This area of the Baozi River belongs to the jurisdiction of the Dongcheng Terracotta Division, after receiving the report of the lifters, the commander of the Dongcheng Terracotta Division personally dispatched, led the deputy commander, the officials and a cadre to arrive quickly, first stopped the angry lifters from beating Dong Zuchang, and then conducted an autopsy, which was roughly determined to be buried after being strangled two days ago, and carefully inspected the pit under the peach tree in the back garden of the Dong Mansion, and asked the four Nengliang about the process of finding the corpse, and the four Nengliang said that they were ordered by the young master Zhang Yuan, and they had long paid attention to the movements of the Dong Mansion. The night before yesterday, it was found that someone was digging a pit in the back garden of Dong's house, which was extremely suspicious, Zhang Yuan then made a sound to attack the west, and sure enough, he found evidence of Dong's murder - the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division have been tracking down the person named Zhuo Xiaosheng for the past few days, and each city gate has a person who recognizes Zhuo Xiaosheng who is monitoring the people who go out of the city, and the commander of the Dongcheng Soldiers and Horses Division saw that the deceased matched Zhuo Xiaosheng's age and appearance, and quickly ordered someone to find Zhuo Xiaosheng's acquaintance in Chaoyangmen to identify, and the deceased was indeed the Zhuo Xiaosheng who escaped from the Gongyuan but entered the ghost gate!

The Wucheng Terracotta Division is subordinate to the Ministry of War, is the six-grade Yamen, mainly responsible for public security and fire prohibition, for the homicide case in Dong Hanlin's house, which was the official of the East Palace, the commander of the Dongcheng Soldiers and Horses Division did not dare to be good at it, and sent people to report to the Criminal Department, Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, such a big case is indispensable to be tried by the three divisions - in addition to the female dependents and boys under the age of 12 in the Dong house, the rest of the men are all detained in the hall, guarded by the sergeant with the knife, and are not allowed to talk in private, Dong's father and son are treated a little preferentially, locked in a single room, with the dead body, Dong Qichang's old illness relapses, has a crooked mouth and eyes, Dong Zuchang, his nose is blue and his face is swollen, he can't stop wailing, Zhuo Xiaosheng's corpse is on the side, and the appearance of death makes Dong Zuchang almost have a nervous breakdown - at this time, on the bank of the Baozi River, thousands of lifters have gathered, and the vast majority of lifters are deeply disgusted by the fraud in the imperial examination, Zhang Yuan is famous, this time he was cut and almost fell off the list, and the tortuous encounter won the sympathy of many people. There must be an accomplice among the outer curtain officials - when the sergeant of the Soldiers and Horses Division searched for Dong's house, he found out a middle-aged man hiding in the kitchen firewood, Zhang Yuan recognized this person, it was Wang Shoutai, the cousin of Wang Ruqian, a wealthy businessman and celebrity in Huizhou, Zhang Yuan said in his heart: "Very good, now you can catch it all." Immediately identified this person as the accomplice of Dong's father and son, many of the people present recognized this Wang Shoutai, who was very ugly in Hangzhou City, and the sergeant of the Soldiers and Horses Division tied up Wang Shoutai first, waiting for the arrival of the people of the Three Law Divisions - in the afternoon, the Tang Officer of the Metropolitan Procuratorate immediately arrived at the Imperial History of the Right Du, Li Wei, the Shangshu of the Criminal Department, and Wang Shichang, the Zuo Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and saw Dong Qichang looking half-dead, and the Tang Officer of the Three Law Divisions couldn't help but shake his head, and ordered the doctor to treat Dong Qichang, as for Dong Zuchang, Wang Shoutai and a dry Dong manservant, When the sergeant stepped forward to arrest people, a servant of the Dong family shouted: "It's not about the villain, it's Ma Liu and Dong Fei who did it." ”

"Yes, it's not about the villains, it's Ma Liu and Dong Fei who did it."

Many Dong servants shouted up, to clear up the murder of themselves and this person, the wall fell down and everyone pushed, the tree fell and scattered, there are few loyal servants in this world and many slaves are annihilated, not to mention that the master is doing illegal things, it has nothing to do with loyalty, how can the Dong slaves be willing to follow the official to suffer, and they did not dare to testify against Dong Qichang and Dong Zuchang in person, so they pushed out Dong Zuchang's two henchmen and domestic slaves - the two healthy servants named Ma Liu and Dong Fei knew that this murder happened, and no one could protect them, Ma Liu was still tough, and Dong Fei was already kneeling and begging for mercy: "My lord, my lords." , The villains just acted on orders, it was the second prince who ordered the villains to do it, and the coachman Lao Yang was also together, and it was Ma Liu who used a rope to strangle him, and the villain and Lao Yang pressed the man's hands and feet......"

Dong Zu in the compartment often heard the accusations of the house slave Dong Fei, his lips trembled, his hands and feet trembled, these slaves pushed the guilt on his head, but where did he push it, it was not good to push it on the head of the father who had a recurrence of the wind disease, at this time, it was like grabbing the hands of the drowning person indiscriminately, how could he manage so much, and shouted: "I don't know this Zhuo Xiaosheng, it was sent by Zhou Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites, and he ordered to get rid of this person, it was Zhou Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites who asked me to do it, it was Zhou Yingqiu-"

Zhuo Xiaosheng, who is dead, can't confess, and his own living Dong Zu often confesses on his behalf, so far, the Bingchen Branch will try to cheat and the first incumbent official - Zhou Yingqiu, Langzhong of the Zhengwupin Rite Department.

Dong Qichang was carried to the Criminal Department for extended medical treatment, Dong Zuchang, Wang Shoutai and Ma Liu, Dong Fei's two servants and the coachman Lao Yang were escorted to the Criminal Department for trial, and the rest of the Dong family members were strictly forbidden to enter and exit the house, and the front and back doors were guarded by sergeants from the Soldiers and Horses Division, because there were Zhang Dai and Zhang Yuan as guarantees, and the four of Neng Liang were not taken to the lobby of the Criminal Department, but only asked to be with them - in any dynasty, it is a major case involving human life, and this is a murder case that occurred at the feet of the Son of Heaven, and there is a causal relationship with the imperial examination fraud case, there is a case within the case, and it involves a wide range of cases, Thousands of people paid close attention, Zhang Wenda, Li Wei, Wang Shichang asked the emperor to approve the trial of the case by the three law divisions overnight, this time the Wanli Emperor quickly approved a strict investigation, Zhou Yingqiu in the Ministry of Rites Langzhong did not have to sit in the court, waiting for the crime at home, waiting for interrogation - and at the same time, Zhou Shidan, Li Song, Yao Zongwen, Liu Wenbing and other officials attacked Wu Daonan's recital several times a day, Wu Daonan was forced to withdraw from the re-examination of the Ministry of Rites on the eighth day of the first month of March, and the first assistant of the cabinet was replaced by Fang Congzhe as the chief examiner, although Zhang Yuan was framed by the cut scroll is a well-known thing, But since the emperor appointed Zhang Yuan to retake the examination, Zhang Yuan had to participate, he was not Shen Tonghe, he was not afraid of the exam, he wanted to prove his innocence with his own pen, the innocence of Senior Brother Xu and Wu Gelao, what made Zhang Yuan relieved was that the case of fraud in the imperial examination had finally opened up the difficult situation, so that he could devote himself to the re-examination and the palace examination.

……

At the end of the eighth day of the first month of March, Zhang Yuan came to the Imperial City outside the Daming Gate by car, Mu Zhenzhen followed him out of the car with the examination basket, the weather was fine, the glory of the morning sun spread over, the huge square, fresh and dust-free, waiting for the re-examination in front of the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites, they came up to comfort, Zhang Yuan did not need to re-test, which was unfair to Zhang Yuan - Zhang Yuan arched his hand and smiled: "You work hard, disaster and blessing rely on, if it is not for the fire of the Gongyuan, you will not have the opportunity to re-test, six places, Zhang Yuan did not participate in the competition. ”

Seeing Zhang Yuan so free and easy, everyone laughed, and Fan Wenruo said: "Fortunately, Zhang Sheshou does not occupy a quota, otherwise I will only have five places left." ”

Everyone laughed again, and suddenly they all shut up, because Zhao Mingyang arrived - Zhao Mingyang got out of the carriage, carried the test basket alone, did not go to many places, and stood alone under the wall, with his hands in his hands, basking in the sun, and his face was expressionless.

Fan Wenruo said: "Why didn't Shen Huiyuan come, do you want to say that you can't get sick?" ”

A Suzhou government lifter sneered: "Dare to say that he can't get sick, the hospital will send someone to greet him, even if he has a broken leg, he has to carry him to the test. ”

Everyone laughed and was quite excited, and today the retest is to see Shen Tonghe make a fool of himself.

Shen Tonghe came, followed by a scholar, naturally out of place with everyone, seeing Zhao Mingyang under the wall, he didn't walk over to say hello, deliberately kept his distance, he knew that this time Zhao Mingyang couldn't help him, but he wanted to help Zhao Mingyang, he Shen Tonghe was not illiterate, and he couldn't fight at the beginning - at the beginning of the hour, the door of the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites was opened, this time there was no search, Zhang Yuan and other 118 candidates who participated in the re-examination entered the hall of the Ministry of Rites in turn, and the lobby had been arranged as a temporary examination room. There are one hundred and eighteen square tables and corresponding chairs, and the promotion officer, the supervisor and the examiner of the five classics and twenty rooms are all there, and the hall is surrounded by surveillance eyes, and who dares to cheat?

The chief examiner Congzhe and the deputy examiner Liu Chuxian came out of the back of the hall, and Fang Congzhe asked Liu Chuxian in a low voice: "Which one is Zhang Yuan?" ”

Liu Chu said first: "The young scholar in the third row from the left wearing a jade-colored robe is Zhang Yuan. ”

Fang Congzhe looked at Zhang Yuan and said, "Youth." ”

Liu Chu said first: "Yes, he is nineteen years old." ”

Fang Congzhe raised his eyebrows, nodded, and sat down with Liu Chu in front of the case, there were four books and five classics printed by the internal official supervisor on the case, and the title was decided on the temporary flip book, and the three questions and four books and ten scriptures were quickly decided, and the ten scriptures were each two questions, which were chosen by the candidates according to their own scriptures, and the first question was the topic of the Analect "Believe and then admonish".

Grass rolls, the main volume was distributed, grinding ink, the sound of paper stretching into a piece, the answer began - no need to cook eight treasure porridge to make Zhang Yuan feel a little uncomfortable, he has been accustomed to cooking porridge while conceiving, five pieces of art, each not less than five hundred words, this is much easier for Zhang Yuan, the first question "letter and then admonish" he has made, at this time, of course, to come out of another machine, do better, not before the time, he put the draft of the five eight-strand texts all typed, is about to transcribe to the main volume, smelled a burst of bread aroma on the side of the nose, A plate of old cakes and a cup of hot tea were gently placed on the side of his desk, and when he raised his eyes, more than a dozen deacons shuttled back and forth, and soon, one hundred and eighteen candidates all received the old cakes and hot tea, and the examiners around the hall were also eating cakes, and their eyes were still staring at the one hundred and eighteen candidates - Zhang Yuan took a sip of hot tea, and didn't dare to drink more, because it was very troublesome to go to the toilet, and the two prison officials had to follow, and they were only allowed to go to the toilet once, who was impatient to monitor you peeing several times and three times, so you couldn't drink more water, Zhang Yuan ate two pieces of old pavilion cakes to satisfy his hunger, Rubbing his fingers, he began to transcribe the truth, first writing the name, the three generations, the place of origin and the scriptures, and began to transcribe the scriptures one by one...... The candidates who participated in the re-examination at first had the intention of looking at Shen Tonghe's jokes, but as soon as they got the exam questions, they didn't have time to answer the questions, so they didn't care about anything else, and they didn't notice that Shen Tonghe was happily answering the questions.

At the second moment of the Shen hour, Zhang Yuan finished transcribing the five questions, the deadline for submitting the paper is the first moment of the unitary hour, and there is still more than half an hour, Zhang Yuan does not want to hand in the paper so early, sitting there and waiting, then he has the leisure to look at a few other candidates, he is most concerned about Wen Zhenmeng, Fan Wenruo, these five Han Society candidates, I hope that the five of them can account for a few more of the six Jinshi places, especially Wen Zhenmeng, on the liberal arts, is really above him Zhang Yuan, but unfortunately he has fallen eight times, this opportunity to retake must be seized, Wen Zhenmeng is their Han Society's right-hand man, Prestige, talent and learning are good - look at Zhao Mingyang again, he has already answered the questions, and he didn't hand in the papers, sitting there in a daze, Zhang Yuanxin said: "This person is really good, he has to take the test himself, and he has to answer the questions for Shen Tonghe, and he is both high school, super fast, but this time he is going to be unlucky." I couldn't help but think, "If I want to answer two papers at the same time, can I finish it?" I haven't tried, maybe I can, but I'm forced to do it—"

Shen Tonghe, who was in the back row, was sweating on his forehead, and the spring sun shone in, it was just warm, was it so hot?

When it was approaching, someone handed in the papers, and Zhang Yuan followed suit, and when he walked past Shen Tonghe, he glanced at the exam papers on his case, eight pieces of paper were stacked together, and one piece of paper was full of writing on the face, which made Zhang Yuan a little surprised——......

Receiving the papers, sealing, transcribing, and reading, all the steps are exactly the same as those of the examination, but they are more compact, because there are only one hundred and eighteen examination papers, and before the end of the night, the one hundred and eighteen transcribed Zhu scrolls were sent to the desk of the examiner of the Five Classics room, and the marking papers are also in the lobby of the Ministry of Rites, and no one is allowed to leave until the marking is completed-At the end of the early morning of the ninth day of the first month of March, the eighteen recommended Zhu scrolls were sent to the desk of Liu Chuxian, the chief examiner, and the official Congzhe, Fang Congzhe said with a smile: "I don't know Shen Tonghe, The examination papers of Zhao Mingyang and Zhang Yuan are not among the eighteen examination papers recommended here, as long as they are among them, even if they are eighteenth, they will not be investigated. ”

Liu Chu took a sip of strong tea first, cheered up and said, "Elder Fang Ge, let's start grading." ”

The two of them respectively assessed the rankings of the eighteen examination papers, and finally arranged the rankings at the end of the Yin period, and then transferred the ink scrolls, and the promotion officer, the supervisor and the marking officer gathered together, and began to dismantle and roll call, starting from the eighteenth place to unpack, until the fourth place still did not see the names of Shen Tonghe, Zhao Mingyang and Zhang Yuan, all the examiners raised their hearts, could it be that these three people would be the top three?

The seal of the third place was removed, and the scribe said: "Zhao Mingyang, Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili." ”

All the officials looked at each other, and praised this Zhao Mingyang in their hearts for being really talented, he would take the seventh test and the third in the retest, which was very stable - the scribe then opened the seal of the second place, and then said: "Wen Zhenmeng, Changzhou County, Suzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili." ”

Wen Zhenmeng is known for his talent, but he failed in the eight examinations, and several officials present participated in the examination with Wen Zhenmeng, and then heard that Wen Zhenmeng ranked second, and they were all happy for Wen Zhenmeng.

(To be continued)