Back to the marriage proposal, helping the incompetent husband to rise to the top

Chapter 8 A Dream
After a while, the eunuch came out from behind the screen and whispered something in Chu Gongxiao's ear.

Chu Anlan was so curious that he didn't even have time to think about it. He wished he could grow wings and fly over to find out what was going on.

But after watching for a while, the lingering Lu Jilian came over and stood opposite Chu Anlan like a wall, deliberately blocking him.

Chu Anlan curled his lips, leaned back on the table, and began to scribble like a ghost.

Lu Jilian raised his eyebrows and sneered.

At this time, Ye Wanqing was concentrating on writing something with her head down.

Just now, Chu Gongxiao sent someone to ask her for help in coming up with a topic for their next policy essay test.

Ye Wanqing thought about it and decided to test these nobles with the topic of the flood in Yinxu Lake in Huaibei.

Three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang. Who knows, they might come up with a good solution!
After a while, Ye Wanqing finished writing the topic, and the last grain of incense ash happened to fall, and the spark went out, turning into a wisp of white smoke and disappearing without a trace.

The exam is over!

Lu Jilian was responsible for collecting everyone's answer sheets. When it was Chu Anlan's turn, he held onto half of the answer sheet and looked at Lu Jilian seriously, "Master Lu, my answer sheet must be the first one."

After saying that, regardless of how puzzled he looked, he folded his answer sheet into a tofu block shape and placed it solemnly on top.

Lu Jilian sneered and said nothing more.

A quarter of an hour later, Ye Wanqing copied the prepared topic onto plain paper, folded it into a tofu block, and had the eunuch present it to Chu Gongxiao.

Chu Gongxiao took the plain paper, opened it and took a look. His face changed, as if he had not expected Ye Wanqing to ask such a question.

Then he touched his nose and looked at the noisy crowd: "Time is up. Gentlemen, please take your seats and prepare for the exam!"

Everyone suddenly fell silent and slumped dejectedly in their seats.

Chu Gongxiao ordered the eunuchs to copy several different questions that had been prepared in advance onto the test paper one by one, and gave a copy to each young master, allowing them to choose for themselves.

Everyone looked through the questions and were at a loss, especially the last one, which was extremely difficult!

Chu Gongxiao secretly noticed their expressions, and his wandering eyes finally fixed on Chu Anlan's head.

Unexpectedly, Chu Anlan didn't take the policy paper seriously at all. He even had the leisure to wink at him and even made a rather funny face.

Chu Gongxiao had no expression on his face. He quickly shifted his gaze to the man in front of Chu Anlan and said, "How about the Prince of Changchun taking the lead? Please tell me what question you want to answer?"

Prince Chu Qian of Changchun was stunned for a moment, and after struggling for a long time, he slowly said, "Your Highness, I, I want to choose the second question: How to solve the 'redundant disease' of the court!"

Chu Gongxiao nodded: "Okay!"

For a moment, Chu Qian became the focus of the crowd, and everyone looked at the Prince of Changchun at the same time.

As the saying goes: Pick a general from among the dwarfs.

Except for Lu Jilian, compared with other noble sons, Chu Qian is the best one among them.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Chu Qian took a deep breath nervously, then cleared his throat and expressed his opinion passionately:

"I think that the three major problems of the court today are redundant officials, redundant soldiers and redundant expenses. According to records, the number of military officers in this dynasty has exceeded 80,000, which is more than three times the number at the beginning of the founding of the country. Among them, some are "those who are incompetent and sit on salary", who are in office but do nothing and receive generous salaries. "Redundant soldiers" refer to "those who are in the army, who are drunkards and do not know military skills; those who wear armor and have a name but are not used to fighting." Once a war breaks out, such soldiers have almost no combat capability. And it costs a lot to maintain redundant officials and redundant soldiers, which is a major reason for the redundant expenses."

"That's right!" Chu Gongxiao nodded repeatedly and smiled with satisfaction. With the Prince of Changchun taking the lead, everyone immediately became interested and followed suit, expressing their opinions and talking non-stop:
"To deal with redundant officials, we should reform the imperial examination system, implement the 'method of selecting scholars', improve the official selection process, focus on the officials' own ambition to govern the country and save the country, and their real talents and knowledge, and replace the positions held by those redundant officials by re-employing outstanding newcomers!"

"To deal with the redundant soldiers, we should adopt the 'reduction method'. Officers and soldiers over 40 years old should be assessed. If they fail, their salaries should be reduced accordingly, and they should be removed from the military register. In addition, the soldiers should be trained more so that they can go into battle once a war breaks out!"

"The key to dealing with redundant expenses is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. We can try to combine the two measures of 'increasing salaries' and 'cutting down redundant staff', appropriately reduce the number of officials, reduce the expenses of officials, and focus on projects such as salt administration and tea law to open up new sources of revenue in the long term..."

"If you ask me, I'd rather be simple and rude and just kill all those lazy and inactive termites!"

……

Everyone was so enthusiastic, and some made valuable suggestions, while others came up with bad ideas. There was a wide variety of opinions, and good and bad were mixed.

Chu Gongxiao glanced at the incense that was about to burn out, and suddenly said: "I have recorded in detail what you said. In addition, here is another difficult question, I wonder if you can answer it."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at the prince, eager to try.

Chu Gongxiao read the words on the plain paper: "A man had dreams repeatedly, and the dreams were all the same: a flood beast descended from the lake, causing a mudslide, destroying several villages, and killing countless villagers. May I ask: How can I verify whether this dream is true or false? If it is true, how can I help the villagers escape safely?"

After he finished speaking, the audience fell into complete silence.

The young men who were originally ready to fight are now looking at each other, a little confused.

Only Chu Anlan jumped up and down excitedly after hearing this question, and immediately raised his hands high: "I'll do it!"

Ye Wanqing's heart moved and she showed a very expectant expression.

Chu Gongxiao was surprised when he saw Chu Anlan raising his hand: "Oh? I guess Prince Dun must have an extraordinary plan. Please speak!"

Chu Anlan clapped his hands, cleared his throat, and said seriously: "After having enough food and drink, just entertain cats and dogs and don't take anything to heart!"

Chu Gongxiao and Ye Wanqing were both stunned at the same time.

Huayao County Prince Chu Shaozhen laughed so hard that he rubbed his belly: "Brother Anlan, your answer is totally irrelevant!"

"Who said that!" Chu Anlan glared at him and explained seriously: "Think about it, if a person often dreams and has the same dream over and over again, it means that this person must be under a lot of pressure in life and is mentally tense. As long as we relax our minds and keep a happy mood, we can fall asleep better at night. In this way, there will be no nightmares. There will only be chicken legs, pig trotters, pork elbows, etc. How can we dream of such an ominous sign as a flood?"

Ye Wanqing lowered her head silently.

Not really, there is no reason at all...

Chu Gongxiao shook his head helplessly, glanced at Ye Wanqing intentionally or unintentionally, and then stared at Chu Anlan with a serious face: "Prince Dun, policy essays are no joke! Since you took the initiative to ask to answer the questions just now, I will allow you to speak from your heart. No joking, no grandstanding! Otherwise, you will be directly judged as failing this exam!"

Chu Anlan was slightly shocked by his powerful aura, and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment: "Well, then I'll change my thinking. First of all, we must find out the specific address of the flood in the dream, carefully survey the lake and surrounding terrain there, and see if it will cause mudslides, and how high is the possibility of floods in the near future? Secondly, if there are continuous heavy rains in the area and the probability of floods increases, then order the county governor to move all villagers to a safe area as soon as possible. Is your highness satisfied with this reply?"

“It’s a good idea indeed.”

Chu Gongxiao nodded slightly and continued to ask: "However, since these villagers have lived here for decades, why would they leave their homes and flee to live in another strange place just for a dream?"

"this--"

Chu Anlan shook a strand of hair in front of her eyes, a little impatient.

(End of this chapter)