In the 31st year of Guangxu's reign, the imperial examination system, which had gone through more than 1,300 years, completely bid farewell to the stage of history and came to an unsatisfactory end. There is no doubt about the significance and influence of the imperial examination system. Despite its various drawbacks, it is undeniable that many students from poor families changed their destiny through the examination. In the imperial examination, the most enviable person is the number one scholar, which can be said to be the smoke rising from the ancestral grave.
It is not easy to pass the Jinshi examination, and it is even harder to obtain the ticket for the palace examination. It is even more difficult to be selected as the number one scholar by the emperor. After all, only one number one scholar appears every three years, which is more likely than winning the lottery. Much lower. As we all know, all candidates who are qualified to participate in the palace examination are full of knowledge, and it is difficult to distinguish between high and low. Sometimes, getting the top score in the exam requires not only excellent talent, but also an element of luck.
The examiner of the palace examination is the emperor. As long as the emperor thinks a scholar is good or is more pleasing to his eyes, he may be selected as the number one scholar. If the emperor dislikes someone, no matter how well the article is written or how strong the adaptability is, it will not have any effect. Today we introduce Wang Shoupeng, the number one scholar in the Qing Dynasty. It is said that because of his good name, he directly became the number one scholar, which makes people envious and jealous.
Wang Shoupeng, courtesy name Cizhuo, was born in Weifang, Shandong Province. He was born in a poor family. His parents did everything they could to support his education. As the saying goes, a child without an umbrella must run hard. Wang Shoupeng is very sensible and understands everything his parents have done for him. He has studied hard since he was a child. Only gaining fame is the best reward for his parents. Hard work pays off. Wang Shoupeng was selected as a scholar when he was only ten years old and as a scholar at the age of twenty-five.
Juren in the Qing Dynasty were already qualified to be officials, but Wang Shoupeng did not stop learning. His dream was far more than just juren. In the 29th year of Guangxu's reign, Wang Shoupeng carried dry food on his back and embarked on a journey to the capital to participate in the triennial examination. That was where his dream lay. After the test results were announced, Wang Shoupeng ranked first. He was wearing gorgeous clothes specially customized by the imperial court and riding a tall horse on the street. It felt great.
Not long after, Wang Shoupeng heard a piece of news from his colleagues. Some people questioned his status as the number one scholar. It was not because he deserved the title, but because of his good name. If he was based on talent alone, he should be the number one scholar. There is someone else. It turned out that the Empress Dowager Cixi was about to celebrate her birthday, and the minister in charge of grading papers deliberately moved the test paper of Wang Shoupeng, who was not the first, to the front.
Although the imperial examination was presided over by Emperor Guangxu, the real say was in the hands of Empress Dowager Cixi, who had the final say on who would be chosen as the top scholar. Cixi opened the test paper presented by the minister, and the name "Wang Shoupeng" came into view. Cixi was so happy. "Shou" means life span, and "Peng" can be understood as Peng Zu who lived eight hundred years. Cixi believed that this name was very auspicious and suggested that she would live a long life, so she did not hesitate to appoint her as the number one scholar.
As the saying goes, people's words are terrible. Rumors about Wang Shoupeng becoming the number one scholar based on his name gradually spread. Faced with the rumors, Wang Shoupeng really couldn't bear it. He believed that the reason why the Queen Mother made him the top pick was because of his talent, which had nothing to do with his name. Those doubters were narrow-minded and deliberately slandered and slandered him.
In order to refute these doubters, Wang Shoupeng wrote a limerick: "Some people say that I am accidental, but I say it is embarrassing to say accidental. Even if there are accidental things in the world, how can it be accidental again?" The meaning is very simple. , There may be things that happen by chance in the world, and there is an element of luck, but it is impossible to be lucky all the time. I (Wang Shoupeng) went from being a scholar to being a scholar, and then becoming a Jinshi and No. 1 scholar. Is it all accidental?
This limerick is really good. It does not counterattack directly, but uses a rhetorical tone to refute the doubters, just like a Tai Chi master who silences those who doubt him. In the 31st year of Guangxu's reign, Wang Shoupeng was sent to Japan for study and inspection. After returning, he was the secretary of the Shandong Governor's Office and the Inspector's Office. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Shoupeng still served as the director of the Department of Education. He was one of the founders of Shandong University, which also shows that it was no accident that he won the top prize.