confucian children who handed in the papers, Liu Biqiang, the head of the government service team, came to greet and put the head card out, as soon as the examination shed Longmen, but saw several classes of drummers come forward to report the good news, ask the Confucian children who live nearby, and blow and blow and send them home to report the good news and ask for rewards. It's really laughable.

(To be continued)