"This name sounds so familiar. Isn't it Shen Yichen from Yingtian Mansion?"

"It's impossible. How could Yingtian Mansion go to Shuntian Mansion to take the rural exam? The exam will be in the spring of next year's general exam."

"But we are similar in age. There are not many people with the same name as Shen Yichen. How could it be such a coincidence?"

"It would be great if it was really Shen Yichen. I know several of his poems by heart and have always been fascinated by them!"

In response to these discussions, Shen Yichen did not respond. He was not a high-profile person. In addition, he had not forgotten the experience of being envied by many people in the Yingtian Mansion Boy Examination, so he did not want to cause more trouble in the Provincial Examination.

Arriving in front of the inspector, Shen Yichen wrote his name, year, place of birth, names of three generations, classics and other information at the beginning of the test paper.

The examiner then pastes the candidate's information on it and stamps it with a seal. At the same time, the examiner also prints a long strip with his or her name on the end of the paper, and finally returns the test paper to the examinee, completing the entire process. The process of name obscuration.

It's just that during this process, both the school inspector and the printing officer looked at Shen Yichen a little strangely.

It was obvious that they knew Shen Yichen's true identity, and were a little surprised and curious as to why they saw him in the Gongyuan of Shuntian Provincial Examination.

After completing the body search, Shen Yichen was led into the examination room by a soldier. The numbering of the dormitory positions had been assigned two days before the exam started. And the names of the candidates were posted outside the dormitories, unlike the boy test. Choose after entering the venue.

Shen Yichen's cell is in the best position in the middle, and it is a newly built cell with a brick structure.

After going through several imperial examinations, Shen Yichen is no longer as naive as before, thinking that he is lucky. It is obvious that he was assigned to such a dormitory because someone above him arranged it for him. Unsurprisingly, it was Zhou Xu.

After entering the dormitory, the soldier who led the way did not leave, but stood directly in front of the dormitory to guard. From this, we can also feel that the provincial examination has strict control over cheating and will hardly give candidates a chance.

In addition, the punishment for cheating in the provincial examination is also very severe. If someone commits illegal acts such as cheating, exchanging answer sheets with others, etc., he will be shackled in front of the examination room for a month and then denounced as a citizen.

Think about the fact that Zhu Jin, who took the Tiantongzi exam before, was caught cheating, but only had his exam results canceled after only one day of publicity. It can be said that the completion was painless.

On the central corridor of Shuntian Gongyuan, there is the tallest building in Shuntian Gongyuan, which is called Mingyuan Tower.

The word "Mingyuan" is taken from the meaning of "Pursue far away with caution, and return to the bright virtues" in "The Great Learning". Literally, it also means to be aware of the far and near. It is the main office space of the examiners in the inner curtain.

Correspondingly, heading north along the corridor, there is also a very majestic building in the middle, called the Zhigong Hall. This is the office of the proctors of the Gongyuan Waimen.

The two chief examiners and four fellow examiners of the rural examination were standing on the Mingyuan Building, observing the preparations for the examination in the entire Gongyuan from a high position.

Zhou Xu looked at the bustling candidates below who were preparing to enter the dormitory, and said to Wang Yining, the Hanlin lecturer beside him who was also the examiner: "Wentong, after the preliminary examination is carried out in such a grand manner, I am afraid it will be difficult to see him again."

There is no distinction between the two examiners of the rural examination, the senior examiner and the junior examiner, but in practice, the one with more seniority is mostly used.

Zhou Xu and Wang Yining were both Jinshi in the 16th year of Yongle's reign. They can be said to be of the same age. Wang Yining's actual age is slightly older by one year. In theory, Wang Yining should be the dominant one.

However, in the Jinshi admission rankings that year, Zhou Xu ranked second in the general examination and Chuan Lu, who ranked first in the second class of the palace examination. Wang Yining could not compare with him.

Therefore, in the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination in the ninth year of orthodoxy, the two examiners still ranked Zhou Xu as the most respected.

"Yes, the Haoshe Township Examination is now overwhelmed, causing many hidden dangers. After the implementation of the pre-examination and small examinations, the number of candidates for the competition in the coming year will decrease by 30%."

The reason why Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty implemented the pre-examination system was not only because there were too many students and the Gongyuan could not accommodate it, but also because during the Shuntianfu Rural Examination in the third year of orthodoxy, a fire broke out in the Gongyuan.

Although no serious casualties were caused, many candidates' test papers were burned, causing many scholars to protest and have to retake the exam again.

In order to prevent such incidents from happening again, it is imperative to reduce the number of candidates.

"Wentong, I wonder who do you think can win the title of Jieyuan in this competition?"

It is almost a common practice among the examiners to guess who will win the first place before the exam, and this time is no exception.

"He Pingyan, a distinguished student of the Imperial Academy in the capital, is extremely talented and has the talent to unravel the Yuan Dynasty."

Wang Yining did not hide anything and directly stated the candidate he was optimistic about.

This He Pingyan is the head of the case in Baoding Prefecture. He is proficient in literary talent and was selected to study in the Imperial College. By chance, Wang Yining has mentored his articles and has an in-depth understanding of the academic level. Therefore, I think that no accident, he will become a powerful force in solving the problem of Shuntian Prefecture.

competitor.

"My colleagues, what about you?"

Zhou Xu asked several fellow examiners to see who they had in mind, so that he would have a specific direction for the final examination.

"Xiaguan once saw the article written by Gongsun Han, a student in Changping Prefecture. It is really wonderful."

"Sun Shaozong, the supervisor of Shuntian Prefecture, has solid knowledge and comes from a famous family. He has great hopes."

"I'm very optimistic about Ma Zheng, a member of Sunshine. He has a solid foundation in calligraphy and a profound family background."

After hearing everyone's recommendations, Zhou Xu just had a faint smile on his face and did not make any comments.

Because he has heard about these students, the first two are indeed famous for their literary talent. As for the latter, one is the son of Sun Zhong, the uncle of Huichang, and his daughter is Sun Shi, the empress dowager, the direct mother of the current emperor.

The other one is the son of cabinet minister Ma Yu.

Both of these two people have profound backgrounds. If nothing else, they should be related people who have said hello to each other.

"Brother Gongxu, what about you?"

Seeing that Zhou Xu just smiled and said nothing, Wang Yining asked.

Zhou Xu occupies a great deal of decision-making power on who will be selected as Jieyuan in the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination. Unless his candidate is unanimously opposed by the remaining examiners, he will basically be optimistic about whoever he chooses, and the battle for Jieyuan will be settled.

Certainly.

"You'll know after the exam."

Zhou Xu was stunned and did not name the person he had in mind. In fact, the name was already revealed, and that was Shen Yichen.

After getting in touch with him during this period, the character and knowledge displayed by Shen Yichen have been completely recognized by Zhou Xu.

Even in the heart of Zhou Xu, a Hanlin scholar, Shen Yichen was far ahead of his peers. If all the students in the world had the same talent, he could dominate it all!

It's just that Shen Yichen's identity can also be said to have a profound background, and he is also the son of a popular powerful man, Duke Cheng.

If I were to say Shen Yichen's name, I'm afraid that in other people's ears, he would be a relative who has been greeted by others.

In this case, let's just let the articles speak for themselves and wait for the provincial examination to be completed. Zhou Xu has absolute confidence that Shen Yichen can stand out!

"Brother Gongxu, you've actually betrayed me. It seems that this candidate is quite special."

Wang Yining and Zhou Xu had worked together in the Hanlin Academy for many years, and they knew each other's temperaments quite well.

With Zhou Xu's serious and upright character, if he liked someone, he would say it directly without any regard for the outside world's evaluation. But now he chooses to hide it, the problem is definitely not with Zhou Xu, but with the special status of the candidate.

"We're about to start the exam, let's talk about it later."

Zhou Xu still smiled and did not answer. At the same time, the sound of gongs sounded from Shuntian Gongyuan, which meant that the orthodox ninth-year provincial examination had officially begun.

At this time, Shen Yichen was sitting in the dormitory, focusing all his attention on the provincial examination questions.

There are seven questions in the first session of the rural examination, including three questions on the meaning of the Four Books, plus four questions on the meaning of the Five Classics. Since the Five Classics questions account for a higher proportion, the top five in the rural examination are also called the "Five Classics Leaders".

Even though there are seven questions in the exam, in fact the word count requirements are not very high. The answers to the questions on the Four Books only require more than 200 words, and the answers to the questions on the Five Classics only require more than 300 words each.

Even if the candidates are really slow in writing, they can each omit one question and answer all five questions.

Of course, if you write two less questions and submit the paper, it basically means that you actively choose to be eliminated. After all, everyone else can complete seven questions, so why can you still be successful if you only complete five questions?

If this is possible, then all candidates in the future will follow the same example and just concentrate on writing five questions, and the seven-question rule will be in vain.

In addition, the provincial examination has very strict restrictions on the freedom of answer content, and is more similar to a basic knowledge examination. All standard answers can be found in the "Complete Collection of Four Books and Five Classics" promulgated during the Yongle period.

In other words, even if a candidate has no room for divergent thinking, as long as his memory is strong enough and he has the ability to memorize like a robot, he can still pass the provincial examination.

In a sense, the provincial examination is an examination with a very high lower limit but a very low upper limit. As long as every candidate has not fished in troubled waters, he can basically answer the questions roughly and will not be full of mistakes like the child test.

However, precisely because the restrictions are so strict, those who stand out will stand out among the candidates.

What Shen Yichen has to do is how to perform a unique dance while wearing the shackles of the Four Books, Five Classics and Eight Parts.

After thinking carefully, Shen Yichen set his sights on the first question of the Four Books. If you want to get the special attention of the examiners, the first question of the weightlifting must be extremely brilliant in order to be able to beat the crowd!

The title of this Four Books is: Advance in Ritual and Music.

This question comes from "The Analects of Confucius", and the full text is that Zi said: "If you are advanced in ritual and music, you are a savage; if you are late in ritual and music, you are a gentleman. If you use it, I will follow the advanced one."

The translated meaning is that Confucius said: "Those who first learned etiquette and music and then became officials are common people who did not have titles and honors; those who first became officials and then learned etiquette and music are the children of senior officials. If I were to select talents, Then I approve of selecting people who learn etiquette and music first."

Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty once solved this problem. His thinking was that the so-called gentlemen were just superficial and did not really care about the quality of rituals and music, so they were not as good as the common people in the countryside.

Zhang Juzheng was extremely accomplished in eight-legged essays, and his ideas for solving problems could be regarded as standard template answers. Almost all scholars would go in this direction for solving problems.

What Shen Yichen wants to do is to challenge Zhang Juzheng's template essay and find a new way without straying from the topic.
Chapter completed!