Chapter 69 Eight-strand Taxi
(I would like to give this document to colleagues who are interested in traveling through the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In addition to the risk of landing on their faces first, they also need to cross the threshold of eight strands. Let's make a good job in their hearts first! The following is the text!)
The 12th year of Hongzhi will be an unusual year!
Where is the unusual? Of course, it's this year's trial!
Aside from the head of the "Four Talents", they have already been entremated in the capital and have the momentum of "southern and northbound". The examiners of this year's examination alone made people raise their toes and lengthen their necks to wait and see!
There are two examiners, both of whom are prodigy-level figures - Li Dongyang, needless to say! The other is Cheng Minzheng, the son of Cheng Xin, the minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing. Cheng Minzheng has been smart since he was a child. He read and recited it. He is known as a "child prodigy". The villagers compared him to Kong Rong, a prodigy of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Li Mi, a prodigy of the Tang Dynasty.
It is said that he followed his father to Sichuan at the age of ten. Luo Qi, the governor, admired him very much and recommended him to the court as a child prodigy. At that time, the prodigy who was recommended together was Li Dongyang. Yingzong was very happy and wanted to test their real talents and learning. Yingzong pointed to the crabs that had just been paid tribute to by the governor of Zhili and said, "Crabs are all armored", and Cheng Minzheng answered: "Phoenix is full of articles." Yingzong praised it. At this time, Li Dongyang fell to the ground and slowly came out: "The spider is full of experience." Emperor Yingzong was very surprised and said, "In the future, these two boys are not equal. One is the prime minister and the other is Hanlin!" These are legends, but the author does not think that Emperor Yingzong will praise Li Dongyang as the prime minister, because in order to prevent the prime minister's dictatorship, he clicked this position as early as Zhu Yuanzhang's Taizu period!)
Cheng Minzheng was luckier than Li Dongyang, because he was particularly likable. Fan Fei of Yingzong personally combed his hair for him. At that time, the minister also wanted to test him. The pavilion asked him to write one of "Sixue Poems of the Holy Festival" and "The Righteous Book of Scriptures". Minzheng's assistance was established, and the literary talent was brilliant, and all the elders of the cabinet were surprised. After receiving the praise of the ministers, Yingzong was even happier and ordered Cheng Minzheng to go to Hanlin Academy to study.
This man is handsome and is indeed popular. It seems that he is also a first-class middle-aged handsome man now - Wang Shouren has seen him at the gate of the hall - he has long eyebrows, beautiful eyebrows, and is really romantic. Li Xian, a university scholar of Hanlin Academy, betrod his daughter to Cheng Minzheng at that time.
The two prodigy and court ministers are the chief examiners, and the famous talent of Shenzhou is the examinee. This page will be recorded in history as the most glorious page in history - people think so!
Wang Shouren is not so easy. He has been in a fight with Baguwen for several years, and finally convinced himself by "if you want to change the rules, learn to master the rules first"!
When Tang Yin talked in the hall and talked with his friends, Wang Shouren had to study hard with Wu Wending and Xu Huai'an, who failed in the upper school!
After a break, Wang Shouren thought to himself: "Those who want to cross to the Ming and Qing Dynasties may have missed the imperial examination system, because if you want to go on an official career, make contributions, and gain fame and fortune, this is the only way! If you have any other way - it's negligible and worth mentioning!"
So what exactly is the eight-part article? Is it a flood beast?!
"The History of Confucianism" wrote and taught his daughter: "If the eight-strand articles are done well, you can do whatever you do, if you want poetry, and if you want it, you can give it. They are all a whip and a mark, a slap and a slap of blood; if the eight-strands of articles are not particular, whatever you do, it is all wild fox Zen, demons. Outside."
The eight-part article has indeed had its progressive significance. First of all, in terms of format, many candidates' articles have been muffled for a long time, making the examiner depressed and pinch their thighs! Therefore, in the Chenghua period, the format was unified, consisting of eight parts: breaking the topic, undertaking the topic, starting, starting stock, starting stock, middle stock, back stock and bundle stock
Secondly, the number of words is between 300 and 500. According to the refinement of ancient literature, three or five hundred are enough to see a person's literary foundation. There is no need to say thousands of words, and in the end, the examiner can't find the north.
As for the standardization of writing, it is more reasonable to prevent fraud by examiners from reading papers. Since the Song Dynasty, manuscripts and other paper processing methods such as transcription and seal have been strictly adopted in the imperial examination, that is, the name and place of origin of candidates are sealed, and the examination papers are copied by special personnel with red pens to prevent the examiners from recognizing fonts. Then someone asked, "Do I bring a message to the examiner?" - The answer is no! Because the court stipulated: "But Xu Yan's predecessors were not as good as this dynasty."
The above three items are to improve the standardization of the examination and the efficiency of answering and marking papers. In a sense, this is also very progressive and fair.
There have also been excellent works in the eight-part article. For example, the title of the imperial examination in the 11th year of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty is:
The Analects of Confucius
The mourning public asked Yu Ruo: 'How is it that you are hungry and not enough?' If you say, 'What's it?' He said, 'Second, I'm still not enough, how can I do it?' He said: 'If the people are full, who is the king or the king? If the people are not enough, who is the king?'
There is a candidate named Wang Kui, who wrote a good article "The people are full of the king and their shortcomings", which said, "If the people are rich below, you will be rich from the top." Starting with the title, "The wealth of the king is hidden in the people. Since the people are rich, how can you be poor? Under the title, skillfully persuade the king to reduce his wealth to hide his wealth from the people, and finally said, "Wow! The establishment of the law and the establishment of the people. And because of this, why do you need to be given more to seek wealth? Big summary.
The whole article is condensed, and the evidence is chiseled. There is no rebuttable! Really achieved "one whip and one mark, one slap and one palm blood"
What are the drawbacks of the eight-part article? - Yes, it's just in mind control!
The Ming Dynasty stipulated that the five classics and titles of Yi, Books, Poetry, Spring and Rites were taken as reference by Zhu Xi's collection of notes, which directly led to ideological control - those who questioned Zhu Xi's theory could only give up their research direction and surrender! At the same time, Zhu Xi's Confucianism also became the guiding ideology of scholars in the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Shouren recited Zhu Xi's doctrine with the attitude of "taking its essence and removing its dross", while criticizing the abuses in it one by one. At this time, a thought flashed in his mind: Why not create your own doctrine? Only by creating your own systematic doctrine can you attract the attention of the world and liberate people's minds! He was overjoyed by his idea - yes, the only way to "change the rules" is to create his own doctrine to open people's minds, which is called "heart study"!
Since Wang Shouren's study showed fluorescent candlelight, Wang Hua couldn't help but feel very relieved to see Wang Shouren still studying hard at night and sighed that he was finally enlightened!