Wang Zhenzhong
Once upon a time, there was a proverb in Huizhou, called "born in Yangzhou, played in Suzhou, died in Huizhou". This is to say that the salt merchants in Yangzhou are mostly from Huizhou (especially Shexian County), and their sons were later born in Yangzhou, so they are said to be "born in Yangzhou"; "play in Suzhou" or "play in Hangzhou", which means "there is heaven on the top, Suzhou and Hangzhou under the bottom", Suzhou City is flourishing, Hangzhou Lake and Mountain beauty is a good place for ordinary people to play; and "dying in Huizhou" implies the simple wish of Huizhou people to return to their roots - the water in the South Anhui Mountains is quiet, and since the Yuan Dynasty, it has been the center of public opinion in the south. And Huizhou compass (commonly known as Huipan) is more famous in the world, so the burial of Huizhou in a lifetime can be described as a death.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, a considerable number of Huizhou people worked and did business in Yangzhou, especially some salt merchants who were rich and prosperous, living in the river area on the banks of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. At that time, there was a "Yangzhou Bamboo Branch Words" that described it like this: "The Quarry even holds the giant tree, the Zhumen River locks the HuanRui, the township sound she language and the Qin language, do not ask the name of the person but ask the flag." "These salt merchants have been stranded in foreign lands for a long time, and their children often receive education in overseas Chinese residences and take the imperial examinations in the local area." However, because Yangzhou is known as a southeastern shape, prosperous since ancient times, especially its customs are still light, the children of salt merchants are mostly extravagant, and although some of them are also involved in meritorious names and are listed in the Qinggang, they wander between the smoke and willow painting bridges day and night, and in fact, they are not concerned about reading.
There is a loose copy in the Huizhou documents recently:
Wu Shihuai, a student of the Imperial Diet, was ill for Chengming. Born in June last year, he felt cold, his hands and feet were numb, he had not yet recovered from the doctor, and he was now bedridden and could not walk. Today, when the study of the Xiannian trial case is linyang genus, I am afraid that I will not be able to name it, and there is a dry investigation, for this reason, according to the facts, it is clear that the teacher Tai Laoshi of Fu begs to turn it over in detail, and he is deeply public and has a courtesy.
Qianlong 24 September 22.
廪生員 is referred to as 廪生, is one of the types of students (that is, folk customs "Xiu cai"). In the Qing Dynasty, along the Ming system, the number of students varied depending on the size of the prefecture and county, and the monthly feeding was given four or two silver. After examination, the student can enter the Guozi Prison and be called Gongsheng. One of the great advantages of acting as a twin is that if a child wants to pass the examination for the qualification of a student in the prefecture and county, he must find a student to guarantee that the former does not have impersonation, substitution and mourning, which is called "insurance". With this privilege, the couple can often take advantage of the opportunity to ask for bribes.
The above-mentioned student named "Shihuai" was a salt merchant from Huizhou and living in Yangzhou. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Huizhou people took names, sometimes closely related to the places where they did business. For example, the Lingjiao Zhan clan in the northeast township of Wuyuan is mostly engaged in ink business in Hunan, and from the perspective of genealogy lineage, the names of their descendants are mostly embedded with the word "Xiang". In the Ming and Qing dynasties, huainan salt industry was rich in the world, and Huizhou people, especially Shexian people, gathered in Yangzhou, so many people's names were related to this. The name "Shihuai" revealed above may be closely related to the Huiren Shiye Huainan Salt Affair.
In 1759, Wu Shihuai, a disciple of the Yangzhou salt merchant, sent a leave of absence and related approvals
The "Xuexian" in the above quotation is also the xuezheng, which is the abbreviation of "adjutant xuezheng" (or "adjudicator's college"), also known as "inspector emissary", "scholar envoy", folk commonly known as "xuetai", "inspector" or "grand master", etc., which is the education administrator sent by the Qing Dynasty to the provinces, who is in charge of the examination of the students, the dethronement, and the inspection of the government and hall under his jurisdiction as scheduled. According to the provisions of the Qing Dynasty's scientific examination system, the annual examination was held every three years, at which time the provincial students and governments examined all kinds of students, such as twins, births, and appendages in the prefectures and counties to which they belonged, and determined their merits and demerits based on the results of the examinations, and determined the rewards and punishments at their discretion. Usually, the results of the annual examination are divided into six grades. In this regard, the famous scholar Shang Yanjun has a detailed description in the book "Narrative of Scientific Examinations in the Qing Dynasty":
In the ninth year of Shunzhi, the candidates who were about to be admitted to the examination had the sixth class of the Dethronement Method, and there were two items of Tsing Yi and Fa She, which were the places where those who were inferior in the examination were demoted. From the blue shirt to the green shirt, the green shirt was demoted from the county school to the township society. Those who are literate in arts and sciences are listed as first-class, those who are also literate in arts and sciences are listed as second-class, those who are literate in liberal arts are listed as third-class, those who have flaws in liberal arts are listed as fourth-class, those who are absurd in liberal arts are listed as fifth-class, and those who do not understand liberal arts are listed as sixth-class... The first and second class rewards silk, velvet flowers, paper, pen and ink, the top ten third class reward paper, pencil and paper flowers, and the penalties below the fourth class are as usual.
At that time, there were rewards for the promotion of honor students, and corresponding penalties were given to the inferior students. Students who are inferior in the examination are also despised by the people of the times in society. For example, according to the recollection of the famous "Master of Shaoxing" Wang Huizu, in the fourth year of Qianlong (1739), a neighbor had a student who was inferior in the routine annual examination, and everyone around him scorned him.
The Huizhou essay quoted above tells a story: in the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong (1759), Jiangsu Xuezheng inspected the Yangzhou capital and presided over the annual examination. To this end, this salt merchant boy named Wu Shihuai quickly wrote a leave note, saying that since June last year, he had been feeling cold, his hands and feet were numb, and although he had undergone extended medical treatment, he still had not recovered until the end of September of that year, and could only lie in bed and find it difficult to walk... Because Xuezheng had to be named when presiding over the annual examination, he was worried that his absence would be investigated, so he wrote to ask for leave. For his leave application, there is a reply on the note:
Cha Jie was given to the study of the Constitution of the Constitution, all students were tested, traveled to study and fell ill, waited for the flea [early] to report, as usual, summarized in detail, transferred from the government, did not have sporadic details, temporarily avoided examinations, and other reasons, when the order was made to pass on the edicts all over the road. Since the student fell ill in June last year, why didn't he show up [early] with fleas? Now the study of the constitution will be pressed next time, and it is difficult to turn it around in detail. Yang immediately followed the original report and rushed to the waiting test, without making a mistake. If it is difficult to test due to illness, that is, it can be tested at the time of roll call.
This should be the approval of the Yangzhou government, which points out the flaw in Wu Shihuai's leave slip: Since this person was already ill in June last year, why didn't he report it for the record as soon as possible? Now, when Xue zheng came to Yangzhou to inspect, he temporarily held on to the Buddha's feet and asked for leave. Obviously, the approvers did not believe the reasons put forward by Wu Shihuai, so they demanded that he still have to participate in the annual examination, and if it was really not possible, he should also be present to listen to the roll call when the study and politics arrived.
In the Qing Dynasty, students were required to take the annual examination. Zeng Guofan once earnestly taught in the book of the godson: "Er is a showman, and all the years of examination and scientific examination should go to the entrance, and the meritorious order of this imperial court and the profession of the scholar are also." "From the original intention of the system design, the annual examination is to prevent students from abandoning their studies, so it must be taken every three years. According to the merits of the school, the rewards and punishments are determined according to the merits. Students are not allowed to evade, and if they do not participate three times in a row, they will be reprimanded. In 2018, in the "Huizhou Folk Rare Literature Integration" edited and published by the author, there is a volume of "Qing Guangxu Huizhou Capital Xiuning < (Twenty-one Year Examination) And Logged in >", which lists the examination questions of that year:
Main Scene: Four Book Titles: Seeing Cows; Sub-Titles: Dragons; Poetry Titles: Endowed with Wooden Cows and Flowing Horses (Dragon Characters Five Words and Six Rhymes);
Re-examination: Four book titles: although covered with a basket; poem title: give light clouds and light rain to raise flowers and days (get the heavenly characters five words and six rhymes);
1895 annual examination "Same Login"
It can be seen from this that the title of the examination is the Four Books and Five Classics, plus poems and the silent writing of holy sayings. The date of the above quotation of leave is the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong, and in the previous year, the subjects of the annual examination had just changed. In the twenty-third year of Qianlong (1758), he changed his years to try four books, a scripture and a poem of five words, and silently wrote a "Sacred Sayings and Broad Teachings", which was then customized. Therefore, although the above-mentioned "Tongzhu" is relatively late, it can still reflect the general situation of the examination after the middle of the eighteenth century.
For such an annual examination, the Qinggen students who study diligently and diligently are naturally confident. There is a dialogue in the "Collection of Seeing the Heart" (also known as "Supplementary Book Cambodian Live Set") compiled by Wang Wenfang, a Wuyuan person in the Qianlong Dynasty, one of which is "Inviting Friends to the Examination":
During the years of the trial period, the day when the brother Tai Tai'a came out of the box, the brother was ashamed that he could not handle the knife, dared to confront the brother, and fought in the literary field? However, seeing the joy of the hunter's heart, he also wanted to follow the whip. Do not judge the tail of Qi Ji, ken rong qi yi attached? If you do not give up, the date of the initiation is hereby scheduled.
The second reply is:
The locust yellow period is forced, and it is very gratifying to want to accompany the company, and it is suitable to accept the Covenant. Don't you want to stand out? Brother Tai's ambitions are excellent, and those who are at ease? Bravely ascend first, soaring, can be congratulated also! The brother worships the wind, and hereby promises not to give up, and hereby dresses in order to follow in the footsteps.
As the saying goes: "Xiucai is not afraid of torn clothes, but only afraid of no goods in his belly." "The annual examination is an excellent opportunity for those with excellent grades to show off and be appreciated and rewarded by the academic government, so there is a saying in the above-mentioned trap that "I have a sharp weapon and do not want to stand out". However, in the huge number of people in the examination, these people obviously do not account for the vast majority, and more candidates are mediocre people who usually have nothing to do. For the latter, "the show is easy to do, the age examination is difficult", and the annual examination has undoubtedly become a big limit. Mr. Lu Xun once quoted the proverb "Begging for Food for Fear of Dog Bites, Show Is Afraid of the Year Examination" in the "Huagai Collection Continuation, < The Cause of the >", and in the folk, there are many funny stories of XiuCai and the Year Examination. One of the widely circulated passages is found in the game owner's "Laughing Forest Guangji": there is a show talent who is afraid of the year examination, and when he hears that the school platform has arrived, he can't help but be shocked and rushes to meet it. As soon as he saw the sedan carrying the sedan for the sedan, he complained eagerly: "You are a sedan slave, why did you bring a sedan to the sedan?" Scared my soul out of the sky! In which lifetime I will be a car driver, you will be a showman, and I will also bring you the platform! See if your soul is there? Another passage is that a certain zhixian who is afraid of the inside and the students who are about to take the annual examination gather to talk quickly, when the moon rises in the east, the wine passes through three rounds, the two of them talk to each other, and each pours blocks. Zhixian came out of the clouds: "The sky is not afraid, the earth is not afraid, even the wife is not afraid!" And the students responded with a voice and said: "Why kill, why bother, even if the year examination is why not?" The wine was bold, and the two of them had to spit out their own unspeakable secrets. In Feng Menglong's "Mountain Song", there is also a mountain song of "Moon Bend", saying that a certain xiu is only a third class of the examination, and his servant song mocks: "The moon bends and bends to illuminate Kyushu, and a few joys and a few sorrows." A few reward red strips, a few beat bloody. Only if I did well in the official examination, there was no joy or worry. This means that the first and second grades of the student examination are rewarded, the fourth grade is rewarded by the academic government, and the fifth and sixth grades are handed over to the instructor to punish the handboard. Although this student who ranked after the third rank of ten was among the ranks of no reward and no punishment, his role was also quite awkward because of his mediocre talent.
It is precisely because the annual examination is a test for students, so some people can only pretend to be sick to avoid the examination and get by. According to the regulations, the object of the annual examination is all students, and only those who are sick, worried, and studying abroad can be temporarily exempted from the examination. However, even sick and traveling scholars need to make up the exam within three months, and if they do not take the exam, they will be deposed. In the case of more severe diseases, a further three months of grace can be granted. If you don't arrive again, you can only retire in the end. Although the topics of the annual examination are not complicated, due to the indiscriminate counting of some students on weekdays, they are panicked when they come to the examination, fearing that they will be deposed for being inferior in the examination at that time, so they try their best to avoid the annual examination, so that the folk are compared with "begging for food and afraid of dog bites" and "show talent afraid of the year examination", which means that everyone has the most feared thing. The leave note left in the Huizhou document has become a vivid example of the proverbial saying "Xiu Cai is afraid of the examination".
Editor-in-Charge: Yu Shujuan
Proofreader: Luan Meng