Due to the Ministry of Rites, the city gate is not closed during this time.

Li Gongmao walked to the city gate with a lantern, surrounded by his brother Li Gongjian, and behind him were servants who helped them carry their things.

"Illegal coins are complicit in ......"

The sergeant at the gate of the city suddenly shouted out in a loud voice.

Again?

Li Gongmao felt speechless, he was going to the Gongyuan to take the exam, and he was actually intimidated by the sergeant halfway.

At this moment, there were more than one or two people entering the city, and more than a dozen candidates raised their heads in unison, and the shadows of their heads fluttering in the wind in the darkness were one after another.

Walking through the city gate hole, Li Gongjian whispered: "Brother, this Yi three clans are too much, I heard that thirteen or fourteen-year-old boys will also be beheaded." ”

Li Gongmao sighed: "Those who are too young really shouldn't be killed." ”

This is also where criticism has been made, and many ministers have suggested to the Ministry of Criminal Justice that when compiling the Da Ming Law, the death penalty age for those implicated should be raised. For example, if you are under the age of sixteen, you can just distribute it to the borderland, and there is really no need to kill them all.

When the brothers came to the outside of the Gongyuan, the streets and alleys were densely packed with people.

This year, there are a lot of candidates, and 40% of them are from Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi. Because these three provinces have just been recovered, there are many loopholes between the old and the new, and the magistrates have recommended a large number of people to go to Beijing to take the examination.

The imperial court was too lazy to investigate carefully, and the Ministry of Rites was too lazy to review it.

Anyway, the three provinces have been temporarily classified into one list, and forty percent of the candidates are only given two percent of the Jinshi quota.

Roll it up on your own!

Li Gongmao and Li Gongjian, the two brothers, the pressure of this imperial examination was extremely great, and they were pinned on the high hopes of revitalizing the "sharpening of the knife Li family".

Sharpening the knife Li family, the ancestor of Zhaoji is the eleventh grandson of Li Ke, who moved to Jiangxi to avoid the Zhu Wen butcher's knife, and even multiplied millions of descendants in the 21st century.

For example, Li Shanchang is derived from sharpening the knife Li.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was the worst time for the Li family to sharpen their knives, because they were too deeply involved with Sansu. and Huang Tingjian's own mother, who came from sharpening the knife Li, Huang Tingjian was almost raised by the Li family after losing his mother.

A little queue approached, and two hours had passed in the blink of an eye.

Someone behind him was really bored, and took the initiative to talk to the brothers: "In Xia Min Anguo, the word Bangyan, Hanzhong Yangzhou." ”

Li Gongmao said: "I have seen Brother Bangyan, under Li Gongmao, the word is Mian, a native of Nankang Jianchang." ”

Li Gongjian also reported his name.

The three of them began to chat, mainly talking about the content of the exam, and each gave their respective addresses to drink, and made an appointment to drink together after the exam.

After the search was completed one after another, the Li brothers went to the examination room of the three provinces, but Min Anguo went to the ordinary examination room.

Li Gongjian cleaned up the exam number with a lantern, the Gongyuan has not been used for a long time, it is estimated that there are spider webs or something, and those who are unlucky will even encounter snake and rat nests.

Soon he found out that the trumpet had been cleaned, and Li Gongjian muttered: "The new dynasty is very intimate with Juzi. ”

Carefully nailed the tarpaulin, and Li Gongjian stood outside the number and stretched his waist.

The candidate next door was also breathing fresh air, and the two casually greeted each other, but Li Gongjian's next door number was Hu Quan.

After a while, before dawn, a patrol army came.

"Dangdangdang......"

The military messenger struck the gong all the way and shouted: "There is still half an hour to start the exam, don't stand outside the number, enter the number and wait!" No more talking, no more noise......"

Behind the gong soldiers, there are also other soldiers.

Li Gongjian found that a military officer actually came over to give charcoal, and couldn't help asking: "Is the Ministry of Rites still giving charcoal to the lifter?" ”

"No words," the military officer scolded, but still replied, "This year, there is a cold spring, and the officials are sympathetic, and everyone is warmed by charcoal." Don't seal the trumpet, beware of the charcoal poison in the meeting. ”

"Dangdang, dang!"

Knocking on the gong, the army shouted: "Listen to the southern lifter, don't seal the trumpet, otherwise you will be poisoned by charcoal!" ”

Hu Quan brought his own stove and water, lit a charcoal fire and began to boil porridge, and by the way, baked the already cold white flour steamed buns.

Finally, I stayed up until dawn, and the examiner and invigilator were present.

One by one, the transcribed examination questions were pasted on huge wooden boards, carried by twenty or thirty soldiers, who walked slowly through the examination room, reciting the questions as they went.

For the sake of confidentiality, it is not possible to print the test questions in advance.

Even today's exam questions were discussed and determined yesterday.

The questions for the next exam have not yet been decided, but the examiners have discussed the approximate range.

The rules of the imperial examination in the new Ming Dynasty are extremely strict, unlike the etiquette examination of the old Song Dynasty, the examiner can actually ask for leave and leave the tribute academy halfway - it is easy to leak the question!

The content of the exam has also been greatly increased, not only mathematics, physics, and practical have been added, but even the traditional scriptures and meanings have also been changed.

For example, in today's content, the old Song Dynasty only took the "Analects" and "Mencius", but the Ming Dynasty also had to take the "University" and "The Mean".

Of course, Baguwen still hasn't risen, and there are only a few routines similar to Bagu.

Li Gongjian listened to the army reading the exam questions, and poked his head out from time to time to look at the plank.

The exam questions on the wooden board are punctuated.

This year, when the candidates received their ticket numbers at the Ministry of Rites, the officials of the Ministry of Rites repeatedly emphasized that punctuation marks must be used when answering questions. If you can't remember too many symbols, at least use commas and periods.

This is very simple for the candidates, because they have learned to read sentences (tease) since childhood, which is the core part of the knowledge imparted by the teacher.

Done in one breath, it is called a sentence.

The pause interval in the process of qi is called reading (comma).

The scholars usually read books and will mark the sentences to read by themselves, but Zhu Ming just made the full stop and comma more standardized and unified.

Li Gongjian first copied all the questions, and finished answering "Mencius" and "Analects" in the morning.

As for "University" and "The Mean", Li Gongjian seemed a little flustered.

These two things were not compulsory in the old Song Dynasty, although they have long been very famous, but there are also many candidates who have not learned them, or have only simply studied them.

After Li Gongjian came to Tokyo, he specially purchased "University Justice" and "Justice of the Mean" annotated by the prince. He had been locked up in the inn to memorize, and the article was not long enough to memorize, but at this moment he had forgotten some of it.

Fortunately, the imperial court also knew about this situation, and "University" and "The Mean" only had one question each.

Moreover, there is no need to answer according to the prince's notes, so as to avoid candidates who have not studied seriously from being pulled too many points.

In general, this imperial examination is just a transition.

Li Gongjian searched his intestines and scraped his stomach, and finally finished writing the two articles, and after repeated revisions, he felt that there was no problem, so he carefully copied them.

In the evening, the sky is getting darker and darker, and there are still candidates who are struggling to write.

Don't give candles, just rewind them.

Because the price of candles is very expensive now, not as cheap as in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Kou Zhun only lit candles at home and did not like to light oil lamps, and was criticized by Ouyang Xiu for having problems with his life style.

Proper luxury!

With the development of productive forces, by the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, depending on the quality, a candle was worth about 100 to 500 wen.

After the two high-quality candles are burned, it means that the usual money is gone, and even officials dare not use it every day.

At night, I slept in the examination room, ate and drank Lazar here.

Continued the next day.

Today's test of the Five Classics, the content of the test remains the same.

On the third day, students will take the exams in mathematics, physics, and official writing.

Li Gongjian got the official document writing done first, and he had a headache when he looked at mathematics and physics.

Problems can be solved using the new mathematics of emperors and princes, or they can use traditional arithmetic since ancient times.

The first question, chickens and rabbits in the same cage.

Although Li Gongjian has learned traditional arithmetic, he is limited to the ninety-nine multiplication table and the like. His brain was blown up, and he repeatedly gave different data, calculated and compared them one by one, and made up the answers by force.

The second question is to calculate the actual area of irregular land.

Li Gongjian has been blinded.

He will calculate the square and rectangular area, but how can he count the irregular land?

After all, it was a person who was rolled out of Jiangxi, and after grinding and grinding for more than half an hour, Li Gongjian actually realized the auxiliary line by himself and split the land into several regular figures.

The third question, when a bucket is placed on windless ground, what forces does it experience?

Li Gongjian scratched his ears and cheeks, there are no living people and no livestock to touch, what force can a bucket withstand?

Li Gongjian's understanding of force is probably the strength of humans or animals, and then divergence is wind power and water power.

It's seriously out of line!

The fourth question, use two iron rods to pick the lock, one stick is one foot long, and one stick is two feet long, which is more labor-saving?

Li Gongjian was completely confused, and felt that the person who asked the question was a psychopath.

Lao Tzu came to the imperial examination to be an official, and he didn't take the exam to be a thief, so why did he even have to test the skills of picking locks?

The author of mathematics and physics is Huang Shang, who compiled the Daozang for Song Huizong.

This old man has already finished learning "Tao and Strategy", except for agriculture and is too lazy to study, he has mastered other knowledge well.

Huang Sheng was afraid that the candidates would not be able to answer, so he deliberately lowered the difficulty.

Li Gongjian thought carefully for a long time, and suddenly had an idea.

He took out his spare brush and put the bowl upside down on the table. Press the brush under the bowl and pry it with half of the brush first, and then use the whole brush to pry.

After trial and error, Li Gongjian smiled and wrote the answer.

Hu Quan has been studying with Xiao Chu all the year round, and he has learned a lot of miscellaneous studies. In the past two months, I also flipped through the "Tao Strategy", and various exam questions were easily answered.

Although Li Gongmao has not learned these, he has performed very magically.

He doesn't need to do experiments like his brothers, completely through the imagination in his mind, combined with his daily life experience, he can actually answer the exam questions correctly.

On the last day, the assessment strategy.

One thesis and three strategic questions are the same as the etiquette test of the old Song Dynasty.

However, the specific content is more practical, with both thinking about big issues and elaborating on practical work.

For example, in a certain famine, the question gives how much grain is left, how much food is needed to maintain the original order, and how much food is needed for the hungry people fleeing the famine. There are still people among the hungry who want to make trouble, how to relieve the hungry, and how to avoid or suppress the civil unrest.

This type of question is divergent and can be answered beyond the given material.

It can even be traced back to before the disaster, saying that through certain phenomena, he had a premonition that there would be a famine this year, so he made various arrangements in advance, etc. - this kind of answering method, few candidates would think that once they write it, they will definitely get a high score.

At the end of the four-day exam, countless people left the Gongyuan, and many people seemed to be lost.

They're about to cry!

(End of chapter)