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

"Could you please enlighten me, Brother Taibai?"

Wang Wei and the others exchanged glances and asked curiously.

Who could give Li Bai such confidence that he felt he could bring down Li Linfu?

"My master is the Prince of Yan."

Li Bai's lips curled up slightly, his tone tinged with pride.

The group gasped, staring at Li Bai in shock.

"The Prince of Yan? Is that the Prince of Yan?"

Du Fu grabbed Li Bai's sleeve. Li Bai was a big fan of Prince Zhongwu and had once wanted to become a disciple of Prince Yan or another member of the Wei family, but unfortunately he had no chance to be accepted as a disciple.

"There can only be one King of Yan in the world."

"This residence we are in was a gift from His Majesty himself."

Li Bai's words greatly excited everyone. It is no exaggeration to say that the Prince of Yan was the guiding light in the hearts of all ambitious scholars in the world.

Everyone paid the highest respect to the Prince of Yan.

"No wonder Brother Taibai is so confident that he can bring down Li Linfu. With your background, Brother Taibai will surely restore order to the court."

Wang Wei exclaimed excitedly.

Although he was disillusioned with the court and turned to nature for solace, if Li Bai could set things right, he would not mind returning to the court and contributing his talents to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

"But hasn't the Wei family always avoided involvement in the court's power struggles?"

Cen Shen hesitated.

Otherwise, the Wei family could have held the position of prime minister for generations, but they did not. They simply held the position of Grand Minister of Agriculture, acting as a safety net for the entire country and ensuring the livelihood of the people.

"No, it's not."

"So when I chose to join the court to fight for power, I only represented myself, not the Wei family."

"However, I think that's enough. With our talents, we can summon those loyal people who have been suppressed by Li Linfu. With their help, we can accomplish great things."

Li Bai said confidently, "With my abilities, how could I possibly be no match for Li Linfu?"

Moreover, although it is said that it does not represent the Wei family, the Wei family's influence still exists. It is just that the Wei family will not retaliate after losing the political struggle.

Everyone had great confidence in Li Bai, not for any other reason than the title of "Prince of Yan".

"I never imagined that Brother Taibai was a disciple of the Prince of Yan. Would you have the honor of meeting the Prince of Yan?"

Du Fu's eyes sparkled with anticipation.

"There is nothing wrong with that."

Li Bai smiled faintly, "However, please keep my identity a secret. I will participate in the imperial examination under an assumed name, relying on my true talents and learning."

"Please keep quiet until the imperial examination is over."

Li Bai gave instructions to everyone.

After spending this time together, he had figured out the personalities of the people around him.

Each of them is an ambitious and righteous person, which is why he chose to reveal his identity. In the future, this will be the team he forms to enter the court and the assistants he will use to reshape the court.

"I know, I know."

The group nodded repeatedly, "Brother Taibai, with such a background, is still willing to take the imperial examination normally. He is truly a role model for us all."

That statement makes sense. If Li Bai had revealed his identity and wanted to become an official in the court, even Emperor Xuanzong of Tang would have had to come out of the palace to invite him, as a sign of his high regard.

To enter the court, one must be an official of at least the fifth rank. Don't think that's too low; under normal circumstances, even the top scholar in the imperial examination would only be an eighth-rank official.

The fifth rank is already equivalent to the rank of a vice minister in one of the six ministries.

They were high-ranking officials with real power in the imperial court, directly reaching a position that many people could never achieve in their entire lives.

If it weren't for his reputation, he could have directly entered the court as prime minister.

However, even if one enters the fifth rank in the court, the subsequent promotion speed will be extremely fast. After making some achievements, one will be promoted and then quickly become the prime minister.

This demonstrates the stature of a disciple personally taught by the Prince of Yan.

It can be said that in less than ten years, Li Bai will be able to rise to the position of prime minister in a dignified and upright manner, step by step.

Moreover, he was able to take every step very steadily, which was completely different from Li Linfu, who was able to become prime minister only because of the emperor's favor.

Li Linfu was ostensibly the prime minister, but everyone knew how he got the position, and in later historical records, he was mostly referred to as a treacherous prime minister.

But Li Bai wouldn't do that. Even if he had such a background and could rise to the top in one step, he would still accumulate merits and experience from powerful official positions like the Vice Minister of the Six Ministries, climbing up step by step.

It's like the difference between a wealthy family and a nouveau riche.

However, things often don't go according to plan. Neither the people present, nor Wei Wen and Wei Mai in the Prince of Yan's mansion, nor Li Linfu, who was preparing to make a fuss, expected things to happen so coincidentally.

In the thirtieth year of the Kaiyuan era, the imperial court held the imperial examination again to select officials.

When setting the questions, Li Linfu gave a hint to the officials in charge, asking them to increase the difficulty of the questions, the harder the better, ideally so that none of the students could answer them.

At the entrance of the examination hall, Li Bai and his companions said their goodbyes and went into the examination hall.

"High school students!"

The examiner looked at Li Bai's figure as he went in and felt that he looked somewhat familiar. However, he had not seen Li Bai many times, and he had only seen Li Bai's back, so he could not recognize him.

He assumed the young man was from a powerful family, shook his head, felt sorry for him, and paid him no further attention.

This imperial examination was destined to fail; no one would stand out, and everyone would fail.

Even if he is from a prestigious family, he is no exception.

Pity.

The examiner himself is in dire need of protection, so how could he possibly oppose Li Linfu for the sake of a stranger?

Upon arriving at the examination hall, the imperial examination papers were distributed.

Upon seeing the exam paper, Li Bai immediately frowned.

The examination papers for this imperial examination were divided into two parts. The first part could only be described with one word: difficult.

The questions were so tricky that they weren't for selecting talent at all; they were purely designed to make things difficult for the sake of making things difficult.

Li Bai skimmed through the second part again. Unlike the previous policy essays, this one required praising the Tang Dynasty and not criticizing current events. It only allowed praising the current situation of the Tang Dynasty and describing the good aspects.

Li Bai: "..."

Even Li Bai was astonished. What was the purpose of the imperial examination?

It is for the court to select officials who can do practical work!

What do you want to do right now?

Will we attract a group of people who only know how to flatter and sing praises?

What use is someone like that?!

Why is it that the emperor was required to personally review the questions for the imperial examinations throughout history? Didn't Emperor Xuanzong of Tang even look at them?

Li Bai couldn't understand why such a set of papers would appear before him.

No, has the imperial court become so corrupt?

Li Bai said indignantly.

He is now in a dilemma. If he doesn't write articles praising the emperor, he will fail the imperial examination and will have no choice but to reveal his identity and enter the court as a disciple of the Prince of Yan.

How is this any different from those who abuse their status and position to break rules and laws?

But if he writes articles praising his superiors, how is he any different from those who fawn over their superiors?

Don't spout nonsense about him just enduring hardship and biding his time. Today, he's willing to write articles praising the emperor in order to gain entry into the court and later restore order.

Then one day in the future, you will be able to convince yourself to compromise and turn a blind eye for the sake of other things.

His pride and his upbringing wouldn't allow him to do that!