Chapter 012: The Road to Imperial Examination
On the way home, Shen Yichen felt a little regretful in his heart, because he suddenly remembered that he had seen a painting titled "Prosperous Scenery of Southern Capital" in the National Museum.
This painting is like the Qingming Shanghe Tu, vividly depicting the life scenes of Nanjing City in the Ming Dynasty. It left a deep impression on Shen Yichen at that time. The street market in the center of the painting is called Nanshi Street.
"I should have known better than to act so arrogant and agreed to go shopping at Nanshi Street with Zhao Hongjie."
Of course, although he regretted it, Shen Yichen decided to go back not just to show off, but more because the amount of information he saw and heard today was too much, and he needed to calm down and sort it out carefully.
In the courtyard at the end of the alley, Shen was weaving. She was a little surprised to see her son coming back and asked, "Chen'er, why did you come back so early today?"
"The teacher didn't teach much today, so we finished school early."
Shen had no doubt about what Shen Yichen said. She put down the spindle in her hand, stood up and said, " You must be hungry. I'll go prepare the meal."
"Mom, don't rush to cook. I'll go back to the house and read a book first."
When Shen Yichen said he was going back to his room to read, Shen was subconsciously stunned. It seemed that she had never seen her son so diligent in these years. She was a little worried and asked, "Chen'er, is there anything wrong in the mansion?"
"It's okay, don't worry, mom. I'm just preparing early for next year's county exam."
Shen Yichen quickly explained that it seems that sometimes the changes are too big and bring not surprises but shocks.
"Okay, okay, then Chen'er, just study with peace of mind."
After making sure that nothing happened to her son and that he was just planning to study hard, Shen's face was filled with a relieved smile.
"Mom, I'll go back to the house first."
After Shen Yichen finished speaking, he turned and walked towards his room. However, when he reached the door, he vaguely felt that Shen's reaction just now was a little strange. Even if it was not normal for him to become diligent and studious, why did he first think of something going on in the Chengguo Mansion?
Thinking of this, Shen Yichen stopped and turned back to ask, "Mom, I lived in the Duke Cheng's Mansion when I was a child, right?"
Shen was a little puzzled and asked: "Chen'er, why do you suddenly ask this?"
"Nothing. Today I met Chen Qingtong, the only daughter of Marquis Taining. She still remembers our childhood."
Hearing Shen Yichen mention Chen Qingtong's name, Shen smiled and nodded and replied: "Yes, Qingtong liked to play with you the most when she was a child. I still remember that whenever you were not in the room, the little girl would sit on the doorstep waiting for you to come back."
"Then why did we leave the mansion back then?"
The appearance of Chen Qingtong today also made Shen Yichen recall some dusty memories.
He was not denied by Zhu Yong since birth. He was treated like a bastard's son when he was young and lived a normal life in the Mansion of Duke Chengguo. The only thing missing was to choose an auspicious day to be included in the family tree.
But all this changed suddenly. Shen Yichen vaguely remembered that night when his mother hurriedly took him away from Duke Cheng's Mansion. From then on, they lived in this villa on the corner of the street and never mentioned what happened that year.
Although his mother, Shen, was born a maid, she was kind and gentle, modest and not competitive, so theoretically she would not anger Duke Cheng. More importantly, after Zhu Yong was promoted to the position of Prince Taibao and formally took charge of the Beijing Camp in the third year of Xuande (1428), he rarely returned to the Duke Cheng's mansion in Nanjing. During that period, he was not in Nanjing at all, so there was no way to offend him, so there must be something hidden in this matter.
In the past, Shen Yichen wasted his days, had ideas but no actions, and never delved into the past. But now Shen Yichen is different. He knows that whether it is for himself or for his mother to find his ancestral roots, it is not an easy task, and he must understand what happened.
When Shen Yichen asked this question, the smile on Shen's face froze instantly, and she replied with a dodgy look: "Those are all things of the past. There is no need to mention them again. Just study hard."
Seeing his mother's mood change, Shen Yichen was basically sure that his guess was correct, and something did happen back then. However, since his mother didn't want to mention it, Shen Yichen didn't continue to ask, so he nodded.
"I see."
Back in the house, Shen Yichen sat in front of the desk, looking at the Four Books and Five Classics as well as the interpretations and annotations written by ancient sages placed on the table, and began to think about how to achieve success on the road to fame and fortune in the shortest time possible.
My current status is that of a Mongolian student, which would be the level of an elementary school student in later generations. Of course, the actual difficulty is definitely far beyond the level of an elementary school student.
In the ninth year of Zhengtong, which is next year, the academy examination will be held twice every three years. The first examination is called the county examination, which will be presided over by the county magistrate. It is equivalent to an entry-level examination. Those who pass it will be qualified to participate in the second prefectural examination.
The prefectural examination is an advanced examination presided over by the prefect or an official of the same level. If one passes the prefectural examination, one will obtain the status of a tongsheng.
Although being a Tongsheng is the most basic status in the imperial examination, it is the watershed between being a scholar and not being a Tongsheng. If you can't even pass the Tongsheng exam, you probably feel a little guilty when you call yourself a scholar.
This is why, before in Chengguogong Private School, Li Da used his status as a student to mock Zhao Hongjie. It is indeed a bit embarrassing to not even get the status of a scholar after studying for several years.
After passing the county and prefectural examinations, the next stage is the academy examination. The chief examiner is the governor of education. The admitted candidates are known as "scholars" in later generations, which is equivalent to having a formal title. The first place in the academy examination will be called the top candidate.
If tongsheng is the watershed that distinguishes scholars, then xiucai is equivalent to the watershed of class. From then on, one is considered to have entered the scholar-official class and has privileges such as exemption from corvée, no need to kneel when meeting the county magistrate, and not being subject to arbitrary torture.
Shen Yichen is not ambitious at the moment. He thinks he can easily pass the imperial examinations and obtain honors such as juren or jinshi, so he only sets his goal on the most basic status of a scholar.
But then again, it is not that easy to pass the exam to become a scholar. One needs to have a deep understanding of the Four Books and Five Classics, as well as a certain level of proficiency in poetry, lyrics and essays.
Let's put poetry and essays aside for now and take the main Four Books and Five Classics as an example. Judging from the number of words alone, the Four Books and Five Classics only have 170,000 words, so it is not difficult to memorize them by rote.
However, the imperial examination did not just ask you to recite, but required you to take a paragraph or a sentence from the examination and write an essay in a standard format. This is the well-known eight-part essay.
In order to write a good eight-part essay, in addition to your own understanding, you also need to refer to the ideas and arguments of literary masters, such as the famous Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and then imitate the tone of the ancients to "speak on behalf of the saints."
To put it in the simplest and crudest way, the so-called eight-legged essay for the imperial examination is simply the "reading notes" of those who took the exam before!
In later times, it is very easy to buy a college entrance examination exercise book. Who hasn't gone through two five-year college entrance examination and three-year simulation books? But in ancient times, if you were not a scholarly family or a wealthy official, it would not be easy to have a large library and collect such "imperial examination supplementary books".
In comparison, Shen Yichen was relatively lucky. Although he was kicked out of Duke Cheng's Mansion, he could at least study in a private school in the outer courtyard and enjoy the top educational resources in ancient times.
What Shen Yichen needs to do now is to convert these educational resources into actual results. Without the help of plug-ins and systems, the only thing he can rely on is his own efforts.
"Master is right. Learning comes from hard work. Reading thousands of books by the window..."
