Zhang Juzheng was preparing to collect the papers of the top dozen or so students.

"Wait a moment." The Minister of War, Mao Kai, picked up a test paper and said, "I think there is something wrong with this paper."

"Why do you say that?" Zhang Juzheng frowned slightly. He was very confident in his own judgment. If he thought there was no problem, then there should be no problem.

"This person's other views are quite mature, but his remarks on the refugee issue are a bit shocking. Let me read a passage..." Mao Kai held up the policy paper and read:

"…Confucian scholars of the world are ignorant and regard industry and commerce as the last resort, and they arbitrarily advocate suppressing them. Food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and the strengthening of the country and the army are not something that can be done by agriculture alone. In my humble opinion, industry, agriculture, and commerce should not be lump-sum. Agriculture, sericulture, practical use, and currency should be the foundation, and entertainment, ornaments, and selling of exotic goods should be the last resort."

"This is a very novel idea." Yang Bo smiled and said, "Is this the first time someone has proposed this?"

"There is a similar idea in the Han Dynasty's Qianfu Lun." Zhu Zhuangyuan, who was well-informed and had a strong memory, reminded him softly, "But no one in our dynasty has ever mentioned this idea."

"Well, times have changed. Nowadays, there are 360 ​​professions. It is indeed inappropriate to use Guan Zhong's simple classification of the four classes of people." Minister of Revenue Ma Sen smiled and said, "I think just for this reason, he should be given the first class."

"If it stops there, I have no objection." Mao Kai smiled bitterly and said, "But this person proposed this view to serve his solution to the refugee problem. He said that coal is a necessity for people to keep warm and cook, so coal mining is also a primary business and should not be suppressed rudely."

"For example, there are countless coal mines in the Western Hills. We can relax restrictions and recruit refugees to mine them under the leadership of the royal family. In this way, hundreds of thousands of refugees can live and work in peace and contentment in an instant. These people will be grateful to Your Majesty, and will not only not become a hidden danger to the capital, but officers can be sent to train them regularly."

"Once the Tartar invades the capital, hundreds of thousands of well-trained miners will take up arms and immediately form a solid Great Wall to protect the capital..."

"This is a solution that kills three birds with one stone." Yang Bo laughed and clapped his hands upon hearing this. "It not only solves the livelihood of the refugees by turning them into miners, but also allows the people in Beijing to use coal. It can also build a defense line for the capital in the northwest, buying time for the government troops to gather. It's brilliant. In my opinion, it's not too much to give him the title of No. 1 in the imperial examination!"

The adults all nodded, saying that he was definitely a genius to come up with such a method that could solve multiple problems without the court having to pay for it.

"I wonder what's wrong with this method, Minister Mao?" they asked Mao Kai, who had a bitter face.

"The problem is that it's too feasible..." Roosters were heard crowing outside the palace, and Mao Kai said quietly, "Your Majesty, you will probably decide whether to do it or not. By then, will you still think it's a good idea?"

"Well……"

"oh……"

The ministers finally came to their senses.

This method is very feasible, and there is no need to bother the various ministries and Shuntian Prefecture, the palace can do it itself.

It would be fine if it fails in the future, but if it does, what kind of situation will everyone face?

First, the emperor had money in his hands by intervening in the coal mines, so he no longer had to be controlled by the Ministry of Revenue.

Furthermore, the emperor could greatly expand his military power by letting the Imperial Horse Administration train miners...

After the Battle of Tumu, it took civil officials more than a hundred years to gradually tame the imperial guards. If the emperor suddenly had tens of thousands of troops, I'm afraid everyone would be restless again.

And... never mind, these two points alone are unacceptable.

So the adults immediately changed their minds and said:

"But Minister Mao is really thinking ahead. We just think that the policy paper is just a casual talk, but we forget that it may actually be adopted."

"Yes, once adopted, the consequences will be too serious. Once copied, hundreds of millions of refugees across the country will not return home. Who will farm for our... country? What will the people eat?"

"That's right. There must be some ambitious tyrants who took the opportunity to raise assassins and train them to run rampant in the village."

"This is the way to cause chaos!"

After a flurry of comments, the adults said in unison: "Take him away! Put him in the top three!"

Zhang Juzheng frowned slightly. He actually liked this paper very much, especially the method of recruiting and training miners, which simply made him applaud.

But he has already acted out of line today, and it is really inappropriate for him to go against everyone else.

Besides, there is a long time to come, and not being in the first class is also a kind of protection.

But we can't use the top three to humiliate others.

Thinking of this, Zhang Juzheng said, "Your Majesty has written in red that it is 'excellent', so it is too low to be ranked in the top three. Let's put it in the front of the second class."

"It's up to you, sir."

In fact, the examiners only hoped that the emperor would not see this paper, and did not care whether it was second or third place.

~~

At noon on the 17th, Emperor Longqing visited the Wenhua Hall again.

The examiners, who had been staying up all night, were all in trepidation, fearing that the emperor would come up with another trick and keep them awake for another night.

Fortunately, this time, Longqing did not cause any more trouble and finally returned to the original process.

He said nothing the whole morning and listened silently to Zhang Juzheng reading the test paper.

After Zhang Juzheng finished reading one paper, Feng Bao took it and placed it on the imperial desk. Then Yang Bo read the next paper, followed by Wang Ting.

After reading the three copies, all the examiners looked at the emperor anxiously.

According to the original rules, after reading three volumes, the remaining volumes would not be read unless the emperor ordered them to continue reading.

Seeing that the emperor remained silent, the examiners breathed a sigh of relief and asked Feng Bao to take the papers one by one and place them on the imperial desk in order.

Then they left the Wenhua Hall and waited for the emperor to decide the order of the top three.

After a while, the palace door opened.

When the examiners went in again, they saw that the names on the ten papers had been torn off, but the order had not changed. They knew that the emperor was very satisfied with their ranking.

As expected, Emperor Longqing stood up and said with a smile: "You are all knowledgeable and discerning. I will decide the ranking according to your opinion."

"It is because of your majesty's wisdom that in just a few hours you have surpassed the efforts of more than ten of us, a whole day." Yang Bo complimented.

"Oh, haha, I'm not that great..." After all, Longqing was an honest and kind emperor. Hearing this, his face turned red and he thought to himself, in fact, I only read the first three sentences of each paper.

I gave "excellent" to anyone who maintained my authority.

Those who are just trying to flatter others gave it an "OK".

Of course, it is "bad" to flatter Lord Xu!

But who could have thought that this fart spirit was actually both talented inside and out, not only was he good at flattering, but he also had an extremely strong vision and strategy!

Could this be God's will?

When leaving Wenhua Hall, Longqing looked up at the blue sky and suddenly said, "Summon the top ten to the Qianqing Palace. I will meet them before announcing the results."

"This, Your Majesty..." The examiners thought, here it comes again...

But this does not affect the ranking, so if the emperor wants to see him, then let him see him.

"Your Majesty, please hurry up, the list of candidates will be announced tomorrow."

So they didn't waste any more time talking, and after seeing the emperor off, they hurried into the palace and tore up the rest of the test papers and covered their names.

The big guys first took a look at the name on the controversial paper, which was "Zhao Shouzheng", and then they busied themselves filling in the list.

ps. The third update is here, please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~