Zhao Guan's family did not have the bad habit of peeking behind others during exams, but simply waiting for the exam results was quite boring. Therefore, as soon as everyone arrived at the Royal Ritual Hall (Huang Yi Dian), he took the initiative to issue an edict, telling everyone to do as they pleased.

Although it was said to be doing as they pleased, the several marshals who were not usually in the capital would certainly not voluntarily give up the opportunity to spend time with the Guan's family. However, it was not appropriate to talk about military affairs on such occasions, so they all chatted and joked with the Guan's family casually.

For example, Zhao Guan's family sat on a stool in the Huangji Hall and said that there were more and more eunuchs returning to the palace, so that the palace was getting cleaner and cleaner, and they were a little unaccustomed to it. Moreover, with more people, more rice was consumed, etc... This made several marshals not dare to speak for half a day. Only Zhang Rong, who had just arrived, really started talking to the Guan's family about his life experiences on how to save rice.

On this kind of occasion, the military officials dared not leave, while the civil officials were too lazy to participate, and went to sit idly around the Huang Yi Dian early on, letting the Guan's family talk nonsense.

Of course, this was, after all, the political center of a central power that had been passed down for more than a hundred years. Although they were sitting idly, the political order engraved in their bones could not be discarded... The Guan's family sat with several marshals in the Huang Yi Dian, drinking tea; the three chief ministers and a rare senior censor-in-chief came to the gate tower outside, with tea and tables; the remaining ministers and heads of the nine temples, except for the Minister of Rites Zhu Shengfei, sat under the corridor of the left side hall of the Huang Yi Dian, also with tea and tables, but they were borrowing the objects in the side hall, which could not be moved out; but further down, the censors, drafters of the chancellery, and editors of the Privy Council were just sitting idly under the corridor of the east side hall farthest from the Jiying Hall.

However, although the personnel classification in each place was different, they were generally discussing the accident in the Jiying Hall just now.

To be honest, it was one thing not to speak out against it in that kind of occasion, but as a civil official, seeing the supreme honor and status of the Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) being easily thrown out by the Guan's family, they felt a little unacceptable in their hearts, but it was another matter... Therefore, this was not mentioned in the Huang Yi Dian, but the outside was gradually becoming a discussion.

Not only that, but once the discussion began, it gave many people support in the atmosphere, allowing people who originally had no courage and opportunity to speak to gain some confidence, and then become resentful.

Only this matter was a foregone conclusion, but it was not good to persuade the Guan's family again, so they could only complain in a low voice with a bit of classmate-like youthful spirit from the Jiying Hall next door.

The Huang Yi Dian was the same size as the Jiying Hall next door, and it was difficult for these movements to enter the hall, but they could not hide from the ministers around the hall, and several chief ministers quickly heard the movement.

Then, Li Guang, the censor-in-chief, who already had some grievances in his heart, could not help but take advantage of the situation to bring up the matter:

"Chancellor Lü, I am not criticizing anything. In that kind of occasion just now, for the sake of national affairs, it was okay to endure it for a while, but in the future, we should not let the Guan's family continue to fool around... This matter is really inappropriate."

Xu Jingheng, who had just picked up his teacup, was slightly startled and wanted to agree, but seeing Lü Haowen calmly pick up his teacup and take a sip, this vice chancellor of the Department of State turned his head to Li Guang with a wry smile, and then took the initiative to defend himself:

"Taifa (Li Guang's courtesy name), this matter has precedents."

Li Guang became more serious: "Of course I know there are precedents, but the Guan's family is still too frivolous in the national talent selection ceremony."

The word "frivolous" came out, and the three chief ministers were all moved.

Moreover, the Supreme Taoist Emperor was, after all, one of the Supreme Emperors who were captured in the north. It was not good to say bad things about him. The three chief ministers and Li Guang were basically 'senior and important ministers' who had experienced the entire era of the Supreme Taoist Emperor. They were of noble status, so it was not good to say anything easily, so as to avoid political misunderstandings.

But political language is such an interesting thing. A frivolous can express many things.

In those years, when Emperor Zhezong passed away without an heir, the Empress Dowager and the chief ministers discussed the succession of the princes. As a result, Zhao Ji, the Prince of Duan, who was later the Supreme Taoist Emperor, successfully won. But during this period, the opposing Chancellor Zhang Dun said, 'The Prince of Duan is frivolous and cannot rule the world,' which accompanied Zhao Ji for the next few decades of his reign.

Because this sentence was too incisive.

The Supreme Taoist Emperor Zhao Ji was 'frivolous' and 'could not rule the world.' And a few years ago, history even used the fall of half the country, the emptiness of the capital, the capture of the imperial family, and even tens of millions of lives to verify the subtlety of this sentence.

Therefore, Li Guang's saying "frivolous" at this time perfectly conveyed his meaning - the word "precedent" can block people's mouths, but it cannot shield people's hearts. That precedent was a bad precedent made by the Supreme Taoist Emperor who ruined the world. The Guan's family should not learn it, and the prime ministers should not indulge it. Otherwise, it would be a bit ridiculous like the six traitors coaxing the Supreme Taoist Emperor that day.

This was a very severe accusation. Even if it was a casual conversation at this time, Lü Haowen had to make a formal response.

And sure enough, after thinking for a while, Prime Minister Lü put down his teacup and slowly replied: "The current world is actually the time when Song and Jin are fully at war... I think what the Guan's family said is very appropriate. And a few days ago, Hu Anguo entered the court and said that in today's world, military affairs should be given priority, and that military affairs should not be entrusted to others. I also think it is appropriate."

This meant that they wanted to engage in a military-first policy. Since military affairs were the priority, it was always acceptable to win over the generals in the army during wartime.

Li Guang was slightly startled, but shook his head repeatedly: "Although that's true, Yue Fei is already a Junior Guardian and a Military Commissioner at the age of twenty-seven, which can be said to be the highest position a subject can hold. The Guan's family's actions are excessive... Let me be frank for now, it's okay for the people below to discuss Yue Pengju's getting this status, but how can the other marshals be at peace in their hearts?"

"What if they are not at peace in their hearts?" Just then, Privy Councilor Wang Boyan, who had been sipping tea in his seat without saying a word, suddenly interjected. "Is their resentment directed at the top, or at Yue?"

Li Guang was speechless for a moment, then realized it for a moment, and then closed his mouth and said nothing.

Speaking of which, it may be that Li Guang himself was too direct just now, so Wang Boyan's words were even more direct - if the other marshals are dissatisfied, will this dissatisfaction be directed at Zhao Guan's family? Or will it be directed at Yue Fei himself?

Of course, it was directed at Yue Fei himself. The answer was self-evident.

Because Zhao Guan's family also had a very good grasp of people like Han Shizhong, Li Yanxian, and Zhang Jun... And to be fair, looking at the past performances of these people, their fear and obedience to the Guan's family was still very obvious, including Wang Yan and Lü Qiong, who were very particular about etiquette, and even Wang De, who was a bit stunned. These generals had different personalities and problems, but the unified understanding was that one could fight and one was loyal.

Sometimes, the chief ministers themselves would mutter that in the current world, especially before the Guan's family, who was talking nonsense in the hall, ascended the throne, the generals of the world would easily surrender and rebel. However, the people that this Guan's family used and valued, not to mention the civil officials, even the generals, never failed in their integrity... How could he pick these people out?

It should be known that many times, the respect and fear of the ministers for this Guan's family came from this Guan's family's discernment of people and the importance of his subordinates.

And not to mention these things, returning to the matter of Yue Fei, if the marshals' dissatisfaction was only directed at Yue Fei, then from the perspective of a ruler's strategy, wouldn't that be better? Wouldn't it be better to ensure that the youngest and most powerful Yue Fei was an isolated minister?

Would it be better to balance military power?

Thinking about it this way, the Guan's family's actions were deliberately clever, so it could not be called frivolous.

Thinking of this, not only Li Guang, but even Xu Jingheng was thoughtful and nodded slightly without speaking.

But at this moment, Prime Minister Lü Haowen, who had taken another sip of tea, slowly and resolutely shook his head: "The Guan's family is always trying to put themselves in the marshals’ shoes, although with some slight warnings, but this is definitely not what he intended!"

"Then..." Wang Boyan asked, taking tea. "Aren't we back to square one?"

"Not so." Lü Haowen sighed softly in his seat, holding his teacup. "I'm afraid the Guan's family really thinks that giving Yue Pengju a Jinshi background is very useful?"

"What's the use?" Li Guang laughed for a moment, holding his teacup. "Could it be that he can be appointed as a Privy Councilor?"

But as soon as the words came out, Censor Li himself was stunned first, and then the four important ministers of the court almost simultaneously felt their scalps tingle, looked at each other, and then almost simultaneously put their tea on the table in front of them... Because they suddenly realized that it might not be appropriate now, but when Yue Fei got older, when he reached forty, the war would be almost over. Wouldn't that be okay then?

Maybe this matter will become a precedent and system in the future... Privy Councilors are all selected from the military... Give them a background!

Of course, this was the four important ministers judging the Guan's family with their own high standards.

How could Zhao Guan's family think so far ahead?

He was really just doing this out of a protective mentality towards Yue Fei... It must be known that as a time-traveler, Zhao Jiu had never thought that Yue Fei would be treated in such a way because of Han Shizhong's jealousy. That was as ridiculous as Han Shizhong rebelling!

He only knew about the "groundless accusations"!

Therefore, this action, whether it was deliberate or opportunistic, was definitely not a frivolous act... Zhao Jiu just wanted to protect Yue Fei from the civil officials in a fundamental way because of that "groundless accusations." He just wanted to give Yue Fei a protective shell against the civil official system.

Of course, it was still the same sentence. Zhao Guan's family was judging others with his own low standards and was even a little worried for nothing.

Did he really think that the chief ministers were all Qin Hui? That Qin Hui was also a once-in-a-millennium figure, okay?

Moreover, since he, Zhao Guan's family, was sitting firmly in the hall, who could touch his confidant generals?

Wasn't the discussion on the Huang Yi Dian today just a private discussion when they were extremely bored?

And sure enough, the civil and military officials sat with Zhao Guan's family in the Huang Yi Dian for only half an hour. As someone boldly handed in their papers to win the first prize, everyone from the chief ministers down gathered in the hall to discuss the articles of the new Jinshi, and no longer spoke idle words.

It is said that although Zhao Guan's family had clearly stated before leaving the hall that there was no need to follow any old customs of writing articles, in fact, there were no specific old customs for the palace examination articles.

Because the core task of this article was actually in 'beauty' and 'criticism.'

Specifically, 'beauty' was praise, and 'criticism' was to point out faults... and the objects of praise and pointing out faults were naturally the emperor. In fact, compared to the form of the palace examination, the coexistence of 'beauty' and 'criticism' was the basic criteria for judging palace examination articles since the Tang Dynasty.

In other words, this palace examination essentially required these Jinshi to write a political paper that both flattered Zhao Guan's family and pointed out Zhao Guan's family's faults while adhering to the topic. As long as the flattery was well done and the criticism was in place, then this would be a typical good palace examination article.

And this was also the reason why many ministers were optimistic about Yue Fei and Qu Duan... They really didn't need any literary talent, and Yue Fei's previous "Discussion on Fine Horses" was a model of palace examination questions on the use of people. As for Qu Duan, 'beauty' was hard to say, but 'criticism' was always no problem, right?

Returning to the present, Zhao Jiu could not read all six hundred articles with their names covered. He only asked the chief ministers, ministers, and Hanlin academicians to review them together, determine a rough ranking, and then Zhao Guan's family would only look at the excellent ones.

Not only that, as the Huang Yi Dian began to formally cover the names and review the papers, this time Zhao Jiu spoke directly and clearly stated that after determining the ranking, opening the names, no matter what ranking Yue Fei and Qu Duan had, no changes were allowed.

This made the people in the hall feel a little relieved, and then as more and more examination papers were sent in, they became orderly again.

But as the saying goes, an awl in a bag will reveal its sharpness. Some papers, even with their names covered, were enough to cause the emperor and his ministers in the Huang Yi Dian to be stunned by their outstanding strengths and had to be treated specially.

It was really 'strength'!

Zhao Jiu looked at the examination paper in his hand, which was densely filled with neat small characters, and felt that the respect in his heart was as continuous as the Yellow River... He counted clearly how many rows and columns there were. This examination paper, which was submitted very early, actually had more than 10,000 words!

Writing more than 10,000 words with a writing brush in such a short time was simply comparable to those codeword workers who wrote online novels in later generations!

No, those codeword workers were not worthy of carrying shoes for this person!

He wrote such a long policy question so neatly with a writing brush in the palace examination. How could he be compared with those online writers who stayed at home in front of their computers and watered down their words?

This was not all.

With awe, Zhao Guan's family also carefully spread out the examination paper in the awed gazes of the surrounding marshals. Just reading the first sentence of this article made him tremble all over, and he immediately decided to make this person the top scholar!

As the saying goes:

"Tang and Wu rose by listening to the people, while Jie and Zhou perished by listening to heaven. Now that Your Majesty has risen in the midst of weapons and war, with external chaos and internal strife, and has asked your ministers five questions, he falsely claims that heaven and the people are one. How wrong is that?"

This was the first time Zhao Jiu had seen someone clearly propose that there should be a clear choice between the will of heaven and the hearts of the people!

Based on this alone, even if this person could only water down his writing, he deserved to be the top scholar and would be a censor-in-chief in the future.

And Zhao Jiu continued to read, and the more he read, the more he liked it... First of all, this person probably didn't understand specific military issues. The military defense strategies he discussed were only general, but he came up and bluntly said that the Song Dynasty had a large population and a solid foundation. As long as it was ensured that they did not discuss peace with the Jin people, temporary victories or defeats did not matter. As long as they persisted, the final victory would definitely belong to the Song Dynasty.

This was very much to his liking, and there was a suspicion of flattering the Guan's family's policies.

After reading for half a day, after reading several thousand words, turning the page, and seeing the section on the use of people, Zhao Jiu was stunned again, because this person said again at the beginning:

"Now, the prime ministers are probably people like Yan Shu and Wang Gui; the Privy Council has been in office for a long time, without the decisiveness of Han Qi; the deputy prime ministers are diligent, but without the worries and joys of Fan Zhongyan. If Your Majesty wants to use these people to restore the two rivers and rebuild the country, can it be done if the marshals do not all have the abilities of Han Xin, Bai Qi, Wei Qing, and Huo Qubing?"

Zhao Jiu was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but slap the table and laugh, laughing until tears came out... However, he decided to give this guy a lesson and change him to the second place.

After all, not to mention whether this person should say these big truths, just talking about how hard the chief ministers have worked, is it something that you, a palace examination candidate, can complain about? And how do you know that my marshals do not have the abilities of Han Xin, Bai Qi, Wei Qing, and Huo Qubing?