Chapter 144: The Terrifying Policy Essay Question |
After the lyrical composition section concluded, some rejoiced while others worried.
After all, not everyone was like Sun Qian, blessed with such abundant literary resources when writing.
However, this was an open-ended question—as long as it was themed around rivers and had "river" at its core theme, there would be no problem.
Aesthetics are subjective, and more than one person would be grading the papers.
Of course, the exam was already over—thinking about it now was pointless.
The upcoming policy essay section was the true priority.
Wang Shuishan, who had worked as a household registry clerk in the capital for a year, had seen considerable improvement in his writing abilities. He felt confident about passing the lyrical composition section, but he was also clear-headed—if his policy essay remained at this level, there was absolutely no way he could pass the jinshi examination.
He needed to reach at least top-thirty quality to leverage his above-average lyrical composition and barely scrape into jinshi status.
Right now, he wanted to pray to the god of policy essays.
Since the Shuofeng campaign, many feared his rise to power, while Wang Shuishan spent nearly every night worrying about his life and death.
Not some ordinary barren county, not Cangxia, but Shuofeng itself.
He was using his life to practice his convictions.
And moreover, he had physically defended Great Yu's territories.
Even without this achievement, he would definitely pass jinshi. But now, with such an accomplishment added to his jinshi status, Song Shi'an was about to soar to the heavens.
I can't fall too far behind.
Otherwise, how can I fulfill my promise to become part of the Shi'an faction?
I have this ability.
Previously, my policy essay was extremely close to Song Shi'an's—the basic ideas were identical, both about competing for population. I was just too extreme, writing about seizing all the population, which made my essay worlds apart from his.
I need to remember Song Shi'an's guidance—understand politics.
Sitting in his examination cubicle, he held a steamed bun in his hand as he ate. Afterward, he seized the remaining time to close his eyes and rest, recovering his physical and mental energy.
The intensity of the civil service examination was simply too great.
A full day of high-intensity mental exertion.
Supposedly, in every examination session, hundreds of people couldn't endure it. Combined with excessive nervousness, they completely fell apart in the second half, producing essays far below their usual standard.
Among them, over ten people would faint right in the examination hall.
The examination hall was truly like a battlefield.
The brush was the weapon!
After the rest period, the second round of testing finally began.
The same procedure, the same format.
Everyone held their brushes, ready to transcribe the examination question that was about to be announced:
"Qi County in Qiuping Commandery, Si Prefecture, has a population of over 56,000. Though free from the ravages of war or banditry, the terrain is mostly hilly, with an average of merely three mu of land per person after implementing the equal-field system. It is not a major thoroughfare, and commercial development is ordinary. In the previous three years, taxes collected were 680,000, 810,000, and 750,000 respectively. After Rank 8 County Magistrate Sun Qian assumed office and implemented three policies—economizing public funds, encouraging agriculture and commerce, and mobilizing gentry donations—this year's tax revenue actually reached 2.2 million! More than triple the regular tax burden. Using this example, compose a policy essay on how to increase tax revenue for Great Yu."
As soon as this question emerged, everyone in the examination hall was stunned.
This was too interesting.
The morning examination question was about Song Shi'an returning from Shuofeng.
The afternoon examination question was about Sun Qian returning from Zhang County.
Wasn't this the officially promoted pair of prodigies?
But could these two really be considered prodigies together?
Anyone with eyes knew the gap between them was more than substantial.
The Battle of Shuofeng had literally saved the dynasty from collapse, achieving unprecedented merit. Based on this achievement alone, he could be enfeoffed as a Marquis of Ten Thousand Households (County Marquis).
As for Zhang County collecting three times the money, that was Minister Sun leveraging his influence to pave the way for his son, buying him an official position.
Were these two on the same level?
No.
But their positions were indeed quite similar.
They represented the direction of Great Yu's future power struggles.
This question was somewhat difficult for the examinees—not everyone recognized who Sun Qian was.
Of course, if you didn't recognize him, you deserved to fail. If you didn't even know that Sun Qian was the son of Minister Sun, the greatest clan in Jiangnan, then you'd truly wasted your education.
As scholars, you needed to know these things.
You couldn't wait until after becoming an official to learn who the highest-ranking officials in your commandery or prefecture were.
This wasn't the way of officialdom.
To be an official, you needed to know in advance not only the presiding official's name, but also all the information about his mother, father, and sons—their health, personalities, and what they lacked.
Generally speaking, they lacked nothing.
Whether they lacked anything was one thing; whether you gave or not was another.
Scholars throughout the realm considered it a great honor to study under Minister Sun's tutelage, so naturally they needed to know his family background intimately.
Therefore, this question's assumption that everyone knew Sun Qian was perfectly reasonable.
However, Wang Shuishan was more concerned with the question itself.
Pay attention to what Song Shi'an had told him—understand politics.
So where was the politics?
Politics meant: I understand your subtle implications, you understand my difficult position.
The premise of this question stated that Sun Qian's tax revenue tripled because of economizing public funds, encouraging agriculture and commerce, and mobilizing gentry donations.
Was this true?
Like hell it was.
Would Sun Qian himself dare to acknowledge this?
The Emperor couldn't very well say openly that Sun Qian relied on his father's influence, and because he needed someone to step forward right now, the great clans supported him, which was how tax revenue maxed out, could he?
Last year, the Emperor wanted grain.
This year, the Emperor wanted money.
Great Yu now lacked both money and grain.
Today's question—how to generate money—that was the key.
Analyzing the three points above one by one, at least two were absolutely impossible.
Economizing public funds?
Where was the bulk of the money really?
Would intensifying efforts to regulate grassroots officials' food and entertainment expenses have any significant effect?
If you wanted to write about this point, you couldn't just engage in lengthy discourse about the grassroots level.
The third point, mobilizing gentry donations.
What kind of governance policy essay has begging others for money as its core argument?
The second point.
Encouraging agriculture and commerce—this was what truly addressed the question.
But you absolutely couldn't just shout slogans, filling pages with empty motivation.
So this was also nonsense.
Because money could only come from agriculture and commerce anyway.
After thorough consideration, Wang Shuishan understood.
Last time I was wrong because I wrote too boldly.
This time, writing boldly again won't be wrong.
Why?
Because previously, the Emperor wanted to act and released the topic for discussion to gauge reactions and hear opposing voices.
This time, he'd already tested the waters, heard the opposition, and decided to proceed.
At this point, could he still listen to your opposition?
At this point, you needed to present concrete strategies to let the Emperor know you had the means—to make money!
Absolutely correct.
Wang Shuishan trusted his judgment.
And this judgment, Sun Qian also reached quickly after hearing the question.
The disgusting part was that, as a member of the opposition party, he had no choice but to write an essay helping the Emperor strengthen imperial power.
There was nothing wrong with this question—they could have just directly said money was needed, but they specifically had to include him.
Eighty percent chance the Emperor thought of this.
The previous one seemed to favor Song Shi'an returning from Shuofeng, making most people who didn't understand think this benefited Song Shi'an.
Now came another one that seemed to use his own example, so he should be more comfortable writing it, creating the illusion that it favored him.
Fifty strokes each, favoring neither side.
This really made one's imagination run wild.
But whatever, writing a policy essay wasn't submitting a memorial to the Emperor—whatever you said, you had to do.
It was just an examination.
Who would include elements unfavorable to themselves in an exam?
I just need to write a policy essay that can make you money, right?!
………
In the Evaluation Hall, several Grand Secretaries worked as usual, discussing the grading standards.
At the same time, everyone harbored suspicions, like playing a game of Werewolf.
If they had first proposed the lyrical composition question, and the Emperor decided to make minor modifications and personally set the policy essay question, ultimately resulting in Song Shi'an and Sun Qian respectively serving as the 'premise,' that would be perfectly fine.
But after returning from the Emperor, the Prince of Jin had euphemistically mentioned something—after submitting the examination question proposal, the Emperor was rather satisfied, then directly produced a document changing the policy essay question.
What did this mean?
The Prince of Jin meant that among the seven Grand Secretaries, in an absolutely safe and secure environment, the question they jointly discussed hadn't even been delivered before the Emperor already knew about it.
So when he arrived, the Emperor directly presented his own plan.
And note, this wasn't written on the spot.
Who was the mole?
No one dared ask, no one dared guess, and no one dared probe.
There was nothing wrong with changing this question. The civil examination was a minor matter, but the message it conveyed was important—I, the Emperor, can see everything.
However, fortunately, even without the Prince of Jin's euphemistic reminder that there was a mole among them, none of these people had said anything improper.
Even with full surveillance, as long as nothing was taken out of context, they were simply fulfilling their duties as question-setters and reviewers.
Ever since the Jinyiwei existed, everyone's freedom of speech had boundaries—everyone could understand this.
Understanding was one thing, but they were still very curious about who it was.
Perhaps it was Zhang Zhao? Because he was the only one here from humble origins.
But he also had reasons it wasn't him—after Zhang Zhao rose to power, he acquired land more aggressively than anyone.
Probably not Sun Kang, because although he wasn't the same Sun as Minister Sun, he favored Sun Qian excessively, plus he was a staunch supporter of the aristocratic faction and genuinely disliked the examination system.
But it could also be him, because his personality was softer than anyone's, extremely cautious—if the Emperor scared him even slightly, he might cave.
The others were also hard to say.
Guessing was meaningless.
Knowing one thing was enough.
Wei Ye: I'm watching you.
"These methods for increasing tax revenue must be practically feasible," Zhang Zhao analyzed. "We can't allow empty rhetoric."
"Yes, there must be concrete measures. Moreover, we shouldn't consider whether it's feasible or doable—that's not for examinees and examiners to consider. This is a discussion process, discussing how to do it."
What these two said was quite right.
Gu Yixin nodded slowly, then established the tone: "Just like last year's provincial examination's 'Strategy for Military Farming,' we should welcome such essays, even if some are relatively radical."
………
When Song Shi'an heard the question, he found it somewhat amusing.
This little Sun, he thinks he can ride my coattails?
Constantly leeching off the GOAT, does that make you the vice-GOAT?
But whatever.
Song Shi'an liked this question.
He could start discussing politics!
And before addressing the specific content, he had already established a good title—
The Wealth of Nations