Xu Jie's lukewarm reply was completely within Yan Maoqing's expectations. If Xu Jie easily nodded and agreed to mark this examination paper as Cao Yuan, Yan Maoqing would find it strange.
Ever since Xu Jie was promoted to the position of Shangshu and was summoned by the emperor to the Western Garden many times, he has become a little restless. Not only does he dream of joining the cabinet, he also has the audacity to make small moves that vaguely challenge the authority of Lord Yan.
Who is Lord Yan? Is he someone that a mere Shangshu like you can challenge? Your teacher, Prime Minister Xia Yan, was so powerful and formidable back then, yet he was no match for Lord Yan, let alone you who haven't even become his teacher.
Just a few days ago, Lord Yan just sneezed lightly, and the old guy Xu Jie fell flat on his face in front of the emperor.
It was a heavy loss, which was probably what he deserved, but a fall would never turn a dog into a docile cat. Therefore, it was reasonable for Xu Jie to turn a blind eye and "select" this test paper, but it was unrealistic to directly mark it as Cao Yuan.
However, Yan Maoqing believed that if he could get Xu Jie to pass the test, he would be able to get him to mark the test paper as Cao Yuan. He had to do this properly, so that he could have a chance to advance in front of Yan Ge Lao. I heard that the salt administration in Changlu and Hedong, Liangzhe, Lianghuai, and Liangzhe had a big mess, and the Ministry of Revenue was having a headache about it. This was a good opportunity. Since ancient times, salt and iron have been highly profitable. Which family or person can live without salt? He had been eyeing the lucrative job of salt administration for too long, but he just had no chance to take it. This was a godsend. He believed that as long as he could get this done and warm Yan Ge Lao's heart, he would be able to take up his post in salt administration soon. If he could be the Prime Minister of the four salts in Liangzhe, Lianghuai, Changlu and Hedong, he would have all the power in the world in his hands.
"Master Xu is right. I am so happy to see such a beautiful article that I can't help myself. Please read the papers, please read the papers."
Yan Maoqing had a confident smile on his face. He bowed to Xu Jie and then returned to the work of marking the papers.
"Master Yan is really energetic."
Xu Jie looked at Yan Maoqing and laughed. He sighed meaningfully and then immersed himself in marking the papers.
Inside the Zhigong Hall, the marking atmosphere was harmonious.
After working hard for several days and nights, a fellow examiner was too tired to read the papers. His eyes were full of red ink and his mind was a little unclear. In particular, the eight-part essay in his own paper was too poorly written, which made the fellow examiner physically and mentally exhausted. I don't know how candidates of this level are qualified to participate in the joint examination.
The level is too poor, so it will not be accepted or recommended.
After reading one more volume, I will have a cup of tea and rest.
The examiner comforted himself in this way, then rubbed his bitter eyes vigorously and took the next red paper.
Opening the red paper, the examiner forced himself to hold on to his exhausted spirit and stared at it with slightly narrowed eyes.
Yes. This is the first test paper. The first question, the examiner can recite it by heart: There was a man named Feng Fu in the Jin Dynasty. Feng Fu got off the car with arms raised.
No problem
The examiner tried to stay awake and looked down with squinted eyes.
"The people of Jin started out by changing their ways to pursue good, but ended up falling for others and losing themselves."
Just by reading this sentence, the exhausted examiner felt as if he had drunk a glass of fine wine. A stream of clear water flowed into his brain from his eyes. The mellow and sweet fragrance exploded in his mind, and most of his exhausted spirit was instantly removed.
This sentence is so good that it can be praised in one word. It highly restores the main point of Meng Sheng's original words and can also lead to the following text.
After reading this opening sentence, the examiner felt conflicted. On the one hand, he wanted to continue reading to see what kind of wonderful argument the candidate who wrote this opening sentence would develop; but on the other hand, he was worried that the argument written by this candidate would ruin this wonderful opening sentence. He was worried that it would be a poor imitation.
However, no matter how contradictory it is, you have to read on. After all, as an examiner, how can I not mark the papers
"It is important to correct mistakes to an end. Feng Fu was already a good person, but she still fought with the tiger. Why didn't she know when to stop? Mencius probably thought of this as a metaphor for the hair-raising clothes."
When the examiner read the topic further, his conflicting feelings disappeared. The topic-related part was also written extremely well, very good, very good.
When the examiner saw this, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, stroking his chin and whispered "Not bad, not bad".
Although the sound of talking to oneself is low, people nearby can still hear it.
The two fellow examiners who were marking papers near the examiner heard what he said, raised their heads slightly and looked at him. Seeing that he was marking papers with great interest and in a low voice, they smiled kindly and lowered their heads to continue marking papers.
The more this examiner looked down, the wider his eyes opened, and he dared not even breathe. If the opening sentence was like drinking fine wine, then this examiner felt like he was in a pool of wine and a forest of meat.
This student broke the norm and did not use parallelism or argument. Instead, he used a variety of techniques such as narration, description, and argument to unfold the essay in the order of the eight-part essay. The plot was well organized, the setting was vivid, and the language was fluent and lively.
The scene of the desperate tiger launching a ferocious attack and the people being at their wits' end and in a panic is portrayed vividly.
"At this time, the man and the tiger are fighting each other, and the situation is urgent; and he seeks help from a powerful person, and his feelings are sincere."
One quick move and one sharp move, they are truly the finishing touch. With just a light touch, the dragon roars out of the ice cave and soars into the sky.
What would Feng Fu do in this situation? He rolled up his sleeves, exposed his arms, jumped off the car, and fought the tiger again.
The final conclusion links back to the title and, looking at the whole text, links the change in Feng Fu's behavior with the people's request for Mencius to once again persuade the King of Qi to open the granaries and release grain to help the victims.
The text is completed in one go without any embellishments.
After reading this article, the examiner seemed to be drunk and high in a feast. His face was red and his neck was thick. A warm current rose from his dantian. He couldn't help but take a deep breath, slammed his right hand on the table, and blurted out the word "good":
"good"
This voice was not the quiet mumbling just now. The whole court was shaken by this voice. The two examiners who were marking the papers near this examiner were almost frightened to death by this sudden voice. One of the examiners even dropped the brush in his hand to the ground.
The fellow examiners were stunned and it took them a long time to recover from the shout.
Damn, it would have been fine if you just talked to yourself, but now you are being so arrogant and yelling at me. Marking papers is hard work, but your being so arrogant is not an excuse that can be tolerated. What can't be tolerated
Several examiners who were marking the papers together could not help themselves and stood up, rolled up their sleeves and criticized this examiner who was taking advantage of them.
But as soon as he stood up, he found that the fellow examiner who had yelled at him seemed to be crazy. He picked up the paper on the table and spoke to the two chief examiners.
"Highly recommend, I want to highly recommend this volume."
This is the first recommendation in this examination.
The fellow examiners would write down the reasons for recommending the papers they thought were worthy of being recommended, and hand them to the clerk next to them, who would then present them to the chief and deputy examiners. If there were any that were particularly outstanding, they would give them a high recommendation, which means a strong recommendation.
The other examiners stared at this crazy examiner in amazement.
Then, the crazy examiner took only two steps before he was stopped by the Jinyiwei who were acting as supervisors in the Zhigong Hall. After all, the examiners were all officials who had passed the imperial examination, so the Jinyiwei were relatively polite.
"No noise is allowed in the Supreme Court Hall. Sir, please take a seat."
The Jinyiwei stopped the examiner and sent him back to his seat with a wry smile. The marking of papers in the Zhigongtang had its own rules and the eunuchs would not interfere with the examiners' marking, but they would still take care of situations such as whispering and loud noises that affected the marking.
"Write down your reasons in silence and have the clerk present them to you. If you do it again, you will be severely punished."
Xu Jie waved his hand to suppress the commotion caused by the examiner's behavior, glanced at the examiner, and ordered him to recommend the paper according to the rules.
In fact, Xu Jie was also curious about what kind of test paper could make such a calm examiner so excited. He had to take a good look at it.
Yan Maoqing next to him was the same, staring at the examiner with curiosity.
...