Chapter Fifty-One Needle Tip vs Mantis Fist

  After Xiao Liang Wang came down from the mountain and arrived in the capital, the first major event was to visit several chief examiners and present them with thick gifts. Zhang Bangchang, Wang Duo, and Zhang Jun, the three chief examiners, all accepted the heavy gifts and made guarantees, promising to give the title of Wu Shuangyuan to Xiao Liang Wang. Xiao Liang Wang presented gifts to Zong Ze, but Zong Ze was an upright official who was dedicated to selecting talented individuals for the country with a clear conscience, how could he collude with Zhang Bangchang and the others? He politely declined. In his heart, Xiao Liang Wang thought that with the support of Taizai, four chief examiners had three people working for him, and Zong Ze's official rank was lower than theirs, and his words carried less weight in front of the emperor compared to Taizai, so he didn't put Zong Ze in his eyes. Unexpectedly, Zong Ze was not reconciled, and he scolded Xiao Liang Wang in front of many people. Now I am just a martial arts candidate participating in the examination, how can I oppose him?

  Xiao Liang Wang stared at Zhang Bangchang with his eyes, and Zhang Bangchang understood in his heart, so he also followed suit.

  "Zong Ze, the old scoundrel, severely reprimanded my disciple, making me lose face. This grudge will not be avenged if I don't take revenge as the Grand Preceptor. You scolding my disciple is equivalent to scolding me, and I'll make sure to criticize your disciple, let's see where you put this old face of yours?" Zhang Bangchang thought to himself, his mind made up.

  "Flag officer, come here." Zhang Bangchang called out. The flag officer walked over and asked, "What are your orders, sir?"

  "Go and bring Yue Fei of Jun County here, I have something to ask him." Zhang Bangchang said.

  The officer with the flag responded with a loud voice and walked away, shouting towards the crowd of martial artists: "Which one of you is Yue Fei from Tongyin County? The master has invited Yue Fei to come to the martial hall for questioning."

  Yue Fei heard, responded with a voice and walked into the martial arts hall. When he saw Little Liang Wang kneeling in front of Zong Liugong, he knelt down in front of Grand Preceptor Zhang Bangchang, first kowtowing, then said humbly: "Your humble servant pays respects to Your Excellency."

  "Are you Yue Fei?" Zhang Bangchang asked in a pretentious tone.

  "I am indeed Yue Fei, a native of Tangyin County, Yonghe Township, Xiaotong Village."

  "You don't look particularly impressive, nor are you remarkably handsome. What makes you think you have what it takes to go to the capital and win the top martial arts prize?" Zhang Bangchang asked.

  Yue Fei listened and knew that Zhang Bangchang had an ulterior motive, so he hurriedly defended himself: "I am just a child from a poor rural family, how dare I dream of becoming the top scholar? In this year's examination, there are thousands of scholars from all over the country in the examination hall, who doesn't want to become the top scholar? But there is only one top scholar, and among those thousands of people, each has some ability, how can I compete with them? I am just a frog at the bottom of the well, coming to the capital city to see the world, and incidentally taking part in the examination, to verify what I have learned throughout my life." Yue Fei said.

  Zhang Bangchang originally wanted to teach Yue Fei a lesson, but unexpectedly Yue Fei said this, and he didn't know how to start scolding him.

  "Yue Fei, this is Young Liang Wang. In terms of family background, he is a thousand times stronger than you. In terms of status, the two of you are worlds apart. As for learning, Young Liang Wang comes from a scholarly family and is well-versed in ancient and modern knowledge. Now, I will first test your learning with these few examiners, and then test your martial skills." Zhang Bangchang said.

  "I'm a humble commoner with a poor background and haven't read many books. If you want to test me, I'll do my best." said Yue Fei.

  Zhang Bangchang thought to himself, "Yue Fei is just a poor man's son, what learning does he have? This time he will surely make a fool of himself in public."

  Zong Ze secretly rejoiced in his heart, knowing that Yue Fei's skills were unmatched, and the young Prince of Liang was absolutely no match for him.

  "Yue Fei, what kind of weapon are you using?" Zhang Bangchang suddenly asked.

  "Use your gun." Yue Fei replied succinctly.

  "Xiao Liang Wang, what kind of weapon are you using?" Zhang Bangchang asked Xiao Liang Wang again.

  "Draw your sword." said Little Liang Wang.

  "All right, each of you will write a thesis on the weapon you are most skilled with. Yue Fei will write 'The Theory of Spears', and Little Prince Liang will write 'The Theory of Swords'. Let's see who can produce the best work the fastest." said Zhang Bangchang.

  The two men listened and came to the martial arts hall on both sides. Zhang Bangchang ordered his entourage to move in tables and chairs, and brought in four treasures of the study. The two men took their orders, sat down, and began writing papers.

  If the essay was small, Xiao Liang Wang was not inferior to Yue Fei. However, after being criticized by Zong Shou, he became a bit dizzy and mistakenly wrote a "knife" character as a "power" character. He looked at it anxiously and hastily corrected it, but ended up making the knife look unlike a knife and the power look unlike power. Xiao Liang Wang had no choice but to erase it and start again. Just after writing a few lines, Yue Fei had already submitted his paper.

  Zhang Bangchang first looked at Liang Wang's scroll and thought it was just casual scribbles, not daring to show it off, and casually wrapped it in his sleeve. Then he looked at Yue Fei's article, the words were powerful and forceful, the language was smooth, and the momentum was overwhelming, indeed a good text.

  "This person's literary and military talents are even stronger than mine, no wonder the old master values him so much." Zhang Bangchang thought to himself, but what he said out loud were some words of praise.

  "Yue Fei, you think you can also compete for the top spot with such an article? Don't you even dare to take a closer look at yourself? Guards, throw him out!" Zhang Bangchang shouted.

  The two armies rushed up with a loud shout just as Yue Fei was about to leave the martial arts hall. Only then did Zong Ze shout loudly: "Halt!"

  Having heard Zong Ze's loud shout, who dared to move their hands? They immediately put down Yue Fei and stood aside.

  "Director Zhang, can you take out the two of their papers and let us three take a look? If Yue Fei is as you said, it's not too late to drive him out. If it's Little Liang Wang who is not up to par, he should also be treated equally. Is that possible?" asked Zong Ze

  Zhang Bangchang's face was uncomfortable after hearing this, he didn't know how to respond to Zong Ze.

  Wang Zong and Zhang Jun knew that Zhang Bangchang was well-intentioned, so they accepted the gifts from Little Liang Wang and pretended to be unaware of the matter.

  The two military officers saw Zhang Bangchang's face looking difficult and did not dare to come forward to take the volume.

  "Yue Fei, bring your article here and let me take a look," said Zong Ze.

  Yue Fei had no choice but to come before Zhang Bangchang and salute him, asking for the examination paper. Zhang Bangchang was helpless and could only hand over the examination paper to Yue Fei.

  Yue Fei presented the test paper to Zong Liugong, who opened it and examined it carefully. Indeed, every word was as valuable as gold or jade, and every character was as precious as pearls or gems.

  "Zhang Bangchang indeed values profit over talent, such a beautiful article, yet in his mouth it's not worth a single word." Zong Liushou also rolled up the test paper into his sleeve.

  "Prince Liang, I suppose your writing must be a hundred times better than Yue Fei's. Why not take it out and let me see the prince's literary skills?" Zong Ze said with full knowledge that Zhang Bangchang had hidden the test paper.

  Xiao Liang Wang's face turned red with embarrassment, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

  "Yue Fei, with your exceptional talent, how can you achieve success and fame? Don't you know about Su Qin's 'Ten Thousand Word Book' and Wen Tingyun's 'Lan Flower Fu'? When Su Qin presented his book to the state of Qin, Prime Minister Shang Yang was jealous of Su Qin's talent and feared that he would seize power in the future, so he chose Zhang Yi instead. The story of Wen Tingyun is also one of jealousy and envy, I suppose you all know it, no need for me to elaborate. But what's despicable is that Huan Wentai not only obtained Wen Tingyun's 'Lan Flower Fu' but also poisoned him to death, truly a loss of all conscience." Zong Liugong paused here, intentionally stopping and gazing at Zhang Bangchang.

  Zhang Bangchang was furious upon hearing this.