"Lord Governor, Lord Examiner and Lord Deputy Chief Examiner are here." When Li Yu was struggling with the boycott of the exam, an errand officer hurriedly came to report.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's go and greet the two examiners!" Hearing this, Li Yu was stunned for a moment, and then a helpless wry smile flashed at the corner of his mouth, and he got up and said.

Everyone present immediately followed Li Yu to greet the main examiner and deputy chief examiner of the Huguang Township Examination.

"The two adults are here, and we are shining!" As soon as he came out of the conference hall, two middle-aged people wearing seven-grade civil official robes walked over, Li Yu said with a smile.

"The Governor has spoken seriously, and he has disturbed the Governor's deliberations with the adults, and I hope to forgive my sins."

The seven-rank civil official who walked in front smiled and returned the salute with a smile, he was the chief examiner of the Huguang Township Examination, Zheng Lin, the Hanlin editor of the Seventh Grade, and the middle-aged man who followed behind was the deputy chief examiner of the Huguang Township Examination, Wu Yuanhao, who reviewed Wu Yuanhao from the Hanlin of the Seventh Grade, and the two arrived in Wuchang City three days ago.

It is worth mentioning that Zheng Lin and Huguang Patrol Imperial Shi Du Yi'an were Jinshi of the same subject, and they both passed the Shu Jishi examination that year.

It's just that Du Yi'an's bad luck was slightly inferior in the final assessment of Ji Jishi, and he failed to enter the Hanlin Academy like Zheng Lin, which became a big regret in his life.

In the pyramid of the Ming officialdom, the officials from the Hanlin Academy can be said to be the elite of the imperial examination, and are regarded as the top existence of the Daming scholar and doctor class.

There is a sentence that vividly illustrates the pivotal position of Hanlin in officialdom, that is, "there is no Hanlin and no cabinet", and only officials from Hanlin can serve as cabinet members.

In addition, there is a saying in the officialdom, "No Jinshi does not seal the territory", which means that only officials from the two ranks of Jinshi can serve as court officials such as the six ministry officials and local governors.

It is worth mentioning that since Emperor Xuande, the Ming officialdom has given the outside world the impression of emphasizing the inside and ignoring the outside, and the reason why this is so is because the Yanguan has risen since the Xuande Dynasty and has become an important political force in the Ming officialdom.

The so-called speech officials usually refer to the Hanlin Academy, the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Inspection Academy, and the Six Branches, since Emperor Xuande, these people are all selected from the two lists of scholars, and most of the court officials such as the six officials and local governors in the Ming Dynasty are from the Yan officials.

In addition, there is another important feature of the officials, that is, the official rank is relatively low, for example, the supervision of the imperial history of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the six departments are only seven grades, but they are close ministers of the emperor's side, just like the emperor's eyes and ears, with the power of inspectors and impeachment of civil and military officials, and are often sent by the emperor to local errands, so that the civil and military officials of the local yamen are all afraid of three points.

Don't look at the small rank of the officials, but the promotion process is also different from that of ordinary officials, they will not be promoted from level to level but by leapfrogging.

This is also the reason why Li Yu, as the governor of Huguang and a dignified second-rank master, has to lead the crowd to greet Zheng Lin, the chief examiner of the seventh grade.

"I wonder why the two examiners came here today?" After welcoming Zheng Lin and Wu Yuanhao into the conference hall and taking their seats, Li Yu asked quietly while the people were serving fragrant tea.

In fact, how could Li Yu not guess the intention of the two, the news that Huguang's candidates surrounded Wu Changwei had already spread throughout the city, and it must have reached the ears of Zheng Lin and Wu Yuanhao, and as the chief examiner and deputy examiner of Huguang, the two naturally couldn't sit still.

"Lord Governor, I heard that Huguang's students surrounded Wuchangwei, I don't know what your lord is going to do." Zheng Lin groaned for a moment when he heard this, and asked in a deep voice.

"Lord Zheng, let's be honest, we are sad about this matter." Li Yu couldn't help but smile bitterly when he heard this, and waved his hand to the errand officers standing on both sides of the hall holding the joint letters of the seventeen state capital students, and those officers put the joint books on the table next to Zheng Lin and Wu Yuanhao.

"What is this?" Zheng Lin glanced at the joint book on the table, picked up a copy and looked at Li Yu with some suspicion.

"The joint letter of the candidates from the 15 prefectures and two prefectures of Huguang hopes that the government will complete the case of the head of the Xiangyang Prefecture children's examination before the township examination, otherwise it will ...... Otherwise, they will have to boycott the exam. ”

Li Yu explained to Zheng Lin helplessly, anyway, this matter can't be hidden from Zheng Lin and Wu Yuanhao, so it is better to take this opportunity to say it, so that the two of them can help with ideas.

If it is only from the matter of the township test, Zheng Lin, Wu Yuanhao and Li Yu and other local officials in Huguang are on the same boat, if something happens to the township test, Zheng Lin and Wu Yuanhao will not be able to explain to Emperor Wanli.

"Strike?" Zheng Lin and Wu Yuanhao were taken aback when they heard this, and after glancing at each other in astonishment, they hurriedly flipped through those joint books, which really contained the names and origins of the candidates from the fifteen prefectures and two prefectures of Huguang.

"This ......" Wu Yuanhao couldn't help but turn his head to look at Zheng Lin after reading the joint book at hand, such a thing had never happened since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and for a while he was confused and didn't know what to do, so he could only let Zheng Lin take the idea.

"Li Hongyu!" Zheng Lin put down the joint book in his hand, pondered for a while, and then looked at Li Yu with a frown and asked, "Is it the student of Baihe Town who said 'the rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband'?" ”

"It's this person, Lord Zheng has heard of this person?" Li Yu was slightly stunned when he heard this, and replied with some surprise, he didn't expect that Zheng Lin, who was far away in the capital, also knew about Li Hongyu, could it be that Zheng Lin found out after arriving in Wuchang?

"When I was in the capital before this official came, I heard that there was a student in Baihe Town, Xiangyang Prefecture, Huguang, who destroyed his family and relieved his family, and not only donated almost all his property to the officials and soldiers of Liaodong at a young age, but also said that 'the rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband', and his loyalty and patriotism shook the capital."

Zheng Lin bowed slightly, and then said solemnly to Li Yu, "This official felt strange after hearing the name of the head of the Xiangyang Mansion Tong Trial case involved in the Linjianglou case, and thought it was the same person, but he didn't think it was the same person. ”

"I heard that the emperor admired it a lot, but I didn't expect to commit such a case, it's a pity." As he spoke, Zheng Lin's face showed a look of regret, and he said seemingly inadvertently.

"The emperor also knows about the head of the Li case?" Li Yu couldn't help but be taken aback, and looked at Zheng Lin in surprise, but he didn't expect Li Hongyu to attract the attention of Emperor Wanli.

"Your Excellency the Governor, Huguang donated more than 100,000 taels of silver to the officials and troops of Liaodong, and the government and the opposition in the capital all praised each other.

Zheng Lin nodded, and said to Li Yu with a serious expression, "If the official guesses correctly, the emperor's reward for Huguang will arrive soon." ”

"Commendation?"

Li Yu's face couldn't help but be happy when he heard this, this is a good thing worth celebrating, and it will be an out-and-out political achievement in the future, after all, not every official can be fortunate enough to be rewarded by the emperor, and now it seems that Li Hongyu is really a lucky star, and he was inadvertently rewarded by Emperor Wanli.

"The emperor's grace is vast, we just did our duty, if the emperor sends down grace, we are really deserved." Then, Li Yu leaned upwards and said in a serious voice.

Lu Chongde and other local officials in Huguang couldn't help but glance at each other, and everyone could see that Li Yu's words were full of spirit, and it could be said that a pie fell from the sky and smashed on his head.

"Your Excellency, what are you going to do with these joint letters?" Zheng Lin glanced at Li Yu, who had a happy look in his eyebrows, and asked quietly.

"This official feels that this matter is very important, and it should not be delayed for a long time, otherwise it will inevitably affect this year's township test, and you and I will be sinners of the Ming Dynasty."

Li Yu groaned for a moment when he heard this, glanced around at the scene and said solemnly, "Therefore, this official decided to appease those students who jointly signed the book, so that they could prepare for the exam with peace of mind, and then let the Yamen of Yousi make every effort to investigate the case of Linjianglou, and be sure to give a result before the township examination." ”

"That's great!" Zheng Lin bowed slightly, the immediate priority was to appease the students who were surrounding Wuchangwei, so that they could go back to prepare for the exam, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable once it affected the township exam.

"Lord Governor, what about the fame of the head of the Li case?" Seeing that Li Yu had made up his mind, Lu Chongde couldn't help but ask, in order for the case to be tried smoothly in the future, he had to ask clearly.

"At present, the evidence in the Linjianglou case is not clear, so this official believes that it is not appropriate to easily remove the fame of the head of the Li case.

Li Yu's brows furrowed slightly, this is indeed a trouble, but now he can't take care of it much, and said to everyone present with a serious expression.

Obviously, Li Yu has concerns because of Zheng Lin's previous words, if things are as Zheng Lin said, Emperor Wanli rewarded Huguang for donations, then Li Hongyu will definitely be mentioned in the holy decree, and at that time, Li Hongyu will be removed from his fame, so wouldn't he be asking for trouble?

Hearing this, a subtle smile flashed at the corner of Zheng Lin's mouth, and he picked up the fragrant tea on the side and tasted it slowly, he didn't care about any grievances and entanglements between the Chu Wangfu and the Wuwei Marquis Mansion, all he had to do was to ensure the smooth progress of the township test.

Soon, the governor yamen issued a notice announcing two things, one was that the scholar revoked Li Hongyi's fame so that the Wuchang Mansion could find out about the Yuege case.

Another matter is that Governor Li Yu ordered Wuchang Mansion and Wuchangwei to conclude the Linjianglou case before the township trial and give an explanation to the outside world.

With the posting of this notice of the governor's yamen, the students of the seventeen state capitals gathered in front of the Wuchangwei gate also dispersed, and many people secretly breathed a sigh of relief, after all, everyone has worked hard for many years to wait for the day of the nomination of the laurel list, in case of a real boycott of the exam, they will want to cry without tears.

Zhao Xin afterwards invited Yang Renxiao, Fang Yun and Shen Bocheng and other student leaders, thanking them for standing up in times of crisis, if it weren't for the help of these students, then Li Hongyu's reputation would probably be changed.

In fact, Zhao Xin didn't know that things were far more complicated than she imagined, not only Chu Wangfu and Yan Yan were helping Li Hongyu, but even Zheng Lin, the chief examiner of the township test, secretly helped Li Hongyu in order to ensure the smooth progress of the township test, she was indeed a little worried.