Early the next morning, the city gate, which had been closed for more than a month, was finally opened.

But this time only scholars were allowed in.

This made those who had been waiting nearby for a long time and wanted to enter the city jump up and down.

This group of people followed the scholars into the city without saying a word. The soldiers and generals guarding the city gates obviously did not expect the scene to be so chaotic.

Moreover, some scholars wore farmers' clothes, because they were from farming families and had studied hard for many years to take the imperial examinations. Naturally, their clothes were not as distinct as those of people in the city.

Therefore, when the soldiers and generals encountered such a chaotic situation, they could only sigh and appear to be refusing to compromise, but in fact they had no idea how many people they had put in and they themselves could not figure out their identities.

Li Ao took this opportunity to rush out. He first pretended that he wanted to enter the city, but then he was stopped by the soldiers. He turned around and left the city gate.

I have to say that Li Ao is a smart guy. No one noticed this wave of reverse operations, and someone slipped out of the city.

After those scholars and some people who were trying to take advantage of the situation entered the imperial city, some of them, under the guidance of people arranged by the prime minister, went to three restaurants to rest, but more scholars gathered on the street, mainly to see the situation in the capital.

Many of them have never traveled far away, and Beijing is the farthest place they have ever been in their lives.

Therefore, they were not willing to settle down in the restaurant directly for the time being. They wanted to take a look at this prosperous capital city.

People doing business in the capital city haven't seen so many people from outside the city for a long time.

Naturally, those doing business in the city also wanted to do more business, so when they saw new faces coming in, they shouted even louder.

Although the Prime Minister's people tried their best to control the situation, it was obvious that they could no longer do so.

When the soldiers and generals in charge of maintaining order saw this situation, they smiled bitterly at each other, then shouted a few words, pretending that they were trying their best to maintain order.

The news was then reported to the Prime Minister, which also stated that everything was fine.

Nonsense, if things don't go well, it's not clear who will be responsible. If something goes wrong, won't these soldiers and generals have to take the blame?

In this case, we might as well pretend that there is no problem from the beginning and nip any signs of it in the bud.

Zhao Ji also took advantage of the chaos to go to the street and take a look. These poor children were more rational than the uneducated people.

However, these people have never been exposed to the dangers of officialdom, and naturally have a clearer and simpler mind.

At this time, Li Ao's men sent by Zhao Ji played a role.

These people are always good at roaming the streets and alleys, and each of them has a kind face.

When they met scholars asking for directions, these people would help them without any hesitation. If they saw some outstanding people among the scholars, they would even personally guide them.

This actually won the favor of these scholars.

Zhang Minghua studied hard for four years, and his brothers and sisters-in-law sold everything they had to support him through his studies.

Now, the news that the imperial examination was about to be cancelled completely destroyed the harmonious relationship in the family.

So Zhang Minghua came to the capital with his luggage without saying a word. He wanted to find an answer here.

He did not trust the soldiers and generals who maintained order because the so-called policies were what they posted at the city gates.

On the contrary, a few neighbors on the roadside who seemed to have nothing to do but had kind faces were kind-hearted and gave Zhang Minghua directions and asked if he had rented a house.

He also specifically pointed out a cheaper place and told Zhang Minghua that the rent there would be a little lower.

This made Zhang Minghua feel extremely grateful, and he felt that there were still more good people in the capital.

On the other hand, after Zhang Minghua settled down, because he had received help from these neighbors, when he saw these familiar faces on the street, he went up to them and greeted them without saying a word, wanting to treat them to a meal.

Zhang Minghua discovered that these people not only helped him, the kind-hearted people, but also helped many other scholars.

So these people just gathered together and prepared to choose a restaurant to have dinner.

After a few drinks at the table, these scholars whose fate was uncertain naturally stopped hiding their sorrow.

These seemingly amiable neighbors can actually drink quite well, but they are also urging others to drink.

He pretended to be mysterious and told these scholars a piece of news while being a little drunk.

"In fact, it's not the current emperor who wants to cancel the imperial examination, but the prime minister. The emperor has been ill and unconscious in the palace for a long time, and the prime minister is handling all the matters in the court. How could the emperor wake up and specifically say that he wants to cancel the imperial examination?"

The words of these neighborhood guys were like a bomb, exploding in the hearts of these scholars.

This undoubtedly gave them a glimmer of hope and also gave them someone to vent their anger.

The implicit meaning of these words is that if the emperor wakes up and sees this situation, he will definitely be heartbroken. In other words, the emperor does not need to cancel the imperial examination. As long as the emperor can sober up, these scholars will naturally have the opportunity to take the imperial examination.

The culprit behind all of this is none other than the prime minister. It is the prime minister who has been changing the emperor's will and issuing policies that harm others and benefit himself.

As long as the prime minister is brought down, or as long as they rebel against the prime minister, does that mean these people will be able to return to their previous state of being able to take part in the imperial examinations?

The people under Li Ao naturally knew that too much is as bad as too little, so they only touched upon the message and spread it among certain birth groups.

As for subsequent developments, just let it take its course.

You have to know that these scholars outside the city gate have established many friendly relationships with each other.

That is to say, the opinions and rumors spread by Li Ao today will soon spread throughout the entire circle of children from poor families.

Things turned out just as Zhao Ji had expected. The prime minister never imagined that these scholars he had let in were not grateful to him, but instead became more and more hostile to him.

Some scholars sat in the streets without saying a word, hoping that the court would withdraw its order to cancel the imperial examination.

Those scholars who were relatively wealthy hired some storytellers in the tavern to publicize the different ideas and measures of the prime minister and the emperor on the imperial examination.

This has resulted in the atmosphere in the entire scholar circle in the capital being like a powder keg that can explode at any moment!