Chapter 44: Five Elements Natural Disaster Scenario Questions

The examination took place in the county office, as the Ministry of Agriculture's local branch did not have enough desks and chairs.
The magistrate concurrently handled civil administration, so whenever there was a theoretical examination, it was basically held in the examination rooms of the county office.
Although the magistrate Li Wenzheng was nowhere to be seen, the chief examiner and the proctors were still familiar faces from the Ministry of Agriculture. However, the number of bailiffs assigned from the county office to monitor the exam had increased to fifty, and there were also additional clerks delivering food and water.
Since this examination did not test endurance, meals would be delivered to the examination rooms midway through.
The exam would last for two days, so naturally there would be no shortage of test papers.
After Zhao Xing found his assigned examination room and sat down, he waited for the test papers to be distributed. Once handed out, there were a total of forty sheets!
Among them, thirty sheets were test questions, and ten sheets were blank.
Zhao Xing was in no hurry to pick up his brush. He first roughly reviewed the questions and requirements, and additionally checked for any errors or omissions.
The first fifteen sheets were free-point questions, which belonged to the category of rote memorization.
For example: "The *Seventy-Two Phenological Phases of the Lunar Months* comes from which ancient book? By whom and when was it compiled?"
Zhao Xing did not even need to think; he directly wrote down the answer: "It comes from the *Explanations on Temporal Teachings*, compiled in the ninth year of Kaiping by Grand Agronomist Wu Cheng."
Or else, a sentence would be excerpted from a classic work, requiring the examinee to fill in the preceding or succeeding sentence.
For instance: Duckweeds do not grow, and the yin vapor swells and overflows. ________
Answer: The crying doves do not stroke their feathers, and the state does not deploy troops; the hoopoes do not descend upon the mulberry trees, and political teachings do not hit the mark.
This question was a "yin-yang phenology question," which meant that if the yin vapor among the yin and yang vapors was overly heavy, corresponding abnormal "phenological" phenomena would appear. At such times, the state was best advised not to resort to military force, nor to issue any new political decrees, otherwise the results would be comparatively poor.
With Zhao Xing's fluent responses, the free-point questions were soon over.
He then arrived at the scenario-based Q&A questions designed to screen the candidates.
"There is a wind in the south of the city, blowing violently and rampantly, leading to frequent droughts in spring and autumn. There is a river in the east of the city, with excessive rainfall, leading to frequent floods in summer and winter, making it difficult for the five grains to survive. How should this be resolved?"
If it were a clerk with a weak foundation in theory, they would certainly answer directly: "Modify it with the spell for favorable weather, and the five grains will have a bumper harvest."
An answer like this, if worth 10 points, would at most receive 2, or perhaps even zero.
Because there was only an answer without the process, which was unacceptable for a theoretical exam.
Furthermore, the answer missed the core point, which indicated either a failure to carefully analyze the question or an insufficient reserve of spell knowledge theory.
"The small city is constantly swept by a southerly wind that blows violently, carrying away the clouds and rain of spring and autumn, leading to droughts. However, there is also a sea to the south of the city, where vapor rises, causing floods in summer and winter. Therefore, this is fundamentally not a question of celestial timing, but a question of geographical advantage. No matter what spells of the Celestial Timing School are used, they will all be wrong." After seeing through the trap hidden in the question, Zhao Xing began to answer.
In fact, it was quite simple; the method to solve it was precisely what True Lord Caoxi had done in the past.
"Nurture the earth's veins in the south so that high terrain will tame the winds; repair the channels in the east to guide the water around the city; additionally, choose a low-lying area east of the city to store water in a lake, and build a Guiyuan waterwheel. Then the rainfall across the four seasons will be balanced. Supplement this with the solar term edicts, and within three years, the weather will be favorable."
Having finished writing and confident of obtaining a full score, Zhao Xing continued downwards.
He did not encounter any difficulty until the very last question.
This was a scenario-based Q&A question involving the prohibitions of the Five Elements and the Four Seasons:
"The earth is dark and cold, the spring wood cannot be utilized, the summer sun steams intensely, and locusts thrive in abundance. How should this be resolved?"
The fewer the words, the harder the question.
Moreover, it was a cascading, interconnected question.
Because it described both seasonal disorders and natural anomalies, linking the two together, the answer had to address them jointly rather than being split apart.
The standard answer had to proceed from the perspective of the Five Elements and the Four Seasons, and ideally find a basis in classic works; otherwise, using the candidate's own words would lack foundation and persuasion.
Without persuasion, even if the answer hit the right points, points would be deducted.
Having figured this out, Zhao Xing began to ponder, traversing various literary works in his mind in striving to find a perfect answer.
A quarter of an hour later, Zhao Xing lifted his brush to write.
"If spring has lingering coldness, the earth is yin-dominated, and all trees fail to grow, one must draw upon the Bing fire of the earth's veins to adjust the climate. If the earth lacks Bing fire, draw upon Ding fire. If both Bing and Ding are absent, then postpone the celestial timing accordingly."
"If the summer sun is overly steaming, shortening the spring, and pestilence runs rampant, direct modification is required. Restore the celestial timing to spring, set the earth fire to Ding, restore one phenological phase of time, and then revert to summer, shortening summer by one phenological phase, thereby returning to the proper alignment of the four seasons."
The standard answer referenced the contents of the *Discourse on the Four Seasons and Five Elements*, specifically the chapters on Geographical Advantage and Celestial Timing.
This question addressed how an agronomist should resolve the situation if, under their jurisdiction, spring wood could not be utilized, the earth's strength was dark and cold, and summer was scorching hot, subsequently giving rise to locust plagues.
The question involved the Five Elements, the Four Seasons, and natural disasters.
When answering, one had to use the Five Elements, Heavenly Stems, and Earthly Branches, providing a relatively perfect solution.
First, using the method of the Geographical Advantage School, adjust the power of the earth's veins. The earth's veins possessed different attributes; Bing fire was the most vigorous and could be used to adjust the dark and cold phenomena, while Ding fire was secondary, yet barely usable.
If the local environment was truly too harsh to channel Bing and Ding fires, one had no choice but to alter the celestial timing, making spring pass quickly to reach the next season—which was called "postponing the celestial timing."
Summer's excessive yang caused steaming heat and generated various insect plagues. This was because spring was too short; following the previous sentence, this was cause and effect.
At this time, one should not overthink and should directly alter the celestial timing, because the insect plague had already appeared, and summer was the most suitable time for plagues to run rampant. Remaining in summer offered no solution.
Therefore, it was necessary to restore "celestial timing to spring." Could it be changed to autumn or winter instead?
No, because earlier in spring, the "Bing fire of the earth's veins" had been used to solve the dark and cold problem, resulting in a shortened spring. Now it was necessary to replenish a phenological phase's worth of spring.
Using Ding fire for the earth's veins was relatively gentle; it would neither cause the dark and cold to reappear, nor would it deviate too far from summer, because after resolving the insect plague, one still had to return to summer. This was called "returning to the proper position of the four seasons."
When answering, Zhao Xing considered the possibility of the insect plague recurring, so when returning to the proper position, he specified shortening summer by one phenological phase.
Because the difference in heat between summer and autumn was not too significant, having one less phenological phase of summer and one extra of autumn posed no problem and would not cause major impacts. Having less spring and more summer, however, would lead to huge problems.
"If the examiner isn't blind, I must be given full marks for this question." Zhao Xing checked his work, turned the page, and continued writing.
.............
Time slowly passed. By nightfall, many examinees had already stopped writing, as most clerks lacked the ability to see clearly in the dark.
Zhao Xing was unwilling to waste time here blindly, so he intended to finish as early as possible and submit his paper in advance.
Thus, even as the light grew dim, he did not stop writing.
After answering all the preceding types of questions, he began to review his work, checking for any better answers and where points might potentially be lost.
Only after conducting such checks several times would he proceed to the next category of questions.
By nightfall, Zhao Xing had only the final category of questions left:
There was only one sheet for this type of question, and it was also the most difficult school-of-thought ideological question.
"Please match the Five Elements, Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and the Four Seasons, and expound upon the matching philosophy."