Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 123 The Inside Story of the Four-State Joint Examination
Song Qi, in modern terms, is the kind of Song Dynasty person who is someone you may not have heard of, but you must have heard of, my poems.

His masterpiece, "Yu Lou Chun," is most famous for the couplets: "Beyond the green willows, the morning chill is light; on the red apricot branches, spring is in full bloom. Life is short, and joy is fleeting; who would value a thousand pieces of gold over a smile?"

Therefore, people at the time called him "Minister of Red Apricots".

Indeed, there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names. Song Qi's personality was perfectly worthy of this elegant and romantic nickname. He was extravagant by nature, indulged in pleasure, and especially loved fine wine and beautiful women. He would often hold those indescribable banquets that lasted all night.

Song Qi also had an older brother named Song Xiang, who was the most recent person in the Song Dynasty to date to achieve the "Triple Crown" (winning the top honors in all three levels of the imperial examinations). Song Xiang's personality was completely opposite to Song Qi's; he was a very honest and upright person.

An interesting anecdote is that after Song Xiang learned of his younger brother's actions, he personally wrote to him to advise him, asking if his brother had forgotten the scene of the two of them eating pickled vegetables at the state school. Song Qi replied with a self-righteous question to his brother, asking him if he didn't know what the purpose of eating pickled vegetables back then was.
In a sense, he can be considered a very pure person.

Zhou Mingyuan got up and closed the door, then said, "Then tell me, is it possible that the Emperor's move means he intends to reinstate the people from the second year of the Tiansheng era to check and balance the two ministers, Wen and Fu?"

Lu Beigu was stunned.

Besides being renowned figures in the Xikun style of literature, the "Big and Little Songs" were also a significant force in the Song Dynasty court, representing the same cohort of Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) of the second year of the Tiansheng era (1024). Their core members included Song Qi, Song Xiang, Zheng Jian, and Ye Qingchen, who were collectively known as the "Four Friends of Tiansheng," as well as Zeng Gongliang, Yu Jing, and others.

This group of people rose to high positions even earlier than the clique formed by Wang Yaochen, Han Qi, Wen Yanbo, and Bao Zheng in the fifth year of the Tiansheng era (1027).

In the first year of the Kangding era (1040), with Emperor Renzong intending to promote them to counterbalance Lü Yijian, Song Xiang was promoted to Vice Chancellor and became a prime minister, Zheng Jian became the Deputy Privy Councilor, Ye Qingchen became the Commissioner of the Three Departments, and Song Qi became the Academician of the Tianzhang Pavilion. For a time, they wielded immense power.

Unfortunately, Song Xiang was too young at that time and was used as a tool by the old fox Lü Yijian. He was demoted from the central government for impeaching Fan Zhongyan for negotiating peace with Li Yuanhao in the Northwest. Lü Yijian easily dealt with the remaining people on the charge of "factionalism".

It was against this backdrop that, in the first year of the Qingli era (1041), Emperor Renzong had no choice but to consider employing the same group of people from the fifth year of the Tiansheng era to counterbalance Lü Yijian and to help Fan Zhongyan implement the new policies.

"How could I, living in the martial world, know about the affairs of the imperial court?"

Lu Beigu didn't really want to discuss this topic and planned to brush it off casually.

What's the use of learning more about these powerful figures and influential people in the government, or discussing them more? It doesn't change the fact that you're still a state student; it's a pure waste of time.

However, Zhou Mingyuan seemed quite interested in this, and he continued, "I heard that the Jinshi of the second year of Tiansheng and the Jinshi of the fifth year of Tiansheng had a deep conflict. During the Qingli period, they fought over the two major cases of 'Shuiluocheng Case' and 'Gongshiqian Case,' which directly led to Fan Zhongyan's dismissal as prime minister. Apart from Di Qing being protected by the emperor, a large number of other famous generals in the northwest were deeply involved. However, now that Zheng Jian and Ye Qingchen have passed away, only the 'Big and Little Song' are left, and their influence is not as great as before."

What Zhou Mingyuan described was mostly seven parts true and three parts false, belonging to the kind of "folk rumors that are close to the truth," which is very much in line with the scholars' fondness for discussing matters of the court.

"Is that so? I really didn't know that."

Lu Beigu gave him a straight man joke, intending to end the conversation.

"Of course, looking at the current central government, Wen Yanbo is a co-prime minister, Wang Yaochen has been promoted to vice-minister, and Bao Zheng has just been promoted to acting prefect of Kaifeng. The power of the two sides is actually not equal. Even if the emperor wants to recall the 'Great Song' and 'Great Song' back to the central government, it is unlikely that they can be evenly matched."

Zhou Mingyuan seemed somewhat unsatisfied, but seeing that Lu Beigu didn't seem very interested in court affairs, he didn't delve any further and instead asked, "So, how about it? Interested in joining our club?"

"Let me think about it for a few more days," Lu Beigu said seriously. "After all, it's not a small matter."

"There's no rush."

As the two talked, the rain outside the window grew heavier and heavier.

"By the way, Brother Zhou, there's something else I'd like to ask you. Is it convenient for you?"

Zhou Mingyuan seemed to have guessed, and said, "You want to ask why I fell into the middle dormitory?"

"Correct."

Zhou Mingyuan passed the imperial examination three years ago and should have been ranked quite high in the upper dormitory, at least in the top ten. So why did he fall to the middle dormitory in this dormitory assignment exam? This question had been lingering in Lu Beigu's mind since they first met.

"There are two aspects. On the one hand, the students in the upper dormitory are mostly at a similar level, so the rankings are very 'crowded.' A single wrong answer to a question on the meaning of ink can cause one to drop out of the upper dormitory from the twentieth or thirtieth place. On the other hand, it is for the four-state joint examination next month."

The former is not hard for Lu Beigu to understand. It is equivalent to the first place being 99 points, the second to ninth place being 98 points, and the tenth to twentieth place being 97 points. When the level is very close, a slight mistake will cause the ranking to drop significantly, but in fact, the difference in the overall score is very small.

Therefore, based on what Ji Yun said, Zhou Mingyuan's success in the imperial examination three years ago was probably due to either guessing the right questions or performing exceptionally well, which caused his ranking to soar.

However, Lu Beigu didn't quite understand the latter.

"The Four-Prefecture Joint Examination is just that Meizhou, Rongzhou, Jialing and Luzhou take the same exam. They don't take the exam together, but they share the same questions and the exam papers are the same. Everyone in Luzhou Prefecture must take the Four-Prefecture Joint Examination. The ranking within the prefecture also serves to determine who will be assigned to the exam. After the exam, they will be reassigned."

"You only know one side of the story, not the other."

Zhou Mingyuan said with a smile: "For most people in the state schools, the four-state joint examination is no different from the separate examination. But it is different for the students in the upper dormitory. The students in the top 100 in the overall ranking of the four states in the four-state joint examination will be regarded as the most promising candidates to pass the imperial examination or even the provincial examination. As a reward, they can participate in a special training camp."

There's actually such a saying?

Lu Beigu discovered that the state school was indeed different from the county school, with many information gaps. If someone who had spent a long time there hadn't explained things to him, he probably wouldn't have been able to figure these things out at all.

"The content of the joint examination of the four states is a combination of the four state schools, and the examination preferences are not quite the same as those of the examination in our Luzhou state school."

Zhou Mingyuan said, "Although the upper dormitory offers better benefits in all aspects, the coursework is much heavier than that of the middle dormitory. So, if you are transferred to the middle dormitory, you will have more time to prepare for the four-state joint exam on your own. If you can rank in the top 100 of the four states, you can not only return to the upper dormitory, but also participate in this special training."

"understood."

Lu Beigu didn't know whether Zhou Mingyuan did this on purpose or just didn't perform well and ended up in the middle dormitory, but it didn't matter.

(End of this chapter)