We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

Li Che carefully placed the scroll that had impressed him so much on the side of his desk, indicating to Huai En to mark it carefully.

With this stunning opening, the ministers were all invigorated and continued their search for 'true gold' in the vast sea of ​​ink.

Sure enough, as the grading progressed, more papers that had received full marks in the section on the classic texts were discovered.

All the officials submitted their papers, and Li Che personally reviewed them one by one.

The students who took these exams all had extremely solid basic skills, and they answered all fifty questions on classical texts without making a single mistake.

In his interpretation of the classics, his understanding of the meaning of the texts is mostly profound and insightful, his explanations are accurate and apt, and he is full of true insights.

It's clear that these people are truly dedicated scholars, and some may even come from families with a strong academic background.

The top three scorers, and even the champion, in this exam will most likely come from among these people.

Li Che also praised the papers, giving his comments on several particularly outstanding ones.

As the emperor's golden words and his personal praise, the exam paper naturally could not be given a very low score.

However, after reading through all these high-scoring papers, Li Che's feelings were indescribable.

These answers are well-informed and logically sound, but there always seems to be something separating them from the rest.

They are standardized, precise, and exquisite, but they lack a touch of everyday life and the vitality that comes from growing out of the soil.

No other exam paper has ever combined the words of the sages with personal experience in such a vivid and seamless way as the first one.

To put it bluntly, it's out of touch with reality.

Just then, several ministers in charge of sorting discovered another problem.

Among these high-scoring papers, five or six papers stood out for their particularly striking writing styles.

His writing style is elegant and unrestrained, his thoughts are imaginative and unconventional, yet he always manages to make his points meaningful and self-consistent.

What's even more peculiar is that the writing styles of these papers are remarkably consistent, as if they share some common mark.

However, upon closer examination of their specific viewpoints, they all differ, and even contradict each other on certain issues, giving it a bit of a "debate among fellow students".

The ministers dared not neglect their duties and immediately selected these five or six uniquely styled papers and presented them to Li Che.

"Your Majesty, look at these papers..." Wen Zaiyin pointed at the papers, his brows furrowed. "Their writing style and line of thought are exactly the same, yet they are not simply identical... I suspect that the exam questions may have been leaked?"

Upon hearing this, all the examiners stopped writing and their gazes turned serious.

Leaking exam questions is no small matter. If such a mistake were discovered, not only would the previous exam papers be invalidated, but the imperial court would also lose face.

Li Che took the exam paper and quickly scanned it.

He read quickly, his gaze sweeping across the flowing, elegant words, his eyes gleaming slightly.

After a moment, he slowly shook his head, denying Wen Zaiyin's guess: "It doesn't seem like a leak of exam questions."

"Although the styles are similar, the core is completely different."

“You see, regarding ‘what is the way of the king,’ this volume advocates ‘quiet inaction and letting the people rest,’ while that volume emphasizes ‘active action and educating all people’; regarding ‘policies for border troubles,’ some advocate ‘appeasement and pacification,’ while others advocate ‘deterrence and swift action.’”

"It's more like...they came from the same school, but they developed their own different insights by teaching each other according to their own aptitude."

Upon hearing this, Huo Duanxiao pondered and said, "In that case, could it be that a powerful and influential family has sent its most outstanding sons to participate in this imperial examination, intending to showcase their scholarship?"

Li Che's gaze was deep as he gently shook his head.

He wasn't sure about the exact origins of these people at the moment.

But one thing is certain: any person or organization capable of producing such a disciple is by no means simple.

“It’s alright,” Li Che finally smiled calmly, “We’ll see what it’s made of.”

"It's pointless to speculate now. Once the mystery is solved, their identity and origin will naturally come to light."

"We can discuss it again at that time."

Upon hearing this, all the ministers nodded in agreement.

Subsequently, these few papers with unique styles were also included in the list of papers to be reviewed.

Li Che's thoughts inevitably turned to the upcoming afternoon exam.

The exam in the afternoon was the real 'touchstone'.

It contains not only the most important policy questions in the imperial examinations, but also the logical trap questions he personally set that have been passed down through generations.

That's the real test of a student's vision, perspective, and flexibility of thought.

He was especially curious about what kind of answer the owner of the paper that had previously caught his eye would submit.

. . . . . .

As the sun began to set slightly in the west, the scorching heat lessened a bit, and the afternoon exams began as scheduled.

The Royal Palace Square has reopened.

However, compared to the bustling scene in the morning, the number of students coming to take the exam was noticeably sparser at this moment.

Some students who had been recorded for disciplinary violations in the morning were still unwilling to give up and were determined to try taking the exam.

After checking their information, the guards at the entrance stopped them without hesitation and confiscated their examination tokens.

No matter how much they pleaded, argued, or even cried, the constables simply carried out the regulations with a cold face and impartiality.

The rising and falling cries of despair acted like an alarm bell, weighing even heavier on the hearts of all the students preparing to enter.

After the unique selection process that morning, the remaining students had long since lost their initial arrogance.

They had come to understand that this imperial examination was by no means a game of composing poems and comparing social status.

We won't test your ability to write poetry or prose, nor will we consider your family background.

Instead, they are truly using the most pragmatic, even somewhat demanding, standards to examine genuinely practical talents.

There's a saying that goes, "A scholar is useless in a hundred ways."

This "scholar" does not refer to all scholars; it refers to those who consider themselves scholars but make no concrete contributions.

Unfortunately, most intellectuals today are in this situation.

Zhang Qian followed the crowd back into the examination hall, but his mood was much calmer than in the morning.

During a short break at noon, he exchanged ideas with Lin Qingyuan and others, and after verifying each other's work, he realized that his copy of the classic text was at least largely correct.

With a weight lifted from my heart, my mindset became even more composed.

Finding his seat again, he carefully placed his pen and ink, closed his eyes once more, and focused his mind, clearing his mind of distractions.

"clang--"

The crisp sound of a gong broke the somewhat dull afternoon air.

"Distribute the curlers!"

The instructor's voice remained cold.

The examiners remained expressionless, and the papers were quickly distributed to each student.

Zhang Qian took a deep breath, took the paper, and immediately looked at the beginning of the paper.

However, the headline that caught his eye stunned him instantly.

The title page prominently displayed three large characters: "Logic Problems"!

Logic, what... what is this?

The word 'logic' can be traced back to a Greek word; it is a loanword and does not exist in Daqing.

The reason Li Che still used these two words was that he didn't want the students to know the original meaning of the words, so that they could deduce the answer methods for the next few questions.

Anyway, these questions are all bonus questions. Not being able to answer them won't affect your score, but answering them will definitely get you a higher score.

He suppressed his surprise and doubt, and hurriedly looked at the first question:

[Light ten candles, blow out four of them, how many are left?]

Zhang Qian's eyes widened instantly, his mind went blank, and he was completely dumbfounded.

What... what kind of question is this?!

If you blow out four of the ten candles, then naturally six will remain burning. What's the doubt about that?

Could it be that His Majesty and the academic officials could make such a simple arithmetic mistake?

Or is there some deeper meaning hidden in this that he cannot understand?

Zhang Qian's first reaction was that it was absurd, and he even wondered if the test paper had been printed incorrectly.

Looking up and around, he saw that most of the other students also looked surprised and confused, and some even started scratching their heads.

Clearly, everyone's topics were the same, completely beyond imagination and detached from the classics.

The solemn atmosphere in the examination room instantly became restless.

Only the examiners and instructors patrolling the venue remained expressionless.

The instructor even shouted, "Silence! Focus on answering the questions. If you don't know the answer, leave it blank and move on to the next one."

Zhang Qian was naturally not going to give up easily. He continued to think, reading the question over and over again, until fine beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.

Light ten candles... blow out four of them... how many are left?

The literal meaning is outrageously simple, but that's precisely what makes it all the more bizarre.

At this moment, the words of sages and the exposition of scriptures seem to be of no use.

These kinds of questions test the most basic observation skills and see if candidates can think outside the box.

Several exam rooms away, Lin Qingyuan also saw the question. He was slightly taken aback, but couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The examiner above glared at this scene.

Seeing Lin Qingyuan smiling as he looked at the exam paper, he thought the child had gone crazy from the test, so he just shook his head silently and ignored him.

Lin Qingyuan was not crazy at all. On the contrary, he laughed because he saw his master's shadow in this question.

The Guigu School is neither Confucian nor Legalist; it belongs to the School of Diplomacy, whose greatest skill lies in sophistry.

The idea that "a white horse is not a horse" proposed by the School of Names during the Warring States period is a topic that Master likes to study and discuss the most.

Although this candle puzzle is ingenious, it is much simpler than the "white horse is not a horse" puzzle.

He calmly picked up his pen and wrote the answer 'four branches' directly on the answer sheet.

Then turn to the next question.

This time, Lin Qingyuan laughed even louder.

Interesting, interesting. This emperor is truly interesting. No wonder my master asked us to go down the mountain to assist him.

If Lin Qingyuan hadn't known it was impossible, he might have even suspected that this emperor was his senior or junior master.