"Greetings, Grand Secretary!"
After finding their seats, the students did not sit down immediately, but instead bowed to the scholars in front of them.
However, they did not notice that the scholars in charge of proctoring the exam all looked embarrassed.
"Ahem, please sit down, His Majesty has not yet arrived."
Song Zhenglian, the chief examiner, waved his hand, signaling everyone to sit down.
The students then took their seats, their eyes involuntarily drawn to the dragon throne on the imperial steps.
Knock knock knock!
As the drumbeats of the Respect for Heaven Drum sounded again, a group of high-ranking officials dressed in red and purple robes slowly entered the hall.
However, instead of standing below, they all sat down on the platform opposite the examinees.
The most eye-catching among them was Sima Lie, who was dressed in a dark purple court robe and had a four-clawed silver dragon belt around his waist.
Almost all the candidates in the examination room focused their attention on him.
Some people bowed to him, while others showed dissatisfaction in their eyes.
The dragon is the symbol of the supreme ruler. Although Sima Lie only wore a four-clawed silver dragon belt, his disloyalty was already obvious.
However, even the most indignant scholars dared not speak up to rebuke him at this moment.
Otherwise, their fate would be absolutely tragic.
Looking at the gazes below, some filled with admiration, others with fear, Sima Lie's face was full of smugness.
The reason he wore this treasonous belt today was to demonstrate to these scholars just how powerful Sima Lie was.
It now appears that he has achieved the effect he wanted.
After the officials entered the examination hall, His Majesty himself would then personally attend the examination.
But after everyone waited anxiously for a long time, and the Heavenly Drum had been struck three times, Qin Yu still did not appear.
"What happened? Where is everyone?"
"Could it be that His Majesty has forgotten that the palace examination is today?"
"No, it's already almost half an hour late! If His Majesty doesn't arrive soon, how will we ever finish the exam?"
"..."
The students below began to whisper among themselves.
Even the officials frowned.
They thought that since the tyrannical emperor was personally setting the questions this time, they wouldn't be late again, but what's going on now?
Sima Lie, in particular, felt as if he had punched cotton.
He wore the dragon-patterned belt so arrogantly today, partly to intimidate Qin Yu.
After all, Qin Yu dared to let Zhang Tang give him questions, which clearly showed he was up to no good.
Now Qin Yu isn't even here! Who is he supposed to show this to?
Just as everyone was discussing this, Qin Yu's personal eunuch, An Fu, walked over.
"His Majesty is unwell. Today's palace examination will be presided over by Prime Minister Sima, with Scholar Song assisting in the examination!"
As soon as Anfu finished speaking, the entire Golden Palace erupted in discussion.
If the emperor doesn't attend the palace examination, what's the point of it?
Sima Lie was also stunned and stood there.
He suddenly couldn't understand what the tyrannical emperor was trying to do.
If Zhang Tang set the questions for him, then Qin Yu should have personally administered the exam.
Isn't Qin Yu afraid that the examiner might try to help his students cheat?
"quiet!"
At this moment, Song Zhenglian shouted loudly, which finally silenced the candidates' discussions.
Song Zhenglian then turned and bowed to Sima Lie.
"Your Excellency, shall we begin the examination now?"
Sima Lie still couldn't understand Qin Yu's thoughts, but he still waved his hand.
"The time has come, let the exam begin!"
Upon hearing his words, Song Zhenglian and several Grand Secretaries took out the sealed exam questions and distributed them to the candidates present.
Although the students were quite critical of Qin Yu's absence from the examination hall, they still hurriedly looked at the exam questions. However, after seeing the questions, almost everyone showed the same look of shock.
At the same time, Sima Lie and other high-ranking officials who were attending the ceremony also received the test questions.
"What? This is really on the test!"
Sima Lie couldn't help but shout out almost the instant he saw the question.
He was completely dumbfounded.
There were only four questions in total for this palace examination.
The first question was: "My harem has three thousand beauties, and the palaces are no longer sufficient. How can I obtain the silver to build a vast palace complex without inciting resentment among the common people?"
The second question was: "I have heard of the ancient legend of 'a pool of wine and a forest of meat,' so how is such a thing constructed?"
The third question was: "Since I ascended the throne, the world has been at peace, all nations have submitted to me, and my achievements are unprecedented in history. Please write a policy essay praising my achievements."
The fourth question was: "Today, General Bao, Sima Xiongba, achieved a great victory over the Xiongnu in Youzhou. Please write a eulogy for him and describe the important contributions I made to this great victory."
After reading these four test questions, almost everyone felt a twitch in their eye.
Outrageous!
That's fucking outrageous!
Everyone had imagined what kind of test questions a tyrannical emperor might ask, but no one expected him to ask such an absurd and ridiculous question.
He directly asked the students how they plundered the people's wealth to build palaces and indulging in extravagant feasts, and then demanded that the students praise him.
The only thing unrelated to him was that he had to force students to write about his contributions.
What contributions could a foolish ruler like him, who only knew how to sleep with women, possibly make? He was utterly oblivious to his own limitations.
Everyone looked at Sima Lie.
However, Sima Lie had no interest in paying them any attention at this moment.
He is now deeply mired in self-doubt.
He had suspected Zhang Tang, and he had suspected the tyrannical emperor of wanting to seize power, but he never thought that the first test that Ru Yan gave him was real.
So all these days he's been outsmarting thin air?
"A tyrannical ruler!"
Sima Lie felt an urge to slam his fist on the table in front of him.
For the first time, he felt anger at the foolishness of the incompetent ruler.
He made his students memorize so many of Zhang Tang's articles, and then the tyrannical emperor pulled this trick on him. Wasn't this making him lose face?
"Hmph, what a foolish ruler! It's utterly absurd! With such a foolish ruler, the day when my Great Xia Dynasty falls is not far off. I would rather abandon the exam and return to my hometown than become a subject of a fallen nation!"
Just then, a student angrily stood up, slammed the exam questions and inkstone in his hand in front of the hall, and shouted curses.
Inspired by him, several more students stood up and angrily smashed their inkstones and exam papers.
"We tolerated having three sycophantic essays selected as the top three in the provincial examination, but now the palace examination has such absurd questions! We're not taking the exam!"
Judging from the students' angry expressions, if Qin Yu were present, they would probably smash the inkstone in his face.
However, just as the group of people who had left so casually reached the door, a group of Imperial Guards rushed out.
"Leaving the examination room within half an hour of the start of the exam is not permitted; doing so will be considered cheating and will result in imprisonment!"
At Xuejian's command, several students were dragged away.
Seeing this, the remaining students who wanted to take the opportunity to show their integrity immediately sat down obediently.
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