Chapter 53 My Historical Mission

Entering the hall, it was only slightly bright at this time, so the hall should have been relatively dim, but the lanterns and candles on both sides made the whole room as bright as day.

When Wei Guangde and others came in, they saw that in addition to County Magistrate Tang sitting in the hall, there were also several students wearing long gowns standing next to him. He knew one of them, that was Gao Xiang, the scholar.

"Wei Guangde, Lin Tianti, and Liu Shizhen from Madang Town are guaranteed by Gao Xiang, the student."

After Wei Guangde and the other five bowed to County Magistrate Tang in the hall, an official next to them took a file and sang the guarantee loudly.

"Gao Xiang, the student, is the guarantor."

Just after the official finished singing, Gao Xiang, the scholar in the crowd, stood up, bowed slightly to County Magistrate Tang, and sang loudly.

As the process of singing the guarantee was completed, that is, the official ceremony of mutual guarantee by Wei Guangde and the other five and the guarantee by the student was completed, they then walked out of the hall and found their own examination seats.

Wei Guangde already knew the approximate location, so he quickly found his position, sat down in front of the examination table, took out his pen, ink, paper and inkstone from the examination basket to prepare for the next examination.

The paper is actually the examination paper issued when registering, which is the answer sheet in later generations. It is a dozen pages of red grid rice paper, with fourteen lines per page and eighteen characters per line, and several draft papers attached. The characters should be written in the red grid in the Taige style.

There are hundreds of people in the county examination, and the singing of the guarantee link cannot be finished in a short time. Wei Guangde is well prepared and looks at the candidates coming in and out. After a while, the last team of candidates finally walked out of the hall.

At this time, because the examination table was full of people, these people found their seats quickly.

Wei Guangde's seat number is Tianzi No. 12. In fact, Tianzi seems to be the examination seat under the eaves of the lobby. It should be the best. It will not be affected by wind and rain, and you can take the exam with peace of mind.

The first session of the county examination is the main session, which is more open to admission. Those who can write fluently can be admitted. Those who are passed are allowed to take the prefectural examination. Whether to participate in the following sessions is up to the candidates themselves.

Because it is very critical, the questions in the main session are also more formal. Two questions from the Four Books, one question from the Five Classics, and a five-character six-rhyme test poem are required.

As all the candidates took their seats, the questions of this county examination were soon spread in the hall. After the county magistrate gave the questions, the clerk copied them on the door board, and the yamen runners carried them back and forth in the examination room so that all candidates could see the questions.

Wei Guangde had already prepared the pen and inkstone, and quickly copied the questions onto the draft paper. He smiled in his heart while writing. It was really something he was familiar with. His mother's burning incense and worshipping Buddha had worked.

Because Wei Guangde had seen the first question of today's county examination, "The Master said to Yan Yuan: If you use it, you will do it; if you abandon it, you will hide it. Only you and I have such a man", from the Analects of Confucius.

Well, seeing this, Wei Guangde knew that the county exam was indeed relatively simple. As long as you have read the Four Books, it should be easy to find the source of the question.

What does this mean? It means that Confucius said to Yan Yuan: "If you use me, take positive action; if you don't use me, hide. Only you and I can do this!"

And the second question comes from the sixth chapter of the University, "The so-called knowledge is in the investigation of things means that if you want to know, you must be in the object and exhaust its principles."

It means that the way to gain knowledge is to understand and study everything. It mainly means that if you want to gain knowledge, you must contact things and thoroughly study their principles.

Seeing this question, Wei Guangde's heart moved slightly. This question seems to be problematic.

Wei Guangde thought that there was a problem, not that there was a problem with this question, but that this passage seemed to be more inclined to Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind. The fact that the county magistrate of Tang asked this question is quite intriguing.

Wei Guangde also heard the name Wang Yangming from Master Sun last year, but Master Sun criticized him severely, thinking that his doctrine was a lie to confuse the public.

However, this did not affect Wei Guangde's memory of such a person. "The unity of knowledge and action" and "the study of things" seemed to be very famous.

Later, I heard from other places that when King Ning rebelled, it seemed that Wang Yangming participated in suppressing the rebellion, but now, this person has long passed away.

Although he is no longer alive, the heart school he founded continues to be widely circulated in the circle of scholars, and gradually competes with the popular Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

Of course, because the heart school was crude and far less influential than the Neo-Confucianism, it was also hostile to the Neo-Confucianism school.

Wei Guangde not only turned his head to look in the direction of the lobby, although he could not see the situation in the lobby, but Wei Guangde thought in his heart, could this county magistrate who "ruled by doing nothing" be a disciple of the heart school, otherwise why would he ask such a question.

There is also a question from the Five Classics, you can choose any of the five questions, and there is also a five-character six-rhyme test poem.

For the Five Classics question, Wei Guangde naturally chose the "Book of Documents" that he had chosen, and naturally chose the Shangshu question to answer.

To participate in the county examination, you have naturally read all the Four Books and Five Classics. As for memory and understanding, it depends on the individual.

Wei Guangde chose the Five Classics at the beginning because it is different from the Four Books. The Four Books must be mastered, while the Five Classics only need to learn one well. However, Wei Guangde didn't know how to choose, so he just read them all in one go.

In Wei Guangde's understanding, the Confucian Five Classics are respectively about the "Book of Songs" that explores human emotional issues, the "Book of Rites" that explores social issues, the "Book of Documents" that explores political issues, the "Spring and Autumn Annals" that explores historical memory issues, and the "Book of Changes" that explores metaphysical issues.

The Book of Songs, the "Book of Changes", and the Spring and Autumn Annals were all eliminated by Wei Guangde at the first time, because he really couldn't learn them.

He read the remaining Book of Rites for social issues and Book of Shang for political issues over and over again, and finally chose Book of Shang.

Perhaps it was because of preconceived ideas, Wei Guangde always felt that he was not adapted to the present era. Although he had been here for more than a year, he still felt a little uncomfortable. He was still thinking about his computer, mobile phone, and the Internet.

And the choice of Book of Shang was naturally Wei Guangde's hope to use the knowledge of hundreds of years, especially the various information seen after the information explosion, to be able to think more and see farther than people of this era.

I think that with this as a basis, the decision made should surpass most people of this era.

Apart from anything else, Wei Guangde had already made up his mind in his heart that if his coming to this era was destined by God, then he must have come with a mission.

What was his mission? Wei Guangde thought about it for a long time. Of course, it was not for him to enjoy the glory and wealth of the ancient times and have many wives and concubines.

Thinking of the pigtail dramas that later generations had seen, Wei Guangde felt that he should be the one to end that period of history. After all, the era he was wearing was really a bit awkward.

No one knows where Nurhaci was born. It seems that the last Emperor Chongzhen in the Jiajing Dynasty should be far away.

There are several generations of emperors in between. Wei Guangde really doesn't know, but it doesn't matter. Anyway, if he finds a way to deal with the pig tails in Jianzhou, there should be no tragedy in the future, and the Han Dynasty will not be destroyed by foreigners.