Great Zhou Wensheng

Chapter 13 Test Question 1: Millet
The xiezhi horn on the eaves of the main hall of the county school examination hall reflects the plaque "A Bright Mirror Hangs High" so brightly it looks like a tempered sword blade.

"You gentlemen have worked hard."

"This county examination is crucial to the imperial court's grand selection of talents, and it all depends on the strong support of all of you!"

The chief examiner, Cai Chao, looked refreshed and sat in the main seat of the hall. He gently shook his blue satin official robe with the embroidered geese pattern, and everyone in the court bowed in greeting.

The newly appointed education commissioner had the refined air of a scholar nurtured by the Academy, but his eyes and brows concealed a touch of the shrewdness honed by years of officialdom.

"We will certainly do our utmost to assist Lord Cai!"

Below the hall, four officials in varying shades of crimson robes stirred slightly in response.

Registrar Shen Yanqing and Clerk Cui Mingyuan stood with their hands at their sides.

County Lieutenant Zhao Tieshan was as imposing as an iron tower, the armor plates of his sword clanging as he wore them at his waist.

County Magistrate Zhou Wenyuan was tidying up the documents on his desk with his head down, the black jade belt hook at his waist making a clear and melodious sound.

Li Mo, the magistrate of Jiangyin County, sat in the grand chair in the hall with his eyes closed, resting. He was not allowed to serve as the chief examiner due to the "avoidance of relatives" rule, but he still needed to be present in the examination hall to prevent any unforeseen circumstances.

Ten steps outside the hall, at the foot of the blue stone steps, stood twenty-seven local gentry dressed in plain silk robes. They were all senior scholars and licentiates from Jiangyin County, concerned about the examination of their own children, and were also listening in from outside the hall.

Local gentry with the rank of Xiucai or above could voluntarily attend the county examinations as observers to prevent cheating.

Although they do not have the authority to invigilate or grade papers, they can raise questions about unfairness in the examination room.

These people were all scholars who had fought their way through the fierce competition to enter the imperial examination hall, so they were naturally very familiar with the possible shady dealings in the examination room.

According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, if three local worthies witness corruption together, they can file a lawsuit and report it to the prefectural government office, bypassing the proper channels.

"Master!"

As the officials were discussing the county examination questions, they saw twenty-seven respected local figures outside the hall bowing respectfully.

An elderly man in a dignified Confucian robe, with a jade pendant bearing the inscription "Crane Cries in the Marsh" bestowed by the Crown Prince at his waist, and holding a bamboo cane, stepped over the ebony stone threshold and entered the main hall of the county academy.

"Master Pei, what brings you here?"

"This humble official greets Master Pei!"

All the chief and deputy examiners, as well as the invigilators, were startled and quickly rose to greet them.

Pei Jingyi, a Hanlin scholar and former tutor to the Crown Prince, retired to his hometown of Jiangyin and has been in charge of the Xue family's private school for thirty years, cultivating countless disciples.

The noble families and prominent clans of Jiangyin all sent their children to the Xue family's private school to study under Master Pei.

It can be said that Pei Jingyi was a literary giant in the entire Jiangzhou Prefecture, and his status in Jiangyin County was even more extraordinary.

In Jiangyin County, any gathering of poets and writers is considered an honor to have Master Pei present and offer his guidance. If Master Pei is not present, the gathering is considered low-class.

"Master!"

Upon hearing the sound, County Magistrate Li Mo opened his eyes, stood up to greet him, and looked somewhat embarrassed.

He had ulterior motives for this county examination, secretly helping Li Sanlang to win the top spot in the list of candidates for the first time, so he didn't dare send anyone to the private school to invite Master Pei to the county academy.

Unexpectedly, Master Pei arrived uninvited.

"I have disturbed you gentlemen."

No need for formalities. I've simply come to see my student and see how he did on the exam.

It's getting late, let's begin the exam!

Pei Jingyi said calmly.

"Yes, Master, please take a seat!"

Cai Chao felt uneasy and quickly clasped his hands in greeting.

Soon, the chief examiner, Cai Chao, was in charge of setting the questions and quickly wrote down the first question for the Jiangyin County Examination:

Jiangyin County Examination, Question 1:

Since ancient times, the imperial court has relied on agriculture to support the people, and the people consider food as their most important necessity. Jiangyin County is known as the land of millet, and this year's county examination required students to analyze the character [黍], one of the five grains, through its semantic components.

[黍]: Millet, the sound of rain, the shape of a mound!
Dear candidates, is this method of analyzing and interpreting characters correct or incorrect? And unleash the literary technique of the character [黍], condensing your talent into a single grain of millet!

"it is good!"

"The question Cai Gong asked was very well-designed! Anyone who can answer it is definitely a top student from Jiangyin."

Upon seeing the question, the deputy examiners and the twenty-seven respected elders from the village nodded in approval.

[黍] is not a Taoist naturalistic literary term, such as words like rain, wind, ice, and thunder.

Rather, it is the agricultural supply system that can condense the five grains to quickly replenish the scholar's talent.

Cai Chao subtly set a trap in the exam questions, luring thousands of students into it. Very few of them were likely to succeed.

"Millet? A mound shape!"

Master Pei Jingyi narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded.

This newly appointed educational commissioner, Cai Chao, does have some skills and abilities! Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to take up the post of educational commissioner of Jiangyin County and head of the county academy.

The yamen runners carried over a hundred test question boards and displayed them to the candidates.

The thousands of students in the county academy were filled with groans of despair after reading the first exam question.

"Why are this year's exam questions so tricky?"

"In preparation for this year's county examination, I memorized the entire 'Primer of Prosody' and even broke down all the uncommon characters in it, such as '笥, 斝, 夔,' into perfect detail!"

But the character for "[黍]" isn't in the book of prosody!

"yes!
I remember from the second volume of *The Primer of Prosody*, in the chapter "Seven Yangs": "There are huts, fragrant pepper, apricots, and sorghum. There are also yellow millet, pond grass, and crabapple."

I figured the test might involve grains, so I specifically studied grains like rice, sorghum, beans, wheat, and millet!
But the character [黍] was missing!
Cai Xuezheng set a test question on the vocabulary of grains used by farmers, but avoided the topic of "prosody" (a system of phonetic rules for predicting sounds). He was definitely deliberately making things difficult for us beginners!

"These exam questions are clearly beyond the syllabus!"

Inside the county examination hall, a chorus of wails echoed from Meng Sheng.

Most students take "The Primer of Prosody" as their most basic textbook for learning literature and art. They have already reached their limit by mastering all eight thousand characters of the text.

Once you go beyond the basic scope of "prosody," the consequences are absolutely dire.

In one of the examination rooms designated as Class B, Gu Zhimian, a student from a poor family, saw the exam questions and suddenly covered his mouth with a look of wild joy.

Last night, he was looking at the Erya Commentary on his desk when he came across the character “黍谓之薌” and practiced breaking it down.

He happened to have mastered the cultivation method, and a grain of millet was planted in the inkstone, where it took root and sprouted.

It seems that I have a good chance of being among the top ten candidates in this year's county examination!

In the examination hall of the county academy, a small number of Mongolian students breathed a sigh of relief and smiled contentedly.

Because they had also analyzed this word formula.

"It's just a simple character, [黍], what's so difficult about that?!"

"Haha~, it seems I'll be lucky enough to pass this year's county-level examination for the young scholars! Brothers, you flatter me, see you in the second exam!"

"[Millet]?"

Jiang Xingzhou stared at the exam questions, lost in thought.

Every Chinese character is composed of "meaning, form, and sound," which can be called a trinity.

Only when these three elements are combined can they resonate with the power of heaven and earth, releasing literary arts.

Therefore, the three-in-one approach is the fundamental method for all character analysis. However, there must be explicit historical allusions to support the analysis; one must not arbitrarily fabricate its meaning, form, and sound.

If any one of the three elements of "meaning, form, and sound" is wrong, it will lead to failure in the analysis of characters, which in turn will cause errors in the application of literary skills, and even cause talent to flow backward and become disordered, resulting in a decline in one's spiritual attainment.

Millet is one of the five grains.

The character [黍] is not found in the eight-thousand-character formula of the primer for children in the Great Zhou Dynasty, "Sound and Rhythm Primer".

However, millet is still a common character.

After all, most educated people are very familiar with the line "Big rat, big rat, do not eat my millet" from the poem "Big Rat" in the Book of Songs (Wei Feng).

Jiang Xingzhou pondered for a long time, then spread out the exam paper and wrote his name in the anonymous section. He then picked up his pen and began to quickly write his answers on the exam paper.

"[Shu] means millet, the sound of rain, and the shape of a mound!"
This solution is completely wrong!

(End of this chapter)