That winter, just like in the novel, the northern barbarians launched an invasion.

However, the Duke of Zhenguo had already made preparations, setting a trap and using a classic "catch the turtle in a jar" tactic to utterly defeat the Northern Barbarian army.

When the battle report reached the capital, the emperor was still engaged in a battle of wits and courage with the powerful families.

It wasn't just the Wang family; under Xie Chang'an's schemes, many other aristocratic families ran into trouble one after another in order to keep the emperor from interfering in matters in the northern frontier.

Such a grand gesture would naturally arouse suspicion from the powerful families, but they could never have imagined that all of this was arranged by a six-year-old child, whose purpose was simply to keep the emperor busy.

As the cold winter faded and spring blossomed, Ye Jingchen clearly felt that Xie Chang'an had relaxed a lot, and the heavy burden that had been weighing on him seemed to have disappeared.

The calamity that threatened the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion was averted. When Xie Chang'an was seven and Ye Jingchen was nine, Xie Chang'an did not make any major moves, but instead lay low and accumulated more power.

Also in that year, because the situation in the court was relatively stable, both the emperor and the noble families began to covet the military power of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, and one conspiracy after another was launched against the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

The emperor's suspicion of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion continued to deepen.

For aristocratic families, the existence of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion was the biggest obstacle to their encroachment on imperial power.

Ye Jingchen spent a year teaching Xie Chang'an a lesson, making him understand that if he wanted to protect his family, he either had to overthrow the imperial power or eliminate the powerful families.

He might not be unable to overthrow the imperial power, but he could not and dared not, so he could only choose to target the powerful families.

Thus, when he was eight years old, the hunting of the noble families officially began.

The Wang family's in-laws included not only nobles and court officials, but also large and small aristocratic families, and even promising scholars from poor families. They would invest in some of them as well. After all, the Wang family had many daughters, and their main strategy was to cast a wide net, catch many fish, and choose the best ones to marry.

During the year Xie Chang'an lay low, Ye Jingchen used the Wang family's genealogy to sort out their relationships and identified a breakthrough point, waiting for Xie Chang'an to implement his plan.

Xie Chang'an had already agreed to his request, so how could he let Xie Chang'an go back on his word?

Speaking of which, there were also royal women in the emperor's harem.

Below the Four Consorts, and the head of the Nine Concubines, Consort Wang was the birth mother of the Sixth Prince, Ye Jing'an.

The Wang family was very clever; instead of sending their direct descendants' daughters to the palace, they chose a beautiful and intelligent woman from a collateral branch of the family.

When Consort Wang entered the palace, she was just a beauty. With her outstanding beauty and understanding personality, she was favored for a period of time.

However, after she gave birth to a prince, although the emperor made her a Noble Consort, he rarely summoned her to his bedchamber and began to neglect her.

After being inexplicably neglected by the emperor, Consort Wang did not cause any trouble in order to regain his favor. Instead, she devoted herself to raising her child and rarely went out in the palace.

However, after Ye Jing'an turned four, she took the initiative to send him to the Wenhua Hall.

Ye Jing'an was just as good at etiquette as Ye Jingyu, but he was more lively and less competitive.

In terms of personality, he is somewhat similar to Ye Jingyu, being innocent and carefree, but he is much more serious about his studies than Ye Jingyu.

After Ye Jing'an entered the Wenhua Hall, Ye Jingchen handed him over to Ye Jingyu, Ye Jinghe, and Ye Jingyu, so that the three little ones could teach him together.

The year after Ye Jing'an enrolled in school, the fourth-year-old seventh prince, Ye Jingning, was also sent to the Wenhua Hall by imperial decree.

Consort Shu naturally did not want to send her son to Wenhua Palace, which she regarded as a den of wolves and tigers. It was precisely because she was ungrateful that the Emperor personally issued the decree.

Ye Jingning was the emperor's youngest child and also the quietest. He always seemed to be immersed in his own world, liked to daydream, and was slow to speak and act.

But Princess Ye Jingyan, who was only a month older than him, was quite the opposite; she was lively and active.

After she turned four, Ye Jingshu went to Qiuyue Palace to find Consort Yi.

Consort Yi was quite reasonable; she neither thought that the princess's studies were useless, nor that the princess shouldn't show her face in public. She readily agreed when Ye Jingshu simply mentioned wanting Ye Jingyan to study at the Wenhua Hall.

At this point, all of the emperor's children had gathered in the Wenhua Hall.

Strangely enough, judging from the frequency of the births of these princes and princesses, the emperor was very fertile, but after Ye Jingning, for a full four years, no more children were born in the palace.

In the novel, the emperor only had seven sons and four daughters until his death, and for more than ten years afterward, no newborns were born in the harem.

This is clearly unreasonable.

However, this is not something Ye Jingchen should worry about.

As long as the emperor's health is good and he can handle government affairs and govern the country, whether or not he can have children is not important.

Eleven children are already a lot; in modern times, they could form a football team!

After all the princes and princesses entered the Wenhua Hall, Ye Jingchen separated them according to their age for instruction.

The older children attended classes with him, while the younger ones were left to Ye Jingyu and her two little ones.

After all, during the year Ye Jing'an enrolled, the three little ones taught him, and he had accumulated a lot of experience through trial and error. Later, when he taught Ye Jingning and Ye Jingyan, he was quite adept at it.

Wu Zemin began taking the imperial examinations at the age of eleven, and successfully passed both the county and prefectural examinations, ranking first among the candidates.

Gu Beichen took the exam again the following year and easily won first place.

For two consecutive years, the top scholar was His Highness the Crown Prince's study companion. People didn't know whether to marvel at His Highness the Crown Prince's talent for choosing people or at the Wenhua Hall's ability to teach students.

In short, the emperor was the one who shone the brightest.

After all, the crown prince was his son, and he had personally selected the crown prince's tutor.

With two top scholars emerging from the Crown Prince's study companions, many court officials began to have their own ideas about sending their sons, nephews, and grandsons to the Eastern Palace as study companions as well.

The emperor had no objection. Choosing someone to be the crown prince's study companion was tantamount to choosing the crown prince, so he naturally hoped that there would be as many study companions as possible.

Unfortunately, Ye Jingchen declined them all. He felt that four study companions were enough for him, enough to rival a thousand troops.

After Wu Zemin and Gu Beichen both achieved the top score in the imperial examination, the pressure fell on Yun Shu.

As the youngest son of the Marquis of Zhongyong, who was the only son in three generations, the Marquis's family naturally couldn't bear to let him go to the battlefield to earn military merits. If anything were to happen to him, the Marquis's family would be extinct.

If Yun Shu wants to shoulder the heavy responsibilities of the Marquis's mansion, taking the imperial examination is the most legitimate way.

Two years after Gu Beichen finishes his exam, it will be his turn to take it. But for a poor student like him, whether he can pass the preliminary exam on his first try is unknown. As for being the top scholar—that's probably just a pipe dream.

As a result, Yun Shu became so worried that she lost weight.

Hmm—I'm just worried, and I've lost weight from it.

Even though he was so worried, he never thought about studying hard or cramming at the last minute.

His "bad student" persona is even more solid than his "fat boy" persona.