The grander the more broad the propositions are, the harder it is to write a good article...?

Yes, not!

If the candidates only talk about the topics in front of them, the articles written in this palace examination will inevitably be empty and boring. Not to mention the emperor's eyes, even ordinary scholars can pick countless mistakes from them. In this way, it is reasonable to be difficult to write an article.

However, if you can calm down, start from a familiar perspective, and then write an essay in line with the proposition of strengthening the country, and enriching the people, it is not too difficult to write a brilliant article. Of course, the premise is that candidates must have considerable experience, and at least they must have some understanding of many things in the court and the opposition today.

However, since they are the final winners who can emerge from one imperial examination after another, these people will have a clear understanding of the environment they are in. Even if some of them are poor children, they may not know the policies of the government and the court, but at least they can deduce some rhetoric that is beneficial to the country and the people based on themselves.

So, after being confused at the beginning, as they slowly calmed down, some candidates' thoughts finally became active. Some people closed their eyes and pondered, and some people were holding up pens to write something on the paper, but they all devoted themselves to the article in front of them, which naturally included Li Ling.

He was actually one of the first candidates to figure out how to get the composition. After all, the emperor's question was derived from his words. The so-called strengthening the country and enriching the people quickly reminded him of something he had been doing and was constantly promoting - opening a business!

Although Dayue was much better than the Ming and Qing dynasties, which had the most serious imprisonment in history, and had certain encouragement elements for business, as time went by, after Confucianism truly grasped the right to speak, the idea of ​​agriculture and the late Shang Dynasty had penetrated into the national bone marrow. Even though there was no policy of suppressing commerce, the vigorous business during the Taizu and Taizong Dynasty had been greatly suppressed and hit.

So now Li Ling wants to take this opportunity to put forward his own point of view, which may make the emperor have a different idea.

Thinking of this, his eyes flashed, and he had already picked up his pen, and rows of neat pavilions flowed on the paper—

"Your Majesty: The ancients said that the people are the foundation of the country, but the ministers think that wealth is the foundation of the people. Only when there is wealth, there is food. If there is food in hand, then the people's hearts can be settled. In this way, the world will be peaceful.

"What is the so-called wealth? Although gold, silver and copper coins are wealth, they cannot be worn in cold clothes, hunger cannot be eaten, but they are just sand and stone ears..."

Without any false statements, Li Ling went straight to the topic at the beginning and mentioned the concept of wealth. Then he used gold, silver and other things to induce the importance of food and cloth, and then used these to bring out the merchants who transported various goods to all parties in the world.

It was not until then that he began to tell in-depth the benefits of commerce for a country's stable and powerful development: "...the tea silk in Jiangnan, the leather medicinal materials in the north, and the rice and grain in Huguang... All these items are only small profits to the local area. If they are transported to the world, their value will increase by more than ten times. However, how much income has been obtained by my Dayue government over the past century? It is because the trade route is not smooth, so much wealth is spent. Fortunately, it is not too late to make up for the sheep. Now we can still vigorously trade and exchange goods from all over the world for the wealth of the world, which will eventually make me Dayue go a hundred feet longer!"

In order to illustrate the correctness of his point of view, Li Ling gave two examples in his article. One was Zhao Song, the former dynasty. In the case of four battles and years of unwinding, how could the Song Dynasty maintain a considerable national strength? In fact, it was because of the prosperity of business, so that the Zhao Song Dynasty, which only half of the Central Plains, still stood firm for a hundred years between strong enemies...

Another example is closer to the present, that is, the loss of the northern border just happened. In Li Ling's writing, he thought that the failure of this battle was due to the fact that the Transport Office ungrates the duty and failed to do his best, but the more important thing is that there is no trade road ahead, which makes it difficult to travel outside the Zhenbei Pass, and subsequent food, fodder and supplies cannot be delivered to the front line during heavy snow...

When Li Ling and all the candidates were writing hard at their desks, the emperor and his ministers had quietly left the main hall of Wende Hall and turned to the side hall to take a seat.

In the Great Yue Dynasty, ministers, especially the more than a dozen important officials of the court, also had seats in front of the emperor. After they sat down, eunuchs even brought up tea, snacks and other things, which seemed so different from visiting a friend's house.

But even so, the expressions of these officials were still strange, especially Fan Meisheng, who frowned and looked at the emperor from time to time, hesitating whether to say anything.

"Your Majesty..." Right Prime Minister Wang Han spoke first, but before he could speak, the emperor had already waved his hand to interrupt him: "Does Wang Qing feel that the test questions I have given today are inappropriate?"

"Your Majesty forgive me, I really think so. After all, over the years, the questions I have given in the Dayue Palace Examination have been all major questions of the classics. Today's question questions are really inconsistent with common sense and are contrary to the examples of ancestors." Wang Han said, looking at the others, and the ministers nodded to each other and expressed their agreement.

Perhaps now the Chinese official group is divided into several forces, such as the left and right ministers, but when facing the emperor's actions, their attitudes are still quite consistent. Although Lu Zhen did not express his approval, he looked at his appearance and was on the same side as Wang Han, the old opponent.

The emperor's eyes flashed slightly: "Is that true? Is there any example against the ancestors? Then I want to ask you, what does this example mean by the ancestors?"

"Of course it was the rule set by Taizu and Taizong during the reign of Emperor Taizong!" Fan Meisheng replied without hesitation. This was the strongest magic weapon used by these ministers to fight against the emperor. But when he said this, he found that the emperor's eyes lit up, and the others changed color slightly, and then he suddenly realized something.

Sure enough, the emperor said slowly: "But why do I remember that the imperial examinations in Taizu Dynasty were very different from those in the present? At that time, the imperial examinations were not the Four Books and Five Classics, but all kinds of talents could enter the officialdom. The techniques, military techniques, water conservancy, and today's strategies were all more valued by Taizu than the so-called Four Books and Five Classics. Why did I come to you? This topic I have made today a departure from the scriptures and deviated from the ancestors' system? Hum?"

Everyone was stunned by this question, and then they saw Wang Han saying, "What Your Majesty said is naturally reasonable, but the Taizu Dynasty was separated from the present by a hundred years. Times changed and the situation was changed. At that time, everything was in trouble. Naturally, it was necessary to recruit talents from all over the world in an unconventional way, but now it is different. What's more, today's candidates who participated in the palace examination have always taken the Four Books and Five Classics, and the words of the saints are the most important, and the articles they wrote are mostly related to it. Even if there are suggestions, it is not the point. This is really unfair to them."

"Who said this is unfair to them? Isn't it the same thing to write reasonable articles? Those who say things are good or reasonable can get a good review?" The emperor waved his hand and said, "Don't forget that these candidates can only be considered scholars now, but next, they will enter the court. If they still only know how to write articles around those four books and five classics, how can I feel at ease to entrust the great affairs of the court and the country to them?

"Of course, now it is not really necessary for them to immediately have a very sophisticated and in-depth understanding of the major affairs of the court and the welfare of the people. But at least, they must have their own ideas, their own opinions and means, so that they can live up to my expectations of them."

These statements of the emperor were naturally quite reasonable, and the ministers were immediately confused about how to refute them. Seeing this, Lu Zhen stood up and bowed: "Your Majesty is wise, I finally understand Your Majesty's painstaking efforts. Today's palace examination is just to attract talents in the future..."

The other people were even more difficult to refute the Zuo Prime Minister’s statement. Even Fan Meisheng and Wang Han could only stand up to agree. At the same time, they knew very well that after today’s game, the emperor of the palace examination will be able to set questions as he wishes in the future.

For decades, the imperial power, which was finally suppressed, is really about to emerge again this time.

The emperor swept over the ministers with satisfaction, then smiled and said, "You all have peace. Since I am the chief examination for this imperial examination, I can't avoid it all the time. You can sit here and wait for me to go back and take a look."

These ministers said thanking each other and said yes, and stood up and sent the emperor out of the hall. Then they looked at each other and smiled bitterly...

After walking out of the side hall, Sun Yong's face sank slightly. This was just a test of his. As a result, the reaction of the ministers was so intense. It seemed that the path he wanted to take was really not easy. But he would never give up. Some things were time to put on the agenda.

It was not until he stepped into the gate of the main hall that the emperor returned to the palace examination in front of him, his eyes swept over the backs of the candidates who were still writing articles, and finally his eyes fell on the young man who was ahead.

As if he had thought of something, the emperor walked over and stood beside Li Ling's desk. He reached out and took out the paper he had written on the paperweight on his left and looked it casually. After seeing this, the emperor's eyes flashed and he really read it.

Li Ling, who was already finishing the article, didn't notice that someone was standing beside him at first. Until another piece of paper was filled with paper, he put it to the side, but when he touched it, he suddenly realized that someone was standing next to him. He turned his head slightly and saw that the emperor was actually looking through his article. This made his heart beat tighter. As his hands trembled, he almost drew the written things.

The emperor also noticed his reaction, so he smiled and said, "I didn't have to be too polite and just kept writing by myself." Only then did Li Ling calm down and buried her head in the final...
Chapter completed!