Three days after the results were announced, all the Grand Scholars who passed the examination had to face the empress in the golden palace.
This was an important ceremony. The purpose of this ceremony was to give them a special honor. For most of them, this might be their only chance to stand here in their lives.
On the other hand, the empress wanted to personally check if there were any spies from other countries or the Demon Sect among them.
For officials of the fifth level and above, like Cui Ming, if they wanted to hide something, the empress might not be able to find out.
But among these Grand Scholars, the strongest was only at the fourth level. Before the examination, they had already been tested. Finally, the empress tested them again. It was almost guaranteed that nothing would go wrong.
Unless they had a special chant or spell similar to the Clear Heart Mantra.
After the list of candidates who passed the examination was released, Li Mu looked at it carefully.
The students of the White Deer Institute did not participate in the examination. But among the one hundred candidates, there were still more than seventy. Almost eighty percent of the Grand Scholars came from the three great institutes.
The empress's purpose of reforming the examination was to break the monopoly of the institutes over the officials in the imperial court. This result seemed to be a failure of Li Mu and her. But compared to the past, it was already a great improvement.
Before this, the number was ten percent.
Now, the monopoly of the institutes had been broken, giving the local talents room to advance.
Even if this promotion was very difficult, the Imperial Examinations were like an army of thousands of men and horses crossing a single wooden bridge. There might be some problems within the three great academies, but the students they taught were indeed the top talents of the Great Zhou Dynasty. They had to go through years of bitter study and cultivation in the academies, so there was no reason for them to lose to others.
Although the results of the examination did not make much of a difference to the institutes, the influence of the examination on the institutes was far-reaching.
From now on, the students of the institutes would no longer have an iron rice bowl. If they wanted to enter the imperial court as an official, they would have to compete with countless talents in the Great Zhou. Because there was no pressure within the institutes, some of the unhealthy practices would gradually be alleviated.
After the examination, the candidates who failed would gradually leave the Divine Capital.
These one hundred Grand Scholars would also be given official positions by the imperial court.
According to the rankings, the top scholar of the written examination would be given a fifth-rank official position.
It was rare to see someone who had no official position directly get a fifth-rank official position in the history of the imperial court.
One had to know that Zhang Chun had toiled for more than ten years and was only a Rank-5.
From this, it could be seen that the imperial court attached great importance to the imperial examination. If one could stand out among the talents of the 36 counties and the students of the Academy, it could be said that he had a meteoric rise.
Those who placed second and third in the written examination would be granted official positions of Grade 6.
The officials after that were Rank-6 and below. Those with good grades could stay in Fairy's Capital and be assigned to the Six Ministries or the Nine Temples for a year of probation. Those with bad grades would have to go to other places and assume positions such as County Deputy or County Lieutenant, assisting the County Magistrate in governing the local area. They also needed to be probationary for a year. After a year, if they passed the assessment, they could be promoted to official positions.
Ever since Cui Ming's official position was abolished, the position of Assistant Minister of the Secretariat was vacant. Liu Yi took his position and became the new Assistant Minister of the Secretariat.
As a result, only five of the six Palace Secretaries were left.
Although the position of the Secretary of the Secretariat was not high, he had great power. He was in charge of the important affairs of the country. The vacancy of the Secretary of the Secretariat naturally caused the competition of various forces.
Both the new and old parties wanted this position.
However, an imperial edict personally written by the Empress made them give up on this idea.
The new top scholar, Li Mu, would be appointed as the Secretary of the Secretariat.
Before the imperial examination, no matter how much the Empress favored Li Mu, letting him take on such an important position would have attracted the opposition of all the court officials.
Firstly, Li Mu was not from the Four Great Academies. Other than being a low-level Imperial Censor, he could only be an official and not an official.
Secondly, the position of Secretary of the Secretariat was not something that anyone could take on. One had to have enough talent, keen insight, and the ability to make decisions on important matters of the country.
However, after the imperial examination, Li Mu's status as the top scholar in two subjects had shut everyone's mouth.
In terms of qualifications, he was the top scholar in both civil and military affairs. Whether it was the imperial court or the military, he could go to either.
In terms of ability, he scored full marks in all three subjects. Questions on policy were his forte. If he did not have the qualifications to be the Secretary of the Secretariat, no one else could.
The Empress let Li Mu take part in the imperial examination to give him the qualifications to shut the mouths of the people. Li Mu did not disappoint the Empress. He took down two top scholars in one go. Those who wanted to oppose the Empress had nothing to say.
The Empress had said before that he would be appointed as the Secretary of the Secretariat. Li Mu was not surprised by this result.
After asking for Li Si's opinion, Li Mu asked the Empress to arrange the position of the Minister of God's Capital for him.
The three provinces and six ministries were filled with intrigue. It was not suitable for Li Si. Old Zhang had to manage the God's Capital Office and the Imperial Clan Temple. He could not be at two places at once. The positions of Minister of God's Capital and Commandant of God's Capital happened to be vacant. He could share a lot of the burden with Old Zhang.
Li Mu did not say anything else.
He had no say in these matters. If he said too much, he would be suspected of being a favored official interfering in politics.
After becoming the Secretary of the Secretariat, Li Mu was no longer a constable of the God's Capital Office.
Deputy Constable Sun got what he wanted. He finally got rid of the word "deputy" and successfully received five times the salary.
Li Mu handed the constable uniform to the government office. The constables there sent Li Mu off.
"Goodbye, boss."
"Boss, come back to the government office often."
"I wish you a meteoric rise in the future …"
…
The God's Capital Office used to be the office with the least sense of existence in the God's Capital.
As the constables of the God's Capital Office, the people did not trust them. The constables of the Ministry of Justice looked down on them. Even they themselves were used to it.
All this changed after Li Mu came to the God's Capital Office.
The God's Capital Office was no longer the cowardly office it used to be.
They had beaten up the rich and foppish and captured the students of the Academy. The people would choose the God's Capital Office as their first target. The constables of the Ministry of Justice would no longer look at them differently.
Some people had been constables their whole lives before they knew what a constable should be like.
Li Mu waved at Wang Wu and the others. He walked out of the God's Capital Office and found that the outside was also crowded with people.
"Constable Li!"
"Constable Li …"
"Stop calling him Constable Li. Now we have to call him Lord Li, or Zhuangyuan …"
…
The people greeted Li Mu. The owner of the noodle stall walked up slowly and asked, "Constable Li, are you not going to work in the God's Capital Office anymore?"
Li Mu knew what they were worried about. He smiled and said, "Don't worry. Even if I'm not here, you can still come to the God's Capital Office if you need anything. The God's Capital Magistrate, Lord Zhang Chun, is a good official who loves the people like his own children. The new Minister of the God's Capital, Lord Li, is my friend. He hates evil and will stand up for you. If you have any problems that the God's Capital Office can't solve, you can also come to me."
When the people heard this, they were obviously relieved.
In the past few months, as the people of the God's Capital, they had finally lived a decent life.
When they were bullied, they no longer had to be afraid of the other party being the son of an official or the descendant of a noble. That was because they had Constable Li behind them. He used his weak body to hold up the sky for them.
There used to be people like him in the God's Capital who brought hope and light to the people.
However, those people were like a flash in the pan. They appeared for a short while and disappeared very quickly.
Some people died, some were transferred out of the God's Capital. There were also some who gradually stood against the people.
Li Mu was the light in the people's hearts. The people of the God's Capital were used to relying on him. Without him, their lives would return to how they were before. It was not easy to obtain light. No one wanted to return to darkness.
Li Mu left the God's Capital Office. Along the way, the people sent him off.
In the past few months in the God's Capital, the people of the God's Capital could not leave him. In fact, Li Mu could not leave the people of the God's Capital either.
Other than the Empress, the immense and continuous psychic power generated by the common people was the greatest shortcut to his cultivation.
Up until now, Li Mu's Pure Yang Body could only play a very small role in his cultivation.
Although the Pure Yang Body still allowed him to cultivate several times faster than ordinary cultivators, this speed was not even worth mentioning when compared to psychokinesis cultivation.
Moreover, the meeting with the Empress in his dreams every night was even more useful to Li Mu.
She would teach Li Mu all kinds of supernatural powers and spells step by step. Supernatural powers were not like Daoist techniques. They required comprehension and practice. Most of the time, it would take months for one to grasp the basics of a supernatural power. However, with the Empress's guidance, Li Mu could grasp the basics in three days to one day.
This was also the reason why cultivators fought tooth and nail to join the large sects.
With the guidance of a great teacher, they would not take too many detours on the path of cultivation.
To Li Mu, joining any sect would not be as convenient as hugging the Empress's thigh.
No Seventh Realm cultivator from the Four Sects and Six Schools could be so attentive to their disciples and teach them diligently every day.
After the imperial examinations ended, Li Mu had been appointed to an official position.
From the time he was appointed to the position, he had a maximum of three months of vacation.
During these three months, he planned to return to the North County and spend it with Liu Hanyan.
At the same time, he wanted to discuss with her whether she could return to the Divine Capital with him. Now that he had a firm foothold in the Divine Capital, he could bring her and Wanwan over.
Before this, Li Mu still had a knot in his heart that had not been resolved.
Ever since Cui Ming escaped, Shangguan Li led people to chase after him. Two months had passed, but there was no progress at all.
Every day, Li Mu would check on Su He, who was sleeping in the ice coffin. The medicinal power of the Nature Pill was healing her soul at every moment. Li Mu could feel that she was not far from waking up.
Su He was about to wake up, but there was still no result on Cui Ming's matter. This made Li Mu anxious.
He planned to go to Mr. Mei to ask about the situation first.
When he arrived in front of Changle Palace, Lord Mei was standing outside with a bronze mirror in his hand. A look of suspicion appeared on his face.
Li Mu walked up and asked, "What's wrong?"
Mr. Mei put away the bronze mirror and looked worried. He said, "I haven't been able to contact Ah Li since three days ago. I don't know what happened to her. She didn't even have time to reply …"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
