The day of the Spring Examination arrived quickly.
Xie Zhaoan, as the chief examiner, arrived at the examination room with the prince. The emperor was also very concerned about this spring examination. After hearing that Xie Zhaoan and others had arranged this spring examination, he came to investigate. He was very satisfied with the fact that everyone in the examination room was very well-behaved. He patted Xie Zhaoan's shoulder with his big hand and sighed.
"Having a son like this is a blessing for me and the whole country!"
With the prince personally in charge, no one dared to do anything wrong in the examination room, and everyone looked very satisfied with the situation.
However, after the Spring Examination was over, the prince's expression changed drastically.
"What did you say? The questions in this exam room are not Ning An's questions!?"
"Your Highness, that's right. The questions in the exam are from the Four Books and Five Classics that we took before. We haven't reviewed these things yet. Now that we are in the exam room, we are like blind people who know nothing! Your Highness, what should we do?"
The prince was so angry that his face turned blue and he kicked him directly.
"What should I do? What should I do? Get out of here and see who is as arrogant as you. You live in the Prince's Mansion, wear the best clothes, eat the best food, and now you are asked to take the imperial examination. You are just like trash, you don't know anything, and now you come to ask me, what should you do? Today, I will kill you to correct the style of the Prince's Mansion!"
The prince's companion almost crawled on his knees to hug the prince's legs.
"Your Highness, please calm down. These people are just idiots. Why should Your Highness bother with them? Your Highness, this matter is indeed strange. These people are all candidates for the Spring Examination. When the results are announced in the future, no matter what their rankings are, if they die, it will eventually attract attention. Be careful not to get into trouble!"
"Besides, this Spring Examination is really too strange. I wonder what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince thinks?"
The prince then calmed down a little. He placed his fingers on his companion's face and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"You are right. There is something fishy about this matter. This must be the work of Xie Zhaoan. It is too strange that a useless person like him who came out of the cold palace has so many little thoughts. Check it out for me!"
The Spring Examination is over.
When the results were announced, everyone in the court looked at the unveiled list with strange expressions, and the prince's party couldn't help but speak out.
"Your Majesty, there have been annual exams in previous years, and we all know the results of each year. This year, the list after the Fourth Prince's reform does not include the winners of the annual exams in previous years. Isn't this result a bit biased?"
The emperor nodded and looked at Xie Zhaoan.
"My son, what do you think?"
Xie Zhaoan bowed and spoke.
"Since I wanted to reform the imperial examination, there have been many discussions and arguments. Now there are even rumors that there is something wrong with this matter. However, the invigilator of this exam is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. His invigilation has always been fair and there will never be any mistakes. As for the person who prepared the test paper, he is also a famous teacher in the Imperial College who is known to everyone. How could these two people cheat?"
Everyone was speechless. Before, everyone thought that Xie Zhaoan was going to use Ning An's posthumous work to set questions. Originally, these people were planning to make a fuss about this, but who knew that in the end Xie Zhaoan actually let the famous teacher of the Imperial College set the questions. He was the one who set the questions in the past, and he was the one who set the questions again this year. If this was the case, how could it be considered cheating
The man was speechless and his face looked quite ugly, but Xie Zhaoan had no intention of letting it go.
"Since you all believe that this exam will be correct according to my current arrangements, then you should have no objection to the results of this exam. In this case, the previous results may be fake. Your Majesty, I beg Your Majesty to conduct a thorough investigation of those who have won many first prizes in the past to see if there is someone behind the scenes manipulating them, making this court a tool for forming cliques and pursuing personal interests!"
Everyone's faces changed drastically. No one had ever dared to speak openly about forming cliques for personal gain in the court.
Everyone knows that in officialdom, if one wants to gain a foothold, taking sides is the most natural thing, let alone forming a clique. Over the years, these officials have formed an unspoken understanding of this under the unspoken rules of officialdom. Now, Xie Zhaoan suddenly pointed this out, which is undoubtedly intended to break the unspoken rules of officialdom. Naturally, everyone feels more surprised.
His Majesty was very pleased with this.
"In this case, what do you plan to do, my son?"
"Please allow me to investigate this matter thoroughly. Within three months, I will get to the bottom of this matter!"
"Okay! Since my son has such ambition, I will agree to it!"
After the court was dismissed, the prince deliberately walked to Xie Zhaoan and spoke with a sneer.
"My dear brother, I have never noticed you before. I never thought that my dear brother would have such ambition and dare to deceive me and fool me around like a fool."
"Your Highness, I don't understand what you are saying, and I don't understand what your Highness is doing at this moment. Are you blaming me? But I didn't do anything wrong, did I? Your Highness was the one who supervised the exam, and I never tried to stop him. But your Highness seemed to have made a lot of small moves."
The prince sneered.
"My dear brother, you know that in the officialdom, standing on the right side is a very important thing. Sometimes, if you stand on the wrong side, you will be courting death."
"Which side does Your Highness stand on? I don't know what it means to stand on a side. I only know that what I want is a peaceful and peaceful world."
When the prince heard this, he laughed mercilessly. He walked out with big strides, as if he was mocking Xie Zhaoan's stupidity.
There are actually people in this world who care about the so-called peace and prosperity in the world, and don't they think their behavior is terribly stupid
Xie Zhaoan didn't care about the prince's ridicule at all. Three months was enough for him to cleanse the evil party in the court. By then, Jiang Wei would be back, and everything would return to the way it was before.
This world should be clear and bright, and it should not be like it is now. The court has become an institution for them to fight for power. Xie Zhaoan admitted that he was not as devoted to the country and the people as he seemed to be, but at least, he was better than those people.
Xie Zhaoan took off his robe, threw it to the servant beside him, and walked forward with big strides. The man's steps were brisk, as if he didn't want to be bound by anything in this world.