"Students must arrive at the academy by the Mao hour each day. In the morning, instructors from the Civil Branch explain the classics, and for the rest of the day, masters from the Martial Branch teach martial arts. Anyone with personal business must request leave."
"The Civil Branch conducts uniform daily lectures for all students. The Martial Branch, however, is divided into the Outer Branch, the Inner Branch, and the Upper Branch..."
Chu Qiguang nodded as he listened. Although the martial examinations primarily tested martial arts, knowledge of the classics was also examined. It was just far simpler than in the civil examinations—little more than going through the motions.
Within the Martial Branch, the Outer, Inner, and Upper branches were instructed according to the students' aptitudes. The Outer Branch consisted entirely of students in the first stage of martial arts, focusing on laying foundations and adapting to the academy's training; the masters instructing them were merely in the second stage.
Upon stepping into the second stage, a student could enter the Inner Branch as an Inner Branch student, receiving martial instruction from a wusheng who had attained the third stage.
Those who broke through to the third stage could advance to the Upper Branch as Upper Branch students, taught personally by the headmaster, Wang Yan. He was a martial juren who had retired from office over twenty years ago, an undisputed pillar of the county's elite who had taught at Yinglue Academy ever since returning to Qingyang County.
One could say that the Upper Branch students at Yinglue Academy were the ones truly poised to pass the martial examinations, and they were the pupils valued most by the academy's teachers.
Students like Wang Cailiang and Chu Qiguang could only practice in the Outer Branch for now.
On regular days, Yinglue Academy began lectures on the classics at the Mao hour (five in the morning). After one shichen, martial arts practice commenced and continued until the Shen hour (three in the afternoon), concluding the day's curriculum.
Lunch was eaten at the academy, carried in daily by meal porters, though students were naturally free to bring their own.
'Yinglue Academy keeps quite a tight daily schedule, complete with a tiered class system. It's probably no easier than being a professional athlete back home.'
Just as Chu Qiguang was thinking this, they entered the lecture hall of Wenchang Pavilion, where students were listening to an instructor explaining the classics from the podium.
Song Yixuan, long accustomed to this routine, introduced Chu Qiguang and Wang Cailiang to the instructor on the platform, bade them enter to listen, and then took his leave.
Whether due to the presence of martial arts and Daoist arts, the literature and classical scholarship of the Great Han Dynasty seemed far less rich to Chu Qiguang than what Earth had produced.
Chu Qiguang thought to himself, 'After all, when the rich and powerful in this world grow old or find free time, they surely dedicate themselves to martial arts and Daoist arts, thinking of ways to live a few more years. There certainly aren't as many people researching philosophical ideas and political systems as there were on Earth.'
For the martial examinations, one studied only a single book, the Study of Rites. It encompassed ritual propriety, aesthetics, moral philosophy, and the political and utilitarian thought of ancient philosophers, but spanned only around twenty thousand characters in total.
The classical portion of the martial examinations was drawn entirely from these twenty-odd thousand words, with examiners picking and splicing excerpts before extrapolating questions from them.
Furthermore, the Great Han Dynasty had held martial examinations for over two centuries. In all that time, those twenty-odd thousand words of the Study of Rites had long been dissected down to the marrow. Generations had scrutinized virtually every character, and every possible question had already been cataloged. Passing merely required drilling practice problems over and over.
By now, testing the classics in the martial examinations had been reduced to a mere formality; actual rankings depended primarily on one's martial cultivation.
Once the lecture ended, the students gathered into small groups to chat.
Chu Qiguang did not recognize a single one of them, so he simply sat in his seat, watching quietly.
Wang Cailiang, however, recognized a few. He was already standing in a circle, chatting and laughing cheerfully, his voice drifting over in fragments to Chu Qiguang.
Wang Cailiang said, "You all know my martial aptitude. Truth be told, I reached the first stage of martial arts long ago—I just hid my strength so I could goof off for a few more years, that's all. This year my father practically begged me on bended knee, so I finally gave in and came to Yinglue Academy."
As he spoke, Wang Cailiang flicked at his robes. "Why is this fabric so rough? A robe bought for twenty taels of silver, yet it's not even as comfortable as my usual training robes."
Chu Qiguang rolled his eyes as he listened, watching Wang Cailiang reinvent himself as a martial genius. He called out inwardly, 'Master Qiao, give me a rundown of the students here.'
Crouched atop the academy's eaves, Qiao Zhi yawned and explained mentally to Chu Qiguang, 'The ones standing with Wang Cailiang are all the sons of local squires and landlords from neighboring villages...'
Through Qiao Zhi's breakdown, the students before Chu Qiguang's eyes seemed to take on different colors, clumping together by birth, background, and family power.
Around Wang Cailiang were sons of similar small landowning households. Standing on the other side were students from merchant families in the county seat—heirs to general stores, taverns, bathhouses, and the like.
The group occupying the center consisted of students from the families of officials and juren.
Chu Qiguang observed these three factions, finding the contrast in their conduct quite amusing.
Students like Wang Cailiang from small landowning backgrounds appeared boisterous and carefree, but were actually slightly hardworking underachievers—the absolute bottom tier of Yinglue Academy. Most of them merely aimed to reach the third stage of martial arts and earn the status of wusheng; hardly any expected to become a martial juren.
On the other side, the sons of county-seat merchants presented a courteous front to everyone. From time to time, they sought to cozy up to the officials' sons, while quietly keeping their distance from Wang Cailiang and his group, seemingly looking down on those rural bumpkins. They were like ordinary students who admired the academic aces while scorning the slackers, mostly toiling in secret in hopes of surpassing the elite.
As for the officials' sons, they carried an air of aloof superiority toward the others. Among themselves, they spoke of court politics and officialdom, mimicking the mannerisms of their elders. An invisible line separated them from the other students, like top students who met only to debate exam problems, disdaining whatever topics the rest were discussing.
The academy had its underachievers, its average strivers, and its top aces—yet everyone had a bright future.
Among the officials' sons, one in particular caught Chu Qiguang's eye.
He was tall and strikingly handsome, bearing the refined grace of a cultured young lord. Students constantly came up to greet him and curry favor, and he responded smoothly to each, making everyone feel warmly received, as though he were the natural center of the crowd.
Qiao Zhi sighed mentally, 'That man is Ding Daoxiao.'
Beside Ding Daoxiao, another burly, dark-skinned young man also seemed to hold considerable status.
Qiao Zhi introduced him, 'That's Hao Yongtai of the Hao family. The very Hao family that had their sights on that prime feng shui land of the Wang family to use as an ancestral grave.'
Chu Qiguang nodded. When Zhao Da and Chen Gang had cornered him with their men, it was the Hao family's name that had helped him avert an ugly brawl.
Qiao Zhi said, 'Twenty years ago, the Hao family produced Hao Zhiyuan, who rose to Right Censor-in-Chief and Governor-General of Dianzhou. Unfortunately, after Hao Zhiyuan passed away, his descendants proved unworthy. Not a single one managed to pass the martial jinshi examinations, and their court influence dwindled severely.
'Even so, the Hao family remains deeply entrenched in Qingyang County, owning at least a hundred thousand mu of farmland alone.'
Qiao Zhi continued, 'Still, none of them are the most formidable. There's a descendant of an absolute titan in this county who hasn't shown up at Yinglue Academy yet.'
Chu Qiguang asked, 'Who?'
Chapter 39