Chapter 523 - 196: Ranking (4)
Chapter 523: Chapter 196: Ranking (4)
Gong Yuanxiu gave the order, and a constable responded with a sharp affirmative.
And so, under the watchful eyes of all present, examination paper Tian-51 from the East Hall was the first to be retrieved.
The neatly written paper was a pleasure to behold, a true balm for the eyes.
After tearing open the seal covering the name, they saw the words "Chen Yan Nian of Wantong Prefecture."
Seeing this, Gong Yuanxiu was secretly overjoyed. ’Heaven is truly helping me.’
He had already planned to get on good terms with the Magistrate of Wantong Prefecture, since the prefecture was renowned for its wealth, all thanks to its copper mines.
Now that he had ranked the Magistrate’s beloved son second, Mr. Chen was certain to reward him handsomely.
’When I return to the capital after this, my reward is sure to be even greater. It will likely be more generous than the pay for supervising the exams in Liangzhe.’
Gong Yuanxiu stood up and enthusiastically congratulated Mr. Chen. "Congratulations, Mr. Chen. Your son is worthy of being called your Qilin son. He is destined for greatness, and his future is just beginning."
He expected Mr. Chen to be beaming with joy, but to his surprise, the magistrate showed no hint of happiness.
He did offer a perfunctory salute and say, "The same to you," but the words dripped with insincerity.
At first, Gong Yuanxiu was baffled, inwardly cursing Mr. Chen for his ingratitude. But then he noticed many others in the examination hall staring at him with strange expressions, as if he were the butt of a joke.
Gong Yuanxiu froze for a second before a sudden realization hit him.
’Mr. Chen’s son is a "Lesser Triple Crown"; it’s no surprise he’s this talented. A scholar like Chen Yan Nian, with his pedigree and knowledge, must have high aspirations. How could he come to the Provincial Examination without a specific goal?’
’They must have been aiming for the title of top scorer in the provincial examination. A pity I ranked him second.’
’But... I was acting impartially, without a hint of fraud. For Mr. Chen to pull a long face at me like this is truly going too far.’
But Gong Yuanxiu completely misunderstood why Mr. Chen was angry with him.
The examinations were supposed to be a matter of pure merit. If his son truly wasn’t as skilled as another, Mr. Chen wasn’t a sore loser; he would have accepted it without complaint.
The infuriating part was that Gong Yuanxiu had taken a bribe, determined to make Tao Yanxun the top scorer in the provincial examination.
If Tao Yanxun truly had the talent to be the top scorer, so be it. But if not, Mr. Chen would not let the matter rest.
Mr. Chen was furious that Gong Yuanxiu, who held the honored post of chief examiner, failed to act with impartiality. He couldn’t even be bothered to exchange a few polite words with the man.
Gong Yuanxiu was left humiliated, unsure of what to say. He looked for a way to salvage the situation, but everyone else had lowered their heads and started sipping their tea, leaving him no opening to save face. How could such a situation not infuriate him?
As if on cue, Sheng Mingchuan cheerfully turned to another magistrate to make small talk. "I hear the harvest in your prefecture went well?"
"Heaven smiled upon us, and His Majesty is wise. It was a bountiful autumn harvest indeed."
Sheng Mingchuan sighed. "A pity. During the harvest, Xinghuai Prefecture had several consecutive days of rain. Many places suffered, and the grain yields have dropped significantly..."
As he spoke, he looked toward the head of the table. "Mr. Zhou, with Xinghuai Prefecture so severely affected, might we be able to reduce taxes this year? You know how difficult life is for the people..."
Mr. Zhou, who had been dozing, snapped awake. "Absolutely not! That’s out of the question. If I reduce your taxes, every other prefecture will demand the same. With no tax revenue flowing into the treasury, how is the court supposed to operate? How will we maintain the river dikes? If disaster strikes, where will the grain and supplies come from?"
Sheng Mingchuan chuckled. "And here I thought you were asleep. Turns out you were just feigning it to trick us, eh?"
"I really was asleep. I’m getting old, my body isn’t what it used to be. I’m retiring at the end of the year."
Mr. Zhou was indeed well advanced in years. He was already seventy, with a stooped back, thinning hair and beard, and even fewer teeth left in his mouth.
His life had been ordinary, his official career unremarkable. He had only reached the position of Prefectural Governor by biding his time and accumulating seniority.
But now he spent more time sleeping than awake and was clearly no longer fit for office. If he didn’t have the sense to request retirement himself, he would eventually be driven out—and wouldn’t that be humiliating?
And precisely because he was determined to retire at the end of the year, Mr. Zhou was now in a state of Zen-like detachment.
He wasn’t blind to the sharp clashes among his subordinates, but he pretended not to see them. Out of sight, out of mind. All he wanted was to retire in peace.
After speaking, Mr. Zhou closed his eyes and resumed his feigned slumber. As he drifted, his mouth fell open and his head began to nod, making it look like he was about to topple over at any moment.
But every time, just before he did, he would jerk his eyes open, smack his lips, shift his weight back in his chair, and close his eyes to rest once more.
Everyone in the examination hall witnessed Mr. Zhou’s behavior, but who was going to make an issue of it?
The old man had already submitted his memorial requesting retirement. Who would pick a fight with someone on the verge of leaving?
It was also best not to cross Sheng Mingchuan. Rumor had it that his allies were already maneuvering behind the scenes, and he might just be appointed the next Prefectural Governor the moment Mr. Zhou was gone.
And never mind that the jump from the fourth to the second official rank was like an insurmountable chasm. For others, it was a gap they might never cross in a lifetime; even if they managed it, it would take at least a decade or two.
But one mustn’t forget who Sheng Mingchuan was.
He had previously served as the Governor-General of Liangjiang before his retirement. A man who had held the post of Governor-General could easily become a mere Prefectural Governor if he so wished.
It was precisely because of Sheng Mingchuan’s promotion prospects that the officials in the hall implicitly regarded him as their leader.
If he wanted to challenge the chief examiner, so be it. The rest of them would simply pretend not to notice.
Their collective indifference infuriated Gong Yuanxiu.
He was not a magnanimous man by nature. He had endured being pushed around at the Hanlin Academy.
But now he was the chief examiner, a position of authority. If he could still be pushed around like this, he might as well give up on his career in the court.
Gong Yuanxiu redirected his anger over Mr. Chen’s slight toward Sheng Mingchuan.
Emboldened by some reckless courage, he even began to taunt Sheng Mingchuan. "Mr. Chen’s precious son is a ’Lesser Triple Crown,’ and I hear there’s one in your jurisdiction as well. Mr. Chen’s son placed second. If your student can’t even make the top five—let alone the top ten—then when I return to the capital, I’ll have no choice but to impeach you before His Majesty. I’ll report that you, Mr. Sheng, have ulterior motives when it comes to selecting talent."
Deep down, Gong Yuanxiu looked down on the scholars of Heyuan Province.
’There are no proper scholars here,’ he thought.
He recalled the great farce that occurred when the new emperor ascended the throne and held examinations to recruit officials.
Of the nearly two hundred who became Advanced Scholars, not a single one was from Heyuan Province.
At first, people suspected the chief examiner of bias, but that year’s examiner was a powerful minister who had earned great merit by helping the emperor secure the throne.
Not wanting to alienate a key supporter, His Majesty ordered a full investigation, which ultimately led back to the candidates’ exam papers.
And what they found was a complete joke.
The supposed candidates for Advanced Scholar from Heyuan had a level of scholarship that, in Jiangnan, would barely qualify them to become a Scholar.
The emperor at the time had been both furious and helpless that such candidates would even attempt the metropolitan examination. He had been on the verge of creating a separate, lower-standard list just for Heyuan Province.
Because of this deep-seated disdain, Gong Yuanxiu hadn’t even bothered to review the region’s preliminary essay selections before his arrival. That was why, upon seeing Tao Yanxun’s essay for the first time, he was so certain he could pull the necessary strings to make him the top scorer in the provincial examination.
But who would have expected this backwater to actually produce a few talented individuals?
However, he refused to believe that the third person on par with Chen Yan Nian and Tao Yanxun could be Zhao Jing. This was simply because he had done his research on Mr. Sheng before arriving.
’This man is an extremist—he’d move heaven and earth for those he favors, and wish death upon those he despises. He’s also a staunch member of the Royalist Party, and Zhao Jing has the credit for turning in the Queen’s Seal.’
That was the kind of man Sheng Mingchuan was in his eyes.
’He’s taken a liking to Zhao Jing, so he’ll do everything in his power to prop him up—granting him titles, building his reputation, paving his future. But as for Zhao Jing’s actual ability... Hmph. We’ll see about that soon enough.’