$40, Test Content

The examination room was cramped, with a palm-sized wooden board nailed to the door beam, on which the examination number was written. Read 520 official website

Bai Gui took a look and saw: "Earth-Ding Chen".

He understood instantly.

The examination room in this examination room was divided into several large areas of "Heaven, Earth, Black and Yellow". He should be in the Earth area. The Earth area also had rows and columns, and the rows and columns were represented by the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. He was currently in the Dingxingchen column of the Earth area.

The examination room was low, with a large wooden barrel at the door, filled with water. Walking in, the space was narrow, with thick board walls on both sides, painted with clam ash for fire prevention, and a detachable table.

Bai Gui sat in the examination room, turned the table horizontally, and then took out the prepared things from the examination basket.

Pen, ink and inkstone, placed in place.

Not long after, an official distributed the test papers. This was a special test paper for the county test, with red lines on it, with more than ten pages, twelve lines per page, and twenty words per line.

Papers are not allowed to be brought privately.

There are two sheets of plain paper issued by the county government, that is, draft paper. Even in the draft paper, except for the title and the first character, the answers need to be filled in regular script. Candidates are not allowed to write the answers outside the sealing line, otherwise they will be punished with zero points.

After picking up the pen and waiting for a while, I heard footsteps. Several yamen runners held up signboards and patrolled back and forth, and the questions were written on them.

A clerk held up a question, a question from the Four Books, and it was also a question of cutting and connecting: "King Hui of Liang said: 'Jin is the strongest country in the world. Is there a way to make friends with neighboring countries?'"

Both are from the King Hui of Liang chapter of Mencius.

But these two sentences are connected together, and then related to the current situation, it is a little difficult to understand.

After writing the questions, many candidates took a breath of cold air and found it difficult to write. How can this guy write it? If it is not written well, it will allude to the court. The court is not a big country.

The first sentence of "King Hui of Liang said" is: "King Hui of Liang said: 'Jin is the strongest country in the world, as you know. As for me, I was defeated by Qi in the east, and my eldest son died there; I lost 700 miles of land to Qin in the west; I was humiliated by Chu in the south. I am ashamed of it, and I would like to scatter it like a dead person, what about you?'"

Isn't this the current Qing Dynasty?

How powerful the Qing Dynasty was during the Kangxi and Qianlong periods. From ancient times to the present, the central country is now bullied by foreign barbarians. Today, one land is ceded, and tomorrow, the west is the Rakshasa country, the east is the Dongying country, and the south is invaded by the Western barbarians...

In the world situation map, the Qing Dynasty has been divided up from all sides.

The second sentence is King Xuan of Qi asking Mencius, "Is there a way to interact with neighboring countries?"

Does this mean that there is any way to interact with neighboring countries?

Is the ancient county magistrate worthy of death? !

Some candidates were in a dilemma. How should they write this? How should they start writing? It seems that the ancient county magistrate wanted to truly select talents for the current situation and recommend talents for the country.

But before they could start writing and speak eloquently, another clerk held up the test question board. This time it was the Five Classics questions, which were much more normal and no longer so exciting.

There were five questions in total from the Five Classics, namely Shangshu, Chunqiu, Yijing, Shijing, and Liji. The Confucian students taking the exam each chose their own classics to answer, and did not need to answer other Five Classics questions, which was equivalent to a professional course.

The third clerk asked a historical theory question: "Zhuge Liang did not have the heart of Shen Shang but used his technique, and Wang Anshi used the reality of Shen Shang but avoided his name."

Shen is Shen Buhai.

Shang is Shang Yang.

The two reformed in Han and Qin respectively.

"Oh my God? What on earth is the county magistrate trying to do? Could it be that the county magistrate is also an enlightened gentry, committed to reform and strengthening the country, and although he is in a low position, he does not forget the safety of the country..."

"How dare I forget my country when I am in a low position..."

When a group of candidates saw the history essay topic, they were completely excited.

They wrote furiously, ready to be the second Tan Sitong, "Reforms in various countries are all achieved through bloodshed, but there is no bloodshed in China today because of reforms. This is why the country is not prosperous. If there is, please ask Tan Sitong to start."

Bai Gui honestly copied the topic on the draft paper, and then stopped writing and pondered.

He had seen Gu County Magistrate and had a few words with him. Compared with these Confucian scholars who had never met Gu County Magistrate, his understanding of Gu County Magistrate was incomparable to these Confucian scholars, and they were standing on different steps.

Other Confucian scholars needed to figure out what Gu County Magistrate meant, but he didn't.

He lived in the backyard of Bailu Academy. Although he did not hear the conversation between County Magistrate Gu and Mr. Zhu that day, he also learned a thing or two from his teacher's wife, Zhu Baishi, who advised Mr. Zhu to protect himself and not be so radical.

At this time...

It is self-evident what County Magistrate Gu meant by the Four Books and Historical Theory questions he asked.

"The imperial examinations in the late Qing Dynasty were very different from those in the previous dynasties. Although the Hundred Days' Reform did not succeed in reform, there were traces of reform in various places. For example, the imperial examination system now has added historical theory questions in the first test..."

"For the state of the late Qing Dynasty, historical theory can be used to determine the state of the Qing Dynasty at the moment, that is, the central government tends to be conservative, but the local governments advocate strengthening reforms, which is also the contradiction between the local governments and the central government. Even the central government can only control some northern provinces, and under the mutual protection of the southeast, the order does not go beyond the four-nine cities..."

"Qin Province is a province with stricter control by the Qing court, otherwise the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu would not have come to Xi'an City for hunting in the west. Therefore, Gu County Magistrate would never let radical people who advocate reform pass the county examination..."

"One Mr. Zhu is enough for him, he doesn't want to make any mistakes, so this exam is a screening!"

If you understand what Gu County Magistrate means, then it will be much easier to write the test paper.

Be stable.

Don't be reckless or aggressive.

He immediately pondered and started writing the Four Books topic. Although the imperial examination added historical theory questions, the Four Books topic was the most important. "The sage passed on the knowledge of the former kings, saved the army in Lu, and promoted the virtue of Duke Zhou. Although Qi was big, Duke Jing could not sleep well."

(I came up with this question myself. I am not very knowledgeable, so I won't make you laugh. Just have fun.)

He directly used this to start the topic. What he meant was that the sage Confucius passed on the knowledge of the former kings (Confucius was the governor of Zhongdu in Lu), saved Lu, which was in crisis at the time, from war, and promoted the virtue of Duke Zhou, the ancestor of Lu. Even though Qi was strong, Duke Jing of Qi could not eat or sleep well.

The beauty of this sentence is that Lu happened to be the fief of Duke Zhou, so promoting Duke Zhou's virtues means that as long as we are conservative, this can be solved. Although Qi is large, it corresponds to the question of King Xuan of Qi asking Mencius, "Is there a way to make friends with neighboring countries?" Even if Qi is strong, if it does not cultivate virtues now, it will not be able to eat well or sleep well sooner or later, and will decline.

The previous and the next correspond to each other, and the words are explained in the tone of a saint.

Bai Gui quickly finished writing more than a thousand words.

He had the idea of ​​reforming the current malpractices in his mind, but he still needed to be steady in the imperial examination. What words he wrote did not represent what he thought in his heart.

The five classics questions at the back were his original classics, which were consistent and finished quickly.

When it came to the historical theory questions, it said: Zhuge Liang did not have the idea of ​​governing the country with the Legalists like Shen Buhai and Shang Yang, but he used the theories of the Legalists. Wang Anshi was reluctant to talk about the Legalists in front of others, but he used the things of the Legalists to reform the law.

Meaning: These two are both wise men respected by Confucianism, and now both of them use the principles of Legalism. What's going on? Is it that Confucianism is not as good as Legalism?

"What a heart-piercing statement!"

Bai Gui thought to himself, although all the feudal dynasties in history were Confucianists with a Confucian appearance and a Legalist body, few people really said so openly, including the ancient county magistrate. Once they admit that the Legalist way of governing the country is worse than Confucianism, then Confucianism will lose its righteousness. What about the ancient county magistrate and these officials who passed the examinations with the Confucian Four Books and Five Classics?

If anyone really expounds on this historical topic according to the theory that Confucianism is not as good as Legalism, the end result will definitely be dismissed.