Chapter 017 – His Majesty supervises the palace examination

Gu Yuanbai fiddled with the homemade crossbow, which was barely holding together. He couldn’t help but sigh at his own good luck when looking at this delicate, lightweight craft.

The moment he stepped outside, he ran into a research and development talent. Moreover, even though this talent was still in a process of self-discovery, he had already reached some theoretical and practical findings.

Xu Ning sat awkwardly and nervously. Next to him there were an Imperial doctor and a young attendant applying medicine on him to heal his injuries. This luxurious treatment made Xu Ning feel uneasy.

The carriage already looked big from the outside, but, when he stepped inside, it turned out to be even bigger than it seemed. Even though he had two people sitting next to him, they weren’t crowded together. The floor was covered with a soft, flowing rug in beautiful colors. Xu Ning had never even touched something so fine, and now such a luxurious item was being trampled by the soles of his feet.

Xu Ning lowered his head, not daring to look at Gu Yuanbai. He felt fidgety and eager. He couldn’t help worrying when seeing an adult man play with his homemade crossbow, and he wondered whether the man looked down on such things.

After fiddling with it, Gu Yuanbai set aside the crossbow that the attackers had destroyed, wiped his hands with the handkerchief that Tian Fusheng handed him, and asked the Imperial doctor: “How is he?”

“The young childe is healthy,” the Imperial doctor enunciated carefully. “He only received superficial wounds this time, there is no damage to his internal organs. The only problem is that his diet is somewhat irregular, so he might have some stomach and heart pains.”

Xu Ning’s eyes widened in surprise, staring at his own hand gripping his clothes. The doctor was so skilled, being able to discover so much after simply taking his pulse for a moment.

Gu Yuanbai nodded slightly, then looked at Xu Ning with a smile, and asked warmly: “How did you make this crossbow?”

‘There are thirty six military weapons, and the bow is the first; there are eighteen martial arts skills, and the bow is the first.’ This is what Hua Yue said during the Southern Song Dynasty in the ‘Cui Wei Bei Zhan Lu’. 1 The Great Heng did not have many horses, and the nomadic groups from the borders were skilled equestrians. In order to resist them, bows and arrows became the favored choice for the infantry.

The founding emperor of the Great Heng Dynasty paid special attention to military affairs, and firmly controlled crossbows, especially the designs of improved crossbows, on a military and political level. The common people were strictly prohibited from having military weapons. Someone ordinary wouldn’t be able to even see such a light and powerful crossbow, much less create one.

However, although the crossbow made by Xu Ning had been broken, it could still be seen that it had more than a single shooting hole. In other words, the scholar’s homemade crossbow had caught up with the weapons used by the military.

It was powerful, very powerful.

Gu Yuanbai’s eyes showed his interest, and Xu Ning babbled about where he got his inspiration from and how he made it. When he finished explaining, he clenched his fists in excitement, looked up at Gu Yuanbai and said: “Young master! These products are useful, artisanal work has tremendous value! Either for farming land or military affairs, craftsmen are essential! It’s not a shameful job, nor is it improper!”

As soon as Xu Ning looked up, he saw the admiration in Gu Yuanbai’s eyes. Xu Ning finished his sentence by inertia, but his expression grew anxious.

Carriage, bodyguard, doctor, attendant.

This young master was outstanding, looking as ethereal as a deity, every one of his movements displaying his privileged upbringing. Could such a great man actually admire him? Appreciate his poor talents at woodworking?

“You are correct.” Gu Yuanbai nodded in agreement, and said:”In the past, Guan Zhong, who proposed the concept of ‘scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants’ was born a merchant himself, and used business methods to make the State of Qi prosper. In his own words, ‘scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants’ are not superior or inferior. Instead, they’re parallel classes, and all of them are the pillars of the country and make it flourish by fulfilling their duties. It is not possible to separate the prosperity of the Shang dynasty from their industry and commerce. However, after the Shang dynasty’s demise, the Zhou dynasty looked down on industry and commerce, thinking it would waste agricultural resources, and lead to the downfall of the State. Therefore, that was the reason artisans and merchants are named last.”

Xu Ning opened his mouth, staring straight at Gu Yuanbai. His lips opened and closed a few times, but he didn’t know what to say.

Gu Yuanbai asked Tian Fusheng to return the damaged crossbow to Xu Ning. Xu Ning took the crossbow helplessly, glanced at the window, and asked cautiously: “My lord, where are you taking me to?”

Tian Fusheng rolled up the carriage curtains. Xu Ning glanced outside without thinking and, the next instant, his eyes opened wide.

The towering, lofty and grandiose gates of the imperial palace were right before him. The beautiful tiles gleamed magnificently under the sun.

Gu Yuanbai didn’t mind his expression, and asked him with a smile: “In addition to the crossbow, what else can you make?”

“I… this scholar… this youngster…” Xu Ning was in a daze, not knowing how to address himself. “This scholar isn’t interested in just these things, I’ve also tried to improve some farming tools.”

He looked panicked, but, after all, could the palace be entered just by anyone?

The sound of each of the horses’ steps kicked Xu Ning’s soul out of his body. By the time the carriage stopped, the pale scholar’s face, already covered in wounds, was so distressed that anyone would have noticed.

The imperial physician and the palace attendant led Xu Ning out of the carriage, and the guards outside stood straight. The guard captain stretched out his hand to lift the curtain of the carriage, stretched out his hand and said: “Your Majesty, careful.”

Xu Ning: “!”

He took a breath, his brain buzzing. His entire being felt dizzy, as if he was about to faint in the next moment.

Gu Yuanbai extended his arm out of the carriage and placed his hand gently in the guard captain’s. The guard lowered his head and carefully helped Gu Yuanbai out of the carriage. Since the Emperor’s health wasn’t great, his servants would be overly concerned, worried that he’d have an accident if anyone did as much as bump against him.

The guard captain had to be extremely careful even when simply holding the Emperor’s hand. The Emperor’s skin was delicate and tender, and the guard’s palm was extremely coarse, with hard calluses and rough to the touch. Whenever he held the Emperor’s hand, he felt like a stone.

Setting his feet on the ground, Xu Ning subconsciously glanced down, only to discover that the stones he was stepping on were covered with exquisite carvings. He finally recovered some of his wits at this point, and dropped heavily to his knees.

The dragon boots appeared in front of him, and the Emperor said: “Follow Us.”

The auxiliary palace of Xuanzheng Hall was usually the place where the Emperor summoned his ministers to discuss political affairs. Gu Yuanbai offered Xu Ning a seat. Xu Ning tremblingly sat precariously on the edge of his chair, with his feet on the floor but feeling as if they were stepping on clouds.

Gu Yuanbai spoke with Xu Ning very gently. Xu Ning’s panicked mind gradually recovered, no longer blank. When he talked about his favorite carpenter, his eyes lit up.

Xu Ning’s ideas were bold for the era. However, what was even more extraordinary was that his ideas could be implemented with contemporary conditions and were capable of improving the situation of the Great Heng.

Gu Yuanbai promptly asked Tian Fusheng to bring out a collection of books about craftsmen from the Inner Palace and give them to Xu Ning, and afterwards he arranged for Xu Ning to enter the Engineering Department, on the outskirts of the capital.

Gu Yuanbai had set up the department personally, and it was under direct management of the Supervision Office. The Supervision Office discovered and selected the people there, all of whom were skilled craftsmen with a love for the craft. Gu Yuanbai declared that, as long as they managed to develop something of use to the country, no matter what it was, they would be rewarded.

However, the end results were always lackluster, and the Engineering Department’s research costs were extremely high. The officials from the Supervision Department had complained many times to Gu Yuanbai about it, thinking that the Engineering Department had no reason to exist.

Regardless, Gu Yuanbai insisted, giving the Engineering Department his full support. Xu Ning’s arrival was an unexpected delight. Gu Yuanbai always thought that what the Engineering Department was lacking was an enlightened mind, and now, that mind had arrived.

Xu Ning took the book collection and the appointment, still in a daze. He touched the books and listened to the Emperor’s encouraging words, and his eyes went red.

All these books had been forbidden by the Great Heng, and artisans and merchants were always considered the last class in dynasties. These scorned books about craftsmen were more rare than a manuscript from a renowned scholar. Xu Ning’s voice trembled. “Your Highness, this youngster won’t let you down!”

His gaze gradually became firmer.

The Emperor himself had said so. Not only did he not look down on artisans, he appreciated them and had many ideas. The Emperor mentioned things such as ‘improving the repeating crossbow’,2 ‘tying up cattle to shorten ploughing’, ‘a bullock cart combining sowing and fertilizing’, and even a ‘spinner weaver’ and ‘water wheels’, and so on, that Xu Ning found both surprising and plausible.

His hands were itching and he was so excited that he wanted to hurry to the Engineering Department, as the Emperor said, to work with other colleagues that were also familiar with artisanal work in order to realize the Emperor’s ideas.

If he was able to work on what he loved, contribute to the world, and help solve the Emperor’s problems, could there be anything better than that?

Xu Ning no longer felt pain from the injuries covering his body.

Gu Yuanbai was ecstatic to take in such a talented researcher, and he remained joyful until the day of the Palace Examination.

The candidates entered the Emperor’s Audience Hall at dawn. The people from the Ministry of Rites were in charge of the entire process of the Palace Examination, and, by the time the formal procedures before the exam had been completed, the sky outside was already bright.

The Palace Examination could be supervised by the Emperor himself, or by officials sent by him as replacement. Of course, Gu Yuanbai was supervising in person, and all the candidates, peacefully sitting in their positions, kept their heads lowered without a saying word.

The atmosphere in the entire Audience Hall was solemn and quiet, with a bit of diffused tension permeating it. The candidates noticed two rows of strong guards with tall and muscular bodies standing vigilant, and, with the Emperor sitting on top of the high seat, no one would dare break the rules.

The seats for the Palace Examination were assigned according to the results of the Metropolitan Examination, so the one closest to Gu Yuanbai was none other than the Huiyuan, Chu Wei.

Gu Yuanbai looked around. There were many familiar faces in the first two rows. Besides Chu Wei, there was Chang Yuyan, as well as the son of the Minister of Revenue, Tang Mian. Tang Mian had not yet had his capping ceremony,3 but he had achieved the seventh place in the Metropolitan Examination. The Minister of Revenue’s household was rather proud of his achievement.

Gu Yuanbai also took a special look at Kong Yilin, who was ranked third. Kong Yilin’s ancestral home was Qingzhou, in Shandong, which had been Confucius’ home. It was said to be a place full of talented people where the competition among scholars was fierce. Kong Yilin had been the top ranked student from Shandong in the examinations.

Kong Yilin was born extremely tall. Seeing such a big person crouched behind a small table made people feel uncomfortable for him. This person was extremely quiet, sitting silently with his head down, making it impossible to discern how he looked. He had a calm temperament, like an old farmer planting rice steadily, and his presence was weak and ordinary, but very firm.

From this look, Gu Yuanbai had a better impression of Kong Yilin.

At the beginning of the palace exam, the test papers were handed out, with only one policy topic written on top. The candidates had to write at least two thousand words. The palace exam would last for one day, finishing when the sun set in the evening.

Suddenly, the only sound in the hall was that of brush across paper. Gu Yuanbai sat for a while before starting to work on handling government affairs.

The people sitting in the front noticed the sound of the Emperor opening the memorial. Many of them were conceiving their policy essays while listening to the movement from above.

Chu Wei, as the number one ranking student, had attracted the most attention. He was so forthright that he didn’t even look at the Emperor and simply acted as if he wasn’t there, and he continued to concentrate on his policy essay.

He wanted to get the first place from the Emperor’s hand.

After all the candidates were in this state, Gu Yuanbai put down the memorial and began to walk slowly among the candidates.

When some people glimpsed the dragon robe he wore, their wrist would shake and ink spots would stain the draft. Others had their legs shake nonstop, their teeth knocking together so loudly that Gu Yuanbai could hear them.

Wherever he strolled, the people there would become incomparably nervous. The bad ones would be lost on the spot, the good ones would tense up, too rigid to write.

The Emperor’s bright yellow dragon robe gradually moved towards the front row, and Chang Yuyan glanced at the shadow at his back. His hand shook, and he forced himself to calm down.

With his heart pounding, Chang Yuyan felt as if the Emperor had been standing by his side for a long time. However, once he turned to face him, the Emperor had already walked up to Kong Yilin, and he was standing still by his side.

Gu Yuanbai looked down at Kong Yilin’s draft. It was neatly written, as clean as a formal document. At first, he just wanted to take a rough glance, but gradually, his expression became serious.

When Kong Yilin’s last stroke fell, Gu Yuanbai came back to his senses. He took a deep look at Kong Yilin, whose head was still down, and, instead of continuing to walk among the students, he strode back up the steps.

The Emperor’s move was noticed by those around him, and many of them glanced secretly at Kong Yilin. Faced with so many stares, Kong Yilin continued to write his answer, immobile.

Chu Wei, who was also looking in Kong Yilin’s direction, looked away lightly, dipped his brush with some ink, and continued to write.