In addition to the towering imperial city, Linglong Pagoda is the tallest building in the capital, climbing high and looking far away, you can look at the entire Chang'an.In the early years, at the beginning of the imperial examination in the Northern Tang Dynasty, the Linglong Pagoda was just a deserted pagoda, and no one cared about it, let alone feasting the sages inside.Later, there were some frustrated talents in the examination room, playing until this time, gambling on the desert scene and feeling sad, improvised poems on the walls of the tower, chatting for comfort.As the years go by, there are more and more poems in the tower, and it has become a grand scene in Chang'an City, attracting many literati and visitors to come and see the style of the former sages.Gradually, the exquisite banquet evolved into a conventional event and spread.Just as a round of simulation is similar to the college entrance examination, the style of the Linglong banquet is similar to the rules of the court examination.In previous years, the court examination was divided into a literary examination and a martial examination, each of which was tested separately to examine and recruit talents in both Confucian and sword skills.Therefore, the exquisite banquet was also divided into two accordingly.The literary banquet meets friends with poetry and writing, and the masterpieces on the wall reflect each other, and those who are quick in thinking can rise step by step; The martial arts banquet is more pure, and the heroes show their unique learning, compete to climb high, and get ahead.The Linglong Pagoda has eight floors, and there are eight sides in the tower, and people of different strength levels will stay in different towers.Finally climbed to the top of the tower, the leader of the group, is the leader of this year's exquisite banquet, became famous overnight, and has been at the peak of his life since then.The mainland has the term "eight-sided exquisite", which describes the people in all aspects, left and right, and its origin is this exquisite banquet.However, this year's situation seems to be different.According to the gossip in the palace, the empress intends to innovate the imperial examination system and encourage the young talents of the Northern Tang Dynasty to be both civil and military, and become comprehensive high-quality talents with all-round development.Wen can put pen to peace in the world, Wu can go to the horse to determine the world, and the horizontal criticism is not biased.Therefore, this test is likely to become a test of today's academic level: liberal arts students must meet the standards of martial arts subjects, and martial arts students must also pass the basic test of liberal arts.The so-called Confucian sword initiates actually mean this.Correspondingly, this year's Linglong banquet has also been adjusted, no longer separating the literary banquet and the martial banquet, but simply combining them directly to have a big fun.When night falls, the lights in Chang'an City are brilliant, and if you stand on a high place and look down, it must be beautiful.Accompanied by Cui Mingjiu and Xiahou Ba, Ren Zhen came to the Linglong Pagoda in the south of the city.Mo Yuqing has a lively and enthusiastic temperament, likes to join in this kind of excitement, and wants to come together, but Ren Zhen is worried that she will lose her temper again and cause trouble, so she refuses her bitter pleas.Wearing a black cloak and covering his face tightly, he followed the two disciples into the brightly lit tower.If someone finds out, the chief examiner Cai Houye will definitely explode in person, and the situation will get out of control.He has a special status and must keep a low profile.The lobby on the first floor was crowded, and the venue was originally very spacious, but there were too many people rushing to the banquet, and it still became cramped and crowded.Nearly 100 food tables were neatly arranged in the venue, and a few plates of simple melons and fruits were placed to entertain talents from all walks of life.Ren Zhen looked around and saw that around the site, cyan gauze tents were hung in front of the octagonal tower walls, isolated from the outside.When the breeze blows, the green tent dances lightly, faintly revealing the corners of the dining table."
Inside the tent, it should be the seat," Ren Zhen muttered in his heart: "I'd better mix in there, so as not to be seen through later" He was thinking like this, Cui Mingjiu suddenly turned around and said in a low voice: "Teacher come with me." ”Then, the three of them walked into one of the tents and sat down.Ren Zhen was quite satisfied with Cui Mingjiu's arrangement, looked at the crowd outside the tent, and said happily: "The court test is approaching, the city is full of heroes, I am afraid it will take a lot of thought to get a VIP seat" Cui Mingjiu smiled: "The teacher doesn't know, although everyone can participate in this exquisite banquet, but this venue layout will inevitably have someone to preside over it." ”Xiahou Ba grabbed the conversation and said indifferently: "Taixue is the highest institution of learning in the capital, established by the imperial court, and it is they who organize the exquisite banquet.Senior Brother Cui is full of wealth and energy, is there still a seat that can't be bought" Ren Zhen understood.If you want to open a private room, you have to take the road of learning too much, and it is really not easy to live in the capital."
If I'm not mistaken, the current Taixue sacrificial wine is Yuan Baimei" Taixue sacrificial wine, which is equivalent to the current president of Peking University, has a very lofty status in the education and academic circles.Cui Mingjiu nodded and said, "Old Man Yuan has profound Confucian attainments and is regarded as the leader of the literary world in Chang'an.He also has a great friendship with his master, and he is considered your senior, so you should take the time to visit. ”"Senior" Ren Zhen couldn't help laughing when he heard this, "It's just a scholar of the master, what kind of senior is he to talk about Confucianism, he is even less qualified to rank in front of me" Cui Mingjiu's expression changed slightly, turned his head and glanced around, and then leaned over and said, "Teacher is cautious."
The trend of literati forming gangs is prevalent, and they are stubborn and high-minded, although you have a strong identity, it is better not to offend them" Xiahou Ba smiled and said nothing, with a touch of irony in his eyes.The Cui family has been in business for generations, and their eyeliner within the court is not particularly well-informed, and they don't know about the early dynasty today.But he heard that the teacher had confronted the Xiling Party led by the Yuan family.In this case, how can he be afraid of offending the Yuan family, in his opinion, the teacher, as a little gentleman, threatens Yuan Baimei's position as the leader of the capital, and sooner or later there will be a contest between the two.Ren Zhen saw Cui Mingjiu's kindness, and said with relief: "Since it is presided over by Taixue, then, the judge of tonight's exquisite banquet should also be from the Yuan family." ”Ren Zhen snorted, "Tell me about the rules of the dinner." ”Cui Mingjiu groaned: "There are changes this year, the host will release a lantern above, which contains a request for poems, whoever grabs the lantern first, or sings the corresponding poem as quickly as possible, will be able to go to the next level." ”Ren Zhen thought thoughtfully, "Grabbing the lantern, this is a competition of force, it can be regarded as a martial arts test."
Rushing to compose poetry, this is in Biwensi, it is a literary test.The civil and military banquet turned out to be like this. ”Xiahou Ba also thought about it, "In this way, every time a lantern is released, there will be a Wen Yiwu ascending the building" Cui Mingjiu shook his head, "Not only that, there is another rule, if someone reacts a little slowly, but follows up and makes two poems at once, then, he can also climb the next floor."
And so on, and the next person, you have to have three songs. ”Ren Zhen understood, "Except for the one who grabbed the lantern, the first person has to make one song, the second person has two songs, and the eighth person has to have eight songs" Xiahou Ba gasped.Under the premise of limited requirements, everyone is playing on the spot, who can write so many poems at once, it is simply a literary song star: