"Wouldn't such restrictions on the format of the article make the flowing water ice and no longer vibrant?" Zhu Quan said this in his mouth, but he secretly thought to himself in his heart: Confucius, Mencius's thoughts were like a hundred schools of thought in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, like a surging river, and it was impossible for one family to dominate in a vibrant environment. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Confucianism was rejected by a hundred schools of thought, which made Confucianism gradually tend to serve the imperial power, saying that the "Four Books" and "Five Classics" must be subject to Zhu Xi's "Commentary on the Thirteen Classics" of the Song Dynasty. The Hongwu Emperor Zhu and the Eight Strands he adopted were also to blame for stifling the imagination of future generations.

Chen Cheng has followed his teacher Liang Yin since he was a child, and he is also quite involved in the books that are denounced as heresies by ordinary Confucian scholars, and he feels in his heart that those books that are denounced as absurd may not have good words in them. ”

Zhu Quan was stunned when he heard this, and then smiled angrily: "The five laws and the seven laws are different. Writing scenes, narratives, and painting people are not the same, how to divide the high and low? If anyone wants to choose the first among countless Tang poems, I am afraid that they will be scolded by future generations. ”

Chen Cheng couldn't help but bow his head when he heard this, and said with a straight face: "The imperial court takes the imperial examination, aiming at the survival of the fittest, and selecting the pillars to serve the country." If the scholars are allowed to believe in the reins and write in a whimsical manner, it will be a hundred schools of thought contending and a hundred flowers blooming, but if you want to divide one, two, and three first, high and low rankings, but the gods can't do this main exam. If the imperial examination is as unrestrained as poetry and songs, I am afraid that there will be no need to exist. ”

Zhu Quan couldn't help but be angry when he heard this, and secretly thought to himself: Although the Bagu essay restricts the format of the article and the play of the scholars, it also makes the articles from different people relatively comparable. The examiners are also human beings, and it is inevitable that they have some preferences for the essays, and if they play as much as I think, I am afraid that the first-class scholars will all write essays that meet the tastes of the examiners. As Chen Cheng said, the purpose of the imperial examination is to use articles to win the survival of the fittest from tens of millions of scholars, and simply pursue the freedom of literature and thinking and the survival of the fittest under relative fairness, but I am afraid that it will be as difficult to balance as a fish and a bear's paw.

Li Chengyuan looked at the imperial examination scholars who were scratching their ears and cheeks not far away, pondering, and listened to Zhu Quan and Chen Cheng's words with great interest, and walked forward.

Seeing that the first-class school of the Ming Dynasty, Guozijian, occupied a huge area, Li Chengyuan couldn't help but ask curiously: "I don't know how many students there are here?" How was it selected? ”

Chen Cheng said with a smile: "Since the first year of Hongwu (1368), after His Majesty ordered the capital to set up the Guozijian School, the scale has increased year by year, and the number of students has exceeded 6,000. The source of the prison students is divided into the following types, the lifting person is called the lifting of the student, as long as it is in the local examination, you can enter the Guozijian for further study, of course, you can also directly participate in the Jinshi examination, and the lifting people who will pass the test are generally also entered the Guozijian to study again. The students who are directly escorted by Fuzhou County are called Gongsheng, the children of officials with grades in the imperial court are called Yinsheng, and the children of rich families donate money and goods to study in prisons are called donations. At present, there are many people in the prison of the country, and there are many tributes. Even if he is a prisoner or a shadow student, he is by no means illiterate. ”

"Lifting people, what is the test method of Jinshi?" Zhu Quan couldn't help but ask curiously when he heard this. In his memory, the identity of lifting people comes from Fan Jinzhongju in "The Outer History of Confucianism", and almost most of the ancient officials were born as Jinshi, so he was very curious about the origin of the identity of Jinshi in his heart.

Chen Cheng said: "At present, the imperial examination of the imperial court is divided into three levels, that is, the township examination, the meeting examination, and the palace examination. The township test is held once every three years, and is held by each prefecture around August. Those who pass the township examination are called "lifting people", and those who place first in the township examination are called "Xie Yuan". Only those who excel in the National Prison are eligible to participate in the "General Examination" sponsored by the Ministry of Rites in February of the following year, and those who pass the examination are called "Gongshi". Tributes can participate in the beginning of April of that year by His Majesty personally presided over the "palace examination", the palace examination is divided into three grades: the first class has only three people, the first champion, the second place list, the third place Tanhua, give "Jinshi and first". More than two people, given "Jinshi origin". The top three are given "from the same jinshi".

"Township test, township test, called township test, is actually a competition between scholars from a province. It seems that this move is not so easy to test. Zhu Quan frowned and said with a slightly bitter smile.

Under the guidance of Chen Cheng, the group gradually drifted away, left the examination place where the soldiers and officials were stationed, and walked towards the depths of the national prison.

After passing through several courtyards, an open space appeared in front of me, and I saw a row of straw men lined up in the corner of the wall in front of me, and a few bows were hung on the wooden frame on the opposite side, which was obviously a place to practice archery.

Seeing such a scene, not only Li Chengyuan, who was an envoy of North Korea, but also Zhu Quan was quite surprised, he dealt with all the civil officials in the DPRK and China every day, and he naturally thought in his heart that these civilian officials who were playing tricks on weekdays were a group of sour Confucians who were powerless.

Seeing Li Chengyuan's look of surprise, Chen Cheng couldn't help but smile in his heart, and said lightly: "Fuxue, the middle school members of the county school, in addition to the "Five Classics", in addition to the "Five Classics", rites (etiquette), music (music), archery (archery), royal (horseback riding), calligraphy (calligraphy), and mathematics (arithmetic) are divided into subjects. Those who pass the examination today will also take the same examination in a few days, and those who pass can be called tributes. ”

Zhu Quan stepped to the side of the wooden frame, stretched out his hand and took off a bow to pull it away, feeling that although the pull of this bow was far from being comparable to the longbow that was generally difficult to use in the army, it was by no means a person who had no strength to pull it away.

Li Chengyuan and Chen Cheng saw Zhu Quan holding a bow in his hand, and they thought that King Ning, who commanded the army, was going to try his sword, so they were silent and stopped to watch.

Zhu Quan recalled that when he first saw Chen Cheng, he had never said that he was born in the top three in the palace examination, and he thought that he was not unfamiliar with this bow and arrow, so he immediately walked to Chen Cheng's side and handed the bow over.

Chen Cheng took the bow, turned to Li Chengyuan and smiled: "The bow horse is not the director of the lower officials, and the skill of the micro end will inevitably make the noble envoy laugh." He stepped forward with his bow and stopped opposite the straw man, drew out one of the feathered arrows from the quiver on the wooden frame, and raised his arm to open the bow and release the arrow.

After shooting three arrows in a row, there were two arrows, Chen Cheng put down his bow, stretched out his hand and rubbed his slightly sour arm, looked at Zhu Quan and said with a smile: "The lower official is not self-sufficient today, and he got an axe in front of His Highness." ”

Twenty steps away, three arrows and two hits, this kind of archery is naturally not worth it in Zhu Quan's opinion, but today I witnessed the civil official with the title of this gold list actually open his bow and release arrows, but it completely subverted the impression in Zhu Quan's heart that civil officials are powerless.

Li Chengyuan was deeply eye-opening when he saw that this young civil official who talked about Swen still had such a method, and walked down the leisurely courtyard while asking with a smile: "Is it too biased for the students of the prefecture and county to study one of the "Five Classics"? ”

Chen Cheng patted his palms lightly, shook off the dust on his hands, and said with a faint smile: "The Five Classics such as the Book of Changes and the Book of Shang are broad and profound, and my generation may not dare to speak proficiently even if he has spent his life. In the Tang Dynasty, Wang Wei once said: How can you learn from the scholars, and the old ones in the window. Li Shangyin said: When you are the marquis of ten thousand households, don't keep a scripture. Wen Tianxiang, the prime minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, even said in "Crossing the Zero Ding Yang": Hard work has come to an end. However, in the humble opinion of the following officials, even if we try to gather countless young talents in our Ming Dynasty today, there may not be two or three people who dare to compare themselves with these three sages. ”

Li Chengyuan's face couldn't help but blush slightly when he heard this.

Chen Cheng saw Li Chengyuan's slightly embarrassed expression, so he immediately changed the topic and said: "At present, I have thirteen political envoys in the Ming Dynasty, in charge of one hundred and forty prefectures, one hundred and ninety-three prefectures, and one thousand one hundred and thirty-eight counties. Since the beginning of the third year of Hongwu, local governments, prefectures, counties and even health centers have begun to build schools. Its establishment is: the government has a professor, the state has a school, and the county has a teacher, each with a professor. There are four governors, three prefectures, and two counties, all of which lead the imperial court. The number of students is 40 in the government, 30 in the state, and 20 in the county. Teachers and students are provided with rice every month, six buckets per person, and fish and meat are given by the company. Speaking of this, he turned his head to Li Chengyuan, and said in a proud voice: "In terms of the number of teachers and students alone, the people who benefited from the Ming imperial examination are especially better than the Song and Tang dynasties. ”

Zhu Quan's heart moved when he heard this, and he secretly thought to himself: The scriptures of the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty must be covered by the words of Zhu Xi's family, and the free and romantic ideas in Tang and Song poems should be stifled with Baguwen, but if you talk about the scale of the country's investment in the imperial examination and the scope of education, it is indeed better than that of the Tang and Song dynasties.

Li Chengyuan heard that the students of the local government and county schools could also get rice and fish from the imperial court, so he couldn't help but ask: "What about the students in the prison of the country?" ”

In the past, Empress Xiaoci accumulated grain (saved from her own grain) in the prison, and placed more than 20 houses in the red warehouse (a small rice warehouse with red lacquer) to support the wives of all life. He also issued a decree that if he had not yet married a wife among the prisoners, the queen would contribute money from her own money, and give money for marriage, as well as two women's clothes, and two stones of rice per month. When Chen Cheng said this, his face couldn't help but show a solemn look.

When Zhu Quan heard this, he recalled the furious state of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor who was above the temple in the past, when he heard that more than 100 Guozi prisoners were ordered to check the flood, accept banquet gifts, and order execution, and he couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.

When Chen Cheng led everyone back to the transfer test area, there were already confident candidates who began to hand in their papers.

Li Chengyuan saw that after those officials of the Ministry of Rites took the candidates' articles and wrote different numbers on the examination papers with a brush, they immediately cut out the part with their names and places of origin, and couldn't help but ask: "Why is this?" ”

Chen Cheng turned his head and couldn't help laughing, and replied: "This is the method of vague names, which was also called Mifeng in the Song Dynasty, and its intention is to make it impossible for the examiner to know who the article came from, so as to avoid interfering with the court's intention of selecting people fairly." It began in the early years of Wu Zetian's accession to the throne, but it was limited to the official examination at that time, but it was not promoted in the imperial examination. In the third year of Chunhua (AD), Taizong of the Song Dynasty will be the supervisor of Putian Chen Jing, and he will be the supervisor of Taizong of the Song Dynasty, and it is recommended that the seal be used in the imperial examination. The sage Lu You said in "Notes on the Old School": The Jinshi of this dynasty, the beginning is also the same as the later system, and the time is expected. During the Zhenzong period, Zhou Anhui started to build the name method, and everything was left to Cheng Wen. ”

Zhu Quan heard that this seemed simple, but it was passed on to future generations for thousands of years, and it can be said that the examination name system that affected countless people's lives was actually from China's only female emperor Wu Zetian, and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Unexpectedly, the imperial examination that only men have to participate in today, and the name system that has lasted for thousands of years was actually established by the empress of the Zhou Dynasty, which makes us embarrassed by the love of men." When he said this, he recalled what Chen Cheng said, and what Lu You said, "Everything is left to Cheng Wen." He sighed secretly in his heart: In fact, the meaning of this sentence said by the great poet Lu You is just as later generations said that grades determine everything in examination-oriented education, pointing out the relative fairness and bias of imperial examination-oriented education.

Everyone walked out of the country's prison, and saw that the scholars on the long street were either depressed or relieved, and there were even three or three by two, and they were dancing with their eyebrows.

Li Chengyuan saw the various states of all beings, and his heart was full of emotion, and he turned to Zhu Quan, Chen Cheng solemnly and solemnly said: "Your Highness, Brother Zilu, the little envoy will bid farewell to His Majesty the Emperor tomorrow and return to North Korea." When living in the Honglu Temple of the Ministry of Rites, the contemptible people heard people talk about the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty, and the most common thing to hear is two sentences. ”

Seeing Li Chengyuan's solemn words, Zhu Quan couldn't help but be very curious, and said with a smile: "I don't know what two sentences your envoy heard?" ”

"Everything is inferior, but reading is high. Chao for Tian Shelang, twilight to the Tianzi Hall. Li Chengyuan said with a solemn expression: "The Huns, the Turks, the Jin Dynasty, and the Tyrannical Yuan are all cruel and murderous, barbaric and shameless. The contemptible people are shallow in their knowledge and are not worth a damn, but the Chinese characters they have read and the books written have never praised the slaughter and subjugation of other peoples, so the contemptible people think that the imperial examination system and these two sentences are the fundamental difference between the state of etiquette and the barbarian Rongdi. Yan Ba led a group of his subordinates, and under the guidance of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, he returned to Honglu Temple and went far away.

Zhu Quan stopped at the gate of the Guozijian and looked at the back of the North Korean envoy Li Chengyuan, who was gradually moving away, and recalled what he said: "Everything is inferior, but only reading is high." Looking back at the blood stain in the vacant place where the scholar Wang Xiuwen was bound by the scholar who cheated to show the public, his heart was also like the ebb and flow of the tide, and the taste was indescribable, and he secretly thought to himself: Everything is inferior, only the sentence of reading high has its own bias, but I think this sentence has also been created in the Sui Dynasty, from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, from the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, inheriting the imperial examination system for thousands of years, leading the ancient Han nation to advocate cultural etiquette, and will not fall into barbarism like those barbarians who advocate killing. No matter how detailed the examinations of later generations are, the purpose of survival of the fittest in cultural examinations has remained unchanged for thousands of years. There is no absolute fairness in the world, but it is this kind of relative fairness, which can be called cold, that makes the imperial examination system have a tenacious life, even beyond the feudal era, and will also benefit future generations after a thousand years.