There were too many people here, and not many people cared about these more than a dozen juren and one scholar. There were very few people from Jing State, and there was only one person from Jiangzhou, Fang Yun, and no one recognized Fang Yun.
There are many people who know Li Fanming, but most of those who greet Li Fanming are laughing and joking, and it seems like they have been drinking together.
Fang Yun and others found an empty long table and sat down one after another. In addition to some snacks, there was also a sound-transmitting conch shell on the table.
As soon as everyone sat down, they started chatting.
"In fact, it is better to have fewer people at a literary gathering. When there are too many people, it becomes boring and everyone is the same. You see, this literary gathering is nothing more than the same as before. A few university scholars say some trivial words, and then whoever wants to write a poem to compete will hand in the 'new' poem he has prepared for a long time, and it ends with those geniuses and children of aristocratic families showing off and praising each other. Of course, if good poems are produced, it will be a good thing." A disciple from a wealthy family complained with a smile.
"We are just foils, we are used to it. But this kind of literary gathering is invited by the Kong family, it is a honor to receive the invitation, we have to come. In fact, I don't like this kind of big literary gathering either. The key is that we can't compete with those geniuses in literary fame. What's more, when the juren and jinshi compete with each other in literature, how can we juren compare with those jinshi?" Li Fanming said with a smile.
Everyone chatted for a quarter of an hour, and more people came in one after another. From time to time, someone would come over to greet and greet them. Li Fanming and others would also meet acquaintances and had to leave. They would come back after a while and leave again after a while.
Some people were very happy after leaving, while some seemed to have encountered something and looked a little bad, occasionally secretly glancing at Fang Yun.
Fang Yun doesn't know anyone, so he has a lot of free time.
Not long after, Fang Yun heard someone shouting that Ci Jun was coming.
As the third of the four great talents of the time, everyone stood up. After he sat down with several university scholars, everyone took their seats.
Fang Yun looked at the poet, who had an ordinary appearance, but his every move had a special charm and was extremely eye-catching.
Fang Yun nodded. Ci Jun was very suitable to be the most important person in this literary gathering. If a great scholar came, it would seem too grand and this was not tomorrow's Ten Kingdoms Sacred Ruins Literary Gathering.
Not long after, Li Fanming hurried over and whispered, "Your Jingguo Gongyang family's people are here."
Fang Yun frowned. The Gongyang family was once a prosperous family, but it has been difficult to produce talents since the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it has declined. It is well known that the Gongyang family has a close relationship with Zuo Xiang. Some people even suspect that the Gongyang family is colluding with the Qing Kingdom, but the more fair statement is that the Gongyang family is now wavering. Although the semi-saint family does not matter as treason, the semi-saint family that moved to another country has always existed, but if they are really accused of treason, it will also be a loss of face.
"Is there any problem?" Fang Yun asked. If only people from the Gongyang family came, Li Fanming would never say this.
"I met Liu Zizhi once in the capital of Jingguo. He came with the Gongyang family. I have been following your affairs with the Liu family of Zuo Xiang."
"Oh? Where are they sitting?" Fang Yun immediately realized that since Liu Zizhi had also arrived in Kongcheng, he must have come for the Holy Ruins.
Li Fanming pointed in a direction, and Fang Yun looked in that direction. He soon saw a face very similar to Liu Zicheng's, but that face was more resolute and a little haggard.
Liu Zizhi also looked over. It was the first time the two met.
Liu Zizhi suddenly smiled, raised his glass, gestured for a toast, and drank it all in one gulp. He whispered to a scholar next to him, who then looked over, smiled and nodded to Fang Yun, then left the long table and headed for the single tables at the front.
"He and the Left Prime Minister should have my portrait." Fang Yun thought to himself and turned around.
"The man next to Liu Zizhi is Gong Yangxun, the eldest son of the head of the Gong Yang family. You don't have to worry. He is different from the Xiong Jun. Even if the Gong Yang family is really on good terms with Zuo Xiang, they won't make things too difficult for you. The Gong Yang family still has some dignity."
"I know that Patriarch Gongyang has invited me, but I don't know what the attitude of the future Patriarch Gongyang is. Regardless of them, I came here to see the Confucius Academy, and I don't care about anything else."
Li Fanming said with a wicked smile: "Look at those Jinshi Hanlin who have their own tables. Do you want to compete with them? The prize for winning the literary competition in Kongcheng is quite high."
"What can you get by getting first place in the literary competition?"
"Recommend three people to study in the Confucius Mansion for three years without taking an exam. If you can make Mr. Shu shake his head and fall leaves, you will get a Jinshi Wenbao plus a demon general pseudo dragon ball. I heard that you swallowed a demon general pseudo dragon ball and then offended the Jiao King? If you eat another pseudo dragon ball, the power of the dragon in your body will be stronger, which will be of great benefit to you when you go to Denglongtai in the future. Since you have become a soaring dragon in poetry, Lord Dongsheng will definitely choose you to enter Denglongtai. Forget about the real dragon bone. If you can get a particularly good Jiaolong bone, wrap it with sword and poetry, and integrate it, your lip sparring will far surpass us. Those top children of aristocratic families, their lip sparring is formed in this way, and it is extremely powerful."
"What about the vicious king's verbal sparring?" Fang Yun asked.
"Of course, the Meng family begged a lot for the whole dragon bone. After all, they are a semi-saint family, and they finally got it. It can be said that whether one's verbal sparring is as sharp as a dragon is one of the criteria for top talents. There are only a few like Li Wenying who sharpen their talent for ancient swords by killing monsters. It's too difficult."
"The children of aristocratic families are indeed not comparable to us." Fang Yun said.
"To correct it, it's the direct lineage." Li Fanming said.
At this time, an old voice spread throughout the venue, like real thunder, suppressing everyone's voice.
"I wanted to say it's the Mid-Autumn Festival like I do every year, but today is August 14th, so I'll hold off."
Everyone turned their heads to look at the Grand Secretary of the Kong family and laughed kindly.
"Tomorrow, the good men of the ten nations will rush to the Holy Ruins to fight against the monsters. Today, I hope you will put aside everything and show your talents. The fake dragon ball and the Jinshi Wenbao are not important. What is important is that the young talents of our human race compete in poetry and literature, and work together... Jinshi bullies Juren."
Everyone laughed again. After listening to so many profound truths, this kind of relaxed atmosphere felt better.
Fang Yun couldn't help but nod secretly. This was Kong City as expected. They could handle such a large literary gathering with ease. The Mid-Autumn Festival literary gatherings in those small places must be tense for the prizes, but here it was a pure literary gathering atmosphere. Although the rewards were high, not many people pursued them deliberately.
However, Fang Yun also thought of the other side.
"When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace. The people here are either rich or noble, so they are naturally peaceful. If the prize were replaced with a real dragon bone, they might not be so calm."
Ever since he was surrounded by Wei to save Zhao, Fang Yun has liked to consider issues from different angles.
The Grand Secretary of the Kong family only said a few words, and then another Hanlin came to announce the details of the literary competition of this Mid-Autumn Literary Festival.
Fang Yun listened carefully. It turned out that the main theme of this literary competition was Mid-Autumn Festival and the bright moon. Poetry, lyrics, and essays were all acceptable. Anyone who wanted to participate in the literary competition could go to the box in the venue and pick up a piece of paper. There were more detailed requirements on the paper, including reunion, frontier, homesickness, missing friends, missing relatives, Chang'e, flowers, Jade Rabbit, and other small themes. The writing must be completed within a quarter of an hour.
Obviously, this is to prevent people from preparing in advance, and the test is to compose a poem on the spot.
Many people shook their heads and gave up on this literary gathering. It was not difficult to write an ancient poem in a quarter of an hour. It was okay if it was mediocre, but it would be embarrassing if it was not well written. What if enemies ridiculed them? It would be better not to write.
After the Hanlin finished speaking, a quarter of an hour passed and no one came up. After all, they were all scholars and needed to be humble at times like this.
Soon, one person shouted, "If you don't come, I will make a fool of myself first!"
Then a boy of about 11 or 12 from the Kong family ran over with a smile. He took out a piece of paper from the box, took a look at it, stuffed it back into the box, and cried out with a sad face, "I can't do it!" Then he ran out with a red face.
The university scholar smiled and said, "Xiao Yu, what's written on the paper?"
The young man ran and shouted, "Miss my husband."
The whole audience burst into laughter. It was really difficult for a boy of eleven or twelve to write a poem about a woman missing her husband.
Li Fanming almost laughed himself into death. He pointed at Kong Xiaoyu and shouted, "Let you, little brat, mess things up!"
Kong Xiaoyu turned around, made a face at Li Fanming, and ran out of Sishuiyuan.
With Kong Xiaoyu's commotion, everyone relaxed. Then a scholar walked up to the cardboard box and bowed to the people around him.
"Zeng Peng, a candidate from Shu State, is throwing out some ideas to attract more attention."
Everyone nodded. Zeng Peng was already somewhat famous, and he was the second one to come out. His courage alone was worthy of praise.
Zeng Peng drew the word "reunion", so he wrote a seven-character poem about reunion with the moon in it, which was quite good and won praise from everyone. The poet also commented on two lines, which made everyone envious.
Although Ci Jun is called a ci poet, he is also good in poetry and prose. He is just best at ci. Even Shi Jun says that Ci Jun's poetry is only as good as his.
After that, candidates came forward one after another to compose poems. Some were fast and some were slow. The slower ones would take a small theme and think about it, and they would compose a poem within a quarter of an hour.
Although the Confucius Mansion Academy is slightly inferior to the Holy Academy, the fact that the Confucius family invited the poet shows that the Confucius family attaches great importance to it. Therefore, some children from non-aristocratic families tried their best, not for the Jinshi Wenbao and the fake dragon ball, but just to get the poet's comments.
As time passed, many people wrote good poems.
Fang Yun secretly sighed that this place was worthy of being the first city in the Ten Kingdoms. Seven or eight of his poems were written out of the county, and the best one even surpassed the one that came out of the county, Chengda Prefecture, and was highly praised by the poet. Everyone else also praised him endlessly. He was a Jinshi from a semi-saint family and was already very famous for his literary talent.
Not long after, Fang Yun saw Gong Yangxun walking over with a smile and bowing to everyone, attracting many people's attention. Even the university scholar who was talking stopped, and many people who knew Gong Yangxun even cheered him on.
After all, he is the eldest son of the Gongyang family. Even if the family has fallen, it is still a semi-saint family, and his status is no worse than that of a university scholar.
Gong Yangxun did not immediately draw the slip, but smiled and said, "My poems are actually very ordinary. After all, our Gongyang family is good at classics and history. I have prepared two poems. If the one I prepared is not drawn, I will ask the great talents of our Jing country to help me. Of course, forget about the prize. Fang Yun, you will not watch us Jing people lose face, will you?"
Gong Yangxun looked at Fang Yun with a smile.
When Fang Yun's name was heard, cheers immediately rang out in the venue, with hundreds of people's voices filled with excitement and surprise.
Except for Wu and Qing, which are hostile to Jing, Fang Yun's literary reputation is positive in other countries.
Liu Zizhi sat not far away and looked at Fang Yun with a smile.
.(To be continued..)
ps: The third update will be in the very late morning...