Three days passed in a flash.
At about five o'clock in the morning, Xu Yan got up early and washed up.
After a quick breakfast, it was time to go to the exam. Shuangxi had already prepared the exam basket and looked at Xu Yan with great sorrow.
"Master, this is your first time getting up so early. Aren't you really sleepy?"
Xu Yan almost fainted, rolled his eyes and said, "Master, am I really that useless?"
He thought that Xu Yan must have left too deep an impression on the little servant boy and the dandy boy.
"No, no, I just said that. Master, you must work hard!"
Shuangxi said, blinking her big watery eyes.
Dinghai County is not big, so there are naturally not many candidates.
The Xu Mansion is very close to the county school, the examination site for the county examination, and can be reached on foot.
Even though Xu Yan said that he could go by himself, the little servant boy still insisted on following him, saying that it was the lady's order.
Xu Yanzhi was somewhat helpless and said with a wry smile, "Then let's go."
This was Xu Yan's first time attending the county academy. As an official school, only those who had achieved the title of "Xucai" were eligible to attend. However, official schools were now in decline, and many students who passed the exams only attended daily, not actually studying. In comparison, private academies were where they preferred to study. In other words, the county academy was just a stepping stone.
When Xu Yan arrived at the county school, he found that many candidates had already gathered. Looking around, he could see that there were teenagers in their teens as well as many elderly students in their thirties.
He roughly counted and found that there were only a few hundred candidates taking the exam, which was far from comparable to those large counties with two or three thousand candidates.
Fewer candidates is certainly a good thing. Fewer competitors means a greater chance of standing out. In addition, Dinghai County is not well-educated, so it is not difficult for Xu Yan to pass the county exam.
The chief examiner for the county exam was the county magistrate, who single-handedly set all the questions. Xu Yan had previously collected and analyzed several essays written by Magistrate Zhao, hoping to discern his personal preferences. While this wasn't necessarily accurate, it was certainly helpful.
Seeing that more and more people arrived, the yamen runners began to order the candidates to line up in several rows and prepare to check their identities before entering the examination room.
Xu Yan took the exam basket from Shuangxi and said softly, "You can go back first."
Xu Yan was assigned to the third column, and happened to be assigned to the same column as his cousin Xu Zhuo.
Xu Zhuo seemed very excited. He winked at Xu Yan and said, "Although Brother Qiu is young, he looks so calm and composed. I guess he must have a plan in mind, right?"
Xu Yan said calmly, "Brother, you're joking."
After a while, they finally started releasing people.
The yamen runners checked very carefully, so it took a long time before it was Xu Yan's turn.
The county yamen runners had known this young man Xu for a long time and were naturally very friendly to him. After checking the examination basket, they let Xu Yan in.
There is one last step before the exam begins, which is a speech by County Magistrate Zhao.
The content of the lecture is naturally not very nutritious, it is just an exhortation to study, but the process must be followed.
After patiently listening to Magistrate Zhao's lecture, the candidates could finally prepare for the exam.
The Minglun Hall of the county school certainly could not accommodate so many candidates taking the exam at the same time, so the yamen runners built a simple examination tent in the county school early on.
This examination room is naturally not as comfortable as a house, but it can still provide shade and shelter from the wind.
Xu Yan followed the yamen runner's instructions and took his seat. He put down his examination basket and took out his writing brush, inkstone, and inkstone. As for the examination papers, they had already been placed on the table.
The next step is to wait for the test questions to be announced.
To prevent cheating, the exam questions were not written directly on the exam papers. Instead, after all the candidates were seated, the clerks wrote them on wooden boards and held them up and walked around the exam room to display them publicly.
The first question was about the Four Books, titled "Governing the Way with Politics." The second question was about the Five Classics, requiring candidates to choose one from the Book of Changes, Spring and Autumn Annals, Book of Rites, Book of Songs, and Book of History. Xu Yan's primary classic was the Book of Songs, so naturally he chose a question from it. The last question was about test-style poetry, which was Xu Yan's forte.
He slowly copied the three questions onto the draft, then took a deep breath to calm himself.
There is enough time, but Xu Yan plans to leave the most time for the questions on the Four Books, because this is the question that determines the success or failure of the exam and is extremely important.
Calm down and analyze the problem.
This question comes from "The Analects of Confucius": "Govern the people with laws and regulations, and regulate them with punishments, and the people will avoid punishment but will have no sense of shame."
The meaning is very simple. Leading the people with political affairs is condescending. Even if it is a legal prohibition, its effect cannot be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Of course, there is a sequel to this, which is to guide them with virtue, regulate them with propriety, and have shame and standards.
Confucius affirmed the rule of ritual by comparing the rule of law with the rule of rites, and advocated that the rule of ritual should be the foundation and the rule of law should be the end.
When Xu Yan was in Hangzhou, Mr. Xushan had him practice solving problems the most. As a result, he now has a lot of ideas about how to approach problems.
After a moment's careful consideration, Xu Yan wrote: "Sages discuss governance by arguing that it responds to the heart and mind. Politics and punishments can temporarily control the people; this response to the heart is the same as rituals, which can gradually harmonize the people. This is the response of the heart. Knowing this, we can discuss governance."
With just two simple sentences, he led the sages' discussion on how to govern a country to his own views on the matter, which is quite ingenious.
After breaking the topic, what he had to write next was easy. Xu Yan thought about it for a while, then picked up his pen and wrote it in one go.
"Thinking of the Master's ancient meaning, those who govern should teach their people to do good rather than forbid them to do evil. Because the people are unaware of their own evil, they feel guilty about it.
Let us compare them and find that politics and punishment are tools for preventing people from committing evil.
Virtue and propriety are tools for teaching people to be good.
At the beginning, they both open the way, and then they both tidy up, but in the end they are different.
Is it that those who govern by law use politics, and those who regulate by punishment? It is the state's discipline and enforcement, and it is decisive. With this strict scrutiny as the foundation of governance, and with rectification as the achievement of governance, we examine the people day and night. Those who serve the people will inevitably suffer from their hassles, becoming accustomed to evasion, using their tricks to escape the reach of our policies and punishments, anticipating the relaxation of our policies and punishments. They will be so cautious that they will do nothing. For the time being, we regard this as a duty to serve the sovereign, but if their body and mind are at odds with this, is it not a loss of shame? When the superior improves the government, the inferior follows it with their eyes and ears; when the superior improves the punishments, the inferior follows it with their bodies and minds. The superior and the inferior are bound together to achieve this governance.
Is it like guiding people with virtue, or regulating them with ritual? It is said that the people should cultivate themselves inwardly and then show it to others, using this as a demonstration of righteousness as the foundation of governance, and using encouragement as the achievement of governance. It takes time to observe the people's hearts. Those who serve the people will surely enjoy this influence, gradually awakening to the truth, unwilling to be separated from our virtue and ritual, and even thinking of becoming one with them. Their compassionate heart has no purpose. They simply regard this as a matter of their own body and mind, and should not trouble their rulers. Who would not have the thought of shame? It is because the superior cultivates virtue that the inferiors will know their nature; it is because the superior cultivates ritual that the inferiors will know how to examine their feelings. The cooperation between the superiors and the inferiors is the only way to achieve this kind of governance.
In short, the government should show the people what they should not have, and the people should be taught what they are naturally good at.
Punishment governs the people according to what they have done, and etiquette guards the people according to what they have not yet shown.
The two are restrained from outside, so that though the prohibition is strict, it cannot enter;
The two touch upon each other internally, so although the teaching is lenient, it is believed by the people.
"A strict government cannot be compared to a sincere and honest government. The difference between shameless and shameless people is long known. Those who govern should carefully examine this."
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