At first glance, Xu Yan's article seems to follow the words of the sage, but upon closer inspection, one finds that he takes a different approach.
He first pointed out that "punishment can temporarily control the people" and "ritual can gradually harmonize the people", and then naturally pointed out that the way to govern the country is "it is better to teach the people to do good than to prohibit them from doing evil."
Looking at the whole text, the first part writes about "governing with laws" and "the people are free but shameless"; the second part writes about "governing with virtue" and "having shame and standards".
The thinking is clear and every word hits the mark.
A month ago, Xu Yan certainly wouldn't have been able to write such a perfect article. He might have many shining points, but combining them into a cohesive piece of writing wasn't something that could be done casually; it required practice.
One could only say that God rewards hard work; Xu Yan's relentless training paid off. While the students taking the county exam with him might have been more diligent in their studies, they were far behind in effectively practicing writing and summarizing their work. After all, Xu Yan had the great scholar Xushan as his teacher, so if he still couldn't grasp the truth, he would be a complete failure.
After finishing the Four Books, Xu Yan put down his pen and stretched his fingers.
Although this article is only a few hundred words, my fingers still feel sore from writing it all in one breath.
After resting for about a cup of tea, Xu Yan felt that he had almost adjusted himself, so he began to prepare for the Five Classics test questions.
Xu Yan's original book is "The Book of Songs", and the title is "How can I say I have no clothes?"
The title comes from "Qin Feng·Wu Yi".
Xu Yan happened to have practiced this question before, so he answered it easily.
He picked up the pen, dipped it in ink, and wrote quickly. A long and flowing article appeared on the paper.
Xu Yan read it through again. Except for a few words that were a little off due to excitement, he was still very satisfied.
The last question is the test poem.
During the Ming Dynasty, examination poems were not an official topic in the imperial examinations, and were not included in major examinations such as the provincial and metropolitan examinations. However, county and prefectural examinations often used examination poems instead of an essay. After all, at the local level, the examinations were all graded by a single official, and if the county magistrate and prefectural governor were to focus solely on the essays, they would be exhausted.
The title is: Poem on the Water Surface in the Heart of Heaven.
Examination poems are poems written based on a given topic. First of all, one must understand clearly where the topic comes from. Otherwise, even if the poem is good, it will be in vain.
Xu Yan's favorite thing in his life was to read and appreciate poetry, so he was naturally familiar with this sentence.
The poem "The Water Surface in the Heart of Heaven" comes from "Song of the Clear Night" by Shao Yong, a great Confucian scholar in the Song Dynasty.
The full poem is "When the moon reaches the center of the sky, the wind blows over the water. Its clear meaning is generally understood by few people."
It can be seen that the title of the test poem is taken from the first two lines of Shao Yong's poem. You should write a five-character eight-rhyme poem based on this.
Poetry was Xu Yan's forte. After a moment's thought, he picked up his pen and wrote:
"The moon shines brightly on Peng Island, and the spring breeze fills the Yechi Pond.
The sky is bright and clear, and the water surface is calm and rippling.
Pu Bozhan is like this, and he is thinking about clarifying this.
The Jade Balance hangs upright, and the Golden Mirror shines impartially.
To understand news, one must first study the Book of Changes; to understand writing, one must first understand poetry.
Return to the fairyland of emptiness and brightness, and leap forward to follow the opportunity.
The stars are around my chest, and the cloud light washes my eyes.
Carefully cultivate and respect the imperial opinions, and the sages will understand the ultimate truth."
Although this poem is not as good as those peak Tang Dynasty poems in terms of artistic conception, it is better in terms of well-crafted and well-rhymed poems. It is already very good for an examination poem to be able to produce such a poem.
After finishing the three questions, only half of the time had passed.
Most of the other candidates were writing furiously, but Xu Yan had nothing to do.
The county examination did not require the names of the candidates to be copied in an anonymous manner. He wrote his name on the paper and read the essay and poem again.
A paper of such quality can be said to stand out among the crowd in the county examination.
Although Xu Yan was not sure that he would be able to get the first place, there should be no doubt that he would pass the county examination.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Xu Yan decided to hand in the paper early.
This is extremely rare in the county examination. After all, candidates hope to seize every bit of time to polish their essays in order to achieve the best results and win the favor of the county magistrate.
But rare does not mean not allowed. As long as the candidates decide to hand in their papers early, the clerks will collect the papers.
However, after handing in the paper, the candidates can no longer stay in the examination room and must leave the county school immediately.
Naturally, Xu Yan didn't want to stay in a place with such a strong "sweat odor" for long, so he handed in his paper and left the county school.
After the first round of the exam, all Xu Yan had to do was wait.
If nothing unexpected happens, he should pass directly and doesn't need to take the next exam.
Of course, Xu Yan was still vaguely looking forward to his ranking.
But when Xu Yan returned home, Xu Huaiyuan was shocked.
"Why did you come back early, son? Did you encounter a problem you didn't understand? Hey, what did I tell you before? Even if you don't know how to write the problem, you have to make up an article and fill up the paper."
Xu Huaiyuan's painful expression made Xu Yan laugh.
"Dad, how could you look down on your son so much? How could these simple questions stump me? Boring, very boring. To be honest, I only took half the time to finish all three questions!"
"ah?"
Xu Huaiyuan was obviously frightened: "Could it be that my son's headache has recurred? What should I do?"
Xu Yan looked at Xu Huaiyuan with a dark face, spread his hands and said, "Dad, can't you trust your son for once? Or to put it another way, can't you trust Mr. Xushan for once?"
After hearing what Mr. Xushan said, Xu Huaiyuan finally felt relieved.
It is said that a good teacher produces good students. Mr. Xushan was a great scholar. Even if he taught his son 30% of his knowledge, his son should be able to cope with the county examination.
"Dad believes in you." Xu Huaiyuan patted Xu Yan's shoulder and said with emotion: "My son is finally going to have a promising future. Dad is relieved."
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The first county examination was finally over. County Magistrate Zhao Ruohai frowned as he faced the table full of examination papers.
It would be fine if these candidates wrote better essays, but each one is worse than the last, and some are even completely incoherent.
When you think about it, there's nothing you can do about it. Zhejiang Province was a prosperous place with a lot of culture and education, but that was mainly because Hangzhou, Shaoxing and other prefectures had well-educated scholars, with a constant stream of talented people.
Ningbo Prefecture's culture and education were mid-range among the entire Zhejiang Provincial Administration. As for Dinghai County, it was at the bottom of the list within Ningbo Prefecture. It was no wonder.
After all, Zhao Ruohai was a Jinshi, so his level of writing eight-legged essays was naturally impeccable.
At first, he could read the whole article carefully, but after reading dozens of articles, he had a mental breakdown and wanted to poke his eyes out.
In order to stop torturing himself, County Magistrate Zhao decided to look at the preliminary questions first, and those who wrote poorly on the preliminary questions would be eliminated from the second preliminary examination.
Just when County Magistrate Zhao was on the verge of despair, an article enlightened him.
"The sage discusses governance and distinguishes its response to the heart and actions. Policies and punishments can temporarily control the people; this response to actions and rituals can gradually harmonize the people; this is the response of the heart. Knowing this, one can discuss governance."
This is a very sharp solution!
County Magistrate Zhao was immediately intrigued and read the entire article in one breath, praising it with admiration: "Excellent article, excellent article! I never thought that Dinghai County could have such a talented person."
He then remembered to check the candidate's name. When he saw the name Xu Yan, he sighed, "Xu Yishi, Xu Yishi, you really didn't disappoint this county!"
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