Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 469 Palace Examination
On the day of the imperial examination, each successful candidate presented their most spirited and outstanding self to the emperor. After witnessing that women comprised 30% of the 300 successful candidates, Emperor Jingtai couldn't help but admire them.

"I never imagined that our dynasty had so many talented women. If it weren't for this special imperial examination, I wouldn't have known that all the women in the world have such aspirations."

"This is all thanks to my father's magnanimity in allowing women to participate in the imperial examinations."

"Oh, what does this matter? Our Great Jing Dynasty is in dire need of talent. Let me tell you, whether male or female, as long as they can work, they are all useful. As for the words of those pedantic scholars, just listen to them and don't pay them any mind. If their words were reliable, your father wouldn't have had to seize the world as a mere military man."

Emperor Jingtai quietly turned around and whispered something to his beloved daughter.

"These pedantic scholars really just want to sell themselves for a good price, but you can't say it outright, or it would hurt their pride. So, just put on a show and don't discourage them. The fact that nearly a hundred women passed the first imperial examination shows that this year's women are indeed promising. You'll need them in the future; at least in terms of status, these women are naturally your allies. Your words will carry more and more weight in court, and those old fogies who used to insist you were a woman will gradually change their tune..."

Jiu Que listened with a smile, offering no reply. The officials and students below, who had been waiting patiently, secretly observed the most distinguished father and daughter in the land, once again astonished by the harmonious relationship between them. They had long heard of the deep bond between His Majesty and the Prince, but only after witnessing it firsthand did they realize its truth.

After saying a few words to his beloved daughter, Emperor Jingtai turned his attention back to the hungry scholars below.

Having been emperor for many years, he exuded an inexplicable aura simply by sitting there. Even though he tried his best to appear approachable, many of the candidates below still felt nervous, some even trembling. This showed a lack of mental fortitude.

However, Emperor Jingtai didn't care whether you were nervous or not. He encouraged the candidates and then announced the exam questions. They thought the question about the woman's unyielding strategy in the examination hall was already outrageous enough, but they didn't expect that their emperor could come up with something even more outrageous.

A woman's right of inheritance.

These six seemingly casual words completely stunned hundreds of people, including civil and military officials. It would be a lie to say that the officials hadn't grasped Emperor Jingtai's meaning at all. They had been pretending not to hear until His Majesty explicitly stated it, but why hadn't he continued his pretense today? They could have continued their peaceful coexistence, just as they had pretended not to notice the change in handwriting on the memorials. Wouldn't it have been better to continue the pretense?

Who was Emperor Jingtai? He was a ruthless man who had fought his way through the hellish environment of the late previous dynasty. He needed to prepare early when he realized his health was failing. Besides, what was wrong with laying the groundwork beforehand? He had already been tactful enough.

If the officials knew what Emperor Jingtai was thinking, they would be furious. How could this be considered tactful? Wouldn't this be revealing his true intentions?
Seeing a slight commotion below, Emperor Jingtai waved his hand in a very shameless manner, signaling the scholars to hurry up and answer the questions.

Seeing this, the ministers dared not speak, only exchanging glances. No matter what, they had to stop His Majesty's dangerous idea. His Majesty clearly had a son; how could he allow a daughter to inherit the throne? This was unprecedented. Of course, they weren't saying that His Highness the Prince wasn't capable enough. It was just that succession to the throne had little to do with competence; the most fundamental thing was that you had to be a man.

Even if they had to kneel and die in the palace today, they had to change His Majesty's dangerous idea. It was one thing for His Majesty to imprison the Fourth Prince before, and they didn't have a good impression of him either. They didn't want to serve such a stupid and incompetent monarch. But the Fourth Prince could still have children. Why not let him have several children while he was young, and then choose the clever and capable ones to be the imperial grandsons?
Furthermore, with His Highness the Prince being so outstanding, wouldn't having her raise and nurture the imperial grandson produce an even more excellent successor? And in just 20 years, another wise ruler has emerged. Isn't this a win-win situation? Why did Your Majesty insist on disrupting this? I can't understand it, I truly can't understand it. Is it that military men who become emperors are inherently different from civil officials?

As the officials waited anxiously and silently, the palace examination finally came to a close. After the examiners had reviewed the candidates' papers, they presented the top ten papers to His Majesty, as was customary. Emperor Jingtai quickly glanced through them; even in a palace examination, these papers were anonymous. He nodded, seemingly pleased that the officials hadn't engaged in any favoritism or cheating, and casually handed the ten papers to the Emperor.

"Jiu Que, come and take a look at these exam papers. Do they meet your expectations?"

Hiss, Your Majesty, you're not even willing to act anymore!

Jiu Que certainly noticed the piercing gazes secretly passed over by the civil and military officials, but she was already used to it. She calmly took the exam paper, carefully reviewed it, and nodded.

"Your Excellencies are quite fair, and I also think these 10 exam papers are outstanding."

"it is good!"

Emperor Jingtai immediately approved the selection of these 10 talented individuals for individual interviews.

But when the anonymous papers were torn off, everyone was surprised to find that four out of the ten papers were written by women! And one of them was none other than Wang Heng, who had been making headlines recently!

Even if the civil officials were unwilling, they had no choice. After all, the examiners were all high-ranking officials of the second rank or above. They had personally selected the best articles, so how could they contradict themselves? Therefore, no matter how unwilling they were, they had to put on a happy expression and congratulate His Majesty on the acquisition of such a talented person.

Emperor Jingtai was genuinely delighted. He had initially thought that even with women participating in the first special imperial examination, they might not necessarily achieve high rankings, given the vastly different resources men and women had enjoyed over the years. Furthermore, their formal education had only begun in the last year, and he had never imagined they would achieve such excellent results. What did this signify? It meant that his thinking had been correct all along. Otherwise, how could so many female scholars have passed the examinations so soon after he conceived the idea of ​​female succession? This was a testament to his approval!

However, of these four women, only Wang Heng was somewhat familiar to him; the others were not well known. Emperor Jingtai inquired about the hometowns of the other three women with great kindness, but when he discovered that they were all from the outskirts of the capital, he did not seem to care much.

They were asked to compose a poem on the spot, and Emperor Jingtai quickly selected the top three.

The first place winner was surprisingly a refined woman in her early twenties!