The news in the court had been widely spread by those with intent.
At the entrance of the Imperial Examination Hall of Great Qi.
The noon sun shone on the gate, illuminating the sacred characters “Imperial Examination Hall.”
Yet today, the scene outside the gate was utter chaos.
Thousands of scholars in Confucian robes were sitting or standing, completely blocking the main gate of the hall.
Some held white banners with shocking slogans written in bold characters:
“Revoke the New Policies! Give Us Back the Imperial Exams!”
“Remove the Traitor Li An!”
“The Eight-Legged Essay is the Way of the Sages, How Can You Abolish It?”
The scholars were clearly organized and deliberate, their anger boiling over, their chants echoing like thunder:
“We have endured over a decade of cold window study just for today’s imperial exam!”
“And now they want to test practical knowledge instead? Absurd!”
“Li An harms the country and its people, he deserves death!”
“Boycott! Boycott! Boycott!”
A young scholar stood in the crowd, furious, shouting:
“Everyone! I, Zhang Sanli, have studied since childhood, began learning at six, endured twelve years of harsh study, and finally waited for this exam!”
“And the result? The court says we no longer test with the Eight-Legged Essay!”
“So my twelve years—was it all for nothing?!”
“Yes! All for nothing!”
“Li An harms the people!”
“Down with Li An!”
“He became the top scorer himself and then abolished the Eight-Legged Essay! The biggest scoundrel of all scoundrels!”
The crowd immediately erupted in agreement.
An elderly scholar with graying hair shakily stood up:
“I am sixty-three this year, and I have been taking the imperial exams for thirty years, just one step from success…”
“And now you tell me the rules have changed?”
“I refuse to accept it! I refuse even in death!”
Tears streamed down his face.
The surrounding scholars hurried to comfort him:
“Sir, please hold your grief!”
“We will seek justice!”
At the front of the crowd stood Kong Wenyuan, the Chief of the National Academy, his hair bristling with anger and passion:
“Fellow scholars! Today’s matter concerns the scholars of generations to come!”
“If we allow Li An to act recklessly, the orthodox Confucian tradition will be destroyed!”
“The Way of the Sages has been passed down for two thousand years; can it be ruined in a single generation?”
“As scholars, we would rather die than yield!”
“We would rather not take the exam than bow to evil!”
“Excellent!”
The scholars responded in unison, their voices resounding through the long street.
Even the common people watching whispered among themselves:
“What’s wrong with these scholars? Weren’t they going to take the exam? Why are they boycotting?”
“I heard it’s because that Lord Li wants to reform the exams.”
“Reform? So what? Why make a fuss?”
“You don’t understand. These scholars make their living from the Eight-Legged Essay. Change it, and they have nothing to eat!”
“Oh… so that’s why…”
“But I also heard that what Lord Li says makes sense… even we common folk could become officials now!”
“Really? That’s great then!”
“Shh… quietly, or those scholars will hear and scold us!”
…
At the top scorer’s mansion.
Li An stood by the study window, looking at the reports brought by Jin Daya, delighted beyond measure.
Hongmei stood beside him, worried.
“Lord Li, it’s chaotic at the exam hall gate,” Jin Daya reported.
“The Chief of the National Academy personally led the group—at least three or four thousand people.”
“Banners everywhere, slogans shaking the heavens.”
“It seems they are determined to boycott, trying to stop this special session of the imperial exam from happening.”
“Boycott?”
Li An’s eyes lit up at these words.
“Perfect!”
“Excellent!”
Jin Daya was stunned.
Hongmei furrowed her brow.
“Sir, is… this really good news?”
“Of course it’s good news!”
Li An laughed heartily, almost rubbing his hands together in anticipation:
“If they don’t take the exam, I couldn’t ask for more!”
“Good if no one comes to take the exam?”
Jin Daya was even more confused.
He didn’t quite understand what Li An meant…
But if it made Lord Li happy, it must be excellent!
Hongmei, however, was thoughtful.
Every step of the young master seems crazy, yet there’s hidden meaning…
This time is probably no different.
“Lord Li, what should we do? Should we try to persuade them? Being openly defied, it doesn’t look good for you.”
“Persuade?”
Li An waved his hand disdainfully.
“Persuade what?”
“Let them take it if they want!”
“I’m actually hoping they don’t come!”
He paced a few steps, then his eyes suddenly brightened.
“Right!”
“Since these self-righteous scholars won’t take the exam…”
“Then I’ll expand the candidate pool!”
“What do you mean?”
Jin Daya was dumbfounded.
Hongmei also looked up, curious.
“Post a notice!”
Li An instructed:
“This imperial exam will no longer be restricted by background!”
“Blacksmiths, farmers, merchants, fishermen…”
“Even beggars, eunuchs, performers…”
“As long as they have a skill, they may all take the exam!”
“What?!”
Jin Daya and Hongmei had never heard such earth-shattering words, and their eyes went wide in shock.
“Lord Li, is… this feasible?”
Jin Daya stammered.
“There’s never been such a precedent!”
“What’s impossible about it?”
Li An smiled confidently:
“If the scholars don’t come, I’ll let these people come!”
“Let blacksmiths become Ministry of Works officials, farmers manage the Ministry of Agriculture, fortune-tellers join the Ministry of Revenue…”
“It’s time to inject some fresh blood into Great Qi’s bureaucracy!”
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Hearing this, Jin Daya was utterly shaken.
Lord Li’s plan…
Is truly farsighted!
“There! I’ll handle it immediately!”
Although Jin Daya couldn’t understand the reasoning, he trusted Li An completely and went to carry out the order.
Hongmei looked after Jin Daya’s back, then back at Li An, feeling that this scene seemed oddly familiar, words unsaid on her lips.
“Sir…”
“What? Do you have an objection?”
“I dare not,” Hongmei lowered her head.
“I just feel… this step, sir, might be too bold.”
“The entire court is watching.”
“Although His Majesty supports you, without the scholars’ support, can this session of the imperial exam even be held to completion?”
“If it all goes awry, sir might have difficulty managing the situation.”
“Manage the situation?”
Li An sneered.
“That’s exactly what I want—not to manage it!”
“The messier, the better! And don’t doubt me—without these scholars, will I not be able to hold the exam?”
Hearing this, Hongmei said no more, and with a hop, she leaped out of the window.
Li An closed the doors and windows.
He could hardly wait to check the system panel.
Ding!
【Detected: Collective Scholar Boycott!】
【Scholars disappointed in the court, Confucian influence weakened…】
【National Fortune -10,000】
【Current National Fortune: 142,479】
Looking at the numbers, Li An nearly cried with joy.
Finally!
Finally it dropped!
And by a full ten thousand points…
This proves that his overall strategy was absolutely correct…
This was just the beginning. Once the new exam system spread across Great Qi, all scholars, from the elite to the barely literate, would be affected, and the national fortune would plummet even further!
When these people rebel and protest, Great Qi will be thrown into chaos!
Heh heh heh…
…
Sure enough!
Over the following month, events unfolded exactly as Li An predicted.
【National Fortune -4,000】
【National Fortune -3,000】
【National Fortune -7,000】
…
With the abolition of the Eight-Legged Essay policy announced and circulated, panic gripped Great Qi.
Especially among the scholarly elite, their resentment peaked, submitting petitions demanding the restoration of the old system.
These scholar-officials often controlled the nation’s propaganda and had abundant financial resources.
Immediately, across Great Qi, a campaign of slander and rumors targeted Li An, the “traitor minister.”
The nation’s people were in turmoil; Li An’s personal reputation plummeted from a patriotic top scholar to a destructive villain plotting to overturn Great Qi.
Naturally, national fortune crashed as well, from over 150,000 down past 100,000, now barely over 80,000.
…
But Li An didn’t care how harshly people criticized him. In fact, he thought the scholars weren’t cursing hard enough, so he even paid Jin Daya to hire people to insult him and the new exam system!
The effect… was remarkable.
Watching national fortune drop like this, Li An felt completely at ease—he had finally found the correct way to reduce national fortune!
Before the exam even started, it was already tumbling!
It was easy to imagine how much worse it would fall once the new imperial exam officially began.
…
Imperial Examination Hall.
Today was the day of the new exam.
At dawn, a crowd had already gathered outside the hall.
Yet the sight nearly made the gate guards’ eyes pop.
“Hey! What are you here for?”
A guard stopped a bare-chested man.
“To take the exam!”
The man spoke confidently, his arms covered in soot—clearly a blacksmith.
“Ex…exam?”
The guard was dumbfounded.
“Have you studied?”
“Studied what? I’ve been forging iron for thirty years!”
“Then why take the imperial exam…”
“Isn’t the new rule that background doesn’t matter? I have a skill; why can’t I take it?”
The guards were left speechless.
Scenes like this repeated outside the hall.
By the time the sun was high, the exam hall was already full.
But the extraordinary scene inside shocked everyone.
Unlike previous exams, very few scholars in Confucian robes were present.
Instead, the hall was filled with candidates of all sorts of bizarre appearances.
Bare-chested blacksmiths with soot-stained arms.
Old farmers with muddy feet, pants rolled high.
Shrewd-looking merchants with darting eyes.
Boatmen reeking of alcohol, with scraggly beards.
There was a butcher covered in tattoos, looking fierce.
There was even a fortune teller waving a palm fan, muttering incantations under his breath.
And most absurd of all, in a corner sat a beggar in tattered clothes!
The proctor looked at this group of people in front of him and was at a loss, almost to the point of tears.
“Lord Li… this… this is way too ridiculous, isn’t it?”
“This examination hall has been running for three hundred years, and I’ve never seen anything like this!”
“These people… they don’t even know how to read. How can they take an exam?”
“What’s so ridiculous about that?”
Li An, however, was extremely satisfied with the scene!
This, he thought, was what it truly meant to have “exams without discrimination”!
This was how one “employs talent without sticking to convention”!
He smiled faintly and said:
“I’ve said it, there are no restrictions on background.”
“If they dare to show up, it means they have some ability.”
“As for whether they can read…”
He paused, a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, and continued:
“My exam questions don’t require them to write those boring, formulaic essays. Besides, there are already plenty of literate people in the court; it’s time to bring in some illiterate but truly talented individuals!”
“Begin the exam!”
Even the proctor, at a loss for words against Li An’s reasoning, had no choice but to grit his teeth and announce the start.
The exam questions were handed out.
And this year’s questions were, indeed, completely different from any previous year.
Not The Analects, not Mencius, and certainly not the usual “problem, exposition, and discussion” format…
The first question: Explain how to forge the fastest knife using the least amount of iron.
The second question: Explain how to grow 2,000 jin of grain in one acre of land.
The third question: Explain how to sell a stone for one tael of silver.
The fourth question: …
The fifth question: …
There were more than ten questions in total, spanning various fields, all extremely practical, yet appearing absurd when framed as exam questions.
The instructions were simple: candidates could choose any question to answer.
If literati had been present, they would probably have been so outraged they’d spit blood.
What kind of civil service exam was this?
This was pure nonsense!
But for the “oddballs and misfits” actually taking the exam, most of them were wide-eyed with interest.
Moreover, Li An had thoughtfully assigned a “scribe” to each illiterate candidate to help read the questions and record their answers.
This…!
The spectacle!
Even the officials from the Ministry of Personnel accompanying the exam had never seen or heard of anything like this!
And these questions…
To the scholars, they were absurd beyond measure.
But for most of the candidates present…
They could answer them!
The blacksmith Zhang Tiezhu, though illiterate, picked up a pen without hesitation and started drawing diagrams.
He wasn’t drawing ordinary knives.
He drew a complete flowchart for forging!
From selecting materials, annealing, quenching, to polishing…
Every step was drawn clearly, with meticulous labels.
Even more astonishingly, he depicted an “assembly line” style of production!
“One person selects materials, one anneals, one hammers, one quenches, one polishes…”
He muttered as he drew, calling over his assigned scribe to write down the notes.
“Multiple craftsmen working in cooperation, each responsible for only one step.”
“This way, efficiency increases tenfold, if not more!”
“And the quality will be more stable!”
The proctor, curious, peered over and was immediately dumbfounded.
This… this is really a blacksmith?
This is clearly… some kind of… what exactly?
He couldn’t even describe it.
The old farmer, Li Laohan, was no less impressive.
Though he couldn’t write essays, his verbal explanations left the scribe beside him dumbstruck.
“Want to produce 2,000 jin of grain? Not difficult!”
“First, select the seeds! Two varieties: one with large ears, one pest-resistant…”
“Plant them together, let them crossbreed…”
“The resulting rice will be both large and pest-resistant…”
“Then choose the field, fertilize, irrigate…”
“I’ve farmed for forty years; I know all these tricks!”
The recording official was astonished.
Crossbreeding?
What… what kind of divine-level thinking was this?
Though he didn’t fully understand, he could tell it was impressive!
The fortune teller, Liu Banxian, was even more startling.
“The third question? Sell a stone for one tael of silver?”
“Simple! Too simple!”
He waved his palm fan, confident.
“First, give the stone a story.”
“Say it was blessed by some master, or picked from a sacred place.”
“Then find a few accomplices to pretend to compete for it.”
“Create scarcity… limited time and quantity, first come, first served!”
“Finally, keep it in your hands without selling temporarily; the harder it is to get, the more people want it!”
“One tael? Too cheap! You can sell it for at least ten taels!”
“If lucky, hit a foolish rich person, even a hundred taels!”
The proctors were completely stunned by these answers, jaws nearly hitting the floor.
What… what kind of geniuses were these?
Li An stood outside the exam hall, watching through the window, secretly chuckling.
Is this it?
This group of misfits?
A blacksmith as head of the Ministry of Works? How many knives can he forge?
An old farmer managing the Department of Agriculture? How much land can he cultivate?
A fortune teller in government? Who would he provide services to?
Once they take office…
Wouldn’t the entire bureaucracy of Great Qi descend into chaos?
Perfect!
Absolutely perfect!
My “Gravedigger Dream Team”!
Great Qi’s future will be ruined by your hands!
More importantly, this new exam and talent selection method, once solidified after this round, would deliver a devastating blow to Great Qi’s literati.
Li An believed that when the results were announced, it would hit them with double impact, and the national fortune would drop by at least twenty to thirty thousand points!
…
On results day.
The gates of the examination hall were crowded again.
But this time, the atmosphere was completely different from the day of the boycotts.
Those students who had previously refused to take the exam came to watch the spectacle.
They wanted to see what kind of people Li An would select.
“I heard Li An really let blacksmiths and farmers take the exam!”
“Hahaha! I’m just here to see a joke!”
“Let’s see how he handles this!”
Whispers and ridicule spread through the crowd.
“Everyone!”
Li An stood on the high platform, holding a rolled-up list, his expression calm and composed.
“After strict selection, this batch has recruited thirty-six new officials!”
The crowd immediately erupted.
“Thirty-six? From that bunch of peasants?”
“Can you call this selection? This is just filling quotas!”
“I guarantee that each one is genuinely talented!”
Li An proclaimed loudly.
“Now, I announce the list of recruits!”
The scholars perked up, ready to ridicule.
“First place! Head of the Ministry of Works: Zhang Tiezhu… formerly a blacksmith!”
“What?!”
“Hahaha! A blacksmith as head of the Ministry of Works?”
“An illiterate person managing the Ministry?”
“Li An must be insane!”
“Second place! Deputy of the Department of Agriculture: Li Laohan… formerly a farmer!”
“Hahahahaha!”
“A farmer managing the Department of Agriculture? Someone who farms managing farming?”
“This isn’t wasting talent, it’s humiliation!”
“Preposterous! Absolutely preposterous!”
“Third place! Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue: Liu Banxian… formerly a fortune teller!”
“Pfft…!”
Someone laughed so hard they spat out their drink.
“A fortune teller in the Ministry of Revenue? Is he going to predict the nation’s fortune?”
“Hahahahaha!”
“I think Great Qi’s national fortune is about to be calculated by him!”
The scholars erupted into laughter, endless mockery filling the air.
Some even composed poems on the spot to satirize the scene:
“A blacksmith presides, a farmer sits, the half-immortal enters the Ministry, it cracks me up!”
“Who governs Great Qi? Merchants and laborers, that’s who!”
The crowd burst into uproarious laughter.
Kong Wenyuan, the president of the National Academy, trembled with fury, his beard quivering as he shouted:
“Li An! You treat the court like a playground! Selling official posts was bad enough, now you meddle with the sacred exams…”
“Letting these merchants and laborers into the bureaucracy is an insult to the sages!”
“How can we scholars preserve our dignity?”
“Insult to the sages?”
Li An sneered, stepping forward.
“Kong JI, I’d like to ask…”
“You scholars, weren’t you refusing to take the exam?”
“I invited you, and you didn’t come!”
“Now others come, and you complain?”
“If you can, take your turn!”
“If not, then stop whining here!”
“You…!!”
Kong Wenyuan was so furious he almost fainted, nearly toppling over.
“Let me make this clear today…”
Li An looked around, voice loud and echoing through the examination hall.
“These thirty-six are Great Qi’s newly selected talents!”
“I personally vouch that they are a hundred times better than you narrow-minded scholars who only cram books!”
“Believe it or not!”
“The truth will be revealed in time!”
“Who’s right or wrong, let the facts speak!”
After speaking, he turned and left, leaving a crowd of dumbfounded scholars behind.
A moment of dead silence.
Then, an even louder burst of curses.
“Li An is ruining the country!”
“Treachery rules!”
“Great Qi is finished!”
…
Night.
The study of the top scholar’s residence.
Li An closed the door, eagerly checking the system panel.
“My Gravedigger Dream Team is in position…”
“Great Qi’s doomsday is coming…”
He rubbed his hands, brimming with anticipation.
Ding!
【Detection: Host has completed civil service exam reform and selection!】
【Thirty-six “special talents” recruited…】
【Assessing impact on national fortune…】
【Large data volume, calculation delayed…】
【Full results expected tomorrow】
“Delayed again?”
Li An paused.
“The last time was also delayed…”
“Does this system need an upgrade?”
But then he thought better of it, a smile returning to his face.
“It must be that the drop is too severe!”
“The system got stuck!”
“Hahahaha!”
He threw his head back and laughed, eagerly anticipating tomorrow’s results.
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