The topics of every dynasty are always big. Sometimes you are given a question about how to govern a place, and sometimes you are asked what strategy to use if an enemy country invades. River management often comes up, and it has almost become a routine question.
Zhao Jun naturally had some ideas about this topic. When he wrote "Ce" before, he even wrote a policy paper on the topic of controlling the Yellow River, which was recognized by Wang Zeng.
So he did not hesitate, picked up the pen and dipped it in ink, and wrote down the original policy paper in one go without making any major changes. After all, it was all written by him, so it was no different from guessing the right question.
Once he had the right idea, his writing naturally flowed quickly, and before long he had written a lengthy and eloquent paper on river management.
Next comes the discussion.
There is no need to think about it, just put "On the Six Kingdoms" up for him.
Because it was so relevant to the topic, and I happened to have learned Chinese in high school and could memorize it, even if I forgot some of it, I could just fill in the blanks myself, so there was almost no hesitation at all.
He wrote swiftly and finished the questions on the answer sheet quickly.
In sharp contrast to Zhao Jun, many of the scholars around him looked distressed.
Although everyone was sitting in the wooden house and couldn't see each other, what most of them had in common was scratching their heads, writing and drawing on straw paper from time to time, and thinking hard.
Zhao Jun had a clear idea, as if he were standing at a God's perspective. But for them, this question was quite difficult.
There are only six hours left. One has to organize the ideas for the policy and thesis within just six hours, and then write hundreds or thousands of words. It is more difficult than the college entrance examination.
To give a simple example, it is like when you are taking the Chinese language test in the college entrance examination, you are asked to write an essay of several hundred or thousands of words within six hours about how to control the Yellow River, and an essay about why the Qin Dynasty was able to unify the country.
You can write anything you want, but it will naturally get zero points. To get a high score, you must not only follow the format of the policy paper but also explain the rationale behind it. The strategy must be at least theoretically feasible, and the paper must have its own unique perspectives and ideas.
This shows how difficult it is.
And this is just a trial.
Before Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi reformed the imperial examinations, the contents of the prefectural and provincial examinations in the early Song Dynasty were actually similar, all consisting of poetry, classics, and policy essays, with only differences in the number of questions and the scope of the examinations.
The Jieshi examination is for Juren, and the provincial examination is for Jinshi. During the Juren examination, the examination content includes one poem, one fu, one essay, one policy paper, and ten pages of classics and ten pages of calligraphy.
When it comes to the Jinshi examination, you will be tested on one poem, one fu, one essay, five policy papers, ten scrolls of "The Analects of Confucius", and ten selected interpretations of the Six Classics.
Even though there are only four more strategies and the Analects and the remaining six classics, it means that you have to complete four more national-level strategies within six hours and recite the remaining six classics in addition to the main classics.
The difficulty has almost increased exponentially. No wonder a large number of scholars will not be tested on classics other than "The Analects of Confucius", "The Spring and Autumn Annals" and "The Book of Rites" when taking the examination. They need to spend more time studying these classics to prepare for the future Jinshi examination.
Zhao Jun had an idea, so he naturally had no worries. It only took him about three hours to write "Strategies for River Control" and "On the Six Kingdoms", which together amounted to more than 1,300 words. The reason it took so long was because writing with a brush was slow.
After finishing, I checked it. After the ink dried, I covered it with straw paper, put a paperweight on it, and went back to bed to rest.
Time passed minute by minute, and the candidates in the examination room were still writing intensively. There were also officials from the Ministry of Rites patrolling the examination room from time to time. Seeing that Zhao Jun had actually lay down, they couldn't help but shake their heads, thinking that he found the difficulty too great and had completely given up.
“Boom boom boom!”
As the deafening sound of gongs and drums rang out, wailing was heard everywhere in an instant.
Immediately afterwards, officials from the Ministry of Rites came with soldiers to collect the scrolls.
"It's over, it's over."
“It’s almost finished.”
"Let me write this, please."
"Don't pull me, don't pull me, ahhh! Let me finish writing!"
Most of the candidates put down their pens, and only a few were still writing furiously.
When the officials who came down to collect the papers saw this, they warned and ordered them to stop, and those who refused to listen were taken out of the examination room.
All kinds of panicked shouts broke the previous tranquility, but it soon quieted down again.
There were several thousand candidates in Bianliang every year, with three examination halls, and the number of candidates in the Taichang Temple was probably more than one thousand but less than two thousand.
Soldiers and officials have been arranged in each examination room, and everything is in order. Even if you don’t have time to finish writing, you have to stop, otherwise you will be expelled from the examination room and disqualified from the exam.
Zhao Jun handed the test paper to the official who came to collect the papers.
The official had seen Zhao Jun sleeping before. He took the test paper and glanced at it. He was shocked to see that it was densely covered with policy essays. He looked Zhao Jun up and down, then left with a look of surprise.
Soon all the papers were collected, but this did not mean that the candidates could move around freely. Almost everyone lay back on the bed with a tired look on their faces, and some were still crying loudly.
There were actually many different situations in the examination room. Some were sobbing, some were praying to God, some were pale, and some looked numb. Zhao Jun didn't care.
Because many people are like this after the college entrance examination, and after entering high school, you can see it once a year.
He lay in bed with his eyes closed.
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