Gao Wu Da Qin: You don't want your secret to be known, do you?

Chapter 55: Master Meng gave me the highest praise—"He brought disaster to the country and the people, and poisoned the world!"

"The time has come; candidates, please enter the examination hall!"

As the final bell rang at the Xuanzi examination hall, all the candidates, dressed in their formal Confucian robes, entered the examination hall in a stream.

"Xiao Feng, don't be nervous when you go in!"

"Think carefully before you write your essay for the Qin Dynasty exam, and submit it only after you've finished!"

"Don't rush, you can write it in a morning. With your writing skills, passing the level will be a piece of cake!"

Zhang Beihai kept giving instructions, his eyes fixed on Qin Feng's receding figure, waving his hand repeatedly.

Qin Feng waved to the teacher and walked through the empty corridor for the star candidates.

Beyond the passage was a small, secluded room containing writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Looking around, besides a door for handing in exam papers, there was only a six-hour countdown clock.

Qin Feng sat at his desk, looking at the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone on it, and picked up his brush to write.

The Qin Dynasty's "Shenlun" was similar to the ancient imperial examination's presentation of national policies. The court would set a topic and ask you how to solve it.

Qin Feng carefully examined his questions.

"Imagine you are a Qin official, governing a city. A famine has broken out, with no harvest and countless people starving to death. The government granaries can only supply the victims for ten days. Meanwhile, grain merchants have formed a guild and are raising prices, increasing rice from thirty yuan per dou to three hundred yuan per dou. Note two: the merchants will absolutely not lower prices. Also note two: technological means cannot be used. How can you conduct disaster relief work without seeking external aid or deploying military forces, relying solely on the county's manpower and corvée labor? Describe your specific operational procedures."

Qin Feng frowned. This was a tricky question!

Disaster relief is a simple issue, but it becomes difficult under the various conditions and requirements.

First of all, growing grain is not feasible. Although there is now a technology that allows grain to mature in a week at an incredibly fast pace, the guidelines state that technological means are not allowed.

Secondly, asking for help is not allowed; it says above that asking for help is not permitted.

Finally, even if you arrest the grain merchants, it won't work because you don't have any law enforcement agencies at your disposal.

The current situation is like this: you're given dozens of errand runners, hundreds of thousands of starving people, and dozens of wealthy but heartless grain merchants as your enemies, leaving you with nothing to cook!

Qin Feng pondered for a moment. First of all, the purpose of the question was disaster relief, that is, to help the disaster victims get through the disaster year safely!

As long as you don't violate the above rules, you can pass the level if you achieve your goal.

After pondering for a while, Qin Feng picked up a pen and began to write.

"The art of diplomacy lies in maneuvering and controlling the overall situation. In the current situation, the bargaining chip in my hand is the government's grain supply."

"The government's grain is truly the last hope in the hearts of starving people, a heavy burden on the grain merchants, and also my backing and the capital I have to argue my case!"

"Without food, no one will listen to me even if I speak; with food, neither grain merchants nor starving people dare to offend me!"

"Therefore, if I were a Qin official, the first thing I would do is to solidify my position."

"Only by standing firm enough, speaking with a strong tone, and taking the initiative can one gain control."

"I will absolutely not open the granaries to release grain! Once the granaries are opened, the grain merchants will quickly discover that the government has no grain, and the grain merchants' guilds will definitely raise prices even more drastically!"

"At this moment, neither the grain merchants nor the common people know how much grain I have in stock, so they are all wary of me."

"At this moment, I hold the initiative, while they are on the defensive. This is a golden opportunity for me to strike! My first priority is to expand my capital, that is, to turn the grain merchants' capital into my own!"

"The grain merchant will offer 300 yuan per dou (a unit of dry measure), but I'm willing to pay 500 yuan per dou! I'll buy all the grain from the grain merchant! Then I'll sell it for 600 yuan per dou!"

"At this time, the government will pay if it has money, and if it doesn't, it will issue IOUs! First, buy all the grain from the grain merchants!"

"Then I started selling grain, buying it from the grain merchant for six hundred dollars and selling it to the starving people!"

"The starving people definitely can't afford it, and I never intended to sell to them anyway. I'm selling an attitude, a ruthless attitude. When the grain merchants see this, they'll definitely think I'm even more ruthless than them, and that I also want to profit from this famine year. At this moment, in the eyes of the grain merchants, I'm not an enemy, but a competitor, a partner! They want to sign long-term cooperative deals with me and sell grain to me!"

"I will simply write a large stroke of my pen and encourage them to compete to buy grain, preferably by borrowing money at high interest rates! With my skills as a strategist and my persuasive tongue, those grain merchants will surely exhaust their wealth and do everything in their power to scour the country for grain and transport it to the county town."

"When their grain ships arrive here, and I buy their grain, that will be my chance to change my strategy."

"I will simply renege on the previously signed grain purchase contract, then open the granary and release the grain, driving the price back down to three hundred yuan per dou!"

"At this point, it's not me who's panicking, but the grain merchants. They've borrowed money at exorbitant interest rates to bring in grain from all over the country, and they're forced to repay exorbitant interest. If they were to take the grain elsewhere to sell, not to mention the losses during transportation, they'd only get thirty yuan per dou (a unit of dry measure), while I could sell it for three hundred yuan per dou. So, to repay their loans, the grain merchants will inevitably be eager to get rid of the grain and will desperately try to find me!"

"At this moment, I will use the excuse that too many grain merchants are coming to me to start infighting and infighting among the grain merchants. In this way, each grain merchant will desperately lower the price of grain to alleviate the usury. In this way, the price of grain will soon return to 110 dou, or even 31 dou."

"Therefore, the first half of the disaster relief effort alleviated the urgent situation, and the starving and disaster-stricken people were able to obtain food."

"Looking back at the first half of the book, my sacrifice was nothing more than my reputation. In the early stages, I was cursed as a corrupt official by disaster victims, and later, I was angrily denounced by grain merchants for breaching contracts and being unjust!"

"What I gained was that the disaster victims were able to survive in the city under my jurisdiction, the grain merchants were taught a lesson, and while my infamy grew, my prestige increased several times over!"

"But then, the real key to disaster relief comes."

"Disaster relief and food provision are secondary; the most important aspect of disaster relief is providing employment opportunities."

"The key is to arrange jobs for the people so that they can work and support themselves through their own abilities."

"At this moment, if I want to make a difference, I still need to rely on those grain merchants whom I cheated once."

"I will definitely turn over a new leaf and then, in the name of my own mistakes, ask all the grain merchants to work together."

"During the meeting, we should appeal to their emotions and reason, telling those grain merchants that the exorbitant interest rates they owed were caused by me, and that I now have a truly lucrative business opportunity!"

"These grain merchants, constrained by their enormous economic pressure, were forced onto my official ship and have no choice but to join me in plotting great things."

"I told those merchants that you should quickly conceal the truth about selling grain at a loss, and then pay your creditors an unimaginably generous amount of interest ahead of schedule. What was originally 10,000 yuan a month in interest, you should pay 100,000 yuan directly! Tell them you've made a fortune! Then your loan shark friend will definitely be interested in your business, and at that point you can collect a sum of money and bring him on board!"

"At this point, the joining fee they pay is what we repay them with next month's interest! We continue to pay them high interest rates! And then we attract more greedy people to join us!"

"In this way, with interest compounding, everyone sees so much interest every day that no one will think about getting their principal back! If one or two people occasionally ask for a small amount of principal back, that's fine. But if it's a client with a large amount of principal, as a Qin official, I will use all sorts of official means to block these big clients and make sure they absolutely cannot get their principal back!"

"With this cycle continuing, new people will join every day, and new funds will flow in daily, leaving us with a lot of money. At this point, our clients will inevitably become suspicious: how can someone in the grain business be so wealthy? 🐼💚 6➈ᔕᝐ�᝕�ᝓ�.᝕�σᝐ� 🍫😲"

"At this moment, I will reveal to the merchants that the grain business is just a facade; in reality, we have discovered a gold mine! The core group of merchants is already under my control, and they will vividly describe how wonderful the gold mine is! It is because of the discovery of the gold mine that we have such huge profits!"

"Those guys on the periphery can make a lot of profits every month without lifting a finger. With the gold mine as a reassurance, they will put aside their doubts and continue to recruit people for me."

"And I must cooperate with their ideas. I will mobilize all the disaster victims in my jurisdiction to start construction, building bridges, roads, and riverbeds. If anyone asks, I will say that I am preparing for a large-scale shipment from the gold mine!"

"In this way, the people in the city had jobs and wages, merchants from all over the world had hope, and all the merchants under my command made money, so I became their savior."

"However, there's a hidden truth in this seemingly perfect cyclical policy: the gold mine is always a hoax; there is no real gold mine!"

"Once the secret of the gold mine is exposed, I will explode, and everything in the city will come to a standstill."

"But with my shrewd methods, the disaster year will pass before news of the gold mine is exposed!"

"Once the disaster year is over, even if the gold mine is exposed as fake, it won't matter. Those core businessmen who made money with me will have to pay the price for their ill-gotten gains. The usurers who were greedy for high interest rates will also pay for their greed. As for the people in the city, they just worked and got paid and bought food. They didn't suffer any losses."

"If anyone has to suffer a loss in this cycle, it's me. I've lost my personal reputation, status, power, and even my life!"

"But my life can bring an end to this human tragedy!"

"It's worth risking my life for!"

"My master taught me that the art of diplomacy lies in decisiveness! As the saying goes, decisiveness in matters of the heart and resolution of doubts means deciding what is most valuable and worthwhile to do."

"I used hunger to enter a predicament, surrounded by enemies on all sides. I used greed to lure the people of the world, and used grain as bait to lure the giant crocodile across the sea. I occupied the middle, displaying my masterful skills in maneuvering and diplomacy! I have no shame before the court, nor before the common people!"

"I have done the most worthwhile thing; what does it matter if I give up my mere life!"

"At the end of the exam, if I had another chance to choose between a good-hearted but mediocre official who is cursed by the people for being incompetent and a bad-hearted but corrupt official who is cursed by the people, I would still choose the latter."

"Student Qin Feng has finished answering the questions."

After Qin Feng finished writing, he checked the time. Almost five hours and fifty-eight minutes had passed, and he had less than two minutes left before he was forced to leave.

Qin Feng carefully reviewed it: a classic Ponzi scheme, gold mine speculation, compound interest, P2P lending, the "pirate ship" effect, classic empty promises, and speculative psychology!

I've done my best!

Man proposes, God disposes; how many points you get depends on fate!

Qin Feng submitted his exam paper at the last minute!

At this very moment, deep within the peach blossoms and the palace, scholars dressed in Confucian robes were busy at work, their voices constantly ringing out!

"Note: The AI ​​examiner has assessed 99.9999% of the exam papers. The remaining papers are excellent and require your careful review!"

"Hint: Han Feizi, the examinee in the Heavenly Examination Hall, has had his paper graded. Total score: 30, score: 28.8!"

"Notice: The exam paper of candidate [Wild God] in the Heavenly Examination Hall has been graded. Total score: 30, score: 15.0!"

"Note: The exam paper of candidate [God of War] in the Heavenly Examination Room has been graded. Total score: 30, score: 24.4!"

"Notice: The exam paper of candidate [Haoran Zhenxian] in the Xuan character examination room has been graded. Total score: 30, score: 29.9!"

"Hint: At this stage, only the star candidate [Strategist - Half a Move Ahead of Heaven] has not yet submitted his paper."

While grading the exam papers, Master Cen wiped the sweat from his brow, glanced at Danqiu Sheng who was equally busy beside him, and asked, "How's it going?"

Dan Qiusheng wiped the sweat from his brow. "All that's left is Qin Feng's exam paper!"

Master Cen said, "Could it be that it wasn't finished?"

Danqiu Sheng said, "As long as he writes, we'll give him at least 15 points. After all, he's a star candidate, we can't give him zero! It's like that 'Wild God,' I couldn't even bear to look at his papers. He actually wanted to use harsh punishments to kill all the disobedient starving people! He wanted to burn all the food and lead everyone to the Wild Mountain to become followers of the fire god Zhurong! He said that the great god Zhurong would bestow food and make everyone full! According to him, the food would fall from the sky! He has no common sense at all! It made my blood pressure rise!"

Master Cen said, "【荒神】is a bit slow on the uptake, and with the influence of Legalism, you have to understand why he has such thoughts. He's just stupid, not bad! You didn't see the paper of the Mohist 【侠仙】. That swordsman directly wants to lead the entire city's population to form the largest martial arts alliance, with himself as the leader, and start a nationwide Robin Hood-like movement! He wants to rob not only local grain merchants but also grain merchants from other places! He wants to kill all the rich people in the world! To achieve a utopian society! Master Meng almost tore up the paper after reading it, saying that the swordsman is just a local ruffian, with no vision and no understanding of governance, and he wanted to give him a zero. Fortunately, we persuaded him, and Master Meng gave him a minimum score of 15."

Just then, a voice rang out, "The file for 'Half a Move Away from Heaven' is out!"

Upon hearing this, the teachers all glanced at their watches. There was only one minute left before the mandatory submission of their papers. Was this "half-move victory over Heaven" trying to make us work overtime?

Absolutely! That strategist bastard just loves to annoy us. Even when it comes to handing in a paper, he always does it at the last minute, trying to make us work overtime!

The scholars were all grinding their teeth in anger at Qin Feng. This bastard was truly despicable! Even handing in his exam paper had that smug, arrogant style of the strategists!

At that moment, a gentle voice rang out from the platform where all the teachers were gathered, "Bring Qin Feng's exam paper!"

Master Cen whispered, "Master Meng will personally review it! Guess how many points it will get?"

Dan Qiusheng lowered his voice, "The strategists are quite adept at the art of diplomacy. Even if they can't get full marks, they'll definitely get 25 points."

The scholars stood below the stage, looking up at Master Meng behind the curtain. None of them were quite sure how high the level of "Winning Half a Move Against Heaven" was.

After all, the skill gap among the disciples of Guigu is too great. The most skilled disciples of Guigu, such as Zhang Yi and Su Qin, are the best in the world!

The Guigu disciples, Wei Zhuang and Gai Nie, are utterly useless; they're just two martial arts masters with absolutely no strategy or vision.

With such a wide range of skill levels, the newly recruited disciples should be of decent quality.

However, within the high platform and behind the curtain.

five minutes.

ten minutes.

twenty minutes.

Forty minutes!

One hour!

A full hour had passed, and the scholars below the stage were dumbfounded. Why hadn't Master Meng responded yet?

Is it possible that the "Winning by Half a Move" exam paper is even more absurd than those other oddballs?

Finally, just as several scholars were about to step forward to inquire, a long sigh came from behind the curtain: "If Heaven had not given birth to the Qin dynasty, the ages would have remained in perpetual darkness!"

These words caused an uproar in the room!

Mencius actually gave such a high evaluation?

If the Qin dynasty had not been born, the ages would have remained in a long, dark night!

Doesn't this mean that Qin Feng is more powerful, ruthless, intelligent, and cunning than all the previous disciples of Zongheng combined?

This assessment is the same as that of Han Fei, the great synthesizer of Legalism!

Han Feizi is hailed this year as the swan song of Legalism.

And now, Zongheng has come to an end!

At that moment, from behind the curtain, Master Meng spoke: "The Qin Feng examination paper, titled 'Half a Move Against Heaven,' has been graded. If its contents were made public, it would surely poison the world and bring disaster to the people. Therefore, its contents will not be made public but will be sent directly to the royal palace for the king to see in person!"

When Master Meng said this, everyone was even more bewildered.

Holy crap! What kind of content could make Mencius utter such ruthless words, words that, if made public, would bring ruin to the world?!

What exactly did this guy write on the exam paper that even Mencius thought would bring chaos to the world?

What kind of prodigy has emerged from the School of Diplomacy?!

At this moment, a scholar reminded them, "According to Master Meng, how many points should be awarded for 'winning by half a move against Heaven'?"

After pondering for a moment, Mencius said, "This man's methods can bring disaster to the common people, ruin the nation and its people, and lead countless people into a den of evil! 30 points is the limit for a person, but not the limit for his methods, much less his limit! Let's give him 100 points!"

The master beside him bowed and said, "Yes! [Half a move to defeat Heaven] Full marks 30, score 100!"

Master Mencius said, "The civil service examination this year is halfway through. For the remaining half, please do your best and avoid any mishaps!"

"Yes! Please rest assured, Master Meng!"

"Master Meng, please rest assured! The scores will be announced tonight after the internal debate concludes!"

"Please rest assured, Master, there will be no oversights in the work!"

After he finished speaking, the curtains on the high platform fluttered, and Master Meng had already disappeared.

The teachers have finally finished their morning work and are now having lunch.

After lunch, the second half of the preliminary internal examination will begin, selecting the top candidates from the Heaven and Earth Examination Hall to participate in tomorrow's liberal arts final!

My house has been without power for the past few days! This chapter was written at an internet cafe, so there's only one update today! I'll owe you one update for now, and I'll make it up to you all once it's published! I really don't want to stay in internet cafes anymore. The internet is too expensive, almost ten yuan an hour, and there's no night market or hourly rate. Everyone's smoking, and their feet stink! God! What a terrible environment! And even then, there are people waiting in line behind me to use the computers. Unfortunately, the whole area is without power. I'm going to log off now, or the guy behind me will beat me up. Time to get out of here and apologize!

Just to rant, writing a novel in an internet cafe was fucking awesome. The receptionist in black stockings, the blond internet cafe manager, the boss, and dozens of other people were watching me type, commenting on how I was doing. My shy personality almost killed me...

(End of this chapter)