Three Kingdoms

  Chapter 2651 Loess and water

  Longyou.

   Jincheng.

  Zaozhi looked at the three or two big cats and kittens taking the exam under the stage, scratching his head somewhat.

   How is this a fat four?

  Zaozhi turned his head to look at Jia Xu, but saw a little complicated expression from Jia Xu's calm face.

  Jia Xu didn't say much. This time, in the exam, he was only the main examiner, and Jia Xu was only a coordinator.

  Zaozhi looked at the students in the field, nodded, and announced the start of the exam.

  Perhaps in the cognition of some people, there is a linear relationship between giving and rewarding, that is, how much you pay and how much you get back. This does have some truth, but sometimes it is not the case.

   It's like the imperial examination.

  The return of the imperial examination is a bit like a phased one.

  For candidates, studying hard does pay off, but it does not mean that after reading a book, there is a reward for a book, but after a certain stage, you can see the reward.

  So the current imperial examinations are also staged for Feiqian. He sent people to the counties to hold county exams, but it didn't mean that after sending people there, he could see the progress bar go up there, and then there was a linear change of % every day, but he had to wait for a stage before he could Knowing the final result, and then what the result is, whether it is consistent with the original expectation, is not a linear relationship.

  It's like there is a problem in Hedong, and there is a problem in Longyou.

  Longyou is in charge of Zaoyi.

  In Hedong, what Sima Yi encountered was that there were too many people coming, and as a result, he was not fully prepared, but it was completely different in Longyou.

   Few people come.

  Zaoyi himself has some doubts when it is so small, is it because the county magistrates and village elders under Longyou didn't do any work, and they didn't notify in place at all, so many people didn't know?

   But after some investigation, Zao only discovered that this was not the case, but that there was no one there.

  There is no scholar.

  Reading also takes time, especially if you want to read a book well, it takes time.

   It's not even just a matter of personal time, but the time the family has to squeeze out.

Jincheng is very big, and it is an important town in Longyou, and the number of people who refer to it is small, so there is no such thing as any place where people have no place to live like in Hedong Anyi. The Longyou Imperial Examination has attracted many ordinary people, and the barbarians join in the fun in their spare time.

  Outside the examination room, there was a lot of voices, people selling goods, talking about the exam, like a grand festival.

   But Zao only felt that with such a small number of people, how could it be like a festival?

   Jincheng also mobilized a lot of inspectors and soldiers to stand outside the examination room to maintain order.

  Leaving the bustling street, entering the government office, passing through layers of gates and courtyard walls, it suddenly became quiet, and the hustle and bustle was isolated from the outside.

  In the examination room, it was extremely quiet, with only the sound of paper and clothes, and even breathing seemed to be slight.

  Because the number of people is relatively small, it can be accommodated in the Fuya Square, so it is not moved to any other location on purpose. Of course, the environment in the government office is much better than in other places.

  The students who took the exam were divided into six rows in the square under the guidance of soldiers and servants.

   There are soldiers on duty around the square, and many scribes and assistants are patrolling.

  Under such an environment, even a little careful thought will be very obvious. If you make a big move, you will be warned. If you still think about making small moves, you will be taken away directly.

  So even if there is no strict inspection like Changan, there will not be any major fraud problems.

  Actually speaking, it is because of the small number of people.

   There are just a few of them, all under the nose, how can they cheat?

It’s like the exams with thousands of people in later generations, and then a dozen people, or dozens of people go to patrol, then there is room for cheating. Now there are soldiers and servants around Jincheng Square, scribes and assistants. It could not be said that there are more students than those taking the exam. Every student is patrolled by a few or even a dozen eyes at any time. Under such circumstances, if they can take a cheat sheet to peek, or do other actions, then they are really heroes. …

  The exam questions are actually not difficult.

  At least Zaozhi thought it was not difficult, but when he saw the students in the examination room, many of them showed bitterness.

   So much so that Zaoyi once suspected that he made a mistake on the topic.

Although Zaozhi’s question is different from Sima Yi’s, it is also based on Chang’an’s previous model. The first part is the dictation of the scriptures, specifying a certain paragraph, and then let the examinee write it silently, and explain the dictated paragraph. the meaning of.

  The other part is policy theory.

  The entire exam takes a whole day, which is longer than Hedong. Well, it’s not a complete day at all, it’s from the morning to the evening, before the sun goes down. During the exam, you can take two breaks, no more than two ticks each time. During the rest time, you can eat snacks, drink water, change clothes, etc. There are also special personnel responsible for guarding and patrolling the corridors and side rooms on one side of the square.

  If someone needs to go to the toilet to relieve their hands or something, they have to ask for instructions, and every time they are followed by a special person, no matter whether it is a big relief or a small relief, these people will never leave.

  The spare food in the room is also simple dry buns, water, and pickles. There are also special people standing aside and watching.

  No one handed in the papers in advance, and most of the candidates handed in the papers one after another when it was approaching dusk.

   There are also two or three individuals who have to put their heads almost on the table because of the lack of light, writing something in a hurry...

Zaozhi couldn't bear it, sighed, discussed with Jia Xu, asked the servants to prepare candles and light them, covered them with a cover, and put them on the desks of those people, which was the last extra time for them. When the fire burns out, it is the last moment for them to hand in the papers.

  When the papers were collected and handed over to Jia Xu and Zaozhi, the sun had already set.

  Strictly speaking, the current Feiqian exam implemented in the surrounding counties is more difficult than the boy's exam, but it is not yet at the level of a scholar.

In the eyes of later generations, a scholar seems to be a very low-level, well, it can’t be said to be a low-level, maybe it’s more appropriate to use a low-level, it’s just a starting point for taking the imperial examination path, but in fact, in ancient times, many people ended their lives in the in this low-level position.

It's like Zaoyi thought that the questions he asked were easy and simple, and most people would not get stuck on such low-level questions, but after he actually got the paper, he found that almost half of the people were accurate. In other words, about 40% of the people were eliminated in the first item.

  The imperial examinations in any feudal dynasty are like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge.

  But in the early days of the imperial examination, the bridge deck was relatively wide, or there were not many people who wanted to cross the bridge.

Before Zaoyi came to Longyou, he knew a little about the situation in Longyou, so the topic he set was not difficult, that is to say, the bridge deck was not so narrow, and even the topics of his theories were close to the Yu Longyou's situation.

   Policy theory, the so-called "policy" is to pick a problem in current affairs, and then propose a solution to the problem based on this problem. And "discussion" is discussion, discussing or commenting on previous or current controversial matters. This strategy theory is easy and easy to say, because sometimes there is no need to involve the specific matters in the details, and it only needs to be justified with something to say. But it is also difficult to say, after all, people without practical experience can easily fall into the false space, shouting a few slogans without finding out what is really useful.

  Zaozhi's topic of policy discussion is "pacifying the herdsmen".

This is almost in line with the current main policy direction of Longyou, and it is also where problems have repeatedly appeared in Longyou for so many years, so normally speaking, this topic is very experienced for people in Longyou, at least not will be at a loss.

  What types of questions will make people in Longyou confused?

  For example, "controlling floods".

  There are rivers in Longyou, but there are very few floods. Most of the time it is the problem of drought rather than flood control.

  If the title of "Treating Floods" is wrong, it is not. Because this is something like Sangzi and a major national event, how can it be said that it is a wrong topic?

But if the students of Longyou are tested with "Flood Control", then these Longyou students who have no flood experience or feelings, even if they can write, most of them are just an article shouting slogans. The beautiful flowers are also useless.

  The title of the policy discussion of "Appease the Herdsmen" obviously fits a lot in Longyou.

   But even so, when Zaozhi saw the answers of these students, he still couldn't help sighing.

Policy theory does not require Fu, um, of course, if it can be like Zhang Heng, Jia Yi, Ban Gu, etc., not only can speak with content, but also explain profound truths, and at the same time can strengthen the rhythm of the words and achieve literary talent, then really Just excellent.

  But in the three or four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, how many people wrote Han Fu, and how many people could reach the level of Zhang Jia?

  So Zaozhi's requirement for these students' policy theory is that they have something to say and the sentences are smooth.

pity…

   Even such a request seems to be too high.

   Zaoyi has read several policy theories in a row, and then read the beginning, but has closed his eyes.

When later generations opened the webpage, the screen was full of shocks, and then they clicked on it, and it seemed that they had said a lot, but they didn’t seem to say anything at all. In the end, they pretended to have a summary, but the results were all clichés. Lie again, "This is what the editor said, what do you think, welcome to leave a comment."

Similar to this kind of shock body, although it is said that they are all cheating money, but anyway, these editors are trying their best to round them up. The policy theories that I have seen now are those who went astray from the beginning, and they still ran away without any intention of turning back...

  Zaozhi sighed, silently put down the paper in his hand, turned to ask Jia Xu, "Wen He, my topic...is there something wrong with this paper?" 』

  Jia Xu was silent for a while, and then said to Zaozhi: "Today is too late, tomorrow, tomorrow I will take you around... then you will understand..."

   the next day.

  Xiahe Village.

   There are not a dozen or so villages in China that are named at will, and there are probably seven or eight.

   Because it relies on an unknown small river, it is called Xiahe Village.

  There is a smaller village on the top of the mountain, called Shanghe Village.

  But what is very interesting is that the river near the village is not called a river, but Mingxi.

   It really cannot be called a river, after all, the river is too shallow and too small.

Zaozhi got off his horse by the river, and then let the guards take the horses to drink water, and went up the hillside. Seeing the river water not far away, which was probably more than ankle deep, he frowned slightly, "There is no need to build channels for this river water." ...I guess there will be no water this winter...It would be okay to build a few water reservoirs...』

   In this regard, Zao is only a professional.

  Jia Xu froze for a moment, he didn't expect Zaozhi's first thought when he got here was this.

  But what Zaozhi said was not wrong at all.

   This should be a river meandering out of a snow-capped mountain, or a stream. After passing through the underground river, this mountain top gushed out and became the source of life here. The amount of water changes with the seasons, and the snow in autumn and winter freezes the snow on the snow-capped mountains. Isn't it because the downstream is cut off?

  Zao Zhi didn’t know the specific source of this river, but he had very rich agricultural experience, so even if he came here for the first time, he could see the agricultural difficulties here.

  Livestock husbandry and agriculture have very different demand conditions.

   Especially in terms of water demand.

  Agriculture needs too much water, far greater than animal husbandry. It is mainly used for irrigation. If the crops cannot have sufficient water, they will not be able to take root and germinate, and they will not be able to head and grow, and they will not be able to fill the seeds when they need to set seeds. Water is needed all the time, but it is obvious that there are not many rivers here, so there must not be many acres that can be cultivated, or that can be supported.

  In the surrounding areas, on the way Zaozhi came here, there are also villages that are far away from water sources, whether it is plants, animals, or humans and animals, all rely on picking and pulling for drinking water.

  In a village like that, even survival depends on God’s favor.

  Different living conditions lead to inconsistencies in living costs.

  Longyou and Hedong are inconsistent.

  『Shall we go to the village now? Zao only asked.

  Jia Xu shook his head and said, "We are right here...we just watch these people... don't disturb them..."

  『…』Zaozhi looked at the people in the village not far away.

  Looking down from the hillside, you can generally see the inside of the village.

  Someone in the village apparently found Zaozhi Jiaxu and his party, but Zaozhi Jiaxu had no intention of entering the village, and the people in those villages did not come out to greet them.

It's not that the people in the village don't understand manners or rules, but here in Longyou, because of the terrain, it looks like it's close, and the straight-line distance isn't that far. In fact, if you want to go to that village, you still need to go up and down. go full circle...

  Zaozhi originally thought that Jia Xu would take him to see the local teaching situation or something.

  Because obviously, the standard of these students in Longyou is quite low.

In Dahan, Yuzhou was the county with the highest academic level before, and then Jizhou. Jizhou was a little worse than Yuzhou, but the difference was not much. Then the second rank was in the areas around Jizhou and Yuzhou, such as Jingzhou, Youzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, and Yongzhou. Yes, there are Sichuan, Sichuan and Hedong. The third gear is remote areas.

However, after the hussars entered Guanzhong, the academic level in this area of ​​Guanzhong has continued to rise. Now it can be said that it has not only caught up with Yuzhou and Jizhou, but even has a tendency to overtake. It will also be motivated. For example, in Hedong, there are obviously many more people studying than in Zhongping years.

   But in Longyou, it still seems to be a cultural desert.

  To be honest, Zaozhi was somewhat annoyed in his heart. He is usually a very gentle person, but this time when he came to Longyou to take the exam, he found that the students who came to take the exam from Longyou were far from what he expected before, they were not at the same level at all!

  Zaozhi thought that Longyou also had excellent students. If those who went to Chang'an Sanfu and got relatively good grades are considered to be ten points, then those who take the Jincheng local examination should have a score of seven or eight, or maybe five or six. ?

  But what Zao Zhi didn’t expect was that the average level of these students who took the exam was only three or four points, the good ones were five or six points, and the seven or eight points were really rare, and carefully selected may only have one and a half.

   This naturally made Zaozhi feel a little angry.

   Leaving aside other things for the time being, Zaoyi wondered if these Longyou students didn't have the attitude to study hard? Do you feel that you can’t study well anyway, so you just study casually, and then take the exam casually, and pass it if you are lucky, or go home to farm and herd sheep if you can’t?

  Those outstanding Longyou students went to Chang’an Sanfu, and the rest just gave up on themselves?

  Then, is there any point in setting up such an examination in Jincheng, Longyou, by General Hussars?

   But after Jia Xu brought Zaoyi here, he didn't say much, but let Zaoyi see for himself. Jia Xu didn't mention the difficulties these students had in studying, because isn't it difficult in other places? It also didn't say that the school palace hadn't been built yet, because although Chang'an East had a school palace, there were many other places that didn't have a school palace.

  So Jia Xu just let Zaozhi watch the lives of these students. He told the village that there were students from Longyou.

   But Zaozhi didn't see anyone who looked like a student.

  I only saw the inside of the village, everyone was busy...

  Mature people, whether they are strong men or strong women, are naturally doing the most tiring farm work.

   Those who are older are also busy doing various trivial matters.

  Semi-old children don’t have time to spare. They either help out with their elders, or go to the mountains to cut firewood and grass.

  The younger children are responsible for taking care of the younger children.

  The most free people are only those young children, those who are not very good at walking, laughing silly, rolling and playing on the ground.

  Zaozhi didn't quite understand Jia Xu's meaning at first, but after watching it for about an hour, he gradually understood a little bit. He turned his head and asked Jia Xu, "Is this village, among the Longyou villages, considered the upper class or the lower class?" 』

  Jia Xu shook his head and said: "There is no upper, middle or lower, only bad, and worse... the village on the way that is not close to the river is even worse..."

  『Huh…』 Zaozhi sighed, 『I understand a bit…』

  (end of this chapter)