Compared with other articles that are colorful and eloquent, Cai Qi's seemingly simple article is actually much more difficult to write. Just the columns of data require him to spend a lot of time recalling them. Coupled with the various calculations based on this, his fingers turned red when he pinched them, and his writing speed was naturally extremely slow.
In the end, the other candidates in the hall had left one after another, and he was the only one left who was still immersed in calculation and writing. Even though he had experience in working in the yamen, Cai Qi felt nervous and anxious, causing him to sweat on his forehead and start writing. On the contrary, it is slower.
At the same time, the candle that was lit on the table was burning to the end. It was swaying unsteadily, making Cai Qi more and more uneasy, and he subconsciously reached out to protect the candle flame. But at this moment, someone suddenly put down a long candle that had just been lit and said something comforting to him. This made Cai Qi's heart skip a beat. He looked up and almost stood up: "Sun... Lieutenant Sun…”
Sun Tu put down the candle with one hand and pushed back Cai Qi, who was about to get up, with the other hand: "What you have to do now is to finish writing the article. I think it's almost the end, so you can't be distracted."
Cai Qi felt moved, and responded with a nasal voice, and then completely focused on the paper and pen in front of him again. Even Sun Tu took out the article he put aside and didn't seem to pay attention.
When he finally finished writing this article and was wondering if he should check it carefully to see if there were any omissions or infringements, he suddenly realized that the written papers had not been taken away from him. Sun Tu held it in his hand and looked at it carefully. When he saw him looking up, Sun Tu smiled even more, handed him the pieces of paper he had already read, and took the last piece of paper. come over.
After half a cup of tea, Sun Tu finally read all the articles in his hand, and then looked at Cai Qi, who was a little worried: "Are you Cai Qi? The Jiangnan candidate who mentioned increasing commercial taxes to replenish the national treasury in the essay?"
"It's the student." Cai Qi had already stood up at this time, and hurriedly bent down to reply. As he spoke, his heart moved again: "How can the Taiwei know the name of a mere mortal?"
"Haha, do you know that among those essays for the general examination, yours is the one that I like the most. Although your essay does not look as smooth and beautiful as other candidates, every sentence hits the point of the shortcomings of today's junior high schools. , especially regarding commercial tax, it hit the spot that has always been a problem. Because of this, when other examiners dismissed you, I overcame all opinions and selected you to enter the palace examination. And you did. I was not disappointed. This article about the transportation of military supplies to comment on the similarities and differences between the Northern Expedition at the founding of the People's Republic of China and today's Northern Expedition is indeed unique and refreshing."
Cai Qi looked at Sun Tu in disbelief. How could he become a member of the imperial examination with such twists and turns? This made him forget to thank Sun Tu for a moment, and he was only filled with excitement in his heart.
Sun Tuxiao looked at the other party and said: "By the way, looking at the various data details in this article, you are not an ordinary candidate, right? And you are really good at calculating these data. I think you are also very good at arithmetic." Dabble?”
It wasn't until he heard the word arithmetic that Cai Qi suddenly came back to his senses and hurriedly bowed and replied: "What the Lieutenant said is, in fact, before the reference, the students were only from Zhuji County, Shaoxing, Jiangnan."
He is just a small official in a household, and these relevant data were also collected by students from the official documents of the Di Di newspaper for more than ten years. In addition, the student was really interested in learning arithmetic since he was a child, so he was later hired by the county government and worked in a household. "
"I see. It seems that you are indeed gifted. Okay, very good!" Sun Tu nodded again and again to express his approval: "What you wrote above is that the failure of Taizong's Northern Expedition in the early days of the Kingdom was all due to the lack of military food supply in the rear. Is there any evidence?"
This question made the other party's face turn red, and he smiled bitterly and said: "This student only inferred based on the facts. First, the road between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom was already rugged and difficult, and the main army had already reached the vicinity of Youzhou. , causing the supply route to be too long - the Taiwei is well versed in the art of war and should know that in this way, not to mention the dangers along the way, the consumption of food alone is much greater than that of transporting food at a short distance. After all, the civilians who transport food also have to Eat, and what they are escorting is food, so naturally it is impossible to save it. In this way, no matter how much food is transported to the front, it will be consumed, resulting in an inevitable shortage of food in the front.
"Second, we can work backwards based on the results. Although the original defeat at Gaolianghe was due to Emperor Taizong's injury, which led to the collapse of the entire army, in fact, in the eyes of the students, this was just a symptom. The fundamental reason for this defeat was that the Northern Expedition army had insufficient food and grass. The lieutenant generals were already in dire straits, so they used Taizong's injury as an inducement to cause the final defeat."
These arguments are all conclusions that Cai Qi has drawn by collecting some data over the years. When asked today, he spoke out one by one very excitedly, almost forgetting that he was facing the most powerful Sun Yat-sen in the Song Dynasty. Taiwei. It wasn't until he finished speaking that he came to his senses, and he looked cautious and anxious again.
Sun Tu nodded with satisfaction: "Well said, it seems that although you are only a minor official in the county government, you have always been concerned about the important affairs of the court, which is rare. What is even more rare is your ability in arithmetic and your ability to Putting them to good use is exactly the kind of talent the court needs."
After a pause, and seeing the other party's face showing joy, Sun Tu smiled again and said, "Okay, it's time for the palace examination today. You can go out of the palace and wait for the news. The court will definitely put people like you in high regard."
"Yes... yes, student, student thanked the captain for his support..." Cai Qi was so excited that he almost knelt down and kowtowed. After a while, he left the palace in a daze.
When Sun Tu watched him leave, a joyful smile appeared on his face. It seemed that even God was helping him this time. We just mentioned to Tong Mu and the others that they were looking for professional talents to join important yamen, and here we found a person who is good at arithmetic. Wouldn't this be a good opportunity to put him in the household department for some experience
In this way, the depression of seeing those flattering but useless "splendid articles" has been swept away. In Sun Tu's view, as long as there is a precedent like Cai Qi, he will be the best in the imperial examination in the future. More relevant talents will inevitably emerge, thereby changing the bad habit that has been passed down for hundreds of years of only using poems, songs, and articles to learn from Jinshi, so that more talents can be used for their own use.
Later facts showed that Sun Tu still looked down upon the hundreds of famous palace examination candidates in Jinke. These people may be filled with many candidates who can only write flattering articles, but Cai Qi is by no means the only one with real ability.
There are three of them who can not only write exquisite articles, but also have their own reasons, which make people nod after just reading them.
For example, this candidate named Shen Tu from Huainan pointed out the difference between today's Song Dynasty and the past in terms of civil and military aspects. He used this as an extension to bring the Han and Tang Dynasties together and carried out a powerful contrast. Although there is some suspicion of flattery, everything in his article is reasonable and reasonable, and he also has many opinions. Judging from the article itself, it is obviously better than Cai Qi.
Another candidate from Gyeonggi Province, Zhang Nan, analyzed the previous Northern Expeditions from the perspective of military use. It can be said to be a profound and simple explanation. Even those who do not understand military affairs can understand many reasons for the repeated defeats before the Song Dynasty from his article. subjective factors. He even boldly pointed out the shortcomings of many emperors in the Song Dynasty since Taizong who liked to remotely control the front war in Tokyo...
The only flaw in this article is that it is half white and not ancient. It should be that Zhang Nan made some changes in wording and sentence creation in order to cater to Sun Tu, the chief examiner, who said that ancient prose should be abolished. Unfortunately, many writing habits cannot be easily changed, so at first glance, they always feel a little awkward.
But even so, Sun Tu quite praised this article. As for the person, it is not possible to make a judgment just by reading one article.
Anyway, in the process of reviewing the candidates' essays in the next few days, Sun Tu still gained a lot. From these 100 people, he found a dozen candidates who were knowledgeable and potential candidates. He was naturally satisfied with this and made corresponding arrangements.
Three days later, the imperial court finally announced the final results of the palace examination. Shen Tu was the well-deserved number one, an examinee named Yang Changnian became a role model, and Zhang Nan was the top pick.
As for Cai Qi, under them, he became the top two player in Chuanlu. However, it is said that Sun Tu originally planned to rank him as the third most popular player, but after a secret discussion with Tong Mu, he moved his ranking back one spot. As a result, Cai Qi was ranked as the third most popular player in the ranking. It is not so conspicuous in the imperial examination. After all, what people pay the most attention to are the three candidates ranked first.
But even so, Cai Qi still couldn't believe his ears and eyes when he learned that he was ranked number one in high school. Even when he entered the palace again later and thanked the imperial court and the emperor with others of the same age, he had an unreal feeling of being out of his body. Because he never thought that one day he would become a Jinshi and truly become an official of the imperial court.
What surprised him even more was yet to come. Just above the Golden Palace, the emperor issued a special edict to appoint him, a new Jinshi, to the post of Yuanwailang in the Ministry of Household Affairs, and he was responsible for the food supply to the Northern Expeditionary Army. This was Obviously it is a great trust, honor, and heavy responsibility...
As for the other Jinshi, Zhang Nan was also admitted to the Ministry of War, and Shen Tu directly entered the Political Affairs Hall as a minor official, which really meant he entered the Central Committee.
With just one move, this imperial examination caused ripples among the people of the Song Dynasty. All scholars once again had a different view on this new imperial examination. The original resistance changed 180 degrees. , after all, compared to the previous step-by-step process, today's imperial examinations can allow talented students to get ahead quickly.