Chapter 1534: The Unsatisfactory Second Review Result

"Rixin, you lost your composure just now!" After Xu Shilian withdrew, Liu Yang looked at Murong Defeng, who was still somewhat indignant, and said with a light laugh.

Hearing this, Murong Defeng said, "Your Highness, that man's arrogant and presumptuous manner was excessively rude, truly intolerable. A failed examinee being so overbearing and bold is rarely seen. Even if such a man truly has some learning, what use is there in taking him? The court cannot tolerate such wild and unruly types!"

"You are too agitated!" Liu Yang shook his head and said, "I can see that this man is indeed confident. Without that rebellious spirit, he probably would not have dared to boldly storm the palace, strike the petition drum to appeal, and poke a hole in the heavens.

This kind of courage is rarely seen among scholars who write essays. On this point alone, Wu Jichuan is far inferior to him.

It's just a pity that when the examiners review papers and select candidates, although they value talent, the judgment of that learning still relies on essays and answers; personal bearing is hard to reflect on the page."

Heaving a sigh, Liu Yang continued, "Xu Shilian's posturing just now was indeed repulsive. However, if one stands in his position—devoting himself to study, sparing no effort, traveling from afar to take the exam, only to fail—it is inevitable that his state of mind would become unbalanced."

"Your Highness's words, I dare not agree!" Murong Defeng said. "Which of the scholars who come to the capital has it easy? Which of them has not studied diligently and yearned for the court's favor? Why should Xu Shilian alone be special?

In past examinations, the number of those who failed is countless. If everyone were like this man—upon failing, immediately questioning the fairness of the court's selection, picking quarrels, and slandering high ministers—then where would the dignity of the court's institutions be?"

"But this time is different from the past!" Liu Yang said. "Just now I was observing him the whole time. That look of righteous indignation did not seem feigned. Clearly, he is convinced in his heart that Teacher Li showed favoritism in selecting candidates! If so, how could he be convinced otherwise?"

"Your Highness, you are still too lenient!" Clearly, Murong Defeng was not persuaded.

Liu Yang shook his head slightly: "His Majesty has entrusted this matter to me to investigate, and what we need to figure out now is exactly what went wrong. What puzzles me now is why Xu Shilian was so certain that the selection was fraudulent!"

Hearing Liu Yang say this, Murong Defeng suddenly recalled Liu Yang's final question from earlier. His expression stiffened, and he said in a low voice, "Does Your Highness believe someone is secretly stirring things up, adding fuel to the fire?"

Liu Yang's face was impassive—the answer was obvious. After a moment of deliberation, he replied, "Merely a suspicion!"

But Murong Defeng took it to heart, as if a new line of thought had opened up. He cautioned carefully, "Your Highness, if that is the case, we must be even more vigilant.

If someone is obstructing from within, what is their purpose? Are they targeting Chancellor Li, or are their intentions aimed at Your Highness?"

As he spoke, Murong Defeng glanced at Liu Yang. Seeing that he remained silent, he grew more certain of his own thinking and continued, "The relationship between Chancellor Li and Your Highness is known to the entire court.

Whether this matter succeeds or not, Chancellor Li is already mired in deep trouble—at best, his reputation is destroyed in one stroke; at worst, his life is at risk! But either way, Your Highness may lose a right-hand supporter.

What is more concerning is that His Majesty has now placed this case in Your Highness's hands, thoroughly dragging Your Highness into this murky water. This is clearly disadvantageous to Your Highness.

Rumors are fearsome. If this is mishandled, it would be a blow to Your Highness's prestige!"

The more Murong Defeng spoke, the graver his expression became: "Such hidden arrows are truly chilling. The person behind this has a venomous mind! Your Highness, you must be on guard!"

"Rixin!" Seeing Murong Defeng's conspiracy theory growing ever more elaborate, Liu Yang finally could not help but cut him off. After a pause, he said, "You are too suspicious!"

"Your Highness!" Seeing this, Murong Defeng immediately proposed, "That Xu Shilian must have problems. He should be interrogated again to dig out the mastermind behind him!"

"Rixin, remain calm and composed!" Liu Yang directly refused as well: "Xu Shilian now draws the attention of the entire court. If we resort to excessive measures against him, we would lose the moral high ground even if we were in the right!"

Murong Defeng was a clever man. After calming down somewhat, he acknowledged, "It is this minister who let his concern cloud his judgment! But—"

Liu Yang said, "Let alone whether things are as you say—even if such a person truly exists, stirring up trouble in the shadows, with such schemes, how could they easily reveal their tracks?

As this matter has developed to this point, it is merely a failed examinee who, unconvinced and suspecting injustice, struck the petition drum to appeal, stirring up this commotion.

Even if there is something to it, I see that Xu Shilian is only a pawn being used. Pursuing him too aggressively serves no benefit and would even give others ammunition and fodder for gossip.

Xu Shilian cannot be touched!"

"Your Highness, this minister believes…" Murong Defeng still would not give up and wanted to advise further.

But Liu Yang would not listen. How could Murong Defeng know that Liu Yang had no suspicions of his own about all this? He simply did not wish to dwell on it. Even if he did think about it, he should not say it out loud. Fortunately, there were only the two of them in this room.

"I have my own views on this matter. For now, His Majesty has entrusted this task to me. Doing the job well and getting to the bottom of the facts is what should be done. As for the rest, do not overthink it!" Liu Yang said in a low voice.

Murong Defeng opened his mouth, then finally sighed and acknowledged the order, though his expression remained grave.

With this exchange, the atmosphere in the room grew somewhat strained. Liu Yang pondered in silence, while Murong Defeng gradually calmed down. After a moment, Murong Defeng broke the silence: "How does Your Highness plan to break this deadlock? Although His Majesty has not set a time limit, in this minister's view, this matter should be settled quickly and decisively. The longer it drags on, the greater the impact.

Right now, both in and out of court—especially the scholars who took this year's examination—are watching this matter closely. If rumors are allowed to spread freely and doubts take root in people's minds, the damage to the court's examination system would be too great!"

"Do I not know this as well!" Liu Yang said in a low voice. "The impact of Xu Shilian's appeal to the throne is truly damaging. The court needs to produce a definitive conclusion, give the realm an explanation, and reassure the people!"

"Come, let's go to the Guangzheng Hall!" Liu Yang set off as he spoke, giving an impression of swift and decisive action. He said as he walked, "I wonder how Chancellor Zhao and the others are progressing with the re-review of the examination papers!

No matter how the rumors swirl, to prove Teacher Li's innocence, the results of the re-ranked papers are the most powerful evidence. I observed that Xu Shilian does seem to have some talent. However, since the original examiners rejected him, there must be a reason—one that needs to be compelling enough to convince everyone!"

The imperial city, Guangzheng Hall.

In this year's spring examination, over three thousand scholars participated. Among them, the jinshi examination, being the most popular subject, also had the most candidates, accounting for nearly forty percent of the total.

However, the quota set for the jinshi examination this year was only thirty people—a ratio of nearly one in thirty. It must be said that this ratio was even more extreme than in the past, and this was on the premise that the court had already increased the quotas for other subjects such as classics, history, mathematics, agriculture, and medicine.

But sometimes, the fiercer the competition and the higher the threshold, the more people eagerly participate. No matter how the court advocated for diversification of examination subjects, in the minds of most scholars, the jinshi examination always stood above the others—it could be described as standing alone in excellence.

In the eyes of most scholars across the realm, passing the jinshi examination meant becoming an official—it was the most advantageous path to an official career. Even though passing other subjects also led to office and offered room for advancement, with the possibility of transferring from technical positions to official ones, scholars would still rather devote themselves to the jinshi examination whenever they had the chance.

The thirty examiners selected by Zhao Pu from the Hanlin Academy and various ministry offices, after a full day and night of continuous review, had finally produced a result.

When Liu Yang arrived, the people had not yet dispersed and all bowed in salute. Liu Yang returned the salute to Zhao Pu and, without any preamble, directly asked, "Chancellor Zhao, what are the results?"

Seeming to sense the urgent anxiety beneath the Crown Prince's calm expression, Zhao Pu calmly took out two lists and presented them to Liu Yang for inspection: "Your Highness, this minister and the other officials have completely re-reviewed and cross-examined all 1,134 jinshi examination papers. Combining everyone's assessments, we have redrawn the rankings—these are the results. Compared with the list previously submitted by Academician Li, there are nine differences!"

Hearing this, Liu Yang's expression immediately darkened. A discrepancy of thirty percent was no small proportion—almost visible to the naked eye. There was definitely a problem here.

"Are you certain there are no errors?" Liu Yang frowned right in front of Zhao Pu and asked in a low voice, his tone unavoidably skeptical.

Zhao Pu could understand the Crown Prince's emotions. He was just about to speak unhurriedly when he was interrupted by a call of "Your Highness."

Lu Duoxun, standing nearby, took the initiative to speak: "The officials who participated in this review are an entirely new batch compared to the previous one, and the work was done in haste. It is only natural that the results differ somewhat.

On the contrary, this minister believes that the fact that twenty-one people still appear on both lists after two batches and two reviews is sufficient to prove the fairness of the selection.

Furthermore, we have also re-examined and re-evaluated the papers of the eighteen people in question. In terms of their answering ability, there is no excessively wide gap—it merely comes down to how the reviewing officials judged them!"

Liu Yang's caliber was naturally sufficient—he understood Lu Duoxun's meaning clearly. He too had fallen prey to letting concern cloud his judgment. In fact, the current examination scoring relied too heavily on the subjective opinions of the reviewing officials. It was common for the same policy essay to receive widely different scores.

In fact, from the moment Emperor Liu had Zhao Pu select a new batch of people to review, it was predetermined that the resulting list would differ from the one Li Fang had submitted.

Having figured this out, Liu Yang's solemn expression finally relaxed somewhat, yet he still did not appear at ease. A discrepancy of nine people could not prove that Li Fang had committed fraud, but neither could it prove his innocence.

Worse, with these nine discrepancies, if word got out, it would only strengthen the belief of those who insisted the selection was flawed.

His furrowed brow reflected his conflicted state of mind. Seeing this, Zhao Pu temporarily suppressed his displeasure at having been interrupted by Lu Duoxun, made a slight bow, and said softly, "Your Highness, the reviewing officials are still resting in the side hall. Should this minister give them some instructions?"

"What does Chancellor Zhao mean?" Liu Yang turned his head and fixed his gaze on Zhao Pu, sensing something unusual in his words.

Zhao Pu lowered his voice further: "Your Highness, this matter concerns the dignity of the court and the fairness of the examination system. After our review, we are unanimous in concluding that there was no favoritism or personal bias. In this minister's view, to uphold the court's dignity, a public announcement should be made stating that both reviews produced identical results!"

Clearly, what Liu Yang was worried about, Zhao Pu had also thought of, and he had proposed a solution. On this matter, Zhao Pu's stance was also firm—without conclusive evidence proving Li Fang's fraud, he would firmly support him.

This was not only because of the Crown Prince's connection, but also because, as the court's chancellor, he naturally had to uphold the court's authority and credibility. Damage to the court's reputation would not benefit him either. And if a major fraud scandal truly emerged within the court, even if he was not specifically responsible, how could he, as chancellor, truly remain above the fray and bear no responsibility at all?

With such considerations in mind, Zhao Pu's attitude becomes understandable!