The Marquise: I Earn My Own Worship

Wenhua Hall

At this time, several court ministers who served as supervisors and examiners had finished grading the test papers of 299 people and divided them into first, second and third grades.

The Emperor of Chu personally came to the Wenhua Hall, walked quickly to the upper seat and sat down. With a wave of his hand, he ordered people to start reading.

There are four officials who read the papers every year, and they are usually important officials in the court.

This year's examiners were Right Prime Minister Zhao Shihai, Left Prime Minister Huang Fengding, Minister of Justice Guo Youqi, and Minister of Revenue Jin Shourong.

These four people took their first-class candidate test papers and began to read them to the emperor in turn according to the ritual. According to convention, the top three in the first class and the first in the second class would be selected from them, and the emperor would rank them according to his preference.

The first person to read the paper was Zhao Shihai, followed by Huang Fengding, Jin Shourong, and Guo Youqi.

After reading the test paper, the eunuch placed it on the imperial desk, waiting for the Emperor of Chu to review and approve it.

The Emperor of Chu picked up each copy and read them carefully. After reading them, he did not understand what he had in mind. The boy's words were too sharp and could not be accepted by these people.

He then put down the test paper in his hand, frowned slightly, looked at the four and asked, "Apart from these, are there any other outstanding papers?"

The four examiners looked at each other and kept silent with their heads down. However, the Minister of Justice Guo Youqi looked as if he was struggling.

Seeing that they were silent, the Emperor of Chu sneered in his heart, and his eyes gradually turned cold.

After a moment of silence, Guo Youqi stepped forward and knelt, looking nervous:

"Your Majesty, I have seen a policy paper among the tribute students. It is sharp in its words and comprehensive in its discussion. However..."

Guo Youqi paused, looked up at the face of the Chu Emperor, and then continued

"It is only that the language is too harsh and lacks a touch of benevolence. I humbly ask Your Majesty to read it and then make a decision."

"read"

The King of Chu felt familiar with this. Could it be that boy...

Guo Youqi's heart was beating like thunder. If he could catch the emperor's eye, this boy would be very lucky. If not, and he made the emperor dislike him, then his actions would harm him.

Guo Youqi couldn't take care of anything else now and could only study slowly.

One of the original examiners wasn't Guo Youqi. Yesterday, he assigned a job to the Minister of Rites, Wang Fa, leaving Guo Youqi, then the Minister of Justice, to fill the position of examiner in the Ministry of Rites. What's the point of this...

The Emperor of Chu showed no emotion, but he did feel relieved because he was sure that this was the article written by the fourth son of the Duan family.

After Guo Youqi finished reading, the Emperor of Chu remained silent.

Seeing this, the Right Prime Minister could no longer hold back and said, "This is ridiculous. I have never seen anyone so disregarding ethics and moral principles in all my years. What this boy said is simply against common sense."

Seeing that the Emperor of Chu's face was getting darker, the Right Prime Minister thought that the Emperor of Chu was dissatisfied with what this boy said, so he said a few more words.

Seeing the Minister of Justice Guo Youqi kneeling on the ground and starting to tremble, the Right Prime Minister felt very relieved. This old man Guo had often been against him in the past, but he didn't expect that this day would come.

If there is a chance, take this opportunity to kill him today...

The Emperor of Chu had a gloomy expression as he looked at the Left Prime Minister and Jin Shourong who had remained silent.

"Do you have anything to say?"

Huang Fengding and Jin Shourong felt bitter and secretly despised the old man from the Ministry of Justice for doing such a unnecessary thing, but they could only step forward and respond.

"Your Majesty, this boy values ​​criminal law over etiquette. Although he governs the country, family and state are one, and etiquette is indispensable. It's good for young people to have edges and corners. With time to polish them, he will surely become a rare talent."

Huang Fengding practiced Tai Chi as usual, but the Emperor of Chu became impatient.

He was originally promoted to check and balance the right prime minister and balance the court.

But the older Huang Fengding got, the more he liked to smooth things over. This led to a tendency in the court to give priority to the right prime minister. The Emperor of Chu felt a little disappointed when he thought of this.

Jin Shourong was feeling very weak now, and could only step forward and say some smooth talk.

The King of Chu didn't want to listen to their meaningless nonsense anymore. These people were getting old and no longer had the energy they used to have.

It is the Right Prime Minister who is now more and more fond of seizing power. However, when the Emperor of Chu thought about why this was the case, he sneered in his heart.

Looking at Guo Youqi, who was kneeling on the ground with gray hair and trembling body, he called him up.

Guo Youqi stumbled as he stood up and reached out to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

The Emperor of Chu took the policy paper and read it carefully, more carefully than that day. After reading it, he directly appointed the three people in the first class with his own hand.

Seeing that the Emperor of Chu did not say anything, the four people below were confused.

The emperor was neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. He was neither angry nor said anything, which made them very uneasy.

The hall fell into an unprecedented silence. With the soft click of the imperial pen, the Emperor of Chu distributed the five policy papers through the supervisors and gave them to several people to circulate.

As expected, the top three in the first class were selected from the first four people just announced.

However, after watching it, several people were shocked! !

The first place in the second class was actually the one that Guo Youqi was the last to read.

However, the emperor actually crossed out the article that the right prime minister had originally taken a fancy to, which meant that he was not selected and could only obtain the status of a Jinshi.

For a moment, the expressions of several people varied. The right prime minister's face was pale and a little stiff. Although the one he chose would not be among the top three, his original goal was to be the first in the second class.

This person is one of his disciples, but now he can't even get the first place in the second class.

This means that none of his students performed well in this year's palace examination, which made him very upset.

Guo Youqi from the Ministry of Justice was naturally very happy. Since the documents were sealed, he only selected the outstanding articles according to convention.

The second one was the policy paper he was most satisfied with. It was a pity that the writing style was still immature and the rhetoric was not very brilliant. However, the viewpoints were novel and in line with his style of doing things.

Originally, literary talent was secondary in the palace selection, and the main consideration was the Majesty's preferences.

This boy has been selected for the imperial examination. Considering what happened to His Majesty's mother's family before, His Majesty must be planning to promote him.

This person is most suitable for the Ministry of Justice. If there is a chance...

Guo Youqi had already started to think about which positions were missing. Huang Fengding and Jin Shourong looked calm, and their shock soon subsided.

Then the remaining papers were divided into second and third grades by the Imperial Household Officials and handed over to the Emperor of Chu for review. The Emperor of Chu took a rough look at them, replaced a few and handed them back to the Imperial Household Officials.

......

At the official banquet for reading the papers, Zhao Shihai was in a gloomy mood and did not have a good face towards his colleagues around him.

Huang Fengding was originally his enemy, so he didn't join in the conversation when he saw this. Instead, he had a pleasant conversation with Jin Shourong and Guo Youqi. Zhao Shihai was even more angry when he saw this.

Jin Shourong and Guo Youqi clinked glasses and jokingly said, "Mr. Guo, you really gave us a scare today. This is unlike your usual style."

Guo Youqi is now nearly fifty-six years old, older than these two people. He rarely shows any interest in anyone and only concentrates on sitting in the position of Minister of Justice.

Huang Fengding smiled upon seeing this and said, "This boy's writing must have caught your eye. It's amazing that you dare to speak so frankly to him."

Guo Youqi knew they were testing him, and said with a wry smile as if he had survived a disaster:

"You're all aware of my fear at the time, but I haven't seen a student with such thoughts in years. I don't know how old he is, but he has such views. However, judging by his immature writing style, he must be quite young."

This sentence clearly told the two people that this boy was not his disciple, and he simply admired his articles.

Huang Fengding and Jin Shourong naturally understood the meaning and were secretly curious about who this person was.

The imperial examinations every three years were the time for them to recruit talents. Generally, they had inquired about those whose essays were slightly outstanding, and these outstanding people were their targets for recruitment.

For example, the person recommended by the right prime minister Zhao Shihai was his student. Although the name and place of origin were sealed in the palace examination essays, the writing style and handwriting could be roughly recognized.

This time, Zhao Shihai ended up losing more than he gained. After all, they were talented people selected objectively, unlike him who cheated so obviously. No wonder the emperor was displeased.

Even if the person they recommend is not one of their own disciples, as long as he or she is the top scorer in the examination, they can call themselves their assistant teacher based on this relationship.

Zhao Shihai's move obviously made the emperor extremely displeased. He dared to make trouble among the emperor's disciples. He will suffer the consequences in the future.