When Pan Long heard the two men talking, he froze for a moment. He knew who the fat man was.
Sixteen years at the Hanlin Academy, the young top scholar turned old academic... This man is Zhang Guozhong.
Zhang Hao, also known as Zhang Guozhong, was fairly famous throughout the land. He had placed first in the imperial examinations at sixteen—and not just once. He had taken first place at all three levels, from the commandery and prefecture to Capital City. He was a brilliant talent among scholars.
Yet despite his literary gifts, for some reason he had spent all these years languishing at the Hanlin Academy.
According to a popular story, after he became the top scholar, a high official of the Imperial Court had declared that he was young and headstrong. He needed tempering, the official said, so his sharp edges could be worn down before he was fit for great responsibilities. And so Zhang Guozhong had remained at the Hanlin Academy. Over more than a decade, who knew how many books he had read or how many poems and essays he had written? He had watched his colleagues leave one after another. Even those who had entered the academy after him had gone, while he remained.
Put plainly, the Hanlin Academy was the emperor's secretariat. Its scholars wrote for the emperor and drafted edicts, among other duties. Every scholar in the land considered admission to the academy an honor.
But ordinarily, after five or six years of service there, a scholar would leave to take another official post. Across the entire history of Great Xia, there had been precious few like Zhang Guozhong, who had stayed for sixteen years.
Fortunately, he had become the top scholar before he even came of age. He was still a young