Three Kingdoms

As the saying goes, a person lives with a face, and a tree lives with a bark.

There are also shameless-looking trees in nature, such as the itchy tree, which seems to have no bark and is completely naked. However, in fact, this tree still has bark, but it is very thin as if it has no bark at all.

So naturally there are thin-skinned people and thick-skinned people. Fei Qian didn't know which type he should belong to, but he was very sure that Cai Gu's face was definitely not the thin-skinned kind...

No, Cai Gu delivered a famous assassin to the Cavalry General Fei Qian again and prepared to visit him, but the problem was that Fei Qian didn't want to see him at all. "People can eat a hundred things, and things can feed a hundred people..." Fei Qian sighed slightly, and then handed it to Xun Chen, "I'll excuse you, my friend..."

Anyway, if the secretary has something to do, it's fine... Ahem, anyway, now Xun Chen is almost like Fei Qian's secretary. If Fei Qian can't come forward, he will naturally leave it to Xun Chen. Xun Chen nodded gracefully, took Cai Gu's famous thorn, turned around and went out. He came back not long after, and then took out a thick stack of famous thorns from his sleeve, and gave it to Fei Qian with a half-smile on his face. In front of him, he said: "This is the talent recommended by Mr. Cai..."

"Oh?" Fei Qian glanced at Xun Chen, looking at Xun Chen's serious and unsmiling expression, and then he took a look, wow, there are so many people, and the descriptions of each one are good, they are filial and talented. "Cai Yuan, Cai Zizhong? Chen Bin, Chen Mengjie? Zhao... who are these people? Could it be that they are our lost treasures now?"

Xun Chen smiled and said nothing.

Fei Qian looked at it, oh, I understand, threw these famous assassins aside, and sighed. There may not be a legacy, but bribery is real. Cai Gu estimates that such a role as a leader has made a lot of money...

Some headache.

"Just allow it to be a big competition..." Fei Qian waved his hand, "Besides, Cai's move is quite inappropriate... You might as well find an opportunity to warn me..." It's not a good idea to do it all, after all. Cai Yan doesn't have many elders now, although this elder is indeed not very good.

Xun Chen nodded silently, but Fei Qian didn't know if there was any tingling in his heart. But now in Binh Duong’s market, it’s not just one person who talks about tangerine wheat peel.

The countdown to the competition is about to begin, and this time can be said to be the most important one! After all, the previous competitions were hosted by the Academy Grand Ceremony, but this time the Cavalry General was personally in charge, which meant that once he entered Fei Qian's eyes, wouldn't he be expected to rise to prominence immediately?

So this time, not only the people in Binh Duong, but even the surrounding counties and counties also issued the notice early, so that some students could prepare in advance. I heard that even Hanoi and other places took the trouble to come all the way...

As there are more people, prices naturally rise. Moreover, these students who come not only need to buy daily necessities, but also need to buy some learning tools, and learning tools are often large. This naturally makes many people feel sad. Emotion.

This time can be regarded as a preview of the imperial examination. It was mainly to reform the previous system of promoting filial piety and integrity. Although the time was still somewhat rushed, at the same time, it did not form a more complete one-stop upgrade system like the later imperial examination system. Some relatively remote People from the county were too late to arrive, but the number of people participating in the competition this time has soared to more than 2,000, and it is still on the rise.

Of course, the most important thing is that this time the competition began to be divided into subjects. In particular, the two subjects of "calculation" and "law" were listed separately. However, among them, "classics" still dominated the list and accounted for the largest number of people.

As for the scope of the exam, it goes without saying that the "Classics" will be covered. Basically, the Confucian books will be covered, and the coverage is very large.

"Dharma" is not simple either. The sixty chapters of Han Code are the "Nine Chapter Code" written by Xiao He, the "Bang Zhang Code" written by Shusun Tong), the "Yue Gong Code" written by Zhang Tang, and the "Chao Code" written by Zhao Yu. Taken together, there are Sixty articles are not necessarily any easier than the scriptures...

As for "calculation", it is biased towards real-life problems, and to a certain extent, it covers some superficial problems and calculations in mathematics, physics, and chemistry, so it is also very complicated.

Regardless of the subject, the exam is divided into two sessions. The first session tests basic knowledge, and the second session tests specific applications.

With such a huge examination market, it is naturally impossible for future generations of Fei Qian to let go of such a blue ocean.

Among them, the most important one is a set of new notes on Shuowen Jiezi, divided into five volumes, and the price is very high. As for the selections from previous years, the required real questions, etc., they are still coming, and they have not been published yet.

Although official script is popular these days, there are still many people who like to write some small seal scripts in an unconventional way, or even make up some characters themselves. Even in later generations, there are still four writing methods that Kong Yiji will study, needless to say. In the Han Dynasty, there were no inscriptions on imperial examination regulations stipulating which calligraphy style should be written. In addition, many people have problems with their writing habits. They often use Tongjia or even write the wrong radical, which is completely normal.

As for the word "mei", ah, I recognize it, but when I want to write, I scratch my head and wonder how to write it. There are not many situations. Therefore, it is naturally important to have a special explanation of Chinese characters to standardize your writing. The original book of "Shuowen Jiezi" was written during the reign of Emperor He of the Han Dynasty to Emperor An of the Han Dynasty. The original book is huge, with a total of fifteen volumes, and each volume is divided into two parts. It is an out-and-out tome, but after all, it is a hundred years old. There have been many changes from the past to the present, and some characters are rarely used. Therefore, Fei Qian asked Cai Yan and Sima Hui to take the lead in re-editing "Shuowen Jiezi" and then deleted the seal script part and other fonts. , only using the official script style, and at the same time deleting some characters that are basically unused, and finally condensing it into five volumes, which is quite convenient.

To promote this book "Shuowen Jiezi New Annotations", we naturally cannot miss the opportunity of the competition. Therefore, starting from last year's competition, the Morishan Academy Linghu Dajiujiu has repeatedly emphasized that all written texts should be This book "Shuo Wen Jie Zi New Annotations" is the standard. If you write any variant characters or unusual characters at will, they will all be considered typos and you will be downgraded!

In the past few years, although the competition was important, it is not as important as it is now. Therefore, even if you don't have money to buy the printed "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes", you can just put them together and read them. But this year is so important. In a competition, it is naturally impossible to surrender such an important thing and then lend it out...

Chinese people, if no one grabs them, they are not considered rare goods, so once they start grabbing, they will also buy out the inventory in the bookstore. All "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes", whether it is a collection or It’s divided into volumes, and every volume counts as one, and all of them are sold out!

But what is interesting is that the official bookstore, or the bookstore of the Hussars General, has sold out all the "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes", and there is not a single copy. However, in other channels, some originally sold firewood, rice, oil and salt. Yes, there are actually products from "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes"...

Theoretically speaking, any aristocratic noble family must have some money at home, or to put it another way, those who can study were wealthy people in the Han Dynasty. People without money could not afford to study at all. As for poor scholars, they were so poor. The term "category" only appeared after books became widely popularized.

Now that the Han Dynasty has come to almost the end, the old officials have fallen, the new nobles have risen, and the aristocratic families have also had their ups and downs. However, whether they are the new nobles or the old officials, their thirst for knowledge is still beyond imagination. In this Academy Competition, In fact, these nobles' children are still the main participants. As for the ordinary poor people, they can't even see where the threshold is, let alone have a chance to try the carp leaping over the dragon's gate.

A humble family is just shabby compared to those big aristocratic families, but at least they have a family.

Therefore, in fact, this set of "New Notes on Shuowen Jiezi" has become a threshold invisibly.

Whether they are printing privately or asking others to copy them, they all have some skills, but those without skills can only sigh and curse at the soaring price of books...

What?

compulsory education?

If you are half a step ahead, you are a genius; if you are one step ahead, you will be a genius. Recruiting talents through competitions is a mindset that Fei Qian has cultivated year after year after establishing the Academy. Today, he has just taken a step forward and started to move towards the imperial examination system...

If there really were no such financial and material resources, the Han Dynasty, which was in a state of small government, really had no ticket to enter the upper class. Fei Qian could only expand the circle of gentry, establish a new class of martial arts nobles, and break the original narrow society. The wealthy landed class of aristocratic families has become a model of small landowners. As for the idea that everyone is equal and that there are five social insurances and one housing fund, that is simply nonsense.

However, "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes" is still a bit expensive. It would be fine in normal times. The price of the official bookstore of Hussar General is also reasonable. However, now the official bookstore has sold out, and then the prices of various small channels Well, naturally it is the same every day...

For those big gentry and real rich people, Ma Jun really came from a completely poor family. However, although Ma Jun's family was poor, he was still able to study. This must be said to be the advantage of the gentry family system in the Han Dynasty. A family will inevitably have ups and downs, but a large family can ensure that the inheritance from one generation to the next will not be interrupted due to changes in one family. At least Ma Jun still had food to eat from childhood to adolescence. Having clothes to wear and books can help you become enlightened, so that you won't become a refugee like ordinary people who have lost the backbone of their families.

This time I heard that the Cavalry General Fei Qian was going to hold a palace competition in Pingyang. Among the Ma family, there were also children of the Ma family who wanted to come to Pingyang. Ma Jun was also eager to try, so he naturally borrowed some money from his family and went with them to Pingyang. For other things, such as living standards, food and housing conditions, etc., it is enough to be more frugal, but you always need a set of "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes" to know which words you have written correctly and which words you have bad habits. ?

But when Ma Jun followed his brother Ma Fu to the market and inquired about it, he was naturally shocked by the price of "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes"...

When the shopkeeper saw this, he naturally understood. He did not do anything like one of the plots, and made sarcastic comments at every turn. Instead, he complained to Ma Jun, Ma Fu, saying that he had these few sets of "Shuowen Jiezi Xin" Note" How rare it is, and how precious it is. It's not that he wants to sell it at a high price, but the original purchase price is so high.

Of course, this kind of business rhetoric has always existed, and it will continue to exist for a long time.

Not only did the shopkeeper not make any sarcasm, he even gave Ma Jun some advice, saying that he had a complete set here and had it carefully calibrated by someone. The quality was undeniable. It was more expensive to be a person, but what about the price... Next to Around the corner, there is another store that also sells "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes", but that one has a few corrections, so the price is naturally cheaper, and you can buy it in volumes, so you can buy it as needed...

Naturally, Ma Jun, who was in charge of the horse, had nothing to say. Just when he was about to say goodbye to the shopkeeper, he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves, and then the sound of soldiers armored and scaled. A pair of patrol inspectors broke into the shop. When he saw the book "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes" placed on the counter by the shopkeeper, he immediately smiled coldly, pointed with his hand, and shouted: "Get it from someone!"

The soldiers rushed forward and immediately pulled the shopkeeper out from behind the counter, pushed him to the ground, and tied him up with a rope.

The shopkeeper cried out that he was wronged, saying that he was an innocent person and had not done anything bad at all. How could he be guilty? Did he arrest the wrong person...

The leading inspector patted the "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes" on the counter with the palm missing his little finger and ring finger, and said in a deep voice: "You still dare to quibble?! The physical evidence is here... Any witnesses... ..." He glanced at Ma Jun and Ma Jun, who were shivering on one side, "These two are also witnesses, take them away together!"

""Shuowen Jiezi New Notes"?" The shopkeeper felt that he was very wronged and shouted loudly, "What's the crime in selling copied books? If it is a crime, then all the scholars in the world are guilty! Do all the scholars in the world print their books? Is there no one who copied it by hand? If you use this to judge the crime, I won’t accept it, I won’t accept it, I’m unjustly accused, I’m unjustly accused!”

The inspector couldn't help but frowned when he heard this.

Seeing that his superior was displeased, his soldiers reached out and were about to slap the shopkeeper. Instead, they asked the inspector to stop. Then they walked up to the shopkeeper and said, "Are you dissatisfied? Are you wronged? Okay, let me ask you, your shop What was it originally selling? Huh? When did this "Shuowen Jiezi New Notes" turn into oil and salt? Can it be paired with these pickles and pickles?!"

"This..." The shopkeeper was speechless for a moment and his eyes wandered twice, "It was my negligence. I immediately set up a new cabinet specifically for this..."

"Haha, hahaha..." the inspector laughed and waved his hand, "This matter can't be solved by changing the counter! Stop talking! Take it away!"

Ignoring the crying shopkeeper, the inspector walked up to Ma Fu and Ma Jun, raised his hands and said, "Are you two pre-ordering this book? You might as well go with a certain person...Today the general is inspecting such traitors, there must be something wrong with them." If there are less things like this, you two can buy them at a reasonable price..."