The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

"Your Majesty is so righteous, I admire you so much." Lin Qiao interpreted a lot from Xie Ruzhen's words.

Although she didn't know the reason, she thought that perhaps Concubine Zhao had already guessed her true identity or was completely sure of it, but she did not expose it, nor did she say it clearly. Instead, she sent a signal to Lin Qiao by talking about the sisters of the Lu family protecting the dowry shop.

She knew that Lin Qiao's identity was questionable, but she didn't care, nor did she rebuke her, nor was she disgusted. Instead, she approved and supported her. When she considered that before the emperor left, Xie Yuzhen used the excuse of playing a trick on old man Lin who "broke up the couple" to obtain an imperial edict with a very ambiguous meaning for Lin Qiao, by connecting these actions together, Lin Qiao could come up with an answer.

She will protect herself.

She was already putting protection on herself.

Lin Qiao couldn't help but be moved by this realization, but at the same time, she began to think habitually about what purpose Xie Yuzhen wanted to achieve by valuing her so much.

Winning over?

She had been won over, and Lin Qiao believed that she had made it obvious enough, and her identity was difficult to separate from the Yongjia Marquisate and the Xie family.

Thinking of this, Lin Qiao smiled and talked about an interesting story she heard in her hometown: "Speaking of which, when I was young, I heard someone say that a businessman went to Yuewu County to do business with the naturalized mountain people. He found that although they lived in the mountains, they attached great importance to protecting the local trees and vegetation. Therefore, in addition to collecting firewood in the mountains, they often liked to buy ready-made coal from people in other counties."

"That merchant was a charcoal seller. One day, he followed the buyer to their house and found what looked like a coal mine in a valley not far from the house. The villagers only knew how to burn charcoal, but they didn't know how to identify coal mines, let alone how to mine and process them."

"The merchant secretly took note of this place, and after leaving the mountain, he gathered his family and friends, intending to quietly purchase the mountain valley from Yuewu County and secretly mine the coal. However, the Yuewu County Magistrate at the time was not easy to fool. The merchants kept fighting among themselves to compete for a larger share, which exposed their tracks. The county magistrate used the merchants' actions to find out the location of the mine and took it over to the county."

"Before the coal mine was exposed to the public, it was just a barren valley that no one cared about. Once the truth was discovered by outsiders, countless people came to rob it. Some people even thought of bringing water from above the valley to destroy it..."

"Fortunately, the county magistrate is smart and capable of cracking down on greedy and illegal businessmen. He also has the means to keep the right to mine coal in his own county." Xie Yuzhen continued without any hesitation.

Since Lin Qiao had understood what she meant and compared herself to a coal mine, Xie Yuzhen knew that she could speak more directly: "Guanying, you know that since the founding of the Great Sheng Dynasty, every time there was an imperial examination, the people who made the list were mostly from aristocratic families and noble families. Although there were talented people from humble backgrounds, the difference between the noble and the humble was greater than the difference between northern and southern scholars."

"Since the time of Taizu, the imperial court has repeatedly suppressed the aristocratic families. It finally achieved results during the reign of the previous emperor. In this dynasty, Your Majesty believes that we can go a step further."

Suppressing the aristocratic families and cutting off their roots on the land forced them to gather in the capital. Without the land that they could hold on to for a hundred years, no matter how powerful the aristocratic family was, it would eventually become an ordinary bureaucratic family. Although they still had a higher starting point and greater power than ordinary people, without private land to hide soldiers and horses, their possibility of threatening the imperial power was eliminated to the greatest extent.

For those nobles who were awarded titles and owned fiefs at the time of the founding of the country, every generation of emperors of the Great Sheng Dynasty would inevitably suppress and reduce their titles. And those nobles who did not have fiefs but gradually developed the rudiments of aristocratic families and began to move closer to the other side, naturally could not escape the fate of being suppressed.

Every time Xie Yuzhen made trouble, it almost gave the emperor a decent and interesting excuse to deal with the roots of the aristocratic families and nobles inside and outside the court. After the outburst when the queen passed away, the remaining aristocratic families in the whole Dasheng had completely lost the power to resist the emperor, and the nobles headed by the Duke of Yingguo and the Marquis of Yuyang were increasingly defeated.

"......Since the establishment of the imperial examination system, there have been many stories among scholars and bureaucrats about selecting the best candidates based on their handwriting and poetry. Those who are good at discussing policies for people's livelihood, while those with ordinary handwriting and not good at reciting poems and composing essays, have been suppressed. Perhaps in the eyes of scholars, as long as one can read the books of sages well, understand the words of sages, and have some talent, one will have enough capital to become an official. However, this palace, Your Majesty, and several elders all think that if this continues for a long time, it will be detrimental to the family and the country!"

In terms of poetry, calligraphy and painting, the children of nobles who were born with more resources had more than double the advantage over ordinary poor scholars, not to mention those papers with too distinct personal characteristics, which always made people recognize at a glance that this was the son of a certain rich man, or a famous and talented scholar from a certain place...

Even if the examiners were not bribed and did not want to cheat, they were always more tolerant towards the younger generations in the same class as them. After all, there were already enough people to share the pie, so why introduce new blood? Wouldn't it be better for a few old families to keep the power and let the younger generations of the family continue to thrive?

Their interests are completely contrary to those of the emperor, who is unwilling to see power solidified in a group outside of himself. After several generations of emperors' continuous operations, now is the best time for reform.

"I have discussed with your majesty and other gentlemen how to reform the examinations to ensure fairness. I have proposed that the next spring examinations, the names of all candidates must be covered, and some imperial officials should be selected to copy the papers in a separate place in the imperial court style. Finally, the papers will be submitted to the examiners for review. After the top ten are selected, they will be submitted to your majesty."

Xie Yuzhen felt a little thirsty after talking for a while, so he took a sip of tea and continued, "After the rankings are determined, we will retrieve the original papers of the candidates and compare them with the transcribed papers to determine the top three."

"In this way, we can avoid the disadvantages I just mentioned to the greatest extent, that is, every time the spring examination is held, the ministers of the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Academy will inevitably be busier." Xie Yuzhen's voice was gentle. She looked at Lin Qiao and said, "In this way, we only look at whether the paper is meaningful, regardless of the identity or whether the handwriting is good... What do you think, Guanying?"

The names are covered and copied, so not only do we not know the identity of the candidates, but we also... don’t know their gender!

Lin Qiao vaguely guessed that Concubine Zhao was going to use her status to do something big. She could not help but get excited while smelling the breath of impending storm. She stood up and bowed to Xie Yuzhen earnestly: "Your Majesty, this plan is really brilliant. I am a poor student in the world... and also for myself. Thank you for your righteous plan!"