Soft, slow footsteps descended, and a young eunuch handed them the copied memorials one by one.
Yuan Zhao lowered his eyes and took them, casually opening one-he scarcely needed to read it. He had long known what these three men would write.
On the surface, today's protest by the scholars expressed outrage at the Wang Family scion's violence, but at its root lay the scholars' lowly standing and the oppressive rule of the Five Surnames. Scholars studied to advance through the imperial examination. The Wang scion might escape punishment, but the imperial examination could not remain unreformed.
Yet reform did not, in fact, have to follow the New Imperial Examination Law alone.
Though Literati Circles were already seething, the court remained calm overall. Several men in high places were factions unto themselves and did not visibly stand on either side. Many others came from lesser houses and held more moderate views on the matter.
For instance, would scholars truly be unable to carry on if the Recommendation Ban Edict were not enacted?
Of course not. Great Tang had carried on this way for centuries, with no shortage of celebrated tales of discerning patrons discovering fine steeds through public recommendation.
It was simply that a ruling class without cares or worries would, through sheer inertia, increase its oppression. In recent years, it had only grown more unbridled, once again provoking resistance-this was probably a new cycle. Whether the great houses adjusted themselves, or the emperor, Qilin, or even foreign warfare intervened, all that was needed was to prune back the tendrils the great houses had stretched out without restraint.
But the New Imperial Examination Law insisted on stripping the great houses, root and branch, of their power over scholars and even the administration of officials, returning it entirely to the scholars