Top Scholar

Chapter 485 Head-to-Head (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

In the East Pavilion.

Just as the examiners were getting into the swing of things, they heard the Grand Secretary slamming his fist on the table and shouting.

"The top scholar is here!"

Jiao Fang immediately frowned: "To call Yuan Weng the top scholar after only reading the first article? That's too perfunctory!"

"If you don't believe me, just see for yourself." Li Dongyang smiled faintly.

"Fine, let me see, is he as amazing as Yuan Weng makes him out to be?!" Jiao Fang snorted like a donkey with a dark face, took the paper and examined it for a while, then started to sing a different tune: "In my opinion, quite the opposite, he should be removed from the top ten! If it weren't for the fact that he wouldn't be eliminated in the palace examination, I would definitely kick him out of the top three!"

Seeing this, Wang Ao and Yang Tinghe looked up and asked, "Do the two of you have such a big disagreement?"

"Let us see it too." Wang Ao held out his hand.

Jiao Fang, however, did not give the paper to Wang Ao. Instead, she called to the other examiners, "Let's all come together and judge this matter!"

He knew it was Su Lu's exam paper, but this was an unspoken rule that couldn't be openly discussed. Jiao Fang planned to exploit this to stir things up, even if he couldn't get Su Lu out of the top scholar position, he would at least ruin his reputation.

Having already received instructions, Liu Yu and his three companions immediately surrounded them.

Seeing this, the other examiners also put down the papers they were reading and came to join in the fun.

"Putting everything else aside, just this one sentence, 'The ancestor of the Dharma is not bound by old systems, but should follow the original intention,' is enough to make him dragged out of the Meridian Gate and beheaded!" Jiao Fang then showed the examination paper to everyone, pointing at it and saying emphatically:
"The laws of our ancestors are the foundation of our Great Ming Dynasty, yet this brat has turned them into 'blindly adhering to the old system'! And look at this phrase, 'If laws and regulations are no longer suitable for the times, they should be changed,' which seems reasonable but actually harbors malicious intent! If everyone uses the excuse of 'following the original intention' to arbitrarily change the ancestral system, where will the discipline of the court be? How can the stability of the world be maintained?!"

Liu Yu and the others immediately echoed loudly, "Well said! This kind of paper should at least be in the top three, even if it doesn't get rejected!"

"Your Excellency, according to you, the ancestral laws cannot be changed?" Wang Ao asked unhurriedly.

"Of course!" Jiao Fang replied decisively.

"That's ridiculous!" Wang Ao had completely broken off relations with him and retorted without any politeness:
"Fine, let me ask you this: do you uphold the Great Proclamation of the founding emperor? If you were to steal twenty taels of silver, you'd be skinned alive, and the skin of your entire family wouldn't be enough! Also, why don't you ask Eunuch Liu if he wants the iron plaque that Wang Zhen stole to be put back in its place?!"

"You...this..." Jiao Fang was speechless for a moment after being provoked by him.

"The deed is already done, so why can't people say anything?!" Wang Ao, as expected of a literary master, had an exceptional ability to grasp the key points. "Is it that only ancestral laws that are detrimental to you can be changed, while those that are detrimental to the people cannot be altered at all?!"

He then addressed the crowd in a loud voice: "The most brilliant aspect of this strategy lies in the word 'following the fundamentals.' Emperor Gaozu drove out the Yuan dynasty and established the dynasty, while Emperor Wen quelled the rebellion and revitalized the country. The core of both was nothing more than 'stabilizing the country and caring for the people.' If later generations only know how to rigidly adhere to the ancestral rules and ignore the suffering of the people, they are going against the original intention of their ancestors in establishing the dynasty!"

The examiners all nodded in agreement, none of them objecting. The endorsement from the world's greatest writer was a definitive academic certification.

"Oh my, Wang Zhenze, you've gotten quite something! You're not hiding at home anymore, are you?" Jiao Fang was ignorant and didn't dare to engage in an academic debate with Wang Ao. She could only try to bring him down to her level and then use her rich experience to defeat him.

"I wonder who was carried away that day?" Wang Ao snorted, showing no fear.

"If you show off again, I'll beat you up!" Jiao Fang rolled up her sleeves, intending to use the same trick again while Su Lu was away.

"Come on!" Wang Ao raised the cane next to the chair with both hands!
"Alright, alright, let's stick to the facts and stop attacking each other." Li Dongyang quickly intervened to stop them. Although the Ming Dynasty had a fine tradition of fighting among officials, they had never fought while grading the imperial examination papers.

The other examiners quickly separated the two, and then Liang Chu spoke up:

"Grand Secretary Jiao is too kind. Please examine this scroll carefully. It quotes the Book of Documents, 'Heaven sees as the people see,' and the Book of Rites, 'What the people love, we love.' The meaning of the classics is solid and not empty talk. Moreover, it says that 'change' is based on the will of the people and 'reform' is based on the state. Every word is measured. The so-called 'following the heart, not the actions' is originally to persuade people not to forget their roots. How can it be said to have a wicked heart?"

"Sense of propriety?" Jiao Fang scoffed, her gaze sweeping over her colleagues in the hall, and said in a sinister tone, "There's no one more lacking in sense of propriety than him. He's going to ruin everything!"

"Grand Secretary Jiao is right!" Liu Yu quickly chimed in, "This man, discussing 'following the laws of Heaven,' actually claims that Heaven's signs are not warnings of disasters, but rather the will of the people. This is clearly a misinterpretation of the essence of the interaction between Heaven and humanity! Since ancient times, the correspondence between Heaven and humanity has been the foundation of governance. Only by respecting Heaven can the emperor cultivate virtue. If the will of the people can replace Heaven, wouldn't the emperor become the son of the people? This is tantamount to shaking the very foundation of the nation!"

Cao Yuan hurriedly echoed, "Minister Liu is absolutely right! This boy's words are utterly treasonous! The emperor receives his mandate from Heaven and governs the people in accordance with Heaven's will—this is the fundamental principle! But he conflates Heaven with the will of the people, which, to put it bluntly, is an attempt to elevate the common people and belittle the emperor!"

Putting aside everything else, the eunuch faction is first-rate at labeling people, Han Fu chimed in:

"Exactly! If this evil trend isn't stopped, wouldn't the people be able to rebel in the name of 'Heaven's Will' if they have any dissatisfaction in the future? If the world falls into chaos, who will take responsibility? Such subversive remarks must not be tolerated!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Wang Chang echoed. The eunuch faction launched a full-scale attack, causing many of the more cautious examiners to become somewhat wary.

At this moment, Wang Ao was on high alert, guarding against a sneak attack by Jiao Fang. Li Dongyang had no choice but to step in personally to prevent public opinion from being swayed by the eunuch faction. "That's a misconception!" Yang Tinghe unexpectedly spoke up first, saying, "The Book of Documents says, 'Heaven has no favorites, but only assists the virtuous,' and 'The people are the foundation of the state; when the foundation is firm, the state is at peace.' A wise ruler has never severed the connection between Heaven and the people's hearts. The emperor receives his mandate from Heaven, but in essence, he receives his mandate from the people's hearts—the people's support or opposition is the will of Heaven!"

He paused, then his tone grew even more resolute: "Therefore, what this student meant by 'Heaven is the will of the people' is not to belittle the emperor, but rather to advise the emperor to follow the will of the people and bring peace to the nation, which is to be in accordance with Heaven's will and to solidify the foundation of the country! To turn one's back on the will of the people and disregard their suffering is to truly defy Heaven and shake the foundation of the nation! You gentlemen have set 'the will of the people' against 'the court,' as if you are implying that the court has turned its back on the will of the people and is acting perversely! Please retract your words..."

Yang Tinghe was always calm and composed. Although his words were not impassioned, they were powerful and hit the nail on the head.

"Fine, I take it back..." Seeing that even Grand Secretary Yang, whom Eunuch Liu couldn't handle, had also joined the fray, Cao Yuan immediately dared not play any more high-level games.

At this point, several prudent ministers, seeing the situation clearly, also offered their assistance, and Li Dongyang seized the opportunity to feign impartiality:
"Alright, it's normal to have disagreements when grading papers. Even you all have different opinions, so we should allow the younger generation to have different views—letting people speak won't kill anyone."

"As for the text, its meaning is pure and its intention is lofty. Its core is 'reverence for Heaven and ancestors, and compassion for the people,' which aligns with the founding principles of the Ming Dynasty and has no intention of undermining the foundation of the nation!" After saying this, Li Dongyang ended the debate.
"This paper will be placed at the top for Your Majesty's review... Let's do it this way! You should also review the rest of the papers as soon as possible, without any further delay."

His words were so tactful that they left Jiao Fang and the others speechless, while also giving them a way out.

Jiao Fang rolled her eyes helplessly. "Grand Secretary, huh? What a fucking jerk..."

But don't worry about whether he's a slut or not. Anyway, he's the Grand Secretary, and he can still make the final decision even if Liu Jin doesn't speak.

~~
The initial debate seemed to have exhausted the Grand Secretaries' passion, and the four of them stopped arguing afterward. They reviewed the selected papers one by one, and finally chose twelve as the papers to be presented to the Emperor for reading the following day. They even carefully considered and finalized the order in which they would be read aloud.

Then they went back to their cabinet office to sleep...

Leaving the Wenhua Hall, Jiao Fang snorted and turned to leave.

Yang Ting and Wang Ao also bowed to Li Dongyang to take their leave.

Li Dongyang returned the greeting solemnly, saying, "Thank you both for today."

“What are you saying, Master Yuan? That’s my student,” Wang Ao said solemnly.

“He’s also a fellow townsman of mine,” Yang Tinghe said, then couldn’t help but add, “Besides, he’s made such a great contribution this time. Wouldn’t it be disheartening not to reward him?”

Li Dongyang secretly rolled his eyes upon hearing this, thinking to himself, "Even more shameless than me. Do you think you can decide who gets the top score? And you're even giving them a reward?"

Well, it's not something I can decide...

“Although Hongzhi must have had his reasons for writing it this way,” Wang Ao said openly and frankly. “However, I do admire his sayings that ‘the will of Heaven is the will of the people’ and ‘follow the original intention of our ancestors.’ It would be great if the emperor could really do as he says.”

"Hehe..." Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe laughed at the same time, clearly neither of them believed that Emperor Zhengde could repent and change his ways.

"Forget it, don't think about it too much. This policy essay wasn't written for us. The important thing is that the person in charge is happy with it." Li Dongyang yawned and said, "Let's go back to sleep."

“That’s true.” The two scholars agreed wholeheartedly.

~~
As for the remaining 337 papers, they were cross-evaluated by the other examiners.

Holding red pens, they drew symbols such as 〇 and × on the scrolls; the more circles, the higher the ranking.

With the top two rankings already predetermined, the rankings of these papers were essentially meaningless. The yawning examiners only skimmed through them, looking for obvious errors. If they couldn't find any major mistakes, they circled and concluded, rarely delving into the deeper meaning of the text.

Therefore, there will be changes in rankings, but not significant ones. Only those articles with major flaws, such as forgetting to avoid taboos or making obvious errors in quoting scriptures, will be relegated to the bottom of the list.

As a result, by the afternoon of the 16th, the rankings of all the papers were determined. Can you believe how fast that was?

Therefore, the higher the official rank, the more likely they are to deceive. A first-rank official should not have a crane on his chest; he should have a spotted dove with a pearl neck instead...

The Grand Secretaries then divided the papers into two categories: the top category was placed in the second tier, and the bottom category in the third tier. Thus, the fate of the 337 examination papers was hastily decided in a single day.

It hasn't even been a day yet...

Only the fate of the twelve selected papers remains uncertain, awaiting presentation to the Emperor for review tomorrow.

P.S. The next chapter will be available tomorrow morning. Please vote with your monthly tickets!

(End of this chapter)