Chapter 501
Chapter 501
‘The ten beggars of the Lan clan all passed? If even vagrants can pass, there must have been some kind of fraud.’
The Vice Minister of the Ministry of War was also inwardly at a loss. First, two sons of prestigious families had passed this special examination, taking first and second place. Xue Lu of the Xue Clan, who placed first in this special martial examination, was twenty years old. Nangong Zong, son of the Marquis of Zhenbei, Nangong Ao, placed second and was seventeen this year. Besides them, seven other descendants of generals’ families had also passed, though their rankings were not as high.
Among them, those who should have placed in the top three ended up fourth, and those who should have been in the top ten were ranked in the teens. Of course, there were even more dismal cases. Roughly ten candidates who should have passed had failed. All of this was because the ten beggars of the Lan clan had performed so exceptionally that they had steamrolled all their opponents in the same group.
The Vice Minister knew that posting this list of passers would undoubtedly cause a huge uproar, and he felt he couldn't make the decision on his own. That was when he thought of Little Eunuch Yeo. Over the past few days, Yeo Eun had visited three times, which meant His Majesty was paying close attention to this martial examination. No one could take responsibility for the consequences of posting this list, with one exception: the King, who sat on the supreme throne.
“Bring Little Eunuch Yeo here.”
A short while later, Little Eunuch Yeo entered.
“Little Eunuch Yeo, please take a look at this list.”
Yeo Eun took it and was immediately astonished. Those beggars had actually passed? What a shocking result. Following the shock, of course, came a wave of immense joy. Like Yeo Jun, his heart was always with the King. Anything that benefited His Majesty would have their unwavering support. The result before him seemed utterly absurd, even terrifying. But this outcome was not only absolutely advantageous for His Majesty, it was a very good thing. With this, who in the world would dare say His Majesty was swayed by personal feelings? Who would dare say His Majesty treated the examinations like a child’s game?
The chief examiner, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, said, “Little Eunuch Yeo, how about you take this list to the palace first and show it to His Majesty?”
Yeo Eun sneered inwardly.
‘You don't dare publish this list because you’re afraid of the storm it will cause, is that it? So you want to shift all the responsibility to His Majesty? It’s because of that attitude that you couldn’t get into the Grand Secretariat or the Bureau of Military Affairs. The Ministry of War… truly pathetic.’
It couldn't be helped. With the Bureau of Military Affairs holding them down from above, what authority did the Ministry of War have? At best, they managed the local armies in the rear and oversaw land taxes. All major military and political affairs were handled by the Bureau of Military Affairs. Moreover, the Minister of War was not part of the Grand Secretariat, nor was he a deputy in the Bureau of Military Affairs. So, would any of the military giants even give the Ministry of War a second glance? With no power, it was only natural to avoid taking responsibility.
“Very well. I will copy the list and go show it to His Majesty.”
In truth, the King had already given a verbal command. No matter how absurd the martial examination results were, as long as the exams were conducted fairly and justly, they were not to be afraid and were to announce the results. Eunuch Yeo was merely going to report the good news to the King in advance. The chief examiner, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, said, “Then I will await your news here, Little Eunuch Yeo.”
Yeo Eun took the list, left the Tianyue Hunting Grounds, and galloped toward the royal palace.
***
While the martial examination grounds were reeling from a shock that overturned their entire worldview, how much worse could it be for the literary examination? In fact, the shock there was even more intense. After three days and nights of grading, the six examiners finally decided to pass 93 exam papers. Although there were more passers than in the martial examination, the number was still under one hundred, making the pass rate extremely low compared to previous examinations. Once the examiners had confirmed the passers, all that remained was to rank them. That task consumed another full day and night.
The scores of the literary examination couldn't be quantified, and the examiners’ subjectivity played a large role in the grading. The average candidate was not like that genius whose paper had every question on classics and famous mountains correct, who produced a policy essay that comes once in a century, and who composed a prose-poem that comes once in a millennium. The difference in level was so stark that they could have named that genius first place with their eyes closed. Zhu Hongbing was equally impressive, so they could have named him second with their eyes closed.
In contrast, most of the papers were of a similar level, making the ranking extremely difficult. But no matter how difficult, it had to be done. So, they argued, they voted, and the chief examiner cast the deciding vote. Finally, after ranking everyone from first to ninety-third, they unsealed the names. The six examiners present were full of anticipation; they had practically lived for this moment over the past few days.
‘Who is the genius who crushed Zhu Hongbing? Who wrote such an astonishing policy essay and prose-poem?’
Besides discovering the name of the first-place candidate, the other thing that kept the examiners going was finding the exam paper of the madman Lan. Strangely, however, they hadn't found a single blank paper after grading them all. It seemed the madman Lan hadn't submitted a blank paper after all. Soon, whenever an examiner found a particularly unconventional paper, he would call everyone over, claiming it must be the madman Lan's—how else could it be such a mess? But there was more than one such messy paper. In the end, they all agreed that the worst of the messy papers must belong to Lan.
The paper they all agreed was the madman Lan's had answered only three of the one hundred and twenty questions on classics and famous mountains correctly. Such trashy work undoubtedly belonged to the madman Lan. Only someone who had never read a book could produce such a rotten score. However, there were over ten such rotten papers, and the examiners felt that grading them was an insult to their intelligence and dignity.
‘Damn it, who are you? I thought only the madman Lan was trash, but there are so many of you? Who gave you the courage to take the special examination? Do your parents know your scores are this pathetic? Did you come here to take an exam or to make a fool of yourself? Where is the dignity of the civil service examinations and the sages? Are you disrespecting our Confucian teachings?’
Of course, without exception, these remarkable dunces all came from the Imperial Academy. They were all sons of great merchant families who had entered the academy just to get a title. This alone showed that King Ning Yuanxian truly had no bottom line. To make money, he would accept any trash into the Imperial Academy.
“Quickly, quickly, unseal it! I must see which supreme genius defeated Zhu Hongbing. When did another monster like this appear in our capital?”
The examiners’ eyes were wide open, afraid to even blink lest they miss the moment. But when the paper covering the name on the first-place exam was torn away, everyone was stunned.
‘Lan Ling? Who is that? Was there such a person among the candidates for this special examination?’
The six examiners were all speechless. After a long moment, one of them said, “Lan Ling is probably… the madman Lan!”
At those words, everyone’s hair stood on end, and their worldviews were violently overturned.
‘Lan Ling is the madman Lan? The beggar who wandered for over a decade and never properly studied in his life? Not only did he pass, but he wrote a policy essay that comes once in a century and a prose-poem that will be passed down for a thousand years? Is he insane? Or is the world insane?’
An examiner quietly asked, “Didn’t they say the madman Lan slept through the entire exam?”
“No, he didn’t just sleep. He wrote answers for every test. Sometimes he wrote for two hours, sometimes for less than an hour.”
“You mean he finished each test and then went back to sleep?”
“That seems to be the case!”
“So you’re saying it took him less than two hours to write the once-in-a-century ‘On the Feudal System’ on the second day? And on the first day, for the classics and famous mountains section, it took him only an hour to answer all one hundred and twenty questions? And on the final day, for the prose-poem, he spent less than thirty minutes. H-he’s not a genius, he’s a monster!”
‘This is too terrifying. Too shocking.’
The six examiners stood frozen, as if rooted to the spot. After a long while, one of them asked, “Could the exam questions have been leaked? Was there cheating?”
Everyone fell silent. In a way, it did look like the questions had been leaked.
“Even if the questions were leaked, could just anyone write such a magnificent ‘On the Feudal System’ essay, the ‘Autumn River Poem,’ and the ‘Roc Ode’? The essay, perhaps, could be written if one sought out a great master and poured one’s heart into it. But the ‘Autumn River Poem’ and the ‘Roc Ode’… not even a great genius could produce those after ten years of contemplation.”
But none of that mattered now. The key issue was what to do next. If the list of passers, with the madman Lan in first place, was announced, the capital would erupt as if struck by an earthquake. Countless candidates would foam at the mouth and tear them, the six examiners, to shreds, all of them shouting that there was fraud in the examination. This was beyond what the Vice Minister of Rites could handle.
“Let’s report to His Majesty, and let him make the final decision!”
***
In the royal palace.
King Ning Yuanxian was once again experiencing an unprecedented shock. He had already been shocked once when he learned that the madman Lan had placed first in the literary examination. But the news that the other ten beggars had all passed the martial examination brought an even greater shock than before.
‘Th-this is too far beyond common sense. How did he do it? It’s completely unimaginable.’
Shen Lang had created many miracles, but in Ning Yuanxian's view, this one was greater and more unbelievable than all the others combined. The ten beggars had been half-crippled before. Yet in just one month, he had turned them into absolute martial arts talents and even made them pass the martial examination? Shen Lang had actually made such a fantastical dream a reality.
‘That scoundrel, that scoundrel actually pulled it off. Truly, truly an incredible bastard. But you shameless dog, if you could do it, why didn’t you give me a heads-up? And a few days ago, when the ten Lan brothers returned to the capital, they were clearly skilled horsemen, yet didn’t you tie them to their horses and make them scream as they entered the city? Wasn’t that a trick to make the world underestimate them? You are too sinister, and your pranks go too far.’
“That scoundrel Shen Lang not only deceived the world but also tried to fool me. For the crime of deceiving the monarch, I ought to have him flayed alive.”