Wu Jingzi, author of "The Scholars". "The Scholars" is an outstanding realist satirical novel in the Qing Dynasty of my country. It mainly describes the activities and mental outlook of intellectuals, officials and gentry in the late feudal society. Mr. Lu Xun rated it as "like a collection of scraps of brocade, combined into a post, although it is not huge, but sometimes rare." The "Compendium of the History of Chinese Literature" co-authored by Feng Yuanjun and Lu Kanru regarded it as "big and minor flaws". Although there is no main storyline in the whole book, there is a central theme running through it, which is to oppose the poison of the imperial examination system and feudal ethics, and to satirize the extreme hypocrisy and bad social customs caused by the passion for fame and wealth. Such ideological content undoubtedly had great practical and educational significance at the time. Coupled with its accurate, vivid and concise vernacular language, lifelike character creation, beautiful and delicate description of scenery, and excellent satirical techniques, it has also achieved great success in art. At that time, due to the limitations of the times, although the author criticized the dark reality in the book, he pinned his ideals on scholar-bureaucrats who were "excellent in both character and learning", promoted ancient rituals and music, and could not see the real way out to change Confucianism and society. , which should be criticized. [Edit this paragraph] Content introduction In the late Yuan Dynasty, there was a young man named Wang Mian in a village in Zhuji County. Because his family was poor, he had been herding cattle for others since he was a child. He was smart, enlightened, diligent and studious. The lotus he painted was lifelike and ready to be drawn, and he Well-read and talented. He is unwilling to make friends, let alone seek fame and fortune. When the county magistrate came to visit him, he avoided seeing him; when Zhu Yuanzhang offered him the position of "consulting for joining the army," he did not accept it and willingly fled to the Kuaiji Mountains to live an anonymous life. When the Ming Dynasty was founded, the system of selecting scholars in the form of eight-legged essays was implemented. Wang Mian couldn't help but sigh: Not only will this system of selecting scholars in the form of eight-part essays not be able to select real talents for the country, but also future scholars may have only this way to achieve success. Therefore, they will take learning, morality, officialdom, and retirement standards lightly. This was a generation of literati who met with misfortune! Wang Mian was a hermit who opposed the stereotyped recruitment of scholars and resigned himself to poverty. However, in the society at that time, there were too few people like Wang Mian. During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, a hundred years after Wang Mian's death, the literati followed a wrong path obsessed with imperial examination fame. At the end of the Chenghua reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, there was a teacher named Zhou Jin in Wenshang County, Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province. In order to stand out and glorify his hometown, he took part in the imperial examinations many times. However, he was over 60 years old and was not even admitted as a scholar. One day, he and his brother-in-law came to the provincial capital and walked into the Gongyuan. He was so moved by the scene that he was so sad that he hit his head on the signal board and fell unconscious. After being rescued, he rolled on the ground and cried so much that blood flowed from his mouth. Several businessmen saw that he was very pitiful, so they collected two hundred taels of silver and donated a prison student for him. He immediately kowtowed to everyone and said, "I, Zhou Jin, turned into a donkey and turned into a horse, so I have to repay the favor!" Soon, Zhou Jin passed the examination with his qualifications as a supervisor. In an instant, people who were not relatives came to recognize him as relatives, and people who were not friends came to recognize him as friends. Even the school where he taught actually enshrined the "immortality tablet" of "Mr. Zhou". A few years later, he won the Jinshi again, was promoted to the imperial censor, and was assigned to study Taoism in Guangdong. In Guangzhou, Zhou Jin discovered Fan Jin. In order to take care of this 54-year-old boy, he read Fan Jin's paper three times and finally found that it was the best article in the world, word for word, so he promoted Fan Jin to a scholar. Soon after, Fan Jin took the exam again and won the imperial examination. At that time, Fan Jin was in a similar situation to Zhou Jin, so he was looked down upon at home. His wife yelled at him, and his father-in-law scolded him in every possible way. When Fan Jin's family was worrying about being unable to open the pot and waiting to sell chickens for rice, the good news came that Fan Jin had passed the national examination. Fan Jin was found from the market. After learning the good news, he went crazy with joy. Fortunately, his father-in-law Hu Tuhu gave him a slap in the face, which woke him up and cured him of his madness. In the blink of an eye, Fan Jin's fortune changed. He not only had money, rice, and a house, but also servants and maids. Seeing this, Fan Jin's mother was so happy that her chest couldn't catch her breath, and she died in the west. Butcher Hu was also uncharacteristically saying that he had known for a long time that his son-in-law was a descendant of Wenquxing and would not be like ordinary people. He was even more respectful to Fan Jin. Later, Fan went to the capital to meet Zhou Jin. He was recommended by Zhou Jin and won the Jinshi Scholarship, and was appointed as the Shandong Scholar. Although Fan Jin became prosperous with his eight-part essay, he was only familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics. When others mentioned Su Shi, the literary giant of the Northern Song Dynasty, he thought he was a scholar from the Ming Dynasty, which made a huge joke. The imperial examination system not only cultivated a group of mediocre people, but also fostered a group of corrupt officials.

Jinshi Wang Hui was appointed as the prefect of Nanchang. The first thing he did when he took office was not to inquire about the local security, the livelihood of the people, or the grievances of the case, but to inquire about the local people, what local specialties were there, and what was involved in various cases. The local government could be accommodating; then a number one treasurer was ordered, and all the six-room book offices in the yamen were gathered together, and the remaining profits of each errand were asked, and everyone was asked to return the money to the public. From then on, the yamen was filled with the sound of clasps, abacuses, and boards all day long. The government servants and the common people were all beaten to the point of losing their wits, and they were all shaking in their sleep. But his personal creed is "Three years to clear the prefecture, and one hundred thousand snowflakes and silver." When the imperial court inspected his political achievements, they unanimously believed that he was "the most capable person in Jiangxi." Chapter Return Table of Contents "The Scholars" originally had only 55 chapters. According to Cheng Jinfang's "Poems of Reminiscence", it can be proved that Wu Jingzi had finished the manuscript when he was 49 years old, but it was not until more than ten years after the author's death that Jin Zhaoyan engraved it for him. This engraving has now been lost. The current version of the book has 56 chapters, the last of which is a forgery by later generations.

The first chapter tells the story of Chen Dayi and uses celebrities to hide the full text. The second chapter is about Wang Xiaolian's village scholar Zhou Mengshi, who came to the throne in his later years. The third chapter is about the Taoist school of Zhou Dynasty. Chapter 5: The squire is attacked by a lawsuit and something happens Good things come from a poor life. Mr. Lou meets a poor friend in his hometown. Chapter 9: Mr. Lou donates money to redeem his friend Liu Shoubei, a boatman who pretends to be his surname. Chapter 10: Lu Han and Lin Liancai choose their son-in-law, Peng Gongsun. Chapter 12 of the Recommendation of Talents in the Prime Minister's Mansion, Chapter 12 of the Great Banquet of Celebrities, and the Fake Head Meeting of the Knights and Knights. Chapter 13 of the Meeting with the Husband to Seek Merit and Enlightenment, Ma Chun's Devotion to Justice and Distribution of Wealth. Chapter 14 of the Party of Gongsun Bookstore to Farewell to a Good Friend, Ma Xiucai Meets in a Cave Chapter 15: The Burial of Immortals, Ma Xiucai, Farewell to Missing Parents, Kuang Tongsheng, Dutiful Son, Marriage, Yueqing County Xian Zai’s Lover, Chapter 17, Kuang Xiucai Returns to His Old Place, Dr. Zhao, High in the Poetry Circle, Chapter 18 Poetry Society Celebrities Bring Kuang Er to Visit a Friend's Bookstore and Meet Pan San Chapter 19 Kuang Chaoren is lucky to have a good friend Pan's career is in trouble Chapter 20 Kuang Chaoman is happy that a cowboy on Chang'an Road dies in Wuhu Pass Chapter 21 A boy who pretends to be a surname asks for help The old man is ill in memory of his relatives. Chapter 22: Acknowledging ancestors and grandsons. Yupu joins the family, making love, traveling to Xuezhai, staying as a guest. Chapter 23: The private poet is beaten and lamenting about the old scene. The widow is looking for her husband. Chapter 24: Niu Pulang is involved in many lawsuits. Chapter 25: Bao Wenqing sorting out his old life; Chapter 25: Bao Wenqing meets old Ni Tingxi in Nanjing and getting married in Anqing; Chapter 26: Investigating the promotion of a friend who was crying; Bao Tingxi lost his father and got married; Chapter 27: Mrs. Wang and his wife turned against each other; Ni Tingzhu and his brothers meet; Chapter 28: Ji Wei Xiao Yangzhou's marriage to a daughter-in-law, Xiao Jinxuan's book selection in Baixia, Chapter 29: Zhuge You meets his friend Du Shenqing in Jiangjun County, Chapter 30: Ai Shaojun visits the god of friends, is optimistic, shows off his love, meets Mochou Lake, Chapter 31: Tianchang County Chapter 32: Du Shaoqing's daily life and heroic deeds; Lou Huanwen's last words before his death; Chapter 33: Du Shaoqing and his wife went on a trip to the mountains; friends discussed rituals at Chi Hengshan; Chapter 34: Discussions on rituals and music; celebrities visit friends; prepare Gongjing Chapter 35: The Emperor seeks talents. The emperor asks for talents. Zhuang Zhengjun resigns his title and returns home. Chapter 36: Changshu County Zhenru is born. Chapter 38: Kiss Guo Xiaozi encounters a tiger in the mountains, a dew monk encounters an enemy on a narrow road, Chapter 39: Xiao Yunxian comes to the rescue, Mingyue Ridge, Ping Shaobao plays Kai Qingfengcheng, Chapter 40: Xiao Yunxian appreciates the snow in Guangwu Mountain, Shen Qiongzhi, Li Shenqiong, and sells articles on the bridge. Chapter 41: Zhuang Zhuojiang Talks about the Old Qinhuai River, Shen Qiongzhi escorts Jiangdu County to the brothel, Chapter 42: Talks about the young master’s brothel in the examination room, reports information from the Miao Jiang family, Chapter 43: General Yeyangtang’s battle with the singing and dancing chief, and robs the camp, Chapter 44 Tang Zongzhen successfully returned to his hometown. Yu Mingjing asked about the funeral over wine. Chapter 45: Friendship with brother-in-law was accepted. Kanyu returned home to bury his relatives. Chapter 46: The sage from Sanshanmen bid farewell to the snobbery of Wuhe County. Chapter 47: Yu Scholars rebuilt the Yuanwu Pavilion, Fang Salt Merchants made a fuss about festivals and filial piety, the 48th chapter of the Huizhou Prefecture, martyred women and husbands, the Taibo Temple, the legacy of the sages expressed gratitude to the old, the 49th chapter of Hanlin's talk on the dragon and tiger list, and the book pretended to occupy the fifth place in the Phoenix Pool Chapter 10: A fake official makes a fool of himself in the street. He is loyal and begs for a name on behalf of his friends. Chapter 51: A young woman deceives people and breaks the love story. A strong man is happy to be tested for official punishment. Chapter 52: A martial arts competition. A young master injures his body and destroys the hall. The hero collects debts. Chapter 53: Snow Night at the Duke's Mansion. Guests visiting the building are lanterned and dreaming. Chapter 54: A sick lady, a fortune teller in a brothel, and a celebrity brothel offering poems. Chapter 55: Four guests are added to recount past memories. A song of mountains and flowing water is played. Chapter 56: Emperor Shenzong issues an edict to the wise Liu. Shangshu was ordered to honor Wu Jingzi and "The Scholars". Wu Jingzi's life can be divided into two parts, the former and the later, based on his migration to Nanjing. In the early days, like Xiao Shan, he strayed outside the "normal" life track with his sensual lifestyle. "When I was a boy, I painted boats with nine curves in Qingxi River, and I once recorded my travels... morning and night, I spent money on Shu brocade and Wu Ling, but it was a pity to pay the price of my head." ("Buy Limt Pond") "The Wang family's head, the singing of skills and skills is carried in the spring. Wine, in the west of Baibanqiao, won the name of Qubuzhi." ("Mulanhua") Wu Jingzi is not as truly immersed in love as Xiaoshan, but more flaunts a life attitude that is not acceptable in the world. It’s not about traveling for the sake of traveling, but experiencing freedom while traveling. Hu Shi said that the Wu family's property was sold to prostitutes in Qinhuai. I think it was his intention to "sell gold and sand for a load".

Only after losing his property and breaking away from the constraints of his clan could he enter literary creation with a pure state of mind. "The owl bird's disciples in the east are still unclear about the song of Gengming"! ("Ode to the Moving Family") When the 33-year-old Wu Jingbang moved to Nanjing with no money, he was already "passed down as a disciple" in the eyes of his tribe. spendthrift". When it came to the point where "it rained for three days, and there was no money in the stove," he still refused to take Fu Xuehong's Ci examination. When "the elders murmured bitterly" and interfered with his freedom, he "crossed his hands to thank the elders, his eyebrows were like a halberd and his voice was like a tiger's". [45] His "idiosyncratic", "dianhan", and "hidden inclusion" remained unchanged throughout his life, how similar to Xiao Yan! "The Scholars" lists Wang Mian as the "celebrity" who "hidden the full text". The reason why he has such great ability is because he is an "upright and upright" person and an "interesting" person. Wang Mian is both a childlike cowherd and a talented freak. When he painted lotuses, "the spirit and color of the lotus are all the same" because he himself is a lotus that emerges from the mud but remains unstained. "In the season when the flowers are bright and the willows are beautiful, my mother is taken in an ox-cart. He wears a high hat and a wide coat, holds a whip, sings songs, and plays around in the country town and the lakeside, causing trouble. He didn't even look down on the rural nobles who followed him in groups and laughed. "This is so self-indulgent and naive! Faced with the threat of "wiping out the county magistrate", Wang Mian would rather sleep in the open and flee. Nor would he bow his head. He lives far away from his hut but cares about the people in the world. He explains the essence of buying shares and getting an official position in one sentence: "This method is not well decided! In the future, scholars will have a road to prosperity, and they will take the source of their literature lightly. "Father Fengsi seems to be a good character in the novel, but in fact he is a key figure. According to research, the prototype of Feng Si's father is the knight Gan Fengchi. [46] Li Wei, the governor of Zhejiang Province at that time, described Gan Fengchi in his memorial: “I hate this group of thugs who fabricate falsehoods and stir up feelings. It is impossible to allow them to slip through the net. I think carefully about the people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang who do good deeds and do evil things. More than Gan Fengchi and other criminals who have been captured now." ("Yongzheng Zhu Pi's Edict") Regarding such a rebel, Wu Jingbang sincerely praised: "The government severely punishes the secret network, and how many scholar-bureaucrats bend their knees when they see it, you are a commoner. , treat them like mustards, this is respectable!" "The Scholars" concludes with the stories of the four great wonders. When "all the celebrities in Nanjing were gradually sold out", strange people appeared in the middle of the market. Ji Yunian could write, "but he refused to learn from the ancients' calligraphy. He just wrote in his own style using his own pen." "If he is unwilling, let your prince, general, and prime minister give him a lot of money, and he will not even look at it." He scolded Yushi Shi in the face like this: "Who are you? How dare you ask me to write! I am not greedy for your money, nor do I admire your power, nor do I borrow your light. How dare you call me When I started writing, I was able to predict my independent personality and high-spiritedness. Wu Jingzi regarded the "Four Great Strange Men" as first-rate figures who "recounted the past and reflected on the past." The scholarly world was in shambles, but there was a shining personality in the market place. Wu Jingzi had quietly changed. Why can he maintain his independence of personality and freedom of mind in the market? Jing Yuan, a tailor, can play the piano, write, and also likes to write poetry. A friend asked him: "You want to do something." Yaren, why do you still want to be a noble person like yours? Why don't you get along with the people in some schools?" He said: "I don't want to be a Yaren, it's just because I have similar temperaments, so I often study. As for our despicable business, it was inherited from our grandfather. Isn't it defiled by reading, writing, and becoming a tailor? Besides, those friends in school have other ideas, so how can they be willing to get along with us! Now I get six or seven cents of silver every day, and I want to play the piano when I'm full. To write, everything is up to me. He doesn’t covet people’s wealth, and he doesn’t serve people’s looks. He doesn’t care about heaven and earth, but the words of Happy Factory are truly earth-shattering. Wu Jingzi realized that behind personal independence is economic independence. In the scholarly world covered by the power network, there are only vassals like wall-climbing vines, and independent people like Yuan Yanshangsong. The people in the market held a profession that was despised by the scholar-bureaucrats, but in this profession they gained real economic independence. What a "everything is up to me"! Even if a scholar reaches the highest position like Zaifu, he would not dare to say such big words. Wu Jingzi breaks through the traditional moral judgment and reveals the economic basis that produces "wonderful people". No one had realized this before. Wang Mian appears at the beginning, Father Feng Si appears in the middle, and four strange people appear at the end. This is the author's careful arrangement. They are all ordinary people without any social status and free from the ruling order.

Their cleanliness, ancient ways, and indifferent aspirations are in sharp contrast to the ugly scholars and officialdom. As Hu Shi said in "A Critical Biography of Wu Jingzi": "Not giving you official positions is the only way for an autocratic monarch to trap talented people. Wonderful method. There is only one way to resist this vicious cage: to promote a new social psychology, to make people aware of the ugliness of career and the ugliness of officials; to make people feel that "people" are more valuable than "officials". Personality is more valuable than wealth. If you develop this kind of mentality in society, you will not be afraid of the emperor's vicious tactics of "not giving you an official position." And the purpose of "The Scholars" is just to cultivate this kind of social mentality. ” However, this kind of social psychology is difficult to develop after all. Wu Jingzi, the upright prodigal son, is lonely, and so are the strange people in his works. Jing Yuan was a close friend and played the piano with the old man. "After playing for a while, he suddenly heard the sound of changing the emblem, which was sad and clear. When the old man heard the subtleties, he burst into tears without realizing it." When readers read this, they cover their books and think deeply, and are afraid that they will "cry in sorrow"! [Edit this paragraph] Hu Shi's "Critical Biography of Wu Jingzi" Among the vast sea of ??Chinese classical novels, Lu Xun praised him as "great". There are only two books, one of which is "The Scholars" by Wu Jingzi. "The Scholars" is about the scholar class. In ancient China, the so-called scholars were not only the world of intellectuals, but also the officialdom. This is a book that criticizes intellectuals. It can also be said to be a book that exposes the obscurity of officialdom. In this way, in contemporary China, there is indeed a need to re-read "The Scholars". The author Wu Jingzi (1701-1754 AD) grew up in a large family with a "prominent family" in Quanjiao County, Anhui Province on the north bank of the Yangtze River. The great-grandfather and grandfather had a prosperous official career. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was a period of 50 years when "the family was at its peak". However, his own grandfather had little fame among his peers and died young; he was given an heir to the eldest brother Wu Linqi, his adoptive father. Wu Linqi only served as a county magistrate for a few years, and later lost his official position because he offended his superiors. Ended in depression. Wu Jingzi lost his mother at the age of 13 and his father at the age of 23. He was neither enthusiastic about fame nor despised money. He was squandering freely and generously. Within a few years, he squandered the family property left by the previous generation to the point that "the fields and houses were all gone". "Sell", "slaves run away and scattered", and for a time "it was passed down in the countryside as a warning to the children" ("Reduced Words Mulanhua·Gengxu New Year's Eve Guests"). In addition, he failed in the examination room, which was very exciting. "How can I temporarily open my eyebrows?" After returning to his hometown, he could not bear the cold reception, so he moved to Nanjing in the eleventh year of Yongzheng's reign. From this time until his death in Yangzhou at the age of 54, he mainly lived by selling his articles and giving money to friends. It was also during this period that he completed the masterpiece "The Scholars". Wu Jingzi has been in a social environment of a distinguished family since childhood, but the family he grew up in has been in decline, and suddenly fell into poverty after middle age. In the process of "gradual" and "sudden" family decline that he experienced throughout his life, he lived for a long time in his hometown of Quanjiao County, Ganyu County in northern Jiangsu (where his father worked), and Nanjing. He traveled to Yangzhou, Anqing, Wuhu and other cities; judging from the relationship between generations of the clan and his own interpersonal relationships, he came into contact with a wide range of scholar-bureaucrats and knew many people well. The faces he saw, the warmth and cold he felt, the people he experienced, and the world he experienced were all extremely rich and profound. This cultivated his keen sense of justice and clear mind to appreciate reality, enabling him to see through the depravity and shamelessness of the gentry class under the dark rule of the Qing Dynasty, as well as the evils of politics and the corruption of society. It is this life experience that has become the direct source of Wu Jingzi's serious realism spirit. "The Scholars" carried out ruthless lashing and tearful criticism of the scholar class. Mr. Lu Xun once said that "The Scholars" "upholds a public spirit and points out the ills of the times. It is sharp and sharp, especially in the scholarly world; its writing is both humorous and humorous, tactful and full of satire." Through the exposure of all kinds of absurd phenomena that are disharmonious, contrary to human nature, and contrary to common sense, it is injected into the description of the characters' boasting, boasting, being smart, self-defeating, deceiving the world, claiming to be noble, self-contradictory, etc. As Gogol said: "Our liars, our monsters! ... let everyone laugh! Laughter is so great, it does not take away lives or property, but in front of it, you will bow your head and admit your sin, like A tied rabbit." The satirical art of "The Scholars" has a clear purpose, that is, "the author's intention is to awaken the world, not to scold the world." Although the author tries his best to satirize, he wants to save the group being satirized. As the saying goes, "The good ones inspire people's kindness; the evil ones punish people's ambitions."

The author describes the tragic fate of many scholars under the eight-part essay system with compassion, and then unfolds a social picture of the feudal imperial examination era, criticizing the decadence of the system and the darkness of society, making "The Scholars" become China's A hallmark of classical satire. "The Scholars" has always been evaluated as a masterpiece of classical realism, that is, it is a realist work. Many of its stories and characters are directly derived from life. Mr. Lu Xun once said in "A Brief History of Chinese Novels": "Most of the characters in The Scholars are real people, and their names are represented by pictographic harmonics and Yu's cryptic words." "The Scholars" is good at it. Using the writing method of "Pi Li Yang Qiu", that is, "the mouth has nothing to say, but the heart has praise and blame". The author's opinions are not directly presented to the readers, but are expressed in subtle ways in the shaping of specific images. Zhou Jin and Fan Jin's success in the imperial examination, Kuang Chaoren's transformation, Du Shaoqing's heroic deeds, and Mr. Ma Er's pedantry, all of these express profound and rich thoughts through specific plots. The author does not directly commend or criticize us, but each image is full of praise and criticism with great power, conveying the author's clear view of justice. We must experience and understand it from the correlation and development of various images in different periods and on different occasions. This is a realistic narrative style. Another artistic feature of the book is the sketched and silhouetted characters. "The Scholars" is a novel with constantly changing protagonists, or a novel composed of countless short stories. It is basically impossible to describe his life experience in detail and express the characters in the twists and turns of the plot. character traits and spiritual world. Therefore, Wu Jingzi focused on the most dazzling characteristics of people's personalities, thereby expressing a relatively static life phase in depth and detail. This is like taking a fragment from the character's long personality development history, and then letting it go around in front of people, magnifying "this one" here and now. This is an excellent way to outline satirical characters. It makes the characters bright in color and the plot flows quickly, as if the story ends once the character's facial makeup is sketched, and it is these exquisite craftsmanship that leave a deep impression on the readers. Extracted wonderful plot. [Edit this paragraph] The contents of other Chinese textbooks for the Hong Kong Secondary School Entrance Examination from 1993 to 2006 "Fan Jin passed the examination" are taken from part of the third chapter of this work "Zhouxue Taoist School Recognizes Real Talents, and Hu Butchers Commit Murder and Find Successful Reports" content. [Edit this paragraph] Derived headings: Boasting and talking Headings: Boasting and talking Pronunciation: kuā kuā ér tán Definition: To describe speaking that is exaggerated and unrealistic. Source: Chapter 11 of "The Scholars" by Wu Jingzi of the Qing Dynasty: "After entering the study door, I heard Yang Zhizhong chatting inside. Knowing that he had arrived, I went in to bow to him and sit down together." Example: Wu Zhengfu didn't comment for now and just let Tang Yunshan do it. Generosity and righteousness Heading: generosity and righteousness Pronunciation: kāng kǎi zhàng yì Definition: generosity and righteousness: speaking of loyalty. Help others without hesitation for the sake of friendship or justice. Source: Chapter 20 of "The Scholars" by Wu Jingzi of the Qing Dynasty: "I like you doing such generous and righteous things, but I also have to look at the kind of person who speaks." Example: Brother Huang~, Brother Although he is weak, he can still help him with little help. (★Chapter 9 of "The Romance of Hong Xiuquan" by Huang Xiaopei of the Qing Dynasty) Scholars (1) In the late Yuan Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty by Wu Jingzi, there was a young man named Wang Mian in a village in Zhuji County. Because his family was poor, he had been herding cattle for others since he was a child. , smart and enlightened, diligent and eager to learn, the lotus he painted is lifelike and vivid, and he is well-read and talented. He is unwilling to make friends, let alone seek fame and fortune. When the county magistrate came to visit him, he avoided seeing him; when Zhu Yuanzhang offered him the position of "consulting for joining the army," he did not accept it and willingly fled to the Kuaiji Mountains to live an anonymous life. When the Ming Dynasty was founded, the system of selecting scholars in the form of eight-legged essays was implemented. Wang Mian couldn't help but sigh: Not only will this system of selecting scholars in the form of eight-part essays not be able to select real talents for the country, but also future scholars may have only this way to achieve success. Therefore, they will take learning, morality, officialdom, and retirement standards lightly. This was a generation of literati who met with misfortune! Wang Mian was a hermit who opposed the stereotyped recruitment of scholars and resigned himself to poverty. However, in the society at that time, there were too few people like Wang Mian. During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, a hundred years after Wang Mian's death, the literati followed a wrong path obsessed with imperial examination fame.

At the end of the Chenghua reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, there was a teacher named Zhou Jin in Wenshang County, Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province. In order to stand out and glorify his hometown, he took part in the imperial examinations many times. However, he was over 60 years old and was not even admitted as a scholar. One day, he and his brother-in-law came to the provincial capital and walked into the Gongyuan. He was so moved by the scene that he was so sad that he hit his head on the signal board and fell unconscious. After being rescued, he rolled on the ground and cried so much that blood flowed from his mouth. Several businessmen saw that he was very pitiful, so they collected two hundred taels of silver and donated a prison student for him. He immediately kowtowed to everyone and said, "I, Zhou Jin, turned into a donkey and turned into a horse, so I have to repay the favor!" Soon, Zhou Jin passed the examination with his qualifications as a supervisor. In an instant, people who were not relatives came to recognize him as relatives, and people who were not friends came to recognize him as friends. Even the school where he taught actually enshrined the "immortality tablet" of "Mr. Zhou". A few years later, he won the Jinshi again, was promoted to the imperial censor, and was assigned to study Taoism in Guangdong. In Guangzhou, Zhou Jin discovered Fan Jin. In order to take care of this 54-year-old boy, he read Fan Jin's paper three times and finally found that it was the best article in the world, word for word, so he promoted Fan Jin to a scholar. Soon after, Fan Jin took the exam again and won the imperial examination. At that time, Fan Jin was in a similar situation to Zhou Jin, so he was looked down upon at home. His wife yelled at him, and his father-in-law scolded him in every possible way. When Fan Jin's family was worrying about being unable to open the pot and waiting to sell chickens for rice, the good news came that Fan Jin had passed the national examination. Fan Jin was found from the market. After learning the good news, he went crazy with joy. Fortunately, his father-in-law Hu Tuhu gave him a slap in the face, which woke him up and cured him of his madness. In the blink of an eye, Fan Jin's fortune changed. He not only had money, rice, and a house, but also servants and maids. Seeing this, Fan Jin's mother was so happy that her chest couldn't catch her breath, and she died in the west. Butcher Hu was also uncharacteristically saying that he had known for a long time that his son-in-law was a descendant of Wenquxing and would not be like ordinary people. He was even more respectful to Fan Jin. Later, Fan went to the capital to meet Zhou Jin. He was recommended by Zhou Jin and won the Jinshi Scholarship, and was appointed as the Shandong Scholar. Although Fan Jin became prosperous with his eight-part essay, he was only familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics. When others mentioned Su Shi, the literary giant of the Northern Song Dynasty, he thought he was a scholar from the Ming Dynasty, which made a huge joke. The imperial examination system not only cultivated a group of mediocre people, but also fostered a group of corrupt officials. Jinshi Wang Hui was appointed as the prefect of Nanchang. The first thing he did when he took office was not to inquire about the local security, the livelihood of the people, or the grievances of the case, but to inquire about the local people, what local specialties were there, and what was involved in various cases. The local government could be accommodating; then a number one treasurer was ordered, and all the six-room book offices in the yamen were gathered together, and the remaining profits of each errand were asked, and everyone was asked to return the money to the public. From then on, the yamen was filled with the sound of clasps, abacuses, and boards all day long. The government servants and the common people were all beaten to the point of losing their wits, and they were all shaking in their sleep. But his personal creed is "Three years to clear the prefecture, and one hundred thousand snowflakes and silver." When the imperial court inspected his political achievements, they unanimously believed that he was "the most capable person in Jiangxi." Tang Feng, the magistrate of Gaoyao County, strictly enforced various imperial decrees in order to show that he was clean and honest in government. The imperial court had a ban on killing farm cattle. Tang Feng, without asking the reason, actually shackles his father, a Muslim teacher who was doing beef business, to death. The people were filled with indignation and went on strike to strike the market. After the incident. Not only did the Ancha Division not punish Tang Feng, but they accused the Hui victims of "treacherous men holding the government hostage and punishing them according to the law." Such an "incorruptible" magistrate actually plundered eight thousand taels of silver in one year. Officials were corrupt and perverted the law, and under the Eight-Part Examination system, local tyrants and evil gentry also ran amok. Zhang Jingzhai, who was born in Juren, was a tyrant in the South China Sea. He colluded with the government and took advantage of others. In order to occupy the temple's property, he instigated seven or eight gangsters to falsely accuse the monk of adultery with a woman, so that the monk was in court without any explanation. Yan Zhihe, a prison student in Gaoyao County, is a rich man who regards money as everything and has a huge fortune. He was so sick that he couldn't eat enough, was bedridden, and was dying. He still kept thinking about harvesting early rice in the fields, and sent the servants in charge of the village to the countryside. He was worried and just impatient. He was stingy by nature, and his family's rice granary was rotten, and there were many cattle and horses. However, he was reluctant to buy a pound of pork in ordinary times. When he was dying, he still refused to die because there was an extra light bulb in the lamp. His elder brother Gongsheng Yan Zhizhong was even more of a villain running rampant in the countryside. He forced his neighbor Wang Xiaoer's pig into a pen, and when others came to take it away, he committed murder and broke Wang Xiaoer's brother's legs. He went around blackmailing people, not lending money to others, but forcing them to pay interest; he threatened the boatman by pretending that the cloud cake was a valuable medicine, and lost a few cents of the boat money.

After Yan Jiansheng's death, as his elder brother, he forced his sister-in-law to adopt his second son as his son, and attempted to seize his brother's property. He also claimed that this was "a rightful title, but in our country gentry family, these great gifts are not allowed to go wrong." . The imperial examination system created a group of social worms and poisoned the entire society. In Yueqing County, Wenzhou Prefecture, there was a farmer named Kuang Chaoren. He was originally simple and honest. In order to support his parents, he went out to do small business and lived in Hangzhou. Later, I met Mr. Ma Er, who printed eight-part essays. Mr. Ma Er gave him ten taels of silver and encouraged him to study and make progress. After Kuang Chaoren returned home, he did small business while studying eight-part essay. Soon he was appreciated by Li Zhixian and was promoted to be a scholar. In order to pursue higher fame and wealth, he worked harder to learn and write eight-legged essays. Unexpectedly, something happened to the county magistrate. To avoid being implicated, he fled to Hangzhou. Here, he got acquainted with Jing Lanjiang, the owner of a scarf shop who pretended to be a celebrity, and Pan Sanye, an official in the government office, and learned the skills of taking exams on behalf of others and handling lawsuits. And because of Mr. Ma Er's relationship, he became the "selector" of eight-part essays, and boasted that he had printed 95 anthologies of eight-part essays. Everyone was vying to buy them. People who studied in the five provinces had them on their desks. "The divine position of Kuangzi, the first Confucian scholar".