I

I stayed in Shitang Town for two days and stopped briefly when passing by the county seat. The next day I saw the results of the children's examination.

The delay for several days was not because Feng Zhixian was too slow in grading papers, but because there were too many students taking the exam. There was really no room in the exam booth, so I took two batches of exams before and after the county exam, and the questions in each batch were different.

Qianshan County, with a registered population of less than 20,000, has more than 4,000 schoolchildren taking the county examination this time.

Does it feel weird?

There are two theories in the field of history: one is that the Yellow Register of the Ming Dynasty only counts adult males; the other is that the Yellow Register of the Ming Dynasty only counts adult men and women.

No matter which kind, the children are not counted, even if they have settled down, they are not counted.

But something is still wrong. The ratio of school children to registered population still does not match.

hehe.

The registered population of the government is for the central court to see. It may not have changed for hundreds of years, and it has even been declining in Qianshan County.

Just because the population increases, the total amount of taxes must also increase. Firstly, it is difficult for the county magistrate to collect enough taxes, and secondly, there will be less tax collected by the county magistrate, and the local officials will change the yellow list if they are out of their minds.

When it comes to actually collecting taxes, it's another system.

In the past, we relied on grain to grow, but now we rely on inside. There is no need for a household registration book at all. No one knows anyone in the countryside. Without the protection of a wealthy family, you have to pay taxes.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way!"

Although Fei Ruhe was young, he was still physically strong and pushed the other students who were on the list all the way.

He walked to the bottom of the list and looked up——

The first place is Fei Ruyu.

The second place is Hu Zongru.

The third place is Fei Kai.

Fourth place: Fei Han.

He kept looking and reading, and he suddenly succeeded.

No. 117: Xu Ying.

Number 398: Fei Ruhe.

A total of 400 students were admitted to Qianshan County's rural examination list, which is about one-tenth of the reference number!

Under normal circumstances, only a few dozen are admitted in the county examination, but that only applies to normal states and counties.

The highest record in the north is in Ruyang, Henan, where more than 8,000 people took part in a county examination and about 800 were admitted.

The highest record in the south is Linchuan, Jiangxi Province. More than 10,000 people took part in a county examination and more than 1,000 people were admitted.

The schoolchildren taking part in the county examination are very enthusiastic, and many of them come to experience the atmosphere.

There is no fixed quota, usually one out of ten is chosen. If there are too many people, it will give the prefect a headache.

"Dad, I passed, I passed!" Fei Ruhe was ecstatic.

Fei Yinghuan's face was expressionless: "If you pass it, pass it. You don't have to take the government examination. You may not even understand the questions in the government examination."

Fei Ruhe still maintained his fantasy: "If you are lucky, the prefect will give it to you."

Fei Yinghuan's face was very ugly, and he gritted his teeth and said: "The prefect is not as easy to talk to as the county magistrate, and your father has no friendship with the prefect!"

Fei Ruhe shut up immediately.

Zhao Han asked: "Sir, then I don't need to go to the government to take the exam?"

"I can go or I can't go." Fei Yinghuan let Zhao Han decide for himself.

Children are admitted in the government examination, and there is still no quota for the number of students. One of the two students is usually chosen. But if there are too many candidates, one of three, one of four, or one of five may be selected.

Jiangxi's hellish difficulty is first reflected in the prefecture examination. Children who have passed the county examination will have to be passed down by at least three-quarters.

In other provinces and counties, the admission rate for prefectural examinations is about one-half.

"Then I'd better not go." Zhao Han smiled.

So what if I pass the government examination?

In the Taoist test, you have to swipe people like crazy. Jiangxi scholars are not so easy to take! From the county examination, the prefectural examination, and then the road examination, the admission rate of the three examinations may be less than 1%.

Next to the admission list, there are several sample essays posted, and Zhao Han's article is among them.

A schoolboy of seventeen or eighteen years old shook his head and praised continuously: "A common man can be a teacher for hundreds of generations, and his words can teach the world. It is really a wonderful article! I wonder which prodigy Fei Han is?"

"Who is Fei Han?"

"Which Fei clan does Fei Han belong to? We must make friends with him."

"It must be me, Chen Jiang Fei!"

"Nonsense, it must be me, Shitang Fei!"

"..."

Zhao Han quickly ran away and quietly squeezed out of the crowd.

Among the countless people who read the list, no one discovered that his article was plagiarized.

Fei Yinghuan returned to Hanzhu Academy and immediately ran to the library to look for articles.

Zhao Han wrote the titles of more than 100 articles, including ancient Qin and Han Dynasty prose, which is about half of the titles in "Guwen Guanzhi".

…

Inside the library.

Fei Yinghuan looked at the catalog of ancient texts and asked, "Who is the author of the "Book with Han Jingzhou"?"

"Li Bai." Zhao Han replied immediately.

If he couldn't answer again, Fei Yinghuan would beat him.

There were several ancient articles before. Zhao Han only remembered the title of the article, but he couldn't even remember who wrote it. How could Fei Yinghuan find it?

When he heard that it was written by Li Bai, Fei Yinghuan was very happy because there was "Collected Works of Li Taibai" in the library.

"This way!" Fei Yinghuan called to the school janitor.

Two handymen carried the wooden ladder over, and Fei Yinghuan climbed up it himself, took out the "Collected Works of Li Taibai" and flipped through it quickly.

Ancient anthologies also have catalogs. Fei Yinghuan quickly found the original text, threw it to Qin Xin and said, "Copy that article!"

Zhao Han quickly said: "The Preface to the Spring Night Banquet in the Peach and Plum Garden is also written by Li Bai."

Qin Xin quickly looked through the catalog and said, "Dad, I have this volume in my hand."

"Copy them all." Fei Yinghuan warned.

Although Zhao Han could not recite the full text of these two articles, he was very impressed by several paragraphs.

"I don't need to be granted the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households in my life. I hope I can get to know Han Jingzhou." - He starts off by boasting that Li Bai is a master of flattery.

"Heaven and earth are the reverse journey of all things; time is the passer-by of generations. And life is like a dream, how much joy can there be?" - very suitable for QQ signature to show off.

Fei Yinghuan glanced at the ancient prose entries and asked, "Diaoguzhanwen was also written by Li Bai?"

"Uh... I forgot, it shouldn't be Li Bai." Zhao Han was a little embarrassed.

"Then there is no way to find it," Fei Yinghuan could only give up and asked, "Who is the author of "A Fang Gong Fu"?"

Zhao Han said: "Du Mu."

Fei Yinghuan had learned Du Mu's poems, and he immediately took his servants to look for them.

After a lot of trouble, I only found a copy of "Fan Chuan Poetry Notes", which was full of Du Mu's poems and contained no ancient texts at all.

For modern people, "Afang Palace Fu" can be seen casually.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, it could only be obtained from two sources: first, the Ming version of the Song version of "Collected Works of Fan Chuan" (which contained both poetry and prose), and second, the Ming version of "Collected Works of Fan Chuan" published by Wu Zhi (which contained articles but no poems).

These two sets of engravings are both regionally distributed reading materials and cannot be purchased in most states and counties.

After searching to no avail, Fei Yinghuan said, "Forget it, I won't find this article anymore."

Zhao Han quickly said: "Sir, this is a magnificent article."

"Really?" Fei Yinghuan didn't believe it, because he had read Du Mu's poems, and his writing style didn't look like he could write a masterpiece.

Zhao Han said: "I can carry it a little, but I don't know if I can carry it all."

Fei Yinghuan told Jian Dan: "Write it down."

Zhao Han immediately recited: "The six kings are finished, the four seas are one, the Shu Mountain is Wu, and A Fang comes out. It covers more than three hundred miles and isolates the sky. The Li Mountain is built in the north and turns west, going straight to Xianyang. The two rivers melt and flow into the palace wall. Five steps On the first floor, there is a pavilion for every ten steps. The waist of the corridor is narrow, and the eaves and teeth are high. Everyone is holding on to the terrain, fighting each other..."

Jian Dan cried as he remembered it, put down his pen and said, "Brother, please slow down."

Zhao Han turned his head and took a look. Good guy, "Six Kings Bi" was written as "Six Kings Kill", and there were a lot of typos at the end.

"Let me write it." Zhao Han could only say.

He wrote the first few paragraphs silently, but forgot all about the middle. Zhao Han thought hard for a long time and couldn't remember it.

Then just use the ellipsis and jump directly to the last paragraph: "Wow! The one who destroyed the six kingdoms is the six kingdoms, not Qin. The one who belongs to Qin is Qin, and is not the world. Sigh! It is enough to make the six kingdoms love each other. Reject Qin. If Qin loves the people of the Six Kingdoms again, he will be the king for three generations to all generations. Who will win and his family will be destroyed? The people of Qin have no time to mourn for themselves, and later generations will mourn. Later generations will mourn and ignore it, and they will also make Qin suffer. The descendants will mourn for the descendants again."

Fei Yinghuan stood by and read it, and immediately exclaimed: "Sure enough, Du Fanchuan can write such a magnificent article!"

Zhao Han said: "Sir, let's continue looking for articles."

Fei Yinghuan pointed to "Afang Palace Fu": "Where's the one in the middle?"

"I forgot." Zhao Han expressed helplessness, he really forgot.

"How could you forget such a good article? Think about it again." Fei Yinghuan urged.

Zhao Han smiled bitterly: "I've thought about it, but I really can't remember it."

When Fei Yinghuan saw a good article, but this article was incomplete, he suddenly felt itchy and unbearable, like a cat being scratched. He said to Jiupo: "Go and ask around the academy. Who knows where to buy Du Fanchuan's collected works? I will give him five taels of silver. If anyone can silently write "A Fang Palace Fu" on the spot, I will give him twenty Two pieces of silver!"

Jiupo took the order and left, while Fei Yinghuan continued to look for the article.

After searching for several days, Zhao Han only found more than 70 titles in the library out of the more than 100 titles he gave, including many articles by the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties.

After asking all the teachers and students at Hanzhu Academy, no one could write "Afang Palace Fu" silently.

However, a teacher gave a clue that he had seen "Collected Works of Fan Chuan" in Ouyang's library in Taihe County.

In order to obtain a complete "Afang Palace Ode", Fei Yinghuan actually took out 50 taels of silver and said to Wei Jianxiong: "You and Qin Xin, go to Taihe County immediately, prepare gifts for the door, and take my name card to pay a visit to Ouyang. , be sure to copy "Afang Palace Fu" back!"

Wei Jianxiong said in surprise: "Fifty taels per article?"

"It's worth a hundred taels," Fei Yinghuan said. "As long as you can bring the article back, no matter how much money it actually costs, the rest of the money will be yours."

"Is there such a good thing?" Wei Jianxiong said happily, "Don't worry, sir, this matter will be taken care of by me."

Qin Xin is also very happy. Wei Jianxiong has always been generous. If he goes to work with him this time, he will definitely get a lot of money.

Wei Jianxiong and Qin Xin left, and Fei Yinghuan continued to search for two days.

Seeing that he couldn't find any more articles, Fei Yinghuan had no choice but to go home. He said to Zhao Han as if on purpose: "Brother Han, your old library must be much bigger than mine."

Zhao Han's expression remained unchanged as he replied: "When my father was alive, he liked to borrow books from everywhere."

Fei Yinghuan thought for a while and sighed: "Well, I won't ask further. Your ancestors must have extraordinary origins. If you win the election in the future, just change it back to your original surname."

"Thank you, sir." Zhao Han bowed his hands.

Some articles in "Gu Wen Guan Zhi" are now either found in "Yongle Dadian" or lying in a family's library.

Ordinary scholars would never want to come into contact with him in their lifetime.

When Pang Chunlai learned about this, he came to visit Fei Yinghuan on the way and asked Xu Ying to help make a copy.

There are more than 70 ancient articles, and they are all famous articles. Pang Chunlai had only read more than 20 articles before.

It’s not that I don’t want to read it, I just can’t read it.

After reading all these articles, Pang Chunlai called Zhao Han: "These were all taught by your father during his lifetime?"

"Yes." Zhao Han became increasingly thick-skinned.

Pang Chunlai joked: "Is your family descended from Zhao and Song?"

"No." Zhao Han denied it.

"Yes, it will be useful for rebellion in the future." Pang Chunlai said.

Zhao Han said with a smile: "It's useless to raise the banner of Zhao Song. What's more, rebellion depends on yourself. Princes, generals, Xiang Ning, etc. have the guts."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Pang Chunlai laughed: "If you have ambition, that's what a man should do!" Then he asked, "Aren't you going to take the government examination?"

"Can I pass the exam?" Zhao Han asked.

"No." Pang Chunlai shook his head.

Zhao Han, Xu Ying, and Fei Ruhe all passed the county examination, but none of them took the prefecture examination.

Everyone knows how difficult the government examination is!