After my soul traveled to ancient times, I don't want to be cannon fodder

If you are really assigned to a poor place, a desolate place where no one lives, and live in poverty for the rest of your life, who would be willing to do that?

Wen Renye was about to raise his card, but Su Qi said in advance: "Those who have already answered, no need to answer again!"

This means that opportunities should be left to others and you cannot take them all by yourself.

Wen Renye pursed his lips slightly, his expression not looking very good.

After a long time, a candidate standing in the last corner silently raised his sign.

Judging from his slightly frightened expression, he must have come from a poor family and had never seen many scenes like this.

His name is Liu Wentai.

He is the son of an ordinary farmer in a remote mountain village in Sichuan.

When he was young and followed the village chief uncle to learn to read and write, and showed a unique talent for reading, the whole family, no, it should be said that the whole village.

They used all their strength to lift him out of a small mountain village.

The villagers had only one expectation for him.

That is, if he can become an official in the court one day, he will at least help the village.

He carried the hopes of the entire village, took exams all the way, and later received funding from the prefectural government, which gave him the opportunity to come to Kyoto.

Only when he got here did he realize that the prosperity of the outside world was far beyond his imagination.

He was a famous child prodigy in the local area, but here he was just an inconspicuous grain of sand.

He does not have the vision and background of the eldest son of the Gu family, nor does he have the amazing talent of Master Wenren. He only has himself.

So, when the imperial court suddenly proposed to conduct the examination in a quick-answer format, he kept waiting and watching, hoping that there would be a question that would give him the opportunity to answer.

Now, here it comes.

It is located in a remote area, with many mountains and little land, and is poor and backward, with difficult roads.

These words perfectly describe his hometown.

Liu Wentai clenched his fists and tried to cheer himself up. When everyone above looked at him, he stiffened his body, but still felt nervous and helpless.

"I am Liu Wentai, your student. Greetings to His Majesty...and all the gentlemen..." Liu Wentai saluted with hesitation, and heard a gentle voice from above, which soothed his heart like a spring breeze and drizzle.

"Don't be nervous, speak slowly!" It was Princess Zhaohua who spoke.

Liu Wentai felt warm in his heart. He thought that he had just embarrassed himself and his legs were so weak at this moment.

"Yes... I think that if I were the local official... the first thing I would have to solve is the difficulty of accessing the roads!"

"Students believe that the only way to achieve this is to build a road first, open up a channel between the local area and the outside world, and then, based on the specific local conditions, create local specialty products and conduct trade exchanges with the outside world..."

"We'll attract people to the area, get the economy moving first... and then gradually improve things..."

"Well said, continue..." Zhong Ning commented, and Emperor Yong, who was sitting at the top, nodded slightly.

Seeing this, Liu Wentai felt more confident and spoke louder.

"For example, if the area is mountainous and has little land, then we can go there to investigate and plant some fruit trees or medicinal herbs, which is a way of development."

"Just like the students' hometown, there are mountains everywhere, where wild Gastrodia elata and Salvia miltiorrhiza grow... If they can be cultivated with the guidance of someone special, I think it will be a path for development."

When Emperor Yong heard this, his eyes brightened a little, and he said that there were still some students among this group who were capable of doing practical work.

"What did you say your name was?" Emperor Yong asked.

"Student Liu Wentai greets His Majesty!"

"Hmm..." Emperor Yong responded calmly, then gestured for Su Qi to write down the name. "Yes, I remember it."

Just this one sentence made Liu Wentai so excited that he didn't know what to do.

He knelt on the ground and kowtowed excitedly, "Student, thank you Your Majesty!"

Several students standing next to Liu Wentai couldn't help but secretly resent him in their hearts. In fact, they thought so too, but they were not as quick as Liu Wentai.

If I had seized the opportunity just now, then I would be the one being praised in public now, right?

This country bumpkin, why are you moving so fast?

But then they let it go.

This question was clearly asked with ill intentions. The better Liu Wentai answered, the more likely it was that this kind of barren land would be waiting for him next.

Thinking of this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The assessment is still going on, and questions about various aspects such as people's livelihood, military, law, taxation, etc. are all asked one by one.

Among them, some performed really well, while some people were really stupid because of reading too much. Their brains became rigid and could not make any changes.

After more than half an hour, Emperor Yong had a basic understanding of the general situation of this group of candidates.

He was even somewhat glad that he had listened to Zhong Ning's advice.

The reason was simple. In the previous imperial examinations, his understanding of these candidates was limited to their essays.

Instead of asking them questions about current affairs and inquiring them face to face like we do now, we can truly understand what they think and how they react when faced with different situations.

Soon, the ten questions were answered.

Although twenty or thirty people expressed different opinions, there were still a group of candidates who did not get the opportunity to answer.

Of course, it’s not that they didn’t get it. After all, there were several times when there was a lot of silence. It can only be said that they were afraid that the questions would be too harsh and offend the nobles and royal relatives.

I also want the emperor to ask simpler questions.

Don't ask such offensive questions, and don't ask questions that are too far-fetched.

We are all studying the teachings of sages. It's okay if you can be tested on your understanding of the sages. If that doesn't work, can't you still be tested on your poems, lyrics, and essays?

Unfortunately, no!

At the end of the palace examination, some candidates from the side branches of the aristocratic families raised signs and asked if they could be asked some extra questions. Many of them did not have the chance to answer the questions.

Emperor Yong's eyes darkened slightly. Seeing this, Zhong Ning raised his hand slightly, indicating that this was just a minor incident, and then said:

"I just asked a lot about current politics and national policy, and everyone responded enthusiastically. That's great!"

"It's just that the questions are limited, so there are bound to be some shortcomings."

"How about this? I have a fun question here. Whoever can answer it first will also have their name recorded and included in the palace examination results!"

When all the candidates heard this, hope suddenly ignited in their eyes.

Zhong Ning gave a soft order, and then the palace servant brought over two translucent glass bottles that were narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. These were samples from a batch of samples produced by the glass factory. Because the purity was not high enough, Zhong Ning sent them back for re-development.

But a few samples were left.

It comes in handy today.

In addition, there were two hard-boiled eggs.

Cooked eggs are often used as garnish for meals prepared in the imperial kitchen, so at least some are cooked every day.

The palace maid set up a table in the front, placed the glass bottle on the table, peeled two eggs, and placed them at the mouth of the bottle.

The egg was stuck in the mouth of the bottle.

"As you can see, my question is, who can put this egg into the bottle intact?"