Diqin Designer

Chapter 196: Old and proud
With Zhuang Huang and Chu Mo as examples, the others also took the clothes given to them by Ying Zheng, and Fan Zeng also took his.

After putting on the clothes given by the Qin Emperor, Fan Zeng kept saying to himself: He only wore them for the sake of convenience, and he did not really want to accept the Qin Emperor's gift. He was always loyal to Chu.

By this time, Fan Zeng also knew the special features of the clothes bestowed by the Qin Emperor: the workmanship and materials should be the same, but the patterns embroidered on the clothes are different.

The main difference lies in the top three winners of each list, while the others are ranked according to their ranking on the comprehensive list. The first fifty are decorated with one pattern, and then every fifty places have a different pattern.

For example, if he ranked 18th on the comprehensive list, he should have worn clothes with the same pattern as the candidates ranked 4th to 50th on the comprehensive list, but he was also the second on the literary list, so his pattern was different from others, with an additional white ribbon embroidered on it.

The reason why Emperor Qin did this is obvious. It not only makes the candidates on the list more honorable, but also increases the competition among them, and also arouses the fighting spirit of those candidates who are not on the list.

This was actually something that Ying Zheng imitated after listening to Li Nian about the imperial examinations of later generations.

The first Xianyang examination of the Qin Dynasty was equivalent to the imperial examination in later generations. A proud man like Qin Shi Huang would of course do what later dynasties could do.

After all the candidates changed their clothes, the eunuch who had spoken earlier explained to them the etiquette of the audience and asked them to prepare to meet the Emperor Qin in the order of top scorer, second place and third place.

The first place winner of the comprehensive list, Zhuang Huang, was in the lead, followed by the first place winners of other lists, and then the second place winner of the comprehensive list was in the second place, followed by the second place winners of other lists...

Fan Zeng originally thought that he would meet the Qin Emperor in the Zhangtai Palace. He heard that the palace was the residence of the Qin Emperor and the place where the Qin Dynasty ruled. It was also the place that the six countries dreamed of attacking but failed to do so.

But they did not expect that the Qin Emperor did not accept their audience in the Zhangtai Palace, but outside the Zhangtai Palace.

There was a high platform, and not far in front of it stood a tall pole.

The Qin Emperor, wearing a black imperial robe, was standing on a high platform. Below the platform were the civil and military officials of the Qin Dynasty. There seemed to be a group of musicians a little further away.

I heard that on the day when Emperor Qin Shi Huang proclaimed himself emperor, the Qin national flag was raised and the Qin national anthem was played. Is it going to be the same today?
With a shout of "All the talented people for the Xianyang examination are here!", the Qin Emperor on the high platform cast his gaze over, making Fan Zeng and others feel an invisible pressure, as if they were being stared at by a terrifying beast that did not belong to this world.

Although they were unwilling to kneel and shout "Long live the emperor!" with the Qin people in Xianyang, Fan Zeng and others, led by Zhuang Huang, paid homage and said, "Greetings to the emperor. Long live the emperor! Long live the emperor! Long, long live the emperor!"

Fan Zeng comforted himself in his heart that he was not kowtow- ing to the Emperor of Qin but was merely showing respect to him out of courtesy.

The Emperor Qin's voice seemed to fall from a distant height. Although it was far away, it could accurately fall into everyone's ears: "Stand up!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After everyone stood up, Ying Zheng said, "The Xianyang exam is the first major exam since the founding of the Qin Dynasty. It is also a grand event for the world. It will surely be recorded in the annals of history. We must treat it with great care. Raise the national flag and play the national anthem!"

As soon as the Emperor of Qin finished speaking, he saw a Qin general leading a group of Qin soldiers marching in an orderly manner. The Qin general held a flag in his hand. The Qin general was the one who had spoken to them on the day the exam ended.

But they were more concerned about the Qin flag in the hands of the Qin general. Was he going to raise the flag?

They had seen the Qin national flag in Xianyang, but this was their first time watching the flag-raising ceremony, and they couldn't help feeling fresh and curious.

Soon, the Qin general walked to the flagpole, and together with a Qin soldier, tied the Qin national flag in his hand to the rope, and grabbed the rolled-up flag in the upper left corner with one hand.

After the flags were tied up, a grand and solemn music sounded, and it seemed that a series of vicissitudes of life and ancient scenes were coming towards them and appeared in front of Fan Zeng and others.

They seemed to see the history of a country, whose name was "Qin"!
As the music played, the Qin general threw up a corner of the flag in his hand, and the rolled-up flag immediately unfolded and fluttered in the wind. A Qin soldier next to him began to pull the rope to make the national flag rise.

Looking at the flags fluttering in the sky and rising slowly, Fan Zeng and others felt very complicated. Their homeland was indeed very different from the Qin today. The black bird and the blue dragon were flying together, and this Qin was no longer the Qin of the past.

Qin was already very powerful and is still rising today, but their homeland has been destroyed.

How great would it be if this scene happened in their home country?
Unfortunately, there are no ifs in the world!

When the national flag was raised to the top of the flagpole, the magnificent and solemn music stopped in time. The Qin Emperor on the high platform looked at the national flag before turning his gaze back to them.

The Emperor of Qin said, "You are all talented people in the world and the pillars of the future of Qin, so I summoned you today."

"I know that you may be dissatisfied with me and the Qin Dynasty, but the six kingdoms have been destroyed and the world is unified. I hope you can abandon your past views and make the world a better place, rather than relying on your talents and knowledge to cause suffering to the people."

Some candidates noticed that a strange young man was holding a strange object and pointing it at them.

After many days in Xianyang, they also heard some strange rumors circulating in Xianyang: it is said that Li Nian has an object called a "mobile phone" in his hand, which can record a person's appearance at a certain moment, as if it were real. Could it be that this young man is Li Nian, and what he holds in his hand is the strange mobile phone?

If this is true, then the scene of them entering the court to meet the Qin Emperor must be recorded.

Many people immediately became more dignified, hoping that they could be recorded in a better image by the mobile phone.

This was also Li Nian’s advice to the First Emperor. This was the first major test of the Qin Dynasty and had great historical significance, so it would be best if it could be recorded and passed on to future generations.

Ying Zheng talked about awarding titles to all the candidates. The titles have actually been decided. Each list has its own top scorer, second place, and third place. What are being awarded now are medals, which everyone has, but the workmanship and content on the medals are different.

Most of the candidates were not very happy when they saw the medals on the tray brought by the eunuch.

This is much more serious than the clothes. Once they accept this thing, it is equivalent to completely accepting the title bestowed by the Qin Emperor. Then they will be regarded as standing on the side of Qin. If they are not loyal to the Qin Emperor in the future, they will be cursed by the people of the world.

Fan Zeng was also hesitant about whether to accept the medal.

If he did not accept it, he would probably find it difficult to get close to the Emperor of Qin and Li Nian. If he could accept it, not only would he be unwilling in his heart, but if this matter were to get out, how would he, Fan Zeng, fight against Qin and restore Chu in the future? How would the elders and villagers in Juyang look at him?

The situation of others is the same as Fan Zeng, but for different reasons.

A master like Chu Mo has to consider that if he doesn't accept it, Chu Mo won't get the paper, and won't be able to participate in compiling new characters and textbooks.

In this way, Chu Mo will inevitably decline and will no longer be able to catch up with the other hundreds of schools of thought.

No wonder this Qin Emperor was able to lead Qin to unify the world. His methods were much more brilliant and ruthless than those of the other six kings. He seemed polite and did not force them, giving them choices, but in fact they did not.

Only those who had no demands on the Qin Emperor could refuse, but those who had no demands had already been screened out, at least not in the Zhangtai Palace at the moment. Even those who hated Qin like Fan Zeng wanted to know Qin's future political strategy through the Qin Emperor and Li Nian.

After thinking it over, Fan Zeng sighed. Even if he was misunderstood and not understood, he could only grit his teeth and accept the medal: everything was for the restoration of Chu, and now it was just a few hardships.

Like Fan Zeng, many candidates felt aggrieved but had no choice but to accept it.

Looking at these people, Li Nian found it very interesting. He clearly didn't want to accept it, but was forced to accept it, just like eating the nine-turn large intestine from later generations.

The awarding of medals should have been done by Ying Zheng himself, but there was no guarantee that these candidates would not suddenly attack Ying Zheng when he was awarding them the medals.

Even if he had passed the security check and had no sharp weapons, even if he had punched the First Emperor, it would have been a big deal.

Three people represented Ying Zheng to present medals to the candidates, one was Prince Fusu, one was Wang Wan, and one was Wang Jian.

After the award ceremony was over, Ying Zheng looked at the medals pinned on everyone's left chest and said, "You are all talented people in the world. You should be famous and known to the world!"

What else does the Qin Emperor want to do?
Fan Zeng and the others were nervous, but they heard Ying Zheng continue: "You may not be famous in the world today, but you can be famous in Xianyang. Don't worry about the lack of talents in this world. Who in the world doesn't know you?"

After changing a line of poetry plagiarized from Li Nian, Ying Zheng did not elaborate on how to make their names known in Xianyang, and then said: "You all participated in the exam under false names before, I can forgive you, now can you tell me your real names?"

After those candidates who used pseudonyms wrote down their real names, Ying Zheng ended the interview. The candidates left the palace confused, only to see hundreds of horses waiting outside the palace. Each horse had a red ball hanging around its neck and was led by a Qin soldier.

These horses were obviously meant for them to ride, and this seemed to be the intention of spreading their fame in Xianyang. They wanted them to ride these horses in the streets of Xianyang and sing their names.

Fan Zeng and Chu Mo's faces twitched. Others might be fine, but the two of them were definitely finished. From now on, their names would definitely spread throughout the world and be known to everyone in the world.

Because they saw that there was an extra Qin soldier standing next to some horses, and these Qin soldiers were holding a flag with "The top scorer in the Xianyang civil service exam" and "The second place in the Xianyang civil service exam" written on it...

This was of course also a practice of riding a horse and parading through the streets during the imperial examinations in later generations that was borrowed by the First Emperor. However, it was not only the number one scorer that could ride a horse and parade through the streets. All candidates on the list could ride a horse and parade through the streets. It was just that candidates other than the third place scorer did not have the Qin soldiers raising the flag.

Fan Zeng was helped onto the horse, with the Qin soldier leading the horse for him, and began to be paraded through the streets following the horses ridden by Zhuang Huang, Chu Mo Juzi and others. It was difficult for him to express his feelings at the moment, as he had not expected that he would encounter such an experience at the age of over fifty.

There were Qin soldiers in front clearing the way for them, and Qin officials beating gongs and calling out their names. On both sides of the street were Qin people from Xianyang who were watching the excitement. When they passed by, there would often be exclamations and praises.

Although there is some inexplicable shame, this feeling is still very good. If it is when you are young, it would be even better: when you are young and proud, you can ride a fast horse and see all the flowers in Xianyang in one day.

(End of this chapter)