The Third Prince's resounding question immediately embarrassed the students who had gathered from all directions. Some of them wanted to ask back, "Can you tell the difference between rice and wheat, Your Highness?" However, their dissatisfied murmurs seemed to be heard by the Third Prince, and they were quickly answered.
"Some people may ask if I can recognize rice and wheat, and if I know how to cultivate the fields. Oh, I am afraid that those who doubt me will be disappointed. I have followed my teacher, Master Zhang, to the fields and rode a buffalo. I also saw my teacher lead the first-year student of Jiuzhang Hall, Ji Jiu, and several students of Banshan Hall to harvest wheat in the fields."
"I am young and weak, so I can't go to harvest wheat with others, but at least I have picked up wheat ears with my fourth brother, and I know the pain in my back and waist when working! Even my father is close to farmers, and local officials still want to encourage farmers, what about you? I came here in person today just to see if anyone would feel ashamed, but all I heard was boiling complaints, and all I saw was a mess!"
"My teacher, the Eastern Palace lecturer Yue Shanzhang of Zhaoming Academy, has shown mercy. If it was my father, or me, I would not give him even 20 points for those nonsense agricultural questions! If you are dissatisfied with those agricultural questions, I would like to compile and print out the agricultural questions of those who are dissatisfied, so that all scholars in the world can have a look!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the students who had been filled with righteous indignation and clamoring the loudest felt burning on their faces and wished they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. Some even had their thighs trembling, apparently thinking of the consequences of their articles being printed out and read by others, and then spread everywhere, with countless people laughing and making fun of them.
However, the ones who reacted more than them were Zhou Jijiu and Luo Siye. They had previously thought that the pie that fell from the sky was so delicious and tempting, but now they felt how difficult the dilemma they were facing was. Not to mention those students, they all wanted to tear up the full score ranking list outside!
But since he knew this was impossible, Zhou Jijiu could only bite the bullet and say, "Your Highness, please calm down. These students are just young and hot-tempered, and have little self-awareness. That's why they acted too radically. They are not questioning the questions set by the Crown Prince, nor are they questioning the results of the examination by the lecturers..."
Ever since King Jiangdu and Xu Heidao said that the examiners of the Eastern Palace were responsible for marking the papers, Zhou Jijiu knew that he would never question the result afterwards. He had originally thought that he would pick the tallest among the short ones, since there would always be a few people from the Imperial College who would become attendants of the Eastern Palace. But who would have thought that the selection that was supposed to only list the final admitted candidates would actually publish the rankings of everyone for the first time!
And just looking at the reactions of these students, we can tell that many people who think highly of themselves have failed, no wonder there is such great indignation! Of course, if the ranking is not announced, and only the admitted people are known, there may be all kinds of messy rumors going around, so the Eastern Palace has now laid everything out in the open, cutting off the way for people to question it!
Therefore, seeing that the Third Prince looked cold after he said this, it was clear that because of what happened today, the Crown Prince, who already had a deep prejudice against the Imperial College, had become even more dissatisfied. Zhou Jijiu could only steel his heart and force a smile and said, "Also, it is said that Banshan Hall also participated in this selection. I wonder what their ranking is and where it is posted?"