The winner would qualify to compete for the title of Zhuangyuan?!
The Palace Examination!
Only a handful of places in the Palace Examination opened each year. Candidates had to pass a whole string of tests, including the Child Scholar Examination, the Scholar Examination, and the Provincial Graduate Examination, before they even had a chance of entering it.
And unlike in his previous life, the people taking these examinations were hardly frail bookworms.
Even the Confucian School alone tested rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics.
There were combat rounds, too.
But in any case, anyone who reached the Palace Examination had already survived the elimination of the vast majority of candidates.
It was like how, in Lin Ke's previous life, his advisor had taken an examination for a position such as deputy prefectural governor.
A prefecture was equivalent to a province.
Competition for the governor's position was fierce, but simply qualifying to take the examination meant that most people had already been weeded out.
So the winner of this contest would receive a direct opportunity to take the Palace Examination. Never mind whether they ultimately competed for Zhuangyuan-just getting into the Palace Examination was already an excellent outcome.
"Having conveyed His Majesty the Sage Emperor's words, this servant has a few words to add..."
The eunuch kept his eyes lowered, calmly sweeping his gaze over both sides.
When he looked at Qi Ye, he merely glanced past him, untroubled by the trace of disgust in Qi Ye's eyes.
But when his gaze reached the expression in Lin Ke's eyes, his own eyes changed almost imperceptibly.
Moreover, Lin Ke felt as though the eunuch was "watching" him with a dawning realization.
"...What this servant wishes to say is that Her Majesty the Empress is merciful and cannot bear the suffering of