The second official trial began before sunrise.
Song Jia entered the central hall to find eighteen separate desks arranged beneath the morning lanterns.
No maps.
No weapons.
No Array boards.
Only paper.
Dai Bao would have been disappointed.
Song Jia was delighted.
Sun Xun sat two rows behind her.
Ding Yijun occupied the desk to her left.
Ding Fang was farther ahead.
The remaining Princes and candidates were scattered deliberately throughout the hall.
No one sat beside an ally.
No one could easily observe another person's work.
A Palace official stepped forward.
"Trial Two consists of three stages."
Several participants immediately became more alert.
"Stage One tests knowledge."
He gestured toward the papers.
"You will answer one hundred questions."
Someone groaned quietly.
The official pretended not to hear.
"History. Law. Administration. Military affairs. Geography. Trade. Cultivation theory. Medicine. Alchemy. Arrays."
A merchant heir raised a hand.
