Chapter 177: A Straw Bag
"The one in the middle must be the new number one scholar, Shen Yuanbai, right?"
Shen Yuanbai knelt in the hall with neither arrogance nor servility, "Hello, Your Majesty. Long live the emperor."
"Okay, get up."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
The Minister of Revenue was standing not far from Shen Yuanbai, his eyes full of contempt.
How could such a stupid kid be a child prodigy and become the top scholar? It was really ridiculous.
"Our country is really full of talented people. Shen Yuanbai has become the top scorer at such a young age. Today I will test your true abilities."
The words fell.
The eunuch had three tables and chairs brought in, and placed the four treasures of the study on each.
"Everyone, your majesty's topic today is the two characters North and South. You have half an hour to answer. Please start."
North and South?
After hearing the test questions, the other two were filled with surprise.
Wasn't there news last night that the test question was Sun Tzu's Art of War? Why did it become North and South? What does North and South mean?
Shen Yuanbai was stunned for a moment and sighed inwardly. He never thought that Xiao Tangbao actually guessed the test questions correctly. He was really his lucky star!
He spent the whole night reading about famines and statecraft, and all of it came in handy last night.
The other two were all panicked when they saw Shen Yuanbai writing on the paper with great ease.
Seeing the time passing by bit by bit, they gritted their teeth and started writing.
In the court, all the officials had different expressions.
The Minister of Revenue was so shocked that he was speechless. Shen Yuanbai actually wrote so smoothly. Could it be that his information was false?
impossible!
Shen Yuanbai is definitely pretending!
The Minister of Revenue comforted himself in his heart.
Half an hour passed.
The eunuch shouted, "Please stop writing."
The other two stopped writing tremblingly, their foreheads covered with sweat due to nervousness.
In contrast, Shen Yuanbai remained calm and confident, straightening his back.
The emperor looked at the first two test papers and suddenly got angry. "How did you get the second and third place in the exam? Your essays are rubbish!"
Blah!
The two pieces of paper were thrown out by the emperor.
The two men immediately knelt down and begged for mercy, "Your Majesty, please spare my life. The meaning of the words north and south is too profound. I, your humble servant, have not yet understood it."
"Your Majesty, please give us another chance!"
Not a single word of the article they had memorized by rote was used today, so they could only write something casually.
The emperor slammed the table in anger, "How dare you! I have seen the test papers you wrote. Although the handwriting is similar, it is not written by you!"
"Now that the evidence is solid, do you still dare to deny it?"
It turned out that the emperor had known for a long time that someone had cheated in this year's exam, but that person was definitely not Shen Yuanbai, but these two children of bureaucrats.
One is the only son of the Minister of War, and the other is the eldest son of a marquisate.
They are usually careless, but they are at the forefront at the critical moment. The emperor is not a fool, how could he not see it!
"Someone, put these two bastards in jail!"
"Your Majesty, please spare my life! Your Majesty, please spare my life!"
After being dragged away, the two kept begging for mercy.
The Minister of War crawled out and knelt on the ground, "Your Majesty, I have failed to teach my son well, please calm down!"
The emperor narrowed his eyes and looked at him. "You mean to say that you had no idea that your son cheated in the exam?"
The Minister of War shook his head, his heart in a state of panic, "I just returned to the capital two days ago, and I don't know anything about this matter."
"Ha!" The emperor saw through it but didn't say anything. He just waved his hand and said, "Since it has something to do with your son, you should go back and listen to the investigation!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The assistant minister of the Ministry of War managed to save his life, but was so frightened that he ran out of the palace in a rage.
The emperor pointed at a man and said, "The Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court should work together to thoroughly investigate this exam fraud. No matter who is involved, all of them should be thrown into jail and await punishment!"
"yes!"
"I obey your order!"
After he vented his anger, all the officials in the hall felt insecure and didn't even dare to breathe.
Shen Yuanbai, a teenage boy, was not frightened by the scene but remained calm.
The emperor could not help but praise him, "You are quite courageous, aren't you afraid that I will scold you too?"
Shen Yuanbai clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty is a wise ruler, he will definitely not be unreasonable."
"Hahaha! You are really good at talking." The emperor was overjoyed by the flattery. He picked up Shen Yuanbai's article and said, "Then let me take a good look at your article."
The emperor was reading the article. The whole hall was silent, so quiet that even the sound of a pin drop could be heard.
The palms of the Minister of Revenue were already oozing with sweat, and he was looking at the dragon throne nervously.
What he exposed was Shen Yuanbai's favoritism and corruption, so how did it implicate the sons of the other two adults?
If Shen Yuanbai cannot be removed from office this time, his position as Minister of Revenue will be over, and he might even lose his head.
Everyone knows that the Emperor and the Empress dote on Princess Mingzhu. If the Shen family just gossips about him in the Emperor's ear, wouldn't he be doomed?
After reading Shen Yuanbai's article carefully, the emperor couldn't help but applaud.
"Great! What a great saying! Worry about the world before you worry about yourself, and be happy after the world is happy! I need a minister like you who serves the country and the people!"
Seeing His Majesty praising Shen Yuanbai so much, the Minister of Revenue's legs went weak and he fell to his knees on the ground.
There was a plop sound, which made the emperor look sideways.
"Liu Qing, what happened to your leg? Are you scared because you saw that Shen Yuanbai is a real top scholar?"
The Minister of Finance knelt in the hall, his eyes blurred by tears. "Your Majesty, I was deceived by this villain. Please forgive me this time!"
"snort!"
Ba Xi put the test paper away and said to Shen Yuanbai: "Shen Yuanbai, do you know that if you can't answer this question in this hall today, you will be the one who loses your head."
Although Shen Yuanbai was also shocked, he still remembered what Xiao Tangbao said in his mind.
Don’t panic, don’t panic!
"I don't know."
"You are so ignorant! Liu Qing exposed your partiality and cheating last night. I made a bet with him and said I would change the test questions. I didn't expect that you are the real talent and those two are useless idiots!"
"Speaking of which, I have to thank Liu Qing as well. If you hadn't suggested changing the test questions, I would have been kept in the dark!"
The Minister of Finance was so frightened that he trembled all over. His Majesty sneered, "In this case, Liu Qing will make up for his mistakes and I will not punish him."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The Minister of Revenue saved his life, but burst into tears.
Your Majesty will not kill him, but those officials who were implicated by him will definitely seek revenge on him later, and his future will be ruined!
After the palace examination, His Majesty rewarded Shen Yuanbai with a lot of gold, silver and jewelry, and considering his young age, he allowed him the privilege of studying with the prince.
He will then enter the court to serve as an official when he reaches adulthood.