I, Altria, only want to rule China.

Liya asked how to get the best of both worlds. She wanted these people to think outside the box and think about how to get both. Instead of being bound by common sense, there is no standard answer. It just needs to be reasonable.

For example, if you raise a bear that can catch fish, doesn't that mean you have both?

As a result, these people dare not even think about this, and can only write the original answer above. Isn't this poisoned by Confucianism? They only know the usual answer and don't know how to adapt. Isn't that a blockhead?

Then Leah asked the second question.

Q: How many states and counties did you pass through on the road? What is the reputation of local officials? How is people's livelihood? What are the prices of local green onions, cabbage, and pork?

Answer: The country is peaceful and the people are safe, I don’t know the rest.

Liya was almost laughing out of anger. You don't even know the local cabbage and pork prices, and you don't know whether the people are living well or not. You just know how to flatter the higher-ups. If you were allowed to become officials, wouldn't that be a discredit to the court?

Finally, Leah asked the third question.

Q: What problems does Wu State face right now?

Answer: The country is prosperous and the people are strong, the emperor is wise, and there is no problem.

Leah flipped through nearly a thousand test papers, and only a few people managed to write down something they knew. Finally, Leah saw two words from these test papers.

waste!

If she asked a few old farmers in the countryside or workers in the workshop about these things, the answers she got would be more reliable than theirs!

The country is prosperous and the people are strong. Your Majesty is wise and there is no problem at all.

Liya, who was almost driven crazy by these people, simply lost interest in holding the palace examination again. Instead, she had all the nearly 1,000 scholars admitted as Juren, and then stuffed them into the cabinet and various ministries and halls, calling them interns.

After all, the Wu Kingdom court was just established not long ago and there is a lot of need for manpower. Even if these more than a thousand "interns" are really a waste, having these more than a thousand interns can somewhat alleviate the shortage of manpower in various departments.

To put it bluntly, as long as these more than a thousand interns can work hard and steadily, they will have plenty of opportunities to get promoted and make money in the future.

However, what made Leah despair was that when she was planning to let these scholars do various things down to earth, problems arose.

An article was delivered to Leah.

This article said that Leah was disrespectful to saints, did not value learning, arbitrarily changed the laws of her ancestors, competed with the people for profit, indulged warriors, killed excessively, was unkind to the people, did not value scholars, and all kinds of other charges were put on Leah's head.

Basically, everything these scholars could think of was arranged for Leah, and they even wrote a joint article and asked Xiao Ran and the prime minister to deliver it to Leah.

Looking at these articles, Leah suddenly felt absurd.

Disrespect for the saints?

Why is she being disrespectful to the saints? Aren't all the saints dead?

Don’t value learning?

She had people compile ancient books, and even had people build libraries and open schools in every state and county to eliminate illiteracy. How could she not value learning?

Changing the ancestral laws?

Whose laws did she change? Wasn't it to allow women to read and write, to be officials, and to achieve equality for all? Are you trying to stop this?

What else is there to compete with the people for?

Who am I competing with for profit? I even exempted people from taxes and corvée labor, you bastard!

There are also indulgent warriors.

When did I indulge the warriors? She caught and beheaded all those who dared to commit crimes!

Too much killing.

I'll go to hell with you. How can there be no one who doesn't die in the world?

Not kind to the people.

Isn't it just taking the prisoners captured by the enemy countries to mine, or using the purchased slaves to complete dangerous and life-threatening projects such as mountain excavation and road construction?

They are your biological fathers? Why are you speaking for them like this?

There is also a lack of respect for scholars.

If she really didn't value scholars, would she have held the imperial examination and awarded more than a thousand of you as juren, and let you serve as interns in various government offices?

The more she read the article in her hand, the darker her face became. After finishing reading the article, she slammed the table, looked at Xiao Ranhe and asked, "Where are these bastards? Have they reported to the various government offices honestly?"

Morgan, who was standing aside, saw Leah's face turn ashen and couldn't help but chuckle with her hands covering her mouth. She had been tormented by these Confucian scholars many times, and now seeing Leah like this, she couldn't help but feel a lot more comfortable.

Xiao Ranhe just shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, these candidates did not report to the various government offices. Instead, they swarmed at my door and forced me to bring this article to Your Majesty. They...they also said that if Your Majesty refused to correct it, they...would come to the gate of the palace to cry and complain."

Chapter 173 Take them all!

Liya was slightly angry when she heard this. Just as she was about to speak, she heard shouts coming from outside the palace: "Your Majesty, please start the palace examination!"

"Your Majesty, please recall the tax collectors and live in peace with the people!"

"Your Majesty, please let those women go back to take care of their husbands and children!"

"Your Majesty, please......

Hearing the shouts outside the palace, Xiao Ranhe immediately looked at Leah nervously.

Morgan frowned upon hearing this, "These Confucian scholars really don't know what's good for them!"

Liya sighed, sat back in her chair, picked up the article again, read it carefully, and then said with a smile: "I have always believed that these scholars should have some brains."

"But now it seems that I have overestimated them after all. It's not that they don't have much brains, but that they have no brains at all!"

Xiao Ranhe was speechless about what Leah said.

He had no idea what these scholars were thinking. They actually dared to form a group and shout outside the palace. Where did they get such courage?

You have to know that in previous dynasties, even such a ridiculous thing as forming a group to surround the prime minister's door had never happened. But now, it happened within one day.

These scholars first surrounded the prime minister's house, and then ran to the outside of the palace to shout. Do they really think that Her Majesty is a good-tempered person who won't kill people?

After careful consideration, Xiao Ranhe still advised: "Your Majesty, how about sending people to disperse them, strip them of their honors, and send them back to their hometown?"

Liya glanced at Xiao Ranhe with a half-smile and asked, "Are you scared?"

Xiao Ranhe felt both hatred and fear.

More than a thousand scholars besieged the door of the prime minister's house, begging him on his knees to force him to write articles for them. What was this? Was he trying to buy a good reputation? Or was he, the prime minister, incompetent?

This is forcing me, the prime minister, to die!

Also, a thousand scholars actually dared to run outside the palace and shout. What was going on? Disturbing the emperor? Or attacking the palace?

Disturbing the emperor's presence was an ambiguous crime, and one person could be killed, or the whole family could be killed, or no one could be killed. However, attacking the palace was tantamount to treason, which was punishable by the execution of nine generations of the family. It all depended on how the case was tried and sentenced.

The key is whether there is anyone behind these more than 1,000 scholars? Is there anyone organizing and plotting? How many people are involved behind them?

When Xiao Ranhe thought of these messy problems, he felt like a thorn in his back.

However, Liya just smiled and shook her head, and ordered: "Notify Liu Ye and ask him to send people to arrest all these bastards and interrogate them strictly. I want to see how many monsters there are in this world!"

It seemed that Wu State had been at peace for too long, and her usual actions made these people think that she was easy to talk to and would not do anything out of line.

Xiao Ranhe was shocked and could not help but bow and persuade him: "Your Majesty, think twice. After all, there are more than a thousand scholars. Even if these idiots deserve to die, the connections behind them are too wide. If we are not careful, then..."

The smile on Leah's face disappeared, and she sneered and said:

"The country of Wu is not built on a few poor scholars, but on the hundreds of millions of people! No matter how far these scholars are involved, can they still implicate all the people of Wu?"

"If any of these scholars had studied the history and textbooks of the county and prefectural schools, they would not have answered such nonsense test papers, let alone run outside the palace and speak nonsense..."

At this moment, a shout came from outside the palace: "Your Majesty, please recall the tax collectors and give peace to the people!"

"Your Majesty, please reopen the palace examination!"

"I am waiting to see the emperor!"

"Your Majesty, please come out!"

The look on Leah's face grew colder.

These poor and corrupt scholars are really capable? They think she doesn't dare to kill people. Not only will she kill people, she will also find out the masterminds behind these people!

Seeing that there had been no movement in the palace for such a long time, the scholars gradually became excited.

Should we reopen the palace examination? Should we recall the tax collectors? Should we restore the ancestral law? Your Majesty should give an explanation to the people of the world, right? What's the point of hiding like this? What are you afraid of?

"Did you see those soldiers? They didn't dare to move!"

"They must be feeling guilty! Your Majesty is also feeling guilty!"

"Get out of the way! We want to see His Majesty!"

Seeing that these scholars were becoming more and more agitated and even showing signs of breaking into the palace, Jinyiwei commander Liu Ye, who had come to maintain order, couldn't help but look gloomy.

At this time, Liya's personal maid Ning'er ran to Liu Ye and whispered something in his ear.

Liu Ye nodded, then raised his hand and said to the soldiers guarding the palace: "Listen to my command! First row, fire your guns as a warning! Second row, stand by!"

As Liu Ye's voice fell, the first row of soldiers guarding in front of the imperial palace fired warning shots directly into the sky.

The soldiers in the second row directly passed the soldiers in the first row and pointed their rifles at the group of scholars, while the soldiers in the first row began to load bullets.

The scholars were completely stunned. When they looked at each other in bewilderment, someone in the crowd shouted, "Murder! The court lackeys are killing people! Murder!"

Liu Ye's face darkened, and he sent people to the crowd to pick out the few who were shouting the loudest. He immediately slapped them several times, making them see stars and their mouths full of blood.

Seeing these scholars being intimidated, Liu Ye shouted coldly: "According to the emperor's order, arrest all the scholars and put them in jail. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

After hearing this, no one among the scholars called them the court's lackeys anymore, and no one dared to call on Leah, the Emperor of Wu, to come out and admit her mistake. Instead, they all obediently let the Jinyiwei tie them up.

Even those who wanted to add fuel to the fire were silenced. If they could force the imperial guards to kill people, it would be fine. But if the imperial guards killed people, what would be the point?

Liu Ye secretly hated these scholars for being so stupid, but he breathed a sigh of relief.

How to judge and kill these more than a thousand bastards is a matter for the future. If they continue to make trouble, I will have to kill them in front of the palace. It will be very tiring to clean up the place all night long!

But after Liu Ye delivered the interrogation files to the palace overnight, all the ministers in the Wu State court were stunned.

Of the thousand or so scholars who were causing the riot, more than eight hundred were brainless fools who followed the instigation. Among the remaining one hundred or so scholars, several were remnants of the Northern Wei and Liu Song dynasties, and the rest were basically involved with the great Confucian scholars.

Chapter 174: Leah: Let’s have more children

Seeing that they were not getting any influence in the State of Wu, these great Confucian scholars had ulterior motives and wanted to use this opportunity to force Leah, and many officials were involved in this.

Just when the ministers were feeling a headache and didn't know how to deal with it, Liya cast her eyes on the officials of the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Censorate and said, "These people gathered outside the palace to make noise and slander the current emperor. According to the Wu Kingdom Law, how should they be dealt with? And how should those who instigated them to come to the palace to cause trouble be dealt with?"

The ministers of the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Imperial Censorate looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, the Ministry of Justice stood up and answered, "Your Majesty, according to the law, the ringleader shall be beheaded, the followers shall be strangled, and the whole family shall be exiled 3,000 miles away. As for the mastermind behind the scenes, according to the law, his property shall be confiscated and his entire family shall be executed! The ringleader shall be lingchi, and his family shall not be allowed to take the imperial examinations, serve as officials, or join the army for three generations."

Liya hummed and said, "Then deal with them according to the law. List the names of these people in the Wuguo Newspaper and explain the cause and effect clearly."

As Leah finished speaking, all the ministers present felt their heads buzzing.

More than a thousand scholars plus the mastermind behind the scenes, plus their families and clansmen, the number of people would probably directly rise to several thousand or even tens of thousands. This is the first major case in Wu State!

Your Majesty has always put the people first. If you deal with it like this now, it will have a serious impact on your reputation.

Xiao Ranhe could not help but persuade him: "Your Majesty, please think twice. We know that these scholars deserved their death, but..."

Liya waved her hand and interrupted Xiao Ranhe's persuasion: "It's okay. They are not children anymore. People in their twenties and thirties should be responsible for their own actions."

"Don't tell me that they have families behind them. If they kill too many people at once, there will be such things as Gan Tianhe. If they fail, their families will be blamed. But if they succeed, won't their families enjoy these benefits?"

"Since Wu State has its own laws, then we should follow them. Otherwise, what are the Wu State laws, the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Imperial Censorate for?"

At this point, Leah's expression couldn't help but become gloomy.

In the more than ten years since Leah ascended the throne, there has never been a case of convicting people for their words in the Wu Kingdom, and the imperial court has called on scholars to serve the country in newspapers more than once.

Therefore, these scholars may feel that their talents are not appreciated because of their own experiences, and they may just scold her, but now they dare to attack the palace. Will they dare to rebel next time?

What else is there to say? Just arrest them. Those who should be killed should be killed, and those who should be exiled should be exiled. This will prevent bigger troubles from happening later if we don’t deal with them now.

Therefore, Leah will not only not give a lenient punishment, but will punish it severely to prevent more scholars from having inappropriate thoughts.

The Wu State was established too recently, so recently that the old guards of the previous dynasty have not died yet, and so recently that the new students have not yet graduated from school. When she thought of all these messy things, Leah felt very bad.

When you are in a bad mood, you need to take it out on someone!

It just so happened that the little girls in her family just did nothing but play all day long, so Leah decided to vent her anger on them.

However, before Leah could find her daughters, someone reported to her that there was a problem in Jiaozhi.

Jiaozhi is Vietnam.

Vietnam is a bit like Goguryeo, in that the upper class people know Chinese and Chinese characters, but the lower class people can't understand a single word.