Chapter 50

On the evening of 4 April, Dawei Hongde found 112 identical articles in the Confucius Temple's ink scrolls, and more than 70 of them were exactly the same.

The Praetorian Guards, who heard the news, took control of the entire Confucius Temple on the spot, put the chief examiner and fellow examiner in charge of this scientific examination, as well as the public history, directors, officials, and miscellaneous servants who assisted them into prison, and escorted the chief examiner and fellow examiners a total of 17 people to the gate of the palace overnight.

At this time, Zhao Yuanxi, the emperor of Great Wei, was in Zhao Hongrun's Ningxiang Palace of his mother Shen Shufei.

Because of Zhao Hongrun's relationship, Concubine Shen Shufei's status in the heart of the Emperor of Great Wei is now rising, but because this woman has always been in poor physical condition, the Emperor of Great Wei Tianzi stayed here at night, at most, he talked with this concubine about some interesting things about the brothers Hongrun and Hongxuan, the eighth son, when they were young, and then they slept separately, and there was almost no sexual intercourse.

But even so, the Emperor of Great Wei is still happy to do this, and he will come to chat with Concubine Shen Shu every once in a while, and today is the same.

However, what I didn't expect was that not long after I slept today, the Son of Heaven was softly woken up by the great eunuch Tong Xian.

"Your Majesty, the incident at the Confucius Temple has happened."

"Tap." The awakened Son of Heaven was taken aback, made a small gesture to Tong Xian, and then glanced at Concubine Shen Shu, who was sleeping with her, tucked the quilt for her, and got off the bed carefully.

At this time, Tong Xian had already brought the dragon robe of the Son of Heaven, and he also knew that Concubine Shen Shufei was weak and easy to wake up when she slept at night, so she spoke in an extremely low voice: "His Royal Highness Fang Cai urgently summoned the Praetorian Guards to block the Confucius Temple, and it is said that on the third day, more than 100 identical answer sheets were searched. ”

"Good skills!" Hearing this, the Son of Heaven was full of joy and joy.

After all, the Son of Heaven has been paying close attention to his eighth son during this time, wanting to see if this kid can catch the fraud in the Ministry of Officials, so on the afternoon of that day, the Eighth Prince Zhao Hongrun ordered Zongwei to go to the Ministry of Industry to order the craftsman to secretly make a batch of white wax, and the Son of Heaven was well aware.

He was about to say something more, when he suddenly heard Shen Shufei on the couch groan softly, as if she was awakened.

Seeing this, the Son of Heaven immediately signaled Tong Xian to quietly leave Ningxiang Palace with him.

The two quietly came to the outside of the Ning Xiang Palace.

"That son of a bad man really didn't disappoint me. …… Tong Xian, what about those people? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the Praetorian Guards have escorted the chief examiner Luo Wenzhong and sixteen fellow examiners to the outside of the palace, and His Royal Highness and his Zong Wei have also accompanied him. …… Does Your Majesty want to ask them for questioning? ”

"Humph!" The Son of Heaven snorted with a smile and snorted: "There are more than 100 identical student ink rolls in a scientific examination, how can I not interrogate such a shocking fraud?" …… Ordered the guards to escort those people to the Vertical Arch Palace, and then pass on the Shangshu of the Ministry and the left and right attendants. ”

"Yes."

After the order was completed, the Son of Heaven shook the dragon robe, took a deep breath and put on a look of anger, and walked towards the vertical arch hall.

By the time he arrived at the Vertical Arch Palace, it was already around the middle of the day, and Luo Wenzhong, the chief examiner of the scientific examination, and sixteen fellow examiners had already knelt in front of the dragon case in the Vertical Arch Palace.

Next to him, Zhao Hongrun and his ten sect guards looked at them gloatingly.

Stepping into the hall, the Son of Heaven caught a glimpse of the funny mask that his son Zhao Hongrun hung on his head, and almost laughed, but finally held back and sat down on the dragon case with an iron face.

"Smack——!

The Son of Heaven's hand slapped heavily on the dragon case, as if it was slapping on the hearts of the seventeen examiners, and they trembled all over.

"Luo Wenzhong, tell me, what the hell is going on?!"

The Son of Heaven asked in a gloomy tone.

Luo Wenzhong, who was already pale, looked even more ugly at this time, and he didn't dare to raise his head when he knelt on the ground: "Slightly ...... Wechen didn't know. ”

"I don't know? You are the chief examiner of this examination! Now there are more than 100 identical answer sheets in the scientific examination, and you actually told me, you don't know?! ”

Luo Wenzhong trembled with fright.

"What about you? Don't you know?! The Son of Heaven questioned the sixteen fellow examiners.

"......" Sixteen fellow examiners knelt on the ground with their heads bowed and said nothing.

"That's a ...... Okay, well, I waited for you to monitor the fraud in the department, and you waited for this to repay my trust in you?! More than 100 similar articles...... You tell me, how can those candidates write more than 100 identical answer sheets?! ”

"Ministers...... Conviction of sin. Seventeen examiners confessed in unison.

The Son of Heaven took a deep breath and closed his eyes and stopped talking, as if waiting for something.

The entire vertical arch hall suddenly became silent, and no one dared to pant loudly, except for the yawn of the eighth prince Zhao Hongrun one after another.

After a long time, a little eunuch hurriedly walked in and said, "Your Majesty, the three adults of the Ministry of Ministers, Shangshu He Mei, the left attendant Lang Xi Jiang, and the right attendant Lang Kan Mi are asking to see you outside the palace. ”

"Xuan!" The Son of Heaven snorted coldly.

The little eunuch bowed and retreated, and after a while, an official in his fifties led two officials in his forties and hurriedly walked into the hall.

"Chen He Mei (Xi Jiang, Kan Mi) knock to see Your Majesty." The three of them said in unison.

"You three of you are even." The Son of Heaven waved his hand and ordered the official secretary to be on par with the left and right attendants.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The three of them stood up, bowed their heads and stood respectfully, not daring to squint.

"He Qing."

"The minister is here."

"This scientific examination is presided over by your ministry, and I have always trusted Qing, but this time, you have disappointed me too much!"

"Minister...... Conviction of sin. He Mei, the secretary of the ministry, fell to his knees again with a pop.

At this time, the Son of Heaven glanced at the official secretary, stood up, picked up the thick stack of candidates' answer sheets on the dragon case, slowly walked to He Mei, sprinkled it in front of his eyes, and said in a deep voice: "Under the supervision of your officials, a scientific examination, there are more than 100 almost identical answer sheets at the same time, what do you say?" ”

He Mei, the secretary of the ministry, knelt on the ground and picked up a few sheets, took a closer look, and sure enough, he found that although the handwriting of these candidates' answer sheets was different, the content was surprisingly similar, and some were even exactly the same.

『……』

The minister, who was over half a hundred years old, glanced sideways slightly, glanced at Luo Wenzhong and several other officials behind him, and said in a low voice: "The minister is guilty of negligence, I hope Your Majesty will punish him." ”

As soon as the words fell, the left waiter Xi Jiang and the right waiter Kan Mi also bowed and confessed.

"Although this test is not in the hands of the three of you, but the three of you did have negligence, I will punish you for half a year, do you have complaints?"

"Your Majesty is kind." The official Shangshu and the left and right attendants hurriedly thanked him, after all, the punishment of half a moon and half a moon was already a very light punishment.

"But ...... you wait" The Son of Heaven turned his head to look at the seventeen examiners, including Luo Wenzhong, and rebuked angrily: "As an examiner, I actually caused such a horrific fraud to appear in the science field, causing everyone in the world to look at the joke of my Da Wei Science Examination...... What do you have to say?! ”

"Your Majesty spares your life." The seventeen examiners kowtowed and begged for mercy.

"Humph!" The Son of Heaven snorted coldly, and coldly glanced at the group of courtiers kneeling on the ground: "I don't believe that you don't know anything about this, maybe some of them know the law...... Tomorrow morning, I will hand over this matter to Dali Temple, and Dali Temple will investigate thoroughly. In addition, He Qing. ”

"The minister is here."

"I thought that your ministry was in chaos, and I ordered you to clear the ministry. As for the re-examination of the subject examination, it will be handed over to the Ministry of Rites, what do you think? ”

『……』

Hearing this, the official Shangshu He Mei chuckled in his heart, raised his head and quietly glanced at the Son of Heaven, seeing that the Son of Heaven was staring at him intently, he seemed to understand something, bowed his head and said, "Minister...... Yes, sir. ”

"The matter of the scientific examination was handed over to the Ministry of Rites?"

Zhao Hongrun was also stunned when he heard this, he was secretly surprised, and he couldn't figure out whether this subject test would be temporarily handed over to the Ministry of Rites, or whether it would be managed by the Ministry of Officials from now on.

That night, the Son of Heaven issued several orders one after another.

First, the imperial history supervisor was set up, which was responsible for surveying hundreds of officials, inspecting counties and counties, correcting prisons, and purging the court.

Second, the Ministry of Officials' Examination and Merit Division is no longer responsible for the political evaluation and promotion of officials in the capital and local officials above the five-rank official, and is instead in charge of the Imperial History Supervisor.

Third, the Department of Literature and Anthology of the Ministry of Officials was no longer responsible for the recommendation and appointment of officials of the Beijing Division and local officials of the five grades and above, but was instead appointed by the Zhongshu Province and the Imperial History Supervisor.

Fourth, the matter of the examination was transferred from the Ministry of Officials to the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Rites was fully responsible.

As for Luo Wenzhong and the other 16 examiners, they were immediately handed over to Dali Temple by the guards and placed in prison pending trial.

Listening to this imperial decree that almost completely split the officials from the mouth of the Son of Heaven, the more Zhao Hongrun listened, the more he felt that something was wrong.

Because he didn't feel like a decision made by the Son of Heaven in a hurry, but as if it had been carefully considered.

What made Zhao Hongrun even more puzzled was that the Son of Heaven did not even investigate whether Luo Wenzhong and the sixteen examiners were corrupt and fraudulent, as if he was purely using this matter to weaken the officials entirely.

"Do you mean ......?"

Unconsciously, Zhao Hongrun's complexion became a little unpleasant.

And at this moment, the Son of Heaven, who simply dealt with the fraud in this scientific examination, slowly walked to his side, bowed his head slightly and whispered in his ear.

"Well done! However, I won this battle...... Remember, you're ...... at the moment One win, two losses! ”

With that, he gently patted Zhao Hongrun's shoulder and walked out of the vertical arch hall with a smile.

"Hahahaha-"

From the side, the great eunuch Tong Xian glanced at Zhao Hongrun, the eighth prince who was stunned, and then at the smiling Son of Heaven, and his ears seemed to sound the whispered muttering of the Son of Heaven in the vertical arch hall that day.

"Officials...... It's too big......

Looking at Zhao Hongrun with some regret, Tong Xian lowered his head and followed the laughing Son of Heaven.

And looking back at the departing backs of the master and servant, Zhao Hongrun was stunned.

"Your Highness, Your Highness......"

Sensing that there was something wrong with His Highness's expression, all the sect guards gathered around, only to find that their Highness was clenching his fists tightly, and his immature face was flushed.

Yes, Zhao Hongrun's goal has been achieved, so there is a chance that Luo Wenzhong will be stripped of his official uniform this time, but, but......

"Ahh——!h

A terrible and frantic shout resounded throughout the entire Vertical Arch Hall.

Hearing this frantic shout from afar, the smug color on the face of the Son of Heaven became a little stronger.

"Huh! This shout is really relieving to me like never before, hehehe......"