"… This palace examination will be based on this topic. When the incense burns out, you must stop writing and hand in your papers. Do you understand?"
Under the magnificent hall, there were more than two hundred students sitting. They responded in unison, and when the start was announced, they picked up their pens and copied the topics they had just written down onto paper.
The topic of this palace examination was a bit biased, and most of the students looked a little sad after writing down the topic. It was because the topic of this palace examination was about the method of commanding troops.
They were all scholars who had books in their hands and had been educated by sages. It was clear that commanding troops was the duty of the military commanders, so why should they be embarrassed? Everyone complained in their hearts, but they did not dare to show it on their faces, lest others see the clues. They all looked like they were thinking hard. The only things they could use were the stories of the generals recorded in historical documents.
Of course, everyone's pessimism is not the same. Some people think it is difficult, while others think it is easy. Most of these people have military commanders in their families, or have married into the families of military commanders. They have a certain understanding of the current military camp situation. After a little thought, they started writing.
Pei Che sat among them, and was one of the more fluent ones. Because he had learned martial arts since he was a child, he was quite yearning for the military camp. When his parents were still alive, he had said childishly that he wanted to be a general in the future.
Emperor Liang Ping sat at the top and looked down at the students below with a dignified gaze. He took in everyone's behavior. Seeing those who had no clue and looked confused, Emperor Liang Ping couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Seeing those who frowned and thought hard, he felt a little relieved. Seeing those who wrote furiously and buried their heads in writing, he began to doubt and thought that the other party was perfunctory.
All kinds of contradictory thoughts lingered in his mind, making Emperor Liang Ping, who was sitting at the top, feel a little uncomfortable. He hesitated for a moment, then stood up and walked down, starting to walk back and forth between the students' seats.
Some students were so excited that they almost made the wrong words when they wrote. Some wanted to leave a good impression on Emperor Liang Ping, so they stood straighter and wrote with a righteous look on their faces.
Pei Che had had the experience of meeting the emperor alone before, so he was not curious about Emperor Liang Ping. Moreover, because of the relationship between his father and his mother, he hoped that Emperor Liang Ping would not pay attention to him.
However, things went against one's wishes. What one hoped for could not be obtained, but what one did not want to have could always be obtained. Not long after, Pei Che felt a figure standing on his left, as if he was looking at his answer sheet. He wanted to pretend that he did not know about this, but the figure beside him always stayed there and did not take another step forward.
In desperation, Pei Che simply spread out some of the answer sheets so that the curious Emperor Liang Ping could take a closer look. The Emperor Liang Ping was taken care of for a moment, but then he really moved closer and looked at it more seriously.
After reading it, Emperor Liang Ping's expression was somewhat different. Pei Che did not interfere with the existing form of the military camp or give them instructions. Instead, he took a different approach and found another way to recruit soldiers. The garrison system seemed simple, but it was difficult to implement. The first thing was that the people did not understand it and therefore found it difficult to cooperate. Of course, these things can be planned slowly. It takes time to reform the military camp and the way of recruiting soldiers.
Emperor Liang Ping had mixed feelings about Pei Che who came up with this idea. On the one hand, Pei Che was the son of someone he hated. He couldn't help but feel unhappy when he thought of Pei Che's origin from the Pei family of the Duke Zhongguo Mansion. On the other hand, Pei Che's talent aroused Emperor Liang Ping's love for talents. To be honest, the talents selected by the examination once every three years actually did not move Emperor Liang Ping. But when this article came out today, Emperor Liang Ping understood why Pei Che was so popular in the past. He was indeed a man with great ambitions.
Pei Che didn't know what had happened to Emperor Liang Ping. In fact, he was inspired by Jiang Miao to write such an article.
Pei Che summarized Jiang Miao's words, which were roughly: Instead of recruiting new soldiers every year, the court should directly train troops on the border. Let the troops stationed on the border unite with the local people. The army teaches them how to strengthen their bodies, and the people teach the army how to farm and plant. In their spare time, everyone works in the fields together to ensure sufficient food and grass, which can also reduce the burden on the court. In wartime, all people are soldiers, and there is no need to worry about the enemy threatening the people from behind. When fighting, they will be able to focus on the battle and naturally have a greater chance of winning. Maybe they can also attack from both sides and kill the enemy by surprise.
Pei Che initially thought this idea was fresh and interesting, but the more he thought about it, the more he thought it made sense. Although there were some problems that needed to be solved, it didn't affect the fact that this was a good idea.
After the incense burned out, Pei Che stopped writing, and a young eunuch collected everyone's answer sheets one by one. After they were all collected, they were sent to the back for the adults to judge.
Pei Che stood up and moved his body slightly, then went to the back to find He Chen. Last time, all four of them passed the provincial examination, but in the imperial examination, only He Chen and him were left.
He Chen was a pure scholar, and his expression looked a little strange at the moment. In previous years, the palace examinations occasionally involved questions such as the art of war, but they were not like this year, where everyone was asked to give their opinions directly on this topic.
Pei Che patted He Chen's shoulder to comfort him. It didn't matter if he ranked last in the palace examination. He Chen curled his lips. He felt that Pei Che had changed a lot since he got married. In the past, Pei Che was very competitive and a person who strived to be the best. He would never allow himself to be inferior to others. He would never move towards the golden mean like he does now. However, there is nothing wrong with this. What people fear most is not that others embarrass you, but that you embarrass yourself. Since the final result leads to the same path, what does it matter if you rank higher or lower
After they had eaten the lunch granted by the palace, they sat in the hall for nearly two hours before they finally waited for Emperor Liang Ping and his party to arrive. Everyone immediately returned to their seats and became very quiet.
Emperor Liang Ping didn't keep the suspense going. He said a few polite words and then had the final result announced. The rankings were announced from the back to the front. Pei Che pricked up his ears and listened for a long time, and finally heard his name in the eleventh place.
The rules of the imperial examination are: the first class is the top three, and the second class is a few. But the top ten are a little different, because they are strong competitors for the first class. Pei Che happened to be stuck in the eleventh place. Pei Che would not believe that there was no trickery by Emperor Liang Ping.
However, he did wrongly accuse Emperor Liang Ping this time, and he did not interfere with the final result, because he was also optimistic about the method written by Pei Che. It was just that the ministers who reviewed the papers felt that this method had not been put into practice, and even if it looked good, it was just a work of imagination, so they did not include it in the top ten.
Emperor Liang Ping wanted to say something as he flipped through the results, but when he thought about Pei Che's background, he stopped himself and let them go.
(End of this chapter)