After Shen Yichen copied it, he focused on the first question: If the people are enough, who is the king?

This question comes from "The Analects of Confucius: Yan Yuan Chapter". The full text is that Duke Ai asked Yu Youruo: "I am hungry in the year and I don't have enough use. What should I do?"

Youruo said to him, "Is it true?"

He said: "Second, I am still lacking, how can I be so thorough?"

He said to him: "When the people are enough, which king is enough? When the people are not enough, which king is enough?"

The question maker intercepted a fragment of the last answer, which was also a common way of writing questions in ancient eight-legged essays.

Relatively speaking, this question has taken great care of the candidates. At least the intercepted fragments are complete. You must know that many examiners make up questions by adding two words here and two words there. The entire sentence cannot even be read. Easy exam questions.

This kind of underworld test question is also called "intersection question".

The full translation of this conversation probably means that Duke Ai of Lu asked Youruo: "The harvest has failed every year and the country has insufficient reserves. What should we do?"

Youruo replied: "Why not implement a tax rate of 1 out of 10?"

Duke Ai of Lu said: "It's not enough to draw two out of ten, so how about drawing one out of ten?"

Youruo replied: "If the people have enough money, how can the king not have enough money? If the people have not enough money, how can the king have enough money?"

If you want to write the eight-legged essay well, you must memorize the four books in full. Otherwise, you will not understand the causes and consequences of the topic. You will not be able to solve the topic just by looking at this intercepted conversation fragment.

However, many times even if you know the full text, it is not easy to accurately analyze the topic. This is the case for Shen Yichen now.

To understand it from the literal content, this is a discussion between Lu Aigong and Youruo about people's livelihood issues. It is proposed that as a ruler, the interests must be consistent with the interests of the people. Only when the interests of the people are protected can the personal interests of the ruler be satisfied.

The direction that the whole article points to is actually Confucius’ thinking of “benevolent government”.

But when the problem arises, how should it be expressed? Which statement of the saint is appropriate?

Another more important point is that this is not an exam for teachers like Li Tingxiu or Lin Zhen. You just need to solve the questions accurately and write beautifully.

This is a county examination and will be judged by the examiner, Zhou Zhixian. Everyone has their own style of writing and preferences. This means that in addition to accurate answers, you must also satisfy Zhou Zhixian's appetite, otherwise you may not get high scores.

This is why it is difficult to write eight-part essays. In many cases, we not only consider the article, but also the people's hearts.

After hesitating for a long time, Shen Yichen finally started writing.

The first sentence to break the theme, he wrote that since the people below are rich, the king will be rich above him. The translated meaning of this sentence is that if the people below are already rich, then the king above will naturally be rich.

Shen Yichen identified two points as the core thinking of this question. The first point is that the monarch should care about the suffering of the people, and the second point is to hide wealth from the people.

Originally, Shen Yichen's idea of ​​solving the question was close to the first point, but then he thought about it. The idea that the king cares about the suffering of the people is less like what the county examination examiner wants to express, and more like selecting the pillars of the country in the general examination. Only then will the required way of thinking be achieved.

So he chose the idea of ​​hiding wealth among the people.

Now that he has a direction, the difficulty for Shen Yichen in the following articles such as the title and the introduction will suddenly decrease.

Because the content of the four books now seems to be engraved in Shen Yichen's mind. It may be an exaggeration to say that he knows it by heart, but he should be familiar with it.

Therefore, the good thing about the eight-legged essay is that it does not require too many words of expression. As long as your memory is good enough, you can always find suitable sentences in the four books or comments to insert into it.

With the first article breaking the question, the second four-book and eight-legged essay came naturally. Shen Yichen was completely in the exam-taking state, writing furiously throughout the process, without paying attention to changes in the outside world.

When it came to the final five-character and six-rhyme poem, it was no longer a problem.

This is not to say that Shen Yichen's poems are so powerful that he can write them easily, but it's not important to try out the poems anyway. You can just write them in the right format and make do without affecting the overall situation.

When Shen Yichen finished writing all the test questions, he raised his head and subconsciously wanted to look around, but except for the blue bricks and black tiles, he couldn't see any other students at all.

But these are not important. Shen Yichen immediately started copying his own test papers. You must know that the cleanliness of the ancient imperial examination papers is a very important indicator. The higher the level of the exam, the more important it is.

During the copying process, your hands must not shake. If you make a mistake and correct a word, your impression score will be greatly reduced. If you are unlucky and meet a strict examiner who will kill your test paper when he sees the typo, it will really make you cry. There is no place to cry.

Of course, for school-level examinations such as the county examination, the requirements for cleanliness on the paper are not so strict, and a slight correction of typos is acceptable.

However, in order to obtain as high a score as possible, Shen Yichen wrote the entire test paper neatly, and coupled with his standard Taige style, it looked quite pleasing to the eye.

After copying, Shen Yichen had no ink marks, so he stood up and planned to hand in the paper in advance. He thought about whether he could talk to the examiner Zhou Zhixian to alleviate the previous misunderstanding.

What an injustice it would be if I really had to kill my test paper just because of a "little friend" call...

After getting up, Shen Yichen walked out of the dormitory. The patrolling soldiers saw the test paper in his hand and knew that he had to hand it in in advance, so they did not come to stop him.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to hand in the papers, Shen Yichen also took a curious look at the conditions of other students. Some were as confident as himself, while others were racking their brains and looking at the papers with sad faces.

Shen Yichen even saw the students in the two dormitories, lying on the table and falling asleep. She didn't know what kind of psychological quality he had to sleep so soundly on such an occasion.

In addition, Shen Yichen was still in the "prime area" of the dormitory and saw Zhu Qingyu's dormitory. It was probably because they were both in the Chengguo public school queue, so the two of them were not far apart.

The boy was supporting his chin with one hand and rubbing ink with the other hand inside the inkstone. Except for a few large characters on the test paper, the rest was blank. He was in a daze and did not notice Shen Yichen walking in front of him at all. Walked by.

If nothing else goes wrong, we will see this kid take the exam again in the next Jiangning County Examination.

Zhou Shun, the magistrate of Jiangning County, sat in the examination seat at the top of the examination room, his eyes scanning the surroundings from time to time. In addition to preventing noisy cheating, there was also a need to prevent any student from lighting a fire or cooking and causing a fire.

However, after all, the county examination only lasts for one day, and anyone with a normal mind would not bring raw food in. Even someone like Shen Yichen who finished writing quickly did not even need to eat and left at noon.

"Your Excellency, I saw an examinee walking out of the dormitory. I wonder who will be the first to hand in the paper this year."

The same examiner, Jiangning County Magistrate, saw Shen Yichen's movements and said something to Zhou Shun.

"Oh, it's only noon, who can answer the question so quickly?"

Zhou Shun was also a little curious. Anyone who could hand in the paper so quickly must be someone with solid knowledge and talent.

Of course, there is another possibility, that is, just write a lot without learning and skills, and you can hand in the paper quickly and have a good lunch in time...

However, this kind of blind writing will leave a very bad impression in the mind of the examiner. Basically, you will never pass the county examination in his hands.

As the examinees gradually approached, Zhou Shun finally saw who it was. He was Shen Yichen, the illegitimate son of Duke Cheng!

To be honest, Zhou Shun was not surprised to see that it was Shen Yichen who submitted the paper for the first time. For some reason, he was not surprised. Maybe it was his performance at the family banquet that day, or maybe it was the lyrics and music circulated at the Winter Solstice Poetry Club, which made him believe that Shen Yichen is a man of great talent.

"Parent Officer, student Shen Yichen turned in his papers."

As Shen Yichen spoke, he handed the test paper in front of Zhou Shun. At the same time, he looked at the changes in the other person's expression to see if there was any possibility of easing the relationship.

"I got the top spot in this county exam, which is good."

Zhou Shun definitely praised him, but there was no emotion or joy in his face, which made Shen Yichen a little uneasy.

I don’t know whether the other party was just being polite or a sincere compliment.

"Parents, if there is any misunderstanding, please forgive me."

Shen Yichen also went all out and apologized directly. Regardless of whether the other party accepted it or not, at least he showed his attitude. It was better than being killed for no reason.

Faced with Shen Yichen's sudden words, Zhou Shun was a little confused. What kind of play was this kid singing? He just handed in a paper in advance. As for the large number of adults?

Could it be that this guy just wrote blindly and handed in the paper casually?

When he thought of this possibility, Zhou Shun quickly opened Shen Yichen's test paper and looked at it. In his mind, this schoolboy was very talented and would not do such a stupid thing.

Seeing that Zhou Zhixian directly began to review his test paper, it was Shen Yichen's turn to be confused. This behavior of the other party was considered an interview in the county examination.

Theoretically, the examiner is very interested in this student, and after reading the opening questions, he is very satisfied with the article, and will review it in class. Then he will give a test question, and if he passes it, he will be directly awarded!

Are you trying to win me in front of me, or are you trying to eliminate me on the spot?

After Zhou Shun opened the test paper, he didn't even read the opening question. Just the handwriting that came into view shocked him.

Not to mention Zhou Shun, the two examiners on the left and right showed surprise on their faces. This handwriting didn't look like something a schoolchild could write. If you put it in the examination, it would be regarded as the number one penmanship, right?

Holding back the shock in his heart, Zhou Shun continued to read, and the more he looked, the more shocked he became!

Because these two eight-part essays are not only precise in their topic, but also neatly arranged and contrasted throughout, and each rhyme is smooth and beautiful, it is not an exaggeration to call them imperial examination model essays.

What's even more valuable is that these few words fully explain the scholar-officials' strategies for governing the world.

Taking a deep breath to calm down, Zhou Shun slowly put down the test paper in his hand, and then looked to the left and right.
Chapter completed!