Things were lively outside Bolas Fortress. With his hands clasped behind his back, Alanka wandered around the open ground by the earthen walls. A cluster of sunshades made from wood and tricolored cloth had been erected on what had once been a killing field.
More than a hundred tables stood beneath the sunshades, all occupied. The vast majority of those seated were players, laughing, joking, and making a racket.
Militiamen wearing chain mail, with longswords at their waists, were maintaining order. They shouted at the civilian laborers and players watching outside the tents to stand farther back and stop disrupting the examination grounds.
This was the first civil service examination held by Chris's administration. Originally, Chris had planned to hold it inside the fortress.
Although the fortress had no space large enough for all 147 applicants to take the exam together, splitting them up among different locations would have been no problem.
But the day before the exam, while surfing the internet and reading up on ancient Chinese history, Chris suddenly thought of something.
Moving a Tree to Build Trust.
There was no need to explain the meaning of this idiom and story from the Qin State. Anyone who had been to school surely remembered it.
Chris wondered, Do I need to stage a "Moving a Tree to Build Trust" incident now?
Perhaps he did. Those farmers and militiamen had received rewards from Chris and eaten communal meals for over a month. Naturally, they had some trust in him.
But when Chris told them they could become officials simply by taking an exam, even the militiamen were somewhat skeptical.
Has our noble lord gone mad? What nonsense is the Prince talking about?
And what about everyone else?
Many people had gathered around Bolas and were living on relief grain, including