Shen Yichen thought about it again and again, and finally wrote the broken sentence on the grass scroll.

"The sage described the disadvantages of the people of the time, and showed the extreme of use."

The translated meaning of this sentence can be roughly understood as the matter narrated by Sage Confucius, which was the drawback caused by the admiration of "gentleman" by people at that time, so the middle way should be chosen to solve it.

The "extreme use of the middle" is taken from the "two ends of the mean" and used it for the people.

The literal translation of the vernacular is to control the two extremes of "excessive" and "inferior", and adopt moderate methods to govern the people.

Shen Yichen's problem-solving ideas, through the two sentences of these eight strands, it can be clearly seen that he is walking on a completely different route from Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng's style is pragmatic, pointing out that those who only remember to learn etiquette and music after becoming officials are hypocrites. Shen Yichen can be called a thin mud, indicating that learning etiquette and music first and then becoming an official is not right with being an official first and then learning etiquette, and it should be better to compromise and deal with it.

From the perspective of later generations, it is obvious that Zhang Juzheng's pragmatic views are more attractive, and they are also in line with his ruling concept after becoming the first assistant of the dynasty.

That is, in his position, he should seek his own government, not caring about his name in front of him or behind him, but only seeking to implement his own reform policy at the moment.

Shen Yichen belongs to the kind of person who talks about big truths, and his views are not wrong, but the content is a bit empty from the perspective of future generations.

But! Everything is afraid of one but!

The core of Shen Yichen's problem-solving ideas firmly holds the highest Confucian moral standards and code of conduct, that is, the golden mean!

No matter how you write the Bagu essay, as long as it is not off-topic and can conform to the moral spirit of Confucianism, then the score of this article will not be bad.

Winning is basically a sure thing, and it is reasonable to rank high, as for whether you can be at the top of the list, it depends on whether others have written amazing works.

One thing to say, the current Shen Yichen has been completely integrated into the character of the imperial examination scholars, and he also feels extremely uncomfortable with the rigid backwardness of Baguwen. As a last resort, I can only play these "flower jobs".

Seeing that the examiner's questions are biased towards pragmatism, then the direction of the answers will lean on political correctness, and all kinds of big truths will be full. Strive to stand out from the crowd of standard answers.

If the examiner's questions are biased towards the big truth, then go to the virtual and write something solid and meaningful content, anyway, you can't be obscure from everyone.

Of course, this kind of play is very risky, because the examiner's style of writing often means his own style preference.

You just went the other way, aren't you a disgusting examiner?

Therefore, before engaging in this kind of play, you must find out the personality and style preferences of the examiner. That's why, when Shen Yichen was so estranged from Cheng Guogong, he would choose to come to Beijing to catch the exam and seek help from the other party.

Zhou Xu is a standard scholar and literati, obsessed with pedantry, but not interested in being an official or anything.

Otherwise, with his second place in the Yongle 16th year examination and the first place in the second class in the palace examination, it is not surprising that he has now entered the cabinet, how can he still be a mere six-grade waiter in the Hanlin Academy?

Shen Yichen's kind of article, which meets the Confucian standard of the golden mean, can definitely match Zhou Xu's appetite.

After the first question was written, except for specially selecting a Five Classics question to show his talent, Shen Yichen did not spend so much energy on other exam questions to make anything different.

Because although the township examination has to be taken three times in a row, in fact, each test is only one day, which is the ninth day of August, the twelfth day of August, and the fifteenth day of August. At the end of each session, there is a three-day break in between.

Therefore, these seven exam questions must be completed in one day, and there is still a five-word and eight-rhyme poem to write. If the answer is not finished by dusk, the candidate will be given three candles, and they will be helped out of the field after the candles are extinguished.

Shen Yichen didn't have so much energy, and he wrote every exam question to the point of wonderful, so he could only pick out one question from each of the four books and five classics to show the highest level of his knowledge, which was also the standard practice of the imperial examination in ancient townships.

It's just that after removing his personal thinking, Shen Yichen suddenly found that writing Bagu Wen according to the standard answer was too fast at his own memory level.

In the afternoon, when the other scholars were still preparing for the second half of the fierce battle, they had already written all seven articles, leaving only the last five-word and eight-rhyme test poem.

Compared with the previous children's test, the requirements for the township test are a little higher, and the rhyme has been improved from six rhymes to eight rhymes. However, the weight ratio has not changed, as long as it is not scribbled, and the rhyme is good, the content is not too important.

Considering that he was about to finish writing, Shen Yichen didn't even bother to eat at noon, so he simply finished transcribing while the iron was hot, thinking about handing in the papers in advance and going out for a good meal.

His performance, in the eyes of the invigilator, secretly shook his head. The other scholars are relaxed and know how to eat well and rest at noon, so that they can have the energy to fight again in the afternoon.

The candidate in front of him has been writing in a hurry, and it seems that he is not knowledgeable and afraid that he will not be able to finish the paper, so he can only seize every minute of time.

After the transcription was completed, Shen Yichen blew dry the ink on the test paper of the main paper, so as not to faint the ink when it was stacked together. It's not that there is no such unlucky guy in history, and he was anxious to fold the test papers together before the ink was completely dry, and when the examiner read the papers, he found that they were a mess.

No matter how clever you write, this kind of neatness of the volume is impossible to take, and you can only cry without tears.

"Master Jun, hand in the papers."

The soldiers in front of the door of the house were all subconsciously stunned when they heard Shen Yichen say to hand in the papers.

Because of the township examination in previous years, even if there is a written paper that is submitted in advance, it will not be as early as Shen Yichen.

At this time, it is not two o'clock, and when converted into modern time, it is half past one in the afternoon, counting the overtime of the three candles, Shen Yichen's exam will not even take half of the time.

This kid either just wrote nonsense and handed in the papers, or he just copied it directly, otherwise how could he have such speed?

Of course, this is just a muttering in his heart, and a small guard does not dare to say much. After reacting, he immediately told the officer in charge of the test papers, asking him to collect Shen Yichen's answer sheet and file the case for future reference.

Book of Hundred Leagues

The examinee didn't know Shen Yichen, and when he saw him submit the file so early, he persuaded him with kind words: "Are you sure that you have finished transcribing?" ”

Shen Yichen sat in the center of the newly built brick and tile house, and the examinee knew very well that the candidates who could be arranged in this kind of house were either rich or expensive. Generally, the children of such officials and magnates are relatively young and frivolous and ignorant of the world, and they have not yet realized the importance of the imperial examination to them.

"The official who returned to the file has already transcribed it below."

After that, Shen Yichen submitted his main test paper to the past, which was already densely filled with articles.

If you simply look at the writing, there is still the possibility of scribbling, but when the examinee clearly saw the neat cabinet body above, he instantly understood that the candidate in front of him could not be frivolous and playful.

Because the words are like their people, without a calm personality and academic skills, they can't write Shen Yichen's handwriting.

So the examinee didn't say anything more and took the test paper from Shen Yichen's hand. The test paper will then be handed over to the sealing officer to reconfirm the sealing status of personal information such as name, nationality and other personal information at the frontispiece.

After confirming that there is no error, the provisional registration will be sealed, and after all the candidates have submitted the papers, the transcriptionist will copy the test papers again to prevent the examiner from recognizing the candidates from the handwriting.

In addition, during the transcription process, there will be a translator who is responsible for proofreading the text errors of the test paper, and every word must be accurate. When you finish it, you should also write at the end of the volume with the words "So-and-so read it correctly".

Otherwise, if the examinee himself writes correctly, and the transcription officer makes a mistake and falls off the list, it will be more wronged.

It can be said that the whole township examination process is extremely complicated, and all kinds of means are used as much as possible to ensure the basic fairness of the imperial examination.

After Shen Yichen got up to hand in the papers, he was led out of the examination room by the soldiers, and when he passed by other houses, many candidates cast surprised glances at him. This group of people couldn't help but wonder which cow it was, and it only took half a day to write seven articles.

This guy shouldn't treat the township test as a boy's test, that's why he is so arrogant, and he will definitely teach him a good lesson when the list is released.

Several examiners upstairs in Mingyuan were a little sleepy in the hot summer after lunch, and one of them glanced at the examiner casually, as if he had discovered something terrible, and immediately came to his senses.

"Colleagues, please see, there are students who have not submitted their papers in advance, this son is really frivolous!"

The township test is not as good as the children's test, and there is no advantage such as taking the paper in the classroom, so many powerful candidates, even if they finish the exam questions early, will not rush to hand in the papers.

You must carefully check your article over and over again to see if there are any typos or taboos.

Submit the paper a little bit in advance, then it can be said that the strength is the result, so much in advance, I am afraid that there is no serious inspection process, and it can only be a more arrogant personality.

Hearing this, the rest of the examiners also came to their senses, and a few even stood up, wanting to see clearly who the candidates who handed in the papers were.

Zhou Xu is older, and in recent years, he has some presbyopia, so he only has an outline in the distance, and he can't confirm who the person who submitted the paper is.

Since he couldn't see clearly, he asked others if they knew, so Zhou Xu said: "Colleagues, have you seen clearly who the submitter is?" ”

"I can see clearly, it's a young student, and I estimate my teenage age."

"The appearance is unfamiliar, not the well-known young talents of this year."

"It's not a noble child, it should be from a poor family."

Listening to the gossip of fellow examiners, Zhou Xu's curiosity gradually faded.

Since it is not a candidate who focuses on it, it is estimated that which candidate who does not learn and has no skills, or who has poor psychological endurance, resolutely chose to submit the paper in advance.

This kind of thing is not absent in the previous township examinations, just like the college entrance examination in later generations, there are still people who don't care about handing in blank papers.

Wang Yining didn't sit down, stared at the back of the student who handed in the papers for a long time, and suddenly remembered someone in his mind.

So he quietly attached to Zhou Xu's ear and said, "Brother Gongxu, the location of that piece of the house, it seems that you have placed Shen Yichen there." ”