Before and after, Xie An, who had been waiting for a long time in the white stone paved square outside the hall, walked into the Baohe Hall with his more than one of the students who were on the top list, and as for Liang Qiuwu and the eldest grandson Xiangyu, they entered the hall one step ahead of schedule.

Walking into the Golden Palace, Xie An looked at the buildings and facilities in the palace, and secretly sighed in his heart, feeling that this Baohe Hall is worthy of being one of the three major halls of the palace, and it is even higher than the Donggong Mansion and the Prime Minister's Mansion.

Earlier, Xie An heard that the Son of Heaven spent five or six million taels of silver on repairing the Baohe Hall a little, and he thought it was an exaggeration, but now that he saw it, he believed it.

"All the halls are trying to pay tribute!" On the jade steps where the position of the Ninety-Five Emperor was placed, a great eunuch of some age shouted at the top of his voice.

He heard Liang Qiuwu and the eldest grandson Xiangyu mention, this is the old eunuch who has served today's son for decades, surnamed Wang, in charge of thousands of eunuchs in the palace, and his official position as the chief eunuch, although the rank is only from the fifth grade, but its power is amazing, even the queen and concubine in the palace are polite to him.

Learning from the palace tribution, Xie An bowed to the great eunuch, but did not say a word of thanks.

As for the reason, Xie An didn't know, but seeing that the big eunuch was expressionless, as if he was commonplace, he guessed a little in his heart.

After glancing left and right, Xie An found a seat with the words [Guangling Xie An] on it, walked over, sat upright, and then carefully raised his head and looked around.

The seats for the palace examination tribute students, in the center of the main hall, are a total of thirty seats, corresponding to the thirty candidates with the qualifications of the palace examination, including Xie An, six seats are horizontally raised, five seats are erected, and the two seats are more than half a zhang apart.

On the left and right sides of the palace tribution, near the jade steps of the Dragon Court, there were four large seats, Liang Qiu Wu and the eldest grandson Xiangyu, sitting in the second and third seats on the right, the former was looking at himself intently, his eyes were full of various reminders, and the latter looked at himself and giggled.

What a curse!

Xie An hurriedly turned his gaze, and inadvertently, he saw an acquaintance.

Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites.

Although this senior member of the court was forced by the eldest grandson Xiangyu, so he was reluctant to help himself, but in the final analysis, if he hadn't answered the questionnaire for Xie An, how could Xie An have this honor to enter the palace examination?

Thinking of this, Xie An bowed his head slightly, and he was right to salute, after all, he was in the palace hall right now, how could a tribute like him, who had no official position or status, make a noise here.

Perhaps noticing Xie An's movements, Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, smiled slightly, nodded, and casually and quietly, glanced at Xie An at the two on his left and right, with a bit of caution in his eyes.

The one on his left, who seemed to be in his forties, had sharp eyes, a firm nose, and two small whiskers, although his bearing was calm and his appearance was extraordinary, but it faintly gave people a sense of treachery.

Looking at this person's official uniform, oh, also known as supplementary clothing, Xie An was slightly surprised.

The main pattern of the official uniform is the standing crane, surrounded by ruyi cloud pattern, mixed with bats, take the meaning of [Hongfu Qitian], the crane stands on one leg on the longevity stone, the lower and four corners are decorated with flat water pattern and hook cloud pattern, the crane head is facing the top with a red sun pattern, meaning [morning sun], that is, loyal to the monarch, the cloud pattern longevity stone and flat water pattern use halo color, in which the cloud pattern is dark blue, blue, moon white; Shou stone in blue, light blue, white; The flat water pattern is embroidered with dark green, olive green, gold, white and other color groups, and the crane, water pattern, bat, sun pattern, and hook cloud pattern are all mixed with gold thread.

When will I be able to wear this outfit to show off?

Xie An secretly swallowed his saliva.

Looking at this person's official uniform that is exactly the same as Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, it is not difficult for Xie An to guess that this is one of the eight supervisors of this palace examination, Xu Zhi and Xu Lezheng, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites!

Frowning slightly, Xie An looked at the one on Ruan Shaozhou's right again, and found that this person was an old man who was only half a hundred years old, and his official uniform was roughly similar except for the standing peacock.

Xie An frowned and thought for a while, and immediately guessed that this was one of the nine Qings under the six departments, Taifu Siqing, Zou Dan, and Zou Yuanming.

Thinking back to Sun Xiangyu's words to remind him, Xie An suddenly realized that Ruan Shaozhou wanted to remind himself to be careful of these two people, because these two people are officials of the prince's faction......

After figuring this out, Xie An nodded towards Ruan Shaozhou to show that he had understood what he meant.

Seeing this, Ruan Shaozhou smiled slightly, ate tea by himself, and no longer paid attention to Xie An.

To be honest, Xie An was a little flattered by Ruan Shaozhou taking care of himself so much, after all, he was a great talent who sat on one of the official positions of one of the six Shangshu before he was forty years old, if it weren't for the eldest grandson Xiangyu, where would he have a relationship with such a great sage in the court?

It may be that the other party has regarded himself as a member of the Yingong family, so he takes more care of it, after all, he has been helping his teacher Yingong to bring his granddaughter these days.

Idle, Xie An continued to look at the rest of the examiners, judging the identity of the other party according to the standing pattern in the court clothes.

Suddenly, Xie An noticed that there was an old man on the right side of the chief who was looking at him, smiling slightly, and nodded.

Nanguo Gong, Lu Song, Lu Gongbo!

Subconsciously, Xie An lowered his head in a hurry.

“……”

The eldest grandson, Xiangyu and Liang Qiuwu, had obviously noticed Xie An's extremely rude behavior, but they were more surprised by another thing than this.

That is, Xie An and one of the four towns of Jijing, Nanguo Gong Lu Gongbo, actually met?

What's going on?

Ann actually met Uncle Lu?

Liang Qiuwu's eyes showed a little surprise and surprise, she could see clearly, just now Nanguo Gong Lu Gongbo was clearly greeting his husband, and he was very polite, but his husband was too rude, so he pretended not to see it, and deliberately lowered his head.

What the hell is going on?

Liang Qiuwu couldn't figure it out, she couldn't figure out why her husband, since he knew Nanguo Gong, why he would still be on the streets of Jijing for three months, and finally met Li Shou, the ninth prince, and then went to Anle Wangfu to become a housekeeper.

Wait a minute......

Suddenly, Liang Qiuwu remembered what she had said when she first quarreled with Xie An.

[…… If I wanted to be an official in this way, I would have been able to become the county magistrate of Qinghe County a year ago! ]

I see, no wonder Ann said that at that time......

Thinking about it this way, the day after he first asked Third Brother Xiang to arrest An to the Donggong Mansion, Uncle Lu secretly sent someone to monitor the Donggong Mansion, most likely because he was afraid that An would offend him and that he wanted to be unfavorable to him......

No wonder An went out with Third Brother Xiang for a meal that day, and all the people in Uncle Lu's mansion withdrew......

Could it be that before he met An, the people in Uncle Lu's mansion had been secretly protecting his husband?

But what does [this way] mean?

Thinking about it and not thinking about the reason, Liang Qiuwu was secretly distressed, secretly hating that he was too stupid to see through Xie An's hidden things, hating and hating, this resentment moved to Xie An, making Xie An feel a chill on his back inexplicably.

At this moment, the great eunuch on the jade ladder seemed to notice something, and screamed, "Your Majesty has arrived!" ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the hall stood up and knelt to the ground towards the Dragon Court.

With a sound of footsteps, Xie An, who was kneeling on the mat, vaguely saw two pairs of feet walking past him, and suddenly, he heard a cold snort.

Raising his head slightly and glancing at it, Xie An noticed that following the Great Zhou Emperor was His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Li Wei.

Stepping on the jade steps, the Son of Heaven sat on top of the Dragon Court, while the crown prince sat on the left side of the jade steps.

Glancing around at His Highness, the Son of Heaven chuckled and said, "Flat!" After speaking, he noticed the eldest grandson Xiangyu sitting in the Yin Gong Seat, sighed lightly, and asked with a smile, "Xiangyu baby, how did you get here?" What about your grandfather? ”

Under Xie An's stunned gaze, the eldest grandson Xiangyu saluted the Son of Heaven and said in a greasy voice, "People haven't seen Your Majesty for a few days, and they are worried about it, so they specially persuaded my grandfather to come to the Baohe Hall for him, and now they see Your Majesty's dragon body and health, and they are very happy......

"You're worried about me? I don't believe it! ――It must be that you are interesting to see the temple test, so you are running around here! The Son of Heaven shook his head with a smile, and in the end, he deliberately put on a straight face.

"Your Majesty......" The eldest grandson Xiangyu pretended to be pitiful and said timidly, "Do you want to drive people away?" ”

The Son of Heaven laughed when he heard this, and said angrily and funny, "Okay, okay, if you come, you will be safe, I won't drive you away, but don't mess around!" ”

"Hehe...... eldest grandson Xiangyu grinned, and then seemed to realize something, deliberately pretending to be very serious, sitting upright, and seeing the Son of Heaven above the Dragon Court laughing.

It is worthy of the eldest grandson Xiangyu!

Seeing that she did what she liked, a few words and a few actions made the Great Zhou Emperor laugh, Xie An was very impressed, and in addition to admiration, he was surprised that she was so familiar with the Great Zhou Emperor.

However, when he thought that Yin Gong was the minister of the dragon of the Son of Heaven, the two of them shared weal and woe at the beginning, and they worked together to achieve the current situation, Xie An was also relieved.

And while the emperor of the Great Zhou was chatting with the eldest grandson Xiangyu, Xie An also secretly looked at His Majesty, the emperor of the Great Zhou.

He heard the eldest grandson Xiangyu mention, the Son of Heaven's surname is Li Jiji, when he was young, he was also a very talented prince, just like today's fourth prince Li Mao, although talented, but unfortunately not the son-in-law, and later got the original Yingong Assist, all the way down the rest of the princes, this sat on the throne, and because of this, this Son of Heaven is extremely generous to the eldest grandson's family, perhaps, the eldest grandson Xiangyu is lawless in Jijing, this Son of Heaven actually knows, but because she is the granddaughter of the most trusted courtier, she pretended not to see it.

Take a closer look, His Majesty the Emperor is about fifty years old, although he looks old, but he is full of energy, and it can be seen from his face that this Son of Heaven was mostly a handsome prince after he was young before, but unfortunately he is now older, and he has a heavy burden of state affairs, so he is tired and collapsed.

Of course, Xie An didn't think so, after all, the emperor had three palaces and six courts, seventy-two concubines, and three thousand beauties......

It's really enviable...... Ah no, what an evil feudal dynasty!

Xie An thought sourly.

After a few words of greeting, the Son of Heaven slowly put away the smile on his face and looked intently at the tributary students in the palace.

"Not bad, not bad! After today's palace examination, most of you can serve in the imperial court, and I hope you will be loyal to the monarch and the country, report to the country, and report to the people......"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The tributaries of the halls stood up and bowed, and although Xie An was unwilling, he had to do so.

And at this moment, the crown prince Li Wei, who was sitting on the left side, sneered, and arched his hand and said, "Father, the son has doubts about the results of this examination!" ”

"Huh?" The emperor frowned and glanced at the crown prince Li Wei, but when he saw him standing up, he said in a deep voice, "Erchen heard that there is a student in this examination, who has not participated in the local township examination, nor has he made a name for himself, but he has mixed into the examination of Taichang Temple, and now he has set foot in the Baohe Hall to participate in the palace examination......"

Except for Xie An, Liang Qiuwu, Eldest Sun Xiangyu and other people who knew about it, everyone in the hall was in an uproar.

"Is there such a thing? ――Who is it? The Emperor frowned slightly.

"Humph!" I saw the crown prince Li Wei sneered, raised his right hand and pointed at Xie An, and shouted in a deep voice, "This is the person!" - Ruan Shaozhou, Lord Ruan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, yes and no?! ”

Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, chuckled lightly when he heard this, and said with a smile, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is suspected of favoritism and fraud?" ”

"Ah, that's what Prince Ben meant!" With a sneer, Li Wei arched his hand and said to the emperor, "Father, the son has a book to play, Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, took advantage of his power to abolish the public for personal reasons, and vainly increased the number of places for the examination, and there is no king's law!" ”

Before Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, could speak, suddenly the eldest grandson Xiangyu chuckled and said, "His Royal Highness the Prince, is there any evidence?" -- There is no evidence, that is, slandering the first-class ministers of the DPRK and China! Her words were filled with coldness.

"You want proof, don't you?" The crown prince Li Wei looked at the eldest grandson Xiangyu with a sneer.

"Only with evidence can people be convinced! - Sister Mai, don't you say? Looking directly into the eyes of the prince, the eldest grandson Xiangyu competed against each other.

"Humph!" Liang Qiuwu snorted lightly, although he didn't speak, his eyes were fixed on the crown prince Li Wei.

"Since Miss Eldest Sun said so, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will come up with evidence, so that some people can be convinced......" Xu Zhi, the secretary of the ministry, said with a sneer.

As soon as the words fell, Zou Dan, the Taifu Temple Qing, also nodded and said, "Xu Shangshu is reasonable!" ”

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the hall became tense, and all the candidates who participated in the palace examination looked at the important ministers of the court who were divided into two factions with shocked expressions.

What's going on?

Imperial Doctor Meng Rang frowned and looked at the several people in the hall who were in the same situation, and faintly felt that something was not right.

He thought that this time to observe the palace examination was also an idle errand, but at the moment, it seems that this palace examination will not be so peaceful......