Thief Emperor

Chapter 1030 Two Exams
Liu Bo turned around and called over his first wife in Luoyang, asking her to lead the two princesses to play.

His first wife was not the first woman he was with; in fact, she was with him much later.

When Liu Bo first became the Ninth Minister, he did not get married for a long time. He secretly kept two women outside who bore him children. It wasn't until after he was granted the title of Duke at the founding of the country that he formally married a woman from a wealthy family to manage the Duke of Ying's mansion.

He has been married to his wife for less than ten years, and they have a son and a daughter, both of whom are still young.

After the Duchess greeted Li Yun, she led the two princesses to play with the children of the Duke's mansion.

Liu Bo, on the other hand, led two little boys to Li Yun.

The two boys, one only eight or nine years old and the other only six or seven, knelt down after Liu Bo spoke a few words to them, bowing and addressing Li Yun as "Your Majesty."

Emperor Li smiled and said, "Today is a private gathering, so you should all call me Uncle."

Liu Bo quickly added another sentence, and the two little boys sensibly changed their address to "uncle".

Li Yun seemed thoughtful and asked, "They don't speak Chinese?"

Liu Bo quickly replied, "I can speak, but having grown up outside the Great Wall, my speech isn't very fluent, but I can understand everything."

Emperor Li called the two little ones forward. He reached out and touched the eldest's bones, then looked up at Liu Bo and said with a smile, "He's much stronger than you were when you were a child. He'll probably be stronger than you in the future."

Liu Bo wasn't angry; he just smiled and said, "Boys mostly resemble their mothers. They all look like their mothers, and their maternal grandfather was the leader of the Wugu tribe. He grew up eating meat, so it's understandable that he's strong."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Li looked up at Liu Bo.

Although the two brothers grew up in a mountain village, meat wasn't something they could eat all year round. Sometimes, the brothers wouldn't see any meat for a whole month. It wasn't until they grew into teenagers that Li Yun took them to the mountains to hunt wild animals, and they honed their archery skills to perfection.

Only then can brothers see meat and grow up strong and healthy.

Emperor Li patted the head of the man in front of him and asked, "What's your name?"

The boy spoke better Mandarin. Upon hearing this, he first looked at his father, Liu Bo, and then bowed to Li Yun, saying, "Uncle, my name is Liu Bilie."

Emperor Li nearly spat out the tea he had just drunk. He stared wide-eyed at the little boy in front of him and asked again, "What's your name?"

"Liu Bilie".

The boy scratched his head and said in broken Mandarin, "My father said that growing up outside the Great Wall requires a more spirited character, so he gave me this name. I also have a Khitan name."

Emperor Li was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled and said, "This name is good, this name is quite nice."

He then looked at the smaller boy and asked with a smile, "What's your name?"

The boy turned to look at Liu Bo, who nodded at him before he spoke, "Uncle... Uncle, my name is Liu An."

“My father said to let me live a peaceful life. My Khitan name is Nazhen.”

Emperor Li glanced at the two boys, then looked up at Liu Bo and said with a smile, "You lad, you really know how to name things."

Liu Bo said with a smile, "I didn't give them the name Khitan."

Emperor Li spoke a few words to the two little boys, then gave them two jade pendants and let them play on their own.

After the two little boys ran away, Emperor Li spoke to Liu Bo, saying, "Now, the situation in the border region has become clearer. It's just a matter of time. The envoy from the Wugu tribe is already on his way to Luoyang."

"These two children."

Li Yun paused for a moment, then continued, "When these two children grow up, Liaodong will surely be pacified. At that time, we can choose one, or let both of them, return to the Wugu tribe to inherit it."

“In the future, I will issue an edict to bestow upon them the title of Khitan Khan.”

Emperor Li looked at Liu Bo and said with a smile, "So you must teach them well during these years in Luoyang. If you teach them well, the Northeast will enjoy peace for at least one or even two generations."

As he spoke, Li Yun stood up, looked at the children playing not far away, and said quietly, "In the future, when it comes to their generation, perhaps they won't have to fight anymore."

Liu Bo nodded and said, "I have already found the best teacher to teach them to read and write. The teacher will come to my residence in a few days."

Emperor Li nodded at first, but then suddenly remembered something and said with a smile, "By the way, you must not have chosen the wrong tutor for your family. Remember to find a learned scholar from the old Zhou Dynasty to teach them, and teach them more about morality and literature."

"The fundamental principles of ruler and subject, father and son."

Although Liu Bo hadn't studied much since childhood, he was the smartest of his brothers. In addition, he had been in a high position for many years and had come to understand the ways of scholars. Upon hearing Emperor Li's words, Liu Bo was first taken aback, then smiled wryly: "Second brother is indeed very perceptive."

Emperor Li coughed and said, "I'm afraid they'll adopt that pragmatic and results-oriented approach, and then things won't be peaceful in the future."

Liu Bo nodded and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will definitely discipline them properly."

“They’ll be in Luoyang for about ten years. If we treat them well for ten years, just out of consideration for them,” Liu Bo said quietly. “These two kids should be able to stop causing trouble in Liaodong in the future.”

Li Yun patted Liu Bo on the shoulder and said with a smile, "That's what you say, but don't be sad when we part ways in the future."

Liu Bo sighed: "Even if you're reluctant, you have to let go."

"Children have their own lives."

The British Duke said with a smile, "We have no say in this."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Li was taken aback at first, then turned to look at Liu Bo and frowned slightly.

Liu Bo keenly noticed the change in Li Yun's expression and asked, "What's wrong, Second Brother?"

"fine."

Emperor Li put his hands behind his back, looked up into the distance, and after a while, he couldn't help but look at Liu Bo, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

In the end, His Majesty the Emperor put aside his worries and looked into the distance.

"I hope the children will be free from illness and disaster."

…………

Before we knew it, it was time for the autumn imperial examinations.

In the Ming Dynasty of another world, "秋闱" refers to the provincial examinations.

However, during Emperor Li's reign in the Zhangwu era, the imperial examination system was not yet perfected to this extent, and the level of Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examination) was still being improved.

This year's autumn imperial examination can only be considered a make-up exam to the spring imperial examination of the seventh year of Zhangwu.

Even for make-up exams, the number of applicants is still extremely high, reaching several hundred.

Even though only about twenty candidates were found to be involved in the imperial examination scandal in the seventh year of Zhangwu, most candidates still felt that they had been set up by those corrupt officials.

I'm sure I was one of the twenty-odd people who were eliminated through a black box process.

If it weren't for those corrupt officials, they might have already been transferred to other posts!

It should be understood that the practice of sending officials to local posts in this dynasty is not the same as that in the previous dynasty. The boundaries between officials in the capital and local officials in this dynasty have become very blurred.

After all, the rule that non-prefectural and county officials could not become prime ministers had already been established, so most people had to spend time in prefectures and counties.

After all, who wouldn't want to be prime minister if they were to become an official?
Nearly a thousand people applied for this year's autumn imperial examination, which was personally supervised by the Grand Secretary Du Qian.

Because of the precedent set by Prime Minister Zhuo, the Grand Secretary handed over the affairs of the Grand Secretariat to Vice Prime Minister Yao Zhong the day before the examination began, while he himself moved into the examination hall to live.

It's likely that this Grand Secretary won't leave the examination hall until the marking is finished.

While the autumn imperial examinations were in full swing, another examination was quietly taking place inside the palace.

Inside the Ganlu Hall, a low table had already been set out, with writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone all prepared.

After entering the Ganlu Hall and kowtowing to His Majesty the Emperor, the Crown Prince looked at the examination table before him, somewhat bewildered. He looked up at his father and asked, "Father, what is this...?"

"This is the practical exam paper for this year's autumn imperial examination."

Emperor Li looked at him and said quietly, "I will give you two hours to answer the questions here. I will watch over you from here."

"Two hours later, your father will personally review your exam paper."

The Crown Prince scratched his head and said with a wry smile, "Why is Father testing his son like this..."

"Don't worry, I won't test you for nothing."

Emperor Li smiled and said, "If you do well in the exam, your father will naturally reward you. In the future, you will also be given more responsibilities in the Secretariat."

"What if you don't do well on the test?"

Emperor Li sighed.

"Then let's learn more."

(End of this chapter)