The aptitude test was administered in batches of twenty. Evening had fallen by the time all three hundred plus candidates had completed it. According to the rules and regulations, the literary test would be conducted the following day.

The night passed without incident. Early the next morning, Wei Yuan was led into a brightly lit hall. The tables, chairs, and the Four Treasures of the Study[1] had already been arranged inside. Just like the aptitude test, he saw his number flashing on one of the tables.

When he sat down at his table, he immediately felt as if an invisible wall had risen around him. It blocked out all the sounds, voices, and noises. His surroundings had grown hazy as well. He couldn’t make out what was written on the paper on the table next to his at all.

The desk was accessorized in a simple fashion. There was a blank piece of paper at the center of the table, and a brush holder holding a fine-tipped brush on the right. An inkstone and a bowl of clear water sat above the paper. A short while later, a Daoist’s voice clearly resounded beside Wei Yuan and briefly explained the function of each writing implement. Out of everything, the bowl of water was the most remarkable of them all. If a mistake was made, one could simply dip their brush in the water to erase the error and rewrite it.

After the Daoist had finished his explanation, he declared in a dignified voice, “The literary test begins now!”

The next moment, rows and rows of text appeared on Wei Yuan’s paper. Wei Yuan grabbed the brush but froze in place. It was because there were more or less no empty spaces on the paper. Just where was he going to write his answer?

Wei Yuan concentrated and read the questions carefully. The first question went like this:

In the thirteenth year of the Jingxuan era, () stopped the Emperor Hui’s carriage and presented him the Eight Strategies for Pacifying The Liao.

(A) Zhong Heng

(B) Ding Shu

(C) Gongshu Luyuan

(D) Daoist Xianju

Wei Yuan had never seen a question like this, nor had Zhang Sheng mentioned something of the like. Luckily, the question was simple, and this was an important event in A History of Tang. As his fundamentals were solid, he quickly recalled the memory and ticked the correct answer, D.

The second question went like this:

In the thirty-fifth year of the Mingde era, () led 8,100 armored soldiers and crushed the Mountain Dwellers at Jii[2], slaying 273.

(A) Duke Mao

(B) Hsu Chu

(C) Master Hui Hai

(D) Hani Kyzy[3]

For someone who could recite A History of Tang backward, this question couldn’t stump Wei Yuan either. He glanced at the name Hsu Chu and ticked the letter B beside it.

The boy’s racing heart began to slow down. Although the format of the question paper was odd, it wasn’t actually all that difficult. If the whole paper was like this, then the literary test was basically free.

Suddenly, a strange thought barged into his mind: What if, instead of asking who was the famous person who crushed the Mountain Dwellers at Jii, the question asked when the battle had taken place? Was it the thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth, or thirty-sixth year of the Mingde era? Or worse, what if the question asked how many armored soldiers had fought in the battle, 8,100 or 8,200? Even worse, what if it asked how many enemies were slain, 273 or 274...

The boy suddenly shivered in his seat and hurriedly chased the scary thought out of his mind. At the same time, he mentally chuckled to himself. Just who in their right mind would come up with such stupid questions?

In any case, Wei Yuan gradually calmed down and answered every question that was thrown at him perfectly. None of the actual questions were nearly as scary as his own imagination.

It wasn’t long before he encountered yet another type of question he had never seen before:

In the twenty-first year of the Xuanwu era, Emperor Taizong crushed Northern Liao at (), capturing seven thousand li of territory and establishing () Province.

There were no multiple choices to be ticked this time. He was expected to fill in the answer himself.

This was the battle that founded the empire of Tang. Emperor Taizong had fought for seven months straight and ultimately routed Northern Liao at Wuyang, slaying two of their three Teachers of the State and establishing the seven commanderies of Yan. Of course, Yan now numbered twenty-two commanderies, but that was a story for another day.

This was a major incident, so of course it couldn’t stump Wei Yuan. He immediately wrote down the answer with great strength. Speaking of which, he noticed that the brush he was using was quite mystical. It allowed him to write extremely fine strokes. His written words could be as small as a grain of rice, and still he and anyone else who read his work would be able to read it. He couldn’t have done this if he was using his old brush. It was all too easy to smudge up a word if he tried to reduce its size to that of a bean.

Wei Yuan kept writing, and the number of test papers stacked beside his table kept increasing. Finally, after answering ten or so test papers later, he received a paper that was mostly blank except a single line:

Discuss On Recruiting Talented Individuals presented to Emperor Mingzong by Hsu Jie.

An essay question!

Wei Yuan’s spirits immediately lifted. Finally, it was something familiar.

Hsu Jie was a famous minister during the early years of Tang. He had presented On Recruiting Talented Individuals to Emperor Mingzong shortly after the emperor’s ascension. He had advocated for broadening avenues to attract capable individuals, thereby laying the foundation for a century of prosperity. This question essentially tested strategies for appointing officials—specifically, it asked whether one should prioritize virtue or competence during the selection process.

It didn’t take Wei Yuan long before he threw himself into the work, brush gliding non-stop across the paper like serpents or dragons. Back in the day, his master hadn’t just made him memorize On Recruiting Talented Individuals in its entirety. He also insisted on a detailed interpretation of every line. He would relate the historical context and the actual impact each line had produced at the time. Finally, Zhang Sheng made him ponder how the strategies outlined in the book would change if applied to different eras. He wasn’t let off the hook until he had an answer for every single one of these questions.

There was no one definitive answer to such questions. According to Zhang Sheng’s teachings, a satisfactory response must be grounded in the prevailing circumstances of that time. Any answer divorced from the realities of that era was merely empty talk.

Moments later, Wei Yuan had filled up the whole paper and set it aside. Then, he looked at the next question:

In the tenth year of the Xuanguang era, an earthquake shook three commanderies of Western Jin. In March, starving peasants rose in rebellion, and in May, the Mountain Dwellers invaded from the south. General Fan Yuan led fifty thousand troops out of the capital. Should he advance westward or march south?

This question asked whether one should prioritize resistance against foreign aggression or protecting the internal stability of a country. Again, it had no definitive answer. Historically, Fan Yuan had marched west to suppress the disaster-stricken populace. Despite executing hundreds of thousands of rebels, he had failed to quell the unrest. Because of this, the Mountain Dwellers were able to invade all the way to the capital city and ultimately force Western Jin to sign a treaty while under siege. As a result, Western Jin’s national strength plummeted dramatically, and it went from one of the three major feudal states to the weakest of the nine countries.

This was harder than the previous question. Wei Yuan pondered for a moment before he began his analysis on the gains and losses while drawing upon some real-life historical accounts from the annals as references.

To truly answer this question well, one had to do more than just drawing lessons from history. They needed to be familiar with the geographical landscape of the Western Jin, the characteristics of its ruler and ministers, and the movements of the neighboring states at the time. However, all of these far exceeded Wei Yuan’s current capabilities. In fact, it was impossible for anyone who wasn’t a master historian to provide a truly good answer to this question.

The papers kept being filled up with words and set aside on the table. Almost four hours had passed, but Wei Yuan did not feel tired in the slightest. It was because the chair he was sitting on continuously transmitted wisps of coolness that ensured that he would always be at his mental best.

When Wei Yuan filled up another blank piece of paper and set it aside, nothing else materialized before him. He knew then that he had answered all of the questions. He exhaled slightly and returned the brush to the brush holder. Then, he picked up the stack of test papers and went through them carefully.

Throughout the test, he did not encounter a single question that he wasn’t able to answer. Of course, the essay questions did not have definitive answers, so he clung to his master’s teachings and made sure that his answers were coherent. He personally believed that he had answered to a satisfactory degree.

In fact, in terms of essay questions only, the challenges Zhang Sheng had set for him were far more demanding than this test.

A bell chime echoed, and the literary test was over. The candidates left their test papers on the table and filed out of the hall. They then returned to their dormitories to rest.

A wave of fatigue washed over Wei Yuan as soon as he left the hall. Even with the support of the mystical chair, the literary test that lasted six hours had exhausted all of his energy. The other candidates, too, had lost all desire for conversation and simply hurried back to their respective rooms to rest. The martial test awaited them early the next morning, and they definitely needed to be well-rested for that.

1. Four Treasures of the Study is an expression used to denote the brush, ink, paper and ink stone used in Chinese calligraphy and spread into other East Asian calligraphic traditions. The name appears to originate in the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. ☜

2. A location, 蓟. Unfortunately it shares the same transliteration as the Ji State, 纪, so I’m adding an additional ‘i’ to differentiate it. ☜

3. It’s a real person, a Chinese singer, a modern Chinese singer to be exact. ☜