Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 242 What's wrong with being a hot favorite for the top score?
"What do you think?"

"This is what Lu Bei, the advisor, said."

Cheng Hao frowned slightly as he looked in the direction where Yang Anguo had disappeared: "In his desperation, Scholar Yang seems to be resorting to any means necessary."

"However, although his words were urgent, they did have some merit. The students of the Imperial Academy have indeed gone to an infuriating degree in their past attacks on the teachings of Master Lianxi."

Cheng Yi's expression was even more solemn than his brother's as he spoke.

Then, Cheng Yi looked at Lu Beigu with a hint of warning: "Brother Lu, although Scholar Yang was anxious, his words about 'rectifying the teacher's name' were not empty talk. In this competition, my brother and I will do our best after accepting the challenge, after all, it concerns the dignity of the teacher. I hope that you will not be negligent or slack, and you must not utter any extreme views of 'using both benevolent and tyrannical methods' during the competition, so as not to give others a handle to use against you."

Cheng Yi was a serious person, and Lu Beigu, knowing his personality, didn't pay much attention to the other person's tone.

However, Lu Beigu always felt that there must have been some discord behind this competition, but Yang Anguo had not explained it, so they could not investigate.

But it doesn't matter.

For Lu Beigu, his purpose in participating in this competition was not to protect Zhou Dunyi at all. Zhou Dunyi was not his teacher.

His goal was simple: to obtain the examination resources of the Imperial College.

There's a saying that goes, "If you don't take what Heaven gives you, you'll suffer the consequences." The Imperial Academy had accumulated hundreds of years' worth of classic texts, as well as those great scholars who were nominally in charge but never attended classes. These were resources that people would normally never have the opportunity to access.

If he wins this competition, he will not only gain more practical experience, but also acquire these valuable examination resources. In this case, he will basically have all the resources needed to pass the imperial examination.

With Song Xiang, the most capable scholar in the imperial examinations of the time, as his teacher, and so many resources available for the exams, if one still fails to pass the imperial examination, one might as well just find a block of tofu and smash one's head against it and die.

Speaking of tofu, Lu Beigu actually missed his kitten a little.
Shaking his head and dismissing the thought from his mind, Lu Beigu said, "I know what's important and what's urgent. You can rest assured that I will not make any mistakes in the competition three days from now."

Cheng Hao said frankly, "I'm just afraid you're intimidated by the prestige of the Imperial Academy, but my brother and I don't care."

"Brother Bochun, you are overthinking it."

Lu Beigu had absolutely no concern about whether participating in the competition as a student of the Imperial Academy would offend the Imperial College.

Despite its current grand scale and numerous renowned teachers and students, nearly half of the successful candidates in each imperial examination since the Qingli era have come from the Imperial Academy.

However, Lu Beigu was well aware that the Imperial Academy would soon decline rapidly in the next few years due to the imperial examinations in the second year of the Jiayou era and the successive deaths of the "Three Masters of the Early Song Dynasty".

Just as they were talking, Song Tang, who was nearing the end of his lecture, also finished his lesson for the day.

The few students who had come to listen to the lecture all slipped away as quickly as they could.

Looking at these students of the Imperial Academy who were just wasting their time, Song Tang was clearly somewhat helpless.

There was nothing he could do. No matter how talented he was, as the only person in the Imperial Academy responsible for teaching, he could only lecture these good-for-nothing students. Fortunately, Song Tang felt that these three young men were indeed quite different from the other students who were just wasting their time at the academy.

As they walked out of the lecture hall, Song Tang looked at them and asked, "Scholar Yang acted rashly. Now that he has agreed to this matter, there is no turning back. I'm sure the three of you have heard of Liu Ji of the Imperial Academy?"

"I've heard a little about him." Cheng Hao nodded and said, "I heard he's the top student at the Imperial Academy and a hot candidate for next year's top scholar. But what is his background really like? I hope you can enlighten me, Assistant Instructor."

Song Tang nodded, speaking quickly and clearly: "Liu Ji is indeed talented, with a vast memory, especially proficient in the three commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals and the miscellaneous sayings of various philosophers. In short, his writing style is to take the 'dangerous and strange' tools that Shi Culai used to correct the overcorrection as his standard and take them to an extreme. He always seeks to make his writing unconventional, his allusions obscure, and his ideas shocking. It seems profound, but in reality, it is just piling up words and deliberately mystifying things. He only scratches the surface of the great principles and the suffering of the people, or even deliberately avoids them. In my opinion, he is not that strong."

"However, Liu Ji is, after all, Hu Anding's beloved disciple. Since the Qingli era, when the court issued an edict to establish the Imperial Academy in Huzhou, the Imperial Academy in the capital has been controlled by Hu Anding and his disciples. In recent years, the number of students has increased so much that the Imperial Academy could not accommodate them all and had to be expanded several times. In the past ten years, Hu Yuan's disciples have often accounted for four or five out of ten of the Jinshi selected by the Ministry of Rites. If the examiners for next year's provincial examination are still from the Imperial Academy, then Liu Ji will indeed be able to become the top scholar."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi felt somewhat relieved.

They had just arrived in the capital and didn't know much about the local scholars in Kaifeng. Liu Ji's reputation was so great that almost everyone was talking about how amazing he was, so they couldn't accurately assess his abilities.

Based on the principle of being lenient in assessing the enemy, the Cheng brothers truly regarded Liu Ji as someone of the highest caliber.

Hearing Song Tang say this, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that the other party might not be up to the level of a top scholar, but was only being hyped up because of the prestige of the Imperial Academy.

Lu Beigu, who was listening nearby, remained silent because he was well aware of certain things.

First of all, Liu Ji is indeed at the level of a top scholar.

It's not just because if the examiners next year are chosen from among those from the Imperial Academy, then Liu Ji will definitely be the top scholar.

Even if the examiners weren't from the Imperial Academy, and even if writing in the "Imperial Academy style" was no longer allowed, Liu Ji could still change his writing style and become the top scholar in the next imperial examination. This is purely due to his personal hard power.

Secondly, Song Tang's statement reflects his personal opinion, but also shows that the "Imperial Academy style" itself is not suitable for writing too deeply on current affairs, and Liu Ji was limited by the style itself, which is why he could not fully express himself.

Therefore, the Cheng brothers only heard what they wanted to hear.
Even though Lu Beigu knew Liu Ji's formidable strength, he showed no fear whatsoever.

So what if the top scorer is a hot favorite?

Not to mention that the other party will definitely fail the provincial examination of the Ministry of Rites in the second year of Jiayou next year because of the "Imperial Academy style", and it is impossible for him to become the top scholar.

Even if Lu Beigu didn't know these things, he wouldn't be afraid, because he could clearly feel recently that under Song Xiang's tutelage, his current affairs strategy skills had made a leap forward compared to before!

This competition does not involve questions on poetry, essays, or other subjective topics that are heavily weighted in the scoring.

As for the past exams, there is not much difference between them. Even if there is a gap in Mo Yi, he will not fall too far behind. In terms of current affairs strategy, Lu Beigu believes that even if the top scorer comes, he will never be able to surpass him!
If he didn't dare to fight against the world's top geniuses under such favorable circumstances, what was the point of talking about "the top scholar's name being announced outside Donghua Gate"?
After all, the path he has to take is one that requires stepping over countless geniuses to reach its end!

(End of this chapter)