Chapter 142: The Imperial Examination Begins! |
The day of the imperial examination drew closer with each passing moment, yet the most nervous person wasn't any of the candidates—it was Chen Kefu.
Ever since that court assembly, he'd suddenly discovered that everyone was ignoring him.
Especially the civil officials—even when he personally called at their homes, they refused to see him.
He had been completely... isolated.
And gradually, he'd come to realize that his memorial from that day had been a huge problem.
Not just that day's memorial either—his earlier military memorial requesting Song Shi'an's battlefield replacement had also been no small issue.
This became especially clear after Song Shi'an couldn't make it out of prison in time, and someone had specifically arranged for him to take the examination while still incarcerated.
Damn it.
The Emperor had never intended to sell out Song Shi'an at all.
Because as an imperial prince, the Sixth Prince didn't need protection at all.
"Father, this is bad!"
Just then, a somewhat burly young man who looked like he'd been carved from the same mold as Chen Kefu entered the room and said, "We've been sold out!"
"What?" Chen Kefu's heart clenched as he hurriedly asked, "Explain in detail."
"I specifically went and asked around among some young masters, and it seems all the military officials' memorials were protecting Song Shi'an," his son said.
"All of them? Even the meritorious nobility?" Chen Kefu asked in surprise.
The land reforms would harm the nobility too.
And the nobility had lost battles while he'd won victories—there was no way they wouldn't hold a grudge.
"The noble families' sons are hard to approach, but I also heard that people from those noble houses were all warned not to speak carelessly, especially about Song Shi'an."
"I knew it!" Chen Kefu furrowed his brow, his expression pained.
"There's more," his son continued. "I have a friend serving at the National Trust Bureau. He came to me privately and said, Father, you've been played. Not a single civil official impeached Song Shi'an, and not one of them implicated the Sixth Prince. He told me we absolutely must not discuss His Highness anymore, or we might get labeled as 'attempting to collude with an imperial prince.'"
"Damn it! How could I withstand such an accusation!"
Chen Kefu immediately trembled with fright, cold sweat pouring down.
His position as a Senior Second Rank military officer wasn't entirely due to inherited privilege.
At his peak, Chen Kefu's father had only reached Junior Third Rank.
In his youth, he'd fought alongside his elder brother and father, displaying great courage and earning considerable merit. He himself had worked his way up to Fifth Rank and had seemed destined for great things—until an ambush left both his father and brother shot full of arrows like pincushions.
After that, he'd inherited his father's position, and the court, to console the heroic dead, had promoted him to Senior Third Rank.
Logically, with such a background, he should have risen smoothly through the ranks.
But after that battle, he'd been left with psychological trauma and became exceptionally timid and fearful...
A general who was afraid to fight was essentially useless.
Later, he'd been promoted in name but demoted in reality, transferred to Sheng'an to serve as Deputy General of Si Prefecture.
Si Prefecture was basically a place with no military action. Sheng'an's soldiers were the Forbidden Army, the Emperor's personal troops were the Imperial Guards, and each commandery's troops belonged to their respective commandants. In total, there were only a few thousand provincial soldiers, and he was just a deputy.
With no other option, he'd tried to attach himself to the Zhao clan of Qin Prefecture.
But that little bastard Zhao Xiang had humiliated him instead.
Mingling with civil officials was about trying to arrange political marriages, acquire farmland, and build connections to pave the way for his son.
Otherwise, with his kind of military background—no foundation, no real authority—if no exceptional talent emerged, probably within a few generations they wouldn't even have Fifth Rank anymore.
Why else would he go to such lengths to stick his neck out and serve as a weapon for those civil officials? It was pure masochism!
"But they actually sold me out!"
Chen Kefu's mentality collapsed.
Originally, he'd wanted to align with Minister Sun because he envied that kind of officials protecting officials, recommending each other, and exchanging benefits in harmony.
Sigh, even forcing his way in, he was still an outsider!
"What do we do, Father?" His son panicked too. "This matter could be big or small, but if it goes big..."
"Wait." Suddenly, Chen Kefu thought of something. "If I truly made a mistake, why hasn't His Majesty dealt with me?"
"That's right." His son also caught on. "And punishment for speech isn't that common."
"Right?" Chen Kefu continued analyzing. "His Majesty is currently at odds with all the officials, and now the officials want to isolate me, so I'm... on His Majesty's side."
"That makes sense, Father."
"Right?" Chen Kefu hatched a plan. "Song Shi'an takes the exam tomorrow and won't be out of prison until who knows when. When the time comes, we'll latch onto Song Shi'an's coattails tightly. If he wants to implement land reforms, we'll donate money, donate funds, donate laborers—just directly become part of the Song faction, won't that be enough?"
After thinking it over, his son's eyes lit up: "You're absolutely right, Father!"
………
Finally, the day of the imperial examination arrived.
At the Hour of Mao, as the sun rose, the sky revealed a pale fish-belly white.
The weather was exactly the same as during last year's provincial examination.
The time and place were the same as well.
Still the Examination Compound located in the outer city.
However, the candidates' ages were noticeably older than before.
There were even quite a few elderly juren in their fifties and sixties.
Of course, these people still had the spirit only because they held idle positions.
Many who'd passed the provincial exam and later secured official posts basically lost all thought of taking the jinshi exam after working for a few years.
The odds were too slim.
Each session only admitted about thirty people, and each time, quite a few from prominent families occupied slots.
Rather than stubbornly taking the exam, it was better to find a way to reach Rank 7 before retirement, creating better conditions for the next generation.
Therefore, among these several thousand juren, the spirited ones were still those officials' sons in their twenties and thirties, brimming with talent.
These people all wore fine embroidered robes and vermilion-tasseled jeweled caps, shining brilliantly like divine beings.
And the most noble among the nobles was Young Master Sun.
The moment he stepped down from his carriage in front of the Examination Compound, he became the center of attention.
Many juren from other regions all stood on tiptoe and craned their necks, wanting to glimpse the handsome man's appearance.
"The Sun clan of Yangzhou—truly all elegant and distinguished people."
"At this age, already Rank 7, and having achieved triple the normal performance—if he passes the jinshi exam, his future will be immeasurable."
"With everything that's happened at court this year, I feel it'll either be Song Shi'an or Sun Qian who takes top honors as zhuangyuan."
"Watch your words. Besides, even with momentum behind them, the essays still need to match the literary talent worthy of zhuangyuan."
"Those are to be shown to all under heaven..."
"But that Song Shi'an is definitely solid. 'An Exhortation to Learning'—that kind of essay, I could never write in my lifetime."
"Except he was fighting in Shuofeng earlier, then came back and was stuck in the Court of Judicial Review's prison, never having time to study. His writing and accumulated knowledge will be greatly affected."
"True. If I went a month or two without writing, everything would feel off."
"If under these circumstances he can still pass jinshi, or even place in the top three..."
"What if he becomes zhuangyuan?"
"If he can become zhuangyuan under these conditions, then we should all hang ourselves with white silk from the rafters—there's no point in living!"
"Hahaha."
All the scholar-officials under heaven were interested in Song Shi'an and Sun Qian.
For a time, they regarded them as twin prodigies.
Of course, there were still those unconvinced—after all, the jieyuan and sub-yuan from each prefecture had basically all come. Who among them wasn't a clan's heaven-blessed talent?
Just wait and see—if the essays don't match the quality worthy of zhuangyuan but someone still becomes zhuangyuan, then it can only be said: testing well isn't as good as bootlicking well.
"Gentlemen, it's been a long time."
Outside the Examination Compound, the group of sub-yuan from Si Prefecture finally gathered.
The first to speak was Sun Qian.
After all, he wanted to become the leader of the new generation of aristocratic families.
To lead these people.
"Indeed, it's been a year." Han Zhongchen said with a smile, "Among us, only Master Qian has already reached Rank 7."
He'd just started flattering when Gao Yunyi interjected: "There's also someone who started at Rank 7—he's currently in prison."
Hearing this, Han Zhongchen directly showed his disgust: "Right, gambling for wealth and honor, sending his whole family to prison—how impressive."
"You're mistaken. How is this gambling for wealth and honor?" Gao Yunyi countered again. "Shuofeng was truly held. Without him, whether we could even be here taking this exam would be questionable."
Han Zhongchen grew annoyed: "Our exam has nothing to do with him..."
"It's naturally related." Fan Wuji spoke up. "If there were a major battle, especially a defeat, the imperial examination would be postponed or canceled."
Han Zhongchen: "..."
These two, right in front of Sun Qian, were defending Song Shi'an.
But neither was bootlicking.
It was purely... pushback.
At last year's banquet, after these two were dragged into the Sun clan's mess, they'd developed resentment toward Minister Sun.
Sun Qian could see it clearly.
Therefore, he also coldly agreed: "Indeed, among us, it's truly the one in prison who's done the best as an official."
"But the path of officialdom is long—we all have the chance to catch up."
Fan Wuji bowed to Sun Qian, then smiled and took his leave.
He and Gao Yunyi walked into the Examination Compound together.
Two other former sub-yuan hesitated briefly, then also bowed their farewells before following in those two's footsteps.
"Looks like they're going to curry favor with Song Shi'an now," Han Zhongchen mocked.
Suddenly, Sun Qian sensed something was wrong.
Sheng'an's hundred officials did indeed lean more toward the Sun clan.
But among these ten jieyuan and sub-yuan, only five people remained on his side.
Those four people weren't willing to align themselves with the Sun clan.
That meant... five versus five.
Could it be that when Song Shi'an truly emerged, his resistance wouldn't be as great as he'd imagined?
He'd been deceived by the atmosphere among the capital's civil officials.
After surveying his surroundings, he finally realized—in all the realm, the aristocratic families capable of sheltering populations were an extreme minority!
………
"Little Song-daren, please."
Song Shi'an finally left the prison.
A scholar from the Imperial Academy and two jailers led him to a room.
The room was sealed. In the center was a desk, beside it water and dry rations.
Then, on all four sides, there were people everywhere.
Two Jinyiwei guards stood left and right, four metropolitan clerks positioned in the four corners.
Directly in front sat a Rank 6 Attendant Scholar.
This setup was truly exaggerated.
But Song Shi'an didn't care in the slightest.
Calmly, he walked to the desk and sat down.
"Little Song-daren, aside from requesting to use the toilet, you cannot speak a single word on your own initiative during this time," the Imperial Academy scholar reminded him.
Song Shi'an smiled faintly and extended his hand.
A moment later, the bell sounded.
The imperial examination—start!