Chapter Fifty
Word Number：244
Author：一曲雨霖铃
Translator：
Release Time：2025-09-28
Saying: The court would swap its shadows; rivers and mountains breathe as one anew. Yet when the wind stirs, still we look toward the day of return. It is said that on the first day of the first month in the third year of Tian Shou (692), late winter lingered and the cold bit still, snow drifting across Luoyang. One day the Empress hatched a scheme and said to Shangguan Wan’er, “Wan’er, in past ages, those who enter office through examinations are granted posts by virtue of rank but know little of governance. I would set trial-offices in the court — probationary posts. What think you?” Shangguan Wan’er answered, “Your Majesty, matters of state should be discussed with the ministers; I, as but a court beauty, should not speak much.” The Empress smiled, “Not an argument — a heart-to-heart.” Wan’er replied, “Your plan is wise. Many a top scholar proves incompetent once in office, and their policies harm people.” Pleased, the Empress soon established probationary offices at the court. But the candidates recommended by the Ten Regional Inspectors — Shi Wuzhi, the Right Protector, Li Zhen and the like — were mostly unworthy or worthless, and they were all taken into service: some as provisional Fengge clerks or imperial censors, others as assistant directors, minor clerks, remembrancers, scribes, and the like. The trial-offices proliferated and became a farce. One day a Fengge clerk glanced over an edict drafted by Shangguan Wan’er, found the ph
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