The Jiangnan imperial examinations were held on the very last day of the sixth lunar month.

Before the examinations officially commenced, the scholars from various commanderies who had arrived early in Xuzhou were already shaken by the magical changes they witnessed across the region. They were then thoroughly stunned by the official public library that Shentu Yang had established in the city.

The library was originally a private villa built by Zhao Buji in Xuzhou. After Shentu Yang requisitioned it, it was used to house the scholars who had traveled from all over for the examinations. The backyard was used for lodging, while the front yard was transformed by Shentu Yang into a public library. The collection inside consisted entirely of rare, unique editions and treasured texts. After the Imperial Workshop invented Xuan paper and woodblock printing, Yin Shuhuai had personally stepped in to collect these texts from the major elite families, and woodblock printing was then used to create these exact copies.

When Shentu Yang marched south to Xuzhou, he had specifically ordered people to pack a complete set of printing blocks for the purpose of developing Jiangnan and spreading education, all in anticipation of this very day.

The first to discover the library were the scholars in the first group to move into the villa. Who could truly understand the shock they felt when, while taking a walk after dinner, the soldiers guarding the villa prompted them to step into the library? Before they could even catch their breath, they were confronted face to face with rows of towering bookshelves that reached all the way to the rafters, completely packed with books.

Inside were rare treasures of philosophical texts from various schools passed down for centuries, manuscripts written or annotated by contemporary masters, and copies of The Exploitation of the Works of Nature, a book heavily researched, tested, revised, and finally published by the Imperial Workshop and the Lesser Treasury under the Emperor’s decree. There were even various historical texts collected and corrected by the Imperial Secretariat. Thousands of books of every shape and size filled the massive pavilion to the brim. Every single volume was a rare masterpiece that ordinary citizens could read for a lifetime without ever encountering, yet now, through the power of woodblock printing, at least dozens of copies of each had been made and casually stacked on the shelves for the exam candidates to read.

“What exquisite paper, what beautiful binding, and how light these books are! They are so much more convenient than bamboo scrolls.”

“The handwriting in these books is completely identical. Could this be the legendary woodblock printing?”

“The layout is clean, the characters are clear, and there is not a single error in the entire text. It truly makes one unable to put the book down.”

“There is even a manuscript by Master Wang Su, the great scholar of Confucian classics…”

The scholars who accidentally wandered into the library stood open-mouthed. They could not help but rub their eyes vigorously, deeply afraid that everything they were seeing was nothing more than an illusion.

While all the scholars were awed by the vast collection of books, the imperial guards responsible for watching over the library thoughtfully informed them, “If you see a book you like, you may purchase it with coin. If your pockets are light, you are also welcome to copy it by hand inside the hall. The library provides brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones free of charge. For every two copies you make by hand, you may keep one for yourself.”

This rule was naturally a kind gesture aimed at accommodating scholars who had no money in their pockets but still desperately wanted books. Otherwise, with the immense power of woodblock printing, which could easily replicate thousands of books in a single day, there would be no actual need for anyone to copy books by hand.

The moment the guard finished speaking, the library, which had gathered thousands of scholars, fell completely silent. Everyone looked at one another, their hearts filled with a mix of complex emotions, completely at a loss for words.

Some impatient scholars who were not short on coin rushed to the front, throwing down large sums of money, demanding to buy a copy of every single book in the building.

Most of the scholars who had come to Xuzhou for the examinations this time came from ruined or humble families. They lacked the deep roots of century-old elite families, and they did not possess the powerful networks required to impress local chief executives into recommending them as filial and incorrupt or exceptionally talented. However, by a stroke of good fortune, they had caught the great opportunity brought by the Emperor’s new policies in Jiangnan. They had originally believed that this imperial examination would be the greatest opportunity to change the course of their lives, but looking at it now, as long as they could bring these copies of classic texts home, even if they failed the exam, this journey would not be in vain.

This was because from ancient times to the present, studying had always been the best way to change one’s destiny. Yet scholars from humble families, whose pathways to advancement were monopolized by elite families and powerful clans, often found themselves with no door open to education. This was because the elite families and powerful clans monopolized not only the primary channels for educated men to become officials, but also the channels for ordinary commoners to study and learn.

It was not until the Emperor established elementary and community schools in the central plains, and the Imperial Workshop produced powerful tools like paper and woodblock printing, that the humble scholars who had traveled far and wide in their difficult pursuit of knowledge finally saw a glimmer of hope to break through the class barrier and rise up.

For a time, thousands of scholars looked up at the orderly rows of bookshelves that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, their minds filled with countless turning thoughts, which ultimately converged into a single shout.

“The Emperor is wise and just!”

“Long live His Majesty!”

In the intense heat of the midsummer sixth month, amidst the constant chirping of cicadas, the voices of thousands of scholars collectively shouting “Long live” startled the birds resting on the branches. Countless birds flapped their wings and soared high, flying toward the vast, clear sky under the blazing sun.

With just a single library, Yin Shuhuai effortlessly won over the hearts of humble scholars across the entire realm.

Shentu Yang captured the scene of the scholars shouting “Long live” inside the library in a confidential report, sending it back to Jixian via carrier pigeon. He hoped the Emperor could feel the deep respect and affection that so many scholars held for him from thousands of miles away. Shentu Yang also tucked a lotus petal, which had bloomed in the pond next to the library, inside the letter. It was pink, tender, soft, and lovely.

“These are the lotus flowers I planted with my own hands, and they are now in full bloom. Please enjoy them, Your Majesty.”

Upon receiving the report, Yin Shuhuai smiled warmly. He picked up the dried lotus petal tucked inside the letter and took a sniff, then casually selected a piece of stationery printed with a subtle lotus pattern, sending a flower-carried message to Shentu Yang: “Since the lotus flowers are in full bloom, they should be left to bloom beautifully. Why must you be a ruthless destroyer of flowers?”

Thousands of miles away in Xuzhou, Shentu Yang stroked the lotus stationery that had suddenly appeared in his coat. The artificial lotus made of paper looked remarkably lifelike, with pink petals and delicate stamens. Most importantly, there was a single, short line of text written on the paper. Shentu Yang had been exchanging letters with the Emperor for so long, yet this was the first time the Emperor did not discuss official business in his message, choosing instead to chat about romantic sentiments.

The ancients were right after all: absolute sincerity can move even solid metal and stone.

Shentu Yang happily put away the lotus stationery, falling into a peaceful sleep while breathing in the faint lotus fragrance drifting from the paper.

Early the next morning, the Jiangnan imperial examinations began.

A vast ocean of scholars who had rushed from every corner gathered before the examination grounds, lining up to enter. The soldiers guarding the outside led the candidates into an official room for a physical pat-down to prevent them from smuggling hidden notes. Afterward, they guided the scholars in an orderly fashion to their seats in the main hall.

Those seats were completely different from the traditional seating of the time, consisting of a waist-high desk and a chair with a backrest. Following the soldiers’ instructions, the candidates sat on the chairs, relaxing their backs so they could rest comfortably against the backrests. Compared to kneeling upright on the floor, this posture was naturally far more comfortable. As they adjusted to the new chairs, the candidates realized with a start that even if they sat for a long time, their backs and shoulders would likely not ache.

On the smooth, flat desks lay the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones specially manufactured by the court, which were virtually identical to the ones they had been using to copy texts in the library.

The candidates who entered the examination grounds first looked around with immense curiosity, but they were immediately issued a stern warning regarding the examination rules by the invigilators standing nearby. They were forbidden from whispering to one another, looking around, or making loud noises. They were to begin writing when the gong sounded, and stop writing the moment the horn blew. Those who violated the orders would be expelled immediately.

The candidates, who had been filled with excitement, instantly turned serious. They kept their eyes cast down and focused entirely on themselves, not daring to steal another glance.

Once all the candidates were seated, a single strike of a gong echoed, and the invigilators brought out the examination papers, distributing them one by one.

This was the very first time the scholars from various commanderies had ever encountered such an exam. When they received their papers, everyone lowered their heads with a look of fresh curiosity, carefully inspecting the pages.

The examination questions had been personally crafted by Yin Shuhuai. He required every candidate to write an essay offering a policy proposal on how to develop Jiangnan and Shuzhong.

In addition to this, there was a supplementary exam paper. Yin Shuhuai had required every civil and military official in the court to submit a single question, and ten questions were selected through a random draw. These questions tested the candidates’ general knowledge and basic understanding across fields such as mathematics, law, economics, technology, literature, and history. The questions were sent to Shentu Yang via a flower-carried message exactly one day in advance, which completely eliminated any possibility of the questions leaking out beforehand.

Yin Shuhuai’s true intention was to select a batch of practical and hardworking low-ranking clerks in addition to choosing high-ranking officials like prefects and county magistrates. It just so happened that the new policies were about to be implemented across the Jiangnan region, and there was an urgent need for talents in all areas. Since these candidates were willing to travel thousands of miles from various provinces to Jiangnan to take the exam, they surely possessed a certain degree of confidence in their own learning. Yin Shuhuai had no intention of letting such talents slip through his fingers.

Even if their learning was not enough to make them stand out at the very top of the honor roll, that did not mean their knowledge was entirely useless.

On the contrary, Yin Shuhuai loved these young men who were like blank sheets of paper. This was because they possessed learning, ambition, and the drive and capacity to fulfill their goals, which were the most precious qualities in this era.

Yin Shuhuai intended to sweep up all these scholars. Even if he could not arrange for them to serve as prefects or county magistrates, he could still appoint them as grassroots officials. Yin Shuhuai believed that when these scholars joined the ranks of the low-ranking clerks, they would grow together with the new policies as they were carried out.

Once things succeeded in Jiangnan, the new policies would inevitably be rolled out across the entire realm. When that time came, the grassroots clerks who had personally participated in the Jiangnan reforms would naturally be rewarded for their merits, and Yin Shuhuai could smoothly transfer them to other provinces to serve as local chief executives.

This was exactly what was meant by a single spark starting a prairie fire.

Yin Shuhuai, far away in Jixian, looked forward to it with anticipation. The reason he set up such a layout was a necessary choice born out of sheer helplessness.

Although neither Yin Shuhuai nor Shentu Yang thought highly of the elite families and corrupt officials, they had to admit that under a system where elite families heavily monopolized official selection and educational texts, if the court wished to bypass the elite families to recruit talent, it had to rely on its own efforts to train them. Training grassroots talent from the very roots, exercising them starting from the low-ranking clerk positions that the elite families looked down upon, and placing his own pieces one by one onto this massive chessboard was the very foundation of Yin Shuhuai’s grand strategy for the realm.

It is often said that the economic base determines the superstructure. For a feudal dynasty, the will of the emperor could be considered the highest level of the superstructure.

Yin Shuhuai was highly curious: if the will of the highest level was kept completely in sync with the will of the grassroots level, would the forces caught in the middle erupt with massive destructive power, or would they swiftly alter their own will to conform to the levels above and below them?

The beauty of a boiling frog strategy probably lies in the fact that by the time the frog soaking in the warm water realizes something is wrong, the general trend has already been established. The frogs, cooked until their bones are soft and their meat is tender, have already missed the perfect opportunity to resist.

On the other hand, selecting and training talent starting from low-ranking clerk positions not only exercised the scholars’ practical abilities, but also maximized the quality of grassroots clerks. At the same time, it served to provide a pathway for advancement for the students attending community schools in the central plains and the two provinces of Youzhou and Bingzhou. After all, since the court spent money and effort to establish community and village schools across various regions to raise so many literate scholars, it naturally had to make full use of their talents, providing employment positions for the students who completed their studies. They certainly could not allow the children to become unemployed the moment they graduated.

This was a long and slow reformation, but fortunately, Yin Shuhuai had plenty of patience.

The one who lacked patience was Shentu Yang.

Once the three-day examination concluded, Shentu Yang rushed all three thousand six hundred and eighty-eight exam papers back to the capital via urgent courier. The Emperor personally appointed eight examiners to grade the papers together. Finally, the top three hundred outstanding talents were selected, and the honor roll was posted to announce the results to the world.

Imitating the naming conventions of later generations’ imperial examinations, Yin Shuhuai divided the successful candidates on the list into the first, second, and third ranks. After personally selecting the top three scorers, he copied down the list of three hundred names and sent it to Shentu Yang via a flower-carried message.

As a result, while the soldiers carrying the official good news were still on the road, Shentu Yang had already ordered the honor roll to be posted, appointing the top three hundred scholars to serve as prefects and county magistrates across the various commanderies of Yizhou. The remaining three thousand three hundred and eighty-eight candidates who failed the main list were not wasted either; based on the specific strengths they demonstrated in their answers, they were sent down to serve as grassroots clerks in the various counties of Yizhou and Jiangnan.

The Jiangnan and Shuzhong officialdoms, which had originally been short-staffed and unstable, turned completely secure in an instant thanks to the employment of these three thousand or so individuals.

However, before these three thousand plus scholars took up their posts, Shentu Yang also ordered a one-month pre-job training session for them. This was primarily to break down the complex rules of the new policies piece by piece and drum them into their minds, ensuring that once these three thousand individuals started their jobs, they could immediately begin working according to the requirements of the new reforms.

It was worth mentioning that long before the Jiangnan imperial examinations, the officials in Shuzhong had already completed an internal evaluation. Those with outstanding results were recommended to Jixian to join the Nine Ministries as court officials. The incompetent officials were dismissed, and based on the crimes and errors they committed during their terms, they were either subjected to asset confiscation and execution, or stripped of office and exiled. The final group, consisting of incompetent individuals who had committed no major crimes but possessed no achievements either, were allowed to stay behind to serve as low-ranking clerks if they so wished.

In the Emperor’s words, it was giving the experienced old hands a chance to recycle their wasted talents. If these individuals failed to cherish the opportunity, it would not be too late to strip them of their positions entirely later on.

By the time all the personnel arrangements had fallen into place, the calendar had already entered the eighth lunar month.

Shentu Yang, whose heart was racing to return home, immediately submitted a petition to the Emperor requesting to withdraw his troops and return to court. He wanted to make it back to Jixian before the Mid-Autumn Festival, so he could celebrate a sweet, complete reunion with the Emperor.

Deeply afraid that the Emperor would not agree, Shentu Yang used incredibly sincere language in his petition, filling the lines with his deep longing for the Emperor. Looking at it, Yin Shuhuai felt a wave of compassion. Furthermore, Shentu Yang staying in Jiangnan with hundreds of thousands of troops was not a stable factor for the court either. After weighing the options, Yin Shuhuai also felt that the Duke of Yan should step down after his great success.

However, after Shentu Yang led his troops back to the capital, the court still needed someone to sit in governance over Jiangnan. This person had to possess both administrative skill and military prestige to keep the elite families and powerful clans of Jiangnan and Shuzhong completely under control.

Yin Shuhuai carefully sorted through the generals who had accompanied Shentu Yang south, and finally selected General Zhou Tai, who stood just below the Duke of Yan and similarly commanded immense respect throughout Jiangnan and Shuzhong. Yin Shuhuai appointed him as the Governor of Jingzhou, granting him control over the military and political power of Jiangnan, while also appointing Dong Wan as the Governor of Yangzhou. He allowed the two to support each other from different flanks, while also monitoring Yin Huaizhang, the Governor of Yizhou.

General Zhou Tai, who actually wanted to return to his old home in Jixian as well, could only stand in silence.

Shentu Yang burst into a hearty laugh, clapped his good brother on the shoulder, and happily led his troops back to the capital.

This separation had lasted nearly a year, and now, the ruler and his minister would finally meet again.