The Palace Examination

Although Zhao Ruxi did not wear men's clothing, she always liked to perform the cupped-hand salute in public.

She cupped her hands in greeting and asked in surprise, "Lord Mo, am I perhaps late?"

"No, no. Haha, everyone's just waiting here, the appointed time hasn't come yet," Lord Mo quickly replied with a laugh.

Their banter directly confirmed Zhao Ruxi's identity.

The candidates fell silent.

Who said Zhao Zhiwei is ugly? Step forward, or I'll beat you to death!

Although the group of people opposite her might have all sorts of complaints about her, as a working-class person, Zhao Ruxi was still very good at putting on a facade.

She cupped her hands in greeting to the crowd and said with a smile, "My name is Zhao Zhiwei, and I greet you all."

"Layperson Zhiwei, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"I have long Layperson Zhiwei. It is a pleasure to meet you today."

Regardless of whether the scholars had previously treated Zhao Ruxi well or badly, they forgot all their previous thoughts when faced with such a beautiful woman. They quickly returned the greetings and were very enthusiastic.

This was, after all, outside the palace gates, and it was not appropriate to make a scene. After everyone had returned the greetings, Lord Mo from the Ministry of Rites said to Zhao Ruxi, "You came in second in the provincial examination, so you should move to the front of the line and stand behind the top scholar."

As he spoke, he gestured to the crowd. "Please make way, everyone."

Zhao Ruxi then turned to Zhu Hehuai and said, "Uncle, I'll go ahead then." With that, she followed Lord Mo to the front.

Upon hearing Zhao Ruxi's address, everyone exchanged bewildered glances.

One of them quickly asked Zhu Hehuai, "Brother, are you the uncle of the Layperson Zhiwei?"

"Yes," Zhu Hehuai said with a smile, "My dear uncle."

He cupped his hands in a respectful gesture and said, "I also need to go to the front; please excuse me."

He ranked thirty-seventh, which was also among the top.

Watching him walk away, the two who had been gossiping privately exchanged glances.

He wasn't there when we were talking, was he?

"They shouldn't be there. We spoke softly, no one should have heard us."

Although they said that, they both felt uneasy.

Under Lord Mo's escort, Zhao Ruxi took the second place. The person who had been standing in first place, head held high, turned around and glanced at Zhao Ruxi upon hearing the commotion.

This person was probably eighteen or nineteen years old, with a fairly handsome face. What stood out most was his refined and elegant demeanor, which made him unforgettable at first sight.

He cupped his hands in greeting to Zhao Ruxi: "I am Duan Chen Jiangnan, and I have met the Layperson Zhiwei."

Zhao Ruxi then realized that this was Duan Chen, this year's top scholar.

She returned the greeting with a cupped hand. "Nice to meet you."

Duan Chen nodded and said nothing more. He turned around and stood quietly, waiting for the time to come.

Before long, Lord Mo gestured for everyone to follow him into the East Glorious Gate.

After entering the main gate and walking for a while, we arrived at the Hall of Literary Glory.

The seating for the palace examination was the same as that for the county examination, arranged from highest to lowest rank. Each person had a small table and a low stool, and the space was fairly spacious.

Duan Chen sat in the middle of the first row, Zhao Ruxi sat to his right, and the remaining four sat on either side. The hall was extremely spacious, with six people sitting in each row. Those in higher positions sat down in order.

This year, not many people were admitted to the imperial examinations, so there's still room inside the main hall. In previous years, when many people were admitted, there wasn't enough room inside, so they had to sit in the corridor outside the hall.

Zhao Ruxi sat in the middle of the first row. Even though her clothes were a similar color to everyone else's, her gender made people around her look at her involuntarily. Zhao Ruxi didn't care. She remained calm and studied the ink stick and inkstone on the table for a moment, then added water and slowly began to grind the ink.

All the writing implements, ink, paper, and inkstones for the palace examination were provided by the Ministry of Ministry of Rites; candidates did not need to bring their own.

Seeing this, everyone composed themselves and quickly began grinding ink to prepare for the palace examination.

After a while, someone shouted, "The Emperor has arrived!"

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Ge led several ministers in and said a few words of encouragement.

After he sat down, officials distributed the exam papers.

Although the palace examination was nominally overseen by the emperor, the emperor was extremely busy and could not possibly spend the entire day here as an examiner. Seeing that everyone had begun to write with their heads down, Xiao Ge led the eunuchs and Imperial Guards away, leaving only the officials from the Ministry of Ministry of Rites behind.

Zhao Ruxi was always focused during exams. Once she sat down, her attention was entirely on the exam, and she paid no attention to the emperor or the other ministers above her.

After receiving the exam paper, she first glanced at it from top to bottom.

The palace examination consisted of three questions: one on government reform, one on taxation, and one on criminal law.

Although Zhao Ruxi did not engage in politics in her previous life, she came from the modern world and would unconsciously try to understand the policies and systems of ancient countries, comparing them with the policies of various dynasties in her world and modern national policies.

She had pondered all three questions on the palace examination paper and discussed them with Xiao Lingyan, and had her own thoughts and insights on them. When Peng Guoan and the others set the questions for the students of the Imperial Academy to practice, she also wrote related articles, but with a slightly different focus.

Especially the first question, there were some things she really wanted to say to the ruling party.

If Xiao Ge were diligent, he would read all one hundred essays in the palace examination; even if he wasn't so diligent, he would still read the essays of the top twenty or thirty. After all, the successful candidates in the palace examination were all the emperor's protégés; he also needed to understand the thoughts of contemporary scholars and their views on certain political matters through their essays.

The rankings in the palace examination were often similar to those in the metropolitan examination. The top ten in the metropolitan examination were the same as the top ten in the palace examination. The emperor would definitely review the essays of these top ten, since he needed to see how well the essays of these people were written before he could appoint them as the top scholar, second-place scholar, and third-place scholar.

In every dynasty, the emperor would bestow titles and ranks upon the meritorious officials who followed him in conquering the country during its early years. Since the empire was won together, it was only right that they should share in the riches and honors that followed.

However, after a few generations, the emperor would find these aristocratic families deeply entrenched and restrictive, a real hindrance; while the newly emerging nobles, lacking any real power base and whose fates were entirely in the emperor's hands, were far more useful. The emperor could then act as a dictator, doing whatever he pleased without any constraints. Therefore, each emperor sought to weed out the aristocratic families and promote more newly emerging nobles.

This is an irreconcilable contradiction.

If the coup in winter is irreversible and the Third Prince Xiao Lingheng remains emperor, then the Great Jin will embark on a bloody and violent purge of the aristocratic families.

Zhao Ruxi approves of reform, but she disapproves of the methods used.

She felt that with Xiao Lingyan's abilities, since he had changed his and Xiao Lingpu's fate last winter, this winter would be no problem either. Xiao Ge didn't seem to be terminally ill or near death. As long as the tragedy of winter didn't happen, he would live a good life.

Therefore, Zhao Ruxi hoped that her article could be presented to him so that she could explain her views.