The 'Involution King' Second Female Lead Quits [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Imperial Examination Cheating?

The Minister of Revenue’s proposal was quickly approved by Li Jianwei. The one who advocates is the one who is responsible. The Minister of Revenue was a talent she had personally discovered. If he said he could exploit people like this, then she would let him! After the proposal to select imperial merchants was approved, the problem of insufficient military funds for the navy was alleviated.

The navy originally had a total of eighty thousand people. After deliberation, Li Jianwei waved her hand and transferred forty thousand of them to the Ningbo Prefecture to fight the Japanese pirates. Then, she conscripted twenty thousand local soldiers to serve as a reserve force for the navy. The eighty thousand peacekeepers in the south were disbanded and assigned to local garrisons after they completed their mission last year. At that time, thirty thousand elites would be selected from them, for a total of seventy thousand soldiers to defend the Ningbo Prefecture and attempt to counterattack the Japanese pirates. There was no other way. The training of a navy could not be done overnight, especially the construction of large ships, which required a lot of time. If they wanted to completely wipe out the Japanese pirates, they had to be prepared for the long term.

“Your Majesty, maritime trade has increased in the Fujian area. Your subject believes that Your Majesty can send a special envoy to be in charge. Foreign merchants have a high demand for our dynasty’s tea, porcelain, and other goods,” the Minister of Works said.

“Then let’s transfer people from the Maritime Trade Office,” Li Jianwei thought for a moment. “The two of you will discuss this. As long as it’s maritime trade, they must pay taxes to me. If anyone is found to be cheating, they will be severely punished.”

“Your subjects obey the order,” the Minister of Revenue and the Minister of Works replied in unison. Compared to the thirty-year-old Minister of Revenue, the fifty-year-old Minister of Works was obviously more experienced, so he took the lead in this matter.

The topic of discussion started with the war report from the Ningbo Prefecture, then moved to the issue of the state treasury, detoured to maritime trade, and at the end, the Minister of Justice said that some laws were too old and needed to be revised based on the current situation. Li Jianwei would not allow her subjects to take away too much of her imperial power, but she also would not handle every single detail. She just added people from the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice and had the three of them discuss how to revise the new Li Dynasty laws. In the end, she didn’t forget to put her most trusted Little Minister Shu in as a supervisor, giving her the power to veto any unreasonable laws.

“Your subjects obey the order.” The ministers were no longer surprised by this. They had already learned to judge His Majesty’s level of重视 for a matter based on whether Shu Heng was involved. If His Majesty didn’t send Shu Heng to supervise, they could appropriately slow down the pace or even secretly manipulate things. If she did, it was best to honestly and diligently complete the task. Otherwise, they would end up like a certain official from the Ministry of Justice, whose family was confiscated, the adults were exiled, and the minors, regardless of gender, were sent to work in the Imperial Music Bureau.

It was worth mentioning that the sixteen brothels under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Music Bureau had also been purged and had become a place that purely provided singing and dancing performances. If someone who was blind got drunk and lost their mind, they would be met with at least three years in jail and a fine that would make them regret it for the rest of their lives. At first, some people tried to go against the government’s policies, but after they lost their heads and all their assets, fewer and fewer people did so. There might still be some unofficial private brothels operating in secret, but no one had the guts to put such a business out in the open.

…

The Japanese pirates’ invasion in the south did not put Li Jianwei in a good mood. Especially after hearing that the Japanese pirates liked to massacre villages, she wished she could just grab her spear, get on her horse, and charge over to string up all those Japanese pirates, just like she did in the Northern Frontier.

“There are more things Your Majesty can do in the capital, such as re-measuring the farmland, counting the population, and registering the displaced people,” Shu Heng said comfortingly, placing a plate of snacks from the imperial kitchen on the table.

Li Jianwei hummed in response, then picked up a snack and handed it to Shu Heng. Shu Heng lowered her head and bit the snack, swallowing the small piece in one go. Her movements were very practiced. In the beginning, Shu Heng used to reach out to take it, but after finding out that doing so would lead to her Majesty holding her face and feeding her mouth-to-mouth, she learned to just use her mouth to avoid the complicated process. Occasionally, Shu Heng would be curious about how His Majesty could do such a thing in the main hall of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, after all, there were always ten or more guards on duty in the hall.

If Shu Heng had the courage to ask, Li Jianwei would definitely give her a righteous answer. This entire country is mine. I can be intimate with Little Minister Shu wherever I want. Not to mention there are only a few trusted guards in the hall, I would even do it in front of the ministers. The reason she hadn’t done so was because Li Jianwei had taken Shu Heng’s shyness into consideration and restrained her actions.

“Are you still able to handle everything?” Li Jianwei threw the second snack into her mouth.

Shu Heng thought for a moment. “It’s manageable. Your subject only needs to handle the relatively important matters. Is there anything Your Majesty needs your subject to do?”

“Nothing particularly important. I just want to take you out for some fresh air,” Li Jianwei said, resting her chin on one hand. “It’s been a while since I left the capital. I want to take half a month to go hunting in the winter.”

“Will Your Majesty bring the senior officials of the six ministries?” Shu Heng asked.

Li Jianwei shook her head. “I don’t want to make a big fuss. I just plan to bring you and Wanwan. The security will be handled by Miao Yun and three thousand Imperial Guards.”

“Your Majesty, your subject can probably only spare five days…” Shu Heng’s face was full of difficulty. Her daily workload was even heavier than Li Jianwei, the Emperor. After all, the Inner Cabinet not only needed to organize the memorials but also provide corresponding solutions. Li Jianwei only needed to approve or reject them most of the time.

“Then five days it is! We’ll just go to the outskirts of the capital,” Li Jianwei happily changed her plan. “I’ll go ask my mother if she wants to come along later.”

The Empress Dowager was a homebody. Even with her two daughters inviting her, she didn’t agree, saying that she could just walk around the Taiye Pond behind the palace and had no interest in hunting. As a result, the main characters of this small hunting trip became Li Jianwei and Li Wan. Shu Heng really wanted to participate, but her skill level was only enough to hit a motionless target. In the end, she had to settle for being the referee for the sisters’ competition.

Li Wan had made great progress after three years of training. Although she couldn’t compare to Li Jianwei, who had been on the battlefield for more than ten years, she was far ahead of her peers. She had already successfully become one of the Censorial Commissioners of the Censorial Guard based on her own ability. To show her favor to her sister, Li Jianwei allowed Li Wan to team up with Sun Bingjun. As long as their combined score could surpass hers, they would win.

“Really! If my teacher and I win, what’s the prize?” Li Wan’s eyes lit up.

“I will agree to any reasonable request,” Li Jianwei was very generous. “Of course, if you lose, you will stay in the imperial palace and study for the next three months.”

“It’s a deal!” Li Wan agreed cheerfully.

As Shu Heng, the referee, announced the start, Li Jianwei and Li Wan each spurred their horses in a different direction. Li Wan was rushing forward while reminding Sun Bingjun, “Teacher, you can’t hold back. If we lose, I’ll be angry!”

“Princess, don’t worry. Your subject will do her best,” Sun Bingjun replied, following closely behind Li Wan.

Shu Heng looked enviously at them riding away. She couldn’t help but pinch her own arm, then sighed at the little muscles she had. These muscles were probably developed from working at her desk every day. Unless she stopped being the Senior Grand Academician, it would be impossible for her to find time to practice riding and archery.

The competition lasted for four hours, including rest time. Before the end, only Shu Heng, the referee, knew the exact list of their hunted prey. Since the winner was determined not by the number of prey but by the total weight, both sides gave up on hunting rabbits, squirrels, and wild chickens and went for wild boars and wild deer.

Li Wan hardly rested. She ate and drank on her horse, working very hard with Sun Bingjun. On the other hand, after shooting two wild deer, Li Jianwei was attracted by a red fox that ran out. Li Jianwei had no interest in raising a fox, but she kept aiming her arrow at its eyes and took it down after a quarter of an hour.

“Shu Heng, I hunted this specially for you. I’ll have it made into a scarf for you later!” Li Jianwei came back halfway like she was offering a treasure, sharing her hunting results with her Little Minister Shu at the first opportunity.

Shu Heng’s heart was naturally bubbling with joy, but she didn’t forget to remind her Majesty. “Your Majesty, the Princess is working very hard. Prey is being sent to your subject every so often.”

“It’s okay. Having fun is the most important thing. It’s just a small request to grant Wanwan,” Li Jianwei was competitive, but that also depended on who the opponent was. She’s my own sister. It’s fine if she wins. We’re family.

Shu Heng didn’t say anything else. She just reached out and touched the fox fur, which was still a little warm.

Li Wan and Sun Bingjun returned with a full load. When they arrived just in time, they saw their sister and Little Minister Shu riding on the same horse. The former, using her taller and stronger body, almost held the latter in her arms and even taught her how to hunt.

Li Wan couldn’t help but gasp. She felt her back teeth getting a little sore. She knew that her sister and Little Minister Shu were very close, but this was a bit too sickeningly sweet! Sister is so clingy to Little Minister Shu!

As expected, Li Wan won in the end. The total weight of her hunted prey was more than three hundred jin heavier than Li Jianwei’s.

“Tell me, what do you want from me?” Li Jianwei asked while roasting meat.

“Sister, I want to travel to Jiangnan,” Li Wan also held two skewers of fresh venison and placed them on the wire rack.

Li Jianwei slowly spread the sauce prepared by the imperial kitchen on the meat. “You want to be a Censorial Commissioner?”

Li Wan nodded. “I want to help Sister share her worries.”

“You can go with your identity as a Princess, but not as a regular Censorial Commissioner. I haven’t completely tamed the gentry in Jiangnan. They are only superficially not daring to oppose me,” Li Jianwei said with clarity. She never thought that just by punishing a few ringleaders and confiscating their property would make the south completely submit. Those aristocratic families were deeply entrenched and were not simple people.

“There are many people watching you. Some people want to become your husband, and some people want something to happen to you to indirectly threaten me,” Li Jianwei warned. “Once you leave the capital, you have to be careful.” But at the same time, Li Jianwei did not plan to treat her only sister as a baby and protect her all the time. She hoped that Li Wan could become her capable assistant.

“Then I’ll go as a Princess,” Li Wan immediately accepted her sister’s suggestion. She only had one life, and she didn’t want to lose it for no reason.

Li Jianwei nodded with satisfaction. She picked up one of the venison skewers and sniffed it. After confirming that it was cooked, she handed it to Shu Heng beside her. “It’s a little hot. Eat slowly.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Shu Heng reached out to take it.

Li Wan couldn’t help but rub her face. What’s wrong? My teeth feel a little sore again.

…

In the third year of the Taiping era, the metropolitan exam was held in February as scheduled. The exam questions were prepared by Shu Heng, the Minister of Rites, and people from the Hanlin Academy. They came up with ten sets of papers and handed them to Li Jianwei. On the morning of the metropolitan exam, the chief examiner could only get the final exam questions and announce them on the spot.

It seemed like a perfect measure to prevent leaks. Only Li Jianwei knew the exact questions. But on the day the exam results were announced after a nine-day period, several candidates went to the capital’s magistrate’s office and beat the drum to voice their grievances, claiming that the exam questions were leaked and there was cheating.

Cheating in the imperial examination was not a small matter. After receiving the report, the prefect of the capital immediately reported the matter to the Inner Cabinet, who then informed His Majesty.

“Cheating?” Li Jianwei’s eyelids twitched. Have I not killed enough people? How can someone still dare to meddle with the imperial examination?

“How many candidates passed the metropolitan exam?” Li Jianwei asked.

“A total of 313 people, 65 of whom are women,” Shu Heng answered instantly. “The first, third, and fifth places are all women.”

Li Jianwei narrowed her eyes. Could it be that the accusers are targeting the women? Are they questioning the correctness of the rankings?

“Do you have evidence? Or is it a baseless accusation?” Li Jianwei asked.

Shu Heng bowed. “Your subject will send people to investigate now.”

“No need. You’ll come out of the palace with me. I will personally interrogate them,” Li Jianwei decided. The exam questions were only chosen by her the day before and were handed to the chief examiner from the imperial palace on the day of the exam. How could the questions have been leaked?

There were a total of five people who reported the cheating in the imperial examination. They were all juren who had passed the imperial examination during the former dynasty. It was their first time meeting Li Jianwei, the Emperor.

“Your students greet Your Majesty,” the five juren knelt on the ground and bowed honestly.

“Do you have any evidence? If you knew someone was cheating, why didn’t you report it earlier? Why did you have to wait for the exam results to be announced?” Li Jianwei went straight to the point without any nonsense.

“A few days ago, your student heard someone bragging while drunk, claiming that they would definitely pass the exam this time. Your student knows that person. Their aptitude is mediocre. Even if they were extremely lucky, they could only get a rank of two hundred and something. It’s impossible for them to be in the top ten.”

“Your student originally thought he was just bragging until I saw his name on the list in ninth place. Only then did I realize that he most likely cheated.”

“The imperial examination is for Your Majesty to select officials for the country. It must be fair and just. That’s why your student beat the drum to voice our grievances, hoping that Your Majesty will uphold justice for us and for all scholars in the country.”

The leading juren spoke clearly and concisely. It was obvious that he had come prepared. The other four were witnesses. They had also heard that person bragging and knew that his aptitude was mediocre.

“Bring the suspect here,” Li Jianwei frowned.

“Your Majesty, your student has been wronged. Your student absolutely did not cheat! It’s just that I happened to have discussed this policy essay with a classmate, so I performed better,” the successful candidate who was brought in knelt on the ground and immediately cried out that he was innocent.

Li Jianwei: “Who did you discuss it with? State their names and places of origin.”

The successful candidate immediately reported ten names, including the top scholar, the third-place, and the fifth-place, the only three female candidates who were in the top ten of this metropolitan exam. This made Li Jianwei smell a conspiracy. But according to the normal procedure, she still summoned the ten successful candidates who were named.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, we did discuss the matter of land taxes in advance and wrote related policy essays in advance. But this is because Your Majesty ordered the officials of the Ministry of Revenue to re-measure the farmland last year, so we had some guesses,” the successful candidates’ rebuttal was well-founded. After all, the topic of this policy essay was indeed a standard one. It was normal to have guessed the topic and prepared for it in advance.

“Bring sixteen sets of brush and ink. I’ll give you an hour to write down your essays from the exam from memory,” Li Jianwei ordered.

A trace of excitement flashed in the eyes of the leading juren. It was clear that he had already guessed that there would be a writing from memory part. Soon, sixteen sets of brush and ink and chairs were brought in. No matter what the sixteen people were thinking, they had to pick up their brushes and write down the essays from memory.

Shu Heng was a little worried. She felt that a simple writing from memory would not be enough to prove whether the candidates had cheated. If they had known the questions in advance, they would have memorized the essays perfectly. An hour passed quickly. Li Jianwei had people take out the exam papers and compare them one by one. The results were a little surprising to Li Jianwei. The top scholar had written down the essay word for word from memory, without a single mistake. The essays of the other ten successful candidates had some omissions, but they were generally correct.

On the other hand, the essays of the five juren who had beaten the drum were a little ridiculous. The overlap was not even half. However, the essays they wrote from memory this time were better than the ones they submitted for the exam, so it was impossible to conclude that they had a problem.

“Your Majesty, your student communicated with my colleagues after the exam. After so many times, I’ve become vague about the essays I wrote before and only remember how to write them more exquisitely,” the juren also gave a reasonable explanation for this. “Your Majesty, your student now suspects that the top scholar cheated! Your student does not believe that someone can write down an identical essay from memory unless she knew the questions in advance and had memorized the essay!”

“Your student humbly requests that Your Majesty search the top scholar’s residence!” The juren said, beginning to kowtow. “If no evidence is found, your student is willing to forfeit his official title!”

When he said this, everyone’s expressions changed. They were all secretly looking at the top scholar who was suddenly being targeted. The top scholar’s heart sank. She couldn’t help but think about how her classmate had once found a reason to ask her to write down the policy essay from memory after the exam.

Li Jianwei’s eyelids twitched. She immediately realized the purpose of the person behind this. These juren were not targeting the ninth-place candidate but the top scholar of this exam. The juren’s request seemed to have no problem. He was even willing to forfeit his official title in exchange for a chance to search the top scholar’s residence. But Li Jianwei could be sure that they must have already planted evidence. If she sent people to search, there would definitely be conclusive evidence. But if she didn’t, she would definitely be criticized. In the end, it might even turn into a rumor that she, the Emperor, was biased towards the top scholar and condoned her subordinates to leak questions to female candidates. Even if she had the searchers protect the top scholar, it would still leave an impression on the top scholar that her Majesty didn’t trust her.

Tsk, what a sinister method. But it’s enough to fool most scholars who have no experience in officialdom.

“So you have no evidence, and you just want to use your official title to make me search the top scholar’s residence.” Li Jianwei snorted coldly. “How despicable! You’re trying to make me lose the hearts of the future pillars of my court. Your heart should be punished!”

Li Jianwei slammed the gavel and did not play by the rules. “Men! Immediately send people to search the residences of these five people! Investigate whether they are colluding with the remnants of the former dynasty!”

The person who made the move was very sinister and cunning, but he overlooked one problem, and that was that Li Jianwei, as the Emperor, would not let him manipulate her. A mere juren wanted to order her, the Emperor? Did he really think she was a spineless idiot like the former Emperor?

As soon as the order was given, Shu Heng instantly let out a sigh of relief. She looked at her Majesty with admiration in her eyes. As expected of Your Majesty. In an instant, she came up with a way to break the situation. If it were anyone else interrogating them here and not her Majesty, they might have been led by the nose. After all, he was willing to forfeit his official title. If the investigation was not done seriously, it would definitely be criticized by scholars all over the country. The person behind the scenes might even take the opportunity to incite students to hold protests.

Fortunately, His Majesty reacted extremely quickly, using their own weapon against them to deal with these false accusers. The people who were sent to search were very sensible. In less than an hour, they came back with results. They found a torn letter and a jade pendant representing the former imperial family.

“Your Majesty, your student has been wronged. Your student has never colluded with the remnants of the former dynasty!” The juren was dumbfounded. This was not what he had been promised! The worst-case scenario was that they wouldn’t find anything in the top scholar’s room, and he would only lose his juren title! He was even prepared for this outcome. After all, he would get ten thousand taels of silver for it, which was enough for him to live a comfortable life for the rest of his life. But now it was different. He was directly accused of colluding with the remnants of the former dynasty. This could lead to him having his family confiscated and his head chopped off! He didn’t want to die!

“Never? Then how did these things get here? Did I put them in your room to frame you?” Li Jianwei was very angry. “If I don’t punish you severely, wouldn’t I be letting down those students who have been studying hard for ten years and passed the exam with their own ability?”

“Men! Drag them out and behead them in public! I allow anyone to beat the drum to voice their grievances, but I will not allow anyone to slander those who worked hard and passed the exam with their own ability!” Li Jianwei said righteously. Since the person behind the scenes wanted to make the scholars of the country lose their hearts to her, she would instead win them over and make them feel the importance that the monarch placed on them.

The five juren had no chance to rebut. They were immediately gagged and dragged out. A moment later, their heads fell to the ground.

“I believe that all of you passed the exam with your own ability. Don’t take what happened today to heart. Prepare well for the final palace exam,” Li Jianwei said in a softer voice, her gaze lingering on the top scholar for the longest time.

A top scholar who has an eidetic memory and is very talented. She must be the new top scholar that Heaven has specially arranged for me. When the time comes, I’ll put her under Shu Heng’s command to reduce her workload, so she won’t be too tired to fall asleep after only three times at night.

Shu Heng keenly noticed her Majesty’s gaze. Thinking that this person was very likely to be the new top scholar, a sense of urgency couldn’t help but rise in her heart. Is His Majesty very satisfied with this top scholar? Come to think of it, this person’s appearance is not only outstanding, but her body also looks relatively strong. Maybe she’s also a master of riding and archery. Most importantly, this person is two years younger than me, just the same age as His Majesty!

After thinking of this, Shu Heng’s hand, which was hidden in her official robe, couldn’t help but clench. A sense of urgency arose. No, I must work hard. I absolutely cannot be outdone by this person!