Late June.

The assessment, which had been postponed by the emperor for more than two months, was finally announced to begin.

Those students recommended by officials and families from various regions were once again arranged by Liu Hong to take the exam in front of Deyang Palace.

However, only a little over 1,700 people participated in the first assessment, which was more than 1,000 fewer than originally planned.

This time, Liu Hong gave these scions of noble families the topic: The Way of the Minister.

Inside the examination hall, Yuan Ji stared at the question and fell into deep thought, his mind replaying the emperor's actions after his ascension to the throne.

After a moment, Yuan Ji's expression changed, and he began to write:

"Discourse on ministers: There are those who are cunning, those who usurp power, those who are meritorious, and those who are sages..."

However, the cunning and sycophantic one said, "To be good at currying favor with one's superiors is to be a sycophantic minister. To be disloyal to one's ruler, to seek praise from the people, to disregard justice and righteousness, to form cliques and factions, and to make it one's business to align oneself with the ruler for personal gain—that is to be a usurper…!"

It means that there were all kinds of officials and ministers, including flattering ministers who were cunning and sycophantic, and usurpers who were disloyal to the emperor, deceived the people, and formed cliques for personal gain.

Then he wrote a long, detailed account of how to be a meritorious official and a saintly minister.

All the other candidates were also quietly bowing their heads on their desks, either writing furiously or deep in thought with their eyes closed. The entire scene was unusually quiet.

Beside each table stood a ramrod straight-backed soldier from the Imperial Guard, to prevent the examinees from cheating.

About an hour later, after confirming that the main question was correct, Yuan Ji turned his attention to the three sub-questions below.

The three sub-topics are: chickens and rabbits in the same cage, disease prevention and control, and increasing farmland yield.

Looking at the questions, Yuan Ji smiled confidently and then began to answer them one by one.

Because he had received Yuan Feng's notification long ago, he had been studying diligently ever since.

Many other students, after answering the main question, fell into deep thought as they looked at the remaining three sub-questions.

Apart from a few students like Yuan, Yang, and Xun, the rest of the students only chose to solve the "chicken and rabbit in the same cage" problem, and many others couldn't even solve a single one.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

About an hour and a half later, with the sound of a gong, all the examinees immediately put down their brushes, stood up and handed their exam papers to the soldiers of the Imperial Guard beside them.

Inside the Deyang Hall, in addition to the officials, more than 300 people, including Imperial Academy doctors and scholars, were also invited to help review the examination papers.

Each person in the hall was given four to five exam papers to write comments and grades. After finishing their own papers, they would exchange them with the papers of others.

This process was repeated until each exam paper had been scored by all five examiners. The papers with the highest scores were then submitted to Chen Fan, Hu Guang, and others for final review.

By the afternoon, Chen Fan and others had finally selected ten exam papers.

"Your Majesty, these are the people we have selected as having the most outstanding performance. We humbly request Your Majesty to review and evaluate them!"

"good!"

Liu Hong smiled and nodded, taking the ten exam papers, then looked at the officials and scholars in the hall.

"I trouble the Grand Tutor and everyone to quickly determine the number of candidates to be recruited and their rankings..."

"promise!!"

Chen Fan respectfully agreed, then turned back into the hall to begin discussing matters with the others.

Liu Hong then began to grade the test papers in his hands.

After a long while, once the review was complete, Liu Hong stared at the exam paper in front of him, lost in thought, pondering the final ranking.

These ten exam papers were carefully selected by officials, Confucian scholars, and Chen Fan, and their scores and grades were comparable.

What Liu Hong needs to consider is how to arrange the rankings this time.

After some deliberation, Liu Hong finally picked up his pen and drafted a ranking.

After a busy half-day, five hundred students who excelled on the main topic and answered at least one sub-topic correctly were selected to pass the assessment. All the others who failed to answer the sub-topic correctly were eliminated.

That night, Liu Hong ordered a banquet to be held in the palace to entertain the officials and Confucian scholars. The emperor and his ministers parted in high spirits.

Early the next morning, outside the Southern Palace, the candidates gathered, all staring longingly at the tightly closed palace gates.

Soon, under the expectant gazes of all the candidates, the palace gates slowly opened, and one after another, eunuchs, escorted by a group of imperial guards, walked out carrying a ranking list.

This time, only the top 100 will be announced, so all the candidates are full of expectations.

Once the posters were up, a group of test takers eagerly gathered around them, and the first names that caught their attention were the top three.

First place: Yuan Ji

Second place: Xun Yue

Third place: Li Yun

Congratulations, Brother Yuan, on winning first place!

Seeing that Yuan Ji had ranked first, the surrounding candidates all came forward to congratulate him.

"Haha~, congratulations everyone!!"

Yuan Ji also laughed heartily and congratulated his friends.

This time, Liu Hong placed the Yuan and Xun families first and second, respectively, while choosing a person from a minor aristocratic family for third place. His intentions are thought-provoking.

Soon after the rankings were announced, the Yuan family, Xun family, and other families became even more prominent than before.

Luoyang, Xun Mansion.

Xun Yue was the head of the Eight Dragons of the Xun Clan and the son of Xun Jian. He had been staying at Xun Shuang's house during the Luoyang assessment and was overjoyed to have ranked second.

After saying goodbye to her friends with a happy expression, Xun Yue returned home.

As soon as Xun Yue entered the house, the butler informed him that Xun Shuang was waiting in the study. Xun Yue dared not delay and hurried over.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!