Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 681 - 623

Chapter 681: 623

As Emperor Kaihuang’s gaze swept over Shen Wei’s "discarded papers," his spirits immediately lifted.

For not only did names appear on the page, but also comments followed each name.

Knowledge solid, versed in both ancient and modern times.

Skilled in techniques, nature upright and unyielding.

Possessing great strategies, with far-reaching and exceptional vision.

...

Looking at these annotations, Emperor Kaihuang couldn’t help but smile.

These are indeed the talents I desire!

Moreover, Shen Wei had carefully noted which students came from humble backgrounds and which were from the noble families.

One could say that all the information about the students was there, clear at a glance.

"How come there are still so many descendants of noble families on this list?"

Emperor Kaihuang briefly scanned the list and found that nearly two-thirds of the several dozen people listed were from noble families.

Shen Wei bowed and said, "To report to Your Majesty, the noble families inherently possess power and influence. Naturally, they can find the best teachers, read more classical texts, and understand some things that students from humble backgrounds cannot. Thus, their starting points, are naturally higher, and their insights naturally reach further."

"But... there are some small notations above. If Your Majesty is interested, you might take a look."

It was then that Emperor Kaihuang noticed that in this lengthy list, besides evaluations of these talents, there were also some additional remarks.

For instance, many children of the noble families indeed possessed talents useful for major roles, but the problem was that all these families had bribed Shen Wei.

Bribing the chief examiner had indeed crossed Emperor Kaihuang’s bottom line.

Removing those noble family children who had sent money to Shen Wei, the remaining students were roughly half from humble backgrounds and half from noble families.

This result, Emperor Kaihuang could still accept.

After all, having the rise of those from humble backgrounds wasn’t something that could happen overnight.

Emperor Kaihuang looked at Shen Wei, his face showing pleasure.

This was truly the outcome he wanted from the examination.

Only...

Emperor Kaihuang also quickly realized that with Shen Wei’s intellect, he could not have come up with this method on his own.

Collecting money, handling affairs, then being exposed by Emperor Kaihuang!

Not to say of the method, just this fearless style wasn’t Shen Wei’s way of doing things.

This matter must have been guided by someone highly skilled.

And looking across the whole of Legalism, whether pedantic, conservative, or idle, the only one really capable of this must have been Zhang San, who had just returned to the Capital.

In this respect, sending Zhang San to the Imperial College was indeed a wise choice.

Otherwise, Zhang San would not have taken such an interest in the examination.

Thinking of this, Emperor Kaihuang smiled satisfactorily, then looked again at Shen Wei who was still kneeling below.

With a bang, Emperor Kaihuang slapped the desk and exclaimed angrily, "Shen Wei! As the Minister of Punishment, I did not entrust the Ministry of Rites with the responsibility of overseeing the examination, but I appointed you to be the chief examiner. What is this? How can you have the nerve to serve as the chief examiner?"

Shen Wei immediately knelt on the ground, head bowed.

"Your humble servant knows his mistake."

"Is knowing your fault all there is to it? The Imperial Examination is such a critical matter, how can it be taken lightly!?"

At this moment, the Confucian ministers who had just been disgusted by Shen Wei sighed in relief.

This old coot from Legalism is finally going to face misfortune!

We have waited for this day far too long.

It would be best to flay the skin of the Minister of Punishment Shen Wei and let us, the people of Confucianism, wear it for a few days.

"Shen Wei! Your salary is forfeited for one year!"

Upon hearing Emperor Kaihuang’s severe tone, everyone almost thought it was going to be a case of seizing properties and annihilating families, but after listening more carefully, damn, just a year’s salary forfeiture!?

Then, Emperor Kaihuang said, "Moreover, send all the gifts you received to the state treasury! Did you hear me?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Wei immediately straightened his back and looked towards Emperor Kaihuang.

"Reporting to Emperor Kaihuang, as the Minister of Punishment, I certainly know the principle of not accepting gifts. However, among those who came to give me gifts this time, fifteen or sixteen out of ten are noble court officials and imperial relatives. To tell you the truth, if I reject their jewels today, they could send me one of my son’s hands tomorrow! I really didn’t dare to refuse! But I also know, Emperor Kaihuang, that you appointed me as Minister of Punishment because you value my integrity and kindness. Therefore, in order not to disappoint Your Majesty and to avoid giving anyone a handle against me, I transferred these gifts to someone else. This proves I haven’t taken a single copper coin!"

Emperor Kaihuang still believed Shen Wei in this regard.

"Where were those items sent? To Pharaoh’s house?"

"Your humble servant... sent the items to the house of Marquis Beyond the Law, Zhang San. After all, he is also a man of Legalism, and with the Marquis’s capabilities, it’s hard to imagine him not protecting these items. Most importantly, common people do not dare to provoke the Marquis Beyond the Law. If worst comes to worst, I’ll just say that the Marquis stole them from me, and no one would dare to rob the Marquis’s house!"

Emperor Kaihuang pursed his lips, initially thinking he could take advantage of the situation.

Indeed, with so many important figures giving presents to Shen Wei, one cannot say it was priceless, but it was almost there.

The treasure gifted by so many noble families meant the state treasury might need to be expanded.

But upon hearing everything was sent to Zhang San’s house, Emperor Kaihuang knew he couldn’t get anything back, not even a single copper coin.

However, Shen Wei did suffer this time.

He offended nearly all the noble families in the court at once, so to give a small benefit to Legalism was also to compensate Shen Wei.

"Very well! Rise!"

Speaking thus, Emperor Kaihuang had Cao Demeng grind next to him, then, checking against the list of disqualified students that Shen Wei had just written down, copied the names into two copies.

"This list contains the names of those who truly passed the Imperial Examination. Have it posted immediately outside the Imperial Examination Hall and inform all the students that this is the real list. The previous one was mistaken, as it was a list of those who had bribed the examiners."

Cao Demeng looked at Emperor Kaihuang in shock, as if waiting for the emperor to take back his words.

"What are you looking at? You’ll announce it just as I said. This realm is still mine! They dare to spoil what I intend to do, do they wish to die? Whoever disobeys will have Li Moxian visit them for a chat!"

Cao Demeng understood that Emperor Kaihuang intended to slap these noble families hard in public.

"This list—you find a way to spread the news. Let the noble families behind these people know that originally, their children could have passed the selection, then entered the palace examination. It was only because they had given money to Shen Wei that they were disqualified. It’s not that their descendants are incompetent; it’s that they themselves have sabotaged it! Of course, I can still give them one more chance, let them all go to the Imperial College to study diligently, and next year, grant another chance for them to attend the examination."

"Yes."

Cao Demeng, with the two lists, immediately departed.

Just then, Shen Wei suddenly called out, "Emperor Kaihuang, at the very bottom of that scrap paper, there’s one more line of small text."

Emperor Kaihuang frowned. Damn, what’s with all these hidden items in a simple list.

Looking down, he indeed found a line of small text at the very bottom of the entire list:

Marquis Beyond the Law, Zhang San, earnestly requests His Majesty to allow the Imperial College to admit more students from humble families this year. All the educational expenses for students from humble families and noble families who enroll this year will be sponsored by Marquis Beyond the Law, Zhang San.