A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 69: Like a Mayfly Gazing at the Sky

If you don't go out to study and expand your knowledge and see the outside world, you will always be a frog in a well, blinded by a single leaf.

There’s more talent out there.

Only in this way can you see your own shortcomings and motivate yourself to keep moving forward on the path of studying!
There are two that I have seen so far.

Bao Zheng suddenly thought that there were still many students who came here to study.

Which one of them is not praised by villagers from all over the place as a genius in studying, and wants to come out to study and prove himself?
Shi Erlang is so knowledgeable, yet he wants to guard the border?
This is something Bao Zheng really cannot understand.

But when Bao Zheng took another look at Song Xuan who was still studying hard, he felt that even if Shi Erlang became a soldier, his soldiers would certainly not engage in cannibalism and would be able to maintain good military discipline.

When he thought of this, Bao Zheng calmed down even more and began to study hard.

They all have their own ambitions and work hard for them.

But I was the one carrying my parents' high hopes, and I only wanted to go home and serve them after passing the imperial examination.

Bao Zheng suddenly felt a little regretful.

What qualifications did he have to refute Song Twelve's lofty ambition to guard the border?

"Master."

Tao Hong held a small tabby cat in his hands and said:

"I exchanged it for a little raccoon and put it next to the granary to catch mice."

"Oh." Song Xuan stood up quickly:
"Come and let me see."

"Meow."

The little civet cat meowed at Song Xuan a few times.

The Song people's view on cat-loving was not much different from today's. Cats were divided into two categories: one was a cat that caught mice, and the other was a pet cat.

After earning a little money, people in the Song Dynasty would always keep some pets.

Humans have been domesticating cats for at least five or six thousand years. Cats have been with humans since the Stone Age.

Chinese people have a long history of raising cats. The "Book of Rites" from the pre-Qin period recorded a ritual of "welcoming cats".

However, for a long time, the ancients kept cats only for practical purposes, so that cats could catch mice and reduce rat infestations.

But in the Song Dynasty, many scholars and citizens kept cats not to catch mice, but as pets.

Because only when you have enough food and clothing will you raise a "useless" cat, treat it as a member of the family, give it a name, and buy cat food for it.

Even if they can't make money, people like Lu Youduguwozhuangcun also complain about themselves, saying that they don't have enough money to buy cat food for their kittens.

The most common cat in the Song Dynasty was the civet cat, also known as the tabby cat.

The catfish is good at catching mice and appears in many paintings by Song Dynasty people.

Song Xuan fiddled with the little tabby cat for a while and said, "Go to the pet market and buy a cat bed and some cat food to prevent our stored food from being infested by rats."

"it is good."

Tao Hong responded, turned around and walked out.

Song Xuan placed the little tabby cat on the desk, rubbed it slowly a few times, and couldn't help reciting a poem:
"The wind blows across the river and lake, and the rain darkens the village. The sound of the mountains is like the rolling of the sea. The firewood in the stream is soft and the felt is warm. My cat slave and I do not go out."

"What Twelve Brother made is not very suitable for the occasion. I'll take it out and use it when it rains."

"Hahaha, okay, okay."

Song Xuan couldn't write poetry, but some familiar poems popped up in his head from time to time.

Zhang Fangping naturally knew that Song Xuan would occasionally utter a few lines of poetry.

I have long been accustomed to it.

What is a genius?
This is!
But Bao Zheng is different.

What he was least good at was poetry and songs in the imperial examinations.

And I have never seen anyone speak in poetry.

Hearing Song Xuan reciting a poem at this moment, Bao Zheng's eyes widened.

Just now, when he read Song Xuan's policy paper, he thought he was already a genius. Now, he listened to him recite a poem.

Four subjects in the imperial examination.

What is he not good at?

No wonder he didn't care about the ownership of the poem about the frog he wrote when he was eight years old.

Bao Zheng suddenly understood what someone said about Li Bai:

Those who can’t write poetry see him as a person looking at the moon in a well, while those who can write poetry see him as a mayfly looking at the sky!
It is difficult to observe the expression on Bao Zheng's face, but from his slightly opened mouth, revealing his teeth that appear whiter to others, one can guess that he is in a state of surprise.

"Shi Er Lang's talent is simply gushing out. I admire him."

Bao Zheng already understood that he had listened to the Master's advice and gone out for a walk in his hometown, and was not always staying in the information cocoon of his hometown surrounded by praise.

Otherwise, when the real imperial examination is held in the future, if I meet a student like Song Xuan again, I am afraid that I will be so frustrated that I will lose all my confidence.

Fortunately, there is still a chance to catch up with him.

Song Xuan teased the kitten nonchalantly:

"Brother Bao, poetry is a minor subject in the imperial examinations, originally an examination left over from the Tang Dynasty.

It doesn’t have much impact on being an official. Can poetry help you handle government affairs or help you handle official relationships?

But the weight is larger.

When we become chancellors and generals in the future, we must reform the imperial examination system and stop focusing on these superficial tricks."

"Flashy trail?"

Bao Zheng was once again broken by Song Xuan's remarks.

A talent that I can't even envy.

In other people's mouths, it is just a flashy gossip.

Bao Zheng really didn't know how to refute Song Xuan.

If the reform is really as Song Xuan said, it will definitely benefit many ordinary students like him and give them more advantages in the imperial examinations.

After all, the standard for a child prodigy nowadays is the ability to write poetry and essays.

How could it not pave the way for more ordinary people who don't have this talent by cutting off half of the prodigy's advantage in one fell swoop?

"Brother Twelve is joking again."

Zhang Fangping, however, felt that Song Xuan's words were a bit naive.

Despite the decline of civilization during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, many people are still willing to recite a few poems from the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.

Besides, if we don’t test poetry, songs and prose, what else should we test on?

Could it be a policy essay test?
Even when it comes to policy papers, Zhang Fangping feels that not everyone can write targeted solutions like Brother Twelve.

Many students are just talking about theory but have nothing to do with handling government affairs.

Song Xuan knew that Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi had carried out two reforms, and they also demanded reforms to the imperial examination system.

After all, many people don't have the talent for poetry and songs. Moreover, even if it's the civil service exam or the essay, can it really help in handling work?
But it is also a means of screening people with the same frequency.

Zhang Fangping immediately gave an example:
"As far as I know, Xia Song, the current Minister of Revenue, had a father who died fighting against the Liao Dynasty, and was appointed a minor military officer. However, because he could write poetry, he took a collection of his poems and waited for Prime Minister Li Hang on his way home from court to present it to Li Hang.

Li Hang was very impressed when he read the lines "The mountains are broken like bee waists, and the streams are divided like swallow tails" in the poem. He continued reading and found that the whole volume was full of good poems.

The next day, Prime Minister Li Hang came to court and presented Xia Shuo's collection of poems to Emperor Zhenzong of Song. He said that Xia Shuo's father had died for state affairs and asked him to be replaced by a civil servant. From then on, his poems were appreciated by others, and his reputation was greatly improved, and he rose rapidly in the imperial court.

Xia Song's method of surrender was passed down from the Tang Dynasty.

But the fact that a small military officer dared to stop the prime minister of the time showed that he was extremely confident in himself.

"Well, you're right, but as far as I know, Xia Song isn't just talented in poetry. He's also very good at governing."

"Otherwise, just relying on poems that I haven't even heard of, Xia Song would have risen to such prominence that even Li Bai wouldn't agree."

(End of this chapter)