Fang Yun nodded slightly to everyone and walked towards the palace under the guidance of the eunuch.
After walking a few steps, Fang Yun seemed to remember something, glanced up at the sky, and then returned to normal.
The capital city is thousands of miles away from Ning'an. There is snow in Ning'an, but the sky in the capital city is clear.
However, after Fang Yun took a look at the sky, he saw dark clouds gathering within a radius of hundreds of miles, and then a cold winter rain began to fall.
According to convention, the holy temples in various cities would not block this kind of drizzle, but now there was a banquet in the imperial palace and Xuanwu Avenue, so the holy temple released its power to block the rain around the imperial palace, and it only rained one mile away from the imperial palace.
It was already winter, and the leaves in the capital had almost all fallen. The drizzle made the scene even more bleak.
This banquet was far more grand than the previous early spring literary gathering. The palace was decorated with lights and was as bright as day, and there were banquets everywhere.
Fang Yun walked into the palace, and everyone stood up and cheered loudly.
"Congratulations to Fang Xusheng for becoming the top scholar!"
"Congratulations to Saint Fang Xu for being promoted to the top ten of the Saints!"
"Congratulations to Saint Fang Xu for becoming the first saint of the human race and the top ten."
…
Everyone congratulated Fang Yun in various ways. Today was a happy day and many people did not have too many reservations.
Fang Yun walked through the Fengtian Gate with a smile on his face and arrived outside the Fengtian Hall. This was the most honorable place for the annual top scholar banquet. Those who could sit in front of the Fengtian Hall were either high-ranking officials or members of famous families, or at the very least, they were celebrities well-known throughout the state.
Today, the fifty candidates who passed the palace examination are the focus, because they will go to the Holy Academy tomorrow to start their journey in the ocean of learning, and Fang Yun is the focus of the focus.
Here, 70% of the most famous scholars in Panorama Country gathered. It was a gathering of heroes, but when they saw Fang Yun, everyone still stood up.
Even the veiled woman sitting on the dragon throne pulled the young prince up.
"Lord Fang is here!" The young prince looked at Fang Yun in front of him excitedly. His eyes were brighter than the stars in the sky.
"Good winter, everyone!" Fang Yun bowed to everyone.
"Greetings, Saint Fang Xu!" Everyone immediately returned the greeting.
The little prince was wearing a bright yellow dragon robe and clasping his fists in a very formal manner, which made him look particularly adorable.
The banquet for the top scholar is more dull than ordinary literary gatherings. At the beginning, the Minister of Rites comes out to read a congratulatory message. The message is the common four-six parallel prose, which first congratulates all the saints, then the king, and finally generally praises the successful candidates in this year's palace examination.
After a short break, the court musicians and dancers walked to the stage in front and began to play music, which was an essential part of the ancient ritual.
After that, it was time to commend the achievements. Officials from the Ministry of Rites walked onto the stage, selected the top 30 candidates for the palace examination, and introduced each person's life and famous deeds one by one in order of ranking from lowest to highest. Finally, they talked about their achievements in the palace examination.
Those who boasted of their merits used their tongues to make thundering sounds, and their voices spread throughout the capital, and at the same time spread to the whole country through the holy temple.
After talking about the twenty-ninth person, the Minister of Rites walked down the platform, and the Minister of Rites Mao Enzheng came up to the platform himself, and spoke with a thunderous tongue.
"The number one scholar, Fang Yun, is from Ji County..."
Everyone listened quietly. Many people showed envy, because not only was Fang Yun praised by the Minister of Rites himself, but the content was also from the records of historians and officials, which was extremely detailed. It was far beyond the reach of others.
Qing Kingdom, Imperial Palace.
When the top scholar banquet started in Jing State, the banquet also started in Qing State.
Although no one from Qing State won a top grade in any subject this time, because the first snow fell in the north and the barbarians moved south, everyone had already regarded Jing State as a sure thing, which made Qing City even happier than Jing City.
The Minister of Rites of Qing Kingdom stood on the high platform with a smile on his face, praising the third place winner with his eloquent speech.
The third person in the palace examination this year is Zong Wude, who once worked with Fang Yun in Shengxu. However, because he did not follow the path of eclecticism and focused on Confucianism, he gradually drifted away from the Zong family.
After the Minister of Rites of Qing State finished praising Zong Wude, he looked at this year's runner-up of Qing State, Xiang Lancheng, the son-in-law of the Zong family.
Xiang Lancheng is not famous for his poetry, but he is a capable official. If he had not been unlucky, he would have at least achieved a first-class grade this year. In many aspects, he would be better than Yan Yukong, this year's number one scholar in Qing State.
Xiang Lancheng was the person that the clan had fully trained to compete with Fang Yun for the top rank. Although he failed in the end, he was not like Lei Shushan of the Lei family who was punished by the Hall of Rites for scolding Fang Yun, and ended up in a miserable state of having his literary talent tarnished and his qualification for the palace examination cancelled.
Xiang Lancheng is nearly thirty years old. He looks old and is a mature person. Even though he lost to Fang Yun, there was no negative news about him. He is highly respected in the county he is in charge of. If Yan Yukong was not so talented and strong in literature, history, and education, it is hard to say who will be the number one scholar in Qing Kingdom in the end.
If it had been the palace examination in previous years, he would have definitely been the top scorer.
When the Minister of Rites looked over, even though Xiang Lancheng was mature, his heartbeat suddenly quickened.
It is true that he lost to Fang Yun, and even to Yan Yukong, but Yan Yukong will definitely stay away from Qing Kingdom in the future, while he is the one that the clan has fully trained, and he will surely rise to prominence in the future, be appointed as a marquis and prime minister, and become famous throughout the world.
Xiang Lancheng did not feel frustrated at all. Both of them were too talented. However, Xiang Lancheng never gave up in his heart. Only at the last step could the winner be determined. There are many people who are very talented and famous when they are young, but very few of them have a good ending in the end.
Becoming the runner-up in the Qing Kingdom is the first step and an extremely important step, which means officially stepping onto the big stage of the human race!
When the Minister of Rites read out his name, Xiang Lancheng felt his whole body light. He knew that this voice would spread through the holy temple to all parts of Jing State and to his hometown, making those who looked down on him in the past ashamed, those who were hostile to him in the past regretful, and those who were more talented than him in the past but are now lagging behind upset.
Xiang Lancheng smiled and was full of confidence. He knew that it wouldn't be long before he could take control of the entire Qing Kingdom!
However, the Minister of Rites of Qing State had only recited three sentences when a more magnificent and louder voice exploded over the capital of Qing State.
"The number one scholar Fang Yun was from Ji County. When he was young, he was not well-known. He once studied hard by the Wudao River..."
The Minister of Rites of Qing State was originally trying to praise Xiang Lancheng, but now his voice was completely suppressed by the new voice. No one could hear him, so they could only shut up.
Everyone was inexplicably surprised. Why was Fang Yun being praised at the banquet to celebrate the country's top scholar
Everyone in Qing Kingdom stood up suddenly, and many of them almost slammed the table. This was even more arrogant than digging up someone's ancestral graves!
Xiang Lancheng's eyes were red, and he was almost furious and about to start cursing!
However, everyone endured it and realized that this was the situation.
Ten countries have the same pronunciation, and the whole world is celebrating their achievements!
This has never happened before. It only exists in legends, but today it actually happened in front of everyone!
Many scholars in Qing Kingdom were extremely angry, but reason told them that since it was to commend Fang Yun, then the fact that ten countries had the same pronunciation was understandable. After all, Fang Yun not only won the top ten places, but also made unprecedented contributions to the human race during the palace examination.
Everyone in Qing Kingdom listened to the endless stream of boasting and sighed softly. This time, they had to admit that Fang Yun truly overwhelmed his peers. No one in Qing Kingdom could compete with him.
Some people became fascinated as they listened, because the description of Fang Yun's achievements was very detailed and detailed, recounting Fang Yun's many contributions in full, making people more convinced the more they listened.
Unconsciously, some scholars who were not strong enough in literary talent began to feel ashamed and realized that they should not hate such meritorious officials.
Most of the scholars did not notice their changes, but the expressions of several great scholars present changed slightly. The great scholar of the Zong family even had a drastic change of expression!
The Holy Academy actually used the homonyms of the ten countries to influence the scholars of the world, so that the scholars of the world would reduce their hatred for each other!
In other countries, this effect was mediocre because most people supported Fang Yun. But in Qing Country, this was enough to shake the foundation of a country!
However, these great scholars had no way to deal with it. Fang Yun's recent contributions were too great. It was almost to the point where there was no more reward. It was completely fine for the Holy Academy to use the ten countries' homophones, and even the patriarch had no excuse to obstruct.
After a long while, the whole country finished showing off their achievements, and the ten countries stopped singing in unison.
There was silence in the Qing Palace for a moment, and some upright people of Qing couldn't help but praise Fang Yun.
Some people also felt that the previous attitude towards Fang Yun was too extreme, and they also affirmed Fang Yun's achievements from a neutral perspective.
However, some readers noticed that Xiang Lancheng clenched his hands and clenched his teeth, and could not help but show sympathy.
It was clearly Xiang Lancheng's turn to be praised, but it was rudely interrupted by Fang Yun!
This was almost equivalent to obstructing Xiang Lancheng's literary reputation, which was an unforgivable thing for scholars.
Even if the Minister of Rites would commend him again at that time, everyone would be influenced by the "Ten Countries Praising Each Other for Their Merits" and would not listen to the commendation of a runner-up. Even those people from Xiang Lancheng's hometown would probably pay more attention to Fang Yun.
Zong Wude, who was standing next to Xiang Lancheng, suddenly looked up to the sky and sighed, "It was a close call. Fang Yun, you finally let me go."
Others didn't understand what was going on, but Yan Yukong next to him was laughing secretly.
At the Mid-Autumn Literary Festival last year, five scholars who were to enter the Holy Ruins went on stage together to write poems, and Zong Wude and Fang Yun were on the same stage.
According to the rules, the master of ceremonies at the literary gathering should have introduced the scholars on the stage one by one and made each of them famous. However, when it was almost time to introduce Zong Wude, the evil king suddenly came forward to accuse Fang Yun, causing trouble.
After the situation calmed down, the host actually forgot to introduce Zong Wude and directly asked the five people to write poems.
Zong Wude was very depressed, but he had to write.
Afterwards, Zong Wude's fate became even more tragic, because after Fang Yun finished writing "Water Melody*When Will the Bright Moon Appear", he obtained too much moonlight, which triggered a mutation and caused him to enter the Holy Ruins ahead of time.
The poetry review session that Zong Wude had been looking forward to was gone and was moved directly to the Holy Ruins.
From beginning to end, the three words "Zong Wude" were never mentioned at the first literary gathering of the human race, and no one knew that such a person had ascended the stage of the first literary gathering of the human race.
Afterwards, whenever the friends from Shengxu got together, they would laugh at Zong Wude about this incident.
And today, Zong Wude finally avoided "Fang Yun's fatal attack" and was hit by Xiang Lancheng.
Zong Wude looked at Xiang Lancheng with pity. In fact, Xiang Lancheng was even more unfortunate than him. His fame at the Mid-Autumn Literary Conference was a bit false, after all, it only involved poetry. But this palace examination was a real one, which would have a great impact on Xiang Lancheng's future life and career.
For many Jinshi, the best chance to become famous in their lives is to be recognized at the No. 1 Scholar Banquet. Even if they become famous later, it will spread slowly instead of being forcibly announced to the whole country like today so that everyone can hear the name.
Zong Wude could even foresee that in the future someone would call Xiang Lancheng "the one who praised the merits after Fang Xusheng" or "the runner-up whose name cannot be remembered". Whenever Xiang Lancheng was mentioned in advance, many people would be confused. But once the second place winner after "Ten countries with the same pronunciation, praised the merits throughout the world" was mentioned, the people of Qing would remember him immediately.
"This is just the beginning..." Zong Wude shook his head.
(To be continued…)