On the second day, Xing'er came to invite Xue Ke to Suzheng Hall.

Mama Zhang was delighted: "The prince has finally changed his mind!" Invite the girl to pass! ”

Xue Ke smiled and took Ah Liu over.

In addition to the crown prince in Suzhengtang, there is also Lu Xin.

"Old eight, your military registration documents have been ordered to be done, and I found another person's name, only saying that he was old and had withdrawn, because he drank and gambled and used military registration documents as collateral as his own retirement salary. Even if the military department checks, it will take half a year to come and go, and it will not be able to find out. The prince took a piece of paper from the case and handed it to Lu Xin: "Oh, this is your resignation document, you are not allowed to drink and gamble." ”

Lu Xinyi took it, and it read "Li Datie, forty-five years old, Tumu", and scolded and said: "Damn, Lao Tzu is a six-grade forward school!" ”

Xue Ke laughed softly on the side: "Wronged General Lu." ”

Lu Xin hurriedly said: "Don't be wronged!" Lao Tzu, ah, no, no, I, there is nothing wronged, the big girl is wronged. ”

The prince said angrily: "The East Palace is not a place to stay for a long time, I will ask someone to arrange for you to go to the Xishan pro-soldier team, you stay there for a while, don't leak your identity as a sixth grade!" ”

Lu Xin looked at Xue Ke, Xue Ke nodded, and Lu Xin hummed reluctantly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the end, the matter of Nanyuan Palace still had an impact on the prince.

Several errands of the prince were reprimanded by the emperor in the court, and the emperor relied more on Yang Xiang in court affairs.

Although the post of prime minister has not been set up in this dynasty, Yang Xiang is now the first assistant of the cabinet, whether it is the emperor's will or the forces of the DPRK and China, the remaining left and right prime ministers of the cabinet cannot be matched for a while.

Linglong Pavilion Nangong habitually walked around to Xue Ke's room with his teapot and said, "Girl, this is the third time that the Holy Lord has beaten Yang Shoufu. ”

Xue Ke nodded and said: "Yang Shoufu is now in the court, there are many protégés, no one in the court can stand out, and it is natural for the emperor to beat him." ”

Nangong squinted his eyes and took a sip of tea on the spout: "King Qin has found a good father-in-law!" ”

Xue Kexiao: "Not only is he a good father-in-law, but he also found a good princess." At the beginning of this year, Yang Liuniang entered the Qin Palace, not only did she keep the palace in order, but also communicated properly with her relatives in the capital. ”

Nangong glanced at Xue Ke, pouted unconsciously, and said: "The extremes of things must be reversed, and the extremes of prosperity must decline, it is common sense, and there are a lot of excerpts on the side of Yushitai who participated in Yang Shoufu." At the beginning of the year, there were thieves in Shanxi, and the secretary of the ministry recommended Ma Dongtian to quell the rebellion and appease, which was approved by the saint, but Yang Shoufu objected, saying that he was scholarly and soft-hearted, and as a result, Ma Dongtian surrendered most of them under the grace of the saint, and when he was close to the capital to offer prisoners, the gang rebelled, and the saint's face was gloomy, and naturally he did not give Yang Shoufu a good face. ”

Xue Ke said for a while: "Is it because the tax law is a little stricter, and the method of apportioning the land into the mu promoted by Li Xiangli has improved?" ”

Nangong shook his head and said: "Spread into acres, naturally some places are cost-effective, some places are not cost-effective, the most uncost-effective is Sichuan, there is less land and more people, and the voice of opposition is the largest." ”

Xue Ke nodded: "Yang Shoufu is from Chengdu Mansion, and he is unwilling to give in." ”

Nangong also echoed: "Not only is Yang Shoufu, after Yang Xiang gained power, the number of Sichuan officials in the DPRK and China is also increasing, and they all complement each other, their ancestral official fields are all in Sichuan, how can they easily pass?" ”

But in the middle of the discussion between the two, a scribe sent a letter, Nangong hurriedly opened it and looked at it, and couldn't help laughing: "Girl, I just said that prosperity must decline, and sure enough, it came to an end." ”

Xue Ke took the letter he handed over, and Nangong explained it to her in detail.

It turns out that the first two days are the day of the spring list, the imperial court once every three years in the autumn, is for the main branch, occasionally the celebration of a single plus a subject called Enke, the autumn test passed, the laurel list is famous is the lift, the world's lifter does not want to pass the spring again, the title of the apricot list.

Therefore, this day of release is also the most lively day in Beijing, and there has been a lot of trouble in the past few years to catch a son-in-law under the list.

And when the list is released, the most lively are the various guild halls. Because after the autumn season, there are people from all over the country to go to Beijing to catch the exam, the capital is expensive, most of these people do not have a home in the capital, except for those who have relatives and friends in the capital, most of them live in various guilds, and the free local rich and noble squires subsidize food, clothing and communication.

Most of the guild halls in the capital are located in Xicheng District, and when the list is released today, those people will gather in one place to listen to the news. But today there was a little riot, the Suzhou guild hall was blocked by the lifts of several other halls, saying that there were people buying and selling exam questions, and some of the lifters were fighting, and when the officers and soldiers arrived, they heard that several of them had broken their heads and were bleeding.

Xue Keqi said: "Why are some people not convinced? There is always a high and low ranking in the examination room. ”

Nangong said: "If it's just a normal list, why is it like this, it just so happens that the top of this year's list just came out of the examination room and boasted about Haikou, saying that the test questions are simple, and taking the test is as straight as taking something in the bag." ”

Xue Ke said with a smile: "It seems that he is also a madman." But I wonder how this year's examiner felt when he heard this? ”

Nangong also laughed, it turned out that today's question of Chunyu was originally written by Li Zuoxiang and Master Cheng of the Ministry of Rites, but it was the title of a "Retreat from Fasting" in the previous dynasty, and as soon as the test paper came out, the examination room was full of wails, so the words of this madman aroused public anger.

If he is the only one who wins, others will not be convinced and can't say anything, but it just so happens that a fellow villager who has a close relationship with him is also on the high school apricot list, and this fellow villager is not very famous in his previous articles and fame, and the only thing worth boasting about is that his family is quite rich.

Therefore, as soon as the list came out, gossip came out, and some people said that they saw him and the servants of Master Cheng's family before the exam.

Xue Ke also sniffed a hint of flavor and asked, "But I don't know where this Master Cheng came from?" ”

Sure enough, Nangong had a relieved expression of "the child can be taught", and said: "This Cheng examiner was familiar with the scriptures and classics when he was ten years old, and he was called a prodigy. ”

Xue Ke asked: "He is so young and promising, he was targeted by the court early, but I don't know who included him in his command?" Isn't it Yang Shoufu? ”

Nangong was even more happy to see her so upright, and said: "Of course, Yang Shoufu is in the court, and such a talented person naturally refuses to let go, and the wife of this Cheng examiner is the eldest aunt and grandmother of the Yang family." ”

Xue Ke nodded and said: "But every subject can hear criticism on the occasion of the Spring Festival, but there are very few who are really verified. ”

Nangong saw her pondering, and made her words clearer: "But this year is different, the other examiner this year is Li Xiang, Li Zuoxiang has been in the cabinet for seven or eight years, and he has a disagreement with Yang Shoufu, how can he let go of this opportunity?" What's more important is that just now the girl also mentioned that it was the third time that the saint had beaten Yang Xiang, and I am afraid that there was no better opportunity for Li Xiang. ”

Looking at Xue Ke's half-believing eyes, Nangong said again: "Does the girl think this officialdom is fair?" ”

How can officialdom be fair? Although Xue Ke didn't know his intentions, he still smiled, and the meaning was self-evident.

Nangong took a sip of tea from the teapot in his hand and said: "Of course, this officialdom is unfair, who is an official, who is the teacher, where is the voice, where is the origin, which department is a scholar, this is the natural imprint of officialdom, and after that, whether you are born into a family, whether you can meet your boss, whether you can manage Li Min, whether you can get along with your colleagues, are all everyone's abilities and means, and there is no fairness!" ”

Nangong's expression became more and more serious, and finally he said: "But girl, there is one thing in my court, that is, the threshold for entering the officialdom - the imperial examination, is the fairest, whether it is a rich family or a poor person, whether it is a drooping old man or a yellow-haired boy, when you enter the door of this examination room, you will be treated equally." Therefore, there is no trivial matter in relation to the imperial examination. Anyone who dares to make a fuss about the fairness of the imperial examination is guilty of condemnation in the world. Why don't you wait and see? ”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the scorching summer, at noon, there was no shelter in front of the end gate, and the sun shone on the more than 300 people gathered in front of the end door.

These men wore scribe's clothes and scarves, and although many of them were soaked with sweat and looked very embarrassed, their speech and demeanor were still polite.

Obviously, many of them did not often work under the scorching sun, and some people constantly suffered from heat stroke, and when someone fell, someone carried him down, and someone automatically filled his seat.

They were doing one thing, reciting an article - Mr. Qin Chuan's "Treatise on Scholars". "Scholars, set up their hearts for heaven and earth, establish their lives for the people, continue to learn for the saints, and open a peaceful ...... for all generations" and this spontaneous collective reading movement has lasted for nearly five days in front of Duanmen.

Cheating in the field is something that every scholar cannot tolerate, breaking through the bottom line of scholars, and they insist on giving an explanation from the imperial court.

Although there is a post in front of the Taihe Palace, the needle drop can be heard quietly. The sound of reading in front of the end door can't be heard here.

The guards were wearing heavy armor, and they couldn't see the sweat on their clothes, but they could see the sweat on the soles of their feet slowly dripping into circles. When the sun is shining, it feels like white smoke is emitting.

There are ice cubes in the four corners of the hall, but there is a hint of coolness, so that the ministers in court clothes can take a breath.

On the emperor's desk is an article that shook the capital, Mr. Qin Chuan's "Treatise on Scholars".

The emperor looked at the case file submitted by the Criminal Department with a gloomy face, and asked, "What is the background of these two lifters?" Disturbing the entire court to live in peace? ”

The emperor asked, and the courtiers had to answer, and a squire from the household department came out and replied: "This time, the two sons are not from a family. A surnamed Xu, who had dealings with the servants of Examiner Cheng, had a family of merchants in Wuxi for a generation, and the business involved was business, porcelain, and wealthy. ”

He paused and said: "As for the other surname Tang, it is the one who boasted about the simplicity of the exam paper after the exam, this person has been famous in Suzhou since he was a child, and at the age of fifteen, he became a student of Suzhou Mansion with the first place, and his name shocked the township, but he was uninhibited, some ranger atmosphere, prostitute and wine, and his name fell to Sun Shan in the entrance examination. ”

The prince on the side, Lord Sun Bao, added: "This Tang Xie Yuan was quite famous in Gusu, and not long after he came to the capital, the Qinglou Chu Pavilion in the capital was also proud of singing his newly written words, and Weichen recorded a new song here. ”

The emperor asked the inner supervisor to submit it, and a poem was recorded on the pink letterhead - "Last night, the begonias rained at the beginning, and a few flowers were light and delicate. The beauty got out of the orchid room and folded it to compare red makeup in the mirror. Ask Lang Hua how good is his slave face? Lang Dao is not as good as a flower. The beautiful woman is coquettish when she sees the words, and she doesn't believe that the dead flower is better than the living. Before crushing the flowers and throwing them, please sleep with the flowers tonight. ”

The emperor was a little unhappy in his heart, and said: "I thought he was a well-educated person, but now I look at it, he is just a prodigal son who can write obscene words and songs!" ”

Master Sun bowed his head and said yes. The emperor heard the noise outside the palace, and his heart was even more troubled, so he asked the inner servants to announce his retirement from the court, and separately announced that Li Xiang went to the imperial study to discuss matters.

After drinking a cup of hot tea in the imperial study, the heat in my heart slowly subsided. The emperor pointed to the criminal dossier and said, "Have you read this dossier?" ”

Li Xiang bowed his head and said, "Yes." ”

"Tell me, can such an investigation be closed? Can those scholars disperse? ”

The Criminal Department was ordered by the emperor to investigate the scientific examination case, and Li Xiang and Cheng were both isolated and examined, and Li Xiang was reinstated after a period of examination, but Cheng was not so lucky.

Tang and Xu were all invited to the court of the Criminal Department, although they were not tortured, but the veterans of the Criminal Department were frightened, and basically asked for the whole picture, and combined with other witnesses, the Criminal Department had already come to a conclusion.

First, the servant of Master Cheng did sell the examination questions to Xu Juren for a price of 1,000 taels of silver, and Xu Juren's testimony was consistent, and the tolerance also searched for silver from the residence according to the servant's identification, and the style and quantity were exactly the same;

Second, the testimony of both the Cheng examiner and the servant stated that the Cheng examiner did not know about this and did not receive the silver;

The third is that Xu Juren said that he told Tang Jieyuan about the test questions, but he only said that his friends guessed, and did not explain that he bought the questions.

Li Xiang said in a deep voice: "This matter has caused such a big turmoil, and the conclusion of the Criminal Department is just the private behavior of Examiner Cheng's servants, I am afraid it will be difficult to convince the public." ”

The emperor snorted coldly: "I see that they are also confused. ”

"Cai Shangshu of the Criminal Department was originally a subordinate of Yang Shoufu, and I am afraid that he has the intention to defend it. Some of the scholars may have also heard about this result, and I heard that there was a small discussion in the morning. ”

The emperor snorted coldly again, stood up and took two steps, and said, "I think these scholars are also arrogant!" Is this my world or theirs, is this kind of arguing about the government forcing me to use the court staff? ”

"The emperor is angry!" Seeing that the emperor's mood calmed down a little, Li Xiang continued: "Since ancient times, officials and scholars have talked about politics, and scholars have talked about Taoism, all of which are peaceful scenes in the prosperous years, and the emperor should be happy." ”

The emperor glared at him and did not speak.

Li Xiang continued: "Weichen is trusted by the emperor and has to live in the temple, but he is also a scholar, and he also has a few questions about the conclusion of the Criminal Department. First, how could Master Cheng accidentally leak the exam questions to the servants when they were so confidential? Second, this old servant has served Lord Cheng for many years and has always been loyal and dutiful, how could he suddenly commit a heinous crime for a thousand taels of silver? Third, since Xu Juren bought the exam questions, why was he not cautious and told his fellow villagers? These three questions are incomprehensible, but it is difficult to close the case. ”