The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

The places where names are written on all test papers are covered with paper strips and then sent to the marking room.

The marking room of the Academy of Arts is as bright as day.

The marking room of this liberal arts college is extremely spacious. More than 20,000 test papers for children are placed on rows of tables. It looks like a paper-making workshop.

Three examiners, one imperial examination inspector and ten academic candidates stood in front of the statue of Confucius.

"Respectfully invite the Holy Judge!"

Invisible power descended and wind blew in the room.

All the test papers exuded smoky orange talent, but the talent was of different shades and levels.

An invisible force passed by, and tens of thousands of test papers were moved to one side of the marking room and stacked together, forming a mountain of paper.

Finally, the two hundred test papers with the most talented students were placed on the table.

Magistrate Dong said: "I don't know if the Five Movements of Literature and Music are a curse or a blessing, but since the saints have increased the number of scholars, it is a good thing for our human race. Let's start marking the papers."

Ten candidates from the liberal arts academy walked forward first, each selecting nineteen papers, while the ten papers with the most talents remained where they were.

Different from the county examination, the prefecture examination requires cross-marking by candidates from the liberal arts college. After each two adjacent people have scored their own test paper, they must judge the other party's test paper.

The third examiner and an inspector looked at the first ten test papers.

The top-ranked stack of test papers was a talent of two feet four, followed by two feet one, two feet and one foot nine.

Magistrate Dong smiled and asked, "Would you like to guess who is the most talented?"

Master Zhou said: "Is there any need to guess? The first one must be Fang Lun."

"What Mr. Zhou said is absolutely true." Feng Zimo said with a smile.

Inspector Geng sneered and said: "That's not necessarily the case. Even if he is the most talented, it may be that he is talented in poetry, not necessarily in classics and meanings. Look at the subsequent talents, they are less than one foot apart, who is the most talented person? Maybe you don’t know! As disciples of the saint, you praised Fang Lun before the examination. If you hadn’t taken your face into consideration, you would have asked the Holy Inquisition to deprive you of the examination qualifications.”

The three examiners were angry, but speechless. Although the imperial examination was serious, everyone was a scholar and not a fool, so there was no need to be so rigorous. But Inspector Geng was right, and he was a Hanlin scholar, so everyone could only Can get sulky.

"Master Geng's lesson is, let's start grading the papers." Magistrate Dong suddenly walked quickly to the first test paper. The other two deputy examiners looked at each other and followed silently.

According to the rules, the examiner will ask the imperial examination inspector to review the first test paper. Firstly, he respects the status of the Holy Academy, and secondly, he respects people with high academic status. However, Inspector Geng has already made trouble for Fang Yun. If Fang Yun had not Please ask the Holy Judge to threaten, and Geng's inspection will intensify.

One side is a local tycoon and the other is an official of the Holy Academy. The two will probably never meet again in their lives. Inspector Geng fell out first, so the three examiners who are also in Jingguo no longer need to worry about anything.

The three people stood in front of the test paper table, and Inspector Geng could only turn his head to look at it.

Inspector Geng smiled contemptuously, not angry at all.

When the four of them looked at the test paper, three of them changed their faces.

Inspector Geng took a closer look, laughed, and said: "This is not Fang Yun's handwriting, I recognize it! Fang Yun is not the most talented person, and your Yuhai City is indeed full of talents. Okay! Okay!"

Magistrate Dong said with a dark face: "Inspector Geng has lost his composure."

Inspector Geng didn't take it seriously. He looked at the top-ranked test paper with a smile and said, "Let me take a look. The talent for classics and meanings is one foot six, and the talent for poetry is eight inches. I don't recognize the handwriting. If my guess is correct, it seems to be That Tong Li is a formidable young man. With his talent of just one foot and six, he can be the best in many places. If no one cheats in the imperial examination, he will be the best."

Chief Zhou had the best relationship with Fang Yun and said in a deep voice: "Inspector Geng, please be quiet. This is the scoring room, not a place for random boasting."

Inspector Geng was still smiling and confident of victory.

Magistrate Dong said: "We will cross-judge the papers and make the final assessment, which can be verified by Inspector Geng."

"please!"

"please!"

Feng Yuanjun and Chief Zhou were polite to each other, but no one paid any attention to Geng's inspection.

Magistrate Dong read the meaning of the scriptures, Lord Feng Yuan read the poems, and Master Zhou read the sacred words.

Not long after, Magistrate Dong simply wrote two words with a red pen under Tong Li's scripture.

B in.

Inspector Geng took a look and said nothing. This evaluation was very objective. Tong Li's talent in classics and meanings was good, and his problem-solving was above B level, but the latter part was average, but he still stood out among the scholars.

Inspector Geng watched with cold eyes. The current rating is only to be determined. Except for the Holy Words, the one with the highest rating for poems and scriptures will be changed to A, even if it is C.

The other two examiners also made their evaluations one after another.

Tong Li's sacred words, poems and scriptures are Yixia, Yixia and Yizhong respectively.

Afterwards, the three people cross-scored the papers, but no problems were found, and the final ratings were the same as those of the first examiner.

Under normal circumstances, the three examiners would praise Tong Li. After all, it is not common to be ranked in the third grade. If nothing unexpected happens, this person will definitely be a talented person.

Before the three examiners could open their mouths, Inspector Geng said, "Not bad! You three are quite fair."

The three of them looked at each other and began to judge the second portion.

The handwriting is still not lucky.

The expressions on the three people's faces became even more ugly, while Inspector Geng's smile became even bigger.

Not long after, the second rating appeared, which were C-above, B-medium and B-low.

Inspector Geng said: "This man's rating of classics and meanings is the same as Tong Li's, but Tong Li's talent for classics and meanings is four inches higher and not as good as Tong Li's."

The three of them didn't say a word and silently graded the third test paper.

It was still not Fang Yun's.

The faces of the three examiners were no different from the black pot, but the three of them had literary courage, so even if they were in a bad mood, they would not make random evaluations.

The third person's evaluation was C-Shang, B-Shang and C-Shang.

Inspector Geng commented again: "This person's poems are out of the county, and his talent is one foot and one foot, so he can get B-Shang. I saw the handwriting of the fourth person, it should be Fang Yun." There are saints looking down at the world, and some words are harmless. After all, the three semi-saints are the real examiners.

The three examiners began to read Fang Yun's test paper with mixed feelings.

When the words of the saints, poems and scriptures were separated, a trace of despair appeared in the eyes of the three people.

There was only a very faint talent above Fang Yun's scriptures, not even an inch.

"Go on." Prefect Dong sighed lightly and began to read Fang Yun's scriptures.

After reading the first part of the question, Dong Zhifu said loudly: "Great! I have been an examiner for more than ten years, and this is the first time I have seen such a clever question! If the rest of the article is not bad, I will definitely give it an A grade!"

The other three looked over immediately, and Geng Xuncha also stretched his neck to read.

"Excellent! Even I am not as good as him!"

"Great talent!"

The smile on Geng Xuncha's face disappeared.

Dong Zhifu said slowly: "Talent is the only criterion for poetry, but it is not the only criterion for measuring classics and policy essays. Especially the sages of the pre-Qin Dynasty and the disciples of Confucius, their classics often have no talent, but they contain great truths. When the great Confucian scholar Yi Zhishi of Wu State took the examination for Juren, he only had three inches of talent in classics, but he still beat everyone and got an A grade."

Geng Xuncha knew that Dong Zhifu was talking to him, so he did not respond and continued to read.

The four people read slowly, and Geng Xuncha's face became more and more gloomy, while the expressions of the three examiners became more and more rich.

"If I were Mr. Dong, my first comment would definitely be 'tight structure'! This Fang Yun, starting with the opening, followed by the introduction, and then the original topic, is extremely smooth, and really lived up to our expectations. Even if he is the top scholar in a country, the structure alone cannot be better."

"The opening is clever, and the tight structure is secondary. What I like most is the development of abdication, hereditary succession, and public election. Abdication and hereditary succession are great rituals, and there are changes in rituals, but he discovered their meanings from them, and the meanings are also changing, which echoes the opening. If there is a problem with the talent of this sutra, it must be because of his assumption of public election. Although he is unable to assume a public election system that is as perfect as abdication and hereditary succession, he clearly points out the characteristics of balance and stability, which is extremely consistent with the Confucian "golden mean". However, he also emphasized that there are saints in the public election, which shows that this public election is not a perfect ritual. Fortunately, if If there is a great ritual of a country that can get rid of all the saints, it is not beautiful. "

"Although this boy's hypothesis is bold, in terms of balance and stability, it is better than the current Ten Kingdoms system. If there are no saints in the Ten Kingdoms, the country can only be maintained by a wise monarch, but if the monarch is incompetent, the country will be in danger. He also explained in it that since he has chosen the characteristics of balance and stability, there will also be negative characteristics. If he can take the strengths and weaknesses and integrate the essence of the Ten Kingdoms, he can use this article as a foundation to become a great scholar! "

"A!"

"A-level!"

"A-level!"

Governor Dong wrote under Fang Yun's interpretation: "The topic is wonderful, the structure is strict, there are signs of change, there is an opportunity to revive the human race, there is a feasible way, and he is deeply aware of rituals and righteousness, A-level!"

Then Zhou Zhubu and Feng Yuanjun also wrote A-level comments on it. As long as the subsequent test papers do not have the same exquisite interpretation, Fang Yun will definitely be a great talent.

Geng Xuncha said, "This essay cannot get the first-class grade!"

The three examiners looked at Geng Xuncha together. The others were fine, but Feng Zimo immediately said angrily, "Geng Xuncha, this essay is obviously the first-class essay, how can it not get the first-class grade? I know that you colluded with Shi Jun's disciple Shi Dehong and wanted to retaliate against my Jingguo, but if you want to destroy my Jingguo's great talents, I will ask the Holy Judge to expose you! You know best whether you have selfish intentions or not!"

"Sir Geng, you should think twice. Fang Yun's "Humble House Inscription" was commented on by a half-saint! If this essay is rated as the first-class by the Holy Judge, you will lose your official position in the Holy Academy at best, and your literary courage will be weakened at worst, and you will never make any progress in this life!"

Zhou Zhubu sneered, "Sir Dong, Sir Feng, you two are Jinshi, if the application for the imperial judgment fails, it will be a disaster. I am just a juren, even if I fail, it doesn't matter, Geng Hanlin, don't force me to apply for the imperial judgment. "

Inspector Geng said slowly: "Although the assumption of this article is very wonderful, it is still a hypothesis after all. No one has written a book to prove it. Giving it an A grade is too much. I suggest that you give it the same as Tong Li. The two have the same evaluation, which is impartial. "

"You seem to be impartial, but in fact you still have the intention to harm others. If both of them are B, Tong Li's article is more talented, so it will definitely be changed to A! Master Dong, I have one last question for you, will you give Fang Yun an A grade? If you don't give it, you don't need to worry about it anymore, I will immediately apply for the imperial judgment, and let the three semi-saint examiners decide this article! "