Chapter 368 Imperial Examination
Li Lu was stationed in Jiangling and controlled four towns. He did have a lot of money. Moreover, the people who came out of Chang'an were ingrained with greed for pleasure and extravagant lifestyle.

Not to mention that the war has not spread yet, in history, after the An-Shi Rebellion, the feudal lords were divided and the world was depressed, but the officials from Chang'an were still extravagant.

In the 14th year of Yuanhe, the three towns in Hebei surrendered to the central government. Emperor Xianzong of Tang sent Prime Minister Zhang Hongjing to take over Lulong. Zhang Hongjing went there in a sedan chair that was as big as a house, which stunned the soldiers of Lulong.

Because Heshuo has always been ruled by the guards, the leaders all rose from the ranks and shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, and they have never seen such luxurious things.

That would have been fine, but the key point was that after Liu Zong, the governor of Lulong, handed over his military power, he left one million strings of cash for the soldiers of Lulong as military pay, but Zhang Hongjing and officials from the imperial court embezzled 200,000 strings of cash.

At this point, the Lulong soldiers could no longer tolerate it, so they killed all the other court officials, imprisoned Zhang Hongjing, and surrendered but then rebelled again.

Li Lu's style is the same as Zhang Hongjing's. They both think that there are only a few people in the world that they can see.

Yan Wu, who was standing by, had long been fed up with Li Lu's style. Seeing Li Lu giving out rewards indiscriminately at the banquet, he sighed silently.

……

In Chang'an, Li Heng hosted a banquet for Gao Xianzhi and his civil and military officials in the Qilin Hall. During the banquet, they did not talk about official business but only about friendship.

It was not until the next day that Li Heng went to work.

Li Ying first discussed with Gao Xianzhi and his court officials how to deal with the captured rebel generals.

The hard-line military generals, led by Gao Xianzhi, suggested that Li Heng kill them all, arguing that treason should not be tolerated and that one should be killed as a warning to the rest.

The civil servant faction, led by Wei Jiansu, suggested keeping them in use, on the grounds that the Anshi Rebellion had not been completely pacified and the rebels should be shown that the court would treat them leniently as long as they surrendered.

Li Heng did not listen to all of them, but divided them into three categories.

The first category was the main generals who refused to surrender and were captured, and they were killed.

The second category, those who surrendered during the government army's siege, were all exiled.

The third category, those who actively respond to the government army's siege, can be employed.

Li Heng put forward the ideas and left the specific matters to Gao Xianzhi.

The next step is to arrange the rewards and appointments for the meritorious soldiers.

Li Heng left most of his men in Hebei, and sent a small number of his trusted followers to various places in Guanzhong.

Finally, it is the imperial examination.

Li Heng issued an edict that anyone who was proficient in a skill could go to Chang'an to take the exam.

As for completely recovering the lost territory, they would have to wait a while and hold off for a while, because Li Heng was unwilling to plunder the people too harshly, and the court did not have enough money to support an immediate war.

There was a brief period of peace in various places, and many people's attention was focused on the imperial examinations opened by Li Heng.

Gradually, many people came to Chang'an to take the exam.

However, not everyone supports the imperial examination system.

For example, Cui Guangyuan, who was from the Bo Ling Cui family, wrote a letter to Li Heng, advising: "I have never participated in the imperial examination, so I should not criticize the Jinshi. However, my grandfather (Cui Jingsi) participated in the imperial examination and passed it in one go. After that, there was no book of selected articles, because the imperial examination only required poetry, and poetry, and poetry, and poetry are nothing but strange and lewd skills. After learning them, people become frivolous. Therefore, when selecting officials, the court should select the sons of officials. The sons of officials learn from childhood, are familiar with court affairs, and are naturally well-educated in etiquette. Even if there are some outstanding poor scholars, they don't have the time to learn."

After reading the memorial, Li Heng handed it to Yang Yuhuan.

After reading it, Yang Yuhuan smiled and said, "Cui Guangyuan himself entered the officialdom through family ties, and he was born into the Five Surnames and Seven Noble Families, so he should naturally speak for themselves."

The so-called Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats refer to the Longxi Li family, the Zhaojun Li family, the Boling Cui family, the Qinghe Cui family, the Fanyang Lu family, the Xingyang Zheng family, and the Taiyuan Wang family. These five surnames represent people from seven places.

During the reign of Li Shimin, in order to crack down on the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats, he required the "Clan Records" to be recompiled. During the reign of Li Zhi, he even issued a decree prohibiting several of the families from intermarrying.

But the effect was not very ideal, because the Tang Dynasty royal family came from the Longyou Li family and were proud of it.

Li Heng pondered for a moment and said, "Whether they like it or not, the imperial examination must be implemented."

At this time, Shi Shouyi came in and reported, "Your Majesty, the scholars who came to the capital made a fool of themselves in Qujiang." "What happened?" Li Ying asked.

Shi Shouyi immediately told Li Heng what happened in Qujiang in vivid detail.

It turned out that the aristocratic families had figured out the minds of the imperial examination candidates and planned a farce.

Today, the scholars were feasting in Qujiang. When they were enjoying themselves, they saw a large group of maids in gorgeous clothes coming to the bank of Qujiang Lake, surrounding a large sedan chair.

The scholars therefore believed that the person in the sedan chair was a lady from a noble family who had come to choose a husband, so they pulled the boat to the shore, sang poems and composed essays, and tried to courteously show their affection to the lady in the sedan chair or to flirt with her, making the scene very lively.

When the scholars had almost finished their performance, the people in the sedan chairs began to appear.

I saw the curtain of the sedan chair opened a little, a leg stretched out, and the skirt was lifted up, revealing a thick leg covered with black hair.

This is obviously a man!
The scholars were stunned at first, then covered their sleeves and fled in panic.

Even though Shi Shouyi had been through many battles, he couldn't help laughing when talking about this.

Li Ying shook his head and smiled, then sighed silently in his heart.

These powerful families were using this method to tell him that the scholars who took the imperial examinations were indeed frivolous, behaved unruly and were not fit for important tasks.

Li Ying thought about it and asked the eunuch to bring Wang Wei to the Purple Palace (the Purple Palace in the Daming Palace).

In the Purple Palace.

Li Ying asked Wang Wei, "Has Wang Youcheng heard about what happened in Qujiang today?"

Wang Wei said: "I have learned about it, but I don't know how to deal with it. If I order a reprimand, it will seem like I am making a fuss over nothing. If I do nothing, it will cause a stir in the city, which will be detrimental to the upcoming imperial examination."

Li Heng said: "Sometimes, when dealing with a matter, you don't have to respond directly. You just need to reiterate the categories of our imperial examination this time."

Wang Wei was slightly stunned, not quite understanding what Li Heng meant.

Li Heng continued, "This imperial examination is not just about poetry and songs. I have already issued an imperial decree that anyone who is proficient in one art can participate. You have also been preparing for this for several months. You don't have to focus all your attention on literary scholars. As for the frivolity of literary scholars, we can't generalize. Find a few respected old scholars as propaganda examples and fight public opinion with public opinion."

Wang Wei suddenly realized and said, "I understand. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your guidance."

Li Heng saw that Wang Wei was absent-minded and said, "Princess Yuzhen and Jiang Caiping have confessed their crimes. I have pardoned them and allowed them to move back to the palace. I know my limits. You don't need to be distracted by Buddhist and Taoist matters. Your top priority is to run the imperial examination well."

Wang Wei had some thoughts about Li Heng's suppression of Buddhism because of Princess Yuzhen's kindness and his own study of Buddhism. Now that he heard Li Heng's explanation, he was quite pleased. He stood up and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for telling me the truth. I will definitely do my best for the imperial examination."

Li Ying nodded and said, "I'll ask you to observe the candidates first. Is there anyone who impressed you?"

Wang Wei thought for a moment and said, "There is a man with extraordinary conversation and upright character. I have a good impression of him."

"What is your name?"

"Yuan Chao."

"Yuan Chao?" Li Heng was a little surprised.

Wang Wei saw Li Ying's appearance and asked curiously, "Your Majesty knows this person."

Li Ying shook his head and asked, "Where are you from?"

Wang Wei said: "He was from Linhai, Taizhou, and his family was humble. I heard that his fellow villagers raised money for him to go to Beijing to take the exam."

Li Heng nodded, confirming in his heart that this person was the Yuan Chao in history.

Historically, in the first year of Baoying, that is, in 762 AD, Yuan Chao was a clerk in Taizhou. The court asked him to collect taxes in Taizhou. He sympathized with the people and was unwilling to collect taxes, so he was whipped. In anger, he gathered people to revolt. At one point, he gathered more than peasant rebels, but was finally suppressed by Li Guangbi's troops.

(End of this chapter)