Just when Li Chengqian and Xiangxin were discussing things, there was a knock on the door outside the courtyard, and then Cheng Chumo's voice came in from outside: "His Royal Highness the Prince, Tang Jian, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, is here and wants to ask you at the door!" ”

Li Chengqian looked at Xiangxin, nodded at him, and said: "Although Tang Songling is sure that he is a friend or foe, this Tang Jian's attribute has not been decided, otherwise His Highness will meet him and see what he wants to do!" ”

Li Chengqian was also thoughtful, and walked out of the courtyard with satisfaction, and walked to the mansion not far away and saw Tang Jian's sedan chair, Li Chengqian still said very respectfully: "What is Lord Tang's trip for!" ”

After Tang Jian heard Li Chengqian's voice, he also slowly opened the curtain of the sedan chair, and then walked out step by step, until he stood in front of Li Chengqian, Tang Jian spoke: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has detained the officials of our Ministry of Rites here, and this official, as their boss, naturally wants to come to inquire about one or two, and ask His Royal Highness to tell me, what have these officials committed?" ”

Li Chengqian was not frightened by Tang Jian's momentum, and said with some surprise: "Why did Lord Tang say this? How did you know that your Ministry of Rites officials were locked up here by me, and not by their own volition! ”

Tang Jian narrowed his eyes, he had never seen such a strong and scoundrel Li Chengqian before, and he also said with interest: "Minister Li, who has left since then, sent someone to tell this official that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has imprisoned people in the mansion opposite the Tribute Courtyard!" ”

Saying that, Tang Jian pointed to the layers of soldiers outside the house and said, "Your Royal Highness the Prince, look at these layers of soldiers, if it is not a prison, why do you want your government soldiers to surround this house?" ”

Li Chengqian also smiled when he heard this, and pointed to the soldiers and said: "Lord Tang is too worried, these officers and soldiers are invited by me to protect the test papers and prevent anyone from trying to steal the questions, after all, it is the first time for Lone to be the chief examiner of this Chunqiu, and it may be the last time, Lone doesn't want to let this Chunqiu have any mistakes, so he called my government soldiers to guard the test papers, this is not too much!" ”

Tang Jian's face did not change at all, and he also looked at Li Chengqian and the satisfaction behind him with great interest, and then pointed to the gate of this house and said, "Since it is not a detention, then it doesn't hurt for this official to go in and take a look!" ”

Li Chengqian nodded, and said without any concern: "Master Tang can come and leave as long as he wants, as long as he doesn't touch the test papers!" ”

Saying that, Li Chengqian made a gesture of please, Cheng Chumo and Wei Chi Baolin also opened the door, and Tang Jian stopped saying nothing and strode towards the courtyard.

Tang Jian was in front, Li Chengqian and Chengxin were behind, and after the three of them entered the house, Cheng Chumo closed the door of the house, and as soon as Tang Jian entered the courtyard, he began to shout: "Liu Moran, Cao Ziyun, where are you, come out, the official is here!" ”

Hearing Tang Jian's voice, the officials of the Ministry of Rites immediately came out of the resting room, except for Chen Lao and another elderly minister who rested alone, the other five officials were all discussing in the same room, at this time Tang Jian saw the appearance of the five people, but the five of them were eating, and their mouths were full of oil, so it was not funny.

Tang Jian looked at his subordinates eating and drinking happily, and also remembered that he had questioned Li Chengqian just now, and looked at Li Chengqian with some embarrassment and said: "I hope His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will forgive me, this official is also in a hurry, and he does not mean to be disrespectful to the prince!" ”

Li Chengqian saw that Tang Jian had a very good attitude and said quite generously: "It's okay, it's okay, Tang Shangshu maintains his family's understanding of the palace, and now that they are safe and sound, eat and drink well, are you relieved!" ”

Tang Jian nodded, then looked at Li Chengqian and said: "His Royal Highness the Prince, I don't know if there are guest rooms in this house, if you can, the official will stay here tonight, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is more dedicated to the imperial examination than the old minister, if the old minister doesn't do something, the minister will be at ease!" ”

Li Chengqian was also a little surprised, such as Tang Jian's level of a person will definitely not steal the test questions by himself, after all, the danger of doing this is too great, if he is caught, he will not be able to protect his head, rather than being caught in it, it is better to control everything outside the field, at this time, Tang Jian asked for his life to live in this house, Li Chengqian can't determine what Tang Jian's intentions are!

Xiangxin and Li Chengqian looked at each other, and Xiangxin couldn't make up his mind at this time, but since he dared to send it to the door, Tang Jian naturally had his own plans, although he was not sure what he thought, so it was better to control him in sight, and Xiangxin nodded towards Li Chengqian.

Seeing that he nodded, Li Chengqian also immediately said: "Okay, but this house is not as good as your Shangshu Mansion, please take care of Lord Shangshu!" ”

Tang Jian waved his hand and said: "It's okay, it's okay, this official is not one who is pampered, he also fought with your father and emperor in the past, I haven't lived anywhere!" ”

After Tang Jian finished speaking, he walked towards the group of officials of the Ministry of Rites, and entered a guest room with Elder Chen and the old minister.

Li Chengqian looked at the departing group and asked the person on the side: "What do you say Tang Jian is doing this trip for?" Wouldn't it be better if he wanted to steal the question and command outside! ”

Xiangxin couldn't make up his mind, shook his head and said: "How do I know these things, and this Lord Tang can't tell whether it's friend or foe, let's transfer a few more people to the courtyard to guard, rotate when eating, let them eat early while it's still early, don't wait until the evening to rotate, let them have a chance!" ”

Li Chengqian nodded, looking at the test papers on the table in the middle of the hall, as well as the two elite soldiers around him, Li Chengqian was still very satisfied with his arrangement!

In the guest room, Tang Jian looked at the officials of the Ministry of Rites who followed in with a gloomy face, and said with three points of doubt, three points of joke and four points of anger: "Why do you want to stay here? I heard the prince mean that you don't want to leave yourself? ”

The five officials who still had oil stains on their mouths were speechless, but Old Chen said on the side: "The old minister is old and doesn't want to toss more, and here His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has good food and drink, what's wrong!" ”

The others also followed Chen Lao's words and continued: "Yes, yes, we want to wait here and go directly to the Gongyuan tomorrow, the distance is convenient, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has good food and drink!" ”

Tang Jian naturally didn't believe such words, and looked at Chen Lao on the side and said, "Old Chen, why are you involved in this matter, do you know what the prince's move means?" This is to roast our Ministry of Rites on the fire, and now everyone outside is saying that the people of our Ministry of Rites want to gain benefits by penetrating the topic, and even want to frame the prince of the court! ”

Boss Chen was shocked and hurriedly asked: "How can this be, I have only been here for two or three hours, where did this crazy talk come from outside!" ”

Other officials also panicked, after all, reputation is the most important thing, if the reputation is so bad, they will not be able to enter the ancestral ancestral hall after death in the future, and even be spurned by others, which is the biggest shame for officials.

Tang Jian also said helplessly: "You and your group came out of the palace to this place, there were two hundred officers and soldiers guarding along the way, how many streets you passed, how many people you met, didn't you think about what they would think?" ”

Chen Lao hurriedly said: "Then why don't we go out and explain to them, as long as we go out and explain clearly, there will be no problem!" ”

Tang Jian shook his head, and said helplessly: "It's useless to explain anything now, instead of explaining it to the people, it is better for us to ensure that this spring festival can be held safely, if this spring festival can be completed without any accidents as before, then this matter will pass in three or two days!" ”

The rest of the people were also thinking about Tang Jian's words, and the scene fell silent for a while, Tang Jian looked at the people whose faces changed and asked a little casually, "Maybe what they said is not a lie?" Could it be that someone in our Ministry of Rites really snooped on the test paper and wanted to get out of it? ”

The face of the person with a ghost in his heart changed and changed, but no one dared to answer Tang Jian's words, Tang Jian naturally knew what kind of virtue his subordinates had, and snorted coldly: "Don't think about these things when I come to you today, I will guard the test papers for one night tonight, I also want to see if you can do any spells, if not, please rest!" ”

After speaking, he didn't look at the faces of other people, silently walked to the bed on the side, dragged his shoes and lay down, looking like he wanted to raise a good spirit!