We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

Yunmeng Mountain may not be very famous, but the people who live in this mountain are very famous, or you could say that everyone knows them.

Guiguzi!

That mountain is the legendary holy land of the School of Diplomacy. Although it is ancient, it is not impossible that its lineage has not been extinguished.

It is indeed a strange thing that so many disciples of such a reclusive sect have come out of the mountains together. They have always been detached from worldly affairs and do not get involved in worldly matters.

Moreover, the legendary Guiguzi was a figure from ancient times, half-human and half-immortal, who is said to have lived for more than two hundred years.

Could it be that......

Seeing Zhang Qian's shocked expression, Lin Qingyuan knew he was overthinking things, so he smiled and explained:

"Brother Zhang, don't be nervous or overthink it. Although my master lives in Yunmeng, he is not the ancient Guigu."

"Our journey to the capital is under the orders of our master. We did not come down the mountain on our own, nor did we come here to stir up trouble."

Zhang Qian breathed a sigh of relief, but he still felt a sense of curiosity and awe towards Lin Qingyuan and the others.

Although Lin Qingyuan said he did not leave the mountain without permission, he did not deny that he was a member of the Guigu School.

It seems that these young men in white robes are all strategists from the Guigu School, and their master, though not the legendary Guiguzi, must have been a very powerful hermit.

However... when such a great sage is born, even if his disciples come down from the mountain, the monarch will welcome him with open arms.

Do they still need to take the imperial examination like I did?

Lin Qingyuan cut the peeled egg in half, kept one half for himself, and handed the other half back to Zhang Qian, continuing:

“I observe that Brother Zhang is learned and has a solid foundation, but it seems that he has not yet been able to integrate his knowledge, which is why his recitation is not coherent.”

"May I ask, Brother Zhang, is it that you did not have a fixed teacher and relied entirely on your own exploration?"

Zhang Qian was surprised and impressed by the other party's sharp insight.

He truly deserves to be called a descendant of Guiguzi.

He no longer concealed his story and recounted how he was fortunate enough to receive his early education, and how he wandered around, pursuing his studies intermittently.

He thought that such an unorthodox background would be a laughing stock, but to his surprise, Lin Qingyuan's eyes shone even brighter after hearing it.

He then clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Wonderful! Brother Zhang not only personally participates in farming and understands the hardships of the people, but also tirelessly pursues knowledge. This is precisely the ancient tradition of passing down the family tradition of farming and reading, and it is truly the right path to learning!"

"Compared to those Confucian scholars who only know how to read books but don't know anything about agriculture, Brother Zhang is a man of action. Why should you belittle yourself?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Qian felt a surge of indescribable sorrow, and then smiled bitterly:

"Brother Lin, you flatter me. My family is poor and I can't even afford a complete set of the Four Books. My learning is also disorganized and chaotic. I am truly ashamed."

"I came to the capital on a whim. If I fail the imperial examination, I will have no choice but to go back to farming."

“Brother Zhang, why speak so dishearteningly?” Lin Qingyuan said seriously, “You have traveled around studying, encountering real human relationships and the realities of people’s lives. You have followed the path of practical work, which is a valuable talent in itself.”

"As for the imperial examination..." he paused, then said in a relaxed tone, "it is nothing more than a test of understanding the classics. Although I did not bring any books with me, the Four Books and Five Classics and the essential teachings of the philosophers are all in my mind."

“If Brother Zhang doesn’t mind, from today onwards, I, Lin, can explain any difficult points to you, clarify the meaning of the scriptures, and help you prepare for the exam at any time. What do you say?”

Zhang Qian could hardly believe his ears. Overwhelmed with surprise and joy, he stood up somewhat haphazardly.

"This, this... Brother Lin, how can I possibly repay such a great kindness?!"

Lin Qingyuan waved his hand dismissively, gesturing for him to sit down: "Brother Zhang, you flatter me. My master often taught us that 'teaching and learning go hand in hand.' Teaching others to learn is itself the best way to learn."

"Only when you can clearly impart what you have learned to others and make them understand it can you be said that you have truly mastered the knowledge."

"Helping Brother Zhang is also a way for me to hone my skills; how can it be considered troublesome?"

Zhang Qian immediately became serious: "Truly a disciple of Guiguzi! These words are wonderful, practically the words of a sage!"

Lin Qingyuan is a man of action; he does what he says he will do.

Without further ado, he cleared his throat and said, "Shall we begin now? To learn something new by reviewing the old, let's start with The Great Learning."

Zhang Qian immediately straightened his posture and said, "Please enlighten me."

He immediately calmed his mind and cleared his mind of all distractions, like parched seedlings receiving a timely rain.

His voice was clear and resonant as he slowly recited: "The Great Learning teaches us to manifest our bright virtue, to love the people..."

. . . . . .

"The goal is to reach the highest good. Knowing when to stop leads to stability; stability leads to tranquility; tranquility leads to peace; peace leads to contemplation; and contemplation leads to attainment."

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Li Che wrote these opening lines of the Great Learning on a piece of unrolled straw paper.

Then, his gaze lingered on the text for a moment, and he picked up his pen again, drawing a few more lines on it.

Therefore, this passage was changed to: The way of the university is ____, in ____, in _____.

He was personally setting the questions for the imperial examination, which were known as the questions based on classical texts.

The content of the imperial examinations changed from dynasty to dynasty, but not by much.

Among them, the "Tijing" (帖经) is the most basic, which involves covering up part of the content of the classic text and having the examinee fill in the blanks word for word to get it right.

This is what we now call fill-in-the-blank questions.

For the ancients, the questions on the sutra were simply easy points; to get a good ranking, they had to get every single one right.

If you make even one mistake, the exam paper will be ruthlessly thrown away by the examiner.

In Daqing, since it was the first imperial examination, Li Che used it to select talent.

Li Che produced a total of fifty calligraphy scrolls, twenty-five of which were from the Four Books and twenty-five from the Five Classics.

The Four Books are The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects, and Mencius. They are the foundation for maintaining the world and hold an unparalleled position.

Therefore, you absolutely cannot get the first twenty-five questions wrong.

Moreover, the Four Books don't have many characters, so they are actually quite easy to answer. Anyone who has seriously studied can answer them correctly.

If someone still answers incorrectly, it means they don't study hard and will inevitably be careless in their work, so there's no need to hire them.

The Five Classics are more complex and contain more characters. They are the Book of Poetry, the Book of Documents, the Book of Rites, the Book of Changes, and the Spring and Autumn Annals.

Even the top candidates in the imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties would only choose one of the Five Classics to study, and the examinations would be conducted in five separate examination rooms.

The assessment of these 25 questions can be relaxed a bit; as long as you don't get too many questions wrong, it's fine.

Besides the questions on copying scriptures, there was another basic question type in the imperial examinations called "Ink Meaning".

"Mo Yi" refers to writing down the meaning of the classics, testing students' understanding of the classics, and is essentially the interpretation of words by later generations.

When Li Che issued the imperial examination questions, he had not yet deviated from the scope of the ancient imperial examination system.

But starting with Mo Yi, it's no longer an easy question; he's about to make his move!