Tang Dynasty: Consort Wu? Your Majesty, please address her as the Crown Prince's Consort.

Li Shimin was stunned as he watched Li Chengqian's departing figure.

He looked at Canyue with disbelief and said:

"Did you hear what that unfilial son just said?"

What does it mean that a father has to listen to his son?

Is this still the Tang Dynasty language? I can't quite understand it.

Hearing his emperor's words, Canyue couldn't help but speak with a strange expression:

"Uh... I guess that's what Your Majesty understands it to be!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin was momentarily stunned, and then his face flushed red.

"You unfilial son! You unfilial son!!! You've rebelled against the Heavenly Gang! Aaaaaah!"

Seeing his emperor's powerless rage, Canyue subconsciously took two steps back and stared at her toes.

……

Meanwhile, inside the imperial examination hall.

The exam has begun.

Zhang Heng couldn't help but smile slightly as he looked at the questions on the exam paper.

Question 1: The people are the most important, the state is next, and the ruler is the least important! What is the meaning of this?

Zhang Heng picked up his pen and began to write.

The ruler is the boat, and the people are the water; water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it...blah blah blah!

Second question: The most difficult things in the world must be done by starting with the easiest; the greatest things in the world must be done by starting with the smallest. What is the meaning of this?

Upon seeing this question, Zhang Heng couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Isn't this a line from the Tao Te Ching? Interesting!

Zhang Heng replied: "Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish...blah blah blah!"

Upon seeing a topic, they would basically just pick up a pen and start writing without any thought whatsoever.

The imperial examinations lasted for three days, and all necessities for eating, drinking, and using the restroom had to be taken care of within the examination hall.

Today's test mainly focused on the fundamentals of the imperial examinations, while the next two days will test policy essays, which are the main focus of the spring examinations and also the part with the highest score.

Meanwhile, at the Wang family mansion in Taiyuan.

"What is Li Shimin trying to do?! He actually made Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui personally grade the imperial examination papers, has he gone mad?"

Inside the Wang family hall, a group of family heads sat together, and the atmosphere was unusually heavy.

They had already made preparations at the Hanlin Academy, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, all those entering officialdom this time would be from these aristocratic families.

They even allocated the number of slots for each person to join.

However, the imperial edict that Li Chengqian produced caught them completely off guard.

It's one thing for Wei Zheng to be the chief examiner, but now they've even sent a bunch of big shots to grade the papers. How are they supposed to tamper with the papers?

Who were Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui?

Those were Li Shimin's most loyal henchmen; why would they help these aristocratic families?

Just then, Zheng Yang, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.

"Heh! What else could it be for? They just want more people from humble backgrounds to come up and compete with us aristocratic families."

"Like a mayfly trying to shake a tree, how dare a humble family like yours shake the millennia-old foundation of my noble lineage?"

Upon hearing this, the head of the Lu family of Fanyang couldn't help but echo:

"That's right! Our noble families have a rich heritage, with tens of thousands of books in our collection. Our children have all been taught by great Confucian scholars since childhood. How dare those poor families who have only read a few lines of the Analects compete with us?"

Hearing his words, everyone couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Indeed, given the educational resources and environment of these aristocratic families, the probability of producing talented individuals is much higher than that of those from humble backgrounds.

Even if they didn't use any tricks and just took the exam head-on, those poor students would still be no match for these aristocratic families.

Wang Gui, who hadn't spoken for a long time, finally spoke up.

"Hehe! It's nothing more than His Majesty's little trick. It doesn't matter. Even if those from humble backgrounds take a few of the bottom spots, it doesn't matter. The top two spots will definitely be filled by people from our aristocratic families."

As he spoke, a hint of disdain appeared on Wang Gui's aged face.

Little did he know that Li Chengqian never believed that people from humble backgrounds could stand up to these aristocratic families.

He did all this simply to pave the way for Zhang Heng. If this leads to the emergence of a few talented individuals from humble backgrounds, that would be an unexpected bonus!

A top-tier (甲)?

Haha! With this ruthless person who has dominated the Dragon and Tiger Rankings for a thousand years, even powerful families have to obediently give way!

The three-day imperial examination passed in the blink of an eye.

When the heavy gates of the examination hall opened again.

Countless candidates filed out.

The candidates had different expressions; some were relaxed, while others looked sorrowful.

"Brother Ziping! Brother Ziping! Take me with you!"

Hearing the sound coming from behind him, Zhang Heng couldn't help but turn around and look.

He saw Ma Zhou carrying a basket on his back, hurrying towards him.

Seeing this, Zhang Heng politely cupped his hands in greeting.

"Brother Bin Wang!"

"How did you do on the exam, Brother Ziping?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Heng couldn't help but smile faintly.

"Not bad! How about Brother Binwang?"

"Haha! I'm doing alright too!"

After saying that, the two looked at each other and smiled.

Since learning that Wei Zheng would be the examiner for this year's imperial examination, Ma Zhou was filled with confidence.

If the aristocratic families didn't resort to underhanded tactics, Ma Zhou believed he was no less capable than those scions of those families.

The Eastern Palace!

Inside the study.

Looking at Zhang Heng, whose face was somewhat haggard but whose eyes shone with an alarming brightness, Li Chengqian couldn't help but ask:

"How did Ziping do on the exam?"

"good!"

Li Chengqian: "..."

That's what those top students in his past life said to him after they finished their exams.

Damn it, this group's "not bad" seems to be different from his understanding of "not bad".

Thinking of this, Li Chengqian couldn't help but nod.

"That's good! Go back and rest early. Starting tomorrow, come to the East Palace to help me with the imperial edicts. I'm afraid I'll be busy for the next month."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Heng couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.

Upon seeing his expression, Li Chengqian told him about how he had summoned all the important civil officials in the court to review the examination papers.

After hearing his prince's explanation, Zhang Heng's usually calm face twitched slightly.

Good heavens, is Your Highness trying to work yourself and His Majesty to death?

In other people's struggles for the throne, it's always a case of the victor taking all, but I've never even heard of a fight like Your Highness's, where everyone is going to die together.

But he didn't say much more, which at least ensured the fairness of this year's imperial examination.

……

Hanlin Academy!

After the papers were collected, Du Ruhui and others, who had received the imperial edict, went directly to the Hanlin Academy to begin a closed-door grading process.

It is worth mentioning that all the candidates' papers were anonymous, and no one knows who wrote them.

Those members of powerful families didn't dare utter a single word when they saw the group of big shots in front of them, let alone make any underhanded moves in front of them.

Changsun Wuji was seen flipping through the papers assigned to him, sometimes nodding, sometimes frowning.

Suddenly, an exam paper caught his eye.

The scroll was neat and the handwriting was clear, and the content was so impressive that even the Minister of Revenue, who had been immersed in officialdom for many years, was amazed.

"Quick! Old Du! Old Fang! Come and see this exam paper! A genius! Absolutely a genius!"