Diqin Designer

Chapter 193 Li Nian is marking the papers, and there’s someone “familiar” with him!

This Qin general was Meng Yi. He came here not only to announce the news to more than 3,000 candidates, but also to escort all the answer sheets back to the palace.

After the answer sheets were sent to the palace, they were first classified according to the characters used on the answer sheets. Those using Qin seal script were put together, and those using the characters of the other six countries were put apart. Then the answer sheets written in the characters of the other six countries were translated and transcribed into Qin seal script.

This is naturally done for more efficient marking.

Li Nian only learned Qin seal script, but did not learn the characters of the six kingdoms. Although the characters of the seven kingdoms have similarities, there are also many differences. If he directly marks the answer papers written in the other six kingdoms' characters, I don't know how long it will take.

All the literate palace maids, eunuchs, and guards in the Qin Emperor's palace were mobilized, and even some princes and princesses got involved. After all the test papers were translated and transcribed into Qin seal script, these people would mark the multiple-choice questions.

In this way, the time spent by Ying Zheng and Li Nian on marking papers can be greatly reduced. Ying Zheng is responsible for marking policy questions, while Li Nian is responsible for marking mathematics and the study of things.

The names of the candidates were not covered in this exam because many of them would write pseudonyms, and the examiners, Ying Zheng and Li Nian, had no vested interest in these people.

However, this method cannot be used in the next Xianyang examination. All candidates must verify their identities, write their real names on the book, and cover their names.

Out of curiosity about the examinees of this era and wanting to know what they would answer, Li Nian asked someone to sort out fifty copies of each of the already sorted mathematics and physics answer papers and send them to him for marking, before all the answer papers had been sorted out.

Sitting at the desk, Li Nian began to mark the test papers. Not long after, he came across a historical figure: "Huh? Li Shiqi? He also came to take the Xianyang exam?"

The paper that Li Nian marked was Li Shiqi's mathematics answer sheet. He did quite well and answered all the questions he could. It was obvious that he had a good foundation in mathematics. However, he did not know how to answer the more difficult questions, so he simply did not answer them and left them blank without writing a single word.

This proves that although he has a good foundation in mathematics, he has never studied or researched mathematics in depth.

This is also normal and is in line with the characteristics of mainstream Confucian scholars of this era. They studied mathematics because "mathematics" is one of the six arts of a gentleman, but they were not very interested in it or wanted to understand it very much.

But this is better than the Confucian scholars of later generations. At least they still learned and were willing to understand. In certain dynasties, those Confucian scholars simply abandoned the six arts of a gentleman and became weak scholars who were powerless and could not even tie a chicken. They knew neither "archery" nor "driving".

Of course, this situation was not only caused by Confucianism itself, but also due to the guidance of the emperors. They hoped that Confucian scholars would be a little more gentle and honest, and not know so much, because knowing too much would make them difficult to control.

They did not want Confucian scholars to "use writing to bring peace to the world and use military skills to decide the fate of the world", but only wanted them to be confined to Confucian classics all their lives and work hard for the imperial examinations.

However, the most interesting thing about Li Shiqi's mathematics answer sheet is that he used the blank space on the answer sheet to write an essay, which contained various quotations from classics and no punctuation marks. If Li Nian had not been studying with Su Xu, she might not have been able to understand what he wanted to say.

Li Shiqi had only one idea in this article: to advise the Emperor of Qin not to attach too much importance to mathematics and elevate it to an inappropriate position. Although mathematics is useful and is part of the "mathematics" in the six arts of a gentleman, it is ultimately a minor art and should be sufficient but not excessive.

To govern the country, one must rely on benevolent policies, restore Zhou rites, and determine the feudal system. These are the aspects that should be elevated, not mathematics.

After reading it, Li Nian shook his head. This was probably not just Li Shiqi's idea, but also the idea of ​​many people: mathematics is useful, but you only need to learn the practical part, not too in-depth. As expected, Li Nian found a number of candidates who wrote essays on their mathematics answer sheets, and the views they put forward were the same as Li Shiqi's.

'Mathematics is indeed a very advanced subject that is not used in daily life, but it is not used in daily life, which does not mean that it is useless. Just like some advanced machines made in later generations, some people argue that there is no point in studying and making them, it is better to buy them, and only when they are strangled by others do they realize how difficult it is to not have their own technical reserves...'

"Mathematics is the mother of science. It is needed in physics, chemistry, biology and other aspects. We need to find ways to increase people's interest in mathematics. The best way is naturally to lure people with benefits. As long as the benefits offered are tempting enough, people will take the initiative to get involved."

After marking these fifty mathematics papers, overall, they are pretty good. Like Li Shiqi, I have a certain foundation in mathematics, but it is only the basics.

Li Nian started marking the examination papers again. This time he did not find Li Shiqi's answer sheet among them, but he saw two very interesting answer sheets. One was written by Fan Zeng, and the other had a very high score.

"Isn't Fan Zeng the father-in-law of Xiang Yu in history? Has he come here for reference as well? He must have come here to consult because he saw the changes in the Qin Dynasty. In all likelihood, he came here for me."

"According to historical records, Fan Zeng is already over 50 years old this year. In this era, he is quite old, but he came all the way to Xianyang, which shows that he really hates the Qin Dynasty."

Li Nian looked at another answer sheet, "The person who wrote this answer sheet is probably a Mohist. The questions I asked were more about physics, less about chemistry, and no about biology. This is not an advantage for Taoists and alchemists, but it is an advantage for Mohists."

'So this person can answer so many questions, the most likely reason is that he is from the Mohist school, and his understanding of Mohist doctrine is quite high. If this person is a disciple of the Mohist school, he should be Chu Mo! '

'But as far as I know, there is no such name among the famous people of this generation in Chu Mo. This person must have written a pseudonym. The fact that he did not use his real name but a pseudonym proves that his identity in Chu Mo is very special. He is probably a big shot in Chu Mo! '

"Master Chu Mo, since you are here for the Xianyang exam, I'm afraid you are here for the paper."

Thinking of this, Li Nian handed the two answer sheets to a eunuch next to him and said, "Find the original answer sheets of these two people and give them to me!"

Not long after, the eunuch came back with two answer sheets. Li Nian took a look and found that the word "Chu" was used in both answer sheets. The two people should be Fan Zeng and Chu Mo Juzi.

The eunuch saw Li Nian holding the two test papers and examining them, and whispered, "Sir, when I went to get the papers just now, I heard something interesting..."

Li Nian looked at the eunuch and asked with a smile, "What's the matter?"

The eunuch said, "I heard that these two were in the same examination room and were almost caught for cheating."

"It seems that during the math test, Fan Zeng couldn't answer the questions, but Yang Mo answered them quite smoothly. Considering that they were both from Chu, Yang Mo showed his answer sheet to Fan Zeng. Unexpectedly, their actions were discovered by the invigilator, who gave them a warning."

Hearing this, Li Nian couldn't help laughing out loud: What? Xiang Yu's father-in-law Fan Zeng and Chu Mo's master were almost caught cheating? No, this must be recorded by the historian!
(End of this chapter)