"The situation of the southern region being stronger than the northern region in the imperial examinations has intensified over the past two years, and everyone has witnessed it. In the last imperial examination, the top ten were all from the south, and 25 of the top 30 were from the south. This speaks volumes."
"The north was in turmoil and wars were raging everywhere. Not only did the students have to study the classics, but they also had to live a precarious life every day. Their learning environment couldn't compare to that of the southerners, which was inherently unfair."
"If this situation continues, I'm afraid the northern scholars will become alienated from the court. Besides, is this court really a court for southerners?"
Wei Yong stood in the hall and gave an impassioned speech, his saliva almost flying onto Li Zhuo's face, which frightened Li Zhuo to death.
No one expected that what was just a small conflict in a brothel would eventually turn into a confrontation between candidates from the north and the south across the entire capital.
Wei Yong was right. For such a big conflict to occur, there must have been resentment accumulated for a long time, and this conflict was just a fuse.
As a northerner, Wei Yong felt that he should stand up and say something. The imperial court's selection of talented people in recent years was indeed too biased towards southerners.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the candidates in the north are alienated from the imperial court. Wei Yong knows that many scholars in the north have already fled to the north to pledge loyalty to Liao and Jin.
The iron hoofs of Liao and Jin were already powerful. If they were governed by scholars and their national strength was further improved, Wei Yong could not even imagine what a terrible situation that would be.
"Lord Wei, you're being overly alarmist. The imperial examination is for selecting talent, and there's nothing wrong with that. If a northern candidate can't pass the exam as well as a southern candidate, it can only be attributed to their own limited abilities. If someone throws a tantrum just because they can't pass, isn't that childish? How can the court dare to use such a person?"
The Minister of Revenue Liang Licang stood up and responded tit for tat. If it were a normal day, Liang Licang would not want to confront Wei Yong, such a big troll.
But now that the interests of the southern candidates were involved, Liang Licang, as a southerner, had to stand up. He felt that it was his responsibility.
Lu Zhengping and Xu Yan also nodded in agreement. Xu Yan was even more emotional and said, "Your Majesty, the rules are the rules. The imperial examination is to select talents for the country. Since it is a selection, there will naturally be a distinction between good and bad. If you are resentful because of your own poor performance and thus unite so many candidates to pressure the court, I think these people should be arrested immediately, and the ringleaders should be thrown into prison, stripped of their official titles, and never recruited again."
Obviously, these two are also from the South, and when it comes to the interests of southern scholars, they will never give in.
In an instant, the entire court was in chaos. Outside, the candidates from the north and the south were fighting, and the bigwigs in the court were also full of martial spirit.
Talking trash to each other is just basic stuff, spitting is the standard.
If Li Zhuo had not asked the palace guards to come in in advance because he saw the situation was not good, someone would probably have taken action.
Looking at the messy court, Li Zhuo's head was buzzing.
Doesn't he know that the gap between the north and the south in the imperial examinations has been too great in the past two years?
Doesn't he know that the environment in the north really means that the candidates don't have much interest in studying?
Didn’t he hear that many candidates had fled to Liao and Jin?
Isn't he in a hurry?
Of course he was anxious, but what was the use of being anxious? The serious thing was to come up with a solution.
"Enough! This is the imperial court. Look at how you all behave now! If there's a problem, solve it. What's the point of blaming each other?" Li Zhuo turned to look at Wei Yong and said, "Sir Wei, since you think this is seriously wrong, how do you think it should be resolved?"
Wei Yong must have prepared his plan long ago. He bowed and said, "I believe that domestic educational resources should be appropriately tilted towards the north, and more official schools should be established in the north. In addition, there must be at least thirty northern candidates in the top three of each imperial examination, ten in the second place, and at least one in the first place!"
Upon hearing this, Liang Licang on the side laughed.
"Haha, according to what Lord Wei said, I think we should just not hold the imperial examination. Why don't you just give the imperial examination quotas to those candidates from the north?"
"I've never heard of this before, it's ridiculous! This is the first time I've heard that the imperial examination has regulations on who must be admitted. Lord Wei, what do you think the imperial examination is? It's the country's grand ceremony for selecting talents. If you do this, and then recruit a bunch of good-for-nothings into the court, and it delays the court's important affairs, can you be responsible?" Xu Yan immediately escalated the issue. This was a common practice among bigwigs like them.
Wei Yong also responded bluntly, "According to what Lord Xu said, if anyone passes the imperial examination, they are definitely qualified to be an official? Then why does the court have to evaluate its officials every year? If those who pass the imperial examination are not good-for-nothings, they won't hinder the court's affairs? Then what about the corrupt officials investigated in recent years? If so, the proportion of corrupt officials is indeed higher in the south!"
As expected of a doctor from the Censorate, he speaks with such deadly force that it's simply heartbreaking!
In fact, Wei Yong and Xu Yan have been at odds for a long time. Putting aside their identities as southerners and northerners, the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice have some overlapping responsibilities, and conflicts and resentments are indeed easy to arise between the two sides in their daily work.
It’s just that on weekdays everyone pays attention to their status as important officials, so these small matters will be suppressed by them.
But once something triggers this conflict, no one should pretend anymore.
Xu Yan was so angry that his face turned green. What did he mean by "there are indeed more corrupt officials in the south? That's because there are more officials in the south."
Xu Yanke didn't know the concept of proportion. If he insisted on saying that there were more officials in the south, it would play into Wei Yong's hands. Wei Yong would definitely take the opportunity to prove the feasibility of the method he just proposed.
Xu Yan was really in a state of silence, unable to express his grievances. Some other southern officials also felt very passive at the moment.
At this moment, Ke Fuji, who had been silent until then, suddenly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rites has long discovered some issues with the preparations for the imperial examinations. I have pondered this for years, and after some recent discussions with the Imperial Preceptor, I have finally come up with a solution."
Li Zhuo became excited when he heard this. He didn't expect that Lu Chen also had his own insights on the imperial examination. Could it be that such a difficult problem was about to be solved?
"Master Ke, please speak quickly!"
"I believe that there is indeed a slight difference in educational resources and quality between the North and the South, so why not create two sets of exams and hold separate examinations?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire court was shocked. Wei Yong and Liang Licang immediately said at the same time: "Absolutely not!"
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