Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 655: The Prince's Three Questions
Although no one wants to be the chief secretary of the royal palace in most cases these days, after all, everyone thinks it is not a proper career path, but the chief secretary of the Imperial College is not like other academic officials. He has never been a Jinshi and has always been a miscellaneous assistant official! Since resigning from his post and becoming the chief secretary of the King of Jiangdu, Xu Heida has been promoted from the seventh rank to the sixth rank, which is faster than Zhang Shou's promotion!
As the saying goes, if you don't return home when you're rich, it's like walking in fine clothes at night.
If this statement is true, Xu Heida must have been eager to show off his power when he returned to the Imperial College this time. Once he had power, he would issue orders and show off his power in front of the academic officials who looked down on him in the past. However, the former Xu Jiancheng, now Xu Changshi, had no intention of wasting his energy on these idle people.
After accompanying Prince Jiangdu to inspect various examination halls - or in other words, after checking the examination status of the students in the six halls according to his previous procedures in monthly, quarterly and annual examinations, he did not say a word to his former colleagues whom he could only look up to in the past, and directly announced the examination questions for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
As a result, as soon as the first question was announced, if the exam did not require silence, there would definitely be wailing in the six classrooms.
It was an original question from the sixth volume of the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, with even the numbers in the question unchanged: Now there is a good person who walks 100 steps, and a bad person who walks 60 steps. Now the bad person walks 100 steps first, and the good person catches up with him. How many steps will it take to catch up with him? Moreover, it requires a detailed solution, and those who only give one answer can only be given a consolation mark.
Seeing that many academic officials were also angry after facing this question, he said calmly: "If students outside the capital say that the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art is hard to find, then it is understandable, but the Nine Chapters Hall has been in the Imperial College for more than a year, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been in the Nine Chapters Hall for a long time. If he has no clue about even the easiest question in Volume 6, then it is too unreasonable."
Seeing that several doctors were about to retort angrily, King Jiangdu said with a smile: "Okay, okay, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince just hopes that the attendants of the Eastern Palace can understand a little bit of mathematics. Everyone knows that he is gifted, and even Scholar Zhang praises him highly. Aren't there still questions 2 and 3?"
Xu Heida had already resigned and had thought about going to the public school, but the emperor forced him to be the assistant of Prince Jiangdu. He was reluctant at first, until he learned that he was asked to do this task, and then he agreed with all his heart.
Hearing King Jiangdu's attempt to smooth things over, he continued to announce the second question.
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince, asked: Agriculture is the foundation of a country, but now most of the wasteland in the world has been reclaimed. Rich places like the southeast have little land and many people. In the past, many farmers gave up farming and became workers, or even gave up farming and became workers. The population of the world today is several times more than when the country was founded. If this continues, how can a limited land support an unlimited population?"
Seeing a group of academic officials with stiff expressions facing such a somewhat inappropriate question upon closer examination, Xu Heida let the clerks under him take the papers with the questions written on them and pass them around, and then he calmly said the third question.
"For the third question, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ordered us to write an essay on the topic 'Three years without changing the way of my father'."
The third question was about writing essays on current affairs. Among all the school officials, I don't know how many of them couldn't hold back their expressions. Moreover, compared to the weird questions in the imperial examinations nowadays, the question chosen by the third prince was the original text of "The Analects of Confucius". It was not the kind of question that was irrelevant and deliberately made things difficult for students. It was a magnificent and generous one, and it also showed filial piety.
Who can say that someone's questions are not good? At most, we can only say sourly that the order of the questions is wrong, and it would be better if the whole order is changed!
But King Jiangdu didn't care about this.
His future son-in-law was not someone who liked the imperial examination, but at least he had the title of a juren. Although he was not satisfied at first, he finally figured it out after getting to know him. Now he couldn't help but feel annoyed when he saw some scholars who only read books. At this time, when he saw Xu Heidao had announced all three questions, and six clerks went to the sixth hall to announce the third question, he coughed majestically.
"Your Highness, these three questions involve classics, history, mathematics, and farming. It can be said that they cover all aspects. To be honest, it is a pity to use them to select servants for the Eastern Palace. I just hope that the Sixth Hall will not disappoint the Emperor and His Highness, and select a few decent people to serve the Eastern Palace. You know, several lecturers in the Eastern Palace are full of praise for His Highness."
The lecturers who rotated every five days all received a lot of instructions from the emperor before class - he didn't threaten the teachers, but reminded them very seriously that when explaining, they should not read from the book, but should explain in simple and easy-to-understand ways, and not bring the teaching methods for adults to Ciqing Palace. If they did so mechanically, he would have to change the lecturers!
Fearing that the crown prince would find fault with them, the few people chosen by the emperor did their best. As a result, they were all moved by the third prince's good attitude towards learning, and they spread the word everywhere after leaving the palace. What did they spread? The crown prince studied hard, and his left hand was inconvenient these days, but it did not affect his studies!
As for the fact that the Third Prince had been beaten, no one else knew about it except the sharp-eyed Chu Kuan, the Fourth Prince who lived with them every day and could not hide it from them, several older palace maids who served the two brothers in Zhaoren Hall, and the Emperor himself who saw through it but did not say anything... The tutors in the East Palace only found out the next day that the Crown Prince had accidentally broken his left hand, but were unwilling to miss any classes!
It’s not excessive for such a diligent prince to have strict requirements on the servants in the Eastern Palace, right?
Zhou Jijiu and Luo Siye looked at each other and said nothing. They both realized that if the questions on the Four Books asked by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince were certain for some students with excellent contemporary literature, then the question on the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art was a chasm as difficult as a natural barrier. In addition, that question was definitely not something that could be answered by someone who studied books blindly and wrote brilliant essays!
The King of Jiangdu certainly didn't want to stand outside in such a cold and windy day. Now that the test questions were announced, he said to Xu Heida bluntly, "Let's wait in a sheltered place. How about your old Shengqian Hall?"
"The Shengqian Hall is where students who commit crimes are punished. It can be said to be the criminal hall of the Imperial College. It is not suitable as a resting place." Even when facing his current boss, Xu Heida still had a stern face and did not care at all how strangely his colleagues looked at him.
When he rejected King Jiangdu, Zhou Jijiu's eyes flickered, and he finally spoke cautiously: "Before, Banshan Hall also said that they wanted to select people to serve as attendants to the East Palace. I don't know the method and topic of the selection..."
Before he could finish his words, the King of Jiangdu laughed and said, "Of course it's the same question. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that if the two sides come up with different questions, some people will inevitably say it's unfair, so let's just have the same question. Among the three questions, if you can't solve the one in Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, and you have no idea at all, that doesn't matter."
"As long as you do well in the policy questions and the essays, you will get a pass. It doesn't matter if you can do two out of the three questions, you are considered a talent. Moreover, the policy questions do not require good writing skills. As long as you have something to say, other conditions can be relaxed."
Faced with these seemingly extremely broad conditions, Xu Heida saw that none of the many academic officials, including Zhou Jijiu and Luo Siye, showed a relieved expression. Instead, their expressions became even stiffer. He knew very well what these people were thinking.
Of course, there were some students who were outstanding in all aspects of the Imperial College, but there were only one or two at most. If you wanted to pick out those who were extremely good at writing contemporary essays, you could always find a dozen or twenty. But among these people, those who really read the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art were probably rare, and those who knew the arithmetic classics might not be able to write contemporary essays.
There would also not be many people who could answer the prince's question about farming properly.
Of course, Banshan Hall was not much better. Writing contemporary essays was an almost impossible task for the children of noble families, most of whom were poor students. And for those who knew the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, it was equally worrying, although the question did not sound that difficult.
As for being able to answer the agricultural policy question, to be honest, he had no hope. If the children of the nobility wanted to have a promising future, it all depended on who was teaching them.
Zhang Shou had not taught at Banshan Hall for a long time. How outstanding could those noble children be? Besides, Zhang Chen and others who had gradually gained some practical skills had already left to lead their own business and were no longer in Jiuzhang Hall!
Ever since he saw the three questions asked by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he felt that the quotas for the Eastern Palace attendants that the Emperor had allocated to the Six Halls and the Half Mountain Hall of the Imperial College might not be used at all! His intention of preferring to have fewer than enough was already obvious.
Just when Xu Heida had made up his mind and felt that he might not even be able to select ten people today, King Jiangdu spoke calmly under a gloomy and depressing gaze: "However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that if you really can't answer both questions, but you can excel in one of them, then you can consider it."
" For example, the essay can be compared to a Jinshi; the policy questions can be clearly understood by the farmer; the math questions can be answered with a certain formula... ahem, in short, if you are not an all-rounder, you must at least be proficient in one area."
It was only then that Zhou Jijiu and Luo Siye's faces, which were dry as old vegetable peels, finally showed some brilliance. Contemporary Literature | To be comparable to a Jinshi, this requirement sounds very high, but the problem is... that also requires the ability to grade papers!
What level are the examiners of the annual examination? Even if they are just the room officials, they are all Jinshi, and the chief examiner and deputy chief examiner are all high-ranking scholars of the Hanlin Academy. Who does the prince rely on to look at these thousands of papers? Is it Zhang Shou, the young scholar?
The two of them did not ask the question out loud, but a certain doctor of the Five Classics among the academic officials could not wait and asked directly: "There are thousands of students in the Imperial College. If they answer the three questions one by one, the papers will be very large. If they are added together, they will probably fill up a room. Who will mark them when the time comes?"
The King of Jiangdu chuckled, then looked at Xu Heidao calmly. Seeing him like this, many school officials suddenly stared at Xu Heidao. He still had a cold face, but said calmly: "The current affairs papers will be reviewed by the lecturers of the East Palace who are Jinshi graduates. The agricultural papers about the policy questions will be reviewed by Yue Shanzhang of Zhaoming Academy, and Lord Liu, the Prince's Secretary, will review them."
"As for the Mathematical Scriptures, Master Zhang and Imperial Attendant Lu from the Eastern Palace gave their comments."
At this point, Xu Heida's mouth curled up slightly, and he smiled at the students who were once again in a stagnation state: "Of course, all papers will be screened. The papers on mathematics are easy, and the students of Jiuzhang Hall can screen them all at a glance. As for the papers on current affairs, there are more lecturers to review the papers, so there is no need for preliminary screening. As for farming, Principal Yue brought several students to Beijing, and they can also be used."
"After this selection, all students who participate in the next selection and even thereafter must bring their own paper and pen. This will prevent those uneducated people from taking chances and wasting the emperor's painstaking efforts in selecting talents!" It will also save paper and pen!
This kind of examination seemed like an extra burden to the lecturers of the Eastern Palace. But Zhou Jijiu and Luo Siye knew that only half of the lecturers selected by the emperor were Jinshi graduates with a background in the Hanlin Academy, and even these Hanlins would definitely be happy to help His Royal Highness the Crown Prince select the attendants of the Eastern Palace.
As for the others, Zhang Shou was more proficient in mathematics, and no one could find fault with his math problems. And Liu Zhiyuan, an old senior who worked in the fields himself when he was young because of poverty and was very familiar with farming, plus Yue Shanzhang, who was in charge of Zhaoming Academy and was good at farmland water conservancy, could not handle these farming papers?
So, seeing that everyone was silent, King Jiangdu was too lazy to stay here, and simply said with a smile: "Okay, Xu Changshi, the invigilation of the Imperial College will be handed over to you. I'd better go to the public school quickly to see how those boys in Banshan Hall answered the papers. The Imperial College is so gloomy, I think those boys are in danger this time... Tsk tsk!"
King Jiangdu said as he walked out with his hands behind his back, but he stopped halfway and said without turning back, "I heard that a few days ago, someone from the Imperial College said outside that I, the chief examiner, might be partial to someone, and even said that I would send my future son-in-law to the Imperial College to grab a place as an attendant to the Eastern Palace?"
He paused, then laughed, but the laughter was really cold: "One can't help but cherish one's own little piece of land, but my future son-in-law is at least a juren, so he won't lower his status to hang out in the Imperial College. If he really wants to serve the Eastern Palace, I will go and beg the emperor, which is better than the bad idea of entering the Imperial College!"
"Instead of being a gossip, you might as well rectify the academic atmosphere. Don't let the six halls of the Imperial College be shaved bald while you are lecturing and marking papers!"
Faced with such sarcastic words, Zhou Jijiu was almost vomiting blood in anger. But the King of Jiangdu was the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, a member of the Imperial Clan whom the Emperor trusted the most, and he could only watch him walk away. When Xu Heizi disappeared after saying that he was going to inspect the court, he could not help but stare fiercely at the students in front of him with flickering eyes.
"Why do you want to provoke King Jiangdu? Don't you think you have made enough enemies? Do you think the royal family is low-key and soft and easy to bully? Idiot!"
