Chapter 54 My Dad is Awesome

Deng Jian quickly finished the chicken soup, but Deng Qianqiu was still chattering on and on, as if he was full of grievances.

Deng Jian said hurriedly: "I'll go write an article."

Deng Qianqiu then fell silent. He was determined not to do anything, but he sat there staring with resentment, thinking to himself: "I spent money to teach you to read, but you learned politics from others. Are you crazy? Amitabha, this is my father. I am a filial son and I should not scold him."

Three days later, the provincial examination began.

That night, Deng Qianqiu excitedly killed the two roosters.

When the innkeeper, waiters and cook heard that a chicken was going to be slaughtered, they were happy to help. They helped to bleed and pluck the chicken all night long to make a rich chicken soup.

At the hour of Mao, Deng Jian finished washing up, had some chicken soup, and set off with his exam basket.

"Dad..." Deng Qianqiu saw him off and opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes turned red and he choked with sobs.

After working so hard for so long, today is the day when the deep friendship between father and son is revealed.

Deng Jian's eyes were also red, not because he was moved, but because he had been working so hard for so long. He took a deep breath and patted the back of Deng Qianqiu's hand that was holding onto his collar: "I will do my best."

The provincial examination was a lengthy process. This was the first provincial examination in the Ming Dynasty, and its scale was particularly grand.

After going through numerous inspections, Deng Jian finally entered the examination room, and then the topic was given: "Learn and."

Deng Jian calmed himself down.

This question is easy!

The other candidates have already started to ponder.

In fact, this is understandable, because this kind of article is the first time for everyone to write it.

Moreover, the examination has many regulations and the rules are very strict.

No matter how profound your family's academic background is, how well you know the Four Books and Five Classics, or how talented you are, at least when it comes to the imperial examinations, the court is fair.

Because this thing doesn't care about your talent at all.

What it requires is that you speak on behalf of the sages around the test questions within the specified time.

It must conform to the Zhou rituals, the thoughts of Confucius, and also integrate Cheng Zhu's understanding and interpretation of the Four Books and Five Classics. There must not be any mistake.

This is like the reading comprehension in later generations. Mr. Lu Xun wrote: There are two trees in my yard, one is a jujube tree, and the other is also a jujube tree.

Then, students need to understand why the teacher wrote like this, and he must have had good intentions in writing it this way. The two trees may represent the evil feudal society.

The fact that Mr. Xu emphasizes such description so much first of all rules out the possibility that he simply wants to fill up the word count or write frivolous writing.

Then, the next thing must be that he wanted to use the jujube tree to accuse something. It must be that under the oppression of feudal forces, the advanced young people who represented the jujube tree were divided, so there were two jujube trees. Although the two jujube trees were born from the same root, because of oppression, they eventually produced different flowers and fruits.

To a certain extent, the more talented the scholar, the more confused he would be at this time, because the essence of talent lies in the breakthrough of thinking. Just like Li Bai, he wrote poems with an open mind and his imagination amazed the world. But if this kind of imagination was used in the imperial examination at that time, it would probably be unqualified, because he was speaking on behalf of the saints, not writing poems and lyrics.

Just when everyone was racking their brains, Deng Jian remained calm and composed.

He calmly recited to himself the formulas such as "break the topic, continue the topic, start the stock..."

I came up with an idea almost immediately and started writing.

On the other side, a report was quickly delivered to the palace.

The eunuch prostrated himself on the ground, presented his report, and waited for the emperor's decision.

Zhu Yuanzhang opened the secret report and his eyes became colder when he saw its contents.

He paced a few steps, closed the secret memorial, glanced at the eunuch and said, "The Yiluansi has sent three memorials in a row. It's quite interesting."

As he spoke, he looked at the eunuch and said, "People outside say that Huaixi has few successful candidates, and Fengyang, a dignified city, may not even have a successful candidate. Can the Yiluansi investigate the source of these rumors?"

The eunuch said respectfully, "The Yiluansi said that this matter has been widely circulated. It is difficult to find out who spread this rumor and misled the people."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, but he was not angry. Instead, he said, "It is indeed not easy to track down. It seems that someone wants to alienate Huaixi and Jiangsu and Zhejiang. I didn't expect that a provincial examination would cause so much trouble. These ministers in the temple are all very good."

After saying this, he sat leisurely on the imperial chair and took a sip of tea slowly.

The eunuch had no idea how to respond. He was even surprised why His Majesty would talk about such a taboo thing directly, and was not afraid that there would be other people in the palace who would spread his words.

But after thinking it over carefully, I couldn't help but think that His Majesty might just want to spread these words to someone who is interested, so I could only kowtow and say nothing.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Later, I will send an oral order to the Secretariat, saying: I treat all scholars in the world equally. I was born in Huaixi as a commoner, and I have no regional concept. This time, scholars are competing for the imperial examinations, which is an unprecedented occasion, and I am very pleased. Nanzhili has always been a prosperous literary style, and it will surely be able to admit many learned people. When the results are announced, the new successful candidates will be brought to the palace as soon as possible. I want to meet them in person to show my favor." Want to meet the new successful candidates?

The eunuch roughly understood in his mind that there were rumors spreading outside and it was difficult to find the source of the rumors for the time being. However, this was the first imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty and it was of great importance. If it caused a huge controversy, it might make this imperial examination a handle for people with ulterior motives to mock.

The direct summons of the newly-appointed scholars showed that the emperor made no distinction between regions. No matter whether the students were from Huaixi, Huainan or Jiangnan, as long as they passed the exam, the emperor would regard them as his confidants. Thus, all the gossip would be easily dispelled.

So the eunuch hurriedly said, "I understand."

"Also..." Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes dimly said, "There is a candidate in the capital named Deng Jian. After the exam, did he return to Fengyang? Check this matter for me."

The eunuch looked up in surprise, wondering why His Majesty was suddenly so concerned about a candidate.

But this was not something he could ask, so he just said, "Yes."

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, "If he hasn't set off yet, the road back home may be relatively peaceful, but there will inevitably be bandits. Give him an official document and tell him to take the official road and stop at express delivery shops and post stations along the way."

When the eunuch heard this, he suddenly realized that His Majesty seemed to be quite close to this candidate named Deng Jian.

He lay on the ground, carefully raised his eyes to observe the emperor's mood, and then took the opportunity to say in a flattering manner: "Your Majesty, who knows, this student Deng may have passed the exam..."

This is supposed to be a pleasing statement.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly flew into a rage and shouted, "At his age, how can he be compared with many great scholars and celebrities? At his age, what can he pass the exam? If he wants to be an official, he can just ask me for it, but he wants to humiliate himself like this. I thought he was smart, but who would have thought he was so ignorant and came here to take the exam, which is humiliating himself! If he can pass the exam, I will twist his head off and make it into a chamber pot for you!"

The eunuch regretted it very much, but he had no idea that his flattery would hit the horse's hoof. He was already frightened out of his wits and his face turned pale.

He felt like a sieve of bran, and he kowtowed like pounding garlic, saying: "I beg you to die a thousand times, for this crime I have committed a thousand times of death."

Zhu Yuanzhang was obviously in a bad mood at the moment, but he just said, "Get lost!"

……

The attention aroused by this provincial examination in Nanzhili was astonishing. After all, it was the first provincial examination.

As for the candidates who were able to pass the imperial examination this time, they were even more eye-catching.

It is the early Ming Dynasty, which is different from the later Ming Dynasty. At this time, the country is in a state of disrepair, having experienced natural disasters and wars, and the Mongols did not attach importance to education when they were in power. Because of this, the status of those who can pass the imperial examination is not worse than that of the Jinshi in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Even before the imperial examination, Zhu Yuanzhang had issued a special decree requiring that after the provincial examinations, young and able candidates from all over the country must come to Beijing to the Ministry of Personnel to be selected as officials.

This is naturally because the Ming Dynasty is short of officials and is eager for talent. After you have passed the imperial examination, don't bother taking the imperial examination. Come to my pot quickly and I will give you an official position. You work hard and make a difference.

At this time, Song Lian, the examiner in charge of marking the papers, was dealing with a large pile of exam papers.

As he picked up his pen and read the papers, he sighed: "The world is becoming more corrupt and people's hearts are no longer the same as before. Are there no more talented people in the world?"

His sentiment was justified. Nanzhili was a place with flourishing literary style and many scholars, but many of the examination papers were truly horrible.

Some of them completely exceeded the regulations of the examination. In order to show off their talents, they directly kicked Cheng Zhu away and gave him a close-up.

Some of them can barely conform to the interpretation of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, but after writing and writing, I still can't get to the point.

Some are only half written...

After all, no one had really experienced this kind of imperial examination. Even if they understood the examination rules of the imperial court, they were just blind men groping in the dark, with no idea of ​​any rules or key points.

Finally, an article caught Song Lian's attention. His eyes lit up and he couldn't help but say, "Interesting, interesting, there is such an article, um... very good, the idea is also very good, the parallelism is neat, wonderful, wonderful."

If he knew that the so-called idea of ​​this article had actually become a model essay and a formula in the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty, and that every candidate would be forced to worry about the country and the people from the beginning, no matter what the exam topic was, he would probably vomit blood.

But now, this first article with such an intention can be said to be refreshing to Song Lian. The person who wrote this article is really a talent.

Song Lian immediately became interested and shouted, "Come and read this article."

His call attracted other examiners as well.

The examiners circulated the paper and were amazed. They could not help but nod their heads: "It takes learning as the topic, and then extends it to the relationship between the monarch and his subjects. It also contains the great principles of exploring the principles of heaven, clarifying human relations, speaking the words of the sage, and understanding the events. It is in line with Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism, and the parallelism is so neat, it is just like white jade, without any flaws. This article is really like the sun and the moon. Compared with it, other articles are like the light of fireflies."

"This kind of writing can be ranked first."

…………

It will be on the shelves tomorrow and updates will start to burst.

(End of this chapter)