Chapter 150
Zhu Ci looked at Fu speechlessly; he had never heard of a candidate demanding that the Emperor write a response before even starting the exam.
Fu sat there imperturbably, as if he didn't think his request was outrageous at all.
Zhu Ci looked at Fu and said seriously, "You know, I haven't studied since I was a child."
Fu..
Very well, the Little Emperor has already started talking nonsense just to avoid doing his homework.
He didn't believe for a second that the Emperor hadn't been educated. Compared to the Little Emperor's previous level, the imperial edicts and proclamations from before showed rapid progress; without a foundation, no matter how much of a genius one was, it would be impossible to use allusions so freely just by reading a few books.
He guessed that the Little Emperor might have originally studied many of these allusions, but had simply forgotten them from years of disuse, could now pick them up again and remember them without much effort.
Fu looked at Zhu Ci imperturbably. "Your Majesty, do not be so modest; with Your Majesty's knowledge, this topic will not be difficult."
Zhu Ci said righteously, "I cannot write Eight-legged Essays!"
Oh, right, the Little Emperor's studies haven't reached this stage yet.
Fu immediately said, "Then let us begin studying with this question."
Zhu Ci's expression gradually contorted: "Why should I learn this?"
Fu Ku said earnestly, "The final result of the Palace Examination must still be selected by His Majesty. If His Majesty does not understand how to select suitable talents?"
Zhu Ci said resentfully, "Sooner or later, I will abolish the feudal dregs that is the Eight-legged Essay."
Fu had no reaction after hearing this; the Little Emperor had long ago said that the Eight-legged Essay was far too rigid.
He didn't think much of it either; if there were better methods in later generations, it wouldn't be impossible, but now was not a good time for reform, as even the Little Emperor had not said that the Eight-legged Essay would no longer be used for examinations.
After all, regardless of whether they were from the North or the South, the current candidates had been practicing the Eight-legged Essay since they were children; if they were suddenly told it would no longer be part of the examinations, it would truly cause trouble.
However, this time Zhu Ci was truly not being modest; he really didn't understand the Eight-legged Essay; he only knew that such a thing existed.
After Fu gave him a few pointers, he understood much more.
It felt no different from essays in later generations; it was just that every step had stricter requirements and wasn't as relaxed as those in later generations.
It's easy to understand in theory, but when it comes to writing, things can easily go wrong.
Perhaps it was because of Zhu Ci's position, but these policy essays were things he had already thought about before.
The only difference was that the scope of this topic was not as broad as he had imagined, so as he wrote, his thoughts began to wander, from the very beginning of the opening, his ideas became like a runaway horse that could no longer be reined in.
The topic was originally meant to be about governing the people, but when Zhu Ci began his opening statement, he said: "For a ruler to end chaos, he must first enrich the people's livelihood to nurture their vital energy, he must first unify the people's hearts to establish his authority."
Following this, the topic was further expanded: On the day when the barbarian horses are temporarily restrained and the rivers and rivers are gradually restored, while the devastation has not yet subsided and the vassal states stand side by side, a nation cannot be established without providing for the people, nor can great achievements be planned without unifying the hearts of the people. This is the urgent task of the present day, the very foundation of national restoration.
As he continued, he discussed both the general trend of the world—how to drive away the Qing Army and eliminate Zhu Yujian and Zhu Yihai—and how to govern the people.
As he wrote further, Zhu Ci himself felt something was wrong. He looked at the topic and then at the eight-legged essay he had only halfway completed; it had strayed completely off-topic.
Noticing the Emperor had stopped writing, Fu, who was busy drafting memorials, turned his head to look over. "Your Majesty?"
Zhu Ci looked at him and gave a sudden smile. "Hehe, I've gone off-topic."
Fu..
What are you so proud of!
He took a glance at it, simply by looking at the opening, he knew it had gone completely off-topic, but he couldn't say the Emperor hadn't touched upon the subject at all.
Did His Majesty not say that for the common people to settle down completely, the world must first be unified?
The only difference, perhaps, is that the current Imperial Court wants to restore stability in the South first before considering the unification of the realm.
The scope of this topic was a bit broad, but there were no issues with what followed; in fact, it was quite brilliant.
It was so brilliant that Fu wanted the Little Emperor to finish writing this entire Eight-legged Essay.
However, if he were a candidate, the fate of this eight-legged essay would depend on how the examiner viewed it.
Fu looked at the examination paper and sighed, saying, "Your Majesty's Guange Style is far inferior to Songti."
Zhu Ci glanced at him. "What are you saying? I wrote in Songti for over ten years, I only wrote in Guange Style for a few years."
Although future examinations would not specify a particular font, official documents and examination papers were all printed in Songti, so students naturally wrote in Songti as well; after all, this font was upright and solemn, making it quite suitable.
Fu put it down and said, "Your Majesty, finish writing this Eight-legged Essay."
Zhu Ci glanced at him. "I've wandered off-topic this much, I still have to write?"
Fu smiled and said, "I just feel that this essay is brilliant; it would be a real pity to write only half of it."
Zhu Ci looked at him suspiciously: "Are you trying to coax me?"
Does he not know his own level? No matter how you look at it, it couldn't be considered brilliant, could it?
Fu thought for a moment and said, "Then let it be a reference for me."
The Little Emperor's writing was mediocre, but some of the views revealed within were very interesting, he was eager to see them.
Zhu Ci met his hopeful gaze and truly could not stand it, saying, "Fine, fine, I'll just write something randomly and you can just read it randomly."
Anyway, the topic had already been veered off course, so there was no fear of it wandering even further.
Zhu Ci wrote it up quickly and handed it to Fu, without giving any other instructions.
Anyway, the Grand Secretary should already be aware, so there was no need for him to say anything more.
After Fu took it away, he began working on getting He Tengjiao and Huang Daozhou into the Grand Secretariat.
The appointment of these two men to the Grand Secretariat certainly helped restore the Emperor's reputation. Furthermore, once the crimes of Ma and Gao were made public, it incited widespread public outrage; these two had encroached upon as many as ten thousand mu of farmland, not to mention driving hundreds of farmers to their deaths, leaving many families destroyed.
Of course, they weren't all responsible for the evil deeds themselves; at their level, they no longer needed to act personally; as long as they remained in power, they could protect their subordinates for as long as they lasted.
A mountain of blood!
After seeing these pieces of evidence, Zhu Ci was actually not that angry; he had known for a long time that these two were no good, so he decisively ordered the Ministry of Justice to sentence them to immediate execution.
He did not order the extermination of their three clans, but if they were sentenced according to their crimes, the scale might be even larger than that.
The release of the evidence did suppress the noise somewhat, but it was only around Nanjing; in places further away, the news had not yet arrived, the public remained in an uproar.
However, it didn't stop those people from signing up for the examinations.
Zhu Ci let out a cold sneer upon hearing the number of examinees.
How could he not understand those people? They said one thing but did another.
Oh, he had also received news that the methods devised by the Qing Army were all provided by people like Qian Qianyi, they had even begun researching cannons.
It is estimated that these people who have already surrendered to the Qing Army want the Great Ming to perish even more than the Qing Army itself does.
As the weather warmed, several small-scale battles broke out on the front lines. The battle reports sent back showed a split in victories and defeats, roughly sixty percent for Great Ming and forty percent for the Qing Army.
This also included the small-scale battles where Liu Zhaoji and the others intentionally lost to Dodo.
Zhu Ci was very satisfied with such a result, the imperial court was also very satisfied.
Everyone knew that a truly large-scale siege would have to wait until at least after the winter wheat harvest; once they had grain and fodder, they would have the confidence to proceed.
And since the harvest in the south occurs earlier than in the north, they will certainly take the initiative to attack.
Therefore, even after the Palace Examination ended in the fifth month, Xuzhou was still in the hands of the Tartars.
After the Palace Examination ended, Zhu Ci personally selected the Top Scholar, Second Place Scholar, Third Place Scholar, but regarding the results, Right Censor Yan Yingyuan asked hesitantly, "Your Majesty, I fear this list might cause controversy."
Zhu Ci knew what he was saying and simply said, "Make the exam papers public, let's see who has the confidence to claim they wrote better than them."
Yan Yingyuan paused, this.. this was simply being unreasonable.
Since ancient times, no one has been the undisputed number one in literature or the undisputed number two in martial arts; unless the gap is vast, who would dare claim to be superior?
He turned to look at Fu, but Fu had no reaction, so Yan Yingyuan knew that this matter was settled.
After the results were posted on the bulletin board, it was indeed a sensation—the Top Scholar, Second Place Scholar, Third Place Scholar were all Northerners, not one of them had any connection to the South!
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Let them argue, keep arguing, do you really think I have a good temper? *Cat crosses arms and shakes leg with a cold sneer. jpg*
Next update tomorrow morning at six o'clock
Chapter 151
However, after the list was released, the reaction below was somewhat better than Yan Yingyuan had imagined; this time, it was not as tumultuous as when Ma Shiying and Gao Hongtu were arrested.
After all, this case had already made people realize that the new Emperor was extremely tough; even the court officials couldn't suppress him, for he held military power.
If some court officials went on strike, the Emperor would actually dare to dismiss them from their posts; if they refused to cooperate, he would directly deploy his personal guards to take action.
Someone submitted a memorial asking if His Majesty intended to recreate the East and West Depots. Zhu Ci sat on the dragon throne and said lazily, "It doesn't seem like a bad idea; the Hongguang Era already had the Eastern Depot, so it is only right to carry on his father's legacy."
As a result, the person who had submitted the memorial was repeatedly lectured by friends and relatives to stop, he himself no longer dared to speak up, fearing that if the two behemoths, the East and West Depots, were to reappear, no one would be able to survive!
With both sides in a standoff, one side would eventually have to compromise. Upon realizing that the new Emperor would not compromise and might truly discard the scholars of Jiangnan, everyone began to panic.
Those with connections had all begun to investigate whether the imperial court truly intended to suppress the scholars of Jiangnan.
Among them, Gu Rouqian was visited more than anyone else.
There was nothing to be done; the cases of Ma Shiying and Gao Hongtu had shocked Jiangnan, implicating countless others, but almost every convicted person had revealed the evidence against them. As for whether there were false accusations among them.. many people knew in their hearts that under such circumstances, it was only possible that the investigation was insufficient, not that false accusations had been made.
Yet Gu Rouqian managed to emerge from this turmoil unscathed, suffering only a few years of salary reduction and not even losing his official position. This punishment was nothing more than a trifle; who lived on such a meager salary nowadays?
Many people felt that Gu Rouqian had escaped this turmoil unscathed because he had helped the Emperor when he was still in a lowly position last year, so the Emperor was turning a blind eye to him as a way of returning the favor.
Gu Rouqian was also in a miserable situation. He was merely a Prefect; how could he possibly have the ability to report such matters to the Emperor? When these people came to ask him, what could he possibly say?
It's just that no one would believe him even if he spoke the truth, so in the end, he could only say, 'Do not speculate wildly. How could His Majesty be such a narrow-minded person? Haven't the exam papers of the Top Scholar and the others all been made public? Were they not written well?'
They are written well enough, but they are all quite similar. Why did His Majesty choose not to select any of them?
Who said His Majesty wouldn't choose just one? Are there not many among the jinshi? Besides, haven't you all realized that His Majesty prefers practical people? Just look at those exam papers—which one isn't substantive? The current Emperor looks at more than just literary talent.
What is the use of you writing such flowery prose? Each one is more high-sounding than the last, only to find the content is incredibly hollow. The only thing worth praising is the beautiful writing style, but even he does not like to choose such people.