The twilight drum sounded in the West Garden, and several palace doors slowly closed. The heavily armed soldiers of the Imperial City appeared to be dutiful, guarding several palace gates, making it seem as if the place was completely cut off from the outside world.

Due to the time of early autumn, the sky has gradually darkened, and many rooms are gradually lit up, especially the lights on the side of Wanshou Palace.

Li Chunfang hurried to the front of the Wuyi Hall alone, but instead of heading towards the main hall, he turned to a row of low wings to the east.

The east wing is where their rotating Xiyuan officials live, and Yuan Wei, a cabinet minister, also lives here. As for the west wing on the opposite side, it is a place for idle clerks or places to put things, anyway, according to the habits of officialdom, officials will never live in the west wing.

As for the first assistant Xu Jie, he lived in the house built by Jiajing for Yan Song in the past, which was the emperor's longing favor to Yan Song who stayed in Xiyuan all the year round, but now the benefits of that house have fallen on Xu Jie.

Fortunately in this crisp autumn September, if it is in the summer season, compared to this low east wing, Xu Jie's house is simply heaven.

Li Chunfang put the autumn clothes in his own east wing, and hurriedly came to the mansion on the east side of the Wuyi Palace, and entered the room to see Xu Jie, who had just had dinner.

"Zishi, you're here, sit down!" Xu Jie's mood seemed to be good, and he gently raised his hand to Li Chunfang who came in.

The relationship between the two is extremely close, Xu Jie has not only been supporting Li Chunfang, but even regards Li Chunfang as his successor, and the smile on his face seems to come from his heart.

"Lord Xie Yuanfu!" Li Chunfang returned the salute respectfully and sat down at the table.

The servant brought tea to the two, Xu Jie sat down and glanced at Li Chunfang, then smiled and asked directly: "Zishi, are you in trouble?" ”

"Something is true! Lord Motosuke, I'd like to report to you about the trial of Shuncheon-go's impersonation! Li Chunfang nodded lightly, and responded truthfully.

Li Chunfang has always had great respect for Xu Jie, even if he is now a "quasi-pavilion elder", he has never planned to bypass Xu Jie's personal appearance to the emperor, but to report to Xu Jie's according to the rules.

"Good!" Xu Jie took a fancy to Li Chunfang's point, so he was pleased to hold the teacup.

In addition to the list of more than 50 people who impersonated their nationality in the township test, Li Chunfang also took out Zhang Li's confession admitting that he had impersonated his nationality.

The context of the matter was already clear, but in order to avoid extraneous complications, or not need him to say it at all, he did not tell Wang Xilie about his efforts to push Zhang Li to Xie Yuan.

"The matter came to light so quickly, it should have been Lin Ruoyu's doing, right?" Xu Jie put down the list and confession, raised his eyes to look at Li Chunfang and asked seriously.

Li Chunfang didn't hide it, and he didn't have such ability at all, so he nodded honestly: "Yes, Lin Shilang has been staring at Shuntian Township to try!" At the beginning of the matter, he began to investigate, and now Zhang Li and others are locked up in the Shuntian Mansion! ”

Xu Jie took a sip of the teacup, and found that this Lin Haoran was indeed not simple, so he made a decision and said: "Zishi, the old man will personally report this matter to the emperor, right?" ”

"Then there is Lord Lao Yuanfu!" Li Chunfang has always regarded Xu Jie's respect, and he has never fought with Xu Jie's for these things, which is to give up.

Now that the matter has become clear, Zhang Li admitted the impersonation, but no matter who reported it to the emperor, the result should be the same.

Li Chunfang suddenly thought of Lin Haoran's words, and when he entered the palace gate and saw Xu Yi and Wang Xilie, he added: "Lord Yuanfu, our Ministry of Rites is discussing today, we can not hold the relevant officials accountable, but we must remove the fame of Zhang Li and the other six new imperial examiners!" ”

The current Ministry of Rites can be said to be full of talents, including Li Chunfang, a quasi-pavilion elder, a demon son who is rare to see in a hundred years, and a future emperor.

Xu Jie didn't know why Li Chunfang added this sentence, but he responded with a smile: "Zishi, let's just do our duty as a courtier, as for how to deal with this matter, everything has to be decided by the emperor!" ”

Li Chunfang knows that this is indeed the case, but the emperor has always focused on the big and let go of the small, and he has always been more inclined to Xu Jie's opinion on such small things.

It's just that since Xu Jie said so, then he had the right to listen, and naturally he would not go against Xu Jie, so he responded respectfully.

While he was talking, a little eunuch came out and informed the two of them to go to Hong Ying's new altar.

As night fell, the lights of the entire West Garden had been lit up.

In the northeast corner, a new Hongying altar was built in front of a new hall, and a Taoist Jiao Zhai Jiao activity was being held in front of the newly repaired Hongying altar.

In later generations, many people mistakenly thought that after Xu Jie's place replaced Yan Song's position, he urged Emperor Jiajing to work hard and vigorously oppose Jiajing's behavior of cultivating Taoist architecture.

It's just that the reality is not like this, a court that didn't even dare to report the birth of the "imperial grandson" to Jiajing, Xu Jie, who was just beautified by later generations.

Xu Jie is Yan Song's successor, but it is only the inheritance of power, and it has not changed much to this huge dynasty, and he is still a politician in essence.

Even if the reason for the reduction of Zongfan Lumi was that the dynasty really could not afford this huge expense, and in order to prevent the Han royal clan from smashing Xi'an again, the court was forced to make a change.

It is said that it is to save the people, but it is better to save the silver for Emperor Jiajing to cultivate the Xuan.

As recorded in the historical data, Hong Yingtan and other palaces were completed, Xu Jie's silver reward was fifty-two taels of red python clothes and silk two tables, the Ministry of Industry Shangshu Lei Liyin and a son entered the country to supervise and study, Zhu Xixiao, the governor of Jinyi and Wei, and Zhu Xixiao, the governor of Jinyi, was thirty stones, and Li Dengyun, the left waiter of the Ministry of Works, was promoted.

At present, the new altar of Hongying was completed, and Jiajing decided to hold a seven-day Jiao ceremony following the completion of the new hall and the new altar in the past.

The Jiao Festival was quite lively, and the Taoist priest was doing things in front of the shed that had been built, and everything seemed to be proceeding in an orderly manner. What the eunuchs are going to do, what the emperor is going to do, and what the officials are going to do, these things are already clear to each other.

Jiajing, who was wearing a Taoist robe, wore a fragrant leaf crown on his head, and after finishing the Jiao Festival, he went to the next hall to rest, and the palace maid sent tea and pastries.

Xu Jie and Li Chunfang came in together to face the saint, and Xu Jie took the opportunity to report the matter: "Your Majesty, after the Shuntian Township test list, the unsuccessful candidates have been making trouble in the capital these days, and they have torn up the list posted in front of the Gongyuan. ”

Jiajing's mind was all about Xiuxuan, far less concerned about government affairs than in the early days, and he was holding a piece of lotus cake, but he asked lightly: "What is impersonation?" ”

Feng Bao has been accompanying Jiajing tonight, listening to Jiajing's question, but he sighed gloomily in his heart. Today's saints can be said to be more and more uncannibalistic, and this matter even needs to be asked by Yu Xu Jie.

"If you go back to the emperor, some students from other places pretended to be students from Beizhili and directly participated in the Shuntian Township Test!" Xu Jie didn't have anything unusual, and seemed to be puzzled as a matter of course.

Hey?

Li Chunfang's brows couldn't help frowning slightly, and she turned her head to look at Xu Jie next to her suspiciously.

Although this explanation is correct, the biggest harm of impersonation is that candidates in Jiangsu and Zhejiang want to take advantage of the loopholes of the township examination and seek fame through the improper behavior of "impersonation".

Now Xu Jie's explanation focuses on the distinction between "non-local students" and "Beizhili students", and does not point out the harmfulness of "impersonation".

Jiajing put half a piece of lotus cake into his mouth, showing his laziness and slackness, and said disapprovingly: "The students from other places are Xiucai, and the students of Beizhili are Xiucai, and this is the talent of the Ming Dynasty all over the world, how can you say that you are impersonated?" ”

Li Chunfang's mouth opened, and she looked like she wanted to stop talking.

Xu Jie hurriedly echoed: "The emperor is right! However, this matter is not appropriate after all, but Zhang Li also won the Xie Yuan of the Shuntian Township Test in one fell swoop, and now the grievances of the candidates who failed on the list are difficult to settle, and they have even begun to question that Zhang Li's victory is caused by fraud!"

These words undoubtedly continued to induce Jiajing, and after blurring the impersonation of the person, he quickly led the problem to fraud, which can be said to have quickly diverted the focus.

If in the past, it would be difficult for Jiajing to be "led by the nose" by Xu Jie, but now Jiajing is even more obsessed with cultivating Xuan, and feels that this matter is irrelevant.

Jiajing took the teacup from the palace maid's hand and took a sip, paid a little attention to the fraud in the township test, squinted his eyes and asked lightly: "Does Xie Yuan of Zhangli High School have joints?" ”

"After hearing about this, the minister transferred Zhang Li's test paper from the Hanlin Academy, and asked the emperor to take a look!" Xu Jie is quite experienced in doing things, and when he even took out the test paper from his sleeve and presented it, he said.

Li Chunfang has been in and out of officialdom for many years, so she is naturally not stupid, she is already standing next to her and quietly watching Xu Jie's performance.

Feng Bao took the test paper from Xu Jie's hand and respectfully sent it to Jiajing, but Jiajing didn't want to waste time on it, but handed the tea cup back to the palace maid, and his eyes fell directly on Xu Jie.

Xu Jie actually knew that Jiajing would not waste this time, but the posture he should have would still be revealed, and even if he said eloquently: "The minister has already read Zhang Li's test paper, and this answer sheet is very outstanding. Only Zhangli said: Shun Yuan rules the world with his feet, and he has five ministers, and the world benefits from governance! On the other hand, looking at the scrolls of scholars, only the five ministers are virtuous but forget Emperor Shun, which is not wrong! If the emperor shines brightly, even if there are no five virtuous ministers, the world can also be governed. Zhang Li was deeply taught by the sage, so the minister thought that he was elected as Xie Yuan and deserved it, and the fraud was purely slanderous. ”

Feng Bao found that Jiajing looked over, and was slightly stunned at first, and then figured out the holy will. He hurriedly took out Zhang Li's examination paper, found the policy essay and presented it to the emperor.

Jiajing saw that the article really wrote "Shun Yuan rules the world with his feet, and he has five ministers, and the world is governed by benefits", and he couldn't help but feel good about Zhang Li, but he came to a conclusion: "This son is indeed a talented person, and those unsuccessful candidates actually ruined the list and slandered them, but they were just red-eyed!" ”

Li Chunfang knew that things were already developing in a bad direction, and she couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

"Your Majesty, I don't know how to deal with Zhang Li's impersonation?" Xu Jie saw the opportunity and asked while the iron was hot.

Jiajing was still intoxicated by Fang Cai's words, and immediately made a decision to say: "This is my Ming talent all over the world, and the impersonation is nonsense, and the candidates will ignore the trouble!" ”

"Obey the order!" Xu Jie's eyes flashed with joy, and he saluted respectfully.

Although the matter of pretending is not trivial, but now that the emperor has opened his golden mouth, even the greatest culpability will disappear. Coupled with the clear attitude of Shousuke today, this matter is a foregone conclusion.

Li Chunfang saw everything that happened tonight, not only to see how Xu Jie played with power, but also to see how a thing was reversed.

When he returned to the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites the next day, he said apologetically to Lin Haoran: "The emperor said that the matter of impersonation will not be investigated, you let the Shuntian Mansion Ya General Zhang Li and the other six people go!" ”

"Is there really no turning back in this matter?" Lin Haoran seemed to be mentally prepared for this result, but he looked at Li Chunfang and asked seriously.

Li Chunfang met Lin Haoran's gaze and said, "The emperor's golden mouth has been opened!" After a pause, he was worried that Lin Haoran would be persuaded to do so, and added: "This matter is very involved, and there is no room for maneuver!" ”

His subtext is already obvious, the so-called involvement is very large, mainly involving Xu Yi of Beizhili and Wang Xilie, the deputy examiner of the Shuntian Township Examination, Xu Jie will not let these two proud protégés get this stain.

Lin Haoran sighed secretly in his heart, since the defeat of the sect domain last time, he had also learned to back down, but things did not develop as he hoped after all.

If he fights now, not only will it not be of much benefit, but he may also be hit by Xu Jie, it is better to let things end in such a ridiculous result.

With the emperor's attitude clear, there were no major disagreements among the officials, and the troublesome candidates were destined to not be able to make waves, and the matter slowly calmed down.

"The result of this disposition is really chilling!"

"It's ridiculous that an impostor won the township leader with just a sycophantic article!"

"Hehe, the current cabinet elders and court ministers, which one didn't climb up by relying on the Qingzi article!"

……

Although the matter slowly calmed down, it couldn't stop the mouths of so many people in the capital, but they expressed their opinions one after another, and soon extended to the current court situation.

In essence, this is indeed the case, the standard of employment in this dynasty does not look at the virtue of officials, but values the loyalty of officials to the emperor, and all the court members from the first assistant to the lower level are like this.

This originally beautiful golden autumn September, but such a ridiculous thing happened.

With Yan Song leaving office for more than two years, many people of insight slowly realized that the crux of this dynasty was not the traitor Yan Song, and the culprit was actually the current saint.