Chapter 507: The Last Fire

The Great King propped his chin, boredly looking down, feeling the whole hall's atmosphere had frozen.

It's not that these two hundred lack literary talent, nor that they lack historical perspective; it's just that the preliminary exam was too easy, making people let their guard down—when the palace exam came, they got a kill‑question, is that okay?

The examinees in the hall began to miss the easy points questions of the preliminary exam that they had looked down on.

Xie Tu is fine; he's been the Great King's mouthpiece and enforcer every day, so there's no need to beat around the bush about his stance in exam essays.

He directly broke the topic: 'Use martial force to end war, a plan to open eternal peace for myriad generations.'

He began scribbling his draft, swipe swipe swipe, and the Great King left his seat to wander. Xie Tu wasn't his main observation target; the focus was on the playboys he had brought out during last year's drought inspection—people like Xie Shu, Lu Jia, Lu Xing, and others.

The Great King standing beside them wasn't out of concern; it was pressure, a reminder.

Study hard, think about the Northwest Great Farm! If you do poorly, you might very well have to go back to farming—anyway, I can't stand watching you all stay at home as idle rich.

He walked up behind Yang Fang and saw that his handwriting was very beautiful. 'In a chaotic age, the leader must see order collapse and the realm lack a lord. Therefore, the first task to end chaos is to accept the Heavenly Mandate and follow the people's hearts, foremost advocating righteousness…'

The Great King blinked, wondering whether this guy who claims to have jumped out of reincarnation is making this hypothesis, or simply refuses to acknowledge Baili Jin as the lord.

You're quite crafty, interesting!

Today's chief examiner in the hall is Grand Tutor Xu; he looked up, saw the Great King honestly watching others answer in the center of the hall, and went back to his own work. Looking up again, the Great King was inspecting the southeast corner, at peace.

After waiting for the third time to look up and seek the Great King's figure, the Great King had vanished!

He hurriedly checked the corner where Ling Yin had been standing—it was also empty……

Great, he'd only been pretending for less than half an hour.

Even after the afternoon palace exam ended, that guy never showed up; later, when blind‑grading the papers, he never caught a glimpse of anyone, claiming nobody was more professional than Xie Yuan and Lu Tong. Once the top three were chosen, he could then go on to rank them first, second, third.

Fortunately, there's only one salted fish in the Northern Border; Xie Yuan, with his team, sifted through the two hundred exam essays in two days and picked out eighty‑eight. All the Great King had to do was rank a few of the standouts.

The Great King came bouncing over, saying, 'All the names are blurred; I know quite a few of these two hundred people. If I revealed whether I'm being nepotistic or not… well, for the sake of fairness, let's keep them blurred!'

Xie Yuan, who has several nephews and disciples taking the exam: ……

Lu Tong, former Grand Tutor of Fanyang Academy, which supplies half the exam candidates: ……

He had to pick the top three from five people and then rank them; any essay that made the top five would be outstanding literary talent, beautifully written—frankly, all of them are better than what he could write.

The Great King is very pragmatic; without hesitation he chose his own people who analyze the situation from the Northern Border's perspective.

At this point, whether the essay is flashy or not isn't that important; the Great King, holding his chin high, thought, 'Someone like Yang Fang, who takes a bystander's viewpoint, has no chance of making the top three!'

Even though the names are blinded, Xie Tu has written so much homework for him—how could the Great King not recognize his handwriting? The Great King carefully read through Xie Tu's genuine, un‑downgraded policy essay that he had written earnestly, and after a while sighed, 'I didn't realize Xie Tu could write homework this well!'

Xie Yuan: ……

That guy unhesitatingly put Xie Tu first, placed the essay of Yang Fang whose opening he had seen in fourth, and had Xie Yuan rank the sixth through twelfth as well.

The day the Northern Border's first imperial exam results were announced coincided with the release of the new issue of the Northern Border Weekly; the newspaper left blanks for the names, filling them in as soon as the results came out. At dawn, just as the sky began to lighten, the paper sellers and those posting the lists appeared together.

Number one on the list, Xie Tu, who also serves as the newspaper's editor‑in‑chief, had already proofread the press release; aside from him, nearly everyone involved went out to check the rankings.

A dense crowd packed the biggest square in East Ward, where a wall is specially reserved for notices; every time the government issues an order, it gets posted there.

The Youzhou Guard opened the way with gongs, then pasted the scarlet ranking list onto the notice board.

Top three: Xie Tu, Zhou Huang, Lu Xin

Fourth place was Yang Fang, fifth Liu Wen; Lu Jia made it into the top twelve as a second‑class scholar, Xie Shu and Lu Xiu were among the top eighty‑eight, only Lu Xing was unlucky enough to fail.

Among them were some just testing the waters, not really caring much about gain or loss—but when Lu Xing saw he had failed, it felt like the sky had fallen! He sensed a dark cloud drifting over, looming solely above his own head, wondering if this failure would send him back to study radish pests and diseases. The very thought made Master Lu's face turn white with fright.

At that moment, many in the watching crowd were from Fanyang Academy; quite a few who knew Lu Xing saw his pallor and then looked at the list, all expressing concern: 'No way, Lu brother, if you didn't pass you didn't pass—why does your complexion look so awful?'

Lu Xing had lost all zest for life, saying, 'You don't understand—my future has caved in.'

Classmates: ……Huh?

Lu Jia dragged over his excited, prize‑winning‑looking brother Lu Xiu, saw the situation and comforted his younger sibling: 'It's fine, we'll try again next year—Your Highness said they hold it every year!'

Lu Xing remained unmoved, still despondent, 'What am I supposed to do this year? Your Highness wants me to go pest‑control and plant trees? Or… I could just stay stationed at the academy and not enter the city!' That guy suddenly woke up, without hesitation turned and ran—he wanted to leave the city for the academy right away! The Great King's deterrent power is unstoppable.

Meanwhile, the issued newspaper deliberately listed the names of the two hundred who passed the preliminary exam, and also didn't omit the final eighty‑eight admitted; the Great King blocked off the routes of all these people completely.

If you don't play with me, later mixing with others will also leave a stain~

This list circulating in the Northern Border isn't surprising at all—it's just the gossip‑mongers gathering to chatter about where the top few come from; scholars weigh in on whether Qingyang Academy or Fanyang Academy is stronger, counting how many from the Xie clan and the Lu clan each made the list.

But in the Great Jin and other powers, this list isn't seen that way.

The list conspicuously shows many scions of prestigious clans: Chen Commandery's Xie Tu, Hongnong's Yang Fang, Hedong's Liu Wen, Fanyang's Lu Xin; aside from the second‑place Zhou Huang, all are prominent clans renowned across the Great Jin.

When did you all start playing together with the Northern Border King!

For now they still write their native place, but what about later?

Could it be that these people have already become registered residents of Youzhou!

Originally, the undercurrents surging in Jiangnan were shaken up by this list. Chang'an, as expected, flew into another impotent rage, and without tiring sent up a memorial rebuking the Northern Border—not just the Great King, but they also dispatched it to the great clans that took part in the exam.

The Great King didn't even look, just tossed it into the brazier, saying, 'What's it got to do with me? Yang Fang and Liu Wen dropped into my bowl on their own!'

Great King Innocent·JPG

I never expected he'd summon labor back, adding a spark to this chaotic situation—and it's a blazing fire.