Chapter 86: No. Scholar Yang Wanli, No. Scholar Fan Wujiu

Yang Wanli would not hide his emotions, his joy and anger were all visible on his face. Not getting the prince’s approval, his face was full of disappointment.

But he encouraged himself in his heart and clenched his fists, determined to study hard and make His Royal Highness the Crown Prince accept him.

“What His Royal Highness has done for us is already a benefactor in my heart.”

Yang Wanli lowered his head with some regret. He was grateful to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and hoped to have such an opportunity to devote himself to him and repay the Crown Prince’s kindness to him. Unfortunately, His Royal Highness did not like him.
“Brother Yang.”

Shi Chanli was kind-hearted and wanted to speak to comfort him, but was interrupted by Hou Jichang:
“Brother Shi, since we both have connections, we should not forget each other in the future and help each other.”

Three people make a trip.

The one left alone was the most outstanding Yang Wanli.

Such a situation inevitably makes people feel emotional. Qingzhu watched the three students leave.

Li Chengqian stopped Yang Wanli behind them and whispered something to him:
“I said you don’t belong here, but I didn’t say you can’t serve me.”

“Your Highness.”

Yang Wanli was somewhat touched.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince not only cares about students all over the world, but also takes such good care of him.

Li Chengqian asked him to come closer and whispered a few words to him: “You must perform well in tomorrow’s palace examination. His Majesty will select the top three from among you. All three of you will be able to work in Qing Pavilion. You must seize this opportunity.”

Yang Wanli’s eyes widened.

That’s Qing Pavilion!
A top institution with equal power as the prime minister!
If he could enter Qing Pavilion, he would be able to realize his ambitions!

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

When Yang Wanli knelt down to thank Li Chengqian, he was already ready to serve the prince.

Since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants me to enter Qing Pavilion, I will not let him down!
There was a light in Yang Wanli’s eyes, as hot as fire.

“Your Highness.”

After the students left, Jiang Ziyan came running over, panting and hurriedly said:
“It’s bad! Fan Wujiu’s identity has been seen through by the Second Prince. Now his legs have been broken and he has been dragged to kneel in front of the Second Prince’s mansion, with countless people watching. It looks like he is going to humiliate him before executing him!”

Qingzhu’s face changed. She also knew that Fan Wujiu was a hidden chess piece planted by His Highness in the Second Prince’s place.

I didn’t expect it to be discovered so quickly?
Li Chengqian pulled Qingzhu and was about to go out.

“Let’s go over and have a look!”

·······
In front of the Second Prince’s Mansion.

Even if the prince moved out of the imperial city, his mansion was still in an excellent feng shui location.

Especially since Li Chengze enjoyed himself with the people, the location of the Second Prince’s Mansion was close to the inner city residential area.

This commotion attracted many people from the surrounding area to come and watch. When they saw Fan Wujiu kneeling on the ground with his legs weak, a look of pain flashed across their faces. It was a pain that they could empathize with.
“This person seems to be the swordsman beside the Second Prince. What happened to him?”

“I heard that he disobeyed the Second Prince, saying that he is far inferior to the Crown Prince.”

“.Then it seems that what he said is indeed true. Your Highness doesn’t need to be angry about it, right?”

The “common people” here are all children of officials. Even storytellers know about the dispute between the princes. They know the inside story: perhaps it is the conflict between the Second Prince and the Crown Prince that made Fan Wujiu the one to vent his anger.
Li Chengze was under house arrest and could not leave the house, so he just moved out a chair and sat in front of the door.

Fan Wujiu, who was kneeling behind the door, was forced to bow to him, as he was exhausted from the beating.

But he was not wrong.
From beginning to end, he never changed his negative comments about the second prince.

This made Li Chengze very angry, and he felt like he was being cheated on.

“Second brother, why is it so? Why is it so?”

Followed by a greeting.

The carriage symbolizing the crown prince’s status drove to the gate of the Second Prince’s mansion.

Li Chengqian, supported by Qingzhu, walked over to Fan Wujiu and confronted the second prince.

“Ding!”

“Detected that the host successfully ate the melon!”

“Li Chengze was furious and berated his subordinate Fan Wujiu, making a fool of himself!”

“Level: Lower Middle”

“Reward: Da Huangting’s cultivation level is improved, and a random weapon treasure chest is given!”

Li Chengqian was very happy.

But Li Chengze’s face turned increasingly grim:
“Your Highness, are you still ashamed to come here?”

“What’s wrong, second brother? Shouldn’t I come over?”

Li Chengqian asked back.

The corner of Li Chengze’s mouth twitched.

If it wasn’t in front of so many people.

He would definitely denounce Li Chengqian’s conspiracy to place people around him.

Even his corner was dug out.

What a kind-hearted person.

It’s clearly white cutting black!

“Your Highness, please don’t go too far. I am disciplining my people. What does it have to do with you?”

“Too much bullying? It has nothing to do with me?”

Li Chengqian laughed loudly, then he turned around and faced everyone:

“Everyone, tomorrow is the palace examination summoned by His Majesty himself. As the best in the examination, Fan Wujiu will naturally participate in the palace examination tomorrow. He may even have the opportunity to become an official appointed by the court and be called a minister.”

The onlookers whispered to each other:

“Your Highness is right. He is a successful candidate in the imperial examination. How can you treat him like this?”

“Your Highness the Second Prince treats his servants like this, while Your Highness the Crown Prince only wants to protect every minister for Daqing. The difference between these two choices is obvious, and one can get a glimpse of their character. I think what he said makes sense.”

“There is a world of difference between the Second Prince and the Crown Prince!”

“How dare you discuss the prince? How dare you!”

They said they dared not talk about the prince.

The voice was just short of shouting through a loudspeaker.

Li Chengze became more and more irritable. His previous actions had already lost the support of the people. In the eyes of the people, the dispute between him and the prince for the crown prince position was already a foregone conclusion. In addition, he was publicly reprimanded by His Majesty and was confined to his house for a year.

Many officials in the court who had high expectations of him also wisely backed off and did not dare to take sides.

But this bastard Li Chengqian has won the hearts of the people and the trust of His Majesty, and his prestige in the court far exceeds that of other princes. Li Chengze is angry but dares not speak out.

“If you have no objection, I will take him to get treatment and prepare for the palace examination tomorrow.”

“you!”

Li Chengze didn’t expect that the prince would be such a shameless person!
Li Chengqian personally helped Fan Wujiu up and let him, covered in blood, get on his carriage. His attitude of respecting the wise and virtuous and honoring talents won the admiration of the common people and made scholars yearn for him.

If they could become the prince’s disciples, they would definitely be respected by His Highness!

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Fan Wujiu is a ninth-rank master.

Even if both legs are broken, it’s not a big deal.

He knew who protected him in so many crises and who wanted to kill him?
“Your Highness, I don’t know how to repay your kindness.”

Li Chengqian shook his head: “No need to say more, just take a good rest. Tomorrow’s palace examination is your big chance. If you can seize the opportunity to enter Qing Pavilion, it will be the best reward for me. Do you understand?” Then.

Li Chengqian quietly gave him some advice.

Fan Wujiu nodded heavily and swore to himself that he must enter Qing Pavilion.

Work for His Majesty.
·······
The Qing Dynasty Palace Examination has never been so grand.

Emperor Qing wore a dragon robe and personally set questions in the main hall to test outstanding candidates for the imperial examination.

The officials who came to watch the ceremony were all powerful officials like Chen Pingping and Qin Ye.

They were all watching, how His Majesty would decide on the Qing Pavilion incident, which meant how the Qing Emperor would deal with the evidence, and they would all use this to judge how to act in the future, whether they should give up power appropriately, or…
“Announcement, candidates enter the hall!”

Eunuch Hou called out slowly.

Emperor Qing sat high on the throne, looking down at the students who were slowly entering the hall. There was one person among them who made him look at him twice.

That is Fan Wujiu, who had his legs broken by the second prince and can only sit in a wheelchair to participate in the palace examination.
Officials surrounded the two sides of the hall, with the Crown Prince and other royal relatives sitting in the front. Fan Xian sat in the front row of officials. As the deputy examiner of the Spring Examination, he was qualified to be in this position. He even chatted and laughed with Li Chengqian:
“Your Highness, this strategy of sowing discord is really brilliant.”

Fan Xian didn’t know that Fan Wujiu was already the Crown Prince’s man, and thought that the Crown Prince had done this just to alienate the Second Prince from his subordinates. He was on the first floor and Li Chengqian was already on the fifth floor.

Li Chengqian smiled:

“Isn’t the palace examination also a part of the imperial examination? It’s even the most important part. So not only do I have to bear responsibility for this, but you too.”

Fan Xian forced a smile, the prince is still good at playing dumb
When you and Ruoruo get married, I will definitely find out your identity!
All officials are present, Emperor Qing is high above, and the students pay their respects to him:
“See Your Majesty!!!”

Emperor Qing’s dragon eyes scrutinized the students below. Li Chengqian was right. This group of students had the most valuable qualities without any water mixed in. If Qing Pavilion needed a group of fresh blood, they would be the best candidates.
“You answer my questions, and the top three in the palace examination will all be admitted to Qing Pavilion!”

“I am looking forward to it.”

!!!

The students could not hide their excitement.

Yang Wanli and Fan Wujiu were even more shocked.

It seems that what His Royal Highness said is true. What they need to do is not to become someone’s disciple, but to sneak into Qing Pavilion on behalf of His Royal Highness.
As the future elder of Qing Pavilion, Eunuch Hou held the scroll and asked the students questions on behalf of His Majesty:

“The border is under continuous war, and the situation is tense. There is a town nearby that is running out of food to supply the army. The merchants in the town are hoarding food to make a fortune in the national crisis, far more than the noble families who sell the food to the people and make huge profits.”

“Question: If you are faced with this kind of situation, what law should you use to deal with it?”

Analyze practical problems based on what you have learned.

If it were on paper, they could cite a lot of theories and stories of saints, quote from classics, and gradually achieve their goals.

But now we have to answer the question face to face, so we cannot use too much official language or clichés. We also have to give solutions directly to the point.

The students’ CPUs are almost running out of steam, and they all want to come up with the best answer and make a splash.

The officials were not idle either, they were also sweating profusely.

Because your majesty’s question is about the recent situation. Nanqing and Beiqi have been at war on the border for many years, and such situations have occurred in many counties and towns along the border. Merchants are profit-driven, and it is not uncommon for them to make money from national disasters!

This question is not only for the candidates, but also for all the adults present.
Why hasn’t it been solved yet? ! !

Li Chengqian asked Fan Xian with a leisurely smile:
“If it were you, how would you answer?”

Fan Xian thought for a moment:

“We must naturally start from the root. We can either use business to ease border tensions, or we can fight to the bitter end and use appropriate reasons to intimidate Northern Qi. Only when the war ends as soon as possible can the people live a good life.”

“In addition, the merchants are reaping the wealth of the people. It must be the local officials’ failure to supervise them properly. The censors and the people from the Supervisory Office should be sent out immediately to either use legal weapons or directly take out weapons. It is always necessary to stop such situations from happening as soon as possible.”

“Finally, we will support local development and give border victims a chance to ease the pressure.”

Ok.

from head to foot.

Reasonable and well-founded.

Fan Xian is very capable. After all, he is a time traveler. He looks at the problem from a comprehensive perspective, and he is thorough and has no omissions. Li Chengqian agrees with this, but he offers a better solution:
“Actually, I have a plan.”

“what?”

“A vicious plan, do you want to hear it?”

Fan Xian nodded. Before Li Chengqian opened his mouth, some students gave their answers.

It’s Yang Wanli.

He walked slowly from among the students to the front of His Majesty, and gave the same answer as Fan Xian had thought. He analyzed the problem from military, political, and economic perspectives and gave an appropriate solution.

It is even better, more complete, and more feasible than what Fan Xian said.

Done.

Emperor Qing nodded slightly and asked his name.

Yang Wanli introduced his background in a neither humble nor arrogant manner.

“As expected of you, you are the champion. Even some civil servants cannot match your knowledge.”

Emperor Qing’s evaluation of Yang Wanli was so high that the students were envious and some inactive officials felt ashamed.

Fan Xian agreed in his heart, it seemed that Yang Wanli’s entry into Qing Pavilion was a foregone conclusion.

Then he looked at Li Chengqian who was not surprised at all.

A terrible thought flashed through his mind:

The prince refused to accept Yang Wanli.

Could it be that he is waiting here?

After Yang Wanli left, Fan Wujiu took over pushing his wheelchair:
“Your Majesty, I have a plan. I’m afraid it will be misunderstood, but it will definitely bring down the price of grain.”

“Oh?”

Emperor Qing was a little curious.

Fan Wujiu announced his idea: “I will first buy grain from these grain merchants at a high price. On the first day, I will buy grain at a high price. On the second day, I will buy grain at a high price. On the third day, I will buy grain at a high price. There will definitely be unscrupulous merchants who want to resell the grain and make a profit from the price difference. They will definitely take the grain back.”

Officials were puzzled:
“In this case, won’t the price of food in the whole city be higher?”

“How can the people survive like this? Do you still care about the people?”

“Ignorance! Stupidity!”

Fan Xian frowned, sensing something was wrong, and looked at Li Chengqian. He said:
“This is the vicious plan I want to tell you about.”

Emperor Qing ignored the officials’ criticisms and raised his hand for Fan Wujiu to continue.

“In ten days, at most, the grain price will indeed reach an artificially high price. By then, I will use the excuse of leaking the news to distribute this batch of grain at the price in the rule. Everyone knows that they will flock to buy the grain at a price far exceeding the market price, even on credit or by borrowing money.”

“Finally, I will not accept any more grain.”

After hearing this, some civil servants have already realized that the result of doing so would be that the inflated grain prices would be instantly broken, and the merchants who had spent all their money or even gone into debt in exchange for grain would be left with nowhere to go!
Either let the food rot in their hands, or sell it off as quickly as possible at an extremely low price. In this way, the people in the city will be able to eat food at normal prices or even lower than normal prices, while these deceptive businessmen will end up losing both their money and their lives!
This is a clever plan, but also a vicious one!
What outcome Fan Wujiu will get depends entirely on your majesty’s judgment.

Emperor Qing deeply agrees with Fan Wujiu’s approach. Although it sounds a bit unscrupulous, the goal is ultimately achieved. He will choose this method, but as an emperor, he cannot be too fond of such a vicious scheme to avoid damaging his wisdom.

Finally, Eunuch Hou announced:
“The results of the palace examination are out.”

“The top scholar, Yang Wanli.”

“Second place, Fan Wujiu!”

“Tanhua.”

“The first three can join the cabinet and be granted the title of Grand Secretary!!!”

　My historical background is shallow, please correct me if I am wrong, I am still learning

　
(End of this chapter)