dognovel Chapter 987 Step by Step Climbing Up
Chapter 987 Step by Step Climbing Up
Chapter 987: Climbing Up Step by Step
The rank of a Juren (举人) is far higher than that of a Xiucai (秀才).
After Zhao Qinghe passed the imperial examination and became a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examinations), not only did his clansmen come to give him gifts, but also the local landlords and gentry presented him with generous gifts.
At this point, she was finally able to afford the imperial examination in the capital.
Of course, Zhao Qinghe couldn't walk to the capital by herself this time, so she hired a carriage.
To help Zhao Qinghe focus on her exams, Xiao Han went to great lengths to reward her with a century-old ginseng root, which she was to take to the capital to sell.
As for this century-old wild ginseng, it was Ba Dou who found it in the deep mountains and forests.
Upon arriving in the capital, Xiao Han instructed Zhao Qinghe to become a disciple of a renowned Confucian scholar. Naturally, under the influence of Xiao Han's spiritual power, the scholar agreed without much thought.
Although the great scholar later realized that he had been bewitched to agree to it.
But since I've already agreed, it's not good to go back on my word.
Left with no other choice, the great scholar had to devote himself to guiding Zhao Qinghe's studies during these last few months.
After the exam questions were released, Xiao Han had the great scholar "accidentally" predict the questions and set the policy essays from the exam questions as homework, which Zhao Qinghe was asked to write in advance.
With the guidance and critique of a great scholar, Zhao Qinghe's answers were naturally very substantial when he took the actual exam.
After a series of actions, and with Xiao Han's supervision, Zhao Qinghe indeed won first place in the provincial examination.
There was a "Three-Yuan Gong" secretly monitoring the quality of the essays and subtly influencing the examiners.
Even if the current emperor, Emperor Tai'an, wanted to choose someone else as the top scholar, Xiao Han could still make him choose Zhao Qinghe as the top scholar without him even realizing it.
Let's not go into the details of the glory that followed becoming the top scholar in the imperial examination.
After the moment of glory, once you enter the Hanlin Academy, you become a workplace newbie that everyone can bully.
Xiao Han had Ba Dou sneak into the imperial court and the six ministries, recording how these high-ranking officials handled national affairs every day, and then showing the recordings back to Zhao Qinghe.
In this way, Zhao Qinghe, who used to spend his days in the Hanlin Academy compiling books, not only got to know all the important officials in the court, but also their style of doing things, and even how they plotted against their rivals behind their backs.
With Xiao Han guiding her by assigning tasks, Zhao Qinghe quickly distinguished herself at the Hanlin Academy.
If there are difficulties, we must overcome them; if there are no difficulties, we must create difficulties and overcome them.
With the help of the system and her own intelligence, Zhao Qinghe is able to navigate social situations skillfully and handle some tricky problems; she is a pragmatist.
Within a year, he was promoted to the rank of sixth-grade Grand Secretary, serving as a scribe for Emperor Tai'an.
At this moment, Zhao Qinghe faced another test.
Since Zhao Qinghe passed the imperial examination with top honors, she became a highly sought-after woman in the capital's marriage market because she was still unmarried.
However, Zhao Qinghe declared in public that she would only consider marriage after she had made a name for herself, and therefore refused all matchmakers.
However, not long after Zhao Qinghe began working for Emperor Tai'an, the current Empress, Emperor Tai'an's wife, passed away.
The abdication system of the Dayun Dynasty meant that the emperor did not have to worry about succession. The monogamous system also meant that he had no other concubines besides the empress.
Now that the Empress has passed away, Emperor Tai'an is thinking of marrying a beautiful woman and making her his Empress.
Zhao Qinghe never expected that the person Emperor Tai'an had chosen would be herself.
Emperor Tai'an ascended the throne at the age of forty and has now reigned for seventeen years, making him an old man of fifty-seven.
But Zhao Qinghe is only twenty-four years old.
Emperor Tai'an, relying on his current status as emperor, did not feel there was anything wrong with him dating a young woman.
With the badou (a type of scepter) placed everywhere to record the emperor's thoughts, Xiao Han and Zhao Qinghe knew immediately.
Xiao Han did nothing this time, simply observing how Zhao Qinghe would resolve the crisis.
Zhao Qinghe knew perfectly well that the system's goal was to make her an empress, so she certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to become an empress for an old man.
In fact, after seeing the images that Ba Dou had brought back and understanding Emperor Tai'an's thoughts, Zhao Qinghe immediately began to think of ways to save herself.
Before Emperor Tai'an could reveal his idea, Zhao Qinghe found the abbot of Baiyun Temple, a famous Taoist temple in the suburbs of Beijing.
Using an exorcism talisman left by the system, he could exchange it for the other party's help in order to find a way to remain unmarried openly for ten years.
It must be said that Abbot Qiu of Baiyun Temple does possess some spiritual attainment.
He immediately sensed the power of the yellow talisman and readily agreed to the deal.
After all, Taoist priests don't adhere to the rule that monks don't lie.
So, Master Qiu stopped Zhao Qinghe on the main street of the capital and claimed that she was destined for a bloody disaster. He said that she should become a lay Taoist priest, cultivate at home, and not marry for ten years to avoid transferring this bloody disaster to her husband.
Lay Taoist priests, also known as fire-dwelling Taoist priests, refer to a specific group of Taoist priests who practice at home without affecting their secular lives and are allowed to marry and have children.
Following the pre-arranged plan, Zhao Qinghe naturally shouted loudly, expressing disbelief and accusing the other party of fraud.
Master Qiu of Baiyun Temple is a well-known figure in Beijing, and many people know him.
People came forward to testify, pointing out that the other party was a highly respected Taoist priest from Baiyun Temple, and it was impossible for him to be lying.
Xiao Han could only laugh when she heard that.
Taoism emphasizes following the natural way and acting in accordance with one's heart. They are not hypocritical, but when they deceive others, they do so with a clear conscience.
After all, Zhao Qinghe, the person involved, knew all of this, so how can it be considered a lie?
In short, after a commotion in the street, Zhao Qinghe became a lay Taoist priest.
This matter quickly became known to most people in the imperial court. Of course, Emperor Tai'an also learned about it very soon.
After such an incident, putting everything else aside, Emperor Tai'an, for the sake of his own life, would no longer consider making Zhao Qinghe his empress.
As for Zhao Qinghe, she can at least have peace and quiet for ten years.
Xiao Han still admired Zhao Qinghe's problem-solving abilities. It's not about how sophisticated the technique is, but whether it works.
Thus, for two reasons—first, to accumulate political achievements for Zhao Qinghe, and second, to increase the grain production of the Great Yun Dynasty—Xiao Han produced rice varieties that had been hybridized with Black Gold Spirit Rice.
Originally, the cultivation of Black Gold Spirit Rice required high-grade spirit fields to succeed, and it was definitely impossible to cultivate it in the mortal realm.
But Xiao Han was still unwilling to give up and decided to hybridize it with local rice.
In the second year after arriving in the Great Yun Dynasty, Xiao Han cleared a plot of land in a remote place to conduct experiments.
To ensure the black gold spirit rice would germinate successfully, Xiao Han buried hundreds of immortal stones from his storage bracelet in the experimental field, giving it enough spiritual energy to sprout.
Once the black gold spirit rice sprouted, she didn't hesitate to take out the immortal stone whose spiritual energy hadn't completely dissipated and let it grow like that.
Without a continuous supply of spiritual energy, and irrigated with ordinary mountain spring water, the rice seedlings grew thin and small.
But just as Xiao Han had guessed, without the nourishment of spiritual energy, the thin and small black gold spirit rice in the mortal realm grew rapidly and blossomed in the first year.
When the Black Gold Spirit Rice was in bloom, Xiao Han used spiritual energy to accelerate the growth of local ordinary millet. When they were in bloom, he transplanted them next to the Black Gold Spirit Rice to allow them to hybridize.
This batch of ordinary rice harvested represents the first generation of hybrid rice.
The local common rice, hybridized with Black Gold Spirit Rice, produces grains the size of peanuts when mature. This generation of hybrid rice, due to the excessive spiritual energy it absorbs, has unstable properties.
Xiao Han used the seeds she obtained to plant the second season. This time, she didn't use any spiritual energy to nourish it, and planted it using the same methods as farmers.
Finally, although the growth period of this batch of rice was delayed by half a month, the seeds were smaller than peanuts but larger than soybeans, and they had strong resistance to disease and pests.
Xiao Han then tested the third season and found that there was no problem with not being able to save seeds, or problems with seed size and unstable yield.
The new hybrid rice variety nearly doubled the yield. If this were widely adopted, the risk of famine in the Great Yun Dynasty would be greatly reduced.
Giving such a good thing to Zhao Qinghe would surely allow her to be promoted another rank.