On the fifteenth day of the first month of the first year of Yongzheng, the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Yongzheng was held. Because there are still elder brothers eyeing the emperor and coveting the throne, Yongzheng did not make a big deal of paving, but only held a hundred official pilgrimages according to the ancestors, worshipping the heavens and praying for the earth, praying for the emperor, amnesty for the world and other ceremonies. Then quietly moved to the Qianqing Palace to listen to the government, held a court meeting in the main hall, reinstated the living officials, and became the emperor of the Eight Classics.

Before and after the Spring Festival, state and family affairs were mixed together, and Zhang Tingyu was so busy that he couldn't sleep well all night. On the fourth watch, he was called up by the long shift on duty at night, Zitong waited for the court clothes, hung up the court beads, washed indiscriminately, ate breakfast, and then took a sedan chair and went straight to Xihua Gate. When he got off the sedan chair to see, the sky was still full of stars, and he handed over the sign, but he was not busy going in, and stomped on the frozen ground, but saw the eldest brother Zhang Tinglu, led out by four eunuchs carrying glass palace lamps. Zhang Tingyu was taken aback, what was Tinglu doing in the big house? There is a ban on this, and I was about to ask, when I saw that there was another person next to Zhang Tinglu, the third prince of Emperor Yongzheng, Hongshi, he hurriedly stepped forward and said with Qian'er:

"Third master, you are early! Wechen has a greeting for you. ”

Yongzheng gave birth to a total of eight sons during the Kangxi period, the front and back five were not adults, the eldest son Honghui was ten years old, sealed the shellfish, and died of smallpox, and the others died earlier. Now the "third master" Hongshi is long, just turned 20 years old; "Fourth Elder Brother" Hongli is only thirteen years old; Little Brother Hongzhi is twelve years old. Cao Yin's Sun Xueqin, whom Kangxi brought back from Jiangning, was a companion for Hongshi, and Xueqin was also seventeen years old. Hongshi has already come out of a talent, with a bright face and rhino teeth, a pair of almond eyes, but the eye circles are dark and slightly broken.

Hongshi saw Zhang Zhongtang saluting him, hurriedly stepped forward and helped him up, smiled and said: "You are a veteran of the two dynasties, a horse rider in the Forbidden City, and a person who is incomprehensible in the Golden Palace, how can I afford it?" ”

He held hands and asked for warmth, looking unusually affectionate. Zhang Tingyu asked with a smile while perfunctorily:

"Tinglu, why did you come in and dare to walk side by side with the third master?"

"Zhang Zhongtang, don't blame him," Hongshi immediately took over, "I invited him here." Yesterday, the emperor came to Yuqing Palace to check his homework, saying that my handwriting was awkward, and that Zhang Tinglu's handwriting was second to none among the ministers, so I asked him to teach me to practice calligraphy and calligraphy. You are also the title of the crown prince and the prince, and you are also my master! Go, long live the Lord I'm afraid I'm waiting for you. ”

Zhang Tingyu entered Tianjie at this time, and while walking, he thought that it was not a good thing for Tinglu to be so close to his brother, let alone when he was the main exam. He staggered into the Yuehua Gate, but saw that under the eight lights of the Ming Yellow Palace, Yongzheng's eight-person Long Yu also entered the Yuehua Gate, and he immediately knelt down under the Danqi to ask for peace.

"Hengchen," Yongzheng got off the sedan chair and said as he walked to the palace, "Mo Daojun is early, and there are even more early pedestrians." In the future, when you come back tomorrow, I will not blame you. Get up, there are a few excerpts for you to consider. ”

Zhang Tingyu followed him into the East Pavilion, Yongzheng sat cross-legged on the warm kang, and sighed: "The Holy Ancestor is wise and wise, and he is still diligent day and night. I am not as good as his old man, so I can only make up for it with diligence - only you are tired. Long Keduo and Yunxiang can still have a leisure, and you can't do without me in drafting the edict. ”

After that, he instructed Li Dequan: "Get Zhang Xiang a bowl of ginseng soup!" ”

Zhang Tingyu drank the ginseng soup, and his eyes were much refreshed. At this time, Xing Nian held a foot-thick paper, and a fan seemed to be spread out on his tea vulture. He glanced at Yongzheng and saw that he was holding a red pen in his hand, as if he was drafting a text himself, so he lowered his head to look at those recitals and the holy Zhu criticism and proclamations.

One of the edicts issued by the Ministry of Officials caught his attention:

Feng Zhu criticized: Nuo Min's prelude is very clear and commendable. Shanxi's clean-up deficit can be the first in the world

Reflect. Sent to the provinces, together with the governor and the governor to follow the law. Shanxi Tong Province has a deficit of more than 2 million, and all affairs are slack

, Jin Nuomin has been in office for half a year, and the cooking is clear...... The provincial feudal officials are willing to do things like Nuomin's solid work

, how can there be any reason not to do things in the world? Nuo Min is the first in the world! He was governor of the province

Be ashamed to do it. Today, with the title of Nuo Min and Shangshu, he will be rewarded with a single eye.

Chin this!

Zhang Tingyu read the Zhu criticism issued by the Ministry of Officials, and he always felt unsteady in his heart. Shanxi's deficit was in a uproar in the Kangxi Dynasty, why did Nuo Min clean up the deficit in half a year, is there any fraud, greed for heaven, and false and exaggerated? Since the emperor Zhu criticized, he naturally did not dare to discuss it.

Soon after dawn, Ma Qi and Long Keduo entered the upper study, and the thirteenth master Yunxiang and the eighth master Yunxi came in together and went to talk to the emperor in the Heart Cultivation Palace. Ma Qi has the most seniority, but after staying in the Prison God Temple for a year, the situation is abrupt, he picked up a copy of Qin Chatian Wenjing and Tu Lishen, looked at it in surprise, and asked:

"Heng Chen, who is Tu Lishen?"

"I don't know much either," Zhang Tingyu said without raising his head, "I heard that he was originally a general under General Fengtian, and he was just transferred to Beijing, so he went to announce the decree to General Nian in the name of Qincha......"

Long Keduo, who was pacing, came over, and when he saw the fold in Ma Qi's hand, he gasped in fright and said:

"This Tian Wenjing, hey! This diagram is deep, and it stabs Lou Zi! ”

Zhang Tingyu raised his head and asked, "What is the matter?" Long Keduo took the recital of Erqin from Ma Qi's hand, threw it to Zhang Tingyu and said: "The emperor has just invented an edict to commend Shanxi Governor Nuo Min, saying that he 'cooks clearly', okay!" Tian Wenjing and Tu Li Shen found out that Nuo Min deceived the world and stole his name, and the deficit treasury silver 'cooked clearly' was fake, all of them were privately borrowed broken silver, Tian and Tu Liang Qincha got a lot of IOUs of death certificates, and now Nuo Min is finished. ”

"Nuo Min is Nian Qianyao's person, and Nian Qianyao is a person who is trusted today," Ma Qi shook his head and said, "This is not a small trouble. ”

"What's even more troublesome is that the Holy Zhu Approval has just been issued," Long Keduo shouted with tears and laughter, "The first person in the world is also, this, this ...... How's the emperor, how is it...... End! ”

At this time, Yun Xiang and Yun Xi walked over while talking, Yun Xiang saw that this side was talking so lively, and asked with a smile:

"What's the good thing, so vigorous?"

Long Keduo and Ma Qi suddenly stopped talking and looked at Zhang Tingyu together. Zhang Tingyu has already finished reading the full text of Tian Wenjing and Tu Lishen's recital, and is thinking about such a serious matter, whether to report to Yongzheng immediately. Nuo Min is a model governor who has just been commended by the emperor, and this stick is swept away, and it has become "flattering and bribery", and the emperor's face can't be lowered? In the excerpt, he told the officials of Shanxi Tong Province that "they are traitors on the outside and inside", but there are no good people in Hongdong County, and the newspaper is sent out, will the provinces cause a commotion? The emperor asked, he didn't have an idea?

Long Keduo said to the Thirteenth Master: "Shanxi has stabbed Louzi." Eighth Master Yunxi immediately walked over, with an imperceptible joy on his face and asked, "What's wrong?" Zhang Tingyu handed the excerpts of Tian Wenjing and Tu Lishen to Yun Xiang, Yun Xiang glanced at it, returned the excerpts to Zhang Tingyu, and said okay:

"Three, long live has a decree to call you over, Nian Qianyao entered Beijing from Shaanxi to report on work, long live want to discuss the military in the west." After that, he patted Zhang Tingyu on the shoulder and said, "Hengchen, beware of your body and bones!" The emperor also said that you haven't slept for five hours in the past three days, and you may not be able to come to duty today, so I don't want you to come anyway. ”

Zhang Tingyu didn't answer, and the five of them silently left the study and walked towards the Yangxin Palace. Along the way, Zhang Tingyu was still thinking about the excerpt in Shanxi, how could he talk to Yongzheng about such a big thing, not to say it.

The cigarette smoke curls in the imperial furnace of the Yangxin Palace, and the charcoal fire in the large smoke cage and gilt enamel Ding is blazing, which bakes the hall warmly. The five mermaids walked in, and Yongzheng nodded slightly and said: "Nian Qianyao is playing the military in the west, and a few of you in charge will also listen to it together-you go on!" ”

"Yes," Nian Qianyao, who was sitting on the carved porcelain pier, smiled slightly at the prime minister who had just come in, and continued, "Lobuzang Tenzin treacherously forgot the grace of the Holy Ancestor who helped him to quell the rebellion in Tibet, but colluded with his old enemy Alabutan to occupy Tibet and annex Qinghai, and even discarded the Heavenly Empire's knighthood in a vain attempt to restore the title of Great Khan, which is an open treason. Therefore, the emperor's decision to use troops against him was in accordance with the will of heaven and the will of the people......"

"I have made up my mind to use soldiers," Yongzheng said coldly, "The matter of war must not be false at all, and I must know the truth." ”

"There are 94,000 soldiers and horses under the control of the slaves, which is in line with the actual amount reported by the Ministry of War. The slave is the one who comes out of the master, please rest assured. ”

"Lobuzang Tenzin is known as 100,000 iron horsemen, and he is invincible in the northwest-I want to give you more troops!" Yongzheng slipped off the big kang, paced with his hands behind his back, turned his face to Long Keduo and said, "You sent a document, the soldiers and horses stationed in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces are all under the control of Nian Qianyao; 50,000 soldiers and horses under Yanxin, the general stationed in Yulin, brought their own food and salary, moved to Gansu, and listened to the dispatch of Nian Qianyao. Yongzheng said a word, and Long Keduo agreed. Yongzheng finally said:

"Nian Qianyao has 2340,000 soldiers and horses, which is almost enough, let's talk about food and salary later." Yongzheng waved his hand, "Nian Qianyao, there's nothing for you here, kneel down." The Thirteenth Master's Mansion has set up water and wine to see you off, I hope you will live up to my expectations and win! After Nian Qianyao left, he turned his face and smiled, "I'm tired of standing for a long time - how is it?" Is this an appropriate disposal? ”

Yun Yu had long wanted the fourteenth brother Yun Yu to command the northwest soldiers and horses, but there was no hope, so he retreated and said: "Long live the Sacred Heart silently, it is already very appropriate." When the first emperor was there, he said many times that the war in the northwest was fought for grain and money, which was the key to determining the outcome of the victory. Whether to let the fourteenth brother Yunyu sit in the town to raise food, and ask for long live Mingjian! ”

Yongzheng knew Yun Xi's purpose, but he listened to it with a high-sounding sound, so he smiled and said: "I have thought about this layer a long time ago. The thirteenth and fourteenth brothers all have generals, so let his brother discuss this errand. What you said is very true, the war in the northwest is about money and grain, if you want to be like Nuomin, the governor of Shanxi, the treasury is full, what worries do I have! ”

Zhang Tingyu and the four of them couldn't help but glance at each other when they heard this, and they didn't know what to do without looking at the excerpt, so they said under the soup: "That's what the master said, first transfer one hundred taels of silver from the Shanxi Domain Treasury to send the labor army of the Nian Qianyao battalion, and the general order of the court will be rewarded, and take advantage of this situation——"

"Good!" Yongzheng frowned, "Zhang Tingyu, you are planning your purpose!" ”

The four ministers, you look at me, I look at you, and neither speaks. For a long time, Zhang Tingyufang knelt down and said in a low voice, "Long live, here is Qincha Tian Wenjing and Tu Lishen to expose the governor of Shanxi, Nuo Min, who took advantage of merit and bribed illegally, in fact, Shanxi has a deficit of two million taels of silver and a penny, it is just a large number of IOUs, please Long live the imperial ......."

Yongzheng looked at the fold at a glance, looked at it, his hands flicked, his face turned from red to purple, his breathing was short, suddenly, he threw the fold on the case, and exhaled: "Zhang Tingyu!" ”

"The minister is here!"

"Get up and take orders!"

"Piercing!"

Yongzheng picked up the milk cup, took a sip of it anxiously, and said in an angry tone:

"Six hundred miles of expedited Shanxi Hubu Qincha Tian Wenjing, Xuanzhi Qincha Tu Li Shen: Nuo Min was deeply favored by the first emperor and I bowed many times, and he should have washed his liver and served the imperial court. However, he has a wolf heart and a dog's lungs, and he does the opposite, Gu Enflattery, drowning in the front, deceiving the king in the back, blaming the people, and framing the ministers - God Why did you put a human skin on you, in fact, you are not as good as a pig and a dog," his hand squeezing the cup shook violently, and the milk was turned upside down, and his face was already pale. Zhang Tingyu, who did not add points to the edict in the draft, but this edict was difficult for him - how to polish the vernacular after the previous text? He soaked the ink, and saw that Yongzheng's facial features were misplaced, and his voice was getting higher and higher, "that is, Tian Wenjing and Tu Lishen took off his seal letter on the spot, stripped his yellow jacket, removed his title, and locked it with a flail and entered the Dali Temple in Beijing Jiaotong to investigate ......"

"Hooray!" Ma Qi said beside him, "Although Nuo Min committed a crime, he is still a minister of the imperial court, can he be made a little decent." ”

"A soldier can be killed, but not humiliated, right?" Yongzheng laughed dryly, "Ma Qi, you don't understand, Nuo Min can call it a 'shi'?" He's a dog! There are all the human and material evidence, and I will insult him heavily—he is the one who insulted me first! The lord was worried about the humiliation of the ministers, the lord humiliated the ministers to death, and he was punished by the nine clans. There is also Luo Jing, the political envoy of Shanxi, who is to blame, and he and Nuo Min wear a yellow flail to Beijing to investigate, and there are ...... Isn't there a good official in Shanxi? ”

Hearing a "bang", the milk cup in Yongzheng's hand fell heavily on the bluestone slab and shattered.

The first day of March is the auspicious day chosen by Qin Tianjian for Zhang Tinglu and Yang Mingshi, the examiners of the Shuntianfu Enke Examination. At the time of this night, there were three dull noon cannon sounds faintly from Gongchentai, Yang Mingshi woke up, opened his eyes, got up, straightened the bead crown belt, wiped his face and said:

"Prepare a sedan chair for me!"

Yang Mingshi came to the Shuntianfu Gongyuan located in the southwest corner of Beijing, just after the fourth watch. In the darkness, since the former Ming Dynasty, the Tribute Courtyard, which has been the most important place for the imperial court to make a ceremony of talents, has been renovated and is even more magnificent than the six yamen. Along the right road, the left, the middle and the right three archways, among the archway dragon and phoenix stone carved on the big plaque, write the four big characters of "world civilization" of water gold and powder, left "Yu Gate", right "Zhou Jun". Yang Mingshi's eight-person green tweed sedan chair landed steadily here, and Zhang Tinglu had not yet arrived, so he walked slowly towards the dragon gate. Stepping on the stone square, you will see that there is a small hall with three wings on both sides of the road, this is the so-called "council hall", all the people who take the examination must undress and strip naked here, so that the officials of the tribute court can check to prevent entrainment of stolen goods - let the filial piety sweep away the dignity. As soon as Yang Mingshi approached, he heard a shout coming from the bright room with window paper:

"Take the test and wait outside the city!"

"It's me!" Yang Mingshi still walked inside. Approaching Longmen, when the official saw that it was Lord Yang, he immediately smiled and said, "Lord Yang, you are early!" Come and sit down in the West House, Zhang Zhongtang in the East House is setting up wine to send Master Zhang to the entrance examination! ”

Of course, Yang Mingshi was inconvenient to disturb the Zhang brothers, so he came to the West House, where the officials were tying paper people. This is a superstition that has been circulating in the field for a long time, believing that there are ghosts and ghosts in the examination room, so they are tied into the image of a paper figure, and finally burned it. Yang Mingshi asked about some old rules and regulations, at this time, the rooster crowed three times, estimated that Zhang Tingyu had left, walked out of the hall, and happened to meet Tinglu to send Zhang Zhongtang to the courtyard, so he stood silently under the shadow of the lamp, but heard Zhang Tingyu warn Tinglu:

"For my brother, I should go to the big house to see the emperor, and I told you a thousand times, and in a word, you must be impartial. Now the saint refreshes the rule of officials, attaches the most importance to this, and is about to catch a corrupt and corrupt official practice, our family style pays attention to a clean word, you are so self-conscious, don't give our Zhang family, to the old man who has a spirit in the sky to smear the face! ”

"Got it, brother, you can rest assured."

Zhang Tingyu was about to get on the sedan chair, and when he suddenly saw Yang Ming under the shadow of the lamp, he greeted:

"Isn't this famous, when did you come, why didn't you give me a word, what did you do?"

The official took a step back, and Yang Mingshi stepped forward and said with a smile:

"Don't blame them, the middle cousins speak, and they should avoid it in their later years."

Zhang Tingyu nodded slightly, and said with a smile: "The lifters over there are all waiting to enter the Dragon Gate, this is your Gongyuan position, once you have worshiped Confucius, even the lower officials can't come." Treasure each one! After that, he waved his hand, and he got into a blue tweed soft sedan chair, and was carried away by eight people.

Zhang Tinglu and Yang Mingshi entered the dragon gate, saw the examiners of the eighteenth room, and the Ministry of Rites drew from various offices to do errands in the monitoring hall of the pen post, seal, accept the volume, supply, read and transcribe more than 200 people, all standing on the side of the public hall. Everyone saw that the two examiners entered together, and suddenly the black crow knelt on the ground and said in unison:

"Say hello to Master Zhang and Deputy Master Yang!"

"I'm tired of everyone, please get up!" Zhang Tinglu said, looking back at the east has revealed the rising star, so he was in high spirits and took the lead with Yang Mingshi to go to the public court, and bowed three times and nine times to the tablet of "Confucius, the Most Holy Master of Dacheng". The people below are arranged according to their ranks, and they are as polite as ceremonies.

Zhang Tinglu swore an oath to the incense alliance: "For the sake of the country and society, we will not show favoritism, be unsolicited, and accept bribes -- if you have this heart, the gods will die together!" ”

After hundreds of years of unchanged clichés, the deacons of the Gongyuan began to work in their own affairs. When someone lifted out the paper-tied ghost, Yang Mingshi suddenly remembered the test questions he had bought in Bolun Building hidden in his sleeve, and an ominous premonition welled up in his heart, for fear that the test questions would be fulfilled and he would smash the test, which would become a heinous crime. He commanded viciously:

"This is the trump tablet of Wenxuan, and it is also a forbidden place of the state, where can I accommodate these? Listen to me - come! ”

"In!"

"Drag that 'grudge two ghosts down and smash them!"

"This ......" several officials looked at each other in fear, trying to distinguish between them. The resident deacon of the Gongyuan believed this best, and hurriedly stepped forward to call Qian'er and said:

"My lord, this can't be helped, this can't be done...... Yes, yes—"

"What do you want?"

"To ...... Retribution! ”

"Haha," Yang Mingshi suddenly raised his head and laughed, "How can this be reasonable!" Smash it and burn it in public, retribution? If you want to spread the plague because of this, I deserve it! The crowd said nothing more, and smashed the ghost and set it on fire. Zhang Tinglu has been nervous in his heart, the third elder brother Hongshi secretly passed the exam questions, asking him to take care of the two people, he was afraid that Hongshi would spread the exam questions again, if the stuffing was exposed, he, the chief examiner, would be punished for picking the top of the child, and delaying the court's talent ceremony, which would be the prime minister's brother's repeated admonitions ringing in his ears again. Thinking that the "grudge ghost" had turned into ashes, Hongshi would not be too nonsense as the East Palace, so he commanded loudly:

"Open the dragon gate!"

"Kailong Monroe-"

Yan Xitang official shouted, the two vermilion lacquer copper nail doors opened, and the lifters with blue in one hand and candles in the other hand entered according to the drinking rank, and the invigilator of the 70th district code board shed guided the number into the shed, and waited solemnly for the hair roll.

Zhang Tinglu and Yang Mingshi were the deputy examiners, washed their hands in the copper basin, and at the same time bowed deeply to the imperial seal test paper offered in the gold plate, and Zhang Tinglu opened it with his own hands. After a glance, he handed it to Yang Mingshi, who took it and was stunned. It turned out that the test question read:

The beneficiary, the sum of righteousness

Yang Mingshi's hair suddenly stood on end, his eyes looked Zhang Tinglu up and down, and when the underwriter went out with the first question, he asked Zhang Tinglu quietly:

"Master Zhang!"

"Huh?"

"What about the next two tests?"

"Hey, don't be busy, let's take a test and split a question." Zhang Tinglu leaned back on the Taishi chair, sighed and said, "You don't know that these people in the Gongyuan also dare to stretch out their hands in the oil pot." At this time, if you open the volume, you may not be able to leak out. ”

Yang Mingshi also breathed a sigh of relief, the exam question may have been guessed correctly, even if it was leaked, it had nothing to do with the examiner. Besides, the imperial seal test questions were taken out of the golden cabinet of the emperor in the Yangxin Palace when the two of them met the emperor together yesterday, and they were sent to the tribute courtyard and locked into the iron cabinet, and the three keys could only be unlocked when they arrived in the hall at the same time. What's more, he bought the test paper in Burlun House three days ago, and Zhang Tinglu couldn't get the real test paper anyway, so it was impossible for him to leak the secret.

Thinking of this, his mind calmed down a little, and Yang Mingshi said to Zhang Tinglu: "You are the main examiner, just sit here, supervise the examiners and examination room affairs in each room, it is my duty, I will go out and have a look." ”

Time passed in the sound of Gongchen Si's time chime, but Yang Mingshi was anxiously waiting for a fatal thunderstorm: except for the order of the second and third questions, there was not a single mistake. When the third test question was opened, Yang Mingshi's heart fluttered and asked in a trembling voice:

"What question did the emperor ask?"

"Well," Zhang Tinglu looked at and said, "In the Book of Changes: 'The sun and the moon can shine for a long time'." ”

"Master Zhang, there's something wrong with this question!"

"Something wrong? The emperor came out, how could it be? ”

"It's not that there's something wrong with the title," Yang Mingshi's face was pale and trembling, "What I'm talking about is that the title has already been leaked!" ”

Zhang Tinglu's hand shook in fright, and the yellow silk framed imperial inscription slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. The examiner poked his head at the entrance of the public hall, and he hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Don't come in for the time being—how do you know that the exam questions have been leaked?" How many lives are related to this, but I can't talk about it! ”

Yang Mingshi bent down to pick up the exam questions, talked about his experience with Sun Jiagan in the Bolun Building three days ago, and took out the test questions he bought from his sleeve and handed them to Zhang Tinglu. Zhang Tinglu took a look, and his eyes suddenly turned black, and his cheeks trembled sharply - the words "East Window Incident" were like a fierce hammer that made him distracted.

"Master Zhang," Yang Mingshi was also thinking anxiously, "This test question is from the imperial pen, sealed in Jinkui, and personally led by the two of us, escorted to the Gongyuan by the upper study, and sealed with fish glue and fire paint." It's really incredible that all the secrets were leaked in the market and openly bought and sold in liquor stores. My lord, what do you think? ”

Zhang Tinglu is already stunned. There was such a shocking case of fraud, and he and Yang Mingshi, the two main examiners, were caught and imprisoned, needless to say. The problem is to pull out the radish and bring up the mud and bring out the third elder brother Hongshi, which will be like the Kangxi Dynasty, triggering a battle between the three brothers Hongshi, Hongli and Hongday to compete for the crown prince, and how many royal relatives and ministers will be involved! The third elder brother has always been more secretive than Long Keduo, and the Eight Masters Party Yun Yu and his gang seem to be pulling Long Keduo again, which involves the number one person in Tianzi, and the hair is thicker than his legs...... After thinking about it, there is nothing to be done, so I can only cover it up first. Swallowed his breath:

"I'm against the sky! But this matter is very difficult to go out, I am afraid that it will be connected to the Tianhuang noble dragon and phoenix grandson. At the time of fame, there may be many amazing people in the world, and it is not uncommon to occasionally coincide. ”

"Lord Zhang, do you want to cover up the fraud?"

"It's not that I want to cover it up, but it's a big deal."

"Then come with me to face the saint, report truthfully, and ask the emperor to order to go to the Bolun Building immediately to get the suspect!" Yang Mingshi took Zhang Tinglu's arm and was about to walk towards the dragon gate. Zhang Tinglu shook his hand and said:

"Lord Yang, what kind of place is this? Come as you want, go as you want? ”

"The test questions sealed by fire paint are gone, why can't I go?" Yang Mingshi packed up the four treasures of his study and called his entourage, "Go and prepare a sedan chair!" ”

He pulled his leg and walked out of the dragon gate.

One of the two examiners left, and Zhang Tinglu's face immediately turned pale, and the sky collapsed invisibly and pressed towards his head together. He knew that when Yang Mingshi went out, he would definitely go to meet the saint and expose the fraud case in the science field to wash away his own innocence. The exam can no longer be continued. He immediately sent the eighteenth room examiner, explaining that the deputy examiner Yang Mingshi had withdrawn from the Tribute Academy, announced the cessation of the big examination, sealed the Tribute Academy, and waited for the emperor's holy decree.

This undoubtedly thundered on the ground, startling more than 200 examination and supervision personnel to stay there like clay sculptures and wood sculptures, and they did not wake up for a long time. As soon as the news of the suspension of the exam came out, the Gongyuan had passed two examinations, some of them were crying, some were lamenting to the sky, some were fists and chests, and some were running around like crazy:

"It's over! Finished! Ten years of cold windows, put into flowing water, God......"

Zhang Tinglu settled the matter of the Tribute Courtyard and immediately took a sedan chair out of the Tribute Courtyard. At this time, it was already dark, he let the sedan chair stop on Gongyuan Street, he stood alone outside the dark thorn city, and hesitated for a while: at this moment, the palace gate had already been locked, and it was impossible to hand over the sign to Yongzheng. The six departments also dispersed early, and went to Shuntianfu, with no literature in their hands and no defense, and Shuntianfu still had to ask for instructions to go to the study, tossing and tossing this is all tomorrow's business.

After thinking about it, he had to order the sedan chair to be carried to the prime minister's mansion of his second brother Zhang Tingyu. There is no need to report, he got off the sedan chair at the second door and went straight to the second brother's study. Along the way, there were servant servants who greeted him with a smile and a smile, but he didn't say a word, and he was stunned that the three souls had lost their seven souls, and he stumbled and walked into the second brother's study.

Zhang Tingyu was reading the provincial newspapers under the lamp in the study, and unintentionally looked up, and suddenly saw Zhang Tinglu swaying in, and began to be surprised, thinking that he had seen the soul of his eldest brother. He involuntarily stood up, wiped his eyes and asked:

"Tinglu! Is it really Tinglu? ”

"Second brother, something is wrong!" Zhang Tinglu stumbled to him.

"Eldest brother, you are not in the Gongyuan to supervise the examination, what are you doing here?"

"There is a shocking case in the field!"

"Hey-" Zhang Tingyu saw that Tinglu's face was pale, and he couldn't stand, so he hurriedly helped him sit down, and asked calmly, "What's going on, you sit and say slowly, don't worry." ”

Zitong, who followed in, thought that the uncle was frightened outside, and came in with a bowl of ginseng soup, Zhang Tinglu took the ginseng soup and drank a few sips, calmed his heartbeat, and then told the incident in the Gongyuan in 1510.

The more Zhang Tingyu listened, the more he felt that the situation was serious, interrupting Tinglu's words and asking urgently:

"Is the exam paper that Yang Mingshi bought still there?"

"Here." Tinglu took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Brother Nai. Zhang Tingyu took it and examined it for a long time, and suddenly asked again, "When did he buy the test paper?" ”

"Three days ago."

"Where?"

"In the Tribute Courtyard's Burlun Restaurant."

"Are there any witnesses?"

"According to him, Sun Jiagan was present."

"That's good," Zhang Tingyu said in deep thought, "Yang Mingshi bought the exam questions before the two of you met the emperor and put forward the fish glue fire paint sealing exam questions from the emperor, and were escorted to the Gongyuan by the upper study. This washes away the relationship between the two of you and the Minister of the Upper Study. This leak of the imperial title can only happen to the royal brothers, eunuchs, and palace maids who can get closest to the emperor in Ouchi. ”

"But, but...... Pull a hair and move the whole body! ”

"Tinglu, you dare to quickly prepare a recital," Zhang Tingyu said decisively, "You write down the recital here, and tell the truth what happened in the Gongyuan, maybe you and Yang Mingshi will be exempted from the death penalty." Otherwise......"

He didn't dare to go any further.

Zhang Tinglu was immersed in the scene, and of course he knew the seriousness of the matter. He sat down at the second brother's desk, and when he wrote the music, he felt that his thoughts were sluggish, and his hands trembled and his heart shook. If you are not careful, a drop of ink the size of a copper coin falls on the concerto, and you feel more and more unlucky. He looked up and said:

"Second brother, if this matter is done by the third elder brother Hongshi and exposed, the emperor will be angry, if the master of Minqing Palace is abolished, the consequences will be unimaginable! Do you want Hongshi to be unpopular with Yongzheng Ye, but now he is fighting with Long Keduo and Eighth Master Yunyu again, so Hongli and Hongday don't take advantage of the fire to rob and fall into the well? ”

"Now don't think about it so much," Zhang Tingyu said in his chest, "You mud bodhisattva crossed the river, it is difficult to protect yourself, what do you care about Brother or Brother?" Hurry up and write the chapter, go home and sleep well, and when the morning dawns, you will go to the prison temple by yourself and stay there, and listen to how the emperor sends you down! ”

Zhang Tingyu has the demeanor of a minister who is not alarmed, and the more serious the matter, as long as he understands the ins and outs, he can calmly pursue the advantages and avoid the disadvantages, and strive for the best possible and outcome. What he thought of now was that Zhang Tinglu, as the chief examiner, must hand the fold in front of Yang Mingshi, the deputy chief examiner. Now that the matter has happened, we can only take the initiative to expose it, surrender to the case, and strive for the initiative.

Thinking of this, he asked:

"Where did Yang Mingshi go after he rushed out of the Tribute Courtyard?"

"I don't know."

"How long has he been out?"

"Not more than half an hour before me."

"Well, that's good." Zhang Tingyu comforted himself. Yang Mingshi walked out of the tribute courtyard after dark, the upper study was already on duty, and the door was locked and locked, so it was impossible for him to hand over the sign to face the king. Even tomorrow morning, he can't be ahead of the "four more diligent ministers" Zhang Tingyu, he wants to hand over the sign to face the saint, and he wants to go around the bend, and he can go straight into the heart cultivation hall and hand Zhang Tinglu's recital to Yongzheng first. That night, Yang Mingshi really couldn't enter the Forbidden City. He also thought about going to Xihuamen to hit the drum, hit the Jingyang Bell, and forced Yongzhengyin to summon him at night. However, in this way, he first had the crime of shocking the driver, even if the performance was found to be reasonable, he had to flow three thousand miles and serve before the army. Thinking about his ten-year cold window, the glorious hairpins from the seven literary wars, the young man's pride, all in vain. He was standing on the bridge discouraged, hovering forward, not knowing where to go, suddenly saw not far in front of the post house, a watermelon lamp, a color written "Qinfeng Liangjiang political envoy Li" eight big characters, he felt a burst of ecstasy in his heart: "Li Wei has entered Beijing!" He trotted all the way towards the post house, he wanted to catch Li Wei, the life-saving bodhisattva.

Li Wei is Yongzheng's most trusted house slave and a dog, he has not read the book of sages but is a little smart, relying on Yongzhengye's momentum, he dares to do anything. Sure enough, as soon as Li Wei heard that there was a major fraud case in the field, he jumped up and shouted to Yang Mingshi:

"Is there any evidence?"

Yang Mingshi had already saved a scheming and copied a few copies of the test questions he bought. He handed the test questions to Li Wei, who took them in his hand and looked at them upside down for a long time, but he still couldn't read a word. Yang Mingshi thought that he would have to ponder for a while before discussing, but when this "ghost does not entangle" stuffed the note back to Yang Mingshi, he smiled and said to a master next to him: "You take someone to seal Gongyuan Street for me, and not a single mosquito is allowed to fly out!" ”

"Yes," replied the master, "but if the people of Shuntianfu want to ask, how can the slave answer?" ”

"Bring my name to him, and I'll see these shit days tomorrow!" Li Wei sent the master away jokingly, patted Yang Mingshi on the shoulder and said, "How about it, it's enough for buddy to be angry!" Let's talk about it first, find out the big case, and share half of the credit with me - let's go, let's drink! ”

"Brother, there is also the Bolun Restaurant," Yang Mingshi was stunned and stunned, and then said hurriedly, "I am also going to seal it, and catch the fortune-telling dog who sells test questions, so that I can follow the vine and catch the real culprit who leaked the imperial questions." ”

"It's fine." Li Wei twisted his neck and shouted again, "Someone's coming!" ”

"Sir—" A small leader dressed in plainclothes responded.

"You bring twenty 'plainclothes'," Li Wei said, pointing to dozens of miscellaneous clothes hanging in the main hall of the post house, "immediately go to seal the Bolun Restaurant on Gongyuan Street, and be sure to catch the old fortune teller who sold test questions there." If you can't catch the old man, you will lock all the restaurant owners and take them to the Shuntian Mansion Prison, and the old man will go to ask the case again. ”

"Piercing!"

In an instant, more than 100 of Li Wei's personal soldiers gathered in two groups and mounted their horses, and they no longer came to ask for instructions to reply, and there was a sudden sound of horses' hooves, and the two groups of men and horses had disappeared without a trace. I usually hear that Li Wei disguises himself to solve the case is extremely magical, and there is almost no strange and mysterious case in the world that he can't solve, and it is better to hear about it than to see it. Seeing Li Wei's "plainclothes" drifting away in a gust of wind, Yang Mingshi stretched out his thumb and praised: "Jun Zhen is a hero of the world, and the scholar is ashamed!" ”

Yongzheng ascended the throne for less than half a year, and troubles came one after another. First of all, the minting of money provoked a fight between the big Situ and the ministers, and then the Shanxi deficit case, two waves of unsettled, and a large wave of fraud cases in the science field, which shocked the government and the opposition all over the world. The day after Li Wei's men and horses sealed the Gongyuan and the plainclothes team sealed the Bolun Building, the governor of Shanxi, Nuo Min, and the political envoy Luo Jing were escorted to Beijing by iron locks, and Lang Zhong was sent to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment. The holy decree was immediately issued, and the examiners of the eighteenth room of Shuntianfu Enke, led by Zhang Tinglu and Yang Mingshi, were sent to the Prison God Temple to be investigated, and even Zhang and Yang Er, who were scrambling to hand over the folds, were not spared. People are dazzled, and the decree is issued again-

Yongzheng ordered the Zhengqing of Dali Temple, the Manchu Han Shangshu of the Criminal Department, and the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to form a team, and the chief officials of the three legal divisions to try the two cases of Shanxi and Kechang, and to be imprisoned severely. Then the newspaper reported: The court sent an edict to order Li Fu, the official student, to take the main exam, change the exam questions, and re-examine the exam. Within a few days, another piece of gossip spread around the capital: it was said that Zhang Tingyu, the old prime minister of the two dynasties, the minister of the guard in the upper study, and the minister of military aircraft, had been ordered to recuperate because of malaria, and had been ordered to treat Yunyun in the palace - in fact, everyone knew that Prime Minister Zhang avoided because of the suspicion of Zhang Tinglu's case.

One after another strict decrees came down, and the officialdom of the Beijing division was really panicked, and everyone was in danger three times a day.