The Marquis' Wife
Petitions and conspiracies

Lu Xiang and his friends passed the first wave exam and continued the second wave exam after resting for two days, as before they queue and wait to be examined and then re-enter the vast examination room which has been separated by rooms so as not to be able to cheat.

The second wave exam question is about mathematics which is about how to calculate taxes ranging from farmers, business people, artisans or artisans, officials and nobles. Participants must calculate how much tax they must pay each year. Many of the examinees complained that they did not know all of the elements, if the participant is from the nobility then he will not know about how much and what taxes should be paid in addition to the noble elements as well as others but there are also those who can answer all the element is well.

Lu Xiang himself could answer 4 of the 5 elements, the question was general or general in nature so that one could make an example of a low-level official whereas he himself came from a peasant family and had a businesswoman's wife, he simply could not answer about the taxes that the nobility had to pay for not having any knowledge about it.

Finish the second wave exam, though, many participants from the capital complained to their families about the unreasonable question that made their parents who served in the royal government petition to reject the results of the second wave exam full of bullshit at the court meeting as well as blaming Shu Taifu as the leader of the exam examiner for making such an impossible question.

Shu Taifu who stood in the first row was only silent and indifferent to the petition addressed to him, he said, a moment of court meetings became crowded because officials forced the Emperor to repeat the second wave of tests, especially officials whose children took the test.

With their red faces and beards almost standing in defense of the opinions they believed in, they insisted and insisted that their petitions be granted.

"Emperor!! Please consider this petition!!!" He Yaojin, the leader of the petition, appealed to the Emperor.

"Emperor!!! Please consider this petition!!!" His supporters also followed his words and bowed before the Emperor.

The only official standing was the neutral official and the official supporting Shu Taifu, Murong Xianming lowered his face hiding an amused smile seeing the intense reactions of the officials.

He was the one who secretly proposed the idea to his teacher. How could a scholar who would occupy a seat of office at the supreme court meeting not know and know about such a thing just because it was none of their business?!. Today many officials are incompetent and think only of their own stomachs and powers, he will change the situation and make the impression that being an official is not an easy job and get a blind salary with a feeling of innocence.

The emperor who sat on the throne propped his face up casually and looked at the drama the officials were doing until they made the court meeting turn into a rowdy market, did they forget where they were standing right now was a sacred place that could change the fate of many people?!!.

"Zhen himself proposed the idea. Wh why? dear Zhen official disagrees with Zhen's idea?".

The deg!!!

The Emperor's reply managed to silence the officials' mouths, they looked at each other then changed the look on their faces in an instant and praised the Emperor up to the sky.

"The Emperor's idea was very wise. Long live Emperor!! May you live for tens of thousands of years".

Murong Xianming's stomach became sore from holding back laughter at the lightning-fast change of expression, he did not expect that the officials' passion skill even defeated the opera and theater actors.

"The "meeting was dissolved" Emperor Murong became indifferent to the faces of his officials and left the assembly hall.

"Honor the Emperor!!!" The eunuch in charge of reporting the procedure of the meeting shouted out loud.

The failed petition made many of the officials' children who could not answer the second wave question fail as well. Although upset they did not dare to complain and complain, it made the atmosphere in the capital tense.

Those who failed vented their frustration at the passing examinees but did not have any background in the capital, he said, the next two days news of some participants being sick and poisoned so unable to take the third wave exam spread in the capital.

The son of the failed officials did not dare to thwart many participants because it would make the Emperor suspicious and investigate about what happened, they targeted the participants they considered to have potential in ranking at the very top. 

Lu Xiang and Wang Jiayou were one of their targets but somehow they were able to avoid the traps they set up to make them suspicious and afraid at the same time for thinking that there was someone the one far above them who protected the two men.

Wang Tianjin and Zhang Yunlei also had the fortune of being together with Lu Xiang and Wang Jiayou so they survived the conspiracy and did not know that the crown prince was the one protecting them. Lu Xiang and his three friends successfully passed and took the third wave exam.

The third wave exam has only one easy question but has enough answers to make a headache. The question is what they can contribute to the kingdom at this time.

The question made the examinee's hair fall out of the rankings frustrated with the answers they were about to write. How could they possibly answer that question while every day they just blinked with books!!!.

The frustration of the examinees was not felt by Lu Xiang, he wrote about the waterwheel and its benefits to the community that can drain water to the homes of residents or to their fields by using bamboo pipes, he said, also can process easily agricultural products that is by moving the milling of food with the help of waterwheels. 

Waterwheels are alternative to embankments and irrigation that cannot be built because of financial constraints or other constraints but watermills have shortcomings that can only be built near the river, villages or places far from the river cannot be realized.

"This answer could make him top of the test, even if it wasn't Xie". Lu Xiang muttered to himself.

Lu Xiang carefully copied the answer from the draft paper and made an image of what the waterwheel was like, instead, he was not afraid of the suspicions of the people because the waterwheel had almost the same function as the dike and irrigation project he had put forward before.

After twelve days of running the exam finally Lu Xiang and his friends managed to clear the Hui-shih exam safely. They simply waited for the results of the examination and then enrolled for the selection exam which would then get the opportunity to take the exam in the palace and under the direct supervision of the Emperor.

All the scholars who take the exam know that they will fail the selection exam if they are ranked bottom on the Hui-shih exam because the selection exam is only a formality and a good reason in eliminating the participants who did not get a good ranking on the previous exam because the seat of office in the capital was very limited.

That is one of the causes of how upset they were when they failed the Hui-shih exam because they also failed to occupy a position so that their families could not monopolize power because the next generation did not come from from their own families.

We know for ourselves that in a political situation, 4 Years was a very good time to change everything and it was Murong Xianming who proposed the idea to break the wings of the officials who controlled the capital and the court meeting in the palace.

Although the Emperor was the owner of the kingdom but in reality he could not make an absolute decision because of the interference of officials who extended their hands in an undue place.