Poor Family

  Chapter 27 The first round of the ring (1)

  Early the next morning, the four of them followed their master to the county school in an ox cart. Last night Wang Gui and Tang Huai secretly stayed up late reading. Both of them were not in good spirits and yawned all the way.

  Yue Fei was so angry that he gritted his teeth, lowered his voice and said, "Last night I tried to persuade you not to stay up all night, but you didn't listen. What if it will affect your performance later?"

  Li Yanqing smiled and said: "It's okay, anyway, the two of them are just clay bodhisattvas, pretending, as long as they don't fall asleep."

   "Brother Qing, why does this sound awkward?" Tang Huai rolled his eyes and said.

   "Then let's put it another way. You two are the chief and deputy coaches. You are only responsible for pressing the formation. Let me and Lao Yue do the rough work of charging and enforcing the formation."

  Wang Gui grinned, "I like to hear that. I'm handsome, and Lao Tang is the deputy commander. Where's that... Pioneer Officer Li Yanqing?"

   "Shut up!" Master Yao Ding turned around and gave Wang Gui a hard look.

  Wang Gui lowered his head in fright and stuck out his tongue.

The county school is located in the northeast corner of the county seat. This area is the cultural area of ​​Tangyin County. To the north is the Confucian Temple, to the south is the Baoen Temple, and in the middle is the county school. The county school is the largest group of buildings in Tangyin County, covering an area of ​​over 100 mu. There are hundreds of large and small schools and dormitories, and the largest Diligent Hall is even more magnificent, even the county government is dwarfed by comparison.

   There are more than 500 students in the county school. In addition to young students, there are also many old scholars who have failed in the test.

  The gate is a stone pillar archway with four big characters engraved on it: "Ji Shi's blood".

  Beside it is a ten-foot-high stone tablet, on which is engraved with Su Shi's autographed inscription: "Broad view and appointment, thick accumulation and thin hair." '

   However, there are obvious traces of fire and ax chiseling on the stele, and the word "Su Shi" below is added after the fact. Obviously, this stele has suffered catastrophe.

  They walked to the steps, only to see Tang Zhengzong hastily greeted them. Tang Zhengzong was in charge of arranging the competition venue for them, and at the same time preparing tea and rest places.

In fact, he also has a more important task, which is to prevent the Lushan Town School from being plotted against. Cheating and plotting have always been the tradition of the Boys' Association, and various unexpected things happen every year. The year before last, Tangyin County Xue Primary School used the landlord The reason why I hid the note in the exam table in advance was that last year Tang Beixiang School had collective diarrhea, so it is especially important to arrange a shrewd and capable person.

  However, so far, the Lushan Town School has been safe and sound for four consecutive sessions, without any conspiracy, making Tang Zhengzong temporarily useless.

   Tang Zhengzong stepped forward and said to Yao Ding in a low voice: "I heard that He Zhen visited Ma Xiancheng secretly last night."

  Yao Ding frowned, "It shouldn't be too difficult to deal with our Lushan Town!"

   Tang Zhengzong sneered and said, "Maybe Wei Nanzhen wants to enter the final!"

  The implication is that Weinan Town School is already preparing for tomorrow's rematch.

  Yao Ding snorted, "I'm afraid that things will backfire!"

  After walking a few steps, Yao Ding pulled Li Yanqing aside, and said to him in a low voice: "If the other party gets the couplet question, you can write the reading couplet, and we will get the point."

  Li Yanqing hesitated, "But what if they have a designated topic?"

  Yao Ding smiled, "Of course there will be a designated topic, but since you can write that reading couplet, you are fine with the rest."

  Li Yanqing smiled wryly in his heart. Whether he can write it down by then, only God knows.

  . ． ． ． ． ． ．

  Today's group arena will be played in four rounds. First, four teams will be eliminated. Tomorrow, there will be a rematch, and then two teams will be eliminated. The day after tomorrow will be the final.

In addition to the main hall, there are four auxiliary halls behind the diligent hall. Today's four arena matches will be held in the four auxiliary halls. The judges are the county magistrate, county magistrate, and Xuezheng, and there is one auxiliary hall missing. As an official, three professors from the county school served temporarily.

The Lushan Hall was arranged in the Deputy Hall of C, and the judges were three professors from the county school. The group arena competition is a common saying, but the actual name of the competition is called "debating test", which is also a traditional competition for literati, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period During the period, this kind of group arena debate became very popular.

  The two parties sit facing each other. One party proposes a question, and the other party can answer it after discussion. Specific question types are selected on the spot. Generally, both parties present three questions.

  Another role of the reviewer is to judge the rationality of the questions proposed by both parties. If the reviewer thinks that the question is too tricky, he can request to invalidate it and submit it again. If it is invalidated three times in a row, the reviewer will ask questions instead.

  The topics were prepared in advance by teachers from both sides. Yao Ding carried a big burden into the county town, which contained various topics he had prepared.

  When the bell rang, the students from both sides entered the arena, while the master sat at the door and was not allowed to enter the arena, and had to face the arena with his back.

The three reviewers are all gray-haired old scholars. They sit in the north, Weinan Town is in the east, and Lushan Town is in the west. Four couches are lined up. The students are all wearing white Confucian robes Wearing a study tour crown, he looks quite like a disciple of a sage who is debating.

  It's just that the four teenagers in the Weinan Town School are all tall and handsome, like a jade tree facing the wind, they are full of confidence, and they look even more energetic, determined to win.

The four students in the Lushan Town School are much younger, their clothes don't fit well, and they look a little funny, especially the two students are depressed, and one of them couldn't help yawning, which made the three judges frown , the impression score is bad.

  Master He Zhen was very proud, and kept sneering at Yao Ding who was sitting on the other side, meaning to say, ‘I don’t think there is any need to compete, just admit defeat, so as not to lose face. '

   It’s no wonder that last year Lushan Town Academy played against Tangyin County Academy, but the opponent failed to answer the three questions, which became a joke in the county.

  Yao Ding's face was gloomy, no one knew what he was thinking.

   At this time, another bell rang, and the debate officially began.

The presiding judge stood up and said slowly: "Although everyone knows the rules, I still have to read them. The first rule is that the contestants must be formal students of the school. The upper limit is no more than thirteen years old, and the lower limit is not lower. At the age of six."

  Li Yanqing felt that this one was tailor-made for himself, and he was probably the youngest contestant since the Boys' Club was founded.

  The presiding judge read very slowly, and it took a quarter of an hour to finish reading the thirteen rules. At this moment, Wang Gui trembled all over, and said in a low voice, "Brother Qing, I can't hold it back any longer."

  One of the judges above frowned and asked, "Do the students of Lushan Academy have any questions?"

  Li Yanqing raised his hand, "People have three urgencies, may I go to the toilet now?"

  The hall suddenly roared with laughter. Seeing that they were young, the presiding officer held back his laughter and waved his hands and said, "Fortunately, we haven't started drawing questions yet. Go ahead!"

  Wang Gui and Tang Huai jumped up and ran away quickly, even Yao Ding couldn't help shaking his head and sighing.

   After Wang Gui and Tang Huai ran back, Yue Fei gave them a hard look. This was the first time such a thing had happened.

   "Okay, according to the rules, the strong are humble, please ask Master Yao from Lushan Town to come forward and draw questions."

  This is also a very embarrassing moment. It is obvious that He is strong and Yao is weak.

  Yao Ding stepped forward with a livid face, took out a lottery from the lottery tube, and handed it to the chief judge. The chief judge took a look and said loudly: "Mo Jing."

  As soon as the question type came out, Wei Nanzhen's face was filled with joy, and luck was really good.

  There are five types of questions, including silent scriptures, poetry questions, competition shooting, miscellaneous exams, and instant writing.

Among them, the simplest is silent scriptures, the most difficult is instant writing, that is, composing poems and lyrics on the spot, and the most is competitive archery, which is one of the six arts, so archery was designated as one of the question types by the magistrate, of course, it refers to writing Shooting is the quiver, but it is not a compulsory question, and you can change the lottery if you get it.

The four students have their own division of labor, Yue Fei is the main questioner, Li Yanqing is the main answerer, Wang Gui and Tang Huai are the sub-questioners and sub-answerers, this is why Yao Ding must let Li Yanqing and Yue Fei participate in the Boys Association It is enough for two people.

  Five question types were placed in front of Yue Fei, each with three questions, arranged in order of difficulty.

  Yue Fei picked up the first envelope from the scriptures of the silent scriptures, took out the title and read aloud: "There is a saying in the Taishi public that in the midst of strategizing, the decisive victory is thousands of miles away. Excuse me, what article is this from, and who is it referring to?"

  (end of this chapter)