The palace examination lasted only one day.
From the breaking of dawn to the closing of night.
Unfortunately, there are an unusually large number of tribute students this year, totaling four hundred.
The officials in charge of the palace examination dared not delay and quickly led the students to the open space outside the main hall, where tables and chairs, as well as writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones, had been set up in advance for the students to use.
Since the selection was random, there was nothing to be wary of, and Xu Mo chose to sit next to Qi Huai.
"Today's question is: how do you view the decades-long conflict between the Dayu Dynasty and the Tartars?"
As soon as the examiner finished speaking, the candidates all widened their eyes.
For more than a decade before that, the imperial examinations had not included any questions related to war. It wasn't that there were taboos between civil and military officials, but rather that these questions were too straightforward, either advocating war or peace, making it difficult to strike a middle ground.
This means that your exam paper might be so outstanding that it catches the emperor's eye, or it might make the emperor so angry that he rejects it.
Apart from a few who were confident, most students frowned, unsure of what to do.
Even Qi Huai and An Jun turned around to see what their classmates thought and wrote.
"Silence! No turning your head, no peeking! Anyone caught cheating will be disqualified from the palace examination!" the chief examiner sternly reprimanded.
The students could only lower their heads and write furiously.
Xu Mo licked the ink with the tip of his brush, not in a hurry to write, but thinking carefully in his mind.
Wars often result in tens of thousands of casualties, and the national treasury is in dire need of food supplies. Fundamentally, the imperial family should not want to fight wars or waste resources and manpower.
The war was again instigated by the Tartars, and the Dayu Dynasty was mostly on the defensive, helpless and unable to do anything about it.
From this perspective, the imperial family should have desired peace, or even peace talks.
The treasury of the Dayu Dynasty is empty. If it can recuperate for ten years or so, it may be able to become completely powerful.
Xu Mo nodded, just as he was about to put pen to paper, when suddenly his third brother Fang Heng's autobiography came to mind.
"Before I went to the frontier, I only thought about peace and harmony, and that everyone should take a step back. But when I actually participated in the killing, and saw whose blood was sprayed on my face, my heart was filled with hatred."
"Peace under heaven—these four words are easy to say, but the hatred between Dayu and the Tatars has accumulated over decades, and so many corpses have been slaughtered on each other. Can there really be peace? Even if they are at peace, can those dead relatives and innocent lives truly be at peace?"
All the onlookers and armchair strategists can casually suggest peace talks.
But only military generals knew that peace could not be achieved, and hatred could not be eradicated.
Those who are dead can never come back to life.
It applies to the border people of Dayu, and also to the relatives of the Tartars.
Would the imperial family want to continue fighting?
The soldiers' pay came from the national treasury, and the national treasury's income came from taxes. Wealthy merchants could grit their teeth and contribute a portion, but the already impoverished commoners had to save every penny they could.
In Xu Mo's memory, the people of Shilipu Village were very poor, but they all had land, farmed, and did odd jobs in their spare time. Why were they so poor that they couldn't even get enough to eat?
Because of taxes and corvée labor.
If a farmer grows ten bags of grain from one mu of land, he has to pay basic agricultural tax, miscellaneous taxes, and personal taxes. After all that, he only has six or seven bags left.
Logically, there should be enough to eat, but living involves more than just eating; there are also illnesses, filial piety, and reproduction.
When you don't have enough money, you can't afford to eat when you get sick, and you can only go hungry if you have children.
Xu Mo asked himself, if he were in the emperor's position, could he really bear to see his people starve and freeze, just to fill the national treasury?
He couldn't bear it, and he believed that the imperial family couldn't bear it either.
Therefore, stopping the war is the goal, but how to stop the war is worth considering.
At this moment, Xu Mo was not a student writing furiously to win a ranking; he was a person standing in mid-air, truly looking down at the earth, and loving this dynasty from the bottom of his heart.
He hoped that everyone would have enough to eat and drink, that the people would be safe and happy, that there would be no more war on the border, and that the soldiers would live to be a hundred years old.
After an unknown amount of time, Xu Mo paused, wrote the last bold stroke, and put the pen back in its place.
Other students were either frowning in thought, looking around, or hesitant and dazed.
Qi Huai had already finished writing, and when he turned around and saw him, he even winked mischievously.
Xu Mo chuckled, then looked at An Jun, who seemed to be struggling with something, writing at a remarkably slow pace.
As he finally looked away, he bumped right into Fang Yuan, who was dressed in flowing white robes.
Neither of them looked away; they simply met each other's gazes with natural grace, one gentle and polite, the other raising an eyebrow and smiling softly.
It was clear that Fang Yuan was very confident.
The Fang family's descendants, who transitioned from military to civil service, have a natural advantage in this question.
But Xu Mo was more confident in his answer.
The chief examiner in the Hall of Supreme Harmony rose, glanced at the sun, and after a short while, struck a gong, announcing, "Stop writing, collect the papers."
Coincidentally, An Jun had just finished writing the last character and was so nervous that he blew on the ink to dry it.
The chief examiner personally stepped forward, collected more than 400 exam papers, and announced the second item: reading the papers aloud.
This is a random selection process, with eight examiners in the Hall of Supreme Harmony simultaneously evaluating candidates. It tests not only individual ability but also psychological resilience.
Being chosen as the first candidate can be quite stressful.
Four hundred students held their breath, waiting for the lucky winner to appear.
Another cup of tea's time passed, and the chief examiner stood up, holding his identification card, and said, "Liu Ziqiu."
Everyone except the person involved, who was startled, breathed a sigh of relief.
A thin figure stepped out from the crowd, cautiously approaching. Before he could even open his mouth, he let out a burp.
The examiner shook his head and wrote a not-so-high evaluation on the paper.
"I, my name is Liu Ziqiu. My view is that the war should be stopped. The people are already struggling, and the increasing war will only make their lives more difficult..." He was probably immersed in the conversation, and his tone gradually became calmer, and he became more composed.
When it was the second examiner's turn to evaluate, they gave him a mediocre score.
Then came the third, the fourth...
The moment he finished speaking, the eighth examiner came down to evaluate the papers, which were then stacked in a row with the exam papers.
It seems Qi Huai was right; literary talent in the palace examination is far less important than personal eloquence, and composure is the real key.
Xu Mo closed his eyes, took several deep breaths, and repeatedly recalled his ideas and how he articulated them.
He didn't know how much time had passed when he opened his eyes and saw Fang Yuan confidently walking out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Several examiners nodded slightly, their eyes showing appreciation.
"Congratulations, Brother Fang! I wonder where you'll rank."
"Brother Fang is outstanding and at the young age of fourteen, I would say he deserves to be in the top three."
Some members of the Fang family have already begun to curry favor and praise him.
Fang Yuan glanced at Xu Mo from afar and said modestly, "It's nothing. I still look forward to everyone shining brightly."
Coincidentally, as the examiner appeared, the name "Xu Mo" was clearly heard.
Finally, it was his turn.
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