Quickly wear it and insist on being an old man forever

The Palace of Prince Yuanping, now the Villa for Talented Ladies, Cuixia Palace.

The four women, who had discovered that they shared similar interests with each other half a month ago, came back to wash up and then sat together to review, or recall the test contents and their answers, and discuss with each other.

“The Four Books and Five Classics are simple, and only require basic recitation. I should have no problem answering them, but the arithmetic questions at the end are really difficult for me.

Why does the pool need to store water and release water at the same time?

After a lot of trouble, I just managed to make a chicken and rabbit in the same cage. I don’t know or can’t do anything else.”

As soon as she opened her mouth, Lu Yuan sounded quite resentful.

"I did solve a few more problems, but I still don't know how to solve most of them. There are so many more problems to come, and I really don't dare to delay. How about we write down the math problems we still remember and think about them again?"

Wang Yao said in a pretty good mood.

Although she didn't answer many of the exam questions, she could see the ambition of the current emperor through those questions. If he only wanted them to enter the palace as female officials, he would never have asked them to answer so many complicated and difficult essays on various topics.

The future is promising, a promising future.

"Forget it. Now I get a headache when I see those math problems. I thought that I, who was proficient in the Nine Chapters of Arithmetic, was no less capable than those candidates who were pretty good at math. But now I'm really disappointed."

Li Qing shook her head and waved her hands.

Some people will try hard to go further after suffering a blow, while others don't want to contact again for the time being and need to take it slow. She is the latter.

"In my opinion, the first few questions are probably just the basics, and the dozen or so policy essays at the end are the most important. Those questions are not something a female official should know or understand. Even if they are brought to the court and discussed by all the officials together, there may not be any better answers.

So I have a bold idea.

Shangguan Wan'er's appointment as prime minister could be just the beginning. His Majesty's selection of talented women this time is not only for selecting female officials, but also for us to serve as officials in the court.

If that is true.

Should we continue to persevere?"

At this time, Zhuge Yun could be said to have seen both opportunities and crises. The emperor wanted to let them serve as officials in the court, and was willing to give them opportunities, which was undoubtedly an opportunity. However, facing the opposition of the entire court, including the civil and military officials, and even the entire gentry, was undoubtedly a huge crisis.

It may even cost you your life.

This was something she had never thought about before, so she couldn't help feeling a little hesitant and uneasy at this moment.

I hope to get support from others.

Otherwise, she really wouldn't dare to think or do anything on her own.

"Why not insist? My father always likes to say that it's a pity that I'm not a man and can't win glory for the family. If the emperor opens the door and allows us to make achievements and serve as officials, then what difference does it make whether I am a man or not.

I know what you are worried about. It's nothing more than worrying about danger and worrying that the whole world will be your enemy from now on.

But wasn’t His Majesty the enemy of the whole world at the beginning?

If His Majesty was as fearful as we are and retreated like us, then he would be at most a queen dowager now, and might not even be the regent queen dowager.

How could we have the unprecedented status we have today!

Therefore, if the emperor really allows us to serve as officials in the court, even if there are tigers in front of us and wolves behind us, I will definitely persevere and will not retreat even if I die."

Actually speaking, except for a few of these talented ladies who only study hard, most of the others are not stupid. Not long after the papers were handed out, they already had some guesses in their hearts, but nothing was settled in the end.

I'm just not sure.

But those who are determined and have ideas have already set their inner goals, which is to follow the current emperor.

Lu Yuan is one of them.

No one mentioned it before, and they were only discussing the specific content of the test, so she didn't say anything. Now that Zhuge Yun brought it up, she certainly didn't hesitate to express her opinion, and she wanted to encourage the three friends in front of her who should be like-minded with her. The more people there are together, the more likely they are to succeed.

If there are really only three or five lonely people following.

I am afraid that even with the support of the current emperor and Princess Taiping, it will be difficult to achieve anything. After all, if you don't work hard, wouldn't you be a hopeless person?
"Cai! Me too!!"

Li Qing was excited after hearing this and immediately agreed.

"I'm not afraid of losing my life, I'm mainly afraid that my father and mother won't agree. If both my parents don't agree, how can I do something disobedient?"

Zhuge Yun wanted to be as high-spirited as them, but she knew her parents' personalities better. She was able to participate in the selection of talented women thanks to her grandmother's persuasion and the support of several uncles. If she could really become an official in the court.

Her father would never allow her to enter the court, thus offending the scholars of the world and bringing harm to the family. When the time comes, what can she do when her parents' orders and filial piety are put down?
This is what she is really worried about.

She was not afraid of death, but if she was labeled as unfilial, no matter how good her grades were or how highly she was selected, the court would not allow such an unfilial person to be an official. If it was a man, even if he was truly unfilial, his parents might have endured it and not dared to tell anyone.

Afraid of affecting his son’s future career.

Hearing this, even Lu Yuan, who had been the most emotional before, fell silent, and even became nervous inside, because her father's previous encouragement and support seemed to be based on her becoming a female official. If she could enter the court as an official, it was hard to say whether her father would support her.

Even if her father supports it, what about the clan?

Her father does not have the final say in the clan.

Once more than half of the elders in the clan are against it, even the clan leader’s words and support will be useless, let alone his father.

Those who can participate in this talent selection must at least be girls from declining aristocratic families, so the first problem they need to face is whether they can get the support of their parents or even the clan, even if there is no opposition.

If you object, it will definitely be quite troublesome.

While some talented women have already thought of this problem, many officials have also thought of this point.

They also discussed privately how they should respond if the emperor really wanted to allow women to serve as officials. This problem could not be opened again, otherwise it would become increasingly difficult to deal with.

In a prime minister's residence, many officials were having a heated discussion.

"We shouldn't have given in to appointing Shangguan Wan'er as prime minister, even if it was the internal prime minister."

"That was clearly a test."

"What's the point of saying this? Don't forget that the original source is that there is already an empress, so what if there is a female prime minister? This is indeed true. There is already an empress, so it's normal to have another woman below. How can there be an empress who is against the will of heaven?"

"She was already over sixty when she ascended the throne. Since ancient times, how many emperors have lived to be over sixty? At the beginning, I thought that as long as there were fewer casualties and the country would not fall into chaos, it would not matter even if I just played with her for a few years. But who knew she would live so long!"

"But it's not completely fruitless. At least we know that a mother's long life has a great impact on the lifespan of her children. Lady Rongguo and her mother both lived long lives. The health of the two current princes is also quite good. If the princes of Emperor Taizong had been tormented like this, they would have died or passed away long ago."

"Don't change the subject."

"I think you are worrying too much. There is no need to be so nervous. This matter is so easy to solve."

"How to say?"

"The word 'filial piety' is enough to solve the problem. As long as the parents do not allow it, who dares to disobey? If the current emperor had not forced them with filial piety, how could he have suppressed the two princes so easily?

If she openly supported those women in rebelling against their parents.

Then why can't we support the two princes and resist her? Then we will have an excuse."

"That's great! If it weren't for filial piety, how could she have secured the throne? If she really wanted to support those women in rebelling against their parents, that would actually be a good thing. It's true that misfortunes often bring blessings. Now I hope she will do that."

"There are many other ways to solve this problem. If parents directly forbid their daughters to serve as officials, it will inevitably appear that they are against the emperor. But we can find another way, such as bringing our daughters back to get married. Boys should get married when they are old enough, and girls should get married when they are old enough. If she gets pregnant soon after getting married, how can she serve as an official?"

"You can also submit a memorial to the emperor saying that this move may affect the population, or directly require both men and women to take the imperial examinations together, rather than using the selection of talented women.

As the saying goes, it is not a big deal to pass the imperial examination at the age of thirty. It does not matter if we take the exam until we are thirty or fifty, and it does not have much impact. But how many women can take the exam until they are thirty or fifty without getting married? Once they get married and have children, how much attention can they devote to studying? They cannot consider their children. Just being pregnant for ten months takes a lot of energy. That is why I said that you are too anxious. What we need to oppose most now is to continue the selection of talented women. Even if we agree to let those women serve as officials in the court, the selection of talented women must be abolished.

If they continue to take the path of talented women selection in the future, it means that no matter how poor their abilities are, there will always be a certain number of places. But as long as the talented women selection is incorporated into the imperial examination, one place will be reserved for them in each imperial examination.

We are giving them face.”

"Yes, Brother Li is a far-sighted person. The real threat to us is the selection of talented women, not their entry into the court as officials. By the way, we must also oppose this time. We must not allow these women who have passed the selection to enter the court as officials. They can enter the court as officials if they want.

You have to take the imperial examination next year and pass it."

"Indeed, the imperial examination is the right way to enter the government. Those who do not enter the government through the imperial examination must be opposed. At most, they can become female officials or clerks, but they must not become officials directly."

"You don't have to do that. What I just said is only the last resort. In the early stage, we will of course focus on direct opposition. If we really can't oppose it, we can take the following measures."

"Good, it should be carried out in this way."

...(End of chapter)