History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 182 The Prince of Rencheng's Petition
Emperor Yuan Hong came to the desk of his five-year-old son, Yuan Yu.

Yuan Yu was filled with anxiety, his chubby chin bulging out in three layers. He stared at his right index finger, using that fat finger to rub the exam paper as close to it as possible. Although the little guy's face didn't move, his eyes quickly scanned which question he could answer.

Fortunately, the emperor turned to Yuan Dengming, who was standing beside him, and asked, "The exam was supposed to start at 1-3 PM, why were you late and only just returned to the examination hall?"

Yuan Dengming dared not look directly at the emperor's face, and replied in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "Today is special, I had a stomachache, so I stayed in the outhouse for too long."

Yuan Yue, who was two rows of desks behind her, took the initiative to speak up: "Father, me too, my stomach is still not feeling very comfortable."

Yuan Dengming's father, the Prince of Guangyang, felt utterly ashamed.

The emperor then asked Yuan Heng, "Do you also have a stomachache?"

Yuan Ru dared not lie, much less tell the truth. "I, your son..."

The emperor walked back to the front, picked up the ruler, went to Yuan Shixian's desk, and used the ruler to mark the first question, asking, "Can you read the first question?"

Yuan Shixian was almost in tears: "Your Majesty, I suddenly can't see clearly."

The Prince of Rencheng was furious and scolded his nephew, "Pick your eye boogers out!"

Yuan Shixian followed suit, wiping his eyes clean, but then his nose started to run. He sniffled as he answered, "For the first question, these four characters are pronounced... 'ke bu su shui'."

Looking at the four characters "曷不肃雝", the emperor suppressed his anger and asked first, "Do you know what this question is testing you on?"

"I know, I will answer."

Below “曷不肃雝” are three more characters... from a poem?

This is why the emperor was angry. These children had studied poetry for a year, but the test was a simple question about which poem a particular line came from!

"Write down the answer." The emperor comforted himself, thinking that although the boy only pronounced two of the four characters correctly, he knew which poem it came from, which showed that he had studied hard.

As Yuan Shixian sniffled, he turned over the brush and ground the ink. While grinding the ink, he remembered to explain why he had fallen asleep: "Your Majesty, I caught a cold, that's why I'm sleepy."

Ren Chengwang coughed: Nobody mentioned you sleeping, why are you making this up?
Yuan Yongping, a good friend of Yuan Shixian, glanced at the Prince of Rencheng, looked back at his friend, and immediately said, "Your Majesty, listen, Yuan Shixian's uncle is coughing. His whole family has really caught a cold."

The prince leaned closer and pinched Yuan Yongping's upper and lower lips together.

Yuan Shixian finally finished grinding the ink. He decided that even if he did nothing else, he would still develop an ink that he could use immediately whenever he wanted to write.

Then, the child wrote the character "经" (classic) below "出自诗" (from a poem).

That's right, it must be from the Book of Songs.

The emperor gritted his teeth and asked, "Is this the answer you've come up with?"

Yuan Shixian dared not look up. A drop of ink dripped from the tip of his brush, and he stared intently at it until the ink blot spread. This was undoubtedly the most patient Yuan Shixian had ever been since he was old enough to understand things. He was confident that if the emperor stood beside him for ten thousand years, he could stare at the ink dot for ten thousand years.

The emperor had no time to waste on a brat. He went out to the Imperial Academy and said with concern, “Even sages and worthies have had to study diligently since ancient times, let alone ordinary people! I have instructed the children of the imperial clan to study the Six Classics, not to have them discuss the classics like Confucian scholars. I have higher expectations for them. I expect them to be proficient in both literature and martial arts in the future, and to have the ability to govern the country and enrich the nation when they hold high positions.”

Prince Rencheng was practically burying his head in the ground, because he had always been in charge of managing the Imperial Academy. "Your Majesty, I will certainly re-select assistant instructors to strictly teach each member of the imperial clan. Today's absurdity will never be repeated! I have another matter to report. Due to the several victories since last year, the number of convicted slaves sent to the Xi government offices has increased. The number of palace students selected has increased by more than two hundred. The palace academy also needs to recruit female teachers to teach the classics and other important texts."

Upon hearing of "several victories," the emperor's anger quickly subsided. He nodded, leaving only the words "discuss with the Crown Prince," and then ordered only the Prince of Pengcheng to accompany him. Hengzhou.

On Baideng Mountain in the northern suburbs of Pingcheng, Black Whirlwind listened to the beast slave's commands "pounce, chase, howl, bite," practicing over and over again to produce the ferocious and savage appearance that a bear beast should have.

After practicing various maneuvers in place, the two beast slaves, one tall and one short, led Black Whirlwind through the dense forest. With a shout of "Catch!", Black Whirlwind opened its blood-red maw to bite the beast slave who was as short as a boy. When Black Whirlwind's bear teeth touched the beast slave's clothes, it seemed like it was fiercely biting, but in reality, it only bit the clothes and did not touch the beast slave's skin.

"it is good!"

Black Whirlwind, panting heavily, leaned against a tree and sat down, finally able to rest. It was rewarded with honey cakes and meat. This bear was gradually becoming more human-like, and while eating the cakes, it concluded: In this world, if you want to do well, whether you are human or beast, you have to work hard to learn!
The third annual examination began at Chenshi (7-9 AM) the following day.

Just like yesterday, the title consists of only one column of text... Analyzing geographical rivers in the order of the "Feng" section, and noting the poem titles.

It's easy to fall into a trap when answering this question, starting directly with the "river" in the first line of "Guan Ju" ("On the islet in the river"), instead of first analyzing the title "Zhou Nan".

The geographical location of "Zhou" is south of Qishan, but simply stating "south of Qishan" to indicate the territory of Zhou is too simplistic and will not win the examiner's high judgment. It is necessary to cite other ancient geographical books to describe the geographical location of Qishan in detail.

Only then can we explain "on the islet in the river". Here is another key point: the river in the Book of Songs refers to the Yellow River. After explaining the meaning of "river", we must immediately explain "islet".

Wei Yao used the "Explanation of Water" chapter of the Erya as his explanation.

“A place in the water where one can live is called an island.” This means that land in the water that one can stay on is called an “island.”

In the "Explanation of Water", the explanation of "island" also distinguishes between small islands and small ridges, but unnecessary content should not be elaborated on, because the subsequent poems will mention small islands such as "islets", "water ridges", and "pits", and the records in the "Explanation of Water" will be quoted again.

Wei Yao continued answering the questions.

The poem is titled "The Tall Tree," and the line reads, "There are tall trees in the south."

"It is said that 'south' refers to the southern lands."

The commentary states that the southern lands refer to the regions of Jing and Yang.

Next, she used the Xia Guan chapter of the Zhou Li (Rites of Zhou) taught by her mentor, as well as ancient texts from the Yu Gong (Tribute of Yu), to describe the geographical locations of Jing and Yang.

In the south, there are beautiful trees and lush vegetation. Everyone in the Xiao Qi dynasty knew this, as did Emperor Yuan Hong of Wei.

In the eleventh month of the winter of the twenty-second year of Taihe, news of Yuwen Fu's victory in suppressing the rebellious Gaoche tribes reached Luoyang. Yuan Hong had already sent Jiangyang Prince Yuan Ji to Pingcheng to oversee the battle. Now that the Gaoche rebellion had been quelled, he recalled Jiangyang Prince Yuan Ji.

Many of Wei's main forces were still stationed on the Yiyang battlefield. Yuan Hong ordered another attack on Mianbei. This time, the prince in charge of government affairs in Luoyang was Yuan Xiang, the Prince of Beihai.

November 7th.

Interestingly, all nine students who were selected in the Hengzhou annual examination were disciples of Cui Xueguan Xunyi Academy.

Wei Yao's answer was significantly better than that of the other students, including Cui Zhi, thus she once again became the champion of the poetry competition. This time, the champion was the one from the entire Hengzhou.

The prefect Yuan sealed the examination papers of the nine students and sent them to Luoyang. He also attached his brief comments on the nine students. His praise for Wei Yao was eight characters: "Well-versed in the poem 'The Wind,' intelligent and cautious in speech."

(End of this chapter)