Chapter 325 (1/1)

yamen, which was located in the north and faced the south. It was a decent size. According to the teachers' introduction, in the south side of the examination hall, there was a door on the east and west side, and it was surrounded by wooden fences. The examinees had to line up in two rows and could only enter after a full body search. After entering the wooden fences, there was a large courtyard and the main entrance.

bailiffs walking around to show the exam questions. One of the bailiffs recognized Little s.h.i.+tou and specially stopped in front of him for two more seconds. After seeing the exam questions and carefully a.n.a.lyzing it, Little s.h.i.+tou thought about the questions as he grinded the ink. When the ink was ready, he began to seriously answer the questions.

The Four Books [1] and a poem with 6 five-characters rhyming verses. There was a standardized format for the t.i.tle, poem, and writing methods, and the maximum word count couldn't exceed 700 characters. Generally, for the first round, one could pa.s.s as long as the writing flowed smoothly. Only those who pa.s.sed the first round could partic.i.p.ate in the second round of the exam. For Little s.h.i.+tou, there was no need to worry about the first round.

kang bed was so warm that Sun Runze and Liu Jinye quickly fell asleep as soon as they took off their boots and snuggled into the warm quilts.

The Four Books and an essay on filial piety. In addition, they had to write down a section from Sacred Edict and Board Instructions [2] from memory. With a minimum of at least one hundred characters, they should not make any mistakes and modifications.

The Four Books and Sacred Edict and Board Instructions were very easy for Little s.h.i.+tou. He just spent more time on the theory of filial piety. After that, he just had to check his answers, transcribe the writings, and wait for the end of the exam. When the examiners saw that he had finished a long time ago, their impression of him slightly deepened.

Five Cla.s.sics [3], an essay on rhymed prose, a poem with 8 five-characters verses, and writing from memory the first two lines of Sacred Edict and Board Instructions. The last two rounds were focused on cla.s.sical text, rhythmical prose, the four forms of poetry [4], and so on.

The Four Books (四书) includes Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, a.n.a.lects of Confucius, and Mencius

Sacred Edict and Board Instructions (圣谕广训) - Instructions that describes the proper conduct and principles that the common people should abide by.

Five Cla.s.sics (五经) includes Cla.s.sic of Poetry, Book of Doc.u.ments, Book of Rites, Book of Changes, and Spring and Autumn Annals