Tao Dingnian said, "The rules of the game vary from place to place. In Ning'an County, one person holds the test paper in front and turns a page every twenty breaths. After turning the last page, they wait another hundred breaths before the test stops. The one who gets the most correct answers at the end wins."
Wen Gu smiled and said, "If they answer slowly, the old scholars and jinshi will probably be able to answer all of them correctly, but if they answer quickly, no one has ever answered all of them correctly. Moreover, there are several very obscure questions in the annual invitation to the Holy Words. Even the old jinshi and the old Hanlin need to think for a long time before they can answer correctly. If they are not careful, they will answer incorrectly."
Fang Yun nodded and said, "I see."
Before coming to Ning'an County, Fang Yun already knew that because Ning'an County is located at a strategic location and is an upper county, it is far from comparable to Ji County, a lower county.
Ning'an County even had a county magistrate of the sixth or even fifth rank, so not only was the chief constable a Jinshi battalion commander of the prefectural army, but even Yuanjun Wen Gu and Deng Xuezhen who was sent to Ning'an County were both Jinshi.
These three people are not only equal to Fang Yun in literary status, but also have a huge advantage in age.
For example, although the county magistrate Tao Dingnian was only a juren, he was over 40 and recited the sage scriptures every day, so his knowledge was very solid. Not to mention ordinary juren, even jinshi who were less than 30 years old were not much different from him in terms of asking for the sage's words.
The three Jinshi, Lu Hong, Wen Gu and Deng Xuezhen, studied the sage scriptures every day. If they were allowed to take the Tongsheng examination, there was a great possibility that they would answer all the sage questions correctly.
After all, the purpose of the Tongsheng Examination is to examine the Tongsheng students, not the adult Jinshi and Juren.
Fang Yunlue understood after thinking about it. They didn't dare to compete in poetry, but they had a huge advantage in reading volume when it came to reading sacred words.
Yu Ba Chi immediately said, "You gentlemen are making things difficult for me. Fang Xusheng has only been a student for a year, but you are all experienced scholars who have read many times more books than Fang Xusheng. It is not appropriate to ask for his words. It would be better to ask him about poetry."
Shen Ming laughed and said, "Ba Chi is wrong. Who is County Magistrate Fang? He is the ancestor of poetry! If we compete with him in poetry, wouldn't it be like showing off one's skills in front of an expert? It's absolutely not allowed. Besides, County Magistrate Fang scored full A in both the Tongsheng and Xiucai exams. Let me ask everyone present, who scored A in the Sage's Words in those days?"
"No!" Everyone shook their heads.
Wen Gu smiled and said, "Master Shen's question is superfluous. Everyone knows that before County Magistrate Fang, no one in my country had ever won the first place in the Tongsheng exam. That's why people call my country 'the dawn of time'. County Magistrate Fang suddenly appeared and broke this dawn of time. As for the first place in the Xiucai exam, County Magistrate Fang is the first person in the history to win the first place in the Su Sheng Yan exam. I feel a little nervous when I compare Su Sheng Yan with him."
"That's right..." everyone echoed.
"Ba Chi, you are looking down on County Magistrate Fang by saying that. His two requests for divine advice were both ranked first. How dare you say that we are making things difficult for others? It is County Magistrate Fang who is making things difficult for us. It is not shameful for us to lose, but if County Magistrate Fang loses, then the reputation of being ranked first for the request for divine advice will be greatly reduced."
"So County Magistrate Fang must not lose." Shen Ming smiled, but there was a hint of malice in his eyes.
Ao Huang floated beside Fang Yun, glanced at Shen Ming, and cursed in a low voice: "Bitch!" If this wasn't the most important imperial examination for the human race, he would have cursed loudly.
Yu Bachi hurriedly looked at Fang Yun.
Fang Yun nodded slightly, indicating that he understood. The reason why these people dared to provoke him was because it was normal to fail. The cost was almost zero. If he won, it would hit his literary reputation and might even become a breakthrough to prevent him from taking the palace examination.
The most important thing is to break Fang Yun's undefeated myth!
In the past, when people competed with Fang Yun, they were just one at a time. Now, three middle-aged Jinshi and several middle-aged and elderly Juren are competing together!
As long as anyone can beat Fang Yun on any question, it is equivalent to defeating Fang Yun!
Fang Yun already understood that this so-called quick response to the Holy Word must have been planned by Zuo Xiang and his party.
"It's Ji Zhibai's trick again." Fang Yun's mind flashed with Ji Zhibai's face. Whether it was the previous killing plot against Yang Yuhuan or the embarrassment this time, it didn't seem like it was planned by the idiot Shen Ming. In addition to Ji Zhibai, the fourth-rank Hanlin Geng Ge was probably one of them. Even more, many officials of the left prime minister's party were working together to plot!
A shadow flashed in Fang Yun's eyes. If it was just the chief clerk Shen Ming, he wouldn't have to care about him at all. Even if it was just Ji Zhibai, he wouldn't need to be too defensive. But behind Ji Zhibai were hundreds of officials from the Zuo Xiang party, many of whom were shrewd and calculating. Once they joined forces to plot, not to mention Fang Yun, even the Minister of Culture Jiang Hechuan might suffer.
Fang Yun said: "It's nothing more than a joke. Since you guys want to play, I'll accompany you!"
"County Magistrate Fang is indeed generous! Come, put up the screen and ask all the gentlemen to respond to the holy words quickly!" Shen Ming said.
So, some officers brought a screen to block the people who wanted to participate in the quick answer to the sacred word. A total of fourteen people were separated, all of whom were Jinshi or Juren, and there was not a single Xiucai.
Except for Fang Yun, most of the others had smiles on their faces.
Shen Ming asked the officer to hold up the test paper and said, "Begin!"
The fourteen people's eyes fell on the first page of the test paper.
Fang Yun not only has a photographic memory, but can also read ten lines at a glance. With just one glance, he wrote down all the words on the first page of the test paper, and then lowered his head to write the answers on a piece of white paper.
The first few questions are very simple, just like the fill-in-the-blank questions of later generations, which require filling in place names, people's names, or famous quotes, and any student can do them.
Fang Yun was not only fast at reading the test paper, but also very fast at answering the questions. His ability to write quickly was no joke.
In just five breaths, Fang Yun finished answering all the questions. Then he looked up at the first page of the test paper held up by the yamen runner for comparison. Finding that his memory was correct, he lowered his head again to check whether he was right or not. He checked it twice, and twenty breaths passed.
The bailiff began to turn to the second page, and immediately sighs were heard from several candidates at the scene, indicating that they had obviously not finished their answers.
None of the four Jinshi made any sound. For people with a photographic memory, twenty breaths were enough.
Shen Ming, Yu Bachi and others stood in front and observed. After turning to the third page, the expressions of many people began to change.
Ao Huang was a little dissatisfied at first, but soon he and Yu Bachi smiled together.
Because every time the yamen runner turned the page, Fang Yun would lower his head and answer the questions just a moment later! This shows that Fang Yun could remember the entire page of test questions with just one glance.
Although the other three Jinshi had photographic memories, they could not read ten lines at a glance. It took them five full breaths to remember the test questions and then start answering them.
As for those candidates who had passed the imperial examination, they basically just answered one question at a time, constantly looking up and down.
Officials such as Shen Ming were a little unhappy when they found that Fang Yun not only read the questions quickly, but also answered them quickly. However, their expressions soon eased.
When they turned to the seventh page, Ao Huang suddenly rose up, glanced around, and looked through all the test papers of the fourteen people.
"Little bitch!" Ao Huang couldn't help but curse in a low voice, because he found that most people answered the questions normally, but there were six scholars who were divided into two groups. The three scholars in each group divided the test paper into three parts: left, middle and right. Each person only answered one part, which means that three people answered one test paper together!
Because the six people could not communicate and had such a tacit understanding, it was obvious that they had already prepared before the county exam. (To be continued...)