Chapter 49

“…… So, give me an explanation, folks. ”

In the evening of the same day, that is, the evening of the third day of the examination, Zhao Hongrun and his guards blocked the small officials who were in charge of selling white wax in the evening.

There are not many people, only four people.

In front of this dead man, Zhao Hongrun casually took out a white wax from the basket in their left and right hands, and broke it all, and sure enough, one of the white waxes had a hidden mystery inside.

It can be seen that these four officials are all in the know, and when they saw this scene, their faces suddenly turned pale.

At this time, the four Zongwei hurriedly stepped forward and covered their mouths, after all, Zhao Hongrun and the others just dragged these four people to a corner with various excuses, and once these four people shouted, it would inevitably arouse the suspicion of others, thus affecting Zhao Hongrun's entire plan.

"Silenced. …… You should know that the officials and officials in the department are responsible for fraud, and they can be exiled to the army at the worst and tortured and killed, so don't think that the officials who instructed you can save you......"

The four of them looked at each other, and the fear on their faces became even stronger, thinking that they also knew the consequences.

"Now I'm showing you a way out." Zhao Hongrun instructed a Zongwei to take out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone that had been prepared long ago, and whispered to the four officials: "As long as you are willing to confess your guilt and do one more thing for me, I will not only ensure that you are fine, but also give each of you one hundred taels of silver." …… Why bother to think about your family, to take the blame for those above you and to grieve your loved ones at home? ”

After looking at each other a few times, they gritted their teeth and nodded, and wrote their confessions on the paper, and finally dipped their thumbs and index fingers in ink to draw on the confession, wrote their names, and pressed their fingerprints.

"Very well, it seems that all four of them are smart people."

Zhao Hongrun motioned to the guards with his eyes to dry the confession of confession, and then said to the four officials in a deep voice: "You should know my identity, since I said that I can protect you, I can protect you." …… And when you have done something for me, I will return it to you, and I will give you a hundred denarii. But if someone betrays me, hehe, this confession of guilt is enough to ruin your family. ”

"The little ones don't dare." The four officials glanced at each other, and one of them lowered his head and said in a panic: "Even if we have ten dares, we don't dare to deceive Your Eighth Highness...... I don't know what His Royal Highness wants us to do? ”

As soon as the words fell, Zong Wei Gao Kuo and Chong Zhao took out a few baskets, and the baskets were all white wax that they had made in the Ministry of Industry during the day, and there were hidden articles by Zhao Hongrun for the third day of the scientific examination, exactly the same articles, more than 100 copies.

"Use these to replace the white wax you used to cheat, and distribute them to those candidates in the examination room who need them to cheat, as they did in the previous two days. …… Remember, don't show me your feet, or you'll know. ”

With Zhao Hongrun's words, several Zong Wei who were holding confessions next to him deliberately shook the confessions of the four small officials.

"The little ones understand, the little ones understand." The four officials nodded their heads one after another.

"So what are you waiting for? Go ahead. ”

"Yes, yes."

The four officials hurriedly changed the white wax, carrying a basket of white wax made by Zhao Hongrun, as well as a basket of ordinary white wax, pretending that nothing had happened, and came to the number room again, and distributed the white wax to those candidates who "needed" them.

There was a confession that was enough to ruin their family in the hands of Zhao Hongrun, and they didn't dare to have any other ideas. As they were moved by what Zhao Hongrun said, the fraud in the field was just the instigation of the senior officials above them, they didn't dare to do it originally, but now that the incident has happened, they don't need to take the blame for the people above.

Why should the people above take money and gain favors, and their families are ruined because of this?

For more than an hour, the four officials divided those special white waxes almost equally, and there were only a few left, Zhao Hongrun estimated it, and found that the candidates who cheated in the field this time were definitely not less than 100 people.

After all, the third day of the examination is relatively simple, not every fraudulent candidate needs the answer of this day, the most difficult is still the four documents on the first day, but unfortunately Zhao Hongrun has not grasped the key to this matter at that time.

"Well done, if this goes well, I will recommend you to another government, and then you will no longer have to worry about reprisals from above. …… Tomorrow this time, I will make good on my promise. ”

Zhao Hongrun's promise to the four little officials made them happy in their hearts.

"Yes, yes." The four servants retired happily.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun walked straight to the room of the candidate named Wen Qi.

At this time, Wen Qi was already lying on the stone couch, as if he was awake and asleep.

Zhao Hongrun walked over and lightly knocked on the table a few times.

"......" Wen Qi opened his eyes and saw Zhao Hongrun, only to find that Zhao Hongrun nodded at him.

He was stunned for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face, and he shook his head with a smile.

The gentleman's friendship was as light as water, neither of them took it to heart, and by the time they met again, it was years later.

Nothing to do all night.

Zhao Hongrun went to the room in the side hall of the Confucius Temple to rest, and the guards beside him, except for the two who were still staring at Na Luo Rong and the two of them were guarding their Royal Highness, the remaining six people were wandering around in room and room.

It's not to catch those fraudulent candidates, it's just to see the movements of the entire examination room, after all, they can't guarantee whether Zhao Hongrun's plan can be successfully realized at this time.

Zhao Hongrun slept until the next day, and at this time, all the candidates in the examination room, their answer sheets for the last scientific examination had been put away, and they were leaving the examination room in groups.

Zhao Hongrun went straight to the main hall of the Confucius Temple, because Luo Wenzhong, the chief examiner of this examination, and the other sixteen fellow examiners, as well as some responsible directors and officials, will review the answer sheets of this examination here.

It can be seen that the officials of these officials are no longer as afraid of Zhao Hongrun, the eighth prince, as before, so that they clearly saw Zhao Hongrun leading ten sect guards into the main hall, but few people greeted him, and they pretended to be attentive to the examination papers.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun didn't care, and looked at the furnishings in the main hall by himself.

According to the regulations, the candidates' answer sheets are called "ink papers", and the examiners cannot directly mark them on the ink papers, which is to prevent fraud and prevent the examiners from identifying the handwriting of relatives and students, or some special marks from the candidates' ink papers, so as to take care of them privately.

Therefore, after the ink scroll is collected, the principals, officials, and officials who are in charge of transcribing it will copy an identical "Zhu Scroll" with their main pen, fill in the corresponding number of the ink scroll on the Zhu Scroll, and then submit the Zhu Scroll to a total of 17 examiners for approval.

There were more than 2,600 examinees and three scientific examinations, which meant that the number of Zhu scrolls that needed to be copied reached almost 8,000.

No, those officials copied all day, and they didn't finish the answer sheets of the first day of the candidates.

The sun was setting day by day, whether it was copying the public history and the principals for a whole day, or reviewing the examiners for a whole day, they finally put down their pens and prepared to go to the canteen of the Confucius Temple to eat.

You can see that these people are really tired.

Thinking about it, even Zhao Hongrun, who hadn't done anything all day, felt tired, let alone them.

"Your Royal Highness wants to eat? It's better to go with Xia Guan and the others. ”

During this period, I don't know what Luo Wenzhong thought, so he deliberately walked in front of Zhao Hongrun to provoke him: "Actually, Xia Guan thinks, anyway, His Royal Highness has nothing to do here, so it's better to go back to the palace, what do you say?" ”

"You guy......" Zong Weiwei looked indignant.

Zhao Hongrun raised his hand to stop the disgruntled guards, looked up and down at Luo Wenzhong a few times, and said with a smile: "What Lord Luo said is true, but there is no way, His Royal Highness is also a prisoner, and he can only return to the palace after all the candidates' papers are finished." ”

"Humph!" Luo Wenzhong laughed contemptuously, and left with those officials.

"What kind of person, this guy ......"

Looking at Luo Wenzhong's disdainful expression, all the sect guards were angry in their hearts, and they were all secretly sneering: See how many days you can laugh!

"Let's go eat too."

"Yes."

Zhao Hongrun didn't take Luo Wenzhong's provocation to heart at all, and led the guards to eat in the canteen in the temple.

Because there are a certain number of public historians and officials left behind in the main hall at all times, he is not afraid that someone will do anything at this time.

After finishing the meal, everyone returned to the main hall of the Confucius Temple, and those who were responsible for the transcription continued to transcribe, and those who were responsible for the review continued to review, while Zhao Hongrun continued to do nothing, silently waiting for the exam papers on the third day.

When he couldn't bear to stay up all night, he simply moved two chairs and fell asleep in the corner of the main hall.

"This son...... What are you thinking?'

Glancing at Zhao Hongrun, who was sleeping in the corner, Luo Wenzhong was a little puzzled.

In his opinion, this Eighth Prince didn't catch any fraud at all this time, but why didn't this kid seem to care?

He couldn't figure it out.

The work of marking the examination papers continued day and night, and on the evening of the fourth day after the end of the examination, the public history and officials who were responsible for copying finally copied the answer sheets of the third examination of the scientific examination.

Seeing this, the guards who had not slept for several days quietly woke up Zhao Hongrun, who was sleeping in the corner of the main hall.

"Huh?"

A public historian in charge of transcribing had a puzzled look on his face and muttered to himself, "This ...... How does it feel ......"

"What's wrong?" Another Gongshi next to him turned his head and watched suspiciously as his colleague compared the two students' ink scrolls.

Suddenly, his face showed a little stunned, pointed to the two ink scrolls in his colleagues' hands, and then pointed to the one in his hand, and said in astonishment: "This ...... What's going on? ”

They were shocked to find that the three candidates' ink scrolls in their hands were strangely very similar, and they were exactly the same.

"What's wrong? What happened? ”

Zhao Hongrun came behind them at some point and looked at them with a smile.

"Huh? These three candidates' essays...... Oops, amazing similarity! ”