In the seventh year of Wanli, Jimao, autumn.

Xinzheng Shengren Gao pragmatic came to Kaifeng again, ready to participate in this year's Henan Township Examination.

The township examination is also known as the autumn examination, because the imperial examination is a national talent ceremony, and the examination room is tightly guarded, commonly known as the lock and the house, referred to as the emperor. The township examination in the imperial examination era was held in autumn, so the township examination was called Qiuqiu.

The township examination is a subject for three years, and it is held every child, meridian, mao, and unitary year. The location of the township test, if it is Zhili, is in the capital; If it is a province, it is in the political department, that is, the provincial capital, so Henan is tested in Kaifeng.

The specific date of the township examination is generally fixed, from August 9 to August 17, a total of three examinations, after the examination is completed on the same day, the appearance will be completed, and the third day will be admitted to participate in the next examination. That is, the first session of the ninth exam, the second session of the 12th exam, and the third session of the 15th exam.

As for the examiners, the chief officer who presides over the township examination is called the chief examiner, and the one who participates in the marking is called the same exam.

The main examination is also known as the president, and its appointment principle has been in the process of development and change from Hongwu to Wanli, and has basically formed a custom in the seventh year of Wanli:

Shuntian and Yingtian are two scholars of the Hanlin Academy, and their ranks are usually bachelors, Chunfang concubines, and Yude.

Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian with a member of the Hanlin official, revision, editing, review, etc.; Hu Guang is a member of the Hanlin compilation and inspection and a member of the subordinate officials. This is because these provinces have always been the best places to study, so they are particularly grand.

The rest of Sichuan, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, or general subordinates, or use Chinese books to review a member of the Bo, or use other temples to demote officials.

The same examiner is also called the sub-examination, the room examination, and the meridian room, which is the so-called five meridian room. Usually the magistrates, magistrates, professors, and professors are filled.

In addition to the examiners, there are also deacons, mainly promoters, supervisors, invigilators, etc., especially the promoters and supervisors, who must be invigilated by senior officers to picket the affairs of the customs and general examination room. For example, there are generally two officials who are promoted to the left and right, and they are all political envoys in Henan; The supervisor is also known as the Zhigong Ju, and the example is served by the inspector according to the imperial history.

A crude comparison shows that it is roughly equivalent to a high-ranking official being a promotion officer, and a provincial discipline official being a proctor, which shows the importance that the imperial court attaches to the township examination.

As for the printing officer, the receiving officer, the sealing officer, the transcription officer, the reading officer, the patrol officer, the prison officer, the search and inspection officer, the supply officer, the examination paper collector, and so on, I will not introduce them one by one.

Daming's township test is not a matter of winning or losing, as I have just said, and its rule is to take three consecutive exams.

Specifically, the first test of the seven articles of the scriptures, that is, the texts; The second examination of theories, edicts, edicts, tables, and judgments can be regarded as official document writing; The third examination of the history of the current policy can be roughly regarded as "how to do specific things", but this is actually more and more formalistic in the later stage, and on the whole, it is all "blowing" to see who blows more fresh and refined.

Each of the above genres has very specific writing requirements and writing formats, which must not be wrong, otherwise the test paper will be posted due to violations, and there is absolutely no hope of Chinese style.

But then again, if you look at the weight of the three exams, it is natural that the first one is the most important. Generally speaking, if the text is written very well, as long as there are no major errors or omissions in the next two scenes, it is almost certain that it will be selected; On the contrary, no matter how well the others are written, the text is a mess, so go home directly, there is no chance of winning the lift.

The township test is similar to the road test, and the candidates bring pens, ink, inkstones and other examination tools to gather in Longmen before the fourth watch of each day, and enter the entrance by name in three doors, and even which county candidates and when and where the door will be named, will be announced in advance.

Being able to come to the township to test shows that they are experienced in this process, so everyone is still in order. After Gao Pragmatic entered the field, he went to take the number house card according to his own roll call order, and took a look at it, it was "Xuan 49" - the number house card was named according to the word order of "Thousand Character Text" "Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang, Universe Flood and Wilderness", and "Xuan 49" is the 49th room of the "Xuan" number house.

"The number of Dayan is fifty, and there are nine out of forty." Gao Pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly: "This number is not bad." ”

Gao Pragmatic found the seat number of the examination room and entered, and began to nail the tarpaulin to protect it from rain and wind, at this time a trumpet came, standing next to his examination room - this is to prevent cheating, each room has a guard, stricter than the prison cell.

Of course, Gao Pragmatic didn't intend to cheat, so he didn't look at the army, directly turned off the lights, and hurried to lie on the wooden plank in the mat house and start sleeping.

It's not that he despises exams, but that experienced candidates do it. Since I didn't sleep in the middle of the night, if I didn't take the time to rest and stay up all night, I would definitely look tired when I took the exam during the day. In particular, this first exam has to test seven eight-strand essays, and it is required to be completed in one day, if you are not in good spirits, then what else to test? Why don't you go home and come back in a few years.

I don't know how long I slept in a daze, but Gao Pragmatic heard the call of the trumpet: "Xianggong get up, the topic paper is here!" ——Xiang Gong is used on candidates, which belongs to "good wishes".

Gao pragmatic sat up suddenly, stretched out his hand to wipe his face, and went to pick up the topic paper.

After getting the question sheet, don't look at the question first, but go to get the ink roll. The ink scroll is a serious examination paper, which must be written with an ink pen, so it is called the ink scroll. Today's take is naturally only the first ink scroll, and Gao Pragmatic does not look at other places, first write a few lines under the ink stamp:

Kaifeng Prefecture Xinzheng County Lisheng Gao pragmatic, Xuanzi No. 49.

Then turn to the inner page, write down the name, age, appearance, place of origin, I am not illegal, etc., and finally write: by the qualification of the student should be Wanli seven years of Henan Province Township Examination.

This is not over, but also to list the names of the great-grandfather, grandfather, and father at the back, and the following is a sidenote "therefore" or "saving", which is a resume. Of course, these records are not visible to the examiner, and will be sealed by the sealing officer. But you must write it first when you get the test paper, so as not to write an essay with dizziness and hand cramps, and finally forget about it, and then it's all over.

After completing all the preparations, Gao Pragmatic began to read the questions, but he did not read them all at once, but only read one question at a time.

This is a sign of self-confidence, because generally speaking, candidates will read all the questions and then pick the easiest one to write first. In this way, one can build up self-confidence, and the other is used as a warm-up, so that you can write more and more smoothly later.

But Gao Pragmatic is more confident in the exam, which of the officials he dealt with when he was in Beijing was not from Jinshi? Even if you occasionally talk about the exam in your spare time, or chat a few small words, you can also benefit a lot. What's more, his third uncle, teacher, uncle and other close people are still the rulers of the imperial court, who can't be a great Confucian? Therefore, he did not pick the question at all, and after taking the first question, he was ready to start writing.

The first question was in hand, and Gao Shishi looked at the question, which was actually a truncated question, but it was indeed a big question rather than a small question:

"The Way of the University, the Predicate of the Mandate of Heaven, Learning and Learning, Mencius Sees King Hui of Liang"

Gao Shi saw this, snorted lightly in his nostrils, and said secretly: Do you want to take the first sentence of each of the four books and make a question?

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