The Eve of the Imperial Examination

The night before the imperial examination.

Most of the Wuhou supervisors who have been practicing in various places in the Canglan Kingdom, and even in other vassal states, in some adventurous places and secret realms, have returned to the Canglan King City one after another, preparing to participate in the Canglan Kingdom's ten-year palace examination.

If you can't awaken your martial heart and become a Martial King.

Then the Canglan Palace Examination that will be held tomorrow will determine the future identity and status of these Wuhou supervisors in the Canglan Kingdom. After going through the Imperial Academy several times, except for Gu Hanjian, a student from Donglai County who recently entered school and has a natural heart for martial arts, and is expected to become the King of Wu in a few decades, no one else dares to believe that he will definitely become the King of Wu.

The Canglan Palace Examination has become a must-win competition for all the supervisors.

In the royal city, the Imperial College, which once seemed quite empty and quiet, suddenly became extremely lively.

All the supervisors looked high-spirited.

This time there was a major change in the palace. Only less than 10% of the Imperial College's supervisors were involved in the rebellion, and the losses were very small.

In comparison, half of the royal family members, about 40% of the court ministers, and 30% of the border ministers were affected, ranging from being dismissed, demoted, or demoted, to being sent to the frontiers and exiled to the army. There were a lot of vacancies inside and outside the palace, and a large number of new Wuhou were in urgent need.

What awaits this generation of Imperial College graduates is naturally a bright future, with a large number of good official positions waiting for them to fill their vacancies.

Qingshan Hou Ling Qingshan, second-time palace examination veteran Hao Ziming and other well-known supervisors in the Imperial College held a banquet in the Imperial College the night before the palace examination and invited all the Imperial College supervisors to gather together.

More than a hundred supervisors from the Imperial College were invited to attend the banquet.

Imperial College, at the banquet, all the supervisors took their seats at the banquet.

Because of the palace poisoning case and the Jinluan Palace forced regicide case, Ye Fan has already become a hot figure in the royal city, and is respected and praised by many prison students.

"Brother Ye, I want to toast you for this first cup. No matter what the result of this palace examination is, whether you are the top ten in the palace examination, or the top twenty or thirty in the palace examination, you can be assigned to important official positions. Thanks to you for reminding me in advance. , most of us did not stand in the wrong team. On the day of the monarch's birthday banquet, we all stood firmly on the side of the monarch. This led to today's good results, a day of great harvest! After the palace examination, we will be in the same court I am a colleague of the official. Everyone, let me toast Brother Ye together!"

Hao Ziming raised his cup high, his face full of excitement, and said to all the Wuhou supervisors in the hall.

"Not bad! Most of our batch is thanks to Brother Ye, so we must give Brother Ye a toast!"

"Brother Ye, don't refuse!"

Many supervisors raised their glasses and shouted excitedly.

Suddenly, a voice sneered: "Hmph, I thought that Yan Xiuzheng, who was the leader of the previous palace examination, wrote an essay "On the Water-type Martial Spirit" in the second round of the palace examination, and blatantly tried to please the monarch, which was enough to follow the trend. . Unexpectedly, we will have a Ye Fan in this year, who will reach the top. Before the palace examination, he has already started to flatter the monarch, which makes the monarch very happy. It seems that no matter how we do in this palace examination, this palace examination will He must be the number one leader. We are simply ashamed to associate with such a person, and we are ashamed to compete with him in the palace examination."

Another voice also echoed: "That's right! The first place in this palace examination has been decided by default. No matter what the score is in the first round of the palace examination, Ye Fan will be the first in the second round of the palace examination. What are we fighting for? We will just It's just picking up the leftovers of his cold dishes, but there are actually a large group of people trying to flatter him! It's so shameless!"

There was a sudden silence in the hall, and many supervisors looked at the person who made the sarcasm.

I saw that there was a small group of supervisors in this hall who did not look happy at all. Instead, their faces were full of cynicism, and they were all very cold.

Ye Fan looked over and saw only the two leaders of this small group of supervisors, a handsome young man in white and a brave-looking young man. It was these two people who were making fun of him just now.

The handsome young man in white looked at him with extremely hateful eyes.

"Of those two, one is Rui Zifan, the grandson of former Minister Rui of the Ministry of War. This person is a famous young genius in Canglan King's City. He once won the first place in the four departments in the lower-level palace. He is proficient in all departments and has a wealth of knowledge. He is known as the young generation of Wuhou in the royal city. Among the top talents. The other one is Qin Ning, a clansman of the former Fengwan Princess Qin Qing, and also a leader among the Wuhou of the Imperial Academy."

Ling Qingshan then introduced lightly to Ye Fan who was leading the table next to him.

These two are very famous in the Imperial City and the Imperial College.

To be able to win the first place in the four series at a young age in a place like Canglan King City where heroes from all over the country gather, he is definitely a top genius.

The two of them, plus Ling Qingshan, who was from a branch of the Canglan royal family. A year ago, the three of them were jointly recognized as the Three Outstanding Imperial College Scholars of this session, and were considered by everyone in Canglan City as the most promising candidates to win the top three positions in the Imperial Examination. Hao Ziming, Bao Hua and others were much inferior to the three heroes of the Imperial Academy.

Of course, since Ye Fan calmed down the changes in the palace, his reputation has been so high in just over a month that no one can compare with him.

The three heroes of the Imperial Academy have long been eclipsed. Let alone them, even their father and grandfather are useless and cannot stop Ye Fan's strong rise.

Naturally, no one mentioned the prediction of the top three in the front hall test. No one thinks that Rui Zifan and Qin Ning are still expected to become the leader and second place in the top three.

Ye Fan nodded slightly and understood immediately.

Among the hundreds of supervisors in the Imperial College, at least dozens of them are relatives of those derogatory court ministers, border ministers, and royal family members.

However, this palace incident did not involve any major families, so these supervisors could still take part in the palace examination. Although the monarch allowed them to participate in the palace examination, it was obvious that he would not give them any good rankings.

How could they thank him? Of course they hated him deeply.

Hao Ziming, the old Wuhou in gray, looked at Rui Zifan and the others, and retorted with disdain: "Rui Zifan, I don't like hearing what you say. Do you want to be like your grandfather Rui Shangshu, chasing after the second prince in the Jinluan Palace? Forcing the palace to rebel, is this what it means to be upright and upright?! This flattery is being slapped on a prince who has not ascended the throne. It is too early for your grandfather to start! I don't have such a vision, I can't see who is the new king in the future, or It's best to pat the current king on his side. Serving for the king is our talent as a subject of Canglan Kingdom! It's not like some people who are willing to be rebellious ministers and traitors."

"Brother Hao, what you said is so wonderful! We'd better praise the king!"

"We can't learn from Rui Shangshu's ability to be a treacherous minister and traitor in order to flatter the future new emperor! If you accidentally take the wrong photo, you will be thrown into jail."

The many supervisors present couldn't help but laugh, and at least most of them were on Mark's side.

Rui Zifan was so angry at Hao Ziming's sarcastic words that his handsome face turned green, and he said sharply: "Hao Ziming! Don't just rely on your participation in two palace examinations to show your seniority and act like a fool. My grandfather is my grandfather. , I am me! In the palace examination tomorrow, I will let you see what is a pillar of true talent and what is a flatterer. In the second round of the palace examination, the monarch will support you, and I feel ashamed. But in the palace examination In the first round of the Civil and Military Examination, those sycophants are not even qualified to praise me!"

As soon as these murderous words came out, all the supervisors in the hall fell silent.

Rui Zifan is qualified to say such harsh words.

In the first round of the palace examination, the civil and military exams, all the supervisors had the same questions. The exam questions were set by the top ten old Wuhou in the "Canglan Haoyue Ranking", the most senior and powerful people in the Canglan Kingdom. Rank the answers according to their overall score. This is the true strength of the supervisory students, and even the monarch cannot interfere with this score ranking.

But this ranking doesn't count.

In the second round of the palace examination, the monarch conducted the "Emperor's Policy Questions" and interviewed the supervisors. At this stage, the monarch makes a complete decision. Whoever he thinks has a higher level will adjust the rankings of everyone.

The proctors who participated in the palace examination will obtain the final palace examination ranking based on the results of the second round.

If the results of the first round and the second round are too different, the supervisor will undoubtedly be despised and suspected of trying to please the monarch.

Yan Xiuzheng, the leader of the last palace examination, originally ranked fourth in the first round of the palace examination. However, in the second round of the palace examination, his last article "On the Destructive Power of Water Martial Soul" was appreciated by the monarch and he was promoted to the first place in the palace examination. As a result, he was repeatedly criticized. The officials in the court were full of ridicule. It has been ten years since the last palace examination ended, and it is still being brought up to make excuses.

Rui Zifan's outstanding talent was enough to surpass most of the Imperial Academy's Wuhou in the first round.

Many of the supervisors who were looking towards Ye Fan couldn't help but worry.

Ye Fan had only been in the Imperial College for a year and a half. In the civil and military competition in the first round of the palace examination, his results were probably not very satisfactory.

But the monarch had already treated Ye Fan differently and favored him very much. In the second round of the palace examination, directly promoting Ye Fan to the leader of the palace examination, or to the top three, would undoubtedly make Ye Fan the laughing stock of all the courtiers.

I'm afraid that it will embarrass Ye Fan very much, and the huge prestige accumulated in the previous quelling the palace changes will also plummet.

"What, you have nothing to say? It seems that some people just don't dare to compete with real swords and guns, and can only rely on flattery, relying on princesses and queens to climb up!"

Rui Zifan glanced at the room full of Wuhou supervisors, looked at Ye Fan coldly, and said provocatively.

He had been practicing in the secret realms of other vassal states in recent years. He didn't know about this shocking change until he returned to Canglan King's City half a month ago.

His grandfather Rui Liangzhi participated in the mutiny in the palace of the second prince, was imprisoned, and was sent to the border of Canglan Kingdom to be exiled.

The once extremely prominent Rui family has become a neglected family in the royal city, and no one wants to get close to it. If the Rui family hadn't had a deep foundation and he, the Marquis of Wu, was supporting the situation, it would have been in ruins.

Ye Fan, one of the most critical figures in the entire palace mutiny, was the leader of the entire situation. He organized a Hongmen Banquet for the monarch's birthday and lured the second prince, the Minister of War Rui Liangzhi, Princess Fengwan and other ministers out of their hole.

He naturally hated Mark deeply.

But the Rui family had lost power in the royal city, and he had no choice but to humiliate Ye Fan in the first round of the palace examination to vent his anger.

Many supervisors in the Imperial Academy whose families had lost power because of their involvement in the palace mutiny surrounded him and Qin Ning and were very resentful of Ye Fan.

A cold light flashed under Ye Fan's eyes. He did not get angry, but said calmly: "Master Rui, don't say this too much, as if you have already ranked first in the first round of the palace examination. If it is the first round of the civil and military examination, If you can't get first place, what will happen to you?"