According to historical records, the Qing Dynasty produced a total of 114 champions, one of whom was very interesting, and his story was spread everywhere in Beijing at that time, and everyone called him "steamed bun champion".
It is said that when he participated in the palace examination, he held a sack of steamed buns, which was seen by Kangxi, who was not angry and rejoiced, and appointed him as a champion on the spot.
So, who is this interesting person? What happened to him?
Teenage years
His name is Li Pan, a native of Xuzhou, Jiangsu, who lost his father at an early age, and although his family was poor, his mother understood the righteousness and insisted on sending him to school.
In order not to disappoint his mother, Li Pan studied very hard and read by candlelight every night. Kung Fu lived up to the hard work, and at the age of 28, Li Pan successfully passed the county, prefectural and hospital examinations.
Because of his outstanding test results, he was rated as a first-class Xiucai, and had the status of "meritorious name", and from then on, he could receive monthly grain and rice from the imperial court to subsidize his family.
His mother was very happy, made him a large table of dishes, and invited relatives and friends to come to celebrate, and at the table, her mother encouraged him to continue to work hard, strive for a championship, and glorify the lintel.
Li Pan had other ideas, watching his mother work in the fields during the day and stay up late to weave cloth at night in order to provide for him to study, he felt very guilty in his heart and had the idea of giving up in his heart.
When my mother found out, she was very angry and did not eat or drink for several days, and said to him: "Your greatest filial piety to me is to give me a test for a champion, and I can also go to see your father with peace of mind after I die." ”
Raise people in the exam
Li Pan couldn't resist his mother, so he had to redouble his efforts to study, and eight years later, he decided to go to the province to participate in the township examination.
The township examination is an examination for selecting "lifting people", and if you can pass the exam, you can become a lifter, you can get a ticket to the officialdom, and you have the opportunity to embark on the career path.
Li Pan lived up to his mother's expectations, performed well in the rural examination, successfully advanced, and became a lifter, this year he was 36 years old.
The Road to Champions
After becoming a lifter, he began to challenge the highest peak of ancient readers, the meeting test. The examination is held every three years, and talents from all over the world gather together to wait for the imperial court to choose.
It is not easy to participate in the exam, because the location of the exam is in the capital, and Li Pan's home is thousands of miles away. How to get to Beijing is a big problem!
When the local wealthy businessmen heard about this, they all expressed their willingness to sponsor Li Pan's travel expenses, but they were all rejected by him, because he understood that eating people with soft mouths and short hands took them, and if they took one point today, they would need to pay it back with ten points tomorrow.
Seeing her son so worried, her mother took out a jar, which contained the money she had accumulated over the past 30 years by weaving a little bit, about 20 taels, which should barely cover the cost of entering Beijing.
Li Pan looked at the copper plates in the jar, and made up his mind that he must pass the exam, glorify the lintel, and repay his mother's painstaking efforts.
In the end, Li Pan left 10 taels of silver to his mother and wife. He did not buy a horse and walked to the capital on foot.
The mother was worried that her son would not be able to eat in order to save money, so she steamed a lot of steamed buns for him and packed them in a sack.
Li Pan reluctantly said goodbye to his mother and wife, and just like that, a person, a staff, and a sack, walked in the direction of the capital.
Along the way, Li Panfeng slept in the open, ate a few steamed buns when hungry, went to the river to scoop a bowl of water to drink when he was thirsty, and studied hard in the uninhabited broken temple at night.
It took Li Pan three months to reach the capital. Along the way, he not only saw the different customs and folklore of various places, but also learned a lot about the economy, military and so on of various places.
When he arrived in the capital, Li Pan seemed to be a beggar, and everyone laughed at him: "Just like you, you still come to take the exam, and you still want to win the championship, dream." ”
In the face of their ridicule, Li Pan ignored it, and soon it was the day of the exam, his entanglement was almost exhausted, he bought all the money he had into steamed buns, put it in his sack, and walked into the examination room.
In ancient times, as in today's exams, in order to prevent candidates from cheating, strict checks were carried out before entering the examination room. When it was Li Pan's turn, the examiner in charge of the inspection was stunned, he had proctored the exam all his life, and he had never seen anyone carrying a sack into the examination room.
The examiner carefully checked and found that there were really only 36 steamed buns in the sack, and there were no other cheating things, so although the examiner was surprised, he still put Li Pan into the examination room.
So, why did Li Pan go to the test with a sack of steamed buns?
It turned out that the ancient examination, unlike the current exam, took three days. And these three days can only stay in the examination room, eating, drinking and Lasa can not leave.
So every candidate entered with luggage and food boxes, and Li Pan could not afford to buy food boxes because he had no money, so he could only hold a sack of steamed buns to the exam.
Li Pan is a chronic child, he did not answer the question immediately, but thought about the topic for two days, and only began to answer the question on the last day.
Li Pan has a habit of eating while writing articles. So, he wrote from morning to evening, waiting until the 36 steamed buns were eaten, and the question was not finished.
The examiner came over to close the papers, and Li Pan begged the examiner to give him another quarter of an hour, saying that it was not that he could not answer the questions, but that he did not have enough time.
The examiner saw him pitiful, allowed his request, extended his time, and brought him some steamed buns, and in the end, Li Pan successfully completed the exam.
This matter soon spread throughout the capital, and even the Kangxi Emperor heard about it, so he summoned the examiner to inquire, and the examiner answered truthfully, and showed Li Pan's examination paper to Kangxi, who appreciated it very much after reading it. The day of the list came, and Li Pan was indeed on the list.
After getting the news, Li Pan left the temple where he worked during this time, and entered the palace with a sack of steamed buns for the palace examination.
When everyone saw Li Pan's appearance, they talked about it, but he was unmoved. After the emperor sent down the exam questions, Li Pan still thought first and then answered.
The temple examination is different from the conference examination, which mainly examines the eight strands of literature, while the temple examination focuses on policy theory. Strategy is to express one's own views on the country's current affairs, politics, military, people's livelihood, etc.
Li Pan benefited from what he had seen all the way from his hometown to the capital, and he wrote like a god, writing hard, of course, he still ate steamed buns while answering questions.
At sunset, he finished answering all the questions, and Kangxi also walked in, and the first thing he saw was this Li Pan holding a sack for the exam.
Kangxi was very happy and asked the people around him to show him his strategy. Li Pan's theories were both thoughtful and brilliant, and Kangxi spoke highly of him.
Kangxi walked to Li Pan, picked up the sack beside him, and asked why. So, Li Pan simply and frankly told his story to Kangxi.
Kangxi was very moved when he heard this, and said to him: "Although Ru is poor, the people who read books are not happy. On the same day, he personally wrote Ru Ding, and Ru Bi Zhong Yuan. ”
The fragrance of plum blossoms came from the bitter cold, and Li Pan finally became the champion of Kangxi for 36 years at the age of 43.
Framed
I thought that Li Pan would be able to rise to the top in the future, but he never thought that his straightforward personality caused him to suffer a fatal blow as soon as he entered the career path.
Because of his outstanding work performance during his time in the Hanlin Academy, Kangxi appointed him as the chief examiner to preside over the Shuntianfu Township Examination.
As the chief examiner, Li Pan naturally became the target of the powerful people, but he was upright by nature, never accepted bribes, and was even more unwilling to join these moths of the Qing Dynasty, so he was hated by these people.
Because Li Pan was too young and lacked experience in political struggle, in the end, he fell into the net woven for him by the enemy, and he was slandered, and it was rumored that he had engaged in favoritism and cheating during the main examination, and accepted bribes of 10,000 taels of silver.
The news of Li Pan's bribery spread all over the place, and for a while there was a storm in the city, and some candidates who failed the list reported it one after another.
Kangxi was furious when he learned of this, demanded a strict investigation, and personally arranged for all candidates to be reviewed, and it turned out that Li Pan was not favoritism, and the students he admitted were once again on the list. Afterwards, it was also found out that Li Pan's bribery was also false. However, public opinion has long determined that Li Pan and others have taken bribes and committed fraud.
However, how could those powerful people easily let Li Pan go, they used their power and wealth to make Kong Shangren, the great playwright at the time, write a play called "The Legend of Tongtianbang", which was used to allude to the fraud in the imperial examination presided over by Li Pan, which soon caused a sensation in the capital, and Li Pan was pushed to the cusp of public opinion.
The matter of fraud in the science field has always been concerned by the people, extremely sensitive, and mishandled, which can easily cause rebellion among readers. In order to calm the anger of the people as soon as possible, Kangxi dismissed Li Pan from his post and exiled him. Three years later, Li Pan was pardoned and returned to his hometown, where he wrote books behind closed doors until his death.
Three years later, things calmed down, and Li Pan was pardoned and returned to his hometown in Xuzhou.
Later life
At this time, although Li Pan already knew the truth of the wrongful case, he could not recover the lost time and opportunity. He knows that life is not easy, and a momentary grievance may affect the development of his life, so he cherishes the opportunities in front of him and strives to strive for his dreams.
He began to express his inner struggle and pursuit in poetry, and sought spiritual liberation through the expression of words.
Li Pan spent 20 years to write the book "Li Pan's Poetry Collection", which was highly respected at the time, and he showed his thinking and pursuit of life and life through poetry and song.
As he wrote in his poems: "After the red dust and shocking monologue, the ice exercise does not change the jade to rely on" Li Pan uses poetry to highlight his perseverance and perseverance, whether it is setbacks or achievements, he always adheres to his ideas and beliefs, and is not swayed by the world's vision.
After that, he also opened a lecture, and students from all over the world came to admire Li Pan as their teacher. Many of these students eventually became the mainstay of the Qing Dynasty.
Although Li Pan failed in his career, his book "Li Pan's Collected Poems" influenced generations of people, although he could not personally serve the country, but he cultivated countless pillars for the country. Li Pan's life is worthy of the title of "champion".
His story tells us that the road of life is always ups and downs, and sometimes we will be wronged or unjustly treated, but we cannot give up our dreams and talents, and only by sticking to our beliefs and pursuits can we achieve a peerless legend.