Chapter 395: The Imperial Examination in the Ninth Year of Zhengde
The emperor promotes civil governance, and the spring officials promote the prosperity. Fish and dragons compete to change, and unicorns and winds swim together.

The red clouds gather in the Jade Palace, the purple air rises high in the Golden Gate. He is ranked first in the list of the emperors, and the palace willows reflect his grace robe.

This was the seventh time that Zhu Zhishan stepped into the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall. Looking at the newly decorated Imperial Examination Hall, he actually felt a little uncomfortable.

After a series of checks, Zhu Zhishan finally entered the examination room. When he found his own examination room, he was stunned.

Not only was the area much larger, but the roof and bed had also been refurbished. He put down his luggage, cleaned the place, made the bed, and took out the four treasures of the study needed for the examination, checking them one by one. After confirming that there were no problems, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Nothing happened that night. On the morning of the ninth day of the second lunar month, the first exam officially began. Candidates were required to write three essays from the Four Books and four essays from the Five Classics. There was no time limit, as long as they were submitted before the second exam.

Zhu Zhishan looked at the question:

The Master said to Yan Yuan, "If it is used, it will work; if it is not used, it will be hidden. Only you and I have this kind of

There is nothing better in a person than his eyes. The eyes cannot hide his evil. If the heart is upright, the eyes will be clear; if the heart is not upright, the eyes will be dim. Listen to his words and watch his eyes. How can a person be thin?

When Gao Gu of Qi entered the army of Jin, he threw Jie Shi into the enemy's camp, captured him, and rode on his chariot, tying Sang Ben to him, and then he showed it to the Qi camp, saying: "If you want a brave man, Jia Yu Yu Yong will do it.

The three questions are from "The Analects of Confucius", "Mencius" and "Zuo Zhuan" respectively.

Zhu Zhishan felt neither happy nor sad. He just touched the ink and started writing.

On February 12, the second exam questions came out, and they were about "discourse", "imperial edicts", and "judgment":
On: The ruler is as respected as the heaven
Imperial edict: Han Dynasty ordered all officials to be loyal to each other, the 18th year of Yongping
Imperial edict: Tang Dynasty appoints Guo Ziyi as the Minister of the Central Secretariat, the first year of Qianyuan

Draft: The King of Zhou obtained a Zouyu at Shenhou Mountain and presented it to his ministers to congratulate him in the second year of Yongle
Zhu Zhishan looked through the questions one by one. Except for "Theory" which was a compulsory question, the other three were choices among three.

This was not difficult for Zhu Zhishan, and he wrote it with ease.

On February 15, the third exam question came out, and it was about "strategy questions":
The living things do not live, and the transforming things do not transform. They are self-generated and self-transformed, self-formed and self-colored, self-intelligent and self-powered, and self-extinguished and self-extinguished. They are called life, form, color, intelligence, and information. This is not true.
Wealth comes from the earth, but law comes from heaven. The foundation of a rich country lies in agriculture and sericulture.

The clearness of water is the goodness of nature.
Zhu Zhishan was stunned when he saw these questions. Based on his experience of participating in the exam seven times, the questions this time were a bit strange.

Combined with the recent uproar over the Huangzhuang incident
So, Your Majesty and the ministers of the cabinet are taking advantage of the imperial examination to explore the views and attitudes of scholars throughout the world towards the policy of exclusive shops in imperial estates?
Zhu Zhishan thought for a long time before he started writing.

The same situation was also found in every examination room in the examination hall. Except for a few candidates who were indifferent to worldly affairs, most people understood the significance of this question, so everyone was very cautious when they came back.
On the morning of February 16, the candidates began to pack up and organize their test papers. After handing in the papers at noon, the candidates walked out of the Imperial Examination Hall one after another. For the candidates, the imperial examination held once every three years had come to a temporary end.

After the scholars handed in their papers, the paper collecting official classified them according to the scriptures they had studied, and then sent them to the sealing official for sealing, who would stamp the corner where the name was written on the paper with a seal.

After that, it will be sent to the registration officer for registration, and a clerk will copy the test paper carefully with a red pen.

When Ou Zanghua returned home after finishing all his work, Hua An came to greet him and said, "Master, we received more than a hundred visiting cards today, all from candidates who hope to visit you."

"Where are these candidates from?" Ou Zanghua asked calmly.

Hua An immediately replied: "There are 53 candidates from Huguang, 42 candidates from Jiangxi, 11 candidates from Zhejiang, and 9 candidates from Henan."

Ou Zanghua was slightly stunned. He didn't expect that so many Jiangxi scholars would visit him.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Let Dan Qingsheng reply and invite the students from Shigu Academy and Yuelu Academy to visit our house tomorrow. The bacon that Uncle Mo sent before the New Year can be used to entertain people from his hometown." "Yes." Hua An responded with a smile, picked out the visiting cards from the students of the two academies, and went to find Dan Qingsheng.

On the evening of the second day, the fifteen invited candidates came to the banquet.

Ou Zanghua looked at the crowd. Among them, six people, including Jiang Fuling, Ouyang Xuan, Deng Shangyi, Liu Fu, Wu Ying and Yan Shouzhong, were from Shigu Academy, and the remaining nine were all disciples of Yuelu Academy.

In the second year of Zhengde, Wang Shouren came to Yuelu to give lectures.

This lecture was another important school activity of Yuelu Academy after the Hunan-Xiang School in the Southern Song Dynasty, and directly led to the academic prosperity period of Yuelu Academy.

Xiao Wang's level in the cultural field is far beyond that of Ou Zanghua, which is directly reflected in the gap between the two academies.

Ou Zanghua ate and chatted with the other candidates, and felt relieved to know that his teacher Wu Xun and the headmaster Cai Rupu were doing well.

At a banquet, Ou Zanghua was secretly observing these young candidates. Some had voices as loud as a bell, resounding through the sky. Some were eloquent and shocked everyone. Some were cautious in their words and actions, and did not lose the style of Confucianism.

Among them, Yang Cai from Lingling, Xu Yiming from Liling and Fu Shangwen from Huarong were particularly outstanding. They were talented, well-mannered, and elegant in their actions.

After the banquet, everyone was a little drunk and said goodbye to each other according to Hua An's arrangement.

At this time, the scholar named Ouyang Xuan stepped forward, bowed and said, "Nephew Ouyang Xuan, I pay my respects to my uncle."

Ou Zanghua was stunned for a moment. He was a time traveler, so where did his nephew come from?
He doesn't approve of this relative!

Ouyang Xuan was afraid of misunderstanding, so he quickly clarified, "My ancestor Ouyang Li and Mr. Ouyang Shang are cousins, so they have a deep relationship. This time when I visited the Ou Mansion, in addition to visiting my uncle, my ancestor and my father repeatedly asked me to say hello to my grandmother and my cousin."

Ou Zanghua's face softened when he heard this, and he smiled and said, "I see. I am very grateful to you elders for your concern for my family's affairs. But it is getting dark today, so why not wait until tomorrow to make arrangements."

"That's great. My grandfather also asked me to bring some local specialties to grandma. I'll bring them back tomorrow!" Ouyang Xuan's eyes lit up and he said happily.

"That's great. I'll let Hua An inform you tomorrow." Ou Zanghua smiled, and then let Hua An send the person away.

He went to the backyard and talked about this with Liu Qing.

Liu Qing thought about it carefully for a while, and said uncertainly: "I have heard my uncle mention it before, but I have never seen it."

Turning around, she saw Madam Ouyang walking over with Qingji in her arms, so she asked loudly, "Mother, do you know this elder named Ouyang Li?"

"What are you making so much noise for, kid?"

Madam Ouyang glared at Liu Qing before saying, "Ouyang Li is my cousin, but his family moved to Anren a long time ago. How did you know?"

After hearing this, Liu Qing looked at Ou Zanghua with bright eyes and said, "Husband, he is really your nephew!"

(End of this chapter)