NOVPUBEarly in the morning.
Imperial Palace.
A court meeting suddenly convened by King Chun had just concluded, and the officials walked out from the grand hall.
As the Regent of the month, King Chun, according to past practice, would hold a court meeting on the last day of each month to summarize the court affairs of that month.
Today was the twenty-eighth of August, and there were still two days left before King Chun’s regency ended, but he had called for a court meeting ahead of schedule, during which he discussed an unexpected matter.
Yesterday, the three provinces passed a resolution about the Imperial Examination reforms, claiming fairness as the reason.
Starting in August, all scholars who wish to study at an academy, whether it’s a court-run or a state-run academy, or a privately-owned small academy, must pass the spring exams.
Without taking the spring exams, those who have not registered with the Ministry of Rites are not allowed to enter an academy, and even if they do, they are not eligible to take part in the Imperial Examination.
Before August, those who entered the academies through special admissions or donations of silver will not be held accountable.
After August, including August itself, the court will not recognize those who enter the academies through various means.
The nobles had been wanting to implement this reform for a long time.
The reason it hadn’t passed was because there was still a portion of court officials who opposed it.
This reform seems fair on the surface, but in reality, it completely cuts off the path for scholars from poor families.
Even if nobles’ offspring enter academies through donations of silver, they won’t achieve anything notable in the Imperial Examination.
Yet, the scholars from poor families who were specially admitted, could always occupy a certain number of Advanced Scholar positions in every Imperial Examination.
Scholars from poor families have no advantage in the spring exams.
Only after entering an academy do they genuinely have the chance to learn the Six Arts.
Many officials from the court come from poor backgrounds, so naturally, they did not want to see the path for scholars from poor families being completely blocked off.
However, those officials who came from poor families were still in the minority.
Others, even if they were from poor families initially, had established intricate ties with the nobles after entering the court, with interconnected interests.
In short, after much maneuvering by the nobles, this long-stalled resolution passed yesterday.
It signified that, in the future, the court would be entirely dominated by Powerful Families.
That King Chun would oppose this resolution was somewhat baffling and beyond everyone’s expectations.
Some officials with vested interests, and the powerful figures who orchestrated this, naturally argued with reason to prevent King Chun from abolishing the new law.
But for some reason, King Chun was adamant about not implementing this law and wanted to reject the three provinces’ resolution.
As a Prince acting as Regent, he had the authority to do so during his month of regency.
The two sides argued vehemently in the court, and in the end, they decided to retreat a step each.
King Chun did not insist on abolishing the new law anymore.
The nobles also agreed to King Chun’s requirement to hold the spring exams before the Imperial Examination.
In previous years of the Imperial Examination, the spring exams were held after the Imperial Examination, taking advantage of the facilities and examiners set up for the Imperial Examination.
The spring exam was a minor one, while the Imperial Examination was major.
To have the minor exam first and then the major one was both logical and reasonable.
This slight change had no real impact on the general situation that had already been set.
But for Li Nuo, the impact was significant.
If the Imperial Examination came before the spring exam, he would have to wait another four years.
If the spring exam came before the Imperial Examination, he could participate in the Imperial Examination smoothly as a student from an academy after passing the spring exam.
When he was at King Chun Mansion yesterday, he had considered that the Imperial Examination reforms, which the Powerful Families and scholarly families had worked so hard to implement, wouldn’t be so easily abolished.
The reason they hastily rolled out these reforms was to target him.
If he had initially proposed to move the spring exam before the Imperial Examination, they certainly would not have agreed.
But if he had not mentioned the change in scheduling for the spring exam and directly proposed abolishing the new law, they would probably have agreed to advance the spring exam.
Li Nuo, having first heard the news, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But the nobles who had just returned to their mansions after the court meeting were full of frustration.
They had pushed for this legislation at an immature time, primarily to prevent Li Xuanjing’s son from participating in the Imperial Examination half a year later, spending tens of thousands of taels of silver to finally get through this obstacle.
Who would have expected that merely a day later, their meticulously prepared plans would be thwarted by King Chun?
They tried to stop it through legislative means.
King Chun allowed it through legislative means.
They couldn’t understand why King Chun, who was also a noble, was so biased towards a commoner. Could it be that Li Nuo was King Chun’s son?
If it wasn’t for the fact that that person resembled Li Xuanjing extremely closely, they might really think so.
After all the trouble, nothing had changed, except that they had unnecessarily invested so much silver.
That boy didn’t even have any status yet, and he was already so troublesome.
If he really passed the exams and became an official, playing out a father-son act in the court with his father Li Xuanjing, would they still have good days ahead?
The thought alone was distressing...
At the Song Residence, Li Nuo was in high spirits.
Housekeeper Wu said that the court had just sent quite a few rewards to Li Mansion.
It was a reward for his contribution to the Four Directions Hall case.
Those fabrics and silks and the like were of no use at home, so Li Nuo asked Housekeeper Wu to send them to the Song Residence, and after the Old Lady had picked some, she distributed a little to each room.
These days, he was eating and sleeping at the Song Family’s place.
Even though it was the family that was marrying off a daughter, it seemed like he was the one marrying into the family, which made Li Nuo feel somewhat embarrassed.
Yesterday, Mumu had received a bunch of rewards from King Chun Mansion, and Li Nuo thought that when he returned home, Ning’er might start making a fuss with her.
