As night fell, it was already night. Li Mengxi was still hard at work correcting the test papers with the lamp on. He no longer knew how many papers he had corrected. There was a pile of corrected papers next to him, but the rest were still endless.

Looking at Zhang Ning who was looking at him quietly, Li Mengxi said, "Sister Ning, please go back."

Zhang Ning hesitated, "When the cinnabar is used up..."

"I'll do it myself." Li Mengxi didn't even raise his head.

Zhang Ning looked at Li Mengxi, who had been busy all day, and she couldn't help but said with concern, "Then... you should rest early."

"Yeah." Li Mengxi still kept his head down and busy without raising his head.

Zhang Ning quietly stood up and left without disturbing Li Mengxi at all.

The work of grading papers can be carried out in a unified manner after the examination, but Li Mengxi did not want to wait for a long time. He insisted on grading the examination papers. He wanted to try his best to have the papers corrected at the same time when the examination was finished. The reason why he was like this

There is an important reason for taking advantage - time.

The time is not coincidental. Farming is about to begin, and there is also a scientific examination. If the examination lasts for three days, it will take another three days to correct the test paper after the test, and then calculate and calculate the scores after the test paper has been corrected. This will take at least another day, so it will have to be delayed.

It was after June 7th, and it was postponed until after mid-February.

By then, the weeds in the field will be knee-deep, and a hammer will be planted.

Every second counts, so Li Mengxi is racing against time.

It was already night, and the scholars who had been taking the exam for two consecutive moments were gathered together again. The scholars were surprised, did they have to take the exam at night?

As expected, after a while, the order came down, asking all the scholars to rush to the west city two miles away and enter in order.

Some scholars rushed to the suburbs two miles away from the west city, and the first round of a hundred scholars had already entered the examination room.

The examination room, at some point, became brightly lit.

The long poles that had been erected all over the place during the day had many torches on them. Beside each seat, there was a long pole. The fire on the torch shelf shone down, illuminating the light below. Every picture

On the low tables, there were small butter lamps placed on each table, making the light even brighter.

There was a windy night, and the small flames the size of small lamps and fireflies were slightly swayed by the wind. Then the scholars saw that many soldiers came with screens and formed a tight circle around the seats.

Surrounded by the screen, the lights in the center were stable, and there was no longer any worry of the wind blowing the fire out.

The scholars glanced at the burlap screen nearby, and countless people praised Liu Xuande in their hearts and secretly praised Liu Xuande for his perfect work.

During the day, he took two consecutive exams on [Confucian classics] and [Counting], one was easy and the other was difficult, which left a deep impression on the scholars.

I don’t know what subject it is tonight.

The scholars picked up their lamps and looked at the paper, and saw the title clearly, which was, "Sun Tzu's Art of War".

There was a difficult problem during the day, so the scholars did not dare to take it lightly and looked at the problem carefully.

As a result, when I looked through the entire book, I found that most of it was Sun Tzu's dictation of The Art of War.

Seeing the test questions like this, some people were relieved, while others were embarrassed.

As mentioned before, in the Han Dynasty when papermaking was not yet mature and printing was not popularized, books were precious and the threshold for learning was too high.

In the Han Dynasty, after Dong Zhongshu deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism, Confucianism became the only prominent school. The most books read by scholars in the world were Confucian classics. If you ask one person, assume that person has only read one.

book, then that book is almost 100% likely to be [The Analects of Confucius].

Very many scholars have read The Analects of Confucius, but far fewer have read Sun Tzu's Art of War.

Not long after the opening, some scholars saw that the paper was full of strangers and found it difficult to write. Finally, they got up in shame and anger and shouted that they should hand in the paper directly.

In the examination room, no one was allowed to make random noises, and some people did not listen and disturbed the rules. The invigilators, Guan Yu and Liu Bei, looked at each other, the two frowned, and walked over.

When he came to the scholar who was making a noise, Liu Bei recognized that he was one of the fifteen scholars in Zhuozhou. Liu Bei asked why he was making such a noise.

The scholar replied with shame and anger, "A certain person has never read "Sun Tzu" and can't answer a single sentence, so he just wants to hand in the paper and leave."

Liu Bei looked at this young scholar with strong self-esteem. After looking at him for a long time, Liu Bei suddenly smiled. Liu Bei said meaningfully, "I have never read "Sun Tzu" and I can't answer it. It doesn't matter. You can look at the last few sentences."

question."

After encouraging the scholars, he ordered them to return to their seats, and Liu Bei and Guan Yu returned to the front.

After the ashamed and angry young scholar sat back down, he picked up the lamp, leaned over the test paper, and pulled the test paper down hard. He saw that there were several other questions at the bottom of the test paper.

The first question is, [After reading the Art of War, is it enough to hold it vertically and horizontally?]

I wrote a few words in the question, but nothing else.

When the scholar saw these few words, he suddenly found a confidant.

The scholar thought angrily, (Yes! That's it! What if you haven't read the art of war? Who said that if you don't read the art of war, you won't know how to fight?)

The emotions of shame and anger were instantly vented. The Zhuozhou scholars with strong self-esteem took up their pens and brushed down, "Everyone in the world says that if you don't understand "Sun Tzu", you can't know the war. Don't you know that there was Jiang Shang in the Zhou Dynasty?

Who has read "Sun Tzu" and dares to say that Jiang Shang did not know how to fight?

It is a big mistake to use the book "Sun Tzu" to judge the ability to control soldiers..."

It was completely wrong. In a state of shame and anger, the Zhuozhou scholar lost his cool and completely misunderstood the meaning of the question.

The purpose of the question is to ask whether you can persist in the vertical and horizontal directions after reading all the military books. The original intention is to introduce the differences and connections between the theory of military art and actual combat.

However, the infuriated Zhuozhou scholars angrily denounced the absurdity of using military law books to judge military ability.

The military canon of the sages is a collection of wisdom. How could it be wrong to use the military canon as one of the criteria for judging the level of ability?

There is a saying that you can have a temper, but your temper cannot be greater than your ability.

This scholar from Zhuozhou was so bad-tempered that he had not read "Sun Tzu". This was not a big problem, but he had not read it because he had not read it. However, he was angry about it and scolded "Sun Tzu" for being useless.

The world is ridiculous, but this is a big mistake.

As long as Zhuozhou scholars can be more humble, less self-esteemed, and can examine the test questions with a calm attitude, then they can answer the last few questions even if they have not read "Sun Tzu".

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Q, if you read all of The Art of War, you will be able to master it.

cannot.

During the Warring States Period, Zhao Kuo was familiar with the art of war but did not know how to adapt it, and he was defeated and died.

——

After a while, when the time was up, the soldiers removed the tents, and the scholars spread themselves out on the eucalyptus and left one after another.

Guan Yu went down to collect the test papers, and the soldiers followed him and were busy everywhere. The soldiers were checking the burning condition of the torches on the torch holders, or adding some oil to the lamps, or grinding more ink into the inkstone.

Do your logistics work carefully.

At the same time, two miles west of Julu City, cavalrymen holding torches came galloping over, announcing that the first batch had finished their exams and the next batch could leave.

Jian Yong was among this second batch.

When he arrived at the examination room, Jian Yong, like a group of scholars, saw the neatly arranged torches all over the place. Jian Yong was slightly surprised by how bright the place was.

Torches are not unusual, and having too many torches is not unusual either. However, the many torches are like ropes, and the visual impact is extremely strong.

After taking the exam for a day, Jian Yong felt a little tired physically and mentally. He sat down and waited for the test paper to be handed out. Jian Yong looked at it under the lamp and scanned the test questions briefly. He saw that most of the tests were about dictation. Jian Yong was confident that the art of war

Jian Yong had already read it many times, and it was easy for him to answer it. He began to write confidently.

After a long time, Jian Yong finished answering most of the previous content.

Among the last few special questions, the first one is: [After reading the Art of War, is it enough to master it vertically and horizontally?]

Jian Yong only thought about it briefly and already had a rough draft. He only read the Art of War and read all of it. Then Zhao Kuo, who talks about war on paper, is not a precedent.

Jian Yong picked up his pen and started writing.

Turning to the second question, I asked, ["The Art of War" in "Sun Tzu" has thirteen chapters. What are the contents of these thirteen chapters? Again, when Sun Tzu compiled the book of war, did he list them casually, or did he have a hidden meaning?]

This question is very strange. It does not ask about the content of Sun Tzu's Art of War, but about its purpose.

Jian Yong reviewed the articles on Sun Tzu's Art of War from top to bottom, from the beginning of the article [Initial Plan] [Combat] to the last [Fire Attack] and [Time]. Jian Yong's eyes stayed on the bright lights.

He couldn't help but frown. From [Initial Plan] to [Fire Attack], why are they listed like this?

Jian Yong, who is familiar with the art of war, has never paid attention to the outline, nor has he connected the outline and thought about it carefully. This is an unprecedented thinking angle with profound connotations.

Jian Yong couldn't help but speculate, who would have come up with this title, Liu Bei?

It doesn't look like that. Jian Yong has known Liu Bei for many years, and Liu Bei doesn't look like someone who knows strategy well.

Or maybe it's Yun Chang? It's possible that Yun Chang is familiar with military literature, which is unusual.

Suddenly, a smart young man with a young face and bright eyes appeared in Jian Yong's mind.

(Could it be that the question was asked by the little military advisor...) When I thought about it, the more I thought about it, the more likely it became.

After making this guess, Jian Yong thought about the topic again and speculated that if the outline of Sun Tzu's thirteen chapters had no profound meaning, why bother asking this question? Since the question was asked, it is enough to show that among them, it really can

There is profound meaning.

There must be a deep meaning, but what is the deep meaning?

Jian Yong frowned.

Thirteen chapters, not many, only thirteen words. Jian Yong thought about it over and over again. When he inadvertently, Jian Yong saw the fire in the lamp above [Fire Attack] and in front of him.

It has been burning for too long without picking up the wick, and the fire is about to go out.

Jian Yong suddenly had an idea, (Yes! The method of fire attack is controlled by the favorable weather and geography. If there is no vegetation, fire attack will be difficult to use. In spring and winter, if the grass is thin and the weather does not utilize fire, fire attack will also be difficult.

Fire attack is not a universal method, but as mentioned in the previous chapter, it is a universal method.

Therefore, those who are good at using them are ranked first, and those who are weak at using them are ranked behind.

Just like a salesman selling goods on the street, the tools that are commonly used are placed prominently, and the tools that are not commonly used are placed out of the way...)

The principle is generally correct, and the meaning is very close, but it lacks accuracy.

The descriptions of good use and weak use are not refined enough.

The most concise and accurate description is - the art of war, attaches great importance to righteousness and supplements it with surprise.

Therefore, among the thirteen chapters of Sun Tzu, the first eleven are all methods of serious warfare, while only the last two chapters are the odd methods of using fire to attack.
Chapter completed!