Bachelor

Chapter 40 Difficulty of County Examination
The Sun family dispatched a team of about 20 examinees this time.

Among them, Li Meiting personally sponsored five students, and the other [-] students were recommended by the family.

Three days ago, the Sun family had already sent people to the county government office to sign up.

Although the county government in the Ming Dynasty had a small establishment, there were offices for rites, households, soldiers, criminals, workers, and officials to correspond to the six departments of the central government.Small but complete.

The county test is the first level of the boy's test. The county test is not so particular, and there are no special school officials to invigilate the test.According to the usual practice, the local magistrate is responsible for marking and enrolling students, and the central government does not send academic officials to invigilate the exams.

Zhang Duan, the magistrate of Zouping County, is an acquaintance of Sun Dan. With him, Sun Dan is much more confident of passing the test.

Aside from the last imperial examination, Sun Yue did not take the Taoist examination because he was unwell, that is, the courtyard examination.Strictly speaking, this is the first imperial examination for the newly grown children of the Hou Sun family of Huichang, and the family attaches great importance to it.Half a month ago, the first and second masters of the capital ordered someone to send each of the twenty examinees a set of the top four treasures of the study and a set of brand-new scribe robes.

It was about five o'clock Beijing time in later generations. The schoolchildren got up and gathered at the mill. Five small boats were parked in the nearby river. The boatmen rubbed their hands and breathed white air, waiting to send the schoolchildren into the city.The weather in early March is still a bit cold, especially early in the morning.Some Shaogongs couldn't stand the cold and couldn't help but stack their feet.

Sun Fu, the housekeeper, also came to see him off. He recognized Sun Dan in the crowd, nodded, and asked someone to bring up a large bundle of sweet-scented osmanthus branches with a smile.

The schoolchildren went up one after another and broke off a twig to put on their belts.In ancient times, the imperial examination high school was called "Gui Gui in the middle of the moon". In pronunciation, Gui is harmonious with "gui", and everyone is looking for auspiciousness.

Sun Hao squeezed over and pulled Sun Dan excitedly, his voice trembling: "Brother Dan, great news."

Sun Dan remembered that he and Sun Jia went to the city to check out the bookstore yesterday, and his heart moved: "But about that book?"

"Exactly, what the hell..." Sun Hao had a smile on his face, and he couldn't help it.

But at this moment, Mr. Li Meiting came over and took a look at Sun Dan: "Let's go."

"Where are you going?" Sun Dan was stunned.

Mr. Li: "Take a boat with me." As he spoke, he stroked the hem of his gown and got on the boat first.

Sun Dan said to Sun Hao in a low voice: "It's not a big deal. We'll talk about it after the exam. Then we'll gather at the book store. Sun Hao, I'm determined to win this exam and I'm confident. But you have to be more careful. You can't do it now." Don't think about anything else, just calm down and don't stumble."

"Okay, no problem." Sun Hao said with a smile: "I'm also an unscrupulous guy, isn't it just an exam, I'm afraid of a bird."

Sun Dan smiled. When it comes to psychological quality, Sun Hao's nerves are not ordinary. If he is also nervous, the others may be too scared to walk.

I was too worried about this.

On the boat, Li Meiting shouted loudly: "What are you dawdling about? Hurry up and get on the boat. You have done so many papers this month. As long as you memorize the model essay I gave you, it will not be easy to pass the test. It is so cold and so early. , I’ll take a nap first, and call me from the ground.” After speaking, he ignored everyone and went straight into the cabin of the black shed and fell asleep.

……

When they entered the city, because of their young age, the schoolchildren stared in a daze on the boat for a while, and they all looked tired.

When they arrived at the pier, everyone was not in a hurry to get off the boat. People from Sun's family who lived in the county had already brought a hot breakfast.After eating, Sun Dan followed the crowd to the examination room.

At this time, the genius just opened.

The examination room was located in the lobby of the county government office, and the lights inside were brightly lit.

There were a total of sixty candidates for this exam, and the Sun family accounted for [-]%, which shows the soft power of the Sun family.

The first hurdle before the exam is to verify the body, because there is no photo, and each student has a receipt in his hand, which shows the person's body and appearance characteristics.For example, Sun Hao's physical characteristics read "tall and strong, with a leopard head and ring eyes", while Sun Gui's note reads "short and thin, with high cheekbones".

Of course, Sun Dan's situation is not much better.Because of malnutrition, he was thin and ordinary-looking, and there were no descriptions such as "wind liu Tier, jade tree facing the wind, beauty and wisdom, golden sound and crane step".

Zhangzhi County started roll call:
"Sun Hao, the Sun Family of the Marquis of Huichang."

"Sun Gui from the Sun family of the Marquis of Huichang."

"Nie Yuan in Ma Liugou."

The schoolchildren entered one after another.

"Sun Dan of the Sun family of Marquis of Huichang."

Finally it was Sun Dan's turn, Zhang Zhixian was stunned: "It's you?"

"I have met the magistrate, he is a late born." Sun Dan hastily bowed.

Zhang Zhixian: "Aren't you illiterate? Why did you come to take the exam? It was Mr. Li who protected you. Isn't this nonsense?"

Sun Dan: "Late birth was illiterate two months ago, but it doesn't mean that you can't read now. The ancients said that if you don't see each other for three days, you should look at it with admiration, let alone January. Late birth is not the old Wuxia Amen."

"Hey, I already know this idiom." Zhang Zhixian chuckled: "Mr. Li Meiting is my senior, so I naturally trust the people he recommends. It's understandable after thinking about it. You have a superb memory, and it's easy to study."

Sun Dan hurriedly said: "Wan Sheng also listened to the magistrate's words 'Why don't you study' that day, so he made a wish to study. Speaking of which, the magistrate is still Wan Sheng's guide!"

Zhang Zhixian laughed loudly: "I don't know how well you have learned in a month, but I will take a good look at your papers later. If you are really a genius, this county might as well be an adult. Let's wait and see how far you can go. Go in Go!" Without verifying Sun Dan's receipt, he let him into the examination room with a wave of his hand.

After all the students had entered the examination room, Zhang Zhixian said to Li Meiting who was dozing beside him: "Mr. Meiting, it's cold here, why don't you go to the flower hall to have a rest."

Mr. Li smiled; "No, there are twenty of my students in there. In order to avoid suspicion, I'd better go back to my residence. Anyway, I, the guarantor, send people to the examination room and it's over, so it's useless to delay here with you."

Zhang Zhixian: "The disciples trained by Mr. Mei Ting are naturally good, and there is nothing to avoid suspicion."

Mr. Li looked at the sky: "The dragon has nine sons, each of which is different. To be honest, among this group of Sun family children, except for Sun Yue, I am only optimistic about Sun Dan. These two can make it to the end."

"Oh." Zhang Zhixian was very surprised: "Not to mention Sun Yue, Sun Dan has only been studying for more than a month. It's rare that Mr. Wang is so optimistic."

"Whether you are successful or not depends on your talent. It doesn't matter how long you study." Li Meiting said with a half-smile: "Back then, Xie Dashi only studied for a few years, and he was able to pass the first place when he was a teenager. I'm not saying that Sun Danji The talent of a person is comparable to that of a Bachelor of Jie University. However, this son is really a seed for reading, and the future may be limitless. Let's wait and see, Mr. Zhang.

One must be young to be proud.The imperial examination is also a matter of liking youth and admiring the young and bullying the old and the weak.If I don't train a few jinshi in the past few years, I won't be able to show my skills. "

"That's true. I think my brother Zhang Cong is also a well-known talent, but he has not yet reached the Dragon Gate, so he has the ambition in his chest. It can be seen that this imperial examination has its own definite number, and it cannot be forced by human power. You and I will not gossip Send off Mr. Li." Zhang Zhixian asked Shui Butou to send Li Meiting to the pier for a boat ride.

After entering the examination room, Sun Dan found a quiet seat and sat down, and began to place the four treasures of the study on the table one by one.Generally speaking, the county examination in the Ming Dynasty was not very strict, and there was no such thing as arranging seats. Candidates could just find a place to sit in the examination room.

There is only one county exam, and there is no time limit for two stereotyped essays. Anyway, just finish the exam questions within one day.Of course, generally speaking, it only takes half an hour to finish a stereotyped essay of [-] characters, and it can be done in one morning.

Of course, if you want to procrastinate, mushrooms can be eaten all day long.The yamen doesn't arrange meals, and you are the one who is starving.

When Zhang Zhixian handed out the exam questions, Sun Dan was taken aback when he saw it—it was too simple.

In fact, the county examination in the Ming Dynasty was not aimed at making things difficult for candidates, and the questions were very simple.Moreover, the purpose of the county examination is nothing more than to test the mastery of basic knowledge of schoolchildren.

These two questions are small questions, that is, find a sentence from the Four Books, cut off the upper and lower parts, and turn it into a few words with incomplete meanings.Then let the examinee make up the sentence and explain it according to the meaning of the sentence.

If you want to do this kind of topic, candidates must first be very familiar with Confucian classics, and find out that these two topics are the one sentence in the book.

If you can't even find the source of this question, there is no need to take this exam.

Therefore, in a sense, the county examination is the rote learning of schoolchildren.

As predicted by Mr. Li, the two topics of this county examination are from "The Analects of Confucius".What's more, Li Meiting asked everyone to do these two questions in advance.

As soon as they got the test papers, all the students in the Sun family showed ecstasy.That Sun Hao couldn't help but yelled: "Zhi Niang, I have done this question several times!" When Zhang Zhixian's majestic eyes stared at him, Sun Hao turned pale with fright, lowered his head and quickly started the question Come.

For Sun Dan, these two questions are really not challenging. If he is asked to do it, he can just find two model essays from his mind and copy them, and he can finish it in a while.

But he didn't want to perform too well, so he refilled the inkstone, rubbed the ink slowly, and then picked up the pen slowly.When he had just written the word "people" on the paper, he heard Sun Hao call out, "Master magistrate, I'm done."

Surprised, Sun Dan put the pen on the inkstone again, looked up, and saw that Sun Hao had already rushed to hand in the paper excitedly.

From distributing the papers to handing in the papers, Sun Hao only spent a pot of tea time.

Sun Dan believes that these two questions are not a problem for Sun Hao at all. Anyway, Sun Hao only needs to copy the homework he has done before.But Sun Dan still shook his head quietly. Sometimes, it's not a good thing to be too eye-catching.

Don't be the first, don't be the last.

It is for the mean.

(End of this chapter)