Just as Zhang Shou expected, the first young man who came in seemed to be one or two years older than him, but the confusion he felt when he was caught off guard was clearly written on his face. Especially after he performed the ceremony stiffly and the emperor asked the first question, he realized that the young man was stunned.
"Since this is your first time meeting me, then please introduce yourself and tell me about your strengths and weaknesses."
This seems a bit like a self-introduction in an interview...
When Zhang Shou was thinking this, the emperor said with a smile: "When Emperor Taizu was recruiting heroes from all over the world, it is said that every time he met someone, he would ask them to describe themselves, just like I am now. Oh, at that time, the world was in chaos, and they also asked them what martial arts they were good at. It's a pity that later, the imperial examination system became more and more complete, and the emperor rarely had the opportunity to ask his subjects these most simple questions in person."
The emperor narrowed his eyes slightly as he spoke, feeling a little emotional. In the past, those who could come before him were all officials who had a seat in the court. Everyone's resume was clearly laid out before him, but he didn't know their personalities. For example, small details such as hobbies, temperaments, and character that could not be fully explored depended on the little tricks of his father, Emperor Ruizong, at the end of his reign.
His father entrusted such a place to a surrendered minister who was regarded as a northern barbarian by others, but that surrendered minister managed it very well. He still remembered what his father said when he entrusted him with the task before his death.
"I came from a foreign vassal state to rule the world, and many officials and civilians in the world are not obedient enough. I have no choice but to use crooked ways to explore the personalities of officials and civilians. When you work hard to govern the country and the world prospers, remember not to use such tricks again."
The emperor did not expect to find out the ministers' secrets, but when people are extremely relaxed, they often reveal their true nature. And a person's true nature will affect the decisions and choices they make. Now that he has been on the throne for 26 years, he had originally planned to completely open up that place, but to his surprise, Zhang Shou actually contributed an interesting idea to Tingyu Cottage!
At this time, the emperor was thinking about these irrelevant things. It was not until he saw the first candidate trembling and failing to express himself clearly that he could not help but frown. Then he looked at Zhang Shou. They were both about the same age and had very different family backgrounds. Why was there such a big gap between them
Zhang Shou was also troubled by the incoherent words of the second son of the Ministry of Works. Seeing the emperor looking at him, he did not care what the emperor meant. He coughed lightly and said in a gentle tone: "What the emperor wants to hear is very simple, for example, who are the people in your family, what books you like to read, what are your hobbies, and what are your ambitions in the future."
Hearing someone talking, Xu Fan, the second son of the Ministry of Works, subconsciously looked in the direction of the voice. When he saw a young man with clear features and eyes like morning stars sitting on the emperor's lower right hand, whose appearance was so handsome that all his peers he had met were eclipsed, his original seven points of nervousness suddenly turned into ten points, and his mind was full of messy questions.
Who is that? Is that one of today's examiners? No, no, this isn't an imperial examination, where does the examiner come from...