Just when the third set was over, Du Huangshang, the chief examiner, summoned the candidates in the main hall and addressed them. He said, “I am entrusted to select the excellent talents for our country. So I must be fair to every one of you. But unfortunately, Im afraid theres no one who can help me.” There were 500 more candidates in the hall. After hearing these words, they got puzzled, looking at each other, not knowing what to do. But Yin Shu alone stood up, he asked, “Dear chief examiner, whats the matter?” The examination chief answered, “The appraisals have not been written, so it is difficult to decide who will be enrolled. Who can help me to write the appraisals?” Yin Shu knew that the chief examiner wanted to test them if there is anyone who is a supreme talent, so he said, “ Im not capable, but Id like to have a try.”
Mr. Du was glad and asked him to take a seat. Yin Shu took a seat and began to write. When each appraisal was written, Yin Shu would read it aloud. All the candidates at the spot said Yin Shus appraisals were just right. There would be 30 jinshi to be enrolled. Yin Shu wrote 29 appraisals, but left his own appraisal unwritten. Mr. Du asked him who the Number One Scholar should be. Yin Shu replied, “Its me rather than anyone else.” Mr. Du laughed happily. He ordered Yin Shu to write his own appraisal and to name himself as the Number One Scholar.8.陳康肅射箭頗佳賣油翁獻技更絕
歐陽修在《歸田錄》中記述了一個叫陳康肅的人善射箭。其實，這個陳康肅就是閬中狀元陳堯谘，康肅是他的諡號。有一天，陳堯谘在家圃射箭。有一賣油翁路過，負擔而立，乜斜著眼看著他，久而不去。他見堯谘射箭十中八九，隻微微點頭。堯谘問：“你也懂射箭嗎？”老頭說：“你的箭法沒什麼了不起，隻是手熟而已。”堯谘說：“你怎麼敢輕視我射箭呢？”老頭說：“我舀油讓你看，你就知道了。”於是，他取出一隻葫蘆放在地上，又拿出一枚有孔銅錢置其口，舀起油來慢慢淋下，油自錢孔入而錢不濕。演示完了後，他說：“我這個也沒什麼了不起，也隻是手熟而已。”8.Chen Yaozi and the Oil Peddler
Chen Yaozi, a Langzhong Number One Scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, took office as a general. He was good at shooting. One day, General Chen Yaozi was shooting at his home garden, an old man who was a peddler of oil happened to pass by. He stood there watching for a long time, unwilling to leave. When he saw that Chen Yaozi could hit the target in the frequency of eight or nine out of ten, he only slightly nodded his head. Chen thought that he was a strange man and came over to ask, “You know archery, dont you?” The old man answered, “Nothing but skilled by hand.” Chen said, “How dare you look down upon my shooting skill?” The old man answered, “Nothing great, you will know if you see how I pour out my oil.” Then he took out a hollowed calabash, put it on the ground, placed a punched coin on the mouth of the calabash, scooped a ladle of oil and slowly poured it out into the calabash. The oil flowed down straight through the hole of the coin, without making the coin wet. After the demonstration he said, “This is nothing but a skillful hand.” Chen Yaozi knowingly smiled and politely sent him away.9.永樂喬裝赴鄉試貢院歡躍鬧五魁
在閬中貢院，每次鄉試結束，試卷評閱出來後，就有一個發榜公布成績的歡慶儀式，稱作“歡鬧五魁”。哪些秀才考中了舉人，其名字都要張榜公布。於是就需要有一個寫榜的人。一般來講，寫榜人應是一個省的最高行政長官，通常是巡撫或總督才有資格寫榜。寫榜的順序是從第六名寫到末名，然後倒過來寫第五名至第一名。這樣做的目的，主要是為了突出在本次鄉試中全省考得最好的前五個人。從第五名開始，每寫一位，就要敲鑼打鼓、吹嗩呐、放鞭炮哄鬧一番。當寫到第一名解元（舉人的第一名稱解元）時，整個歡鬧活動就達到了高潮。
關於“歡鬧五魁”，有一個非常有趣的背景故事。據說明朝時，永樂皇帝朱棣自恃文采很高，於是有一次他就化裝成一個秀才到一個地方去報名參加鄉試。考試結束後，他去看榜，自己才得了一個第五名。他很不高興，心想，自己是皇帝，這麼高的水平，怎麼可能才得一個第五名呢？於是，他就去問主考官。他去的時候，主考官正在室內寫字，沒有注意到是誰來了。皇帝問：“你怎麼才給我一個第五名？”主考官隨口答道：“我給你一個第五名就不錯了，你還想怎麼樣啊？”皇帝說：“你抬起頭來，看看我是誰？”主考官這才抬頭一看，我的媽矣，原來是皇帝，他嚇了一跳。若是成績還未公布，他給皇帝安上一個第一名有何難。可是現在榜已經貼出去了，公布了的成績是再也無法更改的。但他靈機一動，跑出去在榜上添了一行字：“第五名乃前四名之魁首也”，意思是前四名還不是最好的，第五名還是前四名的領頭人呢。於是，後來便有了“歡鬧五魁”這樣一個慶祝儀式。9.Celebrating the Top Five in Gongyuan
In Langzhong Gongyuan, after the provincial examination, and when the papers were marked, there was a ceremony to make the results known, which was called“Celebrating the Top Five”. The names of those who had been enrolled to be juren must be made known to the public. So there was a need for some one to write the juren list. Generally speaking, the writer was always a senior official of a province, usually the governor. The order of writing the names was from the sixth to the last, then backwards from the fifth to the first. The purpose of doing so was to highlight the first five persons whose scores were the highest in the provincial examination. Thats why it was called “celebrating the top five”. The procedure was like this: From the fifth, when each of the top five was written and announced, there was a hustle and bustle with drums and gongs beating, suona horns blowing and firecrackers exploding. When the first or jieyuan ( a special title for the first place of juren) was announced, the celebration reached its climax.
As to“celebrating the top five”, there was a very interesting background story: It was said that in the Ming Dynasty, there was an emperor who thought he himself was talented and knowledgeable, so he disguised himself as a xiucai to attend a xiangshi. When the results were made known, he was only ranked the fifth position. He was very unsatisfied. So he went to question the chief examiner. When he got there, the chief examiner was writing something in his room, without noticing the emperor coming. The emperor asked, “Why did you only give me a fifth place ?” The chief examiner answered, “Giving you a fifth place is quite enough.” The emperor said, “Turn your head and see who I am.” The chief examiner raised his head and saw it was the emperor. He got a surprise and said, “Its you, Your Majesty. Its my fault. Please forgive me.” If he had known the xiucai were the emperor, he could have given him a first place. But the notice of the enrolled juren had been put up out on the wall,or rather,the juren names had been published. There was no possibility to modify. However, struck by a sudden good idea, he ran out to add a line on the notice: “The fifth is the head of the first four.” That was to say, the front four places were not the best, the fifth place was superior to the first four. So, later, there was such a ceremony as a usual practice to celebrate the top five.10.救師長李寰用計娶田氏楊森費心
四川軍閥楊森有妻妾十二人。四姨太田蘅秋就是閬中人。
1920年，楊森升任川軍第九師師長，曾一度駐鎮閬中。
楊森剛到閬中時，好穿便服四處閑逛。一日，他在城東一露天茶棚喝茶。閑聊中剛剛結識釀醋大戶田家之千金小姐田蘅秋時，他們就被土匪頭子陸頂山手下的人盯梢上了。這夥人俟機將他們劫持到城外山林中一寺廟內。土匪們認識田蘅秋，但不認識楊森。他們原計劃以田蘅秋為人質，向田家索要軍餉。楊森得知他們的陰謀後，巧與周旋。他謊稱自己是做絲綢生意的大老板，願意大筆資助陸氏兄弟，因而騙得陸頂山之流的信任。他要求匪徒們先釋放田小姐回家，土匪們則以天黑為由，答應次日放行。晚上，楊森悄悄把機密告訴了田小姐。第二天，田蘅秋回去後，立即來到楊森的師部，將師長被綁架的事告訴了楊森的參謀長李寰。李寰周密安排，最後成功解救出了楊森，並打垮了陸頂山之徒。
第二年，田蘅秋就成了楊森的四姨太。
現在的田家大院仍然保留著楊森與田蘅秋結婚時的洞房。10.Yang Sen and Miss Tian Fell in Love by Encounter
Yang Sen, one of Sichuan warlords, had twelve wives and concubines. His fourth wife, or the third concubine, Tian Hengqiu, was a Langzhong native.
In 1920, Yang Sen was promoted to the chief commander of the 9th division of Sichuan Army. He was ordered to garrison Langzhong Town.
When he first came to Langzhong, he liked to wander in the streets in casual clothes by himself alone. One day, he went to a tea booth in the eastern town to have tea. He was chatting with Miss Tian, whom he had just made acquaintance with, when a few guys of Lu Dingshans bandits caught sight of them. Then the bandits kidnapped them to a temple in a wood outside the town. The bandits recognized Tian Hengqiu but didnt recognize Yang Sen. They intended to take Tian Hengqiu as hostage for a sum of ransom, because Tians family got rich in the business of brewing vinegar. After knowing their plot, Yang Sen pretended to mix with them. He lied to them that he was a businessman dealing with silk and he would like to finance them with a large sum of money. The precondition was that they should first release Miss Tian. As it was getting dark, they promised to set Miss Tian free the next morning. At night, Yang Sen quietly told Tian Hengqiu a secret plan. The next day, when Miss Tian returned to town, she immediately came to the headquarters of Yang Sens division. She told the chief of staff Li Huan that their commander Yang Sen had been kidnapped. Li Huan made a meticulous plan and finally they rescued Yang Sen. Meanwhile, they defeated the bandits as well.
The next year, Tian Hengqiu became Yangs concubine.
In todays Tians Big Courtyard, there still remains the bridal chamber in which Yang Sen and Tian Hengqiu got married.11.治洪水清官苦用心護閬城犀牛總望月
在閬中濱江路西段美麗的嘉藝廣場上，坐臥著一尊奇特的石犀牛。可別小看它，它可是閬中人民的寶貝，是閬中城的守護神。當有新月的晚上，它臥在那兒仰望天空中的月亮，形成了閬中西城區一個獨特的景觀——犀牛望月。值得驕傲的是，它臥在那兒，已經望了一百九十多年的月亮了。並且，它還留給閬中人民一段神奇的傳說。
據說，清朝時期，閬中城時常遭水災。民間傳說嘉陵江西門河壩外的那片水域常有水怪興風作浪，致使洪水上漲為害。乾隆年間，一場特大的洪水襲擊了閬中縣城。這次水災之後，閬中知縣宋思仁認識到必須采取措施，再也不能讓洪水肆意猖獗了。於是，他帶領人們在西門外修築河堤，並於1769年鑄造一鐵犀牛置於江岸以鎮水怪。後來，另一位地方長官黎學錦繼續帶領閬中人民修築防洪堤壩，並於1820年鑿造了一隻石犀置於岸上，與鐵犀牛一道，共同擔負起降伏水中妖怪的責任。
說來也巧，自從有了這對犀牛降妖之後，嘉陵江水患減少了許多。隨著時間的流逝，鐵犀已不複存在（據說毀於民國年間）。但對於幸存下來的石犀而言，它卻獨擔了繼續看守閬中縣城、保護閬城平安的神聖職責。它餐風宿露，吸天地日月之精華、萬人觸摸之靈氣，逐漸有神。它威嚴地震懾著江水，讓洪水膽寒。每次洪水來臨，無論水位上漲多高，都未敢淹沒犀牛，充其量讓它洗個澡而已。
1956年，一次特大洪水席卷了大半個閬中城。當洪水漲到犀牛位時，滔滔洪水圍繞犀牛咆哮了一陣，便悄悄退去。
由於某種原因，20世紀70年代，犀牛被遷移到原處附近較高的位置。
然而到了1981年，一場空前的大洪水，再次衝洗了閬中城。由於此時犀牛的位置比原來的高了一些，洪水的膽子也就更大了一些，硬要衝上來給石犀牛洗個澡。這樣一來，閬中城四麵環水，隻有中部較高位置未被淹。(爭騎石犀的孩子們)
(Children contending for a ride on the stone rhinoceros)1991年，閬中拆縣建市。此前，某政府部門不知出於什麼原因的考慮，居然把置於城西——犀牛河壩的石犀搬到城東——今張飛路與新村路相交的十字路口（下穿隧道處）。一百多年的“（西）犀牛望月”，轉眼被人為地改成了“（東）犀牛望日”。
恰在90年代，閬中風雨不順，旱災居多。特別是1994年及以後的幾年間，旱情尤為嚴重。這期間，民間謠傳四起：這些災難都是由於錯誤地搬遷了犀牛所致。犀牛是聖物，是閬中城的守護神，怎麼能隨便搬遷呢？隨著旱情的加劇，民眾的批評聲越來越高。閬中有關政府部門不得不重新考慮回遷犀牛的民意。由於此時犀牛河壩已納入濱江路的建設之中，所以隻能將犀牛搬到某個安全的地方暫時存放起來。
2005年，石犀牛才重返故地。閬中市人民政府為其刻碑立傳。11.The Mysterious Rhinoceros Looks up at the Moon
In the west section of the Bingjiang Road, there is a stone rhinoceros. Please dont neglect it. It is a treasure of the Langzhong people and it assumes the role of a guarding god of Langzhong Town. At night when the crescent moon hangs in the sky, it crouches there gazing at the moon, which makes a unique sight —“The rhinoceros looks up at the moon.” What is worth pride is that it has been gazing at the moon for over 190 years. Besides, it tells as well the Langzhong people a legendary story:
It is said that in the Qing Dynasty,Langzhong Town was often hit by floods. People said that under the west reach of the Jialing River there lived a monster. When summer came, she often made the river rise up to disrupt residents in town. A tremendous flood hit the area during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. The flood caused heavy losses. After that, the then county magistrate Song Siren realized that some measures must be adopted to punish the monster and hold back the flood. So, in order to frighten the monster he had an iron rhinoceros cast in 1769 and set it on the river bank outside the west gate of the town. Meanwhile, he led people to build a dam to prevent flooding.
Later, another magistrate Li Xuejin, went on to build an antiflood embankment to protect the town. In 1820, he also had a stone rhinoceros made to frighten the monster.
It is said that the iron rhinoceros was destroyed during the Republic of China (1912-1949). But the stone one survived.
The stone rhinoceros was originally located at the bank on the west edge of the town, with its head facing westward to watch out over the water in the river. It was strange, with the threat of the stone rhinoceros, the river monster dared not make trouble again, and the flood tide dared not rise so high. Each time, no matter how high the water rose, it would never go beyond the rhinoceros. It seemed that the tide just came up to take a bath for the rhinoceros, it dared not drown it.
Practice has proved this:
In 1956, a colossal flood, which was said to be the heaviest in history at that time, flooded almost half the county town. The flood water rose higher and higher until it reached the rhinoceros. It swirled around the rhinoceros, roaring furiously for a while and then retreated.
In 1978 for some reason, the rhinoceros was moved to a higher position just near its original location.
When the time came to 1981, an unprecedented flood hit Langzhong Town. Many houses along the riverside were flooded. The tide rose relatively high but only high enough for the rhinoceros to take a bath, then the water set down.
In the early 1990s,a certain government department moved the stone rhinoceros to the east part of the town, and located it at the site of todays intersection of Zhang Fei Road and Xincun Road. Its location is higher than in its original place. But in the years afterwards, there were droughts, floods and such disasters regularly hitting Langzhong. Then a rumour started among local people that all these disasters were caused by moving the rhinoceros to the wrong place. Under the pressure of the peoples criticism, the government had to reconsider moving back the rhinoceros. But its former site was in the Bingjiang Road which was under construction at that time, so the government had to remove the rhinoceros and keep it somewhere safe.
Not until 2005 did the rhinoceros come back home. It was placed on the west section of Bingjiang Road where the beautiful Jiayi Plaza is located. The municipal government erected a memorial tablet for it.12. 吳道子胸有成竹繪嘉陵唐玄宗足不出戶賞美景
嘉陵江，其名出自陝西鳳縣嘉陵穀。它流經廣元、蒼溪、閬中、南部、南充、武勝、合川，最後到重慶與長江彙合，全長1 120公裏，是長江第三大支流，流域麵積約16萬平方公裏。嘉陵江流域有大量的古蜀道遺址和三國蜀漢文化遺址，是川東北地區的一條重要旅遊線路。
嘉陵江閬中段，古稱閬水或渝水。杜甫有詩《閬水歌》，就是專門描寫閬中嘉陵江的。
嘉陵江的風光美，並非今人才有此評價。早在一千二百多年前，唐玄宗就已經聽說嘉陵江的風光很美了。他派畫聖吳道子去寫生。吳道子到閬中後，盡興遊覽了閬苑山水，飽享眼福之後就回去了。唐玄宗問他：“你畫了什麼啊？”他說：“我什麼也沒畫，都記在心裏了。”玄宗說：“那就請你現場作畫，把裝在心裏的東西繪出來。”吳道子僅用了一天時間，就畫成了《嘉陵江風光三百裏》。該畫掛於長安大同殿壁。12.Wu Daozi Drew the Scenery of the Jialing River
The scenery of the Jialing River is extremely fantastic. As early as 1,200 years ago in the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong heard that the scenery of the Jialing River was very beautiful. He dispatched Wu Daozi, known as painting sage, to go there to draw the scenery. On arrival at Langzhong, Wu Daozi visited the mountains and the river. After enjoying the picturesque scenery, he went back. As he returned, Emperor Xuanzong asked him, “What did you draw?” “I drew nothing.” He answered, “They are all kept in my mind.” Xuanzong said, “If that is the case, draw the scenery right now out of your mind on the spot.” Wu Daozi spent just one day in completing the picture — “Threehundredli Scenery of the Jialing River”. The picture was hung on the wall of Datong Palace in Changan, the then capital.13.袁天罡鋸山斷龍脈蒲真應鑄鍾送武皇
唐初，有預言者告訴李世民，說西南千裏之外有王氣。李世民聽後大吃一驚。他怕自己的皇位不穩，擔心有朝一日會被他人奪去。於是，鋸山埡他派在宮中任職的、精於算命的袁天罡去查出這個王氣所在地。袁天罡從長安（今西安）出發朝西南而去，因此來到閬中。到閬中後，他被閬中美麗的風景迷住了。突然，他領悟到閬中正是王氣所在地。閬中太不尋常了！他發現一條龍脈通向蟠龍山，指向城區。袁天罡下令割斷龍脈（實際上是挖開一段山脈，這被稱之為斬龍脈，好比割斷一個男性的輸精管。這樣做了之後，風水之地就不會出皇帝了）。天啊，當山被挖開之後，一股泉水湧出（或許那就是龍脈）。從那以後，袁天罡斷山的地方，被稱作“鋸山埡”至今。
袁天罡所斷之山，乃屬蟠龍山係。即便在其斷山處的下遊不會產生皇帝，但其上遊的龍脈仍未斬斷。所以，女皇武則天，最終還是在四川廣元誕生了。
唐代銅鍾現存於閬中博物館的唐代銅鍾，據傳為合川慶林觀觀主蒲真應為武則天祝壽而造。該鍾鑄好後，蒲真應將其裝上船，沿嘉陵江逆流而上送往長安。當船到達閬中時，有噩耗傳來，說武皇駕崩了。時有好心人勸誡蒲真應，說在武皇剛死之際送鍾去恐怕不吉利。因“送鍾”諧音“送終”，朝廷會認為他有咒武則天死的嫌疑，不但不會獎勵他，說不定還會招來殺身之禍。
聽這麼一說，蒲真應再也不敢將鍾送往長安了，於是就把它留在了閬中。13.Yuan Tiangang Sawed a
Mountain and Pu Zhenying Gave a BellIn the early Tang Dynasty, a fortune teller told Emperor Li Shimin that there was a sign showing that a future emperor would be produced somewhere in southwest China about a thousand li (500 kilometres) away. Li Shimin was startled to hear that. He was afraid that his ruling position would be taken over some day by somebody. So he dispatched Yuan Tiangang, an official in the court with a reputation of fortune telling and fengshui expertise, to go and find out where this place was. Yuan Tiangang started from Changan (now Xian of Shaanxi Province) to the southwest and thus he came to Langzhong. When he reached Langzhong, he was fascinated by the picturesque landscape. All of a sudden he realized that he had found the right place. Langzhong was extremely unusual. He discovered a vein of a dragon (Please note that in Chinese traditional culture, a dragon may represent an emperor, it may also indicate an unusual mountain in fengshui theory) leading to Panlong (Coiled Dragon) Mountain, facing the urban area. Yuan Tiangang ordered the vein to be cut off (Actually a section of the mountain was cut out. This is called cutting the vein of a dragon, just like cutting a mans urethra. By doing this, the fengshui place could not generate a future emperor). Alas, when the mountain was dug open, a spring (maybe that was the vein of the dragon) gushed out. From then on, this place where Yuan Tiangang cut off the mountain was called Jushanya or MountainSawed Pass.