Xu Huaiqian looked up and saw at least a hundred books, gasping: "So many?!"
"This is actually just apart of," Even Meng Fangxun, who usually found studying not too difficult, was getting a headache this time. "There are many more books we need to buy ourselves."
The provincial exam was different from the academy exam. The academy exam had a set scope; as long as you memorized the books in that range and applied them flexibly, you could pass as a Xiucai.
But the provincial exam was different—its scope was broader and deeper. Even memorizing these books inside out might not help because you never knew what would be tested.
It might test what you memorized, or it might test events you'd never even heard of.
Here, Meng Fangxun pulled out an exam paper and sighed: "The academy head gave me last year's Changnan provincial exam paper. It was about the Huayin flood. Where even is Huayin? How could we know about its flood?"
"Hmm?" Hearing a question about current affairs among all the poetry and literature papers was a rare treat for Xu Huaiqian. He curiously leaned over to look.
The question was: Two years ago, Huayin Prefecture suffered a flood. The court took a series of actions, but they were completely ineffective. The disaster victims left their homes, not only failing to receive proper resettlement from other local governments but also causing outbreaks of plague in some areas. The question asked the students: If this situation occurred in their own prefecture, how would they handle it properly?
This was simple.
Xu Huaiqian scanned the question, and his mind instantly listed dozens of flood relief and disaster measures.
"So difficult." But after reading the question, Duan Youyan frowned. "The government already sent dozens of imperial physicians to treat the plague first, yet they still couldn't control it. What could ordinary doctors like us do?"
" Is it possible it wasn't the imperial physicians' incompetence, but the government's failure in prevention and control direction?" Xu Huaiqian didn't think so. He immediately thought of his time during the modern pandemic when he was even on duty during the Spring Festival Gala. It wasn't that the doctors were incapable; some people just had issues.
People attending weddings and funerals without getting tested or wearing masks, resulting in spreading it from ten to hundreds, harming their own families and others, leading to city-wide lockdowns.
Having been here for a year, Xu Huaiqian didn't have much faith in the local government's executive ability.
Meng Fangxun sounded puzzled: "How so?"
", Epidemic prevention, epidemic prevention—it's all about the 'prevention' part," Xu Huaiqian pointed to the word "" on the exam paper. "If prevention isn't done well, the epidemic will still spread."
"Look," Xu Huaiqian pointed again, "At first, the imperial physicians effectively cured one or two infected with the plague. But later, more and more people got infected. Treatment couldn't keep up with the spread, leading to an unmanageable situation."
"This clearly isn't the imperial physicians' problem, but the government's failure in epidemic prevention work."
The question and Duan Youyan's thinking were both limited to treating diseases and saving lives. They didn't consider that in such a situation, without completely isolating the sick from the healthy, no matter how hard the imperial physicians worked, they would be stretched too thin.
" Makes sense." Meng Fangxun and Duan Youyan nodded simultaneously, then both looked at Xu Huaiqian: "Why do you understand current affairs so clearly?"
Stared at, Xu Huaiqian didn't panic. He paused and came up with two words: " Talent?"
Wasn't this him boasting that he was naturally suited to be an official?!
Meng Fangxun and Duan Youyan withdrew their gazes, learning for the first time that Xu Huaiqian had such thick skin!
Xu Huaiqian didn't care what they thought. He looked at the provincial exam paper, thinking: if the provincial exam didn't test poetry and literature anymore, and only tested current affairs like this, then he wouldn't have to be a bad student anymore!
Wuwu, that would be so great!
While Meng Fangxun and Duan Youyan were still struggling with the major current affairs questions on the provincial exam, Zhang Bingwen, who had already passed the Xiucai exam and fulfilled his grandfather's expectations, wasn't as tense. He said to everyone excitedly: "Aiyah, don't stress too much. There are still three years until the provincial exam. Maybe in three years, the questions will be different again. What's the use of worrying now?"
The two thought that was true too. The provincial exam questions were always unpredictable—testing this today, that tomorrow. Who knew what would be on the next exam? Studying hard was the real deal.
They didn't know that far away in the court, the Son of Heaven sitting high on the dragon throne was flying into a rage over the papers from this year's provincial, metropolitan, and palace exams.
"Good! Good! These are the students under my reign? All a bunch of useless idiots! Can't handle floods, can't prevent epidemics, can't govern—what use are such ministers to me!"
" Your Majesty, please calm your anger." As he kicked over a desk, the entire court trembled and knelt in fear.
This year's provincial, metropolitan, and palace exams were different from previous years. They tested epidemic prevention, flood control, and governance in Huayin. Yet, not a single submitted paper satisfied the Emperor.
The papers handed in were all full of pedantic literary phrases. Pretty to look at, but having nothing to do with governance. It was obvious that officials selected from these would be useless on the ground!
"Calm down! Calm down!" The Emperor was truly furious, his strong face full of rage. "That's all you ever say! If there were even a few less officials in court who only know how to write flashy, useless essays, the tragedy in Huayin would never have happened!"
The Emperor's heart bled thinking of Huayin Prefecture—a hundred thousand people, barely one in ten surviving.
The dynasty had only been established for forty-odd years. It was just a flood, yet it caused the collapse of an entire prefecture's population. What about other problems?
If they encountered even bigger issues, would they have to sacrifice even more lives to fill the gap, like this time?
Not just the common people; even he, the Emperor, felt that such a state was unacceptable, such an emperor was incompetent, such a court was useless.
If this continued, the Jin Dynasty might not even last a hundred years.
If only... if only he had ascended the throne earlier, he would never have followed his father's example, listening to the powerful families and selecting talent through literary elegance in the imperial exams, letting truly capable people go unrecognized.
But alas—
The forty-something Emperor sank into gloom, his eyes frighteningly dark.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty... the flood in Huayin was entirely a natural disaster..." An old minister, trembling, crawled forward and cupped his hands toward the sky. "An ordinary flood would never be so devastating. This is clearly a warning from heaven..."
" Shut up!" As if knowing what he would say, another old minister of similar age shook with fear, hurriedly covering his mouth, his voice trembling. "...Your Majesty, Minister Zhao is senile, he's starting to talk nonsense..."
"Oh, is that so?" The Emperor turned, his eyes venomously fixed on Minister Zhao, whose mouth was being covered. "I would like to hear what nonsense this senile old man has to say."
"Your Majesty..." The old minister pressed firmly on Zhao's mouth, not letting him speak.
But Minister Zhao seemed determined; even with his mouth covered, he kept trying to speak.
" Release him!" The Emperor had no patience for their colleague camaraderie and directly gave the order.
"... Sigh!" The old minister sighed, letting go as if all his energy had been drained instantly, completely prostrating on the ground.
The other courtiers did the same, prostrating and trembling, not daring to look up.
"This is clearly a warning from heaven against us," Minister Zhao, once released, seemed determined to seek death by testing the Emperor's limits. "A warning that Your Majesty's ascension was improper, which is why such a great disaster has befallen us!"
Everyone in the court knew that the current Emperor had seized the throne by killing his father and imprisoning his elder brother. He was neither the legitimate heir nor the eldest son—simply not chosen by heaven. If not for his military power, why would these courtiers bow and scrape to him?!
Minister Zhao grew more convinced he was right. The Jin Dynasty had floods before, but none were as disastrous as Huayin's—submerging most of the prefecture, causing a plague affecting a hundred thousand people, with no cure.
It must be a warning from heaven! It must be!
"Then why doesn't heaven just strike me dead with a bolt of lightning?!" The Emperor found the idea of heaven's mandate pure nonsense. His own father had rebelled to gain the throne—what heaven's mandate was there?
If heaven truly thought his ascension improper, striking him dead would be more effective than torturing him with a hundred thousand lives!
Minister Zhao was left speechless by the Emperor's furious roar.
Indeed, if heaven truly disapproved of the Emperor, why not just strike him down?!