Chapter 97: Palace Examination
Yan Xuanyu didn't know that what he thought was "fun" and "laughing" might be a big deal in the eyes of others.
But even if I knew, it wouldn't matter.
The palace examination will reveal the truth.
Yan Xuanyu was concerned about the students who had been disqualified from the palace examination. He was a man of measure and would never make a conclusion based solely on their performance at the banquet. All the examiners had reviewed the files of each student one by one.
The selection of officials must not be sloppy, especially since it is the first time for the Great Zhou Dynasty to select officials.
This is also hard work for the examiners.
Marking papers had already added a lot of workload to them, and in addition to examining the students' conduct, Wenyuan Pavilion selected a number of officials to serve as conduct examiners to review the files.
The most common question in the minds of officials during that period was:
Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
These people have caught up with the "good times". They know the sweetness of being an official, but they have also experienced the hardships of being an official.
Fortunately, Yan Xuanyu rewarded everyone appropriately.
Not to mention, news had already spread from Chengtian Palace that after the imperial examination this time, in addition to the Jinshi entering the court, the court officials would also usher in a change.
How can one stand out from the crowd of officials? The answer is obvious: by doing more practical work!
The officials who originally sympathized with the poor Haha and had to do their job and serve as examiners began to envy their colleagues...
Therefore, the students who were disqualified from the palace examination did not do so unfairly.
Yan Xuanyu was very patient. When this matter caused a stir in the capital and even in the Great Zhou, government offices everywhere posted notices about the reasons why some students were disqualified from the palace examinations, and newspapers also dedicated a section to explain the details.
From then on, those students who had felt very aggrieved disappeared.
In Wenyuan Pavilion.
"Your Majesty is so kind. He could have arrested all those students, but he suppressed them and only took action when he could no longer tolerate them." Han Shidong sighed.
Lin Fu silently took a sip of the tea at hand without saying a word.
As the Prime Minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who was directly harassed by the students who had been disqualified from the palace examination, he had something to say...
But seeing Han Shidong's stubborn look, he silently chose to remain silent.
His teacher's decision was indeed correct. In the past, it was the right choice to keep the kind-hearted Han Shidong from leaving the house. But now he has his teacher's protection, and Han Shidong is very important to His Majesty, so let him be a little stupid!
The work of the Wenyuan Pavilion examiners came to an end, and the next step was the palace examination. The "examiner" at that time was the emperor.
...
Apart from students and officials, no one else is qualified to enter the Zhaixing Tower.
This was also the first time that the Zhaixing Tower officially appeared in front of the public.
You have to look up hard from outside the Zhaixing Tower to barely see the top, which is enough to show how high it is.
If the Zhaixing Tower was built for pleasure, people all over the world would certainly despise it for the waste of manpower and money.
The palace examination of the Great Zhou Dynasty began with countless people eagerly anticipating it.
"In Fenggu City, the 60th Jinshi candidate from the imperial examination will be appointed as the Prime Minister." Someone outside called out the names.
"Sixty-first..."
"Sixty-second..."
Before arriving at the Zhaixing Tower, the students had already passed through several places, making sure that they had no blades or other objects on their bodies and that their clothes were in order. They also checked the appearance of the people in the portraits to see if they were the same person.
After going through one search after another, the scholars became more and more nervous.
It wasn't because they were being neglected - wherever they went, everyone they met was respectful, but the closer they got to the Zhaixing Tower, the more they knew that the palace examination was about to begin.
Didn't they take the imperial examinations to this point just to pass the palace examination, become tribute scholars, and then enter the court as officials?
Although the possibility of entering the imperial court is slim except for the top three, being assigned to serve as an official in a local area is something they never dared to imagine before!
"Enter the palace!"
Following a voice that resounded through the sky, scholars from both sides entered the hall.
The first round of the palace examination was set by the emperor, and it ended after all the candidates submitted their answers. The second round was after the preliminary decision was made, and then the candidates met with the emperor and several examiners one by one.
How can we not be nervous?
Now is the first game.
Everyone entered the hall smoothly and sat in their respective seats. The hall could accommodate hundreds of people without being crowded, and each person was separated by a distance.
Yan Xuanyu sat at the top and saw the situation below clearly, and he was very happy.
He had also been secretly worried because the imperial examination system had never existed before. In previous history, it took nearly a hundred years as a buffer before the imperial examination was officially established, but he only gave the scholars of the world two years.
Moreover, during this imperial examination, he made some changes to the exam in order to suit the current situation of the Great Zhou. Although it was done to suit the situation of the Great Zhou, no one told him that this was correct.
To put it simply, Yan Xuanyu was worried that the imperial examinations wouldn't work. What if too few students passed? What if the questions were too difficult for students to answer? What if the questions were too easy for students to be considered talented?
Yan Xuanyu admitted that when he used his knowledge and methods that did not belong to this era to change the Great Zhou and make it better and better, his sense of accomplishment at that moment was unparalleled.
He felt that he was lucky, that he had come this far without missing a single step, and he also felt that he was fortunate to have a group of talented people working for him.
Just like now, when he saw the Jinshi entering the palace, his heart also changed.
All the Jinshi scholars came to pay their respects.
This is just the beginning. The subsequent imperial examinations will select more and more talents, and we are committed to not letting talents go unnoticed...
So, the excited Yan Xuanyu silently summoned the system and clicked to use the props to find the treacherous ministers.
There was no limit to the number of uses, so he decided to give it a try.
On the surface, Yan Xuanyu sat upright with the demeanor of an emperor, but in fact he was secretly directing the system in his mind to use the props on a Jinshi he had just casually pointed at.
【Name: Wang Heng
Intelligence: 75
Force: 38
Loyalty: 80 (high)
Kindness: 71
[Humans are complex, and numerical values cannot represent everything. They are for reference only.]
A string of characters that only Yan Xuanyu could see gradually appeared in the air.
He was surprised in his heart, but did not show it on his face.
Was it like this when he drew this item before?
【system……】
Yan Xuanyu called out to the system quietly in his heart.
The system responded silently.
Needless to say, the system must have secretly tampered with it. Yan Xuanyu clearly remembered that the original introduction of this card was to search for treacherous officials.
Unexpectedly, he discovered that this could actually demonstrate loyalty, martial arts prowess, and intelligence. Isn't this the system helping him cheat and find talents?
Yan Xuanyu also understood in his heart that if it was something that was beneficial to him, he would not make it public.
After regaining consciousness, Yan Xuanyu was even more delighted. He hoped that the cards he would draw in the future could also be modified by the system behind the scenes. After all, at this stage, many cards in the card drawing system had become less useful to him.
The Jinshi scholars were writing furiously when Yan Xuanyu suddenly stood up and walked towards them.
As expected, all the students who noticed this incident tensed up their backs and looked very nervous.
Yan Xuanyu didn't mean to scare them. He was just feeling a little bored sitting there and wanted to see everyone's performance from a closer distance.
The palace examination was set by Yan Xuanyu. Since it was the first year, he didn't want to scare the students, so he set a standard question.
In fact, he had another question in mind, but if this question was asked, it would definitely cause some waves, so he gave up for the time being - Yan Xuanyu was thinking about the issue of regional division of the Great Zhou.
In fact, the more conventional the topic is, the more challenging it is. It is not easy to write something original, and one must also control the words well. Being too extreme is not good, and being too mediocre is not good either.
Yan Xuanyu walked past quietly and acted as an invigilator.
He saw some of them changing three or four sheets of paper to rewrite, some writing in one go, some frowning and thinking hard, and some wondering whether this sentence was applicable here.
This test also tested "sensitivity," to see if the Jinshi had sharp intuition. Because the current emperor disliked extravagance and empty, empty rhetoric, intelligent students strived to be concise and clear in their words.
In the first palace examination, the candidates were almost all sweating.
It was the first time for almost everyone to see the emperor and the first time to be so close to the emperor.
However, the Jinshi scholars with good psychological quality were only nervous for a moment, because the exam was still important!
Yan Xuanyu also felt that if he couldn't even walk around casually, then wouldn't he be so nervous that he would faint when he had to answer questions in person during the second palace examination?
...
After the first round of the palace examination, the essays were reviewed by the examiners, and the candidates received their first scores, followed by the second round of the palace examination.
Yan Xuanyu called it "interview" in his heart.
Lin Fu picked out all the well-written articles, and then Yan Xuanyu selected a few people to personally examine them.
Everyone in the world knows that His Majesty's previous dandy appearance was all an act, but no one dared to compete with him face to face about his actual knowledge.
If he were a normal emperor, he would usually have a teacher to teach him when he was a prince. With famous teachers from all over the world coming here, it is conceivable that the students he would produce would be good.
However, Yan Xuanyu is not a normal emperor. Not to mention how dissolute the original owner was when he was a prince, but later when it came to him, he was always busy.
Therefore, the emperor's actual knowledge remains a mystery to this day.
...
Wang Heng stood among the Jinshi candidates waiting to come forward. The one in front was a Jinshi named Ma Yanqi.
The question he was asked was about self-cultivation and family harmony. Ma Yanqi thought for a moment and then started talking.
His tone was steady and steady, almost fluent, and he could quote from classics and make his arguments logical and well-reasoned. For a moment, the hall was silent except for his voice. Even the examiners, who had been sitting below the emperor and quietly conversing, began to listen attentively.
Wang Heng thought, this is the kind of person who can stand out in the palace examination...
However, the emperor who was sitting at the top spoke after Ma Yanqi finished speaking. What everyone did not expect was that the emperor did not praise Ma Yanqi, but pointed out several mistakes in his words!
The other Jinshi candidates were sweating profusely again. Is it really so strict?
Before this, they even thought that Ma Yanqi's performance could get him a top spot...
...
Yan Xuanyu didn't think so. He felt that the thoughts this person unintentionally expressed were very dangerous.
Although Yan Xuanyu recognized his talent, his few words revealed that he advocated strict control over women.
Yan Xuanyu was asking about self-cultivation and family harmony, which would have been fine if he had answered properly, but he ended up bringing up many other things. Others who had lived in such an environment might not have noticed, but Yan Xuanyu immediately realized that something was wrong.
Seeing the man's smug look, Yan Xuanyu felt inexplicably unhappy, and immediately started to retort after he finished, from his mistakes in quoting to his mistakes in word choice.
After he finished speaking, Yan Xuanyu suddenly realized that Lin Fu, who was closest to him, was looking at him with a strange look.
I think she was shocked by the rich knowledge he inadvertently revealed!
Yan Xuanyu coughed lightly twice, then looked seriously at Ma Yanqi who was sitting in the middle of the hall. At this moment, he was a little nervous because of what Yan Xuanyu said. Yan Xuanyu had accumulated a lot of power for a long time and had some imperial aura that he himself was not aware of. He also said a few words to him, neither light nor heavy, to warn him.
"As a scholar, you should respond calmly... I see that you are eloquent and know that you are talented, but some of your ideas are already old things from the previous dynasty." Yan Xuanyu said.
How can people with ideas from the previous dynasty become talents to build the new Zhou Dynasty?
Ma Yanqi thanked him, then walked away with a dejected look on his face.
"Announce the Jinshi Wang Heng--" the voice echoed throughout the hall.
Li Zhongxian stood steadily beside Yan Xuanyu. He no longer needed to do such things, and he didn't have a voice as good as that of the young people.
When Yan Xuanyu heard the name "Wang Heng", he instantly became interested. He remembered this person, the one who made a fuss at the banquet.
What’s even more coincidental is that he was the one who tested the effects of the props given out when drawing cards from the system.
He sat up slightly.
"I am Wang Heng, a commoner, and I pay my respects to Your Majesty." Wang Heng bowed respectfully.
Many people had already met the emperor before him, and the questions they asked were nothing more than self-cultivation, family harmony, people's livelihood, government affairs, etc. Wang Heng felt a little relieved, as he had already thought of some answers in the past period of time.
However, as soon as he stood up, he heard a voice coming from above his head.
"There was an emperor in the previous dynasty who cut off the tongues of many people because of rumors among the people," said Yan Xuanyu.
Wang Heng: What happened next? What about the problem?
"You can write an essay about this matter." After saying that, Yan Xuanyu looked at Wang Heng leisurely.
Wang Heng: God wants to kill me!
Not only him, but all the other Jinshi who hadn't yet met the emperor were confused. What kind of question was this? A nonsensical statement required an entire article? How could he say it? What should he say?
Wang Heng thought about it for a moment, and his face turned pale in an instant.
He understood that the emperor was calling on him!
He thought of his article again, which was now circulating among the people in a small circle.
I will regret it if I continue writing, and I will regret it if I don’t write!
Wait, since Your Majesty hasn't been angry with him, it means you don't care. But why do you have to ask such a question at this time?
Wang Heng thought a lot, but to others it seemed like only a short period of time.
Yan Xuanyu had no intention of making things difficult for Wang Heng, but when he saw that he suddenly thought of something, he immediately came up with a question.
In order to maintain its absolute authority, the royal family has always suppressed the voices of the people.
He wanted to hear the ideas from these future talents of the Great Zhou.
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