Chapter 12

The Dao test was conducted in rounds of twenty people, and by the time all three hundred-plus candidates were finished, it was already evening. According to the unified examination's procedures, the literary test would be completed on the second day.

After a night of silence, early the next morning, Wei Yuan was brought to a brightly lit hall. Tables, chairs, and the four treasures of the study were already set up in the hall; just like the Dao test, as soon as Wei Yuan entered, he saw his number flickering on a table.

Wei Yuan walked over and sat down, feeling as if an invisible wall had risen around him, isolating all sound and noise. He could not hear the voices of others, and the surrounding scenery became blurred; even at the neighboring table, he could not see what was written on the paper.

The setup on the desk was very simple: a sheet of white paper was placed in the center, a brush rack was on the right with a fine-tipped brush, and an inkstone and a bowl of clear water were in the center of the desk. Then, the Daoist's clear voice sounded beside Wei Yuan, briefly explaining the use of the stationery. The main wonder was the bowl of clear water; if one wrote a character wrong, one could dip the brush in the clear water to wipe it away and rewrite it.

After explaining the use of the stationery, the Daoist's voice turned majestic: "The literary test, begin!"

Following the Daoist's voice, lines of dense text appeared on the white paper before Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan had originally picked up the brush, but he was startled to see the test paper appear; there was basically no blank space on the paper—where was he supposed to write his answers?

Wei Yuan steadied himself and read the questions carefully. He saw the first question was:

In the thirteenth year of Jingxuan, () blocked Emperor Hui's carriage and presented the "Eight Strategies for Pacifying Liao."

A: Zhong Heng B: Ding Shu C: Gongshu Luyuan D: Daoist Xianju

Wei Yuan had never seen such a question, and Zhang Sheng had never taught it. Fortunately, the question was not actually difficult; this was a major event in the Tang History, and Wei Yuan's basic skills were solid. Searching his memory, he picked up his brush and put a checkmark next to D.

Then came the second question: In the thirty-fifth year of Mingde, () led eight thousand one hundred armored soldiers to crush the mountain people at Ji, beheading two hundred seventy-three.

A: Maogong B: Xu Chu C: Master Huihai D: Hani Kezi

This question did not stump Wei Yuan, who knew the Tang History by heart; he saw the two characters "Xu Chu" at a glance and put a checkmark next to B. After answering this question, the pounding heart of little Wei Yuan gradually calmed down. Although the question type was strange, the difficulty was not high; if all the questions were like this, the literary test would be a giveaway.

However, a strange thought suddenly surfaced in Wei Yuan's mind: what if this question wasn't testing Xu Chu, but the thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth, or thirty-sixth year of Mingde, or even worse, testing whether the number of armored soldiers was eight thousand one or eight thousand two, or even testing whether the beheadings were two hundred seventy-three or seventy-four...

Little Wei Yuan suddenly shivered, hurriedly waving this terrible thought out of his mind, and then laughed to himself, thinking, who would be so idiotic as to create such stupid questions?

Wei Yuan gradually calmed his mind and answered fluently. The subsequent questions did not contain the content that had frightened him.

After finishing one page, Wei Yuan set it aside, and new white paper would appear on the table with new questions.

Soon, Wei Yuan encountered another type of question he had never seen before: In the twenty-first year of Xuanwu, Emperor Taizong of Tang defeated Northern Liao at (), recovered seven thousand li of land, and established () Prefecture.

This time there were no options A, B, C, or D; he had to fill it in himself.

This battle was the battle that established the Tang Dynasty; Taizong fought for seven months, finally defeating Northern Liao at Wuyang, beheading two of Northern Liao's three great national masters, and establishing the seven prefectures of Yan Prefecture. Of course, the current Yan Prefecture had twenty-two prefectures, but that was a later story.

Such a major event did not stump Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan picked up his brush and wrote, each character upright and vigorous. He discovered that the brush in his hand also had its mysteries; the strokes could be extremely fine, and it didn't matter if the characters were as small as rice grains. The brush Wei Yuan used as a child couldn't do that; characters the size of beans would easily blur into a mess.

Wei Yuan wrote furiously, and the pile of test papers beside the table grew higher and higher. After answering more than a dozen pages, the new white paper that appeared only had one line of text, with the rest left blank:

Discuss Xu Jie's presentation of the "Book of Recruiting the Virtuous" to Emperor Ming.

A policy essay!

Wei Yuan's spirit was immediately lifted; the familiar had finally arrived.

Xu Jie was a famous prime minister in the early Tang Dynasty who presented the "Book of Recruiting the Virtuous" to Emperor Ming, who had recently ascended the throne, suggesting the opening of more channels to widely recruit talented people, which laid the foundation for the next hundred years of prosperity. This question was actually testing the strategy of employing people, the issue of whether to employ people based on virtue or talent.

Wei Yuan pondered for a moment, his brush moving like a dragon or snake, and he began to write. When Zhang Sheng taught him, he not only required Wei Yuan to memorize the "Book of Recruiting the Virtuous" but also interpreted it line by line, explaining the actual impact of each point in combination with the historical facts of the time, and finally had Wei Yuan think about how the strategies in the book would change in different eras, only stopping when Wei Yuan could answer everything.

There was no fixed answer to this kind of question; according to what Zhang Sheng taught, one needed to combine it with the general situation of the time to answer correctly. Anything detached from the situation of the time was empty talk.

In a short while, Wei Yuan had written a full page, set it aside, and began to look at the next question:

In the tenth year of Xuanguang, there was an earthquake in the three prefectures of Western Jin; in the third month, starving people rose in rebellion, and in the fifth month, southern mountain people invaded. General Fan Yuan led fifty thousand troops to leave the capital; should he advance west or head south?

This question tested whether to repel external threats first or pacify internal unrest first; in fact, there was no consensus. In historical fact, Fan Yuan advanced west to suppress the disaster victims, beheading hundreds of thousands, but the unrest was not quelled; the mountain people took advantage of the chaos to invade, pressing straight toward the capital, finally forcing Western Jin to sign a treaty under the city walls. Western Jin's national strength was greatly reduced, and it went from being one of the three great vassal states to the bottom of the nine nations.

This question was relatively difficult. Wei Yuan pondered for a moment, found some real cases from history books as references, and began to discuss the pros and cons.

To truly answer well, besides using history as a mirror, one had to be familiar with the geographical environment of Western Jin at the time, the characteristics of the monarch and his ministers, and the movements of the surrounding nations, which was far beyond Wei Yuan's ability. Unless one was a great historian, one could not answer this question well.

Sheet after sheet of white paper was filled with text and set aside; unknowingly, nearly two hours had passed, but Wei Yuan did not feel the slightest fatigue. The chair he sat on continuously emitted wisps of coolness, allowing him to remain clear-headed and full of energy.

When Wei Yuan finished writing another sheet of white paper and set it aside, no new white paper appeared on the table. Wei Yuan let out a breath, put the brush back on the rack, picked up the completed test papers, and flipped through them again. Throughout the entire examination, Wei Yuan did not encounter a single question he couldn't answer; there were a few policy essays that had no consensus, but Wei Yuan kept in mind to justify his own arguments and was quite satisfied with his answers.

Looking at the policy essays alone, the questions Zhang Sheng had given Wei Yuan in the past were much harder than this examination.

A bell rang, and the literary test ended.

The candidates left their test papers on the tables, filed out of the hall, and returned to their dormitories to rest.

Leaving the hall, Wei Yuan immediately felt a clear sense of exhaustion wash over him. After three full hours of the literary test, even with the support of the treasure chair, Wei Yuan had exhausted his spirit. The other candidates also had no desire to talk and hurried back to their respective rooms to rest. Tomorrow morning was the martial test, and they needed to conserve their energy.

(End of chapter)