It was a sunny day when the first lecture was held at the public school. Unlike Zhang Shou's previous lectures, the name of the gathering of wise men had been spread, and because of the demonstration effect of Yue Shanzhang and others, there were indeed many famous scholars and wise men who came to the capital this time, and candidates from all over the country were also familiar with these local celebrities, so word spread quickly, and there were really many people who responded.
There were five lecturers in the first session, including Chen Xianzhang. The lectures lasted five days, and all 1,500 tickets were snapped up. Even the places that Ge Yong had originally promised to reserve for the students of the public school to stand and listen were not accepted by many candidates.
After all, the name of "Standing in the Snow while Master Cheng's Door" has become an idiom that has been passed down to this day, and they also hope to have such a name of standing in the snow to listen to lectures. However, Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan did not let go of this bottom line, and the weather was not good. It was clearly the twelfth lunar month, but the color of the sky was very clear, and there was no sign of snow.
After the candidates inquired, the Imperial Observatory also said that it would not snow recently, so not many people were willing to stand in the open air to listen to the lecture. After all, what was the point of being exposed to the wind and cold and taking the risk of not being able to hear clearly, and not being able to show your thirst for knowledge? A few people who were determined to learn were still trying to fight for it, but most people gave up.
Zhang Shou had experience in large-scale lectures before, so he did not use the students from Jiuzhang Hall and Banshan Hall to maintain order this time, but used other public school students who had studied for a period of time and had made great progress in dealing with people. These young people in neat school uniforms, although immature but full of vigor, also gave people a glimpse of the image of the public school.
But compared to these students, the candidates who got the tickets to attend the lecture were most concerned about whether the crown prince would come to the lecture like Zhang Shou did before, and how many dignitaries would come to show their support... And no one expected that when the first trial lecture began, Academician Kong, who had returned to Beijing in a low-key manner and was said to be sick from exhaustion, suddenly came!
Even though this current cabinet minister was dressed in casual clothes and had a gaunt face, at first glance he looked like an old scholar who had failed the imperial examinations many times, he did not come alone, but with four followers. At a time when every scholar had to enter with a previously issued admission ticket, it was naturally rare to have followers. And among so many scholars, it was even more normal that someone had seen him.
As the first person recognized him, the news spread from one person to ten, and then to a hundred. Finally, Academician Kong came to listen to the lecture in person. The news spread like a whirlwind throughout the public school like a plowing field. Even Zhang Shou, who was taking time out to give history lectures to the students of Banshan Hall before the lecture began, heard about it.
"What is Mr. Kong doing here?"
In Banshan Hall, Zhang the big guy was least interested in cabinet ministers like Academician Kong, so he always referred to him as old man Kong - even though Academician Kong always considered himself to be in his prime and not old at all.
There were also many people who agreed with Zhang Dakuai. Some even claimed that Mr. Kong came with ill intentions, or that he wanted to gain a reputation for being courteous to the wise.
Faced with this chaotic scene, Zhang Shou remembered that Zhu Ying had told him that Zhu Tingfang and Academician Kong had reached a compromise and sent people to support Chen Xianzhang's lectures, but Academician Kong now did this, and he couldn't help but laugh.