People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1823: The Imperial Examinations and Overthrow of Hegemony

The third year of Kaiyuan, New Year’s Eve.

Iron flowers are blooming and lanterns are filling the streets.

In Ganlu Palace, Li Xuan, dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe, sat calmly on the imperial couch, looking at Di Renjie, Zhang Jianzhi, Yao Chong and Song Jing standing below, and waved his hand and said, "If there is anything, it can't be discussed in two days. There are already people waiting in Liangyi Palace."

"Your Majesty, it's a matter of passing the imperial examination." Di Renjie stood up and bowed seriously.

Li Xuan nodded and said, "Mr. Di, as for the matter of concealing the name, I will let Prime Minister Li report it when the time comes. Why do you four have to come and block me now?"

Li Xuan spread his hands and looked at Di Renjie with raised eyebrows.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Li has already agreed to the matter of concealing the name." Zhang Jianzhi stood up and bowed.

"I know, but although it has been agreed that Prime Minister Li will be the chief examiner of the next imperial examination, the imperial edict has not yet been issued. We have to wait until the imperial edict is issued before he can submit the report. Isn't it too early for the four of you to come here today?" Li Xuan smiled and looked at Di Renjie, Zhang Jianzhi, Yao Chong and Song Jing.

Di Renjie cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, although Prime Minister Li agreed to cover the name, he is not sure about the time of covering the name, so he would like to ask Your Majesty to give an appropriate time."

"It was clearly his suggestion and I had decided on the matter, but he insisted that I be the one to set the time for him. How can this be true?" Li Xuan spread his hands with an amused look on his face.

"Your Majesty!" Yao Chong stood up and said with a cupped hand, "Prime Minister Li is worried about the issue of the imperial examination being shrouded in mystery. Even if he brings it up, the ministers in the court will not agree, so he hopes to discuss an appropriate solution with Your Majesty."

"This old wily fellow can see things clearly." Li Xuan let out a long sigh, and then said seriously, "You four should also understand this. If the imperial examination is not a secret, then with the papers and reputation, you can basically select the candidates for the Jinshi degree during the imperial examination. The officials of the noble families can do this to gain benefits."

"Yes!" Di Renjie, Zhang Jianzhi, Yao Chong and Song Jing all bowed.

They are all smart people, how could they not see the situation here?

Officials from aristocratic families can use their influence on each other to push their children directly to the front before the imperial examinations, giving their children the greatest advantage before the examinations.

Once the name is obscured, this advantage will disappear immediately.

In the future, the number of children from aristocratic families who can pass the imperial examinations will become fewer and fewer, while the number of children from poor families who can pass the imperial examinations will increase.

In this way, the affairs of the world will soon be turned upside down, which is what they do not want to see.

Therefore, when the imperial examinations were held by the Ministry of Personnel, the names were kept anonymous. They were unwilling to take the exam and would oppose anyone who nominated them.

On the contrary, they did not care about having their names covered during the palace examination, because those who were supposed to become Jinshi had already become Jinshi.

As for the top scholar, that was originally the power of the emperor.

Moreover, on this matter, there are different opinions among the aristocratic families. You want your child to be the top scholar, and I want my child to be the top scholar.

So even if sometimes, we agree on the surface, but what we feel deep down in our hearts is another matter.

They can take the Palace Examination, but not the Personnel Examination. The Personnel Examination is related to the foundation of the aristocratic families, and they will not give in easily.

They will target whoever brings it up.

Even a prime minister like Li Yiyan couldn't do it.

Li Xuan sighed softly, shook his head and said, "Prime Minister Li asked you to come to me, just to let me come up with a way to suppress the aristocratic families in the world, or simply let me bear all the opposition voices at that time, is that right?"

Di Renjie, Zhang Jianzhi, Yao Chong and Song Jing all fell silent at the same time, looking somewhat embarrassed.
Li Xuan leaned forward slightly, looked at the four people, and asked: "You four are all the best in the world. Tell me, what should I do?"

"Your Majesty, I have a plan." Di Renjie stood up and bowed.

"Speak!" Li Xuan's eyes lit up.

Di Renjie cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I want to impeach the Imperial Censor Wei Xuantong. He admitted a Jinshi named Du Chong in this year's Ministry of Personnel examination. In this year's New Year's greetings, he made three inappropriate citation errors."

There was an error in quoting the classics.

Especially for a Jinshi, this should not happen.

Li Xuan's expression became solemn.

Di Huaiying continued to bow and said, "Your Majesty, this year the Ministry of Personnel's Office of Personnel has examined various matters and found that Du Chong is completely ignorant of government affairs, which has led to chaos in the local area. His words and deeds in the local area have also made many mistakes. Therefore, I suspect that he cheated in the imperial examination last year."

Li Xuan's brows immediately furrowed, and he looked at Di Renjie and said, "Di Huaiying, you want to use my position as Imperial Censor in exchange for passing the imperial examination without any official name!"

The fact that one's name remains anonymous in the imperial examination will definitely benefit future generations, and this is even more so for Li Xuan.

However, if it involves cheating in the imperial examination, then the Imperial Censor Wei Xuantong will inevitably be involved, and Li Xuan would be reluctant to do so.

"Come here, retrieve Du Chong's test papers for this year's Ministry of Personnel and Palace Examinations." Li Xuan's expression became solemn. He still had to check what needed to be checked. As for Wei Xuantong, he would make another arrangement. "Your Majesty!" Zhang Jianzhi stood up and bowed, saying, "I have retrieved Du Chong's test papers. His performance in the Ministry of Personnel Examination was acceptable, but very ordinary, between being admitted and not being admitted. However, the scholars below him did better than him in the Imperial Examinations."

"In other words, there was no cheating in the Ministry of Personnel examination." Li Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. This way, Wei Xuantong would not be contacted. Without cheating in the imperial examination, the matter would not be a big deal.

Zhang Jianzhi nodded, and then said: "But what he did in the palace examination was really unbearable to look at. It was only because the palace examination did not disqualify Jinshi that his talent was retained."

"I only saw the top ten test papers." Li Xuan's expression was solemn. He knew that he had admitted a very disgusting person as a Jinshi.

It just so happens that this person has ability, but it is not outstanding. It was only because of his family background that he barely became a Jinshi.

He took advantage of the loophole again in the subsequent palace examination.

"Your Majesty, please conduct a thorough investigation." Di Renjie, Zhang Jianzhi, Yao Chong and Song Jing all bowed solemnly at the same time.

Li Xuan looked at the four people, thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "You want to use this matter to force the Ministry of Personnel to bow their heads. You think that if I agree and the Ministry of Personnel bows their heads, things will be fine, right?"

"Yes!" Di Renjie stepped forward alone and said, "After the first time and seeing the result, the second time will be easy."

Li Xuan smiled, shook his head, and said, "This matter may indeed work this time, but what about the next time? People will be dissatisfied and will find countless ways to find loopholes. In the end, it will be a mess. Who do you think will bear the responsibility in the end?"

The four of them fell silent at the same time.

Wang Anshi's reforms are a clear example of this.

As soon as the emperor died, the old party immediately launched a crazy revenge and all the new laws were cancelled.

……

"What I want is not a one-time failure in the imperial examination, nor a back-and-forth struggle of twos and threes, but a one-time pass, a permanent pass, without back-and-forth struggles." Li Xuan turned sideways and said, "Send an order to summon Wang Yinke, the Minister of the Left, and Li Zhaode, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, to come to the audience."

Di Renjie, Zhang Jianzhi, Yao Chong and Song Jing all looked solemn at once.

Although Di Renjie is now the governor of Yingzhou, in fact, his background in the court is far inferior to that of Wang Yinke and Li Zhaode.

There is no doubt that once a vacancy occurs in the six ministers, the next minister will definitely be Li Zhaode.

As for Wang Yinke, he has been eyeing the Minister of the Secretariat and is ready to be promoted to the third rank of the Secretariat at any time.

Their resumes in both places were sufficient. They had served as Sima of Fanzhou twice in succession. This resume was very important, especially since the governor of Fanzhou was the emperor at that time.

Moreover, these two people are very stable and have deep roots in the Ministry of Justice and the Secretariat.

Soon, Wang Yinke and Li Zhaode, dressed in scarlet robes, appeared in the hall.

Li Xuan's eyes fell on Di Renjie. Di Renjie stepped forward and told Wang Yinke and Li Zhaode what happened. Wang Yinke was the first to shake his head and said, "It's too rash to act like this. It's easy to get backlash."

"I have the same attitude, but they couldn't think of a better way at the moment, so I asked you to come." Li Xuan smiled casually and said, "For this kind of thing, you two are the ones who have the solution."

"Yes!" Wang Yinke and Li Zhaode both bowed their hands at the same time and looked at each other. Li Zhaode bowed his hands first and said, "Your Majesty, in my opinion, you can choose a lunatic, and finally a son of an aristocratic family, who gets drunk and crazy before taking the civil service exam, and then belittles the imperial examination and Your Majesty. If the aristocratic family gets into trouble, Your Majesty will have a reason to reform."

"It would be best if this person is an outstanding figure among the scholars of this session, so that he can play a role." Wang Yinke continued.

Li Xuan nodded and said, "The ones I know of are Yan Chaoyin, Zhang Ruoxu, and Zhang Shuo. The most famous one among them is Zhang Ruoxu. He has some blood relationship with the left prime minister, so it might be best to use him."

Gu Lu Zhu Zhang, the Zhang family and the Lu family, are always easy to talk to.

"I will go find Prime Minister Lu." Di Renjie was the first to bow, and Yao Chong followed suit, saying, "I will go find Zhang Ruoxu."

"Go." Di Renjie, Zhang Jianzhi, Yao Chong and Song Jing quickly walked out of the hall.

……

After the four people left, Li Xuan looked at Li Zhaode calmly and said, "Go, find a scholar, and the two of you write a few poems and articles for him. After the new year, King Zheng will hold a poetry meeting, and you can take the opportunity to promote him. Compared with Yan Chaoyin, Zhang Ruoxu, and Zhang Shuo, his literary talent may be inferior, but his arrogance is stronger."

"Yes!" Li Zhaode bowed seriously. He knew that Li Xuan was still reluctant to part with those talents.

"Let him give up the imperial examination this year, then I will be angry and end up with him failing the imperial examination." Li Xuan paused for a moment and said, "As for that man, after he leaves Chang'an, let him be included in the secret guard system, and let him get used to acting in secret in the future."

"Yes!" Li Xuan was using Di Renjie and others as a shield, but what he actually used were his own methods.

Only by truly sacrificing one's own future can one accomplish something that will shock people's hearts and be remembered forever.

(End of this chapter)