Jiangnan, Hangzhou, mid-autumn in August.
The Mid-Autumn Festival has just passed, but it is the time of autumn.
As the last test of the Zhejiang Provincial Examination, candidates from all over the country have gathered in Hangzhou City, waiting for the start of this exam that can change the fate of themselves and even their entire family. For this reason, as early as two days ago, the security in the city was several times stricter than usual, and several teams of patrolling troops were set up throughout the city gate streets.
Hangzhou has been an important place of Wenchang since ancient times. In the Song Dynasty, there were seven or eight champions in a hundred years, and there were as many Jinshi as crucian carp crossing the river. Because of this, both the local people and officials attach great importance to the imperial examination. Almost every year in the autumn of the provincial examination, the sense of ritual is taken to the extreme.
However, this year's situation always makes people feel a little different. Although candidates are still coming in an endless stream, the number of candidates is 30% less than in previous years. This is obviously a problem. Because the imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty was different from that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the imperial examination status obtained at this time could not be used for life. That is to say, once you failed to be admitted by the imperial court in the imperial examination the following year, the next step would be You have to take the provincial examination again in your hometown to get the qualifications to enter Beijing.
In this way, the number of candidates for the provincial examination will only continue to increase every year, and there will be no decrease in the number. When this situation was reported to the Hangzhou magistrate and other officials, they did not take it to heart: "This is just the impact of the change in the imperial examination rules this year. Don't pay too much attention to it." In just one sentence, the matter was settled. Go down.
But what happened next showed that the matter was much more serious than they thought -
On August 19th, in the early morning, when the genius dawned, countless people came out of their homes spontaneously, wanting to see the grand scene of candidates rushing to the examination room, and take the opportunity to let their children absorb some culture and lay a solid foundation for the future.
But today when everyone went out, they were surprised to find that the candidates who came out of the inns did not carry examination baskets in their hands. Instead, some people carried weapons such as rods and sticks in their hands. They gathered in a stream and poured straight towards the street ahead. , as if they were participating in a martial arts examination, but in fact, there has never been any martial arts examination in Hangzhou.
And when the groups of people arrived at a must-pass crossroads more than half a mile away from the examination room, they all stopped again, and then formed a huge array in an orderly manner, blocking the street. A strict one.
The streets here are not considered to be the bustling places in Hangzhou, and the streets are a bit narrow. Now that they are blocked by two thousand candidates, the road has been completely cut off. If anyone wants to take the scientific examination from outside, or To come out, you have to negotiate with them first.
It wasn't until the situation was set up that a candidate quickly pulled over two tables used for setting up stalls on the roadside. A candidate with a loud voice stood on top, took out a piece of paper, shook his head, and swayed. He read out the content above.
This article was full of ancient allusions, and the parallels were so clumsy that many people around him were filled with questions, but they didn't understand it at all. It wasn't until other readers or candidates were explaining loudly that everyone understood the content of the article. They were actually expressing dissatisfaction with the government's sudden change in the content of the imperial examination, and suggested that if the government refused to change the content of the imperial examination,
If ancient Chinese is the exam situation, all candidates will stop taking the exam in protest until the government changes their mind!
After hearing this, the faces of the people around him all changed, and they began to talk about it, but they didn't know how to judge. At this time, those candidates also kept their word and stood upright, no longer looking at the examination room at the back. From time to time, some people loudly announced their hard work for ten years and believed that the sudden change of the imperial examination method by the government was the biggest harm to them. unfair.
As time went by, more and more people gathered around, and various opinions were raised. It seemed that the area around the exam room, which was supposed to be solemn and quiet, turned into a vegetable market. It was truly an unprecedented spectacle. .
But then, an even more shocking scene appeared -
About half an hour before the exam started, more than a dozen young people with slightly shabby clothes also came in a hurry. After seeing the posture here, although they were a little surprised, they didn't stay any longer. With his body tilted like this, he wanted to pass through the crowd of two thousand people.
But before they had even taken two steps, they were intercepted by a group of candidates. Some people stared at them in an imposing manner and asked, "What do you do?"
"It's time to take part in Qiuwei. It's almost time. If you don't go to the examination room, you'll be late." One of the young men replied hurriedly, grabbing the other person's hand and saying, "Excuse me, I'm here from Zhuji County. It's several days' journey..." But he couldn't pull him away. Instead, he was surrounded by more people around him, which made him suddenly startled: "You... what are you doing?"
"Didn't you listen to what we just preached? The imperial court is unfair. It actually wants to practice the evil style of abandoning ancient Chinese and using vernacular in our land south of the Yangtze River. It is really insulting to the gentlemen. How can we, the scholars, allow this unhealthy trend to rage, so we candidates are all We have decided to stop taking the exam here. Since you are all candidates, please join us in expressing your stance here." The leader of the candidates immediately announced loudly.
The dozen or so candidates were stunned when they heard this, and then they shook their heads and said: "I am different from you. We all support the use of vernacular for scientific examinations, so what does it have to do with us if you stop taking the examination? Please give way."
His words were like pouring a ladle of cold water into a frying pan, causing the entire scene to explode immediately. For a moment, someone nearby shouted loudly: "It turns out that it was you and other heretics who caused the imperial court to order this chaos. You are really guilty of a heinous crime!"
"That's it, you guys who are only proficient in writing are qualified to take part in the sacred imperial examination? You still want to compete with me and other saints' children today. You really don't know what to say!"
"It's an insult to politeness, it's an insult to politeness! Drive them out, they won't taint our eyes and ears!"
All kinds of taunts and ridicules that one thought were superior to others immediately poured in towards these dozen different candidates, leaving them stunned. After a long while, someone looked up at the sky and said loudly: "What does our self-study examination have to do with you? Why do you stop our scientific examination?" As he spoke, this person pushed forward with his hand angrily. , pushing one of them to stagger.
This time it stoked a hornet's nest. The ridicule that was just a joke immediately turned into insults. Some people even raised their fists and even shouted: "These
This guy still dares to hurt others, is he really trying to bully us scholars into not daring to fight back? Call me! "
These candidates were already full of anger, like active volcanoes. Now when they were ignited by the sparks, the flames soaring into the sky quickly erupted, and countless fists and clubs fell hard on the unprepared and powerful people. Shan Ligu attacked the poor candidates and beat them until they screamed repeatedly, but they had nowhere to dodge. In the end, they were knocked to the ground and made no sound...
But this completely ignited the anger in the hearts of thousands of candidates. Some people raised their fists and shouted loudly: "The government is unfair, and we should seek justice. This is not only for ourselves, but also for the world. Hundreds of thousands of scholars will lay the foundation for Confucianism in the future. Let’s go to the examination venue to see the examiners and ask them to give us an explanation!”
More than half of the candidates were young people. After being incited like this, they were naturally full of enthusiasm. Without thinking too much, they turned around again and ran towards the examination room at the back. And when they left, there were only a few pools of blood left on the ground, and a dozen poor motionless candidates who didn't know whether they were alive or dead. When other people saw this, they were stunned and didn't know how to react for a long time. Few even dared to go over and watch the fun.
Because many people have realized that today's turmoil is bound to be quite serious, I am afraid that Hangzhou will have another big turmoil in a few years.
Two thousand candidates came in force and immediately surrounded the examination room. They also frightened the soldiers guarding the dragon gate.
These soldiers came from the north with Lin Chong. They had fought many big battles in the past, but they had never done such work as maintaining order in the examination room. Therefore, although they felt strange about the behavior of the candidates gathering at the front just now, they also I didn't pay too much attention to it, just thinking that this was also a ritual for local candidates before the exam started.
It wasn't until later that there was a sound of fighting over there, and then these people rushed around aggressively, as if they were going to fight with them, that they suddenly realized that these candidates were not here to scream at the exam, but to make trouble.
At that moment, the leader, a Marquis of Yu, hurriedly called people into the examination room to report to the officials inside. He pressed his knife and stepped forward, shouting loudly: "What are you doing here? This is a weightlifting place, how can you be allowed to do it?" Are you waiting here to act arrogantly?"
"We want to see Mr. He, the examiner of the Ministry of Etiquette!" The leader immediately stepped forward and shouted back.
"Yes, we are going to see Mr. He. We are going to ask him why the imperial court would set such ridiculous rules and actually ask us to abandon what we have learned for many years and write some nonsense in vernacular!"
"Tell Mr. He to come out and speak, otherwise we will keep surrounding you..."
The more the examinees talked, the more excited they became, and their voices were louder going inside. Obviously, there was no need for soldiers to go inside to report, and the examiners inside would know that something had happened outside.
At this moment, the Minister of Rites, He Dingkun, was sitting in the hall of the examination room, holding a cup of tea in his hand and drinking it slowly. When he heard the shouts outside, one wave higher than the other, he didn't even move his eyes. It was as if the mountain was collapsing in front of him and he couldn't even blink. On the other hand, the local deputy examiners in front of them were all so worried that they were sweating: "Servant He, the examinee is acting so recklessly, what should we do?"