Under this topic, there was also a short introduction.
The Nu Lang Kingdom has been established for two hundred years and has been promoted to a kingdom for one hundred years.
Since His Majesty the Dragon Emperor unified the human world, countless kingdoms have risen and fallen. The longest lasted no more than five or six hundred years, and the shortest lasted less than several decades.
So in your opinion, how many more years can the Nu Lang Kingdom ruled by the Zhi clan still exist? For what reason will the kingdom perish?
King Zhi Bian really has personality. After reading the topic, Lanling was immediately filled with emotion.
Such a policy essay topic would not even be allowed to be discussed in other countries. Although there has never been a kingdom that lasted a thousand years in history, every kingdom’s king now tells the world that his family’s rule will last for thousands of generations.
Yet Zhi Bian directly asked all the students how many more years his Nu Lang Kingdom could still exist.
Lanling clearly felt that this policy essay was really very difficult, but if written well, it would also be very easy to stand out.
The entire examination time was only three hours. The real test of skill had arrived.
To get a high score, the opinion must be different from that of most students. Because there is a saying that is very good: truth is only in the hands of a few, and that saying itself is truth.
Moreover, the scale of this policy essay was very difficult to grasp.
For example, if you wrote that the Nu Lang Kingdom had a thousand years of national fortune, that would be treating the king as a fool. But if you wrote only a hundred years of national fortune, that would be cursing the Nu Lang Kingdom.
Then, Lanling realised a deeper meaning of this topic. It was not only asking how many more years the Nu Lang Kingdom could still exist.
More importantly, in the policy essay one had to point out what the biggest problem the Nu Lang Kingdom was facing now, and what the biggest problem the Nu Lang Kingdom would encounter in the next few decades or within a hundred years.
This required very high political insight and wisdom to see clearly and to write clearly.
The highest realm of this policy essay was to ask the candidates what method could be used to allow the Nu Lang Kingdom to extend its life in the next destruction crisis.
This was a very big article. If one really wanted to write it completely, even tens of thousands of words would not be enough. It could not be contained in one policy essay at all. So Lanling only needed one entry point, then break the topic from that entry point and write a sharp and concise policy essay.
He needed to write it extremely stunning and extremely shocking, so that it would suddenly brighten people’s eyes, enough to alert and shock the king’s heart, in order to obtain a high score.
Because he wanted to obtain the noble warrior medal and enter the top ten. He could not fail in any examination. Even if he failed one examination, everything would be completely wasted and destroyed in one go.
Merely excellent was not enough. It had to be unparalleled and unique.
Lanling closed his eyes and began to rack his brains to conceive.
…
A full hour later, he finished conceiving.
His entry point was something that had never existed in the entire Yanlong Continent before: party struggle! This term would be a new word for this world.
His policy essay title was: Party Struggle Misleads the Country, Party Struggle Destroys the Country.
Having thought of this entry point, Lanling was very excited. His pen immediately moved as if guided by a god, and his thoughts flowed like a spring.
In the past three thousand years on the Yanlong Continent, no human kingdom had ever seen true party struggle. Because for these thousands of years, all countries had adopted the feudal system, with nobles holding all power.
The civilian elite class, that is, the civil and military scholar class, had only begun to rise in the last few decades.
The one that started the trend of civilian elites rising was the Nu Lang Kingdom, especially King Zhi Bian. And it was only within the last few years that large numbers of civilian elites had truly entered the high levels of the army, provincial and county chief officials, and even high cabinet officials.
So the rise of civilian elites had so far lasted less than twenty years.
Now, the number of civilian elites was after all not many, so they were in a relatively scarce state. The positions and power vacated by King Zhi Bian suppressing the nobles were enough to be allocated to these civilian elites.
However, elites would also multiply. In the future, there would be more and more civilian elites. Then there would not be enough power and positions to divide. When the king no longer had enough power to give to these civilian elites, for the sake of their own interests, these civilian elites would definitely form groups into parties and rely on the power of factions to seize greater power.
In ancient Chinese dynasties, after the imperial examination system, the history of aristocratic clans monopolising state power was completely ended. Large numbers of literati and scholars stepped onto the stage and governed the world together with the imperial family.
After that, party struggles inevitably appeared. The Niu Li party struggle in the Tang Dynasty, the new and old party struggle in the Song Dynasty, and by the Ming Dynasty, party struggles reached their peak. The eunuch party, the Donglin party, and the Zhe party fought each other to the death, directly causing the great Ming Dynasty to collapse with a bang.
Therefore, once party struggle appeared, the country’s power would suffer huge consumption.
For other kingdoms it might still be somewhat better, but the geographical position of the Nu Lang Kingdom was so dangerous. Surviving in the crevice between the barbarians and the Yan Empire, it could only advance or retreat. If all levels of the kingdom were united in one mind, not only could the country be preserved, but it could also continuously expand and become stronger.
But once party struggle appeared and internal friction occurred, the speed of destruction would completely exceed imagination.
In the policy essay, Lanling boldly speculated that the Nu Lang Kingdom would have three party struggles.
The first party struggle would be between the noble class and the civilian elite class, and it would occur within ten years.
With the tacit approval and manipulation of the royal family, the civilian elite class would definitely continuously squeeze the space of the noble class and constantly seize power from the noble class. In this first party struggle, the royal family could benefit from it and there would not be too great a fatal crisis.
Moreover, within at most twenty or thirty years, this party struggle would have a result. The noble class would definitely be completely defeated. Because the nobles were becoming increasingly corrupt, like the setting sun in the west, while the civilian elites were an emerging force, like the rising sun in the east.
After the first party struggle ended, the noble class would become a completely empty shell. The civilian elites would exclusively enjoy the kingdom’s power, and this class would also completely transform into the civil and military scholar class.
The civil and military scholar class that exclusively enjoyed the kingdom’s power would also only advance or retreat. When they, whose power was growing larger and larger, could no longer obtain greater power from the royal family, they would definitely take the royal family as the next target. Hollowing out the royal family would become their absolute political correctness.
So the second party struggle would be the struggle between the civil and military scholar class and the royal family.
And this struggle would bring huge damage to the Nu Lang Kingdom, and there would be no clear winner or loser.
Because the royal family held the great righteousness, while once the civil and military scholar class formed factions, they would possess power, and that power would no longer come from the royal family.
Therefore, this second party struggle basically could not have a winner or loser. Or rather, before a winner or loser could be decided, the Nu Lang Kingdom would already perish.
The third party struggle would be the party struggle within the civil and military scholar class itself, the struggle between civil and military, and even the struggles between different factions within the scholar class and the warrior class.
Moreover, the third party struggle would occur simultaneously with the second party struggle.
If the Nu Lang Kingdom did not perish in the second party struggle, it would definitely perish in the third party struggle.
So in the end, Lanling drew the final conclusion.
The Nu Lang Kingdom has only a hundred years of national fortune and will definitely perish due to party struggle.
Finally, he originally should have written the method to resolve this dilemma, but Lanling was not so naive. He heavily used four words to end it: This situation has no solution!
In a lengthy two thousand words, Lanling finally finished writing this policy essay on party struggle destroying the country.
At this time, there was less than half an hour left until the end of the examination. Lanling read his article from beginning to end once. The writing was concise and condensed, the theme was clear and sharp, and the conclusion was shocking.
The entire policy essay could completely be called deafening and enlightening.
Whether in insight or wisdom, it was of the highest order. Because on Earth, Lanling had two thousand years of history to reference. The tragedies that occurred in several dynasties had completely verified his views.
Dong dong dong dong…
The bell rang, and the second examination ended.
The twenty mentors came one after another to collect everyone’s exam papers, then gathered them together and handed them to the examiners for marking and review.
The marking of this second policy essay examination was not so simple. It would take a full two days to complete. Because there were no correct answers, it required a large amount of time to deliberate and discuss.
After the examination ended, Lanling directly returned to the Tianshui Earl’s Mansion. Tomorrow there would be a one day pause, and the day after tomorrow evening the third art subject examination would continue.
Moreover, before the third examination, the results of the second examination would be announced.
…
After returning home, Suo Ningbing was the first to ask, Little brother, what was the topic of today’s policy essay?
Lanling said, How much longer can the Nu Lang Kingdom still exist?
Hearing this topic, Suo Ningbing was immediately stunned and looked very incredulous.
Our King Zhi Bian really is full of personality. Lanling smiled.
Suo Ningbing said, But this policy essay is very difficult. It not only tests courage but also tests wisdom and insight. If it were me, it would be very hard to stand out.
Suo Ningbing was a talented woman. She had also prepared many policy essays for Lanling’s second examination and was very confident in her own talent.
However, the topic of how much longer the Nu Lang Kingdom could still exist was indeed somewhat big and somewhat deep.
How did you write it? Suo Ningbing asked.
Lanling said, The Nu Lang Kingdom will definitely perish within a hundred years due to party struggle, and it is irredeemable.
As soon as these words came out, Suo Ningbing was immediately stunned.
Then, Lanling recited his article very clearly and concisely.
The first party struggle, the second party struggle, the third party struggle, and then the Nu Lang Kingdom perishes.
After listening, Suo Ningbing looked at Lanling for a long time. Her beautiful eyes revealed an incomparably amazed gaze, and she murmured, Little brother, you are really a genius. This policy essay will shock the entire venue.
…
As one of the chief examiners sent by the royal family, Zhi Ning also began the long marking work.
She was a proud person and also a very picky person. So every time she picked up a policy essay, before she had even read a hundred words, she would frown and almost impatiently want to throw it aside.
Because these policy essays were really too empty and too unbearable to look at.
While marking and correcting, Zhi Ning waited gloatingly to see Suolun’s article, to see exactly how ignorant, how shallow, and how bad it was.