It was the first time that Lu Wan saw the Queen Mother so furious. She looked at Chen Yan worriedly, not understanding why Chen Yan was so blatantly confronting the Queen Mother today. This was of no benefit to him at all!

When Lu Wan was worried about him, Chen Yan seemed to have no idea what restraint was, and continued to say,

"I went to Jiangsu and Zhejiang with the same intention as the Empress Dowager, wanting to severely punish the candidates who caused the trouble. But when they handed me the petitions filled with grievances, I had no choice but to seek justice for them."

As he spoke, Shen Yan turned around and looked at all the officials present.

"How many poor children only look forward to the imperial examination held every three years. The Ministry of Personnel originally prepared more than ten new positions for them, but only four or five of them can become officials appointed by the court, and they are all appointed to remote places. The remaining positions are given to those who buy positions with money. What's more, as long as you can pay enough money, you can replace the successful candidates and become an official. Queen Mother, if this continues, how can there be more talents among the poor families?"

Lord Feng had been silent since Shen Yan started talking. When Shen Yan finished speaking, he took a step forward, bowed to the Queen Mother, then looked at Shen Yan and said,

"Prince Shen, what you said is wrong. The imperial court held the imperial examination to select talented people. I wonder if Your Highness Prince Shen can ask about the total price of books outside. I don't deny that there are indeed talents among the poor, but jade cannot be made into a useful tool without being polished. No matter how smart and clever he is, without education and enlightenment, he is still a fool. How can such a person work for the country?"

Lord Feng looked at Shen Yan and sneered, "Looking back at the children of officials, which one of them is not a talent cultivated by the family? Aren't such people better than a few ordinary people who have studied for a few years?"

Lord Su himself couldn't win the argument with Chen Yan, but now he saw someone standing up to speak for him, and even made Chen Yan speechless, and he was immediately very happy, and even said sarcastically,

"In my humble opinion, it is only because His Royal Highness Prince Shen was born into a poor family that he cares about the affairs of the lowly people. It is true that you are naturally gifted, but how many people in the world are like you? If the common people heard what you said and thought that they could compare with the sons of the aristocratic families just because they had studied for a few years, then it would be a mess."

Chen Yan clenched his fists tighter and tighter as he heard this, but the others seemed to only be making fun of the anger on his face and burst into laughter.

Lord Feng chuckled and said, "Besides, the court has not ignored those poor children. Didn't it give them the opportunity to take the imperial examination? They are still ungrateful and have done so many things that harm the court. They really deserve to die!"

After saying this, he turned to look at the Queen Mother and reported, "I think that the candidates from Jiangsu and Zhejiang are really hateful and should be sentenced to beheading and their entire clan should be implicated."

As soon as he opened his mouth, many officials who were dependent on him spoke up one after another, expressing the same opinion as Lord Feng. Some even felt that beheading was too merciful a punishment and was not enough to deter the people.

Naturally, there were a few people who felt that Shen Yan was right, but their voices were too small and were easily drowned out by the voices of others.

The court was suddenly in chaos, and the only person standing there stiffly was Shen Yan.

The Queen Mother seemed very satisfied with the scene. She waved her hand and all the noise stopped abruptly.

"According to my opinion, it's just a few candidates who are dissatisfied with the small official positions they were given. They are all greedy people. I don't want to care about it. I just want to settle the matter as soon as possible. Although they are guilty, their families will not be harmed. Just let these people accept the punishment."

As soon as the Queen Mother finished speaking, Lord Feng and Lord Su bowed respectfully, "The Queen Mother is truly kind-hearted."

Other officials, perhaps some of whom had spoken in support of Shen Yan at the beginning, but seeing this scene, either remained silent or echoed the words of the Queen Mother.

All of Shen Yan's persistence is worthless.

Lu Wan stood far away in the crowd and could only see Chen Yan's back, but for a moment, her heart was filled with sadness.

She felt it wasn’t worth it for Shen Yan.

Just now everyone was arguing a lot, but now their opinions were extremely unified. In just a short while, the imperial edict written according to the empress dowager's wishes was placed in front of the little emperor. An attentive eunuch also hurriedly brought the jade seal to the little emperor.

Everyone's eyes fell on the little emperor, some eagerly, some indifferently.

Feeling the emotions of those people, the little emperor held the imperial seal in his hand, but did not move for a long time. He looked at everyone, then at the empress dowager, and then said, "Madam, I have objections to this imperial edict."

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an immediate uproar from the crowd, but because it was the little emperor who said these words, they did not give him too much face.

The Queen Mother seemed very surprised by what the little emperor suddenly said. She looked at him steadily and said only one sentence, "Just speak frankly, Emperor."

The little emperor and the queen mother looked at each other, seeming a little nervous, but the words they spoke were loud enough for everyone to hear clearly.

"I and the Regent have the same idea. We want to investigate this matter in detail to appease the people of the world."

As soon as the little emperor finished speaking, Lord Feng and the Queen Mother exchanged a glance and hurried forward to say, "Your Majesty, I think there is nothing in this matter that needs to be investigated in detail. Everything is just an exaggeration by Prince Shen. As for you, Your Majesty, you only need to listen to what the Queen Mother says. The Queen Mother is devoted to Nanxia and Your Majesty, so Your Majesty can enjoy peace in the world."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!