Leaving aside the newly-promoted Marquis Leonard of Puyang, who has been in the limelight these past two days, the time for the Palace Examination had arrived.
It's called the Palace Examination because it's held inside the main hall of the imperial palace.
It was around seven o'clock in the morning.
Ian Song and more than three hundred fellow prospective graduates arrived outside the palace to wait.
While the candidates exchanged greetings and flattered each other, an official arrived and led them into the Taiji Hall.
After the formal bows and prostrations, the Emperor of Valeguard announced the official start of the Palace Examination.
However, the Emperor of Valeguard was not a patient man. Normally, the Palace Examination lasted two full hours, but he only stayed for a little over half an hour before leaving, delegating supervision to Minister of Rites Wei Zhen.
Unnoticed, the two hours quickly passed.
This time, the exam consisted of one policy essay with three specific questions, plus a poem.
The policy essay was about national affairs and covered a wide scope; candidates only needed to write out their own proposal for state policy.
As for the three questions, they addressed current issues facing Valeguard, specifically military, civil, and personnel matters.
For the poem, there were no specific requirements; you just had to write your favorite verse.
Valeguard has stood for a hundred years and still looks peaceful on the surface, but in reality it's on the verge of collapse—land annexation is rampant, corrupt officials are everywhere, and the people are barely surviving.
This year, floods broke out in the lower reaches of the Ziwu River, and all three northwestern provinces suffered droughts and locust plagues, leaving many farmers with nothing to harvest.
On top of that, the four great border princes have grown rebellious and are ready to make trouble. In short, Valeguard is now a powder keg—just one spark could set the whole kingdom ablaze.
And that's just the internal situation. Externally, both Liang and Yue are watching closely; if anything happens in Valeguard, they'll send troops to attack.
Ian Song had no intention of showing off in the Palace Examination. His essay was strictly orthodox, deeply rooted in 'middle way' thinking. Right now, Valeguard is like a giant sieve—unless someone with real strength carries out reforms, the kingdom might last a few more decades at best.
But the three cabinet elders in charge are all party leaders, obsessed with factional struggles and not even considering reforms. So, Valeguard won't last more than ten years.
So, even though Ian knows all about Valeguard's problems, he doesn't write out his reform ideas. If he did, he'd instantly become the enemy of every powerful official and noble.
Once the papers were handed in, Ian and the others were allowed to leave the palace.