Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2678 The Imperial Examination Ends, the Scholars' Banquet Begins

"Has Your Majesty encountered some joyous occasion?"

Noticing the smile on Li Xiang's lips, Madam Huarui couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Today is the first day of the imperial examination. Talented people from all over the country have gathered in the capital Luoyang for me to select. Isn't this something to be happy about?" Li Xiang asked rhetorically.

Lady Huarui naturally nodded in agreement: "This is certainly a joyous occasion. All the heroes of the world will surely fall into Your Majesty's hands!"

Li Xiang smiled, looked at Lady Huarui, and said, "In my opinion, my beloved concubine would surely pass the imperial examination with flying colors if she were to participate in it!"

"Your Majesty is joking! How could I possibly have such abilities?" Lady Huarui quickly replied.

Li Xiang was obviously joking. Lady Huarui might be good at poetry, prose, classical texts, calligraphy, painting, and music, but it wouldn't be so easy for her to actually take the exam.

Of course, there might still be some hope for the Mingjing examination, but it would basically be a competition among accomplished scholars, and the difficulty would be considerable, with little chance of standing out.

Those who can pass the first two levels of examinations and finally enter the imperial examination are all extraordinary individuals!

Poetry, prose, and classical texts were merely the basics for them. If they failed this hurdle, they wouldn't be qualified to enter the examination hall for the metropolitan examination.

The imperial examination system of the Jin Dynasty was not very friendly to some scholars. If one's knowledge was shallow and one lacked substance, and one could only rely on what was in the books without being able to apply it in practice, it would be very difficult to pass the examination.

Therefore, in the past two years, regardless of whether they are in high positions of power or in remote areas, there has been much criticism of the court's personnel policy. People say that the court does not value morality, resulting in a large number of petty people among officials who do not follow etiquette and morality, but only care about their own interests, which is not a good time for a well-governed society.

However, Li Xiang did not take these minor criticisms to heart.

As the first monarch, he wielded power and prestige at the height of the dynasty's power, leaving his subjects with nothing but criticism.

Anyway, even if some people are dissatisfied, they can't do anything substantial, so Li Xiang can't allow them to have a few criticisms.

After all, their Great Jin Dynasty didn't engage in literary inquisitions.

As long as they don't do anything concrete and just grumble a few times, even if the floating room reports to them, Li Xiang will only ask them to temporarily file the information and won't really care about it.

"My royal uncle, I gave him such a large fiefdom, but he didn't govern it properly and was too fond of pleasure!"

He casually tossed down a folded document, which detailed events that had occurred over the past year.

Among Li Xiang's imperial uncles, only one was granted a fiefdom: Li Ming, who was enfeoffed on the Japanese island of Wa (Japan).

Given the distance between the two places, it would naturally take more than a year for news from there to reach them.

His fiefdom is indeed the largest he currently owns, even surpassing the territory of his own son.

After all, that place is different from Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia is at least connected by land, so he could return in his lifetime. But the Japanese islands are different. Crossing the ocean, a round trip cannot absolutely guarantee his safety. Therefore, once he goes there, he really will never have the chance to come back in this lifetime, especially at Li Ming's age.

Therefore, Li Ming was quite unhappy when he was sealed off back then.

Furthermore, that area had indeed been ravaged by too many killings, leaving very few people and only unclaimed wasteland. The problem there wasn't the arable land, but rather where would the people come from to cultivate it? This is different from the situation in Southeast Asia.

Although Southeast Asia has lost half its population in recent years due to war and massacres, it still has at least a million people.

Therefore, for members of the royal family, Southeast Asia was far superior to Japan as a fiefdom.

The memorial clearly detailed Li Ming's actions on the Japanese islands over the years. After landing on the islands, instead of focusing on developing production, he built palaces for himself.

Faced with this, Li Xiang could only put it aside for the time being and, at most, issue a decree to reprimand the person afterward.

After all, they just didn't work hard enough to govern the country; they didn't really go so far as to bring disaster to the nation and its people.

On the fifteenth day of the second month of the third year of the Qianyuan era, the first imperial examination of the Qianyuan era officially began, with more than 8,000 candidates from all over the country participating. Emperor Li Xiang personally inspected the examination hall.

After several days of verification and subsequent review, the official list was published on the eighth day of the third month of the third year of the Qianyuan era.

In the first imperial examination of the Qianyuan era, the top scholar was Fang Yi'ai, the son of Fang Xuanling.

Of course, it wasn't the one from history, but rather Fang Xuanling's offspring born in his native land, who just happened to have the same name.

The second generation of civil and military officials in the Great Jin Dynasty has grown up in batches, and many of them have joined the wave of the imperial examinations. For example, in this year's imperial examination list, there are probably more than a dozen sons and nephews of civil and military officials in the court.

Don't think that a dozen or so is a small number; in fact, it's quite a lot.

After all, only seventy-one people were admitted in this imperial examination.

Although the sons of high-ranking officials could be directly recommended to serve in the imperial court, some capable individuals would also participate in the imperial examinations to enhance their resumes.

As a newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination), and with connections in the imperial court, his career is practically guaranteed.

The triennial Scholars' Banquet is another grand literary event. Having been held several times before, this event has become quite well-organized, and with the responsible officials making proper arrangements, everything is proceeding in an orderly manner.

The reputation of the Shilin Banquet had already spread far and wide, and scholars all longed to attend it, while those who took the exams considered it an honor to participate.

After all, those who are qualified to attend this banquet have already distinguished themselves in the imperial examinations, truly emerging as the best through rigorous selection.

As for the banquets organized by the scholars themselves in the Shilin Garden before the imperial examinations, these were not considered Shilin banquets; they were merely their own private banquets.

The Shilin Banquet was simply a banquet held by the emperor specifically for those who passed the imperial examinations.

Passing the imperial examination was merely the starting point of their official careers, yet they were all filled with excitement.

Sometimes, it must be admitted that most scholars' respect for the imperial family, reverence for the system, and adherence to etiquette easily win the favor of the supreme ruler.

Although the image of literati was not good in later generations due to the continuous setbacks in foreign wars since the Song Dynasty, various conspiracy theories about literati groups emerged in the Ming Dynasty, and all kinds of conspiracies were fabricated from the beginning to the end of the Ming Dynasty.

However, governing a country can never be without intellectuals. In fact, in terms of development, prosperity, and consolidation of national rule, the role of intellectuals is greater than that of military men, especially in terms of ideology.