Seeing Li Wenying Off

Since the Half-Sages had yet to make their initial selection, the Temple of Sages suppressed the Literary Qi of the three poems and essays. Yet these three pieces were far too extraordinary, and they formed a single whole.

"Cough... These three examination papers are somewhat unusual. We should inspect them carefully before inviting the three examiners to make the most basic selection."

"Yes, yes, yes..." The others nodded repeatedly.

Wenxiang Jiang Hechuan was the first to reach out and take the Rhapsody on Epang Palace. It comprised five pages.

A work Transmitted Under Heaven weighed a thousand jin, yet Jiang Hechuan lifted it with ease. He gently weighed it in his hand, smiled, and laid out the five pages side by side, word for word.

Tang Shoude rushed to speak first. "Although I heard this rhapsody when its voice traveled a thousand li, seeing with my own eyes, 'The six kings ended, the Four Seas became one; Shu Mountain stood bare, Epang rose,' made Epang Palace seem vivid on the page. In a mere twelve characters, it explained that Epang Palace came into being only because Qin Shi Huang unified the Six States. The three words 'Shu Mountain stood bare' are especially remarkable. At first glance, they described how the construction of Epang Palace exhausted Shu's timber and left its mountains bald, seemingly laying the groundwork for the grandeur of Epang Palace in the first paragraph."

In truth, they pointed to the toil and squandered wealth it inflicted upon the people, laying the groundwork for the luxury and evil of Epang Palace.

Jiang Hechuan smiled. "Though this is a rhapsody, it did not fall into old grooves. It reduced the ornate flourishes, shaved complexity down to simplicity, cast aside the flaws of Han rhapsodies, and sought substance while avoiding emptiness.