Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

After all the applicants were seated in their respective seats, it would take a little while before Lu Ci, like the others, first put the study room on the desk in an orderly manner, took out one-third of the test papers, and the whole Spread neatly on top.

Compared with others, Lu Ci only took two more small steps: first, apply a little force on the desk to make sure it will not sway; and check the four sides of the seat to make sure there are no paper balls left by someone with a heart.

After everything was ready, Lu Ci flicked the front of his shirt and sat down unhurriedly. He didn't look around anxiously like others, and just closed his eyes quietly to rest his mind.

——Even if it is of great significance, it is only the first round of the initial test, so there is no need to worry about gains and losses.

The big deal is to accompany the exam back, learn from experience, and fight again next time.

Without keeping Lu Ci waiting for a long time, the supervisor quickly completed the process of introducing all applicants by name.

The benefits of using the old official building as a tribute house are now revealed again.Not only are the tables and chairs ready-made, but the space is large enough for sitting at intervals and attending infrequently.

After the officials quickly handed out the test questions, lit the incense for timing, and set up a spare water leak, the examiner announced in a deep voice that the test had begun.

The three exams on the first day were poetry, fu, and theory.

Lu Ci raised his eyebrows unexpectedly as soon as he opened the propositions of provincial poems, rhyme and rhetoric.

The published ones are "Poems of Asking for Suicide Notes in the World", "Fu of Yao and Shun's Nature and Benevolence" and "Theoretical Questions of Easy and Simple Obtaining the World".

This is not a good start, but a triple hit in a good start!

You know, no matter whether it is a provincial poem or a prose, the range of propositions is extremely wide, and it can be called a powerful and unconstrained style, and there is no prohibition.

In order to find out the rules and scope of his questions, Lu Ci rummaged through the old test questions from previous years that he could find at hand, and found that there were not only standard ones from anthology, but also some from current events, all depended on the examiner's decision. tendency.

Too much freedom means that it is difficult to prepare in advance. I don’t know how many scholars who are applying for the exam feel sorry for this, but they dare not complain.

Except for a very small number of people who are really talented in poetry and prose, or those who are lucky enough to get the questions that they have practiced and are comfortable with, most of the applicants are stuck in this arbitrary and irregular way of writing questions. Up.

Lu Ci is different.

He never puts his hopes on illusory luck, nor does he believe that his strength can be stronger than talented people like Zhu Shuo, Liu Qi and others. Then his support is rich enough to be able to be on the spot. Train the thinking and speed of doing the questions, the tactics of simulating the examination room to adapt to the environment, and a little skill of pondering people's hearts.

As soon as the candidate for the examiner of the Zhulu State Government Supervisory Army is appointed by the imperial court, the next moment the person is notified, he will be escorted into the locked courtyard until the list is released, and even his family members will not be able to see him. The possibility of entrustment and fraud.

There was still a month and a half between the time when the candidate for the examiner was selected and the lock-up court was confirmed, and the day when the candidate should be introduced for the test, which was fully utilized by Lu Ci.

He collects relevant anthologies and annotations of the person, one is to review, and the other is to judge his style and preferences.

Even if the information is incomplete and the time interval between releases is not short, it is better than nothing.

Lu Ci noticed that the other party had tried to write notes for "Chengdi Ji" in "Hanshu", especially loved "Mencius", and praised "Book of Changes" full of praise, but there was very little information on current affairs. These articles, together with Zhu Shuo, have been intensively reviewed in the final stage.

Hard work pays off, and it really comes in handy now.

Even if only the rhythmic prose can accurately hit the specific sentences of the topic, it is naturally the most handy to write, but generally speaking, the advantage is still absolute.

Lu Ci smiled slightly, and was not in a hurry to write, but closed his eyes slowly, and began to write.

The test paper only has the quota reported in the report, and no draft paper will be provided. In the best case, of course, no one should be wasted, but if it falls on the paper, don't write a single word wrong.

It's not that Lu Ci is too demanding on himself, and he is picky about the cleanliness of the paper, but because in the tribute ceremony, in the "non-examination style" of countermeasures and poems, there are "tu", "note", and "yi". Express request.

Misuse of words, misuse of words, or missing words will be judged as a mistake. According to the number of mistakes made, they will be degraded if they are light, and will be ruthlessly dismissed if they are serious.

Of course, Lu Ci didn't want to write in a hurry like those real rookies who responded to the test first.

In his opinion, no matter how precious a flash of inspiration is, it is not as good as steady action.

When Lu Ci finally typed the manuscript perfectly, he picked up the pen, moistened the pen, dipped in the ink, and carefully wrote down the contents of the family statement at the beginning of the answer sheet. In the two lines, write the word "Fengshi" separately.

Afterwards, I copied the titles of the poems, and then chose one of the characters as a rhyme, and wrote a five-character six-rhyme neatly.

Although Lu Ci's handwriting was quite praised by his masters, he did not use the most charming, unrestrained and beautiful handwriting in the tribute examination, but the most neat and rigid, neat and easy to read. .

That is, the kind of characters he used to copy his own public documents.

At this time, the transcription system did not exist, and what the examiners saw was the words written by the candidates.

And how many papers need to be marked by the examiner?There are nearly a hundred test papers for one examinee alone, not including the public papers.

After a day of reading, you must be exhausted. No matter how elegant and beautiful the characters are, once you need to troubleshoot to identify and review them, I am afraid that you will only be annoyed.

"Three generations of Yande Mou, the articles are left in ashes. Thousands of gold will be rewarded, and the counties will buy the suicide notes... I wish to watch the new four, and clear the ban to Zhiming Lu."

After finishing the work, Lu Ci re-read it five times. Every time he read a sentence, he mentally went through the rules of the test paper.

After confirming that there were no fatal mistakes such as missing writing, not pressing, overlapping, falling, and missing official rhymes, Lu Ci wrote down "Tu, Zhu, Yi Wu" in satisfaction, and put it on the left side of the desk to dry the ink .

At this time, all the other candidates are still stuck on the provincial inscription poems, including those who wrote "Flash of Light" earlier than Lu Ci, and are still sweating profusely correcting their own mistakes related to smearing and official rhymes— — There are several discarded test strips piled up around me.

While staring at the proposition of "Yao and Shun's Ode to Humanity and Benevolence", Lu Ci dipped his index finger in some mint ointment that was made in advance and was allowed to be brought in, and rubbed it behind his ear.

After the refreshing little stimulation took away the slight sense of fatigue, I started to write the belly draft of Fu...

Someone as calm and confident as Lu Ci, in the initial test field at this time, really can't find a second one.

The gap is not only in talent, but more in mentality.

Those who are too poorly educated, who don’t understand the questions at the moment, will naturally have no way to write; those who are careless, miss the official questions, and in the end it will be a waste of effort...

Even Zhu Shuo, who studied the source of the proposition with Lu Ci, has not yet shaken off the anxiety of the first exam.

When he saw this proposition, he was startled at first, and he almost admired Brother Lu who was so accurate in the proposition.

If someone else encountered such a coincidence, they might have to mutter a few words in their hearts, wondering if Lu Ci had done the act of pre-purchasing the topic.But when it comes to Zhu Shuo, who is used to trusting Lu Ci, he doesn't think about it at all.

Thinking of brother Lu being just like me, sitting somewhere in this examination room, as if studying together at Lu's house on weekdays...

Zhu said that unconsciously, he calmed down a lot.

However, when he regained some of his mood, because he was too eager to start, he inadvertently shook his hands and made the mistake of smearing, wasting a piece of test paper.

But if you are reluctant to give up this test paper, you will definitely be downgraded.

This is the first game of the first day, who knows what will happen next?

Zhu said that there was no need to make any trade-offs, and he discarded that one without hesitation and started anew.

This time I finally made no big mistakes.

——This is thanks to Brother Lu.

Zhu said he couldn't help thinking.

Even when Brother Lu practiced the questions on weekdays, he forced him to always keep in mind the contents that must be carefully written in the answer sheet, such as 'sincerely, respectfully and respectfully'.

Over time, Zhu Shuo naturally developed a rigorous attitude that all exercises should be considered as serious exams.

Even if he was a little nervous and flustered, his subconscious mind didn't miss it.

When Zhu said that he had finished the last stroke, he heard a "woo" from the person in the cubicle, followed by the sound of tables and chairs being pushed away, followed by a soft shout.

Zhu said he couldn't help being taken aback.

He was inevitably distracted, and turned his head to look at the wooden board separating the two.

Of course nothing can be seen.

But the hearing was not affected much, so Zhu said that he soon heard the whisper of the summoned shop inspector, and then the sound of something being dragged, and then, there was a burst of people coming from the belly "Cuckoo" accompanied by the sound of "crackling" falling into the water...

The momentum is majestic, like holding a distant mountain, swallowing the Yangtze River, vast and endless.

Zhu said his eyes widened in shock: "..."

Even though he couldn't smell or see anything at this moment, Zhu said he could fully imagine the scene just by listening to this considerable movement.

The end of the nose seemed to smell a scalp-numbing stench, even if he was young and old, he couldn't calm down.

Lu Ci, who was quite far away, couldn't hear these changes at all, and naturally he didn't know that Zhu said that he was very unlucky to meet a candidate next door who had a stomachache.

What's more helpless is that Zhu said that he was able to write an immersive and eternally famous novel "Yueyang Tower" with a single picture. It is conceivable that he has a rich imagination. It's even bigger.

It can be said that Lu Ci was going smoothly. Only half of the time had passed, and he had already completed the prose with great efficiency, and he was slowly reviewing it.

Regardless of the theory of poetry and prose, there is only a lower limit for the number of words, but no upper limit.

Provincial title poems are okay, they occupy the lowest weight among the three, and are widely known to be ignored; Fu is the most important, but the scope of the title is extremely wide, which limits the performance of an unknown number of people. There are so many rules and regulations, and it is difficult to increase the number of words if it is to be a good work.

Lu Ci also knew that when writing articles, the more the better.

The most important thing is that there is a limited time period for a solution test, and there are many more questions in the test than provincial and palace tests.

Due to the time limit, if they have to be assigned to the three items, even the most daring candidates would not dare to focus too much on one item, lest they run out of time and cannot finish the answer.

Today's Fu, however, Lu Ci thought, not only was it written in one go, but also felt pretty good after reading it.

For him, this can be called incredible.

You know, asking him to look back at his works usually feels like torture.

Now I can still appreciate it... It really took advantage of the familiarity of the proposition.

Lu Ci stretched his upper body happily, and was not in a hurry to continue writing. Instead, he first obtained the consent of the shop inspector, and then poured a cup of heat-relieving soup stored in the Kongming pot.

After hearing his request, the inspector's face was blank at first, thinking that he was hallucinating.

Over the years, he has been used to dealing with many candidates' affairs, but it was the first time he had seen such a leisurely and calm person who treated the examination room as his own.

After eating the cool and sweet soup, he moved his stiff fingers and sore shoulders and arms again. Under the unspeakably complicated gaze of the inspector, Lu Ci was in a good mood to ponder the final argument. how to write.

The author has something to say: Notes:

I will not list the few sentences borrowed from "Yueyang Tower", as you all know it.

1. I did not find relevant reference materials for the specific test day and session.

It is only guessed from the order of seals in the second year of Tianxi in Kaifeng Prefecture, "I hope to transcribe the examination papers for Jinshi according to the Southern Provincial Regulations, and the topic of advanced poetry and prose the day before, and the imperial pen will decide." The second "Fajie"

If anyone knows more about this, please correct me, I'm really curious... (forget about TV dramas)

2. The sources of "The Poetry of Asking for Suicide Notes in the World", "Ode on the Benevolence of Yao and Shun" and "The Theoretical Questions of Obtaining the World by Easy and Simple" are just as listed in the article.

3. Provincial title poem = grid poem.It seems to have been mentioned before.This chapter was once mixed, I will emphasize it again w

4. The verses in this article are borrowed from "The Poems of the Emperor's Examination and Suicide in the World" written by Yang Jie, the fourth Jinshi in Jiayou's fourth year

5. As stated in the article, the prose and policy propositions are unconstrained and have no rules at all, and are drawn up by the examiner.Although Zhang Zhibai began to limit the scope of poems and prose propositions in the fifth year of Zhenzong Xianping (1002), Fan Zhongyan also mentioned that they should be limited to the Nine Classics, Zhuzi and History in the fourth year of Qingli (yes, the year when Yueyang Tower was written). The topic was proposed, but it was not really restricted until Song Zhezong adopted Su Shi's opinion on May 5, the eighth year of Yuanyou.

6.'Painting' = altering

'note' = comment or add note

'B'=hook and turn

Feng wants to write before answering the question, and finally counts the total number of words written by himself, writes them down, and then writes the total number of words in '木', 'Note' and 'B'.Once falsified or omitted, the consequences will be very serious...

7. Non-examination: those who violate the non-examination will not be admitted.

The non-examination rules are different for each period.Taking Renzong Qingli four years as an example, there are a total of [-] articles, which were more specific in the later Gaozong period.

It is mentioned in the "Gongju Miscellaneous Theory" of "Song Huiyao Compiled Drafts Election" [-]-[-]:

There are fifteen rules for non-examination of poems and prose: there are five characters missing in one poem; the poems and proses do not know the title; Off official rhyme; rhyme or rhyme in poems or rhymes are dropped; poems are out of flat side (also at the place where words are dropped); rhymes are overlapped; the meaning of the title is not found in the small fu; there are less than three crosses in the poem; few rhymes are left in the poem; all the poems use ancient people One couplet; the two rhymes of the poem did not see the meaning of the title before.

8. Wipe

The "Shaoxing Restoration General Gong Ju Shi" promulgated by Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, and "The Rhyme of the Ministry of Rites" attached to the "Gong Ju Tiao Shi" record:

Erase includes complex literature and theory, overlapping meanings, misuse of words, missing three characters, meanings not related to the topic, overlapping use of poems and prose, and unequal poems and prose.

Points include misusing one character, missing one character, mistaken one character, missing five characters in Fu, missing crosses in theory, and overlapping one character in poems.

As for the punishment, according to the old rule in the second year of Renzong Baoyuan (1039), it is roughly "one point for three characters without errors, one stroke for three points, and a lower grade; nine points for three strokes, quasi-gram drop".The punishment is very heavy.

9. In the fourth year of Renzong Jingyou (1037), the transcription of the examination was started, and in the eighth year of Dazhong Xiangfu, the transcription of the provincial examination was started. Before that, only the palace examination was available.

According to the time period of this article, the solution at this time is only Feng Mi (fuzzy name)

Whether it is transcription or sealing, it starts from the palace test, and then gradually spreads to the provincial test, and finally the solution test.It's going to take years... don't be surprised.