Chapter 79 'Qin' x2 79
Wang Jian and the others thought that was good, since they probably wouldn't have to go to Qingjiu School to enroll in tutoring classes with those people, so they exchanged a few pleasantries and left.
The remaining people continued to surround Taishu Jiu with questions, and some noticed the problem: "If you, the Right Chancellor, are to personally administer the exam, who will set the questions?"
The scene fell silent. The ancient version of the blind student had discovered the key point.
They all stared at Taishu Jiu, who had just been trying to oppose the imperial examination system in the palace, but was now pondering the issue of its fairness.
It can be said that they compromised extremely quickly, without ever considering the possibility of dying rather than submitting.
Those who were determined to fight to the death have been mostly replaced over the years. With the officials trained by Qingjiu School, it's true that if you don't want to do it, there are plenty of others who will.
Taishu Jiu had long anticipated that they would ask this question; if no one asked, he would have taken the initiative to answer it, in order to prove the fairness of the imperial examination.
He said, "The imperial examination papers will of course be set by the emperor, and you all need to pay attention to your personal image during the examination."
Li Si asked cooperatively, "What do you mean by that, Lord Taishu?"
"To prevent cheating, the exam venues will be set up at Qingjiu schools in various locations, and the answering process will be randomly broadcast live on the screen throughout the day."
This is not hard to understand. Rounding up is telling these people that the National Guard is watching them during the exam, so they shouldn't have any ulterior motives.
"The Qin law has added a lot of content regarding the imperial examinations. You can all look forward to tomorrow's legal education channel and pay attention to listening."
Some people who had ulterior motives immediately abandoned their inappropriate thoughts. One of them said awkwardly, "How could that be? All the officials present are well-versed in Qin law and know the seriousness of breaking the law. How could they do such a thing as knowingly breaking the law?"
Whether Taishu Jiu believed it or not, everyone around them nodded in agreement, indicating that they thought so too.
"Since that's the case, then there's nothing more to it. I'll take my leave now. As for registering at the school, you can ask the admissions director at the Xianyang main campus; she's in charge of that."
"Your Majesty, I understand. Thank you for your help."
"Please take care, Your Excellency Prime Minister."
****
Because of this incident, the students at Qingjiu School also discovered that there were a group of old men among their classmates, which raised the average age of the students in the school.
Based on recent news released by CCTV's evening news program, it's not hard to guess that this was done to "predict exam questions".
However, not all the officials came. At first, they thought that since the civil service examination was proposed by the Right Chancellor, the questions should be from the schools run by the Right Chancellor. Later, when they learned that the examiner (country) was 'Qin', some people thought that the examination content would be something they already knew.
How could Guo Ling favor the school founded by Tai Shu Jiu? If the content of the imperial examination is the same as the daily exams at Qing Jiu School, then what is the point of selecting officials? Just call it the Qing Jiu School graduation exam.
Fortunately, such people are still a very small minority. Most people see the benefits that Qingjiu School brings to Qin, and they can't possibly not guess how much Qin values it, so they still go to Qingjiu School for tutoring.
****
When it came time to register for the exams, the officials discovered that not all students at Qingjiu School had registered; students who had not yet graduated were prohibited from registering for the imperial examinations by the school's teachers.
In reality, their only real competitors were the current and previous graduates, and not all of the previous graduates were interested in the imperial examinations.
Officials who already hold positions in the court and only come to the school for tutoring in their spare time do not feel they can relax.
If I can't pass the test against these young people in this situation, wouldn't I be incredibly embarrassed?
You should know that the images shown on the screen during the exam are random. They might not be so unlucky as to be selected, but it would be very embarrassing if they didn't even get a degree when the results were announced.
****
As the test setter, Zhu Qing'ai felt that the task was relatively easy, since there were many past exam papers from various schools available for reference. It was quite difficult to come up with questions herself, but it was easy to modify similar ones.
Once the final version was completed, it was sent for engraving and printing. On the day of the examination, the entire Qin state witnessed the grand occasion of the first imperial examination.
The imperial examinations were not a one-time event with rankings; rather, the examinations were held from the local level all the way up to the capital.
Those who were already in Xianyang City might have an advantage, but they still had to take multiple exams. The court officials, in particular, worked for the emperor while also taking every exam.
By the end of the exam, I was almost completely stunned.
Finally, the day of the results arrived. The top three scholars, Zhuangyuan, Bangyan, and Tanhua, were named by Qin, and the emperor personally selected the candidates. The rankings for the rest were also determined by Qin, since almost everyone with qualifications was dragged along to take the exam.
The only entity qualified to rank them is either Qin or Ying Zheng himself.
Therefore, this first imperial examination was also the most special, as all the names on the list were arranged by Ying Zheng.
When Ying Zheng selected the top scholar, Zhu Qing'ai was also present, as this was related to whether she could make another fortune.
She had seen all those exam papers. Tai Shujiu's performance was consistently excellent, almost flawlessly so. Unless there were exceptionally strong candidates taking the exam, he was almost certain to be the top scholar.
Ying Zheng compared the examination papers in his hand and finally appointed the Right Chancellor Taishu Jiu as the top scholar. Of course, it was not because of his status or position, but simply because of his personal strength.
"The Prime Minister answered the exam questions beautifully; he truly deserves the title of top scholar."
Qin nodded in agreement, then pointed to one of the topics: "I admire his view on the north."
Ying Zheng nodded in tacit agreement, accepted the test paper as a backup, and said, "I think so too. We can try it in the north later."
Later, he was torn between second and third place. The two were very close, their levels were basically the same, and their focuses were different, so he couldn't rank them.
In response, Qin said, "The title of Tan Hua (third-place scholar) is more suited to those with good looks. Let's look at their appearance."
This immediately makes it easy to distinguish the second and third place. Ji Yu and Li Si are about the same age. Ji Yu's appearance is that of a pretty young lady. Li Si is handsome when he doesn't have a beard, but when he has a beard, he looks like a refined middle-aged man.
Qin smiled and said, "Since Ji is the second-place finisher, let Li Si be the third-place finisher and wear the flower in his hair."
Ying Zheng: "Excellent."
Qin, always eager for a good show, said, "It's a pity that Lü Buwei has retired and is enjoying his old age, otherwise there would be something to watch."
Ying Zheng briefly recalled the image of his elderly uncle wearing flowers in his hair, and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Since the imperial examinations were already underway, Qin thought, why not arrange for a horse parade through the streets as well?
The city of Xianyang was bustling with activity, and Li Si was surrounded by people after the event ended.
Ji Yu was the runner-up, which was completely understandable to them. After all, Ji Yu himself came from Qingjiu School and was very familiar with the exam process. But what about Li Si?
They didn't remember Li Si ever being a student at Qingjiu School, and most importantly, he hadn't attended any of the previous tutoring classes.
Wow, the result is that he pretends to be indifferent to tutoring classes, but secretly he's really into them.
Someone spoke with mixed feelings: "Li Xiang, you've never attended any tutoring classes before, so how did you do so well on the test? Your test paper is different from ours?"
Even though they studied so hard, half of them still didn't pass the exam. And those who made the list didn't rank very well either. But considering that this was all the result of last-minute cramming, they still felt pretty good about themselves.
As it turns out, there's someone here who quietly took third place!
Li Si chuckled. Although none of the officials present held higher ranks than him, as a smooth talker, he still spoke very politely: "I was just lucky. I can't compare to the top two scholars."
"Prime Minister Li, there's no need to be modest. Since His Majesty has appointed you as the third-ranked scholar, there must be something outstanding about your writing. Show it to us so we can learn from it."
"This...maybe not. The exam papers were sealed away after the exam, so I won't be able to get them."
"That's a real shame. I wonder how much Prime Minister Li still remembers? Perhaps he could tell us about it?"
Li Si gestured for them to join in: "Then, shall I invite you all to have a chat?"
"please."
"please."
****
The exam content had barely been discussed when it came time for practice. The policies for the north and the suggestions for building libraries in various places were implemented simultaneously.
Furthermore, an order was issued encouraging every citizen of Qin to own a copy of the new Qin dictionary, and the benefits of the increased dictionary ownership rate were obvious.
The literacy rate in China is rising, and the number of officials being trained is increasing, to the point that there are even more reserve officials than official positions.
At this moment, the time had come to attack the north. Right Chancellor Taishu Jiu took the lead in playing his grain card, stockpiling far more grain than expected, without having to raise domestic taxes.
Before heading north, the court had already discussed the follow-up development. Even if the food supply was entirely from the domestic supply, they wanted to completely bring the north into Qin territory. They did not want to see the barbarians raiding southwards during the winter when food was scarce again.
Adhering to the principle of not killing nomadic peoples who surrendered, and even allowing them to join the Qin nationality, the northern campaigns went very smoothly. Meng Tian led his troops north and within a year, he doubled the size of the Qin territory, although the population of this doubled territory was probably less than that of a single prefecture.
But the territory is much larger, and only Qin knows what's hidden beneath those lands. She won't allow those resources to remain scattered outside.
Half of the nomadic peoples who originally lived in the north surrendered and became citizens of the Qin state, while the other half went further north or to the northwest, thinking only of hiding for a while before making a comeback.
Unfortunately, with Qin around, she was aware of all the areas already under her control, and the new territory was the one she monitored the longest.
When the scattered nomadic tribes returned, they were immediately discovered and captured by Meng Tian, who had established a city in the north.
So these people who were hoping for a lucky break were given a dictionary. While they were still confused, Meng Tian was already standing respectfully to the side, waiting for the appearance of 'Qin'.
Qin's figure slowly appeared, startling everyone.
"God... God..." The leader immediately knelt down, but he was still somewhat intelligent; he could tell from the god's attire that he wasn't one of them.
Qin looked down at the group and asked with a light laugh, "What did you see in the west?"
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