The next morning, a demonstration procession of 3,000 scholars appeared outside the end gate of the imperial city, holding various slogans.

'Punish the fraud in the imperial examination! ', 'Ten years of cold window, pay me back!' ’

The momentum was so great that they submitted a joint petition to the defenders of Duanmen, sat down together, and staged a sit-in to demonstrate, and their demonstration alarmed the Emperor of the Daning Empire.

When Emperor Xuande heard of the fraud scandal, he couldn't help but be furious, and he ordered Chen Zhi, the middle of the imperial history, to investigate the case before noon, and postponed the palace examination scheduled for the morning to the afternoon.

After receiving the assurance of the imperial court's investigation of the case, the demonstrators gradually dispersed, and Chen Zhi ordered five representatives of the scholars to be invited to the Yushitai.

This is Chen Zhi's first trial of the case of fraud in the imperial examination, and the case must be concluded before noon, and he is under great pressure, but Chen Zhi's methods are very ruthless, according to the usual practice, cases involving officials must first be interviewed with relevant officials, and then find a breakthrough to try the case, so as to give officials a psychological preparation and give them a chance to turn themselves in.

And Chen Zhi did not take the step of interviewing, and directly tried the case, and no longer gave the officials involved in the case a chance to turn himself in, which is worthy of Chen Blackface.

The five scholars were brought to the Imperial Historical Observatory, and they knelt down and presented the complaint to Chen Zhi, who was the first scholar surnamed Zhou, and said: "It's not that we are jealous of others who have passed the examination, but it is really that the Lin brothers have too many strange scholars in the examination, and we have to beg the government to investigate." ”

"You go on!"

Chen Zhi read the complaint and listened to the accusations of the scholars.

"Lord Qiyu, we gathered together last night to discuss, there are several people who are classmates of the Lin brothers for more than ten years, and they know their situation very well, the Lin brothers are not excellent when they study in Yongjing Taixue, and they have always been mediocre in the exam, and they did not even enter the top 30 in the county examination, but in the subsequent state examination, one was admitted to the seventh place, and the other was admitted to the eighth place, at that time, many people questioned that they were suspected of cheating, and the voice of the call for investigation continued, because the Lin family was a wealthy family in Yongjing, this matter was over, and this time the Jinshi Imperial Examination, The Lin brothers have at least eight times to contact the broker who sells the exam questions, the last time was three days before the exam, they talked with a broker in the Sanyuan Inn for more than a while, and then the broker came out, with a happy face, someone saw it with their own eyes, and this broker is different, some people who have contacted him said that the broker is to give the question first, and then pay after the exam, and the deposit is not charged, everyone suspects that the broker really knows the question, this is the biggest doubt, please be aware of it. ”

Chen Zhi also read the appeal, and it was basically the same as what he said, and he asked again: "Then this broker, who knows him?" ”

Everyone shook their heads, "The broker hasn't been seen since that time, and everyone suspects that they have made a deal." ”

Chen Zhi found that this case was not difficult, and it was very simple, so he said to the five people: "You wait here first, and I will give you an explanation before noon." ”

He called a Yulin military captain and said to him, "You go to the Ministry of Rites quickly and bring me the Lin brothers." ”

Because after the palace examination, the sixty jinshi in the examination had to wear red flowers together and cross the horse to praise the officials, so the sixty scholars were resting and waiting in the ceremonial department.

Captain Yulin took the soldiers to the Ministry of Rites, and he used Chen Zhi's gold medal to bring the Lin brothers quickly.

The Lin brothers did not know about the demonstration, and they were still immersed in the joy of the afternoon parade, and when they entered the interrogation room of the Imperial Desk, the two of them immediately poured a basin of ice water.

I saw that the gloomy room was full of all kinds of torture instruments, a few pots of charcoal were burned red, the air was filled with the pungent smell of blood, and more than thirty shirtless men clasped their hands in front of their chests and stared at them coldly.

Directly in front of the room sat a black-faced official, his face grim and his gaze so sharp that it seemed to pierce their hearts.

At this time, they all realized at the same time that the cheating might have been exposed.

'Smack! Chen Zhi slapped the shocked wood and said coldly: "Three thousand scholars marched to accuse you of fraud in the imperial examination, I am Chen Zhi in the imperial history, and I am the emperor who ordered this case to be strictly tried, can you be guilty?" ”

"Get on your knees!"

The big men shouted angrily, his younger brother Lin Qianyi was more timid, his legs were weak, he immediately knelt down, lying on the ground and trembling, but Lin Qianjun did not kneel, and forced himself to calm down: "We have a meritorious reputation, we can not kneel when we see officials, and we are not allowed to be punished in court, you say that we cheat, what evidence is there?" ”

Chen Zhi glanced at their brothers, and seeing that their behavior was very different, he immediately had an idea, and ordered left and right: "Separate the two of them and interrogate them separately!" ”

Immediately two big men came up and dragged Lin Qianjun down, Lin Qianjun was so anxious that he shouted: "Second brother, you can't confess indiscriminately, our Lin family is innocent, there is no cheating, grandfather will come to ....."

The others were dragged out, and the sound was no longer audible, Chen Zhi gave the big man a look, and immediately several big men came up and stripped Lin Qianyi of all his clothes, and hung him upside down with iron chains like a chicken in the wind, Lin Qianyi was so frightened that he yelled like a pig.

Chen Zhi stepped forward and said to him coldly: "I might as well tell you the truth, your case has already alarmed the emperor, if you don't confess honestly, we find a broker, and when he confesses, I can tell you clearly that your brother will be executed by Ling Chi, and your Lin family will also be raided, men will be exiled, and women will not be enslaved in the church." ”

Lin Qianyi was very timid, he was so frightened that he couldn't possess his body, and stammered and asked, "What if.... How did I recruit? ”

Chen Zhi smiled and said: "If you recruit yourself, even if you surrender, I can guarantee that your brother will not die, if your family is willing to take a sum of money to atone for your crimes, then you can only be disqualified and banned from the exam for life, this is your chance!" ”

Lin Qianyi hesitated, he knew a little, there was no precedent for the scholars to be killed in the imperial examination, how could they be executed by Ling Chi.

Chen Zhi suddenly said viciously: "Because the emperor is furious, he will kill you to warn future generations, come here!" Castrate him for me first. ”

The two big men carried a bucket of water and a sharp knife, slowly stepped forward with a cruel smile, touched his yang root with his hand, and looked for the next knife, Lin Qianyi was so frightened that his urine was scared out, and he cried: "I move!" I'm recruiting! ”

Chen Zhi waved his hand, Lin Qianyi was put down, and Chen Zhi snorted coldly, "Say it!" ”

Lin Qianyi was extremely scared, so he explained in detail how he bought the test papers.

When Chen Zhi heard that this case actually involved the son of Guan Lone, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, he was shocked in his heart, and then he was ecstatic in his heart, now he can bring down Guan Lone, wouldn't he have made a great contribution to the prince?

The stakes were so high that he pondered for a moment and ordered, "Protect this person and keep the news tight!" ”

He took Lin Qianyi's confession and hurried to the East Palace, in fact, he had already sorted out the context, the Lin brothers got yes to post the scripture test questions, the post scripture test questions were made by Huang Hongyuan in the Ministry of Rites, and Guan Lian was the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and he was Huang Hongyuan's top boss, and he could easily get the test questions from Huang Hongyuan.

The only regret now is that the Lin brothers don't know the whereabouts of the brokers, so they need definite evidence to bring down Guan Lian, now Guan Lin is in the court room, Guan Lian's son is in the Ministry of Rites, take advantage of the opportunity that they are not at home, raid their home, there will definitely be gains.

The power of Zhongcheng in the imperial history is quite large, and he can directly search the mansions of officials below the third rank, and the emperor has sent a Yulin army to assist him in investigating the case, and now as long as the prince nods, Chen Zhi will immediately search Guan Lian's mansion.

If there is really no evidence to be found, Chen Zhi can only take the method of re-examining to infer whether Guan Lian's son is cheating, but this is only an inference after all, not convincing, at most Guan Lian's son will be disqualified, and it will not affect Guan Lian.

In any case, he must find evidence.

．．．．．．．．．． Outside the gate of Sufu, hundreds of eunuchs and palace maids surrounded the queen mother's luan, and a team of Yulin troops guarded both sides of the team, no one was allowed to approach, and the guard was tight.

The queen rarely goes to the minister's mansion, which is also a strict rule in the palace, but occasionally with the emperor to the minister's mansion, she visits alone, most of the time is to go back to her parents' house to save relatives, but even if it is a provincial family, generally at least a month in advance will notify the mother's family, so that the mother's family can prepare.

It is almost impossible for her to visit Su Mansion, so Queen Shen is not visiting Su Mansion today, and she will not enter the gate of Su Mansion.

The reason for her leaving the palace today is to go to the private villa outside the south city to inspect, her private villa is the Qi Ruifu villa dedicated to her by the Qi family, half a month ago, the Qi family dedicated this famous villa to her, Empress Shen readily accepted, and the emperor also named the villa Yufeng Villa with great interest.

Today, the villa has been renovated according to her wishes, she used this excuse to leave the palace, and with the permission of the emperor, she went to inspect the villa, as for the Su Mansion, she was just passing by.

Yesterday, the eunuch came to deliver the decree, but he didn't make it clear, so that the Su Mansion was busy for a whole night, the house was full of lights, cleaned clean, and went to the homes of other ministers to borrow a red carpet, which was spread from the gate to the guest hall.

But when I learned that the queen mother was just passing by the Su Mansion and did not enter the house, the Su Mansion was disappointed up and down, but Su Xun breathed a long sigh of relief, the preparation for a night was too hasty, if the queen mother really entered the mansion, then the Su Mansion would definitely be embarrassed and ugly, and it was of course best not to enter the mansion.

Outside the gate of the mansion, Su Xun and his son Su Hanchang were all dressed in official uniforms, and their wives were also dressed in imperial uniforms, kneeling together in front of Luan to meet the queen mother who passed through Su Mansion.

"Chen Suxun led the whole family to see Niangniang Chitose, I wish Niangniang Chitose, Chitose, Chitose!"

"Lord Su is exempt from courtesy!"

"Xie Niangniang!"

The real purpose of Empress Shen's departure from the palace is, of course, for the sake of Su Mansion, this is something that her brother Shen Guo's uncle asked her to do, and she came out to put pressure on Su Mansion.

Empress Shen didn't show up, she sat in the Luan car, through a thin gauze curtain, she could vaguely see her figure, she smiled softly and said: "I also made a special trip to the Su family today, because there is a happy event, I want to tell the Su family." ”

Su Xun's heart sank, he had already guessed that Empress Shen was invited by Uncle Shen to put pressure on the Su family, he restrained the dissatisfaction in his heart, and said in a deep voice: "Please tell the mother!" ”

"I heard that the Su family has a female name and her beauty is unparalleled, so I want to be a month old, pull a red thread, and give the daughter of the Su family to the Guan family man, I wonder if Master Su is willing to let me be this matchmaker?"

After a pause, Queen Shen said lightly: "If the Su family thinks that the Guan family is not worthy, then I can also invite the Su family into the palace and canonize her as the ninth concubine, so that the Su family can enjoy the grace of the saint and be a relative of the country, if the Su family is interested, I will congratulate the Su family." ”

Empress Shen's threat made the sweat on Su Xun's forehead come down, and Empress Shen's meaning was very clear, either marry Su Han to Guan Xianju, or enter the palace as a concubine, there was no third choice.

Although the Su family is arrogant, they still can't compete with the imperial power, the queen is also a golden mouth, once decided, it is difficult to change, just when Su Xun was so nervous that he was sweating profusely, a loud shout suddenly came from the distance: "The queen mother has arrived!" ”

(To be continued)