A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

With the tacit approval of Yang Jian and the major aristocratic families, the imperial examinations progressed extremely smoothly.

Shen Ye even proposed the system of anonymous naming and the system of copying names a century earlier than the Tang Dynasty, which greatly prevented examiners from recognizing candidates by their names or handwriting and showing favoritism.

Furthermore, the major aristocratic families were extremely confident that their carefully trained disciples would definitely surpass those from humble backgrounds, and having just pledged allegiance to Yang Jian, they did not engage in any shady practices during the imperial examinations.

However, the results of this imperial examination were beyond their expectations. Only one of the top three candidates came from a prominent family.

The top scholar, Li Xiu, came from an ordinary family and was able to study thanks to the imperial academy. Later, due to his outstanding academic performance, he was recommended by the local academy to study at the Imperial Academy.

The runner-up, Cui Hao, comes from the Cui family of Boling, a top-tier family in the world.

Liu Xu, the third-ranked scholar, came from a humble background. Legend has it that he was a member of a branch of the Han Dynasty imperial family, but the branch had already declined hundreds of years ago.

It seems to be from the lineage of Prince Jing of Zhongshan.

This result made many aristocratic families very unhappy. Although they had not tampered with the imperial examination, they were certain that Yang Jian and Shen Ye had not done so either.

It means setting questions and answering questions in a fair and square manner.

As a result, they only occupied one of the top three spots. Although most of those who achieved academic success came from aristocratic families, they still found it extremely glaring.

Only at this moment did they truly realize what the imperial examination system meant to them, and only then did they truly feel the threat it posed.

They began to reconsider the Sima family's proposal, but two of the top three candidates were not from their faction. Even if their disciples collectively resigned from their posts, it would not have a significant impact on the imperial examinations.

Moreover, all those who passed the exam would be granted official positions, but even for them, the number of legitimate official positions was limited, and they were reluctant to give up such a lucrative opportunity.

They all hoped that the other would put aside their own interests and sacrifice their own family for the greater good, act according to the Sima family's plan, collectively resign from office, and then allow them to occupy more official positions.

Everyone had this idea, but in the end, not a single person resigned from their post.

I remember the old patriarch of the Sima family, who, disregarding all decorum, cursed loudly in his mansion, saying that this brat was not worth discussing anything with.

Yang Jian was overjoyed. He had high hopes for the imperial examination system, and the examination did not disappoint him, giving him a very impressive result.

Yang Jian personally received these candidates and bestowed official positions upon the top three.

The results of the imperial examinations and the titles and official positions bestowed upon the candidates quickly spread throughout the country via the official gazette of the court. At the same time, the rumor that the imperial examinations would not test any content related to the Book of Han also spread everywhere.

The reasons given were quite detailed and convincing, with some even directly pointing to the feud between Shen Ye and the Sima family. Some even claimed that Shen Ye was a distant relative of the deputy examiner, and that this rumor originated from there.

Naturally, there were students who were well-versed in the Book of Han who caused trouble, and the Sima family was always behind it.

However, there were only so many questions in the imperial examinations, so it was impossible to cover every classic text.

So ultimately there was no evidence.

However, under the overwhelming public opinion secretly stirred up by the Sima family, the imperial court was forced to thoroughly investigate the matter.

After investigation by the relevant authorities, it was finally confirmed that the matter was completely fabricated and was an act of retaliation against Shen Ye, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

The fact that the questions in this imperial examination were unrelated to the Book of Han was purely coincidental.

Although the imperial court confirmed the matter time and again, it was better to believe it was true than not to believe it was not.

The number of students studying the Book of Han suddenly decreased, and many students who were already studying the Book of Han began to study other classics as supplementary texts.

Some officials who had close ties with the Sima family began to look at them with a different kind of unease.

Many powerful families took the opportunity to erode the Sima family's resources in academia. The Sima family launched a strong counterattack, hoping to scare away these wolves.

However, Shen Ye stirred things up, using the power of the imperial court to expose the Sima family's weakness, which led to a swarm of wolves attacking them.

In just a few months, the Sima family's power shrank significantly, and officials in the court associated with the Sima family were either transferred to remote areas or impeached and dismissed for various reasons, leaving very few officials remaining.

Ultimately, the Sima family completely abandoned Luoyang and returned to their ancestral homeland in Henan, where they faded into obscurity.

The major clans tacitly agreed not to continue the encirclement and suppression, allowing the Sima family to retain their base in Hanoi.

Luoyang City.

Almost simultaneously, the major aristocratic families began to increase their efforts in cultivating their children, while also establishing schools and academies in various places to attract and recruit outstanding children from poor families.

Since it's possible for talented individuals to emerge from humble backgrounds, they decided to recruit them in advance and bring them directly under their command.

They believed that no poor young man could resist the enticements of top families, nor could he resist the temptation of marrying a daughter of a prominent family. Their family's greatest skill was turning people into their own.

……

foreign.

With the fall of the Great Qian Dynasty and the establishment of the Great Sui Dynasty, it seemed to trigger a chain reaction, with various countries entering their final stages and the people rising up in rebellion.

Some local indigenous people still remain, wanting to restore their kingdom.

But they are often wiped out by other villainous forces as soon as they show themselves.

The meat must be cooked until it's tender enough to be cooked in your own pot.

These descendants of the Chinese people fight amongst themselves; they could fight to the death without any problem.

But you people still want to rebel against the Heavenly Gang, that's absolutely unacceptable.

The Han Kingdom established by Liu Bei, the Jin Kingdom established by Yuan Shao, the Wu Kingdom established by Sun Jian, and the Liang Kingdom established by Dong Zhuo were all destroyed one by one.

The states that replaced them were Wei, Qin, Zhou, Zhao, Lu, and Qi.

Many countries on other continents have also perished, and those that have survived since the Han Dynasty are almost nowhere to be seen.

When a nation is first established, it is often extremely aggressive, and its rulers are all victors who have fought their way out of the struggle for supremacy among the feudal lords. Each of them is an outstanding individual.

Their subordinates were all civil and military officials who had fought their way through bloodshed and were by no means ordinary people.

In addition, the Chinese people's bloodline is imbued with the gene of unifying the world, so naturally everyone is eyeing the countries around them with covetousness.

After consolidating their domestic resources, they all began to befriend distant states while attacking nearby ones, conquering the world and wanting to destroy all the surrounding countries one by one to establish an empire.

War seemed to be the main theme of this era, and the land of China became the only paradise in the world.

……

In Luoyang, Yang Jian looked at the intelligence reports sent from abroad, sighed, and put them aside.

This is such a great opportunity for expansion, but unfortunately all his energy is currently being wasted on internal strife. Just dealing with these powerful families has already exhausted him.

Furthermore, with the railway still under construction, the vast distance required for conquest was too much for the empire to bear, forcing it to miss such a golden opportunity.

This also led Yang Jian to focus his energy on railway construction, as only by building railways could the Sui Dynasty continue to expand outwards.

If the Sui Dynasty could have expanded its territory further under his leadership, his reputation among the people and his fame in historical records would have been greatly enhanced.

Pity.

Yang Jian also had a heart for expanding the territory!

With so many countries in the world, isn't this a betrayal of the First Emperor?

How can such a thing be allowed?!