The sky was hazy, the strong wind in the early morning of April blew away the gray-white fog, Chang'an gradually woke up in the new day, the square of the Vermilion Bird Gate was full of reserved taxis, they put down the proud figure of the scholars, lost in the deep night in the extreme sleepiness, but Li Linfu's brilliant political skills undoubtedly made him the biggest winner of the imperial examination, at night, he urgently dispatched nearly 10,000 military quilts and a large number of dry food to distribute the measure of countless disadvantaged soldiers are grateful, As a result, Li Linfu's prestige in Shilin has risen to an unprecedented height.

The sun had just risen above the horizon, and Li Longji, who had become sleepy, unexpectedly came to the imperial study early, and yesterday the tide made him unexpectedly hear a rumor that there was a great suspicion of fraud in this year's imperial examination, whether this news was true or not, it could not make Li Longji continue to sleep in the warm and soft hibiscus tent.

The imperial study did not seem to adapt to the sudden arrival of the old master, the cold walls, the messy desk, and the room with thick curtains still retained the breath of yesterday, several eunuchs who were cleaning up the folds were stunned by Li Longji's sudden intrusion, but after a while, they came to their senses, and knelt on the ground together and begged, "The emperor spares his life!" The emperor spares his life! ”

The chaotic study and the undulating, mosquito-like crying of pleading suddenly offended Long Yan, Li Longji was furious, and shouted to Gao Lishi behind him with a gloomy face: "Today's slaves on duty will be pulled down and killed by my cane!" ”

The slave on duty refers to the eunuch who is the land. The palace maids on duty and the guards on duty behind them all secretly sweated, watching the wolf-like guards overturn more than a dozen eunuchs and drag them out like dogs, begging for mercy gradually drifted away, the air seemed to freeze, and everyone was so nervous that everyone held their breath.

"! Don't hurry up and clean up the study. ”

Gao Lishi's snort was like a wizard's spell to unravel, and immediately made dozens of stunned palace maids busy, opening windows, ventilating, baking incense, tidying, cleaning, and warming the house. In just a few moments, the study was full of sunshine and fragrance.

Li Longji's face turned a little pale, and he turned his head and asked, "General, have the ministers I want to convene been notified?" ”

Gao Lishi hurriedly bowed down and said: "The old slaves have been notified overnight, and they are gathering in the Zhizheng Hall at that time. ”

Li Longji nodded, glancing at it. Seeing that Gao Lishi was holding a book in his hand, his inquiring eyes looked at him, and Gao Lishi hurriedly handed it over, "This is the impeachment of some new science and technology scholars by Yang Shilang of the Ministry of Officials, and the old slave is about to forward it to Li Xiangguo." ”

"Immoral?"

Perhaps it was the instinct of human nature to hunt for curiosities, Li Longji suddenly became a little interested, and took the fold casually, "Let me take a look first." ”

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Time gradually passed, and in another quarter of an hour it was almost mid-morning hours, and the ministers who had been ordered to discuss matters at Xingqing Palace had already set off from home. Everyone rushed to Xingqing Palace with their hearts in mind.

The last one to arrive was Yang Guozhong, the protagonist of this imperial examination fraud turmoil. He was quite nervous, and he never dreamed that the soldiers would make such a big noise. And the spearhead was directly aimed at him, he was Jing Zhaoyin, and it was his duty to maintain good law and order in Beijing, but he didn't dare to show his face at this time, but threw the matter of dealing with Shichao to Shaoyin Xian Yu Shuming.

Yang Guozhong's legs were weak, one foot deep and one foot shallow walked into Xingqing Palace, and all the important ministers of the imperial court in the Zhizheng Hall had already arrived, and they all gathered together to whisper. The two examiners of the imperial examination, Da Xixun and Miao Jinqing, were not present, which gave Yang Guozhong a glimmer of hope in his heart. Isn't it a matter of fraud in the imperial examination that the emperor only made trouble against the scholars?

Yang Guozhong slipped along the wall into the Zhizheng Hall, but Li Linfu had been waiting for his arrival for a long time, after a sleepless night, he was still in good spirits, his eyes were full of excitement, his eyes were still sharp, and he saw Yang Guozhong hiding in the corner at a glance, he smiled and walked forward and half-jokingly: "Yang Cheng, as Jing Zhaoyin, let the old man stay awake all night to be on duty for you, what is the reason?" ”

Yang Guozhong's legs trembled even more, and he hurriedly bent down and said with a smile: "Xiangguo is joking, Yang Guozhong is soft-spoken, how can he compare with Xiangguo's high morality, besides, I have ordered Yu Shuming to persuade the scholars, but it has no effect." ”

Li Linfu stretched out his hand and touched his huge nose, squinted and smiled: "I heard that Yang Cheng is the fourth taller, the old man is here to congratulate him first, sure enough, the tiger father has no dogs!" ”

Yang Guozhong's face turned pale, as if he had been caught stealing, and said in a trembling voice: "Luck! By the skin of one's teeth! It's just a fluke. ”

"The emperor has arrived!" With a high-pitched scream, the hall immediately fell silent, and for a moment, Li Longji, with a gloomy face, slowly walked in through the side door surrounded by the guards.

"Your Majesty!" More than a dozen Tang Dynasty ministers bowed down together.

Li Longji sat upright and waved his hand gently, "Everyone, please sit down!" ”

The Zhizheng Hall is wide and bright, like a small hall, where the prime ministers usually hold a joint meeting to discuss military affairs and the national economy and people's livelihood, but today's atmosphere is extremely tense, more than a dozen eunuchs were killed with a cane, the emperor's face has a cold expression, and various rumors are flying in the sky, all kinds of signs indicate that there will be a big event in today's small court.

The prefect's hall was so quiet that only everyone's heavy snort was heard, everyone was sitting in a precarious position, not squinting, Li Linfu sat on the right head, directly opposite him, the first person on the left sat the door servant, the left minister Zhang Qiu and Qiong, and down was the Shangshu left and right servants, the various Shangshu and the relevant officials who were edicted, Yang Guozhong sat in the penultimate place on the right, next to Li Linfu's number one warrior Wang: and diagonally opposite him was Yang Shenjin, the servant of the ministry.

Yang Shen was also in a state of uneasiness, last night Li Qing found him overnight, and told him about the seriousness of the problem and Li Linfu's stick, he immediately wrote a memo for impeaching the new science and technology jinshi for collective prostitution according to Li Qingdi's instructions, and Li Qing found a way to hand it to the emperor through Gao Lishi, but Li Qing did not give him a definite answer, Yang Shen nervously peeked at the imperial case, there were a few books there, and I don't know if there was any of his one, he looked at Gao Lishi standing behind the emperor again, he had no expression on his face, Yang Shen couldn't help but beat the drum, after all, the time is too short, can Li Qing do it?

Li Longji coughed lightly to attract everyone's attention, he glanced at everyone's expressions, and said slowly in his majestic and irresistible voice: "I think all Aiqing have heard about what happened in the Vermilion Bird Gate last night, and I will gather you today just to discuss this matter with you. ”

Ji glanced at Li Linfu and said, "I know that Xiangguo is very important to solve my worries, so I still bother Xiangguo to talk about the cause and current progress of this matter." ”

"Obey the order!"

Li Linfu got up and smiled slightly: "First report the good news to Your Majesty, after a night of appeasement by the ministers, the mood of the scholars has stabilized, as long as we give an explanation, they will disperse immediately." ”

When Li Longji heard that things had taken a turn for the better, he couldn't help but feel very relaxed, and immediately asked, "What do they want?" ”

"This is exactly what the minister wants to report to His Majesty first!"

Speaking of this, Li Linfu's eyes glanced at Yang Guozhong and Yang Shenjin intentionally or unintentionally, and said solemnly: "Since I opened the Tang Dynasty, the world's talents can have the opportunity to rank in the court, and my Tang Dynasty can also be strong so far, so it is not an exaggeration to say that the imperial examination is the first system of my Tang Dynasty. It was rumored that someone was playing favoritism and committing fraud, which made the scholars feel cold, so they asked the court to clarify the fraud rumors and also make a clean slate. ”

At this time, Zhang Qiu and Qiong on the opposite side said: "Then according to Li Xiangguo's intentions, how to clarify the fraud rumors?" How can I return my innocence? Presumably, Li Xiangguo has already had a belly case, so he might as well say it directly. ”

Li Linfu understood what Zhang Qiu and Qiong meant, and how he was willing to take this matter to himself, so he smiled faintly and said, "Your Majesty is asking our soldiers what they want." Naturally, I want to convey their voices. ”

He stepped out of his seat and gave Li Longji a deep salute and said: "They demand that the admitted taxis be examined again, and if there is really fraud, I hope that the imperial court will investigate to the end, and no matter which official is involved, they will be severely punished." ”

Li Longji's brows furrowed slightly, the previous request could be agreed, but punishing officials was a matter for the imperial court. It's not the turn of these readers to point fingers.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Li Xiangguo is extremely right, if you don't investigate to the end and punish him severely, wouldn't it chill the hearts of scholars all over the world?"

It was Shangshu's right servant who shot Chen Xilie, and he gave up the position of left minister. After being promoted to the right servant of Shangshu, he has no chance to interfere in politics, and it is rare to come to participate in this small court meeting today, he doesn't know the details of what happened, and he thought that Li Linfu was dealing with Zhang Qiu and Qiong, he suddenly came to the strength, if Zhang Qiu and Qiong fell, his position as the left minister might be restored, so he hesitated when he saw Li Longji, and he thought he wanted to protect Zhang Qiu and Qiong. couldn't hold back any longer, and stood up to support Li Linfu. Weichen strongly suggested that Li Xiangguo should be fully responsible for this matter, and give the world an explanation. Let all the scholars in the world bathe in the grace of His Majesty. ”

Li Linfu saw that he said impassionedly and spittle, he really wanted to step forward and strangle this farting fool to death, and he tried his best to get out of the way, but he wanted to push himself into the pit, once he offended the concubine, this pillow wind was enough for him to drink.

Zhang Qiu and Qiong smiled, and also got up and responded: "Weichen also agrees with Lord Chen's recommendation, and it is indeed most appropriate for Li Xiang to be responsible for this matter." Your Majesty, please, consider it. ”

Chen Xilie was stunned, was he wrong? He blinked his little eyes. looked at Li Linfu blankly, but saw that he was desperately pushing back the matter.

"Your Majesty, the minister is very willing to share the worries for His Majesty, but the minister's official duties are heavy, I am afraid that there is no time to investigate this matter in detail, but it will be a mistake, the minister thinks that Zhang Shangshu is the recognized leader of my Tang Dynasty, and the scholars enjoy high prestige, at this time Zhang Shangshu to preside, the most suitable." Li Linfu shook a shot and aimed at Zhang Yun, the head of the household department.

Li Longji saw that the two prime ministers were attacking and defending, fighting openly and secretly, and he couldn't help sneering again and again, he smiled and stopped everyone's words,

"It's up to me to decide!"

There was a sudden silence in the lobby, and everyone was waiting for the final decision of Li Long's base.

Li Longji turned around and said to Zhang Yun first: "Li Xiangguo is right, Zhang Shangshu has a very high prestige in Shilin, and I personally wrote a question, so I asked Zhang Shangshu to be the chief examiner and conduct the palace examination in the Xuanzheng Palace." ”

Zhang Yun had no choice but to nod his head, Li Longji smiled with satisfaction, and then the slender dragon eyes were raised, and a sharp light shot directly at the king who was sitting at the end<

King:;.

Li Longji smiled slightly: "In my impression, the most qualified Yu Shi Cheng is Wang Aiqing, who is both iron-faced and selfless, and has thunderous means, if Zhang Shangshu's exam is found to be really problematic, this investigation will be handed over to you to be fully responsible." ”

"Obey the order!"

Li Longji played fifty boards each, and then said to Li Linfu: "I have already made arrangements, so I will trouble Xiangguo to go and tell the scholars again, and ask them to believe in the imperial court, disperse as soon as possible, and don't make me embarrassed again." ”

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Let's say that Yang Guozhong heard that he was going to take the exam again, his heart seemed to have fallen into a bottomless cold cave, falling down in the boundless darkness, when he moved out of Xingqing Palace like a walking corpse, his crotch had already become wet, he opened the car door and was about to climb up, but suddenly heard someone seem to be calling himself, and when he turned around, he saw that it was Pei Kuan, the secretary of the military department, standing behind him, with a smile on his face.

"Master Pei.

"Huh! It's okay, I saw that Yang Cheng was a little depressed when he left the palace, so I wanted to come over and take a look. ”

He smiled slyly, with a hint of imperceptible scheming in his eyes, patted Yang Guozhong's shoulder, and said meaningfully: "Since you have come to Xingqing Palace, why don't you go and see the concubine?" ”

"I'm a man, how can I enter the inner palace casually without an edict!" As soon as Yang Guozhong finished speaking, he suddenly realized, pointed at Pei Kuan and stammered: "What Pei Shangshu means.

"The old man doesn't mean anything." Jiadi Yang Guozhong was left alone on the side of the road.

"It's urgent, but I can't see Yuhuan, what can I do?" Yang Guozhong was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, walking around the carriage with his hands behind his back, "Why don't you let Pei Rou enter the palace?" ”

"No! Inappropriate! She has always had a bad relationship with Yuhuan's mother, and Yuhuan may not be willing to buy her noodles. Yang Guozhong immediately denied this idea.

Yang Guozhong suddenly stopped, with an ambiguous smile on his face, he smiled and said to himself: "Why don't you go to her for help in this matter?" ”