My name is Wei Qing, and I want to fight the Xiongnu.

The lecturer took the exam paper, and his eyes lit up when he saw the handwriting. He thought to himself, "This slave's handwriting must have been practiced; it's really quite good."

Upon seeing the content again, the initial surprise on his face quickly turned into a frown.

As a lecturer, his abilities were not bad. He quickly judged that all five questions were answered without any mistakes and could even be considered standard answers.

In other words, Wei Qing approved of this discussion on military strategy.

However, the matter was far from over, and Wei Qing was not about to let it go so easily.

He reached out and patted the lecturer on the shoulder heavily, saying, "Don't overthink it, the answers are definitely correct. For the next assessment, I think we should make it a little more challenging."

Even if you value my talent, Wei Qing, and want to recruit me into the Imperial Academy, don't be so obvious about it. It's unfair to the other students.

Upon hearing Wei Qing's words, the nobles below erupted in a cacophony of discussion.

"What do you mean? Does the Imperial Academy really intend to give Wei Qing a free pass?"

"What does the Imperial Academy mean by this? Are they not even following Prime Minister Xiao's academy rules?"

"If you're going to confess, just confess. Why pretend to be virtuous when you're actually a prostitute?"

"Post Wei Qing's exam paper. I really want to see what kind of difficult questions the Imperial Academy gave Wei Qing!"

"Yes, I also want to know what kind of difficult questions the Imperial Academy set that a slave could answer so fluently!"

Hearing the nobles' protests, the lecturer turned to Wei Qing, a hint of shock and anger flashing in his eyes: You did this on purpose!?

Wei Qing did it on purpose, of course; he could tell at a glance that these questions were very obscure.

The key issue is that the test is designed to be difficult for the sake of difficulty, and it's designed to stump the test takers. As for how to break through the impasse, it has absolutely no meaning for students in command departments when applying it in battle.

Since the Imperial Academy has gone to such extremes, then I don't need to give them any face anymore.

Anyway, I answered all the questions on the test correctly. Now, are you going to make it public or not?

Don't be afraid of being suspected by those nobles if you don't make it public. These nobles are incredibly stupid. They will willingly be used as pawns by others if they are just slightly incited or fooled.

If you can use this knife, why can't I, Wei Qing, use it?

Conversely, if the exam were made public, the fact that the command department would set such a difficult and meaningless exam paper would inevitably be widely criticized.

This is what Consort Han meant when she said that by exposing the matter to everyone's view, even if the Imperial Academy were to resort to underhanded tactics, they would have to first understand the consequences they would have to bear.

Listening to the voices of the nobles, Wei Qing said quietly, "I think it's better not to show it to the nobles. Many of the nobles here graduated from the Imperial Academy, and many even graduated from the original command department."

Although he has never fought on the frontier, he must be quite proficient in discussing military strategy and tactics, and he should be able to spot the problems on the exam paper.

If the Imperial Academy were to suffer damage to my reputation because of Wei Qing, I could not bear the consequences.

Cao Ying, who was not far away, heard Wei Qing say this and immediately guessed that there was something fishy about the exam paper.

He strode over, making a move to snatch the exam paper from the lecturer's hands: "Take the exam paper out and let everyone here see what the questions are."

Don't say I'm meddling; if you really set an easy question, people will definitely try to pin it on the Marquis of Pingyang's residence, saying that I, Cao Ying, put pressure on the Imperial Academy."

"Yes, yes, yes, we must clear Marquis Pingyang's name!"

"Public examination papers!"

"Public examination papers!"

By this time, Cao Cao, Liu Che, Liu Bei, and other exceptionally intelligent individuals all realized that there was something wrong with the exam questions.

Ajiao looked at Liu Che beside her with a smile on his lips, somewhat puzzled: "Ache, why didn't the lecturer reveal the exam questions? It can't be because the questions were too easy, right?"

Liu Che shook his head and explained, "It's not that it's too simple, but that it's too difficult, perhaps even difficult for the sake of being difficult."

"Difficult for the sake of difficulty..."

"Yes, if it were just difficult, the lecturer wouldn't be in such a dilemma. I suspect that the Imperial Academy deliberately chose some obscure and uncommon questions to stump Wei Qing, and those questions might even be completely meaningless."

Gillian quickly had a new question: "If that's the case, Wei Qing could simply choose not to give the exam and just publish the questions so everyone can..."

This time, she didn't wait for Liu Che's reply; she already had her answer in her mind.

The reason is simple: people are not on Wei Qing's side.

Therefore, the so-called fairness that Wei Qing wanted simply did not exist.

Secondly, if Wei Qing answered incorrectly or failed to complete the exam, it wouldn't have a significant impact, no matter how difficult the exam was.

People will only remember that Wei Qing failed the assessment, not how difficult the exam was.

If you fail, no matter whether it's due to objective reasons or not, it cannot be an excuse.

A defeated general should not boast of bravery!

Conversely, if Wei Qing had answered all the questions correctly and then it was revealed that there were problems with those questions, the situation would have been completely different.

A hint of anger rose in Liu Che's eyes: "The people in charge of the departments are absolutely stupid!"

Those old fogies should never have tried to manipulate the exam questions.

See? If this exam question issue comes out, it definitely won't be easy to resolve.

Those exam questions were no challenge for a genius like Wei Qing, so how could they not stump the children of those noble families?

Thinking that their own children might fail the Imperial Academy entrance exam because of such an extremely obscure and meaningless problem, Ah Jiao, what do you think the nobles' reactions will be?

Chapter 31: The Crisis Facing the Command Department

Ajiao understood Liu Che's view, but there was still one thing she didn't quite understand: "Those nobles should know that the Imperial Academy set these obscure questions simply to eliminate Wei Qing, and not to target other students, right?"

Why not?

Liu Che countered, "The Imperial Academy has been enrolling more students year after year, and the number of students has been expanding rapidly, almost reaching the limit of the Imperial Academy. This year, because of Que Jiafu, a large number of geniuses from various schools of thought have been released, taking up a large number of places."

If this situation is just a flash in the pan, that's fine. But what if, in the next few years, enrollment isn't curbed and instead increases, exceeding the Imperial Academy's capacity? And if enrollment can't be reduced, what do you think the Imperial Academy should do?

"Archer means..."

"The Imperial Academy is divided into four stages: three, six, nine, and twelve. Every year, the Imperial Academy will decide which group of people will stay to continue their studies based on the assessment results, while the other group will be eliminated."

Competition is becoming increasingly fierce, but the number of people who can pass the assessment is limited.

The annual assessment of command departments also focuses on military strategy discussions, which now tends to be more about extracting key points from texts. As long as students are willing to put in the effort, everyone's grades will be about the same.

To differentiate these students' scores, the only option is to increase the difficulty of the exam questions. In recent years, the difficulty of the Imperial Academy's exam questions has been rising sharply every year.

Hasn't Gillian noticed? Many students are already complaining that the Imperial Academy's exams are just for the sake of exams, designed to weed out a group of students.

Ah Jiao understood. Even among the nobles, there were different ranks. Nobles like her, Liu Che, and Cao Ying could stay in the Imperial Academy for twelve years without having to take any exams, as long as they wanted.

However, the number of students in the Imperial Academy was in the tens of thousands, and nobles like them were a very small minority.

It is not to say that the sons of noble families who enter the Imperial Academy only know how to eat, drink, be merry, and indulge in romantic pleasures.

On the contrary, precisely because everyone in the Imperial Academy was a son of a noble family, the advantage of their noble status was diluted.

Especially in some popular departments, students still have to study hard for years, even resorting to extreme measures, all for the sake of the assessment three years later.

For ordinary sons of noble families like them, spending three years and twelve years at the Imperial Academy meant vastly different future prospects.

If someone is eliminated during the assessment process due to insufficient ability, that's fine.

I am inferior in skill and willingly admit defeat.

However, if the Imperial Academy sets some obscure questions and forcibly eliminates a group of people, those noble sons eliminated in this way will inevitably harbor resentment.

This dissatisfaction is even more pronounced when people see that certain special departments do not have much internal competition and that people can easily pass the assessments.

These new students may not realize it, but the older students at the Imperial Academy who are about to face the assessment for staying on as faculty members understand it very well.

These people were all sons of noble families, and their parents were also noble families...

Gillian finally understood, but then another question arose: "Wouldn't it be better for the command department to admit students based on their martial arts performance?"

Upon hearing Ajiao mention this, Liu Che's emotions instantly turned angry: "Not good!"

The lecturers at the Imperial Academy were divided into two groups: one group consisted of students directly promoted from within the academy, and the other group consisted of retired military officers who served as lecturers.

Generals who dealt with the Xiongnu and other barbarian tribes on the frontier for many years, like Zhou Yafu, who were both skilled in battle and of noble birth, would go directly to the imperial court upon returning to Chang'an, the capital city, and would look down on small institutions like the Imperial Academy.

Therefore, those who actually entered the Imperial Academy were generals of ordinary backgrounds who did not have much of a powerful backer.

These lecturers, who were promoted from the main academy, were divided into two factions because of their backgrounds.

The two sides fought fiercely, but in the end, even a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake. Those outside lecturers either chose to submit or were directly ruined and disgraced through various means.

Someone like Li Guang, if he didn't have the Li family of Longxi behind him, would have been kicked out of the command department long ago.

Liu Che said: "Now, from those old fogies in the command department to all the lecturers, apart from Supervisor Li Guang, who else has actually been to the border or been on the battlefield? They talk a good game on paper, but when it comes to actually fighting, they are all a bunch of useless people!"

With these people controlling the command departments, and in order to deal with the generals who had retired from the military and were assigned to teach at the Imperial Academy, they naturally had to constantly reduce the role of military exercises.

Ultimately, it all comes down to the struggle for power and profit. If it weren't for the pursuit of interests, the Imperial Academy wouldn't have evolved into what it is today.

But precisely because of this, it was only natural that the pro-peace faction firmly controlled the command department.

This method cannot cultivate truly talented individuals, and naturally, it is no match for the Xiongnu barbarians.

What if you can't win?

Then let's not fight, and try to maintain peace between the two races.

Otherwise, how could a department like the Command Department, which trains talent for the military, possibly advocate peace?

When the Imperial Academy was first established, the entire command department was a den of wolves. Every day when they lay in bed, they dreamed of killing the Xiongnu barbarians.

I can't sleep soundly until I've wiped out the Xiongnu barbarians.

However, Liu Che had to admit that it was precisely because of this method that the Imperial Academy, which was originally in decline, was able to grow rapidly.

Because the vast majority of freshmen have only average talent, and the command department is extremely dependent on talent.

If we only look at the results of martial arts competitions, that is, who has the strongest talent, then the vast majority of students will be ruthlessly eliminated.

The addition of military strategy discussions later revived the once deserted command department.

However, on the other hand, Liu Che only came to these conclusions after entering the Imperial Academy and conducting continuous investigations.

Wei Qing hadn't even entered the Imperial Academy yet, how could he know these things?

And then there's that group of old fogies from the command department. They might not be there for actual combat, but their theoretical knowledge is still very solid, so the questions they set are bound to be extremely tricky. It's somewhat surprising that Wei Qing was able to break through them so easily.